March 26, 10 PM: Here I am, sitting in bed, my left ankle wrapped in a splint and iced down after suffering a high lateral sprain over the weekend (slipped off an aluminum ladder and when my left foot hit the floor it rolled inward 90 degrees - OUCH!!!). Miles Davis is playing in my ThinkPad's CDROM - "Amandla" to be precise - so at least I'm not feeling too bad (the Lortab certainly helps)...

My thoughts turn back to New York City.

Being a Boston-area native and a long-time Florida resident, I still find it rather funny that a part of New York City is now inside of me and will be until the day I die. This isn't any post-9/11 sentiment, either. Ever since visiting the City for the first time since childhood last August, I've always been eagerly looking for the next opportunity (or excuse *g*) to return as a sense of familiarity and semi-homecoming now becomes apparent whenever I visit NYC. That opportunity came on March 16-17 to see Nana Visitor and Nanite & FBTS friends at the Creation Strong Women Of Science-Fiction convention at the Hotel Pennsylvania in lower midtown Manhattan. So, how did it go?

Well to start off, New York is steadily recovering after the September 11 attacks, and things seem like they're pretty much back to normal. Tourists flood the already-busy streets & subways once again. I suppose I should mention this was also St. Patrick's Day weekend with many green-attired revelers swarming around midtown for the annual parade. Buses still run 30-60 minutes late at the Newark airport - thank God the New Jersey Transit train-stop at the airport has finally opened! Walk out from Penn Station onto 7th Avenue and the hotel is right in front of you. Unfortunately, hundreds of other travellers have the same idea, resulting in a huge line (and nearly a 1-hour wait) at the hotel reception desk. And what awaits? Let's say that the Hotel Pennsylvania is being renovated - if you're lucky you'll get a remodeled room. Judy & Terry were lucky, Mirrani and Michelle a little less so. Myself & Marcus - we ended up with a dingy little room with peeling wallpaper and exposed wires under the bathroom sink!! I had a prepaid special on this room which helped me to avoid the long reception line at check-out but still this was pretty ridiculous! Beds were pretty comfy, though...

Broadway is also doing quite well though several shows reportedly have slacked off somewhat in quality and some new shows had opened or were opening to lackluster reviews (most notably Sweet Smell Of Success starring John Lithgow). Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick took their final bows in The Producers that weekend. CHICAGO even has suffered - according to Nana, Louis Gossett Jr.'s run as Billy Flynn was quite brief: only two or three performances before flubbed lines, missed cues, etc. drove him off the show with such abruptness that it was reported he left, in Nana's words, "due to illness, and when they say 'illness' that's a pretty bad sign". One of the real bright spots on the boards these days is Elaine Stritch At Liberty. This great actress and performer is still knocking 'em dead nightly in her one-woman show at the Neil Simon Theatre on Broadway & W. 54th St. and per Nana's strong recommendations we all went to see Elaine Stritch Saturday evening. The woman, now in her 70's, can still bring it!! An incredible performance of her "greatest hits" (most memorable was Stephen Sondheim's "The Ladies Who Lunch" from Company) and her loose, juiced-up humor. By the way, CHICAGO's Rob Bowman was Ms. Stritch's musical director. "Rise, Rise... RISE!!" After the show, a nice quiet dinner (yeah, right!!) at the Hard Rock Cafe; the music is so loud we yell our conversations and later we slaughtered this huge ice-cream-brownie sundae thing with green topping. Marcus has the pictures to prove it! [ Postscript Note: Sweet Smell Of Success, despite Lithgow winning a Tony for his performance, closed during the summer of 2002. Stritch's show, much more acclaimed and also winning a Tony, closed in May. CHICAGO is scheduled to move to the Ambassador Theatre in January, 2003 - the Shubert will be preparing for the Gypsy revival that will star Bernadette Peters as Mama Rose, scheduled to open in the spring of 2003.]

Riding back on the subway after picking up our Stritch tickets at the Times Square TKTS booth was an experience. Hammered hooligans here for St. Pat's kept forcing the subway doors to open and close, delaying us for 10-15 minutes and pissing off all who were inside - and we were packed in like sardines. Irish pubs all over midtown were overflowing! Ahh, St. Patrick's in the Big Apple, m'laddie... ;=)

On Sunday the 17th, we all gathered in Judy's room for the club meeting; considering the condition of our other rooms this was a no-brainer! Nana looked like a cross between Kira, Roxie and Bryn Newhouse in Bajoran-orange business jacket & blouse, conservative grey skirt & black fishnets. ;=D Nana received a gorgeous South American wool poncho from Liliana Ruggiero. Liliana traveled here from Uruguay and spoke almost no English. Mirrani brought her father Don Houpe with her; he speaks fluent Spanish and was able to translate for Liliana. It was wonderful meeting Mr. Houpe, Ms. Ruggiero and all the familiar & some new faces. And of course, it's always a joy to spend quality time with Nana! She also received a framed 8X10 of the now-famous Shubert Alley Nanites photo from Yours Truly. Nana enjoyed the club meeting so much that she was 10-15 minutes late for her Q&A (sound familiar??) so run, run, run into the elevator once again!

