Well, my day started off at about 9:15 am when I met up with my buddy Steve at the Omega Diner in North Brunswick, NJ. After a hearty breakfast and some studying of the Late Show trivia cheat sheats that Steve made up, we were on our way into the city. Parked the car at about 10:45 am, and started walking over to 53rd and Broadway to the Ed Sullivan Theater. Right at 11 am we both got out our cell phones and started bombarding the standby ticket phone number hoping to get through. After about 8 minutes Steve let me know that he got through and he handed me his cheat sheet to hold in front of him in case the question was difficult. Low and behold they asked him the easiest question ever, "Who is Rupert Jee?". For those who don't know, he is the owner of the Hello Deli. So thanks to that easy question, we were numbers 10 and 11 in the standby line for the second taping!!!

At this point we kinda just walked around and wasted some time, and noticed a small congregation of PJ fans hanging out behind the theater, so we stopped by to chat, and noticed that PJ's gear was stacked up by the back door! We heard some people saying that they just tried to get tickets but the questions they were asked were too difficult and they got them wrong. The one thing we noticed about all these people was that they were all either wearing PJ shirts, or carrying some sort of memorabilia to get autographed, so I made a mental note, and we made our way over to 47th street to try and find someone with a clipboard handing out tickets. Right when we got there, we saw a nice girl with a clipboard and Late Show id badge on, so I buttoned up my jacket, and said "Hi, do you have tickets to the Late Show?" She said, "I sure do, but first I have to ask you some questions. First, are you fans of the show and do you know any of the guests that are going to be on?" I replied, "I'm a big fan of Dave and I know that Al Gore is on tomorrow, and I think that Pearl Jam is playing" So the girl then asked me if I was a Pearl Jam fan to which I replied "I've heard their music."  Little did she know I had every ticket stub from every show I've ever been in my pocket to try and get autographed, and my "Death to False Metal" t-shirt on under my jacket!!! If she only knew how nuts I am about PJ, she would've asked me a tough question, instead she asked, "Who is Biff Henderson?" C'MON! If you don't know that, you got problems!! Thanks to her we got tickets to the first taping!! So by 12 noon we were guaranteed tix to night one, and we were #'s 10 and 11 on standby for friday's taping!!

So now we made our way back over to behind the theater and got our spots by where the band comes in. Once again, we were hanging out with some really cool PJ fans and had some great conversations about RIOT ACT, previous tours, and what the PJ future may hold. At about 1:45, my trivia answer Biff Henderson came out to smoke a cigarette and told us that PJ should be arriving at about 2:15 or so.

Biff Henderson, Late Show Stage Manager	One of PJ's gear cases outside the studio

The first black van pulls up and out steps Mike McCready, with newly died maroonish colored hair!! Mike was very friendly, making about 2 passes back and forth to sign autographs and shake hands with the fans. Mike signed my Jones Beach 2000 night one ticket stub. He was very gracious and responsive to compliments. When asked what song they were playing he mentioned that the second song may be 1/2 Full.

Mike getting out of the van	Check out the new hair color!	Signing autographs

Next van pulls up and out steps Eddie Vedder. Dressed very casually and comfortably in a beige fedora and a plaid-ish overcoat, he was also friendly and all smiles! He didn't sign any autographs but paused to chat for a few seconds to the fans. When asked what the band would play and if 1/2 Full was on the last, Eddie answered with a friendly question "I am Mine or 1/2 Full?" and waited for answers, to which I yelled out BUSHLEAGUER! which is right when I snapped the great photo of Ed seen below. I also have some great video footage of Ed conversing with the crowd which I will post soon. Ed was followed into the theater by Matt (in jean jacket) and BOOM (who seems to be a fan favorite, probably cause his name is fun to yell).

Check out the cop staring at Ed!	Saying hello to the fans!	He must like my camera!!

Jeff, being "quick like the mongoose" surprised everyone and came by so quick that we barely had a chance to yell his name before he was in the theater! At this point it was 2:30 ish so we left to go pick up our tix for the 1st taping.

THURSDAY NIGHT TAPING

Here we are inside the theater, in the lower level about 8 rows back, right in front of Dave's desk. I really don't remember much from the start of the show, except that I've never clapped so much in my life. The whole crowd clapped for like 5 minutes straight while the CBS Orchestra was introduced and when Dave came out to warm the crowd up. First guest was some actress I never heard of, but I will go see her movie "Secretary" since Dave mentioned that there is a scene in the movie where she is getting spanked. Anyways, at the next commercial break the CBS Orchestra breaks into a kickin' version of Hail, Hail. It was interesting to hear a trombone in place of Eddie's lyrics!! Well during another commercial break I see someone place a vinyl copy of Riot Act on Dave's desk, and see the crew start setting up the band's gear. OH THE ANTICIPATION! I sat up in my seat, and had to lean to the right cause the guy in front of me had the biggest head in the history of big heads.

