2003-11-26
7:28 a.m.

BEVR: Letterman/Donna in Philly

Clay's Appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, November 24th, 2003

First I must ask all of you to please bear with me. I am not the best writer, and I have no command of the English language at all. So, I will try my best to live up to the pressure of showing my BEVR. Here goes...

The week of November 10th, The Purple Pages were buzzing about a Letterman appearance. There were 2 dates floating around - November 24th and the 25th. I thought to myself, "Wouldn't THAT be a fun day trip???" I have always wanted to see the Letterman show, and now I had the perfect excuse! I logged onto the Late Show website, and clicked on "Tickets." A message stated tickets were sold out for all immediate future shows. However, the site did give the option of entering three dates to be considered for tickets, should they become available. Not knowing the exact date of Clay's appearance, I requested tickets for the 24th or 25th. I pretty much assumed that I would never hear back from them, and that would be it.

The days went by, The Purple Pages were still a buzz. Only now, it looked like November 24th was the big date. I marked the date on my calendar so that I would know to set my VCR. That was as exciting as things stayed until...

Friday, November 21st at about 12-1 pm, I got a call at work. A nice gentleman named Dave (not Letterman) introduced himself and told me he was from The Late Show with David Letterman. I swear, in a millisecond, my heart began pounding in my throat, and my clothes were soaked with sweat. Of course, I tried to be all cavalier about the whole thing. I opened my mouth - nothing came out. OK, clear your throat and try this again, "Yes, Dave, how can I help you?" Yea right. Like there's anything I have that this guy wants! He asked me if I was still interested in 2 tickets for the show on the 24th or 25th. AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...ahem, "Sure, that sounds great. Did you say the 24th?" He offered me either date. "Is Clay Aiken scheduled for the 24th?" Dave informed me that this information was not confirmed. I took the tickets for the 24th anyway. I thought I hit the jackpot!! Not quite. Dave gave me the name and number of the Audience Coordinator - Mitch. He told me to call Mitch at my earliest convenience, and he would give me 2 tickets if I answered a show-related trivia question correctly. CRAP!!! My voice must have changed because Dave told me not to worry, " Since you are a fan of the show, it will be really easy for you." I hung up in a total panic. Here I am, at work, trying to stay composed. I would barely breathe. I called Mr. Donna (Jeff). I begged him to call Mitch back, and answer the trivia question for me. I told him there was no way I could do it. Jeff agreed to call, but made me swear not to divorce him if he got the question wrong. I told him I couldn't promise anything. After playing phone tag, Jeff was finally able to speak with Mitch. "Who is Alan Culter?" Jeff guessed at the answer, and it was RIGHT!!! Jeff called me back at work and told me we were seeing David Letterman on Monday night. YAY !!!! The first place I went was to the Purple Pages to tell my friends :) Then, I told my boss I was taking a personal day.

Monday,November 24th 9am. I take my shower, and put on my purple blouse with white pinstripes. BIRD in place. I take it off. Put something else on, take it off. Now, I am not the kind that changes 17 times before an event, but this time, I was insane. I have no idea how many pieces of clothing I went through. I went for practicality. I knew I would be standing outside for a few hours. I had also heard rumors that Dave likes his studio cold. So, I am sorry to say, I wore a gray turtleneck with gray wool pants.

11 am - I picked Jeff up from work, and we changed seats. We were off to NY. I could barely think the entire way there. Jeff asked me if I wanted to listen to MOAM. I actually declined!!! I just wanted some silence for some reason. We get to NYC at about 1:30 pm and of course, all is bustling. We were told by Mitch to start lining up at the side of the building at about 3 pm. We go to the side of the building at about 1:45 and there is a small group gathering by a door with some metal barriers on either side of it. I start to eavesdrop. Apparently, this is the side door where the celebs enter the building. I might actually get a glimpse of Clay??? Jeff and I stood there listening to the crowd. I was disgusted. Many of these people were bad-mouthing Clay, but wanted his autograph anyway - to sell it, I suppose. Now, I know this happens, but there were also some small children there too - who wanted an autograph because they loved Clay, not because they wanted to make a profit. Did anyone let the kids up front? No way. It made me sick.

I had my camera ready. I scrambled for a piece of paper and a pen from my purse. I never even thought an autograph would be an opportunity - it just never occurred to me. I know, I know... I'm an amateur. Up comes the big black Excursion. Clay dashed out of the SUV. All I could see was his head. His hair looked darker than usual. I loved it! He was wearing sunglasses. He had his head down. He looked up briefly with a crooked smile, did a quick wave then flew through the door. I was thrilled just to see him!!!! I was about 3 yards away from him. The crowd let out a collective "Boooooo." Yea, sorry autograph dealers- no cash for you. We stood by the door a little while longer hoping for a glimpse of Mr. Newman. While we were waiting, I was able to speak with some very nice Clay fans.

