6/21 Hobocamp report
Seven people. Seven hours. Lots of banter. Stephen Colbert.
Thursday was my last day in New York. We were gonna do stuff we’d missed so I did some shopping (got a lot of DVDs, no Americone Dream : ( ) and went to the Top of the Rock plus my parents took me to see the Waldorf Astoria hotel where they stayed in 2003. It was pretty amazing but waaaaaaaaay too far from the TDS/TCR studios.
At around 2pm I bugged my parents into going to check the line at TDS so I could catch up with the JSX Jon Con. We pass TCR and there are only 4 people waiting! I got there before that time Thursday and there was at least 10/15 people in line. So we walk down the street and get to the TDS studios. This is around 2.15pm now and NO ONE IS THERE! The roped line bit isn’t even out. There isn’t a single sole in the area. Not only am I wondering where the JSX crew is but where is everyone else going to TDS. We start walking back up the street to go do more touristy stuff and this band of people walk past. Now I was still thinking WTF is going on here and it was my mum who noticed it was the JSX crew. We stopped, said hi and had piccies taken. Then we set up for me to come back 7pm for the stakeout. They went off to wait for TDS and me and my parents went to the Top of the Rock where I got in for child prices (ages 6-12).
At 7pm (after I’d had a Happy Meal to keep me going for a while) we walk back down to TDS and the JSX crew are crossing onto a street just as we are walking down it. We meet in the middle and once my parents’ leave we set off for W 54th. Before starting the stakeout we go to Diagastino’s (sp?) to get food. Whilst there I hear behind me “Do eagles have eyebrows?” and it’s Shishu and Truthy! They were meant to be at TCR but had the 6 month rule brought out on them. They were gonna wait with us to meet Stephen so there now there was about 10 of us hanging around outside Diagastino’s. We walk back to the studio and TCR hasn’t even let out yet. Banter ensues. At around 7.30pm the TCR audience starts filing out and acushla’s story starts swirling around. The round of awwww’s and OMG’s was pretty huge when we all heard what happened.
The TCR audience leaves after a while but there are a few people from there waiting back too so around 14 of us are hanging around at this time. And after some banter and most of the TCR crew leaving (we had seen TCR on the TV on the first floor and figured they were editing earlier. I squee’d a little thinking Jimmy and Stephen were together editing. Think everyone else was just like OMG Stephen in there!) Paul Dinello comes out of the building and goes off down the street. Fangirling ensues because y’know PAUL! Turns out Doob runs into him as she’s walking down the street. Paul comes back a little while later with a bunch of shopping bags which we figure is food for him and Stephen. More squee’ing. There are a few rounds of Tek Jansen and Stephen, Stephen plus Lefty puts on Strangers with Candy on the DVD player and breaks out the champagne.
Truthy leaves some time around 10pm. We don’t want her to go, neither does she but her parents had waited there for around 2/3 hours so they were very patient. After we lose Truthy it’s down to me, Shishu, Lefty, Mea, Pulp, AR and acushla who came back at some point to join us. There is banter for a great deal of time, mostly about Stephen and Jon, everything and nothing. Basically what I’m saying is I can’t remember what we talked about.
At some time after midnight there is a group of youngsters further up the street from us and a cop car comes by, slowing down near that group and not us because apparently a group of hobo-looking people outside a celebrity’s studio after midnight is normal in New York. The streets are pretty quiet at this time but everyone walking past gives us these stares wondering what on earth we are doing. A crazy lady comes down the street with on a long red t-shirt and slippers on. She walks a few steps then stops every time she moves. She comes over to us, I think it was Mea and Lefty she came to, and points out $10 saying something about her leg hurting then wanting cigarettes. It was weird and I couldn’t stop laughing. Lefty instructs her to the store and she disappears down the street. We keep an eye on her then she decides to cross the road! Everyone is sure she’s gonna get splattered by a truck or a taxi but by some miracle makes it across the street. Lefty calls the cops because this woman is clearly disturbed. The cops come up the street but don’t seem to care and miss the woman. Then she’s coming back down 54th! Towards us and the studio. Lefty calls the cops again because now she’s sitting on Stephen’s steps smoking a cigarette. The cops finally arrive and get the woman to move. They put her in an ambulance which takes around 20 minutes. No one asks us anything because again waiting outside a celebrity’s studio at almost 1am is normal in NY.
