XM Studios or Bust...

... bust.

I took a trip to the big NYC recently. It was through BSC at the rate of a $15 two way bus ticket. I was with friends but we had zero idea and even less direction as to what we were planning on doing when we got there.

I alone, outside of the "we" mentioned earlier, had one ambition. To find the XM Satellite Radio studios in order to visit the Ron and Fez show during a live broadcast.

So after what seemed like an endlessly awful bus ride which included a stop at a road side McDonald's, we finally found our stop off at Time Square. Two bus loads of Bridgewater State Zeros poured into busy intersections and spun in about a billion circles trying to decide what in the blazes was the first thing on their list. I made an epically failed attempt at recruiting a champion to accompany me on my search for the Steinway Building on 57th. I then hailed a cab.

I hopped out and walked some blocks before realizing that I had messed up somewhere along the way. I didn't know where I was or where I was supposed to be. All I knew was West 57th, Steinway Building. This did NOTHING for the cabbie, who was thankful to drop me off at any random corner along 57th.

I'm from Boston. I don't know blocks.

At this point my cellphone, furiously low on battery power, became my most crucial asset. I called my bro who tried to give me some better direction. I then called GOOG-411, the free directory service, which kindly texted me a more accurate address. 111 West 57th St.

And there I was, at the base of a building I feared I could not enter because the Ron and Fez show was already underway. The security guard at the desk wouldn't just let me waltz in. This was a place of business and surely XM was not the only office located in this building. But this was my Holy Grail, at least for the time that I was in New York.

Again I relied on my phone. Over and over I tried to call in to the show. Maybe I could get through and I could let the screener know that I wanted to be let in. Have the security guard informed that I was to be allowed in. But every call I made was immediately dropped upon connection.

What was this? I called my bro again, he informed me that if the topic was hot and the phone lines were busy I might not get through. The show would have just started, 12pm, and this seemed reasonable.

Again and again I called and I called, the battery meeter approaching the zero hour at a quicker rate with each smash of the send key.

1-877-RON-0-FEZ SEND
1-877-RON-0-FEZ SEND
1-877-RON-0-FEZ SEND
1-877-RON-0-FEZ SEND
1-877-RON-0-FEZ SEND

Workers come and go, lunch breaks and cigarette breaks and fresh air breaks and I begin to feel creepy based on the looks I was getting. I'm sitting out front of this random building in the middle of NYC in the middle of the afternoon on a Monday. Shouldn't I have something better to do? I have my phone to and away from my ear off and on. Who could I be calling? Backpack strapped around my shoulders. What's in the bag? I can't possibly look like I should be here.

Finally, I recognize someone leaving the building. I ray of hope, a glimmer of success. Danny, the producer from XM's Opie and Anthony Show. I grab his attention and ask him, hurriedly, if I can get upstairs to whach Mr. Bennington and Mr. Whatley at work.

"They're not live today, come back tomorrow"

Not live? Tomorrow?! It's not every day that I can come into NYC. It's not every day that Ron and Fez take a random vacation... Why do they have to be the same day?!

Ah well. The day was so beautiful and the thrill of the chase was in my veins. I made my way back to Time Square on foot.

XM Studios or Bust?

Bust.