Rockin' Around in NYC

The 2nd part of our anniversary weekend spectacular-spectacular brought us to New York City for a couple of days. As many of you know, we have been members and contributors to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International for many years. I guess it has “caught up to us”, as a few months ago we received an invitation to a special luncheon in Manhattan to be “personally thanked” by Sigourney Weaver herself. Ms. Weaver is the Honorary Chairwoman of the DFGFI, and has been active in supporting Mountain Gorilla conservation since she starred in Gorillas in the Mist in 1986.

We made our way to Manhattan the morning of the luncheon. I was able to book a room at The Paramount Hotel relatively cheaply on Priceline. They state it’s a 3 1/2 star hotel, but based on the reviews on Trip Advisor I wasn’t expecting much. We arrived around 10:30 am, and as we’re checking in the front desk clerk asked, “Did I hear correctly, that you two are celebrating an anniversary?” I certainly hadn’t said anything to anyone, but acted like that’s why we were there, and she quickly upgraded us to a “corner room”. Dropping the old “anniversary celebration” line certainly comes in handy at hotels and airline counters. The upgrade basically put us into a room that would be considered standard size anywhere outside of NYC, but I was happy to not be stuffed into a closet sized room.

After relaxing for a bit we headed out to the luncheon which was taking place at the Yale Club, next to Grand Central. We arrived at Noon and participated in the standard “30 minute drink-and schmooze” time that all events seem to have. We’re not big mingling people, so we kept to ourselves on the outskirts of the group. After 15 minutes or so Sigourney showed up, simply walking into the room on her own and blending in. I guess, considering this was a non-profit luncheon and not some big Hollywood event, that I shouldn’t have been surprised that she didn’t have a dozen handlers, publicists, managers, etc., following her around. Instead she simply showed up like everyone else – very down-to-earth. There was a photographer hovering around the group (which ended up being about 100 folks), and people started to congregate around Sigourney to get pictures with her. We decided to wait it out, but after a few minutes the luncheon got under way and we were asked to take our seats.

We found our assigned seats at Table 2, and started talking to the folks around us. To our right were 2 single middle-aged women who Sage pegged as rich divorcees who like to spend their ex-husband’s money on environmental causes. To our left sat Dr. Tara Stoinski, Director of Research and Education Partnerships for DFGFI. While she’s based in Atlanta (where the DFGFI US offices are), she entertained us with stories of her time spent with the gorillas, and encouraged us to get over to visit them as soon as we can. At one point she noticed a couple of empty seats at our table and said, “I heard that Anderson Cooper was supposed to be here today, but I guess he couldn’t make it.” While Sage sat in stunned silence (she’s a bit of an Anderson Cooper fan), I asked, “Oh, so he was coming today?” Tara replied, “Yes, he just recently did a story on the Mountain Gorillas. He’s supposed to be at our table too.” I think that sent Sage over the edge and I could hear her hyperventilating next to me. Not only was he supposed to be at the luncheon, but sitting at our table! Alas, the man never arrived.

A couple of other men did sit at our table, and one introduced himself as Arne Glimcher. That meant nothing to me, but then someone asked him how he became interested in gorillas. He responded, “Well, I produced Gorillas in the Mist.” Nice! We spent some time talking to him about filming the movie, how it brought the plight of the mountains gorilla to the public eye, and life as a movie producer. For example, he said that, according to Warner Brothers, the movie hasn’t made a profit yet, even though it was made for $25 million and he said it’s made over $80 million worldwide. (This may be true, though IMDB shows that it’s made only $25 million in the US. International grosses are not listed.) Therefore he hasn’t made a penny on the movie yet; but he’s quick to point out that he didn’t make the movie for money, and the awareness of Dian Fossey that came out of the movie is priceless. He didn’t seem like the brightest bulb in the socket to me, though. At one point he said how the movie still isn’t available on DVD. I stopped for a second, thinking, then said, “That’s not true, we have a copy at home.” He seemed genuinely astonished to hear that, and I was amazed that the producer of the movie didn’t even know a DVD has been released.

After eating our lunch (which surprisingly was a small filet with some vegetables and potatoes – I would think there would be plenty of vegetarians at a luncheon like this) Clare Richardson, the President of DFGFI, got up to speak. She thanked us all for our contributions and support of mountain gorilla conservation, then directly mentioned a few people at the lunch, including Gloria Steinem who was attending. (Side note: Gloria Steinem married David Bale in 2000, who is the father of actor Christian Bale. Christian is on the Board of Trustees of the DFGFI, but I guess he couldn’t make the lunch, even though his step-mom did.) Clare then turned the microphone over to Sigourney who spoke for a few minutes about her trip back to Rwanda last year to visit the mountain gorillas for the first time since filming Gorillas in the Mist. The trip was filmed by the BBC and made into an Animal Planet show called Gorillas Revisited with Sigourney Weaver. After showing some clips of the show, she then wanted to thank some long-time donors to the DFGFI by recognizing them, including a couple called “Sage and Doug Wicinski”, who have been members for 12 years. (Two things here: First, Sage and I looked at each other and said, “We’ve been members for 12 years?!?!” That means we first started giving in 1994, when we were only 2 years out of college and making (combined) about $20,000/year. Neither of us could quite believe it. The second point I need to make: Sigourney Weaver said our names – and out loud too! Well, we thought it was pretty cool.)

