Well, I know everyone cares about Alyson, not about me, so I'll try to get to the good stuff as soon as possible, but a wee bit of setup is necessary. Like, why the heck was I in New York? Well, my sister lives near New York and she's been bugging me for months to come visit her, because I haven't been out there for a couple of years. So, when I found out I had tickets to see Alyson on Carson Daly, I figured I could go hang out with my sister and have some fun in NYC. Problem is, my schedule this week forced me to make it a one-day trip. I had to fly into NY at 8 a.m. Tuesday and return this morning at 6 a.m. It was kind of like a field trip really. Or, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, minus the parents.
My sister couldn't meet me until 5 p.m. and the Carson Daly taping wasn't until 7 p.m., so I had a large chunk of the day to do whatever I wanted. I went to Ground Zero in the morning. That was a sobering experience. I worked in NYC for six months in 1995 and used to take the Path train into the WTC everyday. More than once, I used the twin towers as my beacon home after a night of youthful, excessive drinking. And, as I've said, my brother-in-law worked there and I visited him in his office many times. It was strange and very sad to see this hole in the ground and this void in the sky instead of the two tallest buildings in the US. All those poor people.
Anyway, after that I ate lunch in an attempt to shake off the dark thoughts of Ground Zero. I then decided to head on over to the MTV studios because I knew Alyson was supposed to be on TRL that day. When I got there, there were a few teens hanging out at the side of the building playing the OMWF soundtrack. Apparently, they were waiting to get into the show. I talked to them a bit. They were huge Aly fans and simply bursting with excitement to see her. A few more kids showed up (TRL fans, not Aly fans) and soon a producer came down and started having people fill out release forms to be on the show. The producer wanted to know if I wanted to go up too, and I hedged. God, could I stand listening to Britney Spears and, worse, acting
excited about it? Then again, Alyson was going to be there. The producer brutally ended my dilemma, however, when she asked for my ID to prove I was over 16. I still get carded fairly often when I drink, but this was the first time I was afraid being carded would prove I was too old. I winced and told her I was 31. "Ahh, too old." Ouch. "This is the only show in NY that teens can get into and we try to keep it under 21 as much as possible. You don't look 31 though." Gee, thanks. Fuck. Oh, well, I hadn't gone over there to be on TRL, so I wasn't disappointed, but, damn, I could have done without that particular lesson in ageism a week before my birthday. Sigh.
Okay, so why did I go over to TRL? To find the professional autograph hounds. Ya know, the folks that sell celebrity auto'd photos on Ebay, etc? Some of them are actually legit and I figured if I found where a couple of them were hanging out, they might lead me to Alyson and I might get a chance to ask for an autograph myself. This plan turned out to be a good one. There is an alley-type tunnel running through the center of the building that contains the delivery doors and back entrances to all the offices. It looked like the place where you would bring guests in and out of the studio. A guy and a girl were hanging around this area, so I decided to hang out a bit, too, read a book, and see what happened. After a bit, a guy I recognize from his pics on Ebay showed up with another guy and I see he's holding a stack of Alyson photos. Bingo. I was definitely in the right place. The girl struck up a conversation with me. She's from NY and comes to MTV and Broadway shows often to get pics with her favorite celebs. She happily showed me a bunch of them that were stored on her digital camera. She then told me that the Ebay dudes are kind of assholes and very competitive. She runs into them a lot and gets mad because they're very secretive and often keep real fans from getting autographs because they hog the celeb's time.
So, we hung out for about a half hour and finally a black Lincoln Towncar drove by and stopped down the street a bit. The Ebay dudes jumped to attention. I peered out of the tunnel and saw red hair. It was Alyson, her publicist, and two MTV-provided bodyguards. Instantly there was a camera flash. A fan had already asked for a photo with her. The Ebay dudes sprinted towards her. I'm thinking "Whoa! Rude!" as I walked slowly after them. Between the two of them, they whipped out about 10 photos for Alyson to sign and she started signing. The girl I was talking with asked for a photo and Alyson pulled her into a hug while someone else (where'd they come from?) snaps it. I kind of hung back. There were only a handful of people there, they were just aggressive, so I decided to let them have their way and politely wait my turn. Suddenly, Aly's publicist grabbed her by the arm (and I do mean grab) and started pulling her down the street, "She's late guys!" Aly continued to sign as she walked, still trying to get to everyone. If I wanted an autograph, I was going to have to run after her and, well....no thanks. "She'll have more time afterward and she'll sign," her publicist said. Finally, the bodyguards closed in around her and her publicist literally pulled her into the tunnel and into the MTV back entrance.
