buffo
Daniel Briggs + Buffo + NASA rockets + Blue Man Group = "BEST DAY EVER"
Hey folks;
I just have to brag for a minute. Warning: Long post follows, but I promise you it's worth it.
After Caribb-LEM was over and everyone was headed back home, Daniel Briggs and I ended up going on another mini-vacation. No, there weren't lasers involved, but we still had a great time. We headed down to Florida and visited the Kennedy Space Center, including the all-new Space Shuttle Atlantis display building. (WOW!) Spent the whole day there, and probably could have easily spent a second day exploring things we didn't have time for the first time.
But, alas, we had to leave, both because the Space Center closes at 6 PM, and also because we needed to drive back to Orlando to catch the 9 PM show by Blue Man Group at the Universal Citywalk. (Which you can get to without paying to actually enter either Universal Studios or Universal Islands of Adventure). As it turned out, we had lots of time before the show, so we walked around the entire Citywalk area while Daniel marveled at all things Americana on display.
So fast forward to about 5 minutes before 9... We are in the theater (fantastic seats, btw... 6 rows from the stage and smack-dab in the center), and I'm explaining to Dan and to this older woman to my right about what to expect once the show starts. And while this is going on there are these characteristic scrolling red LED text signs that are repeating the same silly messages over and over. Things like "Reminder: this show has no intermission, which means that NOW is the time to.... PEE" and other foolish things.
One of the things they do at every Blue Man Group show (or at least at all 5 of the ones I've seen) is that right before the show starts, the red signs start some "audience-interactive" messages. They say something like "So-and-so is here in the audience! Everyone say hi to so-and-so. So-and-so invented the MRI... (Or something equally preposterous)" Then it moves on to another name, and supposedly this person has a headache. And then some other name, except this person "is just an ordinary person who has done nothing particularly important".
Now, I always assumed that this whole bit was completely made up, and if anyone in the audience actually stood up, they were just grandstanding and/or taking advantage of the audience's gullibility. And as I'm happily explaining this to both Dan and the woman to my right, the impossible happens: On the red text screens I see the following message scrolling past:
"WE HAVE ANOTHER SPECIAL GUEST IN THE AUDIENCE. WOULD EVERYONE PLEASE SAY HELLO TO ADAM BURNS."
And that, my friends, is when the evening went from good to great! Because my jaw absolutely hit the floor! Meanwhile 5000 people are saying "HELLO ADAM BURNS!" Holy fucking shit! How in the hell is this happening? The the message continues... "STAND UP ADAM SO EVERYONE CAN SEE YOU." I can't fucking believe this is happening. The woman to my right is asking me, "Is that really you?" And I'm like, "Yeah, but how the hell did they know?"
So like a total geek I stand up and wave to everyone. My face is no doubt a brilliant shade of crimson at this point, and old Briggsy to my left is laughing his ass off. At which point the message continues: "ADAM IS AN ORDINARY PERSON WHO HAS DONE NOTHING PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT" Well shit, I've been had. Then the message says "TAKE A BOW, ADAM" So yeah, I stupidly bow to the theater full of nearly 5000 people, all the while feeling like the biggest idiot on the planet.
And of course, the sign has the last laugh: "OK ADAM, THAT'S ENOUGH OF THAT NOW." So I sit down, and I can't fucking believe what happened. Who set me up? No way Dan could have, since he didn't know where or how I got the tickets. Likewise, my wife wouldn't have known, since I bought them at work from my office computer. (No trace in the browser history on the home computer.) Hell, even my Mom didn't know exactly which show we were going to.
It was only after the show was over that I finally got my answer. I asked several staff members, and one of them finally admitted that they randomly select a name based on the tickets that are scanned in when you enter the auditorium. Since my name was on the ticket purchase, and both tickets I had purchased were scanned in as being present, it was a pretty good bet that I was there. Still, pretty long odds to be the one out of 5000 to get selected. (Maybe I should have purchased a lottery ticket that night!)
Anyway, the Blue Man Group concert was awesome (as it always is), and I know that Dan had a great time too. It was a fantastic way to end the day, after exploring all the cool things at the Space Center. More importantly, it was the perfect cap to 8 days of fun in Utila!
So yeah, if you want to have some fun, come party in Florida! Crazy shit happens down there! And if any of you don't believe me, I'm sure Dan can back up every bit of this story. (Though I know he had to be wondering what the hell was going on when my name got called right after I had told him that this was all bullshit!)
Good times...
Adam
PS: Briggsy, if you ever come back to the US, we have GOT to do this again!
Reply With Quote
I have yet to see them in person. I'll coincidentally be in Florida in less than two weeks though. 
