I had performed at a corporate event at the House of Blues and it was a wild party. I was scheduled to sing at the House of Blues’ restaurant the next night. I got a call late morning from someone from HOB talent cancelling the gig that day (9/11)
I jokingly said
“why ya cancelling, did Creo (the wild corporate clients) tear the place apart?”
He paused,
“You’re kidding right? You dont know? There was a terrorist attack. Two planes crashed into the Twin towers in NYC and they fucking collapsed, then another plane hit the Pentagon”
I had fallen asleep with the teley on but it was on a cable movie channel so when I jumped up I had to change to a live news channel before I could find evidence of it…smoke and chaos and reporters talking, channel after channel, and a loop of that footage of the first plane sinking into the first tower and absorbed…then that footage taken from street level when the towers fell like a house of cards…I felt the shock physically, a similiar sensation to what I felt when I heard that my mom had died.
I kept saying or was I just thinking it?
“Oh my God! Oh my God!”
I remember going out into my hallway later and running into my neighbor Dennis. Dennis was a big strong ex marine muscle man – tough as nails – I saw him and we both just looked at each other with red teary eyes…I thought to myself: “Damn, even Dennis’ hard ass is crying…” The streets were so empty…it was surreal.
I had gigs that week and I remember singing the National Anthem with urgency to calm or heal…choking up because we had been attacked. They had hit New York, our New York. The twin towers had become alive to me…they stood for something…and I’m not talking about commerce…they were icons, part of a landscape and imagery that I had grown up with and associated with our beloved New York.
I remember thinking, “They got us good this time.” I never for minute gave “them” an actual face nor did I fill with hatred for all Muslims or Arabs…that took way too much time and space in my heart. My feelings were hurt. I lost a college buddy in that attack. Carl Valvo–great looking man, funny, successful, father of two girls and lots of fun memories from undergrad at Northwestern.
Life goes on. “9/11” will be our Pearl Harbor won’t it? Does anyone else wanna share their memories from that day?
Hi girlfriend. Well my date was a bit crazed because I just lost my job, because my job had an Office in NY and they weren’t doing so well. Was over a friends house…let’s say, they girl has a thing for drummers.. 🙂 anyway, when I woke up it was about 8something, and my friend and I heard the radio, but it was some surreal thing like War of the Worlds, so we thought it was a radio show, and went back to bed. Then it was still going on about an hour later I told him, turn on the Tellie, it’s can’t be what we feared? Sure enough it was… We just watched and watched, and was just beyond belief. Suddenly, losing my job wasn’t all that bad. Every time I see my friend, we look at each other, knowing that we were together on that sad day! A,
Hi girlfriend. Well my date was a bit crazed because I just lost my job, because my job had an Office in NY and they weren’t doing so well. Was over a friends house…let’s say, they girl has a thing for drummers.. 🙂 anyway, when I woke up it was about 8something, and my friend and I heard the radio, but it was some surreal thing like War of the Worlds, so we thought it was a radio show, and went back to bed. Then it was still going on about an hour later I told him, turn on the Tellie, it’s can’t be what we feared? Sure enough it was… We just watched and watched, and was just beyond belief. Suddenly, losing my job wasn’t all that bad. Every time I see my friend, we look at each other, knowing that we were together on that sad day! A,