At about 3:15 pm we saw a crowd gather at the front of the building, and a line was forming for tickets. Some interns were walking up and down the lines. Jeff and I talked with one of them. She asked us if we had ever seen Dave live before, if we had ever seen a live show before, etc. We told her how excited we were. After the conversation, she handed us 2 blue cards with a flag stamped on them, and her initial was written over the flag. She told us to hand the cards to the intern who would give us our tickets. We were confused, but thought it could only be a good thing. We got our tickets and were told to come back at 4:35pm.

4:35pm We were in line waiting to enter the theater. Everything moved very quickly. We were sorted into groups and escorted by the interns into different holding areas. What do I hear??? It's Clay's band doing a sound check. They played Invisible 4 times!!! The theater doors would open from time to time, and I was lucky enough to get a glimpse of Clay on stage wearing a sweatshirt and jeans. I was getting so excited that I honestly thought I was going to puke! In our holding area, there were about 40 people. About 3-4 interns came into the area and explained the rules of the theater. Some of these rules may have something to do with why you did not hear many screams from the audience. We were told that because the studio is so small, screaming is not permitted. The high pitches would come through on the mics and it would be very hard for those on stage to hear the cues they needed to hear (?). These rules were explained to us many, many times.

It was then explained to us that we were selected by the interns for having displayed excitement and enthusiasm. Because of that, we would be seated in the first rows of the theater. I was ready to cry. We were directed into the theater. We were then motioned to the second row, right in front of the stage close to Dave's band. I knew this is where Clay would be performing. Ten minutes before taping, Dave came out to greet the audience. He was very witty, and surprisingly very gracious. The theater was FREEZING. Most everyone kept their coats on for the entire show. The band was excellent. VERY loud, but very good. Mr. Newman was great. I enjoyed listening to him. During the breaks, Dave leaned over to talk with Mr. Newman, they laughed a few times. The music is so loud though, I think Dave and the guests have a hard time communicating during the breaks.

In a flash, out came Clay's band equipment and crew. The band was set up in less than 2 minutes. Then Clay came out on stage. There were some screams and cheers, but we all stopped ourselves having remembered the rules. Clay was about 15 feet away from us. I could not get over how beautiful he was. He moved like fluid. He took a few deep breaths. He looked a bit nervous. He stared at the floor a bit. Once Dave introduced him, and the lights came up, the look on his face changed dramatically. His band sounded great. He looked fantastic. Clay didn't look into the crowd much at all. He looked at the cameras pretty much the entire time. Paul Shafer and his band watched Clay and were actually dancing to the song. It was nice to see. After Clay was done, He took another deep breath with his cheeks full of air, and he held his stomach. He looked nervous again. He sat down, one leg tucked under the other, next to Dave. Someone then gave Clay a cup of something to drink. He took one sip of it, and placed it carefully back on the desk. Dave leaned over to say a few things, and Clay had a hard time hearing him. Clay sat for a few seconds tapping his fingers to the music of Paul's band. After the show was completed, Dave sprang up from his chair, thanked the audience and left the stage (Thank you, get out). Clay was left standing there, looking around. He was obviously nervous to be there, then he was left alone. Someone finally approached him and they left the stage.

We went outside, and I asked Jeff if we could go back to the stage door to get another glimpse. Jeff put his arm around me and agreed. There were so many people waiting for autographs - including the vultures that were there at 1:45 pm! Jeff was at one end of the crowd and I was at the other end. He had the camera, I had a pen and paper. Clay came out of the building. I was being pushed so hard by other people, I started to feel my legs give out. Jeff rushed over, and grabbed my pen and paper. Being 6'2" and 200lbs, he was able to push himself to the front of the crowd. He was right in front of Clay, but Clay didn't take the pen.

I was heart broken at first, but then quickly realized that I had the most wonderful experience. I saw Clay. Live. Up close. I also had the honor of sharing the same oxygen with Mr. Paul Newman! In addition, I have a husband who took off from work on short notice, drove me to NY and pushed though a crowd, just so I could see my American Idol.

While we were outside at opposite ends of the crowd, waiting for Clay, I looked to Jeff and mouthed to him in discouragement, "Why are you here?" He looked at me, and mouthed back, "Because I love you."

Donna in Philly

See Melissa and Katynka's screen cap page of the Letterman Show