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Oct. 18th, 2003 07:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pennywhistleOk, so can I say again, quite possibly BEST BIRTHDAY EVER??! I laughed so hard, cheered so hard, my throat is sore.
Let's begin the recap.
I woke up at about 8:30am, and could not get back to sleep. Sat around impatiently until 1:30pm, then hit the road. Cleveland is only about 4 hours away (less if you speed) but I wanted to make SURE that I got there on time.
Made it through Columbus in record time...about 20 miles North of Columbus there was a long line of cars in the left lane (2 lane highway) all struggling to pass the sporadic trucks in the right lane. There was a lot of 80 miles an hour! BRAKEBRAKEBRAKE to 50. 80 miles an hour! BRAKEBRAKEBRAKE to 50. So I was giving the people ahead of me plenty of breathing space. Suddenly cars ahead of me started spilling into the right lane and the median, one backwards. I stop right in front of a car turned sideways across both lanes. An accident. I recognize the driver as someone who was being VERY aggressive earlier. I restart my heart and drive by. Fortunetly there were no other catastrophes, and I made it to Cleveland and was parked by the theatre by about 6pm. I wandered around about 4 city blocks (which equals about a bazillion miles) looking for someplace to eat, but there weren't a whole lot of restaurants. There were some by the theatre, but they were pretty full. I ate at a coffee bar, had a calzone. I also changed into my fishnets at this time. (There was no way I was going to be in fishnets the whole drive up)
I went to go stand outside the Allen Theatre, where Eddie was going to be performing. There was nothing that really said he was going to be there at all, no marquee, no posters, nothing. The doors didn't open until 7pm, so there was a crowd gathered. It was an interesting mix. There were people dressed very Sexie-ly, as one should for an Eddie Izzard show. There were some people there in sweatshirts and jeans. There were several women in chinese type shirts/dresses, because of what he wore in Dressed to Kill. There were some grandparent-looking folks, who looked very out of place. The amusing part was that a show starring a nun was at the next theatre over, so its patrons had to walk past all of us Hot Topic wannabes. Gave me quite a few giggles. The next theatre over had a marquee that announced that Eddie was playing, so I tried to take some shots of it, but they came out kind of blurry. (Sexie) and (Eddie Izzard).
Finally at 7pm they let us inside the theatre. I was afraid for some irrational reason that they would say "Oh, that ticket's not valid." I just couldn't believe I had a front row ticket. I assumed I was on the very end. But they let me in, and I made a beeline (covered in 'em!) for the souvenir booth. I wanted a Sexie cami shirt, but the largest it came in was large, and it would have taken the very last of my cash, because once I saw the pictures in the program, I HAD to have it. Yum and some drool on the side. I bought a mug for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
muskie_girl as she had requested. I made my purchases, and went over to the bar. A lovely white zinfandel please. Thankyouverymuch. They still hadn't opened the doors to the hall, so I called Susan and let her know that I had her mug. At about 7:20 they finally let us in the hall.
I marched down to the front row, still assuming my seat was on one of the ends. I was DEAD CENTER, FRONT ROW. I had THE BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE. I think I must have been the first person to call when tickets went on sale in May! Eddie was directly in front of me the entire time. It was wonderful.
The show started a little late, but when it started...PHEW. I had tears in my eyes when he came out. He was RIGHT THERE in front of me. And he looked very yummy ^_^ He wore two outfits, he changed at the intermission. Both were fantabulous. I'm going to cut tag Cleveland-only jokes, and Sexie jokes, so you don't have to be spoiled if you don't want to.
First of all, YUM. He came out, and I was just so in awe to see him so real and so close. He stood right in front of me most of the time. He ad libbed for a good 10 minutes before getting into the show. He said that Cleveland shouldn't be called CleveLAND because it's not a land, it's a city. He said they should call it Cleve-ige. "Have you been to Cleve-ige?" "No, but I'm going right now!" He asked how Cleveland was named, was it named after someone, and people in the audience yelled out to him that yes, it was. I had no idea, this was only my second time ever being in Cleveland. He asked if the guy had been someone famous or important to have a city named after him, or if he just walked up and said "I'm going to have a city here!" "Yeah, suuure you are."
