Blackout Hero

Another tale from the blackout – NYC handled itself rather well. Ted Leo did his part as Lookout Records’ Tristin Laughter informs us:

08/14/2003: South St. Seaport Pier 17 – New York, New York Seaport Music Festival- With: The Natural History; Doors: 5PM; all ages

Having loaded in, checked, he was all ready to go. But the night the lights went out in Georgia … (and hey, why DON’T the subways have generators??), Ted decided The Show Must Go On! Borrowing power from a Starbucks truck (oh, the metaphor!), he played to the swarms of people attempting to ferry home. The ferries reportedly had the longest lines in NYC, at one point with over 20,000 people in them, stretching from the 30’s to the 50’s – over 20 city blocks of people. Teddy was playing on the periphery of the big ferry lines jam, but he played to many travellers and even found listeners leaving their cars on the stopped FDR overpass to come to his show.

Ted’s performance was a dark, intimate, weirdly festive moment in NYC; as he said, “you could really feel the love.”

Read Ted’s entire account of his show at his website, http://www.tedleo.com/.

I’d tell you some of what Ted had to say, but his site is in Flash and thus can’t be copied. Damn, I hate Flash, the blogger’s bete noire.