Nov. 14: I Am Mine
Nov. 15: Save You

THE WEEK OF

Let me just start by saying that I declared Monday, November 11th through Friday, November 15th "National Pearl Jam Awareness Week". Because of the release of the new album I knew that I would be wearing all of my shirts that week anyway, so why not make a big deal out of it? This week was going to be the week where my friends absolutely hated Pearl Jam because they would hear so much about it. The purpose was to wear all my shirts, listening to nothing but the Jam and just make it known that PJ is the greatest band ever! Moving on.

THE DAY BEFORE

A few months ago when I found out that Pearl Jam was going to be playing on Letterman and understood that they would be recording both shows on Thursday November 14th I went to the Late Show's website to find out about getting tickets. Now, I live in Maryland and the chances of me buying tickets and being able to go to New York in the middle of the week during my first semester in college were very slim. But I read the rules and entered the lottery over the Late Show's website. You have the opportunity to enter three dates that you plan on being in the New York City area and include the name of one guest that you would take. I knew that I would never be selected to get tickets. However, on Wednesday, November 13th I was on my way to work and I was talking on the phone with someone. When I hung up the phone I saw that I had two voicemail messages. One was from my friend asking me how I enjoyed the new album, Riot Act. The other message was from a lady named Bethany at the Late Show with David Letterman. When I heard her introduce herself over the message I got chills down my entire body. The rest of the message included that she was offering me two tickets to see the Late Show on November 14th because of cancellations. She said that if I plan on being in the New York City area tomorrow and call back and answer a trivia question correctly the tickets are mine! I thought just the chance that I might possibly in a million years win tickets to see Pearl Jam. I called my friend who I put on the lottery list as my guest and told him. It's a whole different story but he declined to go with me. But I was not going to let him stand in the way of me seeing my band. So when I got to work I called Bethany at the Late Show back. She answered immediately and explained the rules of the game to me. I agreed to play and she asked me the following question. "For the past few months the Late Show has been doing a sketch called 'Will It Float?' where Letterman and Paul Shaeffer take guesses at whether or not objects will float in a tank of water. Who actually drops the objects in the tank of water?" I was so surprised at the easiness of the question because I regularly watch the Late Show and was very familiar with this sketch. I answered "the two girls" hesitantly because I thought she was looking for specific names. But these two girls were like Vanna White or Barker's Beauties. You know, they were the sequined dresses and present things to the audience. She next sentence Bethany told me was music to my ears. "Congratulations. You've just won two tickets to see the Late Show on November 14th." I was in front of my boss and I began shaking for around 45 mins. She asked me if I would be in the area...I said "I can be!" She was like, "Oh you don't live in the area" and I told her I live in Maryland. She asked why I wanted to go see the show. I told her, "BECAUSE PEARL JAM IS GOING TO BE THERE!" My plans for Thursday changed real quick. Bethany said that my friend who I put on the lottery list as my guest are invited to come. But when I told her that he couldnt go, she explained that the person I take has to be on the lottery list. Well I didnt know anyone else on the list so I opted for only one ticket. I always told myself that I would go to a Pearl Jam concert by myself. Letterman would only be my second time seeing them. The first being the DC show of 2000. I called my mom, my Jam-head friend in California. But I did have to begin working sometime. Later that night my dad informed me that he would not let me drive to New York by myself. So he would drive with me and just hang out around Time Square while im in the theater.