Poor Eddie, he was wearing a great short skirt during the first half, but it kept falling down! The first time he hitched it up, the audience (including me) went crazy, whistling and yelling. He made a CUT motion with his hand. He said "You're all being attacked by tigers!" He said that his show walked a fine line between library and strip club, and we needed to be more like library. People hooted and hollered the entire show, and at one point he just let it go for awhile and then said "Cleveland entertained itself for the second half." Anyway, he had to keep hitching up his skirt the entire first half of the show, it was added amusement, but I'm sure it wasn't funny for him.
During the second half, the spotlight operator apparently fell asleep. Eddie would walk stage right, and the spotlight would still be in the center. He kept stopping to admonish the spotlight operator. One time we lost a joke because of it! He was doing an ad-lib, walked over to stage right, the spotlight didn't follow him, so he stopped, then lost his train of thought. Dammit. He was making jokes about it though, because it KEPT happening. You'd think after the first FIVE times the guy would be on the ball. Nope. "He dropped his sandwich," Eddie said. "There'll be no tea for you tonight," he eventually said when he was getting really ticked off.
GREAT show! Not as funny as Dressed to Kill (but that's hard to top) but right on par with Glorious. He talked about many many things, a lot that I've forgotten. But everything now reminds me of the show. We went grocery shopping this afternoon, and I was going, "Eddie did a joke about that! Eddie did a joke about that!" He talked for over 2 hours, with a 20 minute intermission. I can't WAIT for the DVD to come out.
Some of the funnier highlights:
He talked about his breasts (which are very nice). Lots of funny jokes were made there.
Eddie says that in the UK, dogs that help blind people are called guide dogs, while in the US they're called seeing eye dogs. "And that's just too many descriptions. It's a seeing eye vision occular sight (and many more) dog."
When one of his characters was using a saw to build something (I don't remember what) and he did the "ooo-eee-ooo-eee-ooo" noise he used from Glorious. Then he said, "and then he stopped sawing and started punching a baboon," and about 1/3 of the audience cheered, because that's a great bit from Glorious. He said "Some of the audience has seen the previous shows. The rest of the audience has no idea what they're cheering for."
He talked about Homo-sapien man meeting Neanderthal man just as Neanderthal man is about to go extinct "about Tuesday." Then he said, what if it had been Homo-sapien man who had gone extinct, and the world was run by Neanderthal man. That would make those home decorating shows more interesting. "Ok, excrement on the walls here, excrement over here, some poo over here, some more excrement over here. Let's bring them in. What do you think?" "This is shit!"
When he said "So, this is all true." I about died.
So many great moments, but oy, it was two hours! Too much to fit into an entry. Buy the DVD ^_^
So many great moments, but oy, it was two hours! I didn't want it to end. I could have watched him forever. He finally went off stage, and some people stood, but no one in the front row did but me. He came right back out and went right into what he was talking about when he left. He did his encore bit, then the show was really over :-( Then EVERYBODY stood.