The door closed with a thud of finality. Shit. Being polite sucks sometimes.
Everyone left but me and Photo Girl. She said that I should stay because Alyson would probably sign when she came back down. She said most guests take more time on the way down. It wasn't time to meet my sister yet, so I decided to wait. For the first half hour, it was just me and Photo Girl. Then 4 or 5 Aly fans showed up. Fine. Then the Ebay dudes showed up again. Shit. This time they brought another guy who takes celeb candid photos to sell on Ebay. I was getting worried that I wasn't going to get a chance for an autograph with all the "aggressives" back on the scene. Well, the Candid Guy turned out to be nice and told me and the other Aly fans exactly where to stand in order not to piss off the bodyguards and publicist and, therefore, get an autograph. To their credit, having already gotten their bounty, the Ebay dudes hung back this time and let the fans be first.
An hour after Alyson went up, one of the big bodyguards came out and checked that her car was ready and then told us to stay in a line and don't shove and Alyson would sign. Out she came with her publicist and said, "Hey!" She was all smiles and very friendly. It was kind of crazy but people mostly gave her space. She took photos with everyone who asked and signed for everyone there. There wasn't a lot of conversation really. Just a lot of "I love your work" type comments to which she kept replying "Thanks!" I was about 6th in line and I held out my Advocate for her to sign. She looked at it for a second and made that "curious Willow" expression. She looked at me, pointed to the article, and started to say something about it when she was interrupted by someone's compliment to her or something. She responded to them and then signed the Advocate, obviously kind of reading the title and subtitle. She wanted to know something about it, but I don't know what. She never managed to get it out with all the people there talking at her.
I then held out my W/T card for her to sign and she kind of overlooked it and signed some other things people were holding out in front of her. Her publicist started pulling her again then and so I said, "Would you please sign the card, Alyson? It would mean a lot to me." She looked at it again and made this cute little "Uhhhhhhh?" questioning sound as she waved her Sharpie in the air over it. I finally realized what the problem was. Amber signed the card for me in Toronto and, since Tara is wearing blue in the photo and Amber was using a blue Sharpie, she signed over Willow's gold shirt so the autograph would stand out. She also put a smiley face next to her signature (the only time she's done that for me). So Alyson saw a big "A" sig and a smiley over Willow and thought she'd already signed it. Heh. I said, "Oh! Amber signed it. I'm sorry." She squinted at it and laughed, then said in a cute little pouty voice, "And she took my little smiley face, too!" She started to sign it and said with mock irritation (yes, mock, she was laughing and still doing pouty voice), "Well, I guess I''ll just sign over her then." She handed it back to me and said, "Cool card."
Indeed.
I thanked her and backed away from the crowd. She signed for another couple of minutes (including for the Ebay dudes again) before her publicist and the bodyguards nearly picked her up and hauled her back to the car. I said, "Thank you, Alyson," again as she went by me and she looked over her shoulder and smiled in acknowledgment.
Okay, so my impressions of Alyson? Well, these were obviously very brief, rushed little encounters, but...She is even more gorgeous in person, which I didn't think was possible. Her eyes are stunning. TV does not do them justice. Her hair seemed to be a lighter, natural red rather than the flame red we sometimes see on the show. Her freckles are just...yum. She is as small as I thought she'd be, but a bit taller than I expected (though that was probably her shoes). She was amazingly nice to everyone, even to the Ebay dudes who were constantly in her face. She wanted to sign and make everyone happy. She rolled her eyes several times at her publicist and kind of waved her off in order to sign for more fans.
Oh, and,
Julia yes, I saw Alyson's hips and her tummy. It was hard to miss with the low hung jeans she was wearing. I saw other things too. But it's best not to discuss them here.