Lefty then notices the lights on the second floor are off and everyone started squee’ing and getting cameras and stuff ready because Stephen is coming! He comes out the door with Paul and a security guard (who had bitched to us, though I guess was just doing his job too, about 3 hours earlier telling us it’s his job to get Stephen right to his car after 10pm but it wasn’t coming from Stephen it was coming from his company). Stephen shouts down to us “You crazy bastards!” We all cheer and squee. He shakes everyone’s hands because he is simply a nice guy. When he shakes mine he says “Hi. You were yesterday.” He got his days mixed up which is understandable but OMG STEPHEN COLBERT REMEMBERED ME! I cannot believe that. It’s been days and I still can’t. It’s so freakin’ amazing. Mea must have shaken his hand after me because I remember someone saying “aww baby you hurt your hand.” After he shakes everyone’s hands he asks if we want stuff signed or photos. Acushla gets something signed then Pulp holds out his camera and says “Well someone needs to take the photo.” And then Paul Dinello steps up and takes the camera. He takes the photo which turned out blurred. I hand him my camera and he takes another photo, which turned out. So Paul Dinello touched my camera and it now a sacred object. Stephen leaves after the photos because it’s about 1am and he has to get home. I think I remember people saying bye. Paul stays back a bit and signs Wigfield for Shishu and for me. He then tells us all to get some sleep. Yeah that wasn’t happening. The JSX crew walk me back to my hotel where I catch a lift pretty much right away and go into my room. My parents are still up and ask what happened. I tell them everything in a total fangirl excited voice then go to bed. I don’t think I slept a wink from the excitement.
Hobocamp 2007 was the best experience of my life. And the best end to my New York holiday I could have ever asked for. I spent the most of the trip home either looking at my signed script or at the Stephen picture. I still can’t believe my luck. To everyone I met whilst there thank you for making my experience that bit more memorable. It was a truly wonderful experience that I’m looking to repeat ASAP.
My Paul Dinello signed Wigfield.
Pulp's blurry pic. I think I am coping feel and I don't remember! I want to remember if I did.
The non-blurry pic from my camera. Yay.
New York was amazing!
Thursday was my last day in New York. We were gonna do stuff we’d missed so I did some shopping (got a lot of DVDs, no Americone Dream : ( ) and went to the Top of the Rock plus my parents took me to see the Waldorf Astoria hotel where they stayed in 2003. It was pretty amazing but waaaaaaaaay too far from the TDS/TCR studios.
At around 2pm I bugged my parents into going to check the line at TDS so I could catch up with the JSX Jon Con. We pass TCR and there are only 4 people waiting! I got there before that time Thursday and there was at least 10/15 people in line. So we walk down the street and get to the TDS studios. This is around 2.15pm now and NO ONE IS THERE! The roped line bit isn’t even out. There isn’t a single sole in the area. Not only am I wondering where the JSX crew is but where is everyone else going to TDS. We start walking back up the street to go do more touristy stuff and this band of people walk past. Now I was still thinking WTF is going on here and it was my mum who noticed it was the JSX crew. We stopped, said hi and had piccies taken. Then we set up for me to come back 7pm for the stakeout. They went off to wait for TDS and me and my parents went to the Top of the Rock where I got in for child prices (ages 6-12).
At 7pm (after I’d had a Happy Meal to keep me going for a while) we walk back down to TDS and the JSX crew are crossing onto a street just as we are walking down it. We meet in the middle and once my parents’ leave we set off for W 54th. Before starting the stakeout we go to Diagastino’s (sp?) to get food. Whilst there I hear behind me “Do eagles have eyebrows?” and it’s Shishu and Truthy! They were meant to be at TCR but had the 6 month rule brought out on them. They were gonna wait with us to meet Stephen so there now there was about 10 of us hanging around outside Diagastino’s. We walk back to the studio and TCR hasn’t even let out yet. Banter ensues. At around 7.30pm the TCR audience starts filing out and acushla’s story starts swirling around. The round of awwww’s and OMG’s was pretty huge when we all heard what happened.