I wasn't sure where he was going to be signing. I'd brought my Glorious tape to be autographed (if at all possible). I'd heard that sometimes he did autographs in the lobby and sometimes at the stage door. I stood around in the lobby for about 15 minutes, when I policewoman said "If you're waiting for autographs, he'll be doing them at the stage door." So I made a beeline (still covered in 'em!) for the stage door. There was already a sizeable crowd, but they were really spread apart. Fools. I'm an old pro at this from going to about 15 Tori Amos concerts. You thread your way as close as possible to the door. So even though I was late, I got right up to the front pretty easily. We waited outside for about an hour for him. I could have worn my mini skirt after all, once we all started to crowd together I was downright hot. I had my purse underneath my coat, so no one would reach into it, but it made me look more bulky (remember that when you're looking at the pic! ;-p) Before he came out, his manager said to the crowd, "Ok, he'll try to get to everyone, but he's not going to sign names, he's just going to give his signature, take a picture, and that's it." We all thought that was fair enough. He finally came out, not in heels, he's so short! He's just a little taller than I am. It's adorable. Finally it was my turn. He took my tape from me, and signed his name and I said, "I just wanted to say thank you for coming here today because it's my birthday and this has been the best birthday present ever." And then he wrote "Happy Birthday" above his name and said "What's your name?" and I told him and he wrote my name on there, so my Glorious tape now says "Happy Birthday Penny Love Eddie Izzard" ^_^ Then I asked for a hug and he gave me one, and I got my picture taken with him ^_^ Then I said "Have a good day" LOL. I was just so stunned, so in shock, so overwhelmed, so YUM, so happy, so on cloud nine, so ecstatic, I walked away staring at my tape. I think I was floating.
Did the birthday present stop there? Oh no. I was walking back to my car, and the whole area is the Cleveland Theatre District, and I saw a sign advertising that Starlight Express will be running on their broadway series in December. This is a huge deal because 1. Starlight Express is my VERY VERY favorite musical, 2. It's an old and not wildly popular musical, so it's VERY rare for it to get another run, and 3. It's a very difficult musical to put on because it's all done on roller skates, with moving stage parts and all. My family and I ADORE this musical. We go wherever it goes. We've seen it in New York (first time), in Cincy, in England, my mom saw it in Las Vegas, we even went to Chicago just to see a special ice skating version of it. Now to see it back on stage again!! Thank you. Thank you to the powers that be that saw it fit to give me such a fantastic birthday.
Now I'm coming down from the high, and it's like...want MORE Eddie. Want to see him AGAIN. Want to see LOTS of him. ^_~ want to kidnap him and keep him in my room and.... *AHEM*
It was a GREAT day. It was a GREAT birthday.
(Again I say, I'm only that bulky because my purse is under my coat, to keep it safe!)
I still have more pictures to come. I have a cheapo camera to develop, these are just the pictures that came fromsuraimu's digital camera. A lot of them ended up blurry, and most of the second half ones are bad, because the flash turned itself back on. But oh well. I'm also going to scan the program that I bought and my autographed video. So you have that to look forward to. But here are the digital pictures. (The great thing is, cameras were ALLOWED!)
The marquee displaying "SEXIE"
The marquee displaying "Eddie Izzard" (it is, I swear)
What the stage looks like when you walk in
Eddie gesturing (or manuvering)
Eddie talking
More manuvers from Eddie
THE best picture I took all night. I think this may have to become a wallpaper
I was trying to get a shot of his boots ^_^
Second half, now we get blurry, but I wanted you to see his outfit
I have no face!
Best pic from the second half
Again, I was trying to get a whole body shot, with the boots, but the camera just isn't that long
Those are some sexie legs
Bowing at the end
Eddie signs for someone else
More pics to come!
Let's begin the recap.
I woke up at about 8:30am, and could not get back to sleep. Sat around impatiently until 1:30pm, then hit the road. Cleveland is only about 4 hours away (less if you speed) but I wanted to make SURE that I got there on time.