She's a beautiful woman. No doubt.
So, anyway, that was how I got my Aly autographs. When I decided to go to NY, I didn't think I'd actually "meet" Alyson. I thought I'd just see the taping and visit with my sister. Stopping by TRL was just a whim, so I'm shocked and excited that I saw her. I'm thrilled down to my geek-infested roots that I have two things signed by both Aly and Amber now. That more than makes up for being called old, I guess.
In Part 2, I'll tell you about the Carson Daly taping. My good luck continued as I was randomly chosen for the front row and find myself in Alyson's sightline for most of the show....(gulp!)
Amy
EDITED TO ADD: Yay, the board is back up!!!!
Well, since the board has been down for the better part of two days, I've had the time to write up what happened at the Carson Daly taping. It's kind of long and rambley, so all you impatient types may wish to skim.
On Tuesday night, my sister was her usual late self and when 6 p.m., the time my reservation stated was the very latest you could show up and still be admitted to the taping, arrived, she was nowhere to be found. My cell phone battery had died and when I called her cell from a pay phone, she didn't answer. I didn't know what to do, should I go to the taping without her or wait for her? I'd already seen Alyson at TRL, so I wasn't as upset as I might have been. In the end, I decided that I flew in to see this damn show, and my sister will just have to understand. I went into NBC Studios without her.
It's
Alyson, ya know?
After being directed upstairs one level, I find that there are three groups of people: two groups of stand-by hopefuls and then the folks with actual reservations. I'm directed to the reservations group. Once I'm in there, I start feeling guilty about my sister again. Another group of people with reservations lines up behind me and I tell them to go ahead of me because I want to try to find my sister. I walk up to one of the interns and ask if I can go downstairs and try to find her. She says I really don't have time, they're going to start filling the studio soon. Just then, I see my sister dashing up the stairs! Yay! We head back to the reservation line and are now at the very end. Oh well. An intern passes out tickets to all of us and then another intern asks everyone to look at their tickets and if you have a pink "X" on the back, come with her. My sister and I have pink "X"s. We are hearded into an elevator and taken downstairs to a very sterile, office-y environment where we are told that we are going to be in the front two rows. Cool. If my sister hadn't been late I would have been further up in the line and not gotten the pink "X"s. I decide to forgive her. Anyway, the intern tells us that we're going to be in the sightline of Carson Daly and his guest, Alyson Hannigan, and we must do our best to smile at them and make them feel comfortable and like the show is going well. It is, the intern says, our "job."
It's my job to smile at Alyson Hannigan for 20 minutes?! Ummmm...okay!
Anyway, after a long wait as everyone else is seated, we are finally led into the tiny little studio in which Last Call with Carson Daly is taped. There are only about 15 or so rows of seats with a center aisle dividing them. Tiny, tiny, tiny. In all honesty, you could have been in the back row and still seen Alyson pretty darn well. But my sister and I end up in the last two seats of the first row to our left when facing the stage. The row is shortened for the camera, so we're really only about 5 seats in...or directly in line with the angle of what will be Alyson's chair. If you reached your toe out, you could tap the stage, which is only six inches off the floor or so.
After getting our requisite "How to be a good audience member" primer from the show's producer (who looked about 20, geez...I guess he'd still be allowed into TRL), Carson Daly came out and talked for a minute to say hi before the taping began. He stood right in front of us and kept complaining about his back. He said he'd just "fucked" it up doing something. I was afraid to know what. Finally, they began the opening sequence and counted down to tape. Carson did a very brief intro, then called for Alyson to come out.
As I mentioned in a previous post, Aly was stunning, dressed in black pants and a sheer, long-sleeve black blouse with her hair up. Other than TRL, where she was dressed in jeans and a tank top, it appears that Aly was going for an older, more sophisticated look on this particular media tour as she wore a simple black dress on Conan, too. I like her new "grown up" look. A lot. I like her in black. A lot.
So, Aly sits down and I find I'm literally six feet from her and facing her. Whenever she looks away from Carson and into the audience, she's looking right at me (