After the talks, we were told that Sigourney would be available in the outer room for pictures with everyone, so we hastily got in line. When it was our turn we walked up and introduced ourselves, but I think all I got out of my mouth was “Arrr, um, hiimdougwicinskinicetomeetyou”. Very smooth. We stood on either side of Ms. Weaver, as she PUT HER ARMS AROUND US and posed for the photographs. I walked away in a daze, with I’m sure a ridiculous grin on my face, and the only thing going through my head was, “Sigourney Weaver had her arm around me, and I had my hand on her back…and I wasn’t being arrested!” The photographer’s assistant was taking our names and said the photographs would be mailed to us through the DFGF. That will take a spot on the wall of fame, alongside our photos of us with Phil Esposito, the framed copy of the Boston Globe from October 28, 2004, and a picture of Sage holding up a fish. On our way out of the luncheon we stopped to introduce ourselves to Clare Richardson and to thank her for inviting us. She said they’ll plan to have this again next October (“October works best for Sigourney”, she said), and we bid our goodbyes. But as we’re walking out Sage bent over and grabbed something that was lying on the floor. “Just put it in your pocket”, she said, handing me Sigourney’s nametag from the event. (She had also grabbed Anderson Cooper’s name tag off the front table on an earlier trip to the restroom.) Yes, you could say that we were a bit star-struck at the event, but then again we’re not insanely rich and live in the Hamptons like 90% of the folks who were there, so you’ll have to forgive us.

We made our way back to our hotel and changed out of our monkey suites into shirts and jeans. I got in contact with my friend Chris from Jersey who said he would probably not make it into the city until 7:30, but we’d meet up for dinner down in Greenwich Village at a Brazilian restaurant called Casa. (Original name, no?) With time to kill we decided to walk up Broadway to the Ed Sullivan Theater and try to get a glimpse of whoever would be on the Letterman show Monday. Unfortunately they were on vacation and not filming, so we found a place called The House of Brews and sat down for some serious beer drinking. We then made our way by subway down to the Village to meet Chris. (Chris is a college friend who is notoriously late for everything…except for my wedding. In one of the more amazing feats of modern achievement, he was actually 90 minutes early for our wedding. This evening he was only 7 minutes late, which is pretty impressive as well.) Our meal was good, and I enjoyed a Caipirnha, a Brazilian margarita. Afterwards we went to a bizarre pub called the Jekyll and Hyde, which was completely dead and way overpriced. After a drink we bid adieu to Chris and made it back to the hotel for some shut eye.

We awoke the next day to overcast skies and drizzle and made our way to the Bronx and a visit to the Bronx Zoo. The subway ride was only about 35 minutes, and we got to the gate just as it opened. The main attraction at the Bronx Zoo is the Congo Gorilla Forest, a 6.5 acre rainforest recreation that is home to over a dozen Western Lowland Gorillas. We hoofed it almost immediately to the exhibit, and it didn’t disappoint. The layout is such that there are plenty of windows to view the gorillas, and plenty of opportunities to get your nose right against the glass with a gorilla nose. The zoo is also home to 3 new gorilla babies, and the mother gorillas were more than happy to show off their little ones. We spent a lot of time watching the troops, and it is definitely one of the best gorilla zoo habitats we’ve ever seen.

After the gorillas we spent the next few hours taking in as much as we could. We saw a lot of the basic zoo animals, such as giraffes, lions, monkeys, and birds, but we also some special animals as well, such as black leopards, African wild dogs, snow leopards, grizzly bears, and babirusas. Though there were a few attractions closed because of the weather (it started raining pretty hard during the day), we had a great time, and the rain kept it uncrowded as well, which is always a bonus. On the subway on the way back to our hotel we had one of those quintessential New York City experiences: a psychotic man sat down right next to me. For the entire time he was on the train with us (about 20 minutes) he simply kept talking stream of consciousness out loud: “We do it? We don’t do it. We HAVE to do it. We can’t do it. We’ll do it. FBI. CIA. DEA. NSA. ATF.” At one point I think he leaned over and started ranting to me, but I simply sat there, looking straight ahead, pretending I heard nothing. If he got really aggressive I was all set to bust out some French on him. “Je ne comprends pas…Je ne parle pas anglais, Je suis Quebecois.” Fortunately it never got to that point, and the trip went on without incident. We made our way back to the hotel, and on the way we saw a group of people standing around an outside patio area of a restaurant, with a lot of cameras and lights. We just figured it was just some stupid show filming, but we took a closer look and saw Jack Black and Kyle Gass, otherwise known as TENACIOUS D – the greatest band on earth! We’re both big fans, so we wiggled our way onto the patio and got some pictures as the two were doing some work with an MTV crew promoting their new movie, Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny.

After getting in a shower and changed for dinner, we went to an Italian joint called Joe’s Pizzeria, close to Times Square, that I’ve been to before. (And considering the pounding rain, we needed somewhere close.) We had some wine, pasta and desserts, and then went back to our room to change for the night’s big attraction: tickets to a Broadway show. Sage got seats to Avenue Q, the story of a college grad who moves to the big city to pursue his dreams, only to find out that the struggle to find jobs, relationships, and a PURPOSE is much tougher than you might think. The theater wasn’t too full, which I’m not sure is because it was a rainy day, or if the show is running out of steam after 3 years, but I had a great time. I’m not much of a musical person, but Avenue Q is hilarious, quite vulgar in places, and features plenty of puppets. Yes, it has puppets. Very original, and it features songs such as “What Do You Do With a B.A. in English?”, “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist”, and “The Internet Is For Porn”. After the show we walked back to the hotel and called it a night, as I wanted to leave early the next morning to beat traffic we might hit in the tunnel. All in all, a really fun 2 days in the Big Apple.