Made it through Columbus in record time...about 20 miles North of Columbus there was a long line of cars in the left lane (2 lane highway) all struggling to pass the sporadic trucks in the right lane. There was a lot of 80 miles an hour! BRAKEBRAKEBRAKE to 50. 80 miles an hour! BRAKEBRAKEBRAKE to 50. So I was giving the people ahead of me plenty of breathing space. Suddenly cars ahead of me started spilling into the right lane and the median, one backwards. I stop right in front of a car turned sideways across both lanes. An accident. I recognize the driver as someone who was being VERY aggressive earlier. I restart my heart and drive by. Fortunetly there were no other catastrophes, and I made it to Cleveland and was parked by the theatre by about 6pm. I wandered around about 4 city blocks (which equals about a bazillion miles) looking for someplace to eat, but there weren't a whole lot of restaurants. There were some by the theatre, but they were pretty full. I ate at a coffee bar, had a calzone. I also changed into my fishnets at this time. (There was no way I was going to be in fishnets the whole drive up)
I went to go stand outside the Allen Theatre, where Eddie was going to be performing. There was nothing that really said he was going to be there at all, no marquee, no posters, nothing. The doors didn't open until 7pm, so there was a crowd gathered. It was an interesting mix. There were people dressed very Sexie-ly, as one should for an Eddie Izzard show. There were some people there in sweatshirts and jeans. There were several women in chinese type shirts/dresses, because of what he wore in Dressed to Kill. There were some grandparent-looking folks, who looked very out of place. The amusing part was that a show starring a nun was at the next theatre over, so its patrons had to walk past all of us Hot Topic wannabes. Gave me quite a few giggles. The next theatre over had a marquee that announced that Eddie was playing, so I tried to take some shots of it, but they came out kind of blurry. (Sexie) and (Eddie Izzard).
Finally at 7pm they let us inside the theatre. I was afraid for some irrational reason that they would say "Oh, that ticket's not valid." I just couldn't believe I had a front row ticket. I assumed I was on the very end. But they let me in, and I made a beeline (covered in 'em!) for the souvenir booth. I wanted a Sexie cami shirt, but the largest it came in was large, and it would have taken the very last of my cash, because once I saw the pictures in the program, I HAD to have it. Yum and some drool on the side. I bought a mug for
muskie_girl as she had requested. I made my purchases, and went over to the bar. A lovely white zinfandel please. Thankyouverymuch. They still hadn't opened the doors to the hall, so I called Susan and let her know that I had her mug. At about 7:20 they finally let us in the hall. I marched down to the front row, still assuming my seat was on one of the ends. I was DEAD CENTER, FRONT ROW. I had THE BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE. I think I must have been the first person to call when tickets went on sale in May! Eddie was directly in front of me the entire time. It was wonderful.
The show started a little late, but when it started...PHEW. I had tears in my eyes when he came out. He was RIGHT THERE in front of me. And he looked very yummy ^_^ He wore two outfits, he changed at the intermission. Both were fantabulous. I'm going to cut tag Cleveland-only jokes, and Sexie jokes, so you don't have to be spoiled if you don't want to.
First of all, YUM. He came out, and I was just so in awe to see him so real and so close. He stood right in front of me most of the time. He ad libbed for a good 10 minutes before getting into the show. He said that Cleveland shouldn't be called CleveLAND because it's not a land, it's a city. He said they should call it Cleve-ige. "Have you been to Cleve-ige?" "No, but I'm going right now!" He asked how Cleveland was named, was it named after someone, and people in the audience yelled out to him that yes, it was. I had no idea, this was only my second time ever being in Cleveland. He asked if the guy had been someone famous or important to have a city named after him, or if he just walked up and said "I'm going to have a city here!" "Yeah, suuure you are."
Poor Eddie, he was wearing a great short skirt during the first half, but it kept falling down! The first time he hitched it up, the audience (including me) went crazy, whistling and yelling. He made a CUT motion with his hand. He said "You're all being attacked by tigers!" He said that his show walked a fine line between library and strip club, and we needed to be more like library. People hooted and hollered the entire show, and at one point he just let it go for awhile and then said "Cleveland entertained itself for the second half." Anyway, he had to keep hitching up his skirt the entire first half of the show, it was added amusement, but I'm sure it wasn't funny for him.
During the second half, the spotlight operator apparently fell asleep. Eddie would walk stage right, and the spotlight would still be in the center. He kept stopping to admonish the spotlight operator. One time we lost a joke because of it! He was doing an ad-lib, walked over to stage right, the spotlight didn't follow him, so he stopped, then lost his train of thought. Dammit. He was making jokes about it though, because it KEPT happening. You'd think after the first FIVE times the guy would be on the ball. Nope. "He dropped his sandwich," Eddie said. "There'll be no tea for you tonight," he eventually said when he was getting really ticked off.