The band came out as the Orchestra was finishing up, and Ed was grooving back and forth with his guitar on, obviously enjoying the talents of Paul Schaffer and crew. Mike had the coolest pants on, he looked like a pizzeria man at a disco (in a good way). Stone looked casual as always, with Jeff wearing a wicked cool scully hat. Ed was casual as well, with jacket on since it gets kind of cold in the studio. Also evidenced by Mike blowing into his hands during the commercial break.

END BREAK and Dave introduces the band, and they break into I am Mine (I swear I can hear myself yell "YEAH!" right before they start), with Stone playing on an acoustic. It was a quality version of the song, with the only downfall being that Ed was a little far away from the mike when he does his WOOOO! scream towards the end, but he still got it out nonetheless. Couldn't really hear BOOM that much, but all in all the song sounded great. End song, much applause, handshakes from Dave and Dave asking Eddie if they will come back tomorrow night, to which Eddie sarcastically smiles and says, "I'm comin'. We're comin'!!!!".

Show's over and we get outside about 5:45 or so, just in time to get in line for standby's for the 2nd taping. At this point, I felt confident that we would get in, especially after the ticket guy told everyone from number 20 back to go home as there was no chance they would get tickets. I felt bad as it looked like there were some hardcore PJ fans in line. But alas, we were #'s 10 and 11, and were shifted over to the front of the theater. After all ticketholders got in, our standby ticket guy came out, opened the ropes and the first 15 or so of us in!!! SO PSYCHED!

FRIDAY NIGHT TAPING

This time we were also in the lower level, but straight away in the last row, which was actually better as it was right in front of where PJ plays. After hearing the same jokes from the warm-up guy, and doing the whole clapping thing again, I struggled to stay awake through the 25 minute Al Gore interview. He was slightly funny at first, but it was the same jokes over and over, they kept mentioning the Florida ballot miscount, etc. During the commercial break, they bring out a lone mike stand, which led me to speculate that maybe Ed would be playing solo? But after they brought the stand out, they brought the rest of the gear out so I now I was more confused as to why there was an extra mike stand in front of the amps and monitors. Turns out that Mr. Paul Schaffer decided to go nuts and sang the crap out of some bluesy song, and made his way out into the center of the stage to finish up. He was on the ground, and Chris Elliot came out and threw a shiny silver cape on his back, much to the amusement of the band members who were all out and ready to play at this point. Once again, Eddie was grooving, this time with hands in pocket and head down, and Matt kinda played along on his drum kit. Ed had his jacket off, in preparation for a KICK ASS version of Save You. As they start playing I lean to my friend Steve and say, "Dude, they say the word FUCK like a million times in this song!". Not sure if Ed said fucker in the first line or not, but he changed the latter F-bomb's to the word "cuff", or "Kcuf" as some on the message board like to say. Some say they sold out for changing the word, I say everyone can go KCUF themselves because with the energy and intensity they played the song, they could've said anything and I wouldn't care. I mean this was like seeing the Evenflow video from back in the early 90's. They were so animated and intense, jumping around and going nuts, Ed was yelling and singing with such emotion, it was quite possibly one of the best live PJ moments I've ever been a part of. My favorite part was during the line "c'mon, hit me instead" Ed did his classic move where he takes his hand and hits himself in the head, pushing it back. AWESOME. UNBELIEVABLE. KICK ASS. There aren't enough words to describe the emotion and raw energy that was on that stage during that song.

Another funny post-song moment as Dave came over and asked Mike if they "slept well last night".

Left the studio and made our way back to where the band would come out (same door they came in). There were a lot more PJ fans out their after the show, with some people across the street. Some girl was on her boyfriends shoulders and and blocking the view for a few people. I wouldn't mind if she was a PJ fan trying to get a photo, but I heard her ask "how many people are in this band?" Luckily, I did happen to get a picture of Jeff's head as he was leaving the studio!!

self-explanatory

If anyone has further questions, feel free to email me, bczechowicz@yahoo.com.

Jamfully yours,

Bob Czechowicz

PearlJamBob (formerly known as Pjnjbob), bobczechowicz.com