Well, yes, Dreamer and I made it into the Bitter End without a hitch! In fact, other than Kay's ride from Va. into NJ (which took a bit longer than she expected...thankfully she had left plenty of time)...everything else fell together with precision timing! We learned from others later that Obama's return to Newark Airport did indeed affect traffic on the route we had taken in only 1-2 hours before, so it was very good we left from my work when we did. Kay arrived only 10 minutes after I did (hey, I said precision timing, didn't I?), hopped into my car, and off we went. Within one hour to the dot, with virtually no traffic at all (unheard of at the Holland Tunnel, in my experience), we were cruising past The Bitter End--checking out the line before finding a place to park. It was only 4:10 (doors were to open at 7), but there were about 10 people already there. At the last second, I realized that maybe it would be best for Dreamer to jump out and join the line, while I cruised a bit more for a parking space/lot, which she gamely did. By the time I arrived to join her 20 minutes later, I witnessed the first of several situations where Dreamer showed me that she 'plays well with others'...man, that girl could get a group of fence posts involved in a conversation within minutes of being left alone with them! (Kay, it's all good! ) I joined her in line, and she immediately introduced me to all 10 of the others...not only does she know their names, but she knows the different states they are all from, which other Timothy shows they have been to, and even that one woman's husband graduated from the HS in Bernardsville (the town I live in)! In fact, throughout the night, she finds at least 2-3 other links to my small town of about 7000 people (which for my part of Jersey, is small.) Which leads me to the next point...I have to say that overall, the Tim fans in this line were among the friendliest group of people I've ever had to stand in line with...not only the group of hard-core Tim fans in the front (from CA, MS, IL), but also the more casual fans that came along after us.

Very shortly after our arrival, the manager of the venue comes out to check out the scene, inquiring how many needed tix. When he saw us and our line position, he assured us we would get in--so we knew early on that we were all set. At that point, I needed a celebratory coffee. I hadn't seen an actual coffee shop in the short walk from the parking lot to The Bitter End, but I did see a grocery store in the next block...where I did get a nice cappucino. By the time I returned, Kay introduced me to some more people further behind us in line, including one of the other links to my town. These women ended up getting "NY's Best Pizza" to enjoy in line, and then sharing with us (well, actually only me...I guess Kay just wasn't hungry yet .) So these were a very nice group of Tim fans. Plus, they were later joined by another friend who had an extra pair of tix, so we were able to buy them from her so she wouldn't lose the $--plus saving 2 more tix for some poor souls at the end of the line.

Thankfully, the weather was beautiful, about 68 degrees, so no one minded the 3-hour wait in line. About 6:15, a black SUV pulled up and Timmy jumped out. No Jean, though. He hustled into the front door so fast, I couldn't get my camera ready quickly enough for a good shot. Oh well, better luck inside! His band members and equipment had arrived earlier in the afternoon, but we thought he was cutting it pretty close for the sound check. Finally, a little after 7 pm, they let us inside to be seated.

The first row of tables literally lined the stage, and were as close together as you could get them and still squeeze people in between to get into the seats. We snagged a front row table, 3rd left from center, directly in front of the keyboardist Chris Farmer. We sat in the chairs facing Timothy and the rest of the band. The other 4 seats filled in with a married couple and 2 separate singles...by the time I returned from the rest room, Dreamer was talking to them at length. One of them had a connection to my town as well--weird.

The show started just a few minutes after 8...right after announcing that photos would not be allowed. I was very disappointed, since our seats offered some prime photo ops. However, my camera takes some great indoor shots without flash, so I figured I would wait, see how things went, and take my chances as the night went on.

(I'm posting this, and then continuing on with the actual review of the show... don't worry. I just don't want to lose what I have so far!)