THE MORNING OF

I woke up on Thursday morning at 9:30. My dad said he would be at my college to pick me up at 10:30. I showered and ran down to the school store to buy a video tape to record Thursday's performance. But alas, I couldn't figure out how to set the VCR - call me old fashioned. So we left around11:00 for NYC. We ended up taking route 95 all the way up instead of getting on 295 and the Delaware Memorial Bridge and getting the scenic route of Philidelphia. I thought it set us back like 45 mins but we made the entire trip to New York in about 4 hours. We parked in an entirely overpriced parking garage a few blocks north of Time Square. We walked around Time Square, my dad took some pictures because it was his first time to Manhattan and only my second. We had lunch at TGIFriday's. It was now about 4:30-5:00. Bethany from the Late Show told me that I can only pick up my tickets from 4:30-5:30. If it was 5:31, I was late. So we walked over to the Ed Sullivan theater and I got in line. My dad left to go see "8Mile" at a movie theater in Time Square - why "8Mile", I dont know! In line we all made our way through different stations. The first, we were allowed to enter the building with our name on the list and our ID. The next station we actually got our tickets for the show. Then we waited in the foyer of the building. We were the Friday night's crowd. Our show began taping at 7:00 so one of the interns told us that we could be released until 6:00 where we would be across the street. While we were waiting there, I stood next to another Pearl Jam fan. This older lady and her husband asked us, "Who are the guests tonight" I answered, "Al Gore" sarcastically followed by an excited "and PEARL JAM!" She said "who?....Pearl Jim?..I've never heard of him!...Must be an age thing." I'll leave it at that. Instead of roaming the streets of New York for an hour, I decided to check out what was going on around back. Sure enough there was a large crowd. Finally I spotted a congregation of my people. They were all waiting for our band to come out. They had already talked to some people and signed autographs when they got to the studio around 2:30 from what I understand. The band didn't come out but I met some pretty cool people. One girl met Mike and Ed. She even talked to Mike's guitar tech and he gave her a pick. I was pretty envious of that. Then again I actually got to go to the show. While I was talking to someone I heard this banging and yelling on the a side door to the building. I looked over and it was my people applauding for our band after they played "I Am Mine" for Thursday night's performance. They heard it through the door and said that the solo was "sick!" It was time for me to move from one group of people to another across the street. We went into the Roseland Ballroom where Dave's interns gave us the rundown and rules of the show. No "wooing" but laugh hard, etc. We finally went back across the street to the Ed Sullivan theater. The anticipation was growing!

THE TAPING

We went through a warm up guy and the CBS orchestra played a few songs. Finally Dave came out and answered a really stupid question from the audience. Then it was time for the show to begin. The monologue was fairly funny and the CBS orchestra sounded great. The top 10 list was good, and they even played "Will It Float?" but later cut it from the show. I have to admit, it was fairly impressive to see the former Vice President in person. But, the rumors are true. Al Gore is VERY boring. He started off with a few good jokes towards the Bush administration and the way the 2000 election was organized (or the lack of). But Gore eventually went into yawn-mode. There was a time of about 10 minutes when the audience didn't laugh or clap or anything. We just listened - sort of. Finally, Dave said those magic words, "We'll be right back with Pearl Jam!"

Lately, during commercial breaks the CBS Orchestra will play this jazzy song where Paul Shaeffer comes out and sings to the microphone as if it were his lost love very passionately. They began the song and when Paul drops to the floor, a celebrity usually comes out and throws a cape over him to escort him off of the stage. I was hoping that the celebrity would be a certain E. Vedder! But instead it was that comedian, Chris Elliot. During that commercial break they set up all the equipment. The band was talking to all the producers of the Late Show and I supppose their instrument techs. Mike's hair was a bright red! I could hardly contain myself at this point.

When Dave returned from the commercial break the least little mentioning of the musical guest caused me to scream and clap really loud. "Ladies and gentleman....PEARL JAM!" They broke into the song hard. It sounded great! They were very energetic from the get-go. Mike's body was flailing everywhere and Stone seemed as if he wanted to cause the guitar pain. Ed's voice sounded perfect even though the speakers that had the vocals in it were a little low at first but kicked in like half way through the song. We were all expecting them to play "Save You" but wondered if Vedder was going to be a rule breaker like usual and say "Fuck" I personally thought I heard the F-word throughout the song. I mean he mumbles anyway. But after talking with other people and watching the video, I do see that he reversed the word and instead said "and kcuf you if I say something you don't want to hear." I was really surprised when Stone took the solo. It was the first ever performance of the song so I didn't know what to expect. My favorite part of the song is when Ed jumps and kicks his feet out at the end of the song. Dave Letterman walks over and jokes if they enjoyed their sleep the night before even though they just recorded Thursday night's show about one hour before. To sum it up - it just plain rocked.

That was it. I left the theater and the door let out right to where all the fans were waiting for the band to come out. I immediately established a position there and met up with the people I met prior to the show. I told them how hard it rocked and it turns out they were envious of me! About 10-15 minutes went by and we were getting antsy...just seeing the door open and close so many times and the people walking through it not being a band member. Finally we spotted a tan and white beanie! That was Jeff! As each member of the band came out we yelled their name. To my memory it was Jeff, Stone, Mike, Ed, Matt, and Boom. They all waved to the crowd and jumped in one of two black vans. I will never forget the huge smile that Matt gave us as he waved and walked to the van. Even Boom turned around, smiled and waved when we called him. He is probably amazed at his instant stardom.

I had the time of my life that night. I will never ever forget it. I always thought that those radio contests and those type of things never happen to people like me. Well, it goes to show you that dreams do come true! Thanks for a great night Pearl Jam!