It was again quite a boring trip, travelling during the day so you don’t want to sleep but it’s hard to occupy your mind. We usually end up singing along to the guitars or arguing about which music we want on. We got there at 5:00 but we had to stay just outside Manhatten in a days inn car park just the other side of the Lincoln Tunnel cos the bus was only allowed into the city between certain hours of the day it would be too much hassle. We got reasonably dressed up, as we would be spending the night on a paddle boat around New York with some of the high flyer’s. The boat was due to leave at 7:00 so there wasn’t much time; everyone was bundled into taxis and rushed to the dock. We made it in time and realised it wasn’t just some friendly trip around the island but it had three bars on board. Two floors of the finest techno and house music. And an upper deck to chill out on and look at the sites of New York. It was a free bar before 8;00 so naturally we set up camp and took full advantage before moving on to the top deck to see us set sail, do a bit of mingling and, call me a tourist but there’s some sites that you just have to see from the water. The Vodca was going down nicely and we were all up dancing, Sheryl taking it a little bit to far, I think she thought she was auditioning for a part in the movie “Striptease” or something. Fair play though, she was getting the boys attention; I just thought it was plain dirty though. It became obvious that perhaps we’d had too much to drink when we went upstairs and Boppa began talking to a Dj from the Bronx. Now, Boppa talks shit at the best of times but if there’s one thing he does know it’s his music. The conversation started of OK, Two music lovers discussing what they were into. The guy was heavily into his techno and when Boppa said he was into drum and base it didn’t go down to well, neither did Boppa rapping at him. Anyway, we avoided boppa getting thrown of the boat, mainly because I was holding him on the boat, but it all kicked off again when we tried to leave at the end of the night, and “I don’t want to talk to you, cos you smell like my poo” defiantly didn’t help. Nice one Bop. We avoided it all again and started to make our way to the after party, party at a local club only to have the guy run down the street and punch bop in the back of the head as we were walking away, then it defiantly kicked off Phil turned and swung at him with the camera tripod and took a direct hit. This time A girl we had met on the boat who new these people calmed it all down and Boppa and I got in a taxi with her to go to the next club. We thought it was finally over but as we got to a set of traffic lights, a car screeched up next to us and we were told we were going to die tonight and followed us to the club, the girl got out to go and talk to them again and we went over to a donut shop next to the club, fortunately in there was a policeman eating dohnuts. Nice one. The decision was made though, once we told the crew that they had threatened to kill us and although it was all funny at the time we were very drunk and probably didn’t realise how serious it could have been, especially as we were in New York. So not only did we get to see the major sights but have a good night out and experience some of the people of New York and almost got shot, quite an evening.
It had been a long night so we didn’t wake up until midday again. Then we headed straight onto the island, the girls went shopping for cheap clothes and I took the opportunity to find a tattoo parlour and get my tattoo done as we didn’t have time and we would be away from the sea for such a long time it would give it a chance to set in. There were plenty of places all in the same part of town so we had a look to see which looked the most professional the went in to negotiate a price. Joel who already had plenty of tattoos was making it out to be really painful but he’s been scared of needles most his life. I expected to be biting on a stool or something but the only time it really hurt was when the needle went over the bone of the spine, then I got quite a twinge. It took a couple of hours but I was well pleased with the finished result although wearing sticky tape and clingfilm on my back was quite annoying. We had to rush back to the bus to get changed. For the first time tonight the group would split up, Joel Bex and Boppa would go to a club called “ceeby jeebys” they would find one room to be a goth night and the other five Punk band auditions, and that’s about as much as I can tell you about there night. Us on the other hand. We would meet up with some of the people and models from Elite model New York. I was I bit nervous. We would be going to high-class bars and although the guys were a similar age group, what would I have to talk to models about? We arrived at the Tribeca Grand, a very swish place run by the same people who run the Soho Grand in London, apparently. They even had some one in the rest room helping you wash your hands, something I’d never seen before. We met Roman and Sheri who were organising the night and all their friends and sat down and ordered some drinks. With out a doubt this was the best group of people we had met on the trip so far. They were all interested in our trip and how it came about and interested in what we did. There lives weren’t exactly dull either so we had plenty to talk about. It seemed that their number one priority was to make sure that we had a good night. We left in taxis on the way to “Joe’s Pub” one of the hardest places to get into in New York, but with these guys we just skipped the long que and walked straight in, the atmosphere in the place was fucking amazing. Once inside it was quite packed but that was soon sorted when the promoter cleared a table right in front of the stage and we all sat down on the sofas. At this point the champagne arrived and the drinks just kept on coming. The acts on stage were amazing and everyone we were with was up for a right old laugh. A couple of the guys had said to me that one of the girls, Tarin was interested in me, but she was so perfect and I didn’t fancy making a fool out of myself with someone who is way out of my league. The night was easily the best so far, we were getting on with everyone really well and we decided to move onto the final club of the night. I left the pub with Tarin and we were getting on but I wasn’t going to make a move and spoil it all. We got in the taxi for the Luhan Club, owned by Steven Boldwin. We stopped of at a shop next to the club and got some chocolate then went down into the club, which was underneath a restaurant. It was quite small inside but quite cosy. The crew relaxed with the filming and joined in with the drinking. Everywhere in the club had sofas again, so it was a great place to finish the night. I had lost out with Tarin, as she was talking to some other guy for the rest of the night which was annoying cos apparently she told Chantal that she was interested. I found a comfy spot with everyone on the sofa and we stayed until about 5;00 in the morning and I was under the impression that we were meeting up with them again tomorrow.
When everyone else got up I really couldn’t be bothered so they went into New York to shop and I slept some more then stayed on the bus while we drove around Manhatten shooting General Views, then bill dropped us of and me and Richard went to meet the others in time square from there me boppa and Joel jumped in a taxi and went to go up in a helicopter and see Manhattan from the air, Joel had already done this before so after we met the crew just me and bop went up, we could only take the little cameras so while boppa filmed us I filmed the shots out the window. It was boppas and mine first time in a helicopter and it was the best location to do it in trust me. As soon as the ten minutes were up we left to go see Ronnie Sys in central park. The strange thing was as we got out the taxi at the park literally five metres away stood Petes friends that we had met in Myrtle Beach. You don’t get many coincidences much freakier than that. The guys from last night said they may be coming to watch the show so I kept my eye out for them and we went in. It was a real good atmosphere, we were right down the front in the VIP area just to the right of the stage. It seemed there was no plan to meet up with the guys from last night as Richard told us we had to be at a club called spa on the other side of town. I didn’t like the club much, I thought it was very trying to be cool but not quite achieving it, with music plucked from my 1997 CD collection. It wasn’t as bad as I am making out I suppose it was a cool looking place and the people in there seemed pretty cool. I was just pissed of caus they cleared a booth for us gave us a fake bottle of champagne then after half an hour cleared us out the booth and I didn’t think that was very classy at all. Everyone else felt the same and we got bored pretty quick. So after a walk around the club we left quite early and bumped into some of the guys from the night before in the queue on the way out.
More 80 Raves
“Around the world in 80 Raves” Chapter One – The proposal
“Around the world in 80 Raves” Chapter Two – Ready for the off!
“Around the world in 80 Raves” Chapter Three – Miami
“Around the world in 80 Raves” Chapter Four – Daytona Beach
“Around the world in 80 Raves” Chapter Five – Myrtle Beach
“Around the world in 80 Raves” Chapter Six – Atlanta
“Around the world in 80 Raves” Chapter Seven – Woodstock