GREAT show! Not as funny as Dressed to Kill (but that's hard to top) but right on par with Glorious. He talked about many many things, a lot that I've forgotten. But everything now reminds me of the show. We went grocery shopping this afternoon, and I was going, "Eddie did a joke about that! Eddie did a joke about that!" He talked for over 2 hours, with a 20 minute intermission. I can't WAIT for the DVD to come out.
Some of the funnier highlights:
He talked about his breasts (which are very nice). Lots of funny jokes were made there.
Eddie says that in the UK, dogs that help blind people are called guide dogs, while in the US they're called seeing eye dogs. "And that's just too many descriptions. It's a seeing eye vision occular sight (and many more) dog."
When one of his characters was using a saw to build something (I don't remember what) and he did the "ooo-eee-ooo-eee-ooo" noise he used from Glorious. Then he said, "and then he stopped sawing and started punching a baboon," and about 1/3 of the audience cheered, because that's a great bit from Glorious. He said "Some of the audience has seen the previous shows. The rest of the audience has no idea what they're cheering for."
He talked about Homo-sapien man meeting Neanderthal man just as Neanderthal man is about to go extinct "about Tuesday." Then he said, what if it had been Homo-sapien man who had gone extinct, and the world was run by Neanderthal man. That would make those home decorating shows more interesting. "Ok, excrement on the walls here, excrement over here, some poo over here, some more excrement over here. Let's bring them in. What do you think?" "This is shit!"
When he said "So, this is all true." I about died.
So many great moments, but oy, it was two hours! Too much to fit into an entry. Buy the DVD ^_^
So many great moments, but oy, it was two hours! I didn't want it to end. I could have watched him forever. He finally went off stage, and some people stood, but no one in the front row did but me. He came right back out and went right into what he was talking about when he left. He did his encore bit, then the show was really over :-( Then EVERYBODY stood.
I wasn't sure where he was going to be signing. I'd brought my Glorious tape to be autographed (if at all possible). I'd heard that sometimes he did autographs in the lobby and sometimes at the stage door. I stood around in the lobby for about 15 minutes, when I policewoman said "If you're waiting for autographs, he'll be doing them at the stage door." So I made a beeline (still covered in 'em!) for the stage door. There was already a sizeable crowd, but they were really spread apart. Fools. I'm an old pro at this from going to about 15 Tori Amos concerts. You thread your way as close as possible to the door. So even though I was late, I got right up to the front pretty easily. We waited outside for about an hour for him. I could have worn my mini skirt after all, once we all started to crowd together I was downright hot. I had my purse underneath my coat, so no one would reach into it, but it made me look more bulky (remember that when you're looking at the pic! ;-p) Before he came out, his manager said to the crowd, "Ok, he'll try to get to everyone, but he's not going to sign names, he's just going to give his signature, take a picture, and that's it." We all thought that was fair enough. He finally came out, not in heels, he's so short! He's just a little taller than I am. It's adorable. Finally it was my turn. He took my tape from me, and signed his name and I said, "I just wanted to say thank you for coming here today because it's my birthday and this has been the best birthday present ever." And then he wrote "Happy Birthday" above his name and said "What's your name?" and I told him and he wrote my name on there, so my Glorious tape now says "Happy Birthday Penny Love Eddie Izzard" ^_^ Then I asked for a hug and he gave me one, and I got my picture taken with him ^_^ Then I said "Have a good day" LOL. I was just so stunned, so in shock, so overwhelmed, so YUM, so happy, so on cloud nine, so ecstatic, I walked away staring at my tape. I think I was floating.
