NYC VO Meet-up

You’ve probably seen the pictures by now…the smiles, the poses, the general commiseration among friends giddy with the proximity of relationship.

I was there.  I know.  It was special.

The place was small, and a bit noisy…but hey…we’re all talkers.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.  First there was the afternoon, and the rain…a grey colder-by-the-minute wet that prompted a small band of us (Bob Souer, Doug Turkel, and Anthony Mendez) to continually seek refuge in dry places of warmth.

Mind you, every other citizen in NYC with a lousy umbrella was doing the same thing, so this was a challenge.  First there was Katz’ Delicatessen.  Obviously a favorite stop for millions…it felt like there were, indeed, almost that many in the place…but the food was great, and the conversation even better…and no one made us leave for about an hour…even though many glanced our way with full trays and an urgency in their eyes.A quick cab ride in the rain brought us to a more cosmopolitan neighborhood where we found warm and dry seats around a table for a couple more hours.  It was a Starbucks near Broadway and 8th.

Another walk (unable to hail a cab) just at dusk, and with rain changing to big fat fluffly flakes of snow, brought us to the lobby of a hotel where several of our companions were either staying or changing clothes.

John Florian joined us, as did Philip Banks, and eventually Liz de Nesnera and Moe Egan.

In scant minutes, we crossed the street to Boca Chica for a VO-BB pre-party party.  Lee Gordon, the inimitable DB Cooper with husband DeWitt, Peter O’Connell, Pam Tierney, Mary McKitrick, Philip Banks, Mandy Nelson, and (I’m sure I’m forgetting someone) others barely could find the time for food around busy conversation.

Before we knew it, the time was 7pm, and it was off to the party.  Most everything after that was a blur, and somewhere I started losing my voice trying to talk above the din, but the hilites included Erik Sheppard proposing to his fiance…Terry Daniel whining about Minneapolis not getting any respect, and Dave Kaplan handing me a chocolate microphone as a Christmas gift.

I got to meet Roy Yokelson, Dave DeAndrea, Bob Bergen, and other luminaries like Melissa Exelberth, Ron Levine, Diane Havens, Randy Kaye, Trish Basanyi, Stephanie Ciccarelli, Michael Schoen, Tom Dheere and Bobbi Owens.

Again, this is not mean to be an exhaustive list…and any omission is certainly not meant to be a slight…the place was packed with people I admire from top to bottom and as I expected…by the end of the night, my face hurt from smiling.

Too many pictures…not enough room for them all!

Bob Souer and I finally collapsed into our hotel room after dropping-off Dave DeAndrea at the airport.

We looked over some pics, posted some to the VO-BB, and crashed.

What a day!

CourVO