The TCR audience leaves after a while but there are a few people from there waiting back too so around 14 of us are hanging around at this time. And after some banter and most of the TCR crew leaving (we had seen TCR on the TV on the first floor and figured they were editing earlier. I squee’d a little thinking Jimmy and Stephen were together editing. Think everyone else was just like OMG Stephen in there!) Paul Dinello comes out of the building and goes off down the street. Fangirling ensues because y’know PAUL! Turns out Doob runs into him as she’s walking down the street. Paul comes back a little while later with a bunch of shopping bags which we figure is food for him and Stephen. More squee’ing. There are a few rounds of Tek Jansen and Stephen, Stephen plus Lefty puts on Strangers with Candy on the DVD player and breaks out the champagne.
Truthy leaves some time around 10pm. We don’t want her to go, neither does she but her parents had waited there for around 2/3 hours so they were very patient. After we lose Truthy it’s down to me, Shishu, Lefty, Mea, Pulp, AR and acushla who came back at some point to join us. There is banter for a great deal of time, mostly about Stephen and Jon, everything and nothing. Basically what I’m saying is I can’t remember what we talked about.
At some time after midnight there is a group of youngsters further up the street from us and a cop car comes by, slowing down near that group and not us because apparently a group of hobo-looking people outside a celebrity’s studio after midnight is normal in New York. The streets are pretty quiet at this time but everyone walking past gives us these stares wondering what on earth we are doing. A crazy lady comes down the street with on a long red t-shirt and slippers on. She walks a few steps then stops every time she moves. She comes over to us, I think it was Mea and Lefty she came to, and points out $10 saying something about her leg hurting then wanting cigarettes. It was weird and I couldn’t stop laughing. Lefty instructs her to the store and she disappears down the street. We keep an eye on her then she decides to cross the road! Everyone is sure she’s gonna get splattered by a truck or a taxi but by some miracle makes it across the street. Lefty calls the cops because this woman is clearly disturbed. The cops come up the street but don’t seem to care and miss the woman. Then she’s coming back down 54th! Towards us and the studio. Lefty calls the cops again because now she’s sitting on Stephen’s steps smoking a cigarette. The cops finally arrive and get the woman to move. They put her in an ambulance which takes around 20 minutes. No one asks us anything because again waiting outside a celebrity’s studio at almost 1am is normal in NY.
Lefty then notices the lights on the second floor are off and everyone started squee’ing and getting cameras and stuff ready because Stephen is coming! He comes out the door with Paul and a security guard (who had bitched to us, though I guess was just doing his job too, about 3 hours earlier telling us it’s his job to get Stephen right to his car after 10pm but it wasn’t coming from Stephen it was coming from his company). Stephen shouts down to us “You crazy bastards!” We all cheer and squee. He shakes everyone’s hands because he is simply a nice guy. When he shakes mine he says “Hi. You were yesterday.” He got his days mixed up which is understandable but OMG STEPHEN COLBERT REMEMBERED ME! I cannot believe that. It’s been days and I still can’t. It’s so freakin’ amazing. Mea must have shaken his hand after me because I remember someone saying “aww baby you hurt your hand.” After he shakes everyone’s hands he asks if we want stuff signed or photos. Acushla gets something signed then Pulp holds out his camera and says “Well someone needs to take the photo.” And then Paul Dinello steps up and takes the camera. He takes the photo which turned out blurred. I hand him my camera and he takes another photo, which turned out. So Paul Dinello touched my camera and it now a sacred object. Stephen leaves after the photos because it’s about 1am and he has to get home. I think I remember people saying bye. Paul stays back a bit and signs Wigfield for Shishu and for me. He then tells us all to get some sleep. Yeah that wasn’t happening. The JSX crew walk me back to my hotel where I catch a lift pretty much right away and go into my room. My parents are still up and ask what happened. I tell them everything in a total fangirl excited voice then go to bed. I don’t think I slept a wink from the excitement.
Hobocamp 2007 was the best experience of my life. And the best end to my New York holiday I could have ever asked for. I spent the most of the trip home either looking at my signed script or at the Stephen picture. I still can’t believe my luck. To everyone I met whilst there thank you for making my experience that bit more memorable. It was a truly wonderful experience that I’m looking to repeat ASAP.
My Paul Dinello signed Wigfield.
Pulp's blurry pic. I think I am coping feel and I don't remember! I want to remember if I did.
The non-blurry pic from my camera. Yay.
New York was amazing!