Did the birthday present stop there? Oh no. I was walking back to my car, and the whole area is the Cleveland Theatre District, and I saw a sign advertising that Starlight Express will be running on their broadway series in December. This is a huge deal because 1. Starlight Express is my VERY VERY favorite musical, 2. It's an old and not wildly popular musical, so it's VERY rare for it to get another run, and 3. It's a very difficult musical to put on because it's all done on roller skates, with moving stage parts and all. My family and I ADORE this musical. We go wherever it goes. We've seen it in New York (first time), in Cincy, in England, my mom saw it in Las Vegas, we even went to Chicago just to see a special ice skating version of it. Now to see it back on stage again!! Thank you. Thank you to the powers that be that saw it fit to give me such a fantastic birthday.
Now I'm coming down from the high, and it's like...want MORE Eddie. Want to see him AGAIN. Want to see LOTS of him. ^_~ want to kidnap him and keep him in my room and.... *AHEM*
It was a GREAT day. It was a GREAT birthday.
(Again I say, I'm only that bulky because my purse is under my coat, to keep it safe!)
I still have more pictures to come. I have a cheapo camera to develop, these are just the pictures that came from
suraimu's digital camera. A lot of them ended up blurry, and most of the second half ones are bad, because the flash turned itself back on. But oh well. I'm also going to scan the program that I bought and my autographed video. So you have that to look forward to. But here are the digital pictures. (The great thing is, cameras were ALLOWED!)The marquee displaying "SEXIE"
The marquee displaying "Eddie Izzard" (it is, I swear)
What the stage looks like when you walk in
Eddie gesturing (or manuvering)
Eddie talking
More manuvers from Eddie
THE best picture I took all night. I think this may have to become a wallpaper
I was trying to get a shot of his boots ^_^
Second half, now we get blurry, but I wanted you to see his outfit
I have no face!
Best pic from the second half
Again, I was trying to get a whole body shot, with the boots, but the camera just isn't that long
Those are some sexie legs
Bowing at the end
Eddie signs for someone else
More pics to come!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-10-18 04:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-18 04:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-18 05:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-18 05:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-18 05:55 pm (UTC)*sigh*
no subject
Date: 2003-10-18 05:59 pm (UTC)I just asked another friend to check if she could see it, and she can see it fine. Clear your cache or something?
no subject
Date: 2003-10-18 11:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-19 05:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-19 09:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-18 05:08 pm (UTC)Starlight Express??? Are you JOKING?? I've never been able to see it and it will be in Cleveland??? OMIGOD, I must go!
no subject
Date: 2003-10-18 05:25 pm (UTC)(are you able to see the pic in the middle?) ^_^
no subject
Date: 2003-10-18 07:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-18 06:02 pm (UTC)It sounds like you had a fantabulous birthday. I'm extremely jealous. When he comes around again, you and I will have to go, even if that means murdering someone at work to get off. :)
*huggles*
no subject
Date: 2003-10-18 06:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-18 06:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-18 06:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-18 06:59 pm (UTC)AHHHAHA! EDDIE IZZARD!!! Can't..wait...will...be..so happy..^_^
no subject
Date: 2003-10-18 07:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-19 08:25 am (UTC)We needs it...we wants it..we must have the Precious!
^~
no subject
Date: 2003-10-18 08:25 pm (UTC)I really want Eddie's outfit from the first half now.
I'm glad you had such an awesome birthday. :)
no subject
Date: 2003-10-19 07:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-20 06:13 pm (UTC):)
no subject
Date: 2003-10-21 03:22 am (UTC)Yeah, no one would commit to going with me in May, when the tickets went on sale, so i said screw you all and ordered one for myself ^_^ Then, when it got closer, everyone went "oh i'm so jealous" and I said you had your chance ^_~
no subject
Date: 2003-10-21 02:43 pm (UTC)I got the same 'Oh I'm so jealous' thing from some of my friends as well. To which my reply was, "Well, why didn't you /say/ something? I've only been blathering about it for months."
Oh well. Their loss.