By now, you all probably know that Nana is moving back to L.A. this summer, and we all certainly wish her the best & continued success. Most of her family is already out there, and she & Matthew have already bought a house. [ Postscript Note: Nana, Matthew and family moved to their L.A.-area home in late May of 2002. They would relocate to Las Vegas the following year.] Judging by the way she explained it during the club meeting, she sounded (to this writer, anyway) quite reluctant to leave this great city that brought her into the world but these days the road to Broadway stardom runs right through the media wasteland that is Hollywood, and if that's the path you must take then so be it. Funny, but not too long ago wasn't it the other way around? I dunno... I suppose it's all pretty relative, and technology these days has blurred the boundaries to just about everything. A considerable portion of a film, TV series & even a Broadway show's budget nowadays goes into its website. It's pretty hard now to find a marquee or promo for anything without a web address. Funny how times have changed!

During the Q&A, Nana was joined by Buster and Django much to the delight of the audience. Surprising how big the boys have become; Buster will be 10 by the time you read this and the kid's nearly as tall as I am! Nana got many compliments for her CHICAGO work, which proves that many "trekkers" did see the show and being in New York of course this was more of a "Broadway" crowd anyway. ;) There are two, maybe three DS9 experiences Nana really enjoys telling: I've heard one of them in Fort Lauderdale (the "Crossover" milk-tub story); she told the other two here (her slip-&-fall "Bajoran Nose in the ER" and "Avery Brooks exploding-pen" adventures) much to the delight of this writer as well as everyone else. Nana also expressed her support for a DS9 movie for which she got a nice long round of applause (wishful thinking, folks!!) and, when asked, also expressed a desire to someday choreograph a Broadway show.

After the Q&A it was another 30-odd minutes at the autograph table before Nana's driver came to take her & the boys home. And it was time for me to board the NJT train from Penn Station back to Newark Liberty International Airport for my flight back to Jacksonville Sunday evening. Once again I left New York City behind me, wondering when the next opportunity would...

And now my ankle is swollen and throbbing. Wail on, Miles! Once again thinking about the City That Never Sleeps... hoping someday soon to return.

Additional Notes:

Pics turned out pretty good - that new Nikon 105mm lens is real sharp!! Lots of good pics! Hopefully some scans online soon. Mike, B&H Photo and Video (corner W. 34th St. and 9th Ave in NYC) is a freakin' candy store for photogs!

Nanites group photo, outside the Neil Simon Theatre after seeing Elaine Stritch At Liberty (I'm sure the banner above applies to Nana as well!) Front L-R: Hillary Evans, Alisa Levien.   L-R: Don Houpe, Bob Vigliano, Tomoko, Mirrani, Michele Hauser, Terry Wolf, Judy Jankowski. (photograph by Marcus Karsities)

For those who didn't make it: here's a rundown - the only real news of note is that Nana's moving back to L.A. this summer (she & Matt have already bought a house) to concentrate fully on TV work... She also has a new manager. Her ultimate goal appears to be to return to NYC w/a Broadway lead in about 2-3 years... Apparently this is what B-way has come to - you don't get the big roles unless they see your face a lot on the tube. Still no wedding date yet (nobody asked as far as I can tell) but then again that's really Nana's & Matt's business... Surprised how big the boys have grown. Buster in particular is quite tall for his age [Buster is now 10 years old, and is approx. 5 feet tall!]....

The hotel was atrocious!! OK, Penn. Hotel pulled no effort to let everyone know they were remodeling but with peeling wallpaper and exposed wires in the bathroom of the room myself & Marcus stayed in (not to mention a window that nearly fell on my head - twice!) I wasn't too thrilled, depite the fact my rate was a dirt-cheap prepaid Expedia deal ($99). At least Judy's room was much nicer (in a renovated area) and that's where the club meeting w/NV was held on Sunday. Lines at the reception were horrendous. And this was St. Pat's weekend so the place was mobbed with drunken Irishmen - no offense, John! ;) Mirrani brought her father with her. It was very nice meeting him, as well as [Hillary] and Liliana (from Uruguay). And very nice to see familiar faces again! Liliana gave Nana a most beautiful woolen poncho and Nana modeled it for the photographers in the room. ;D

Nana in New York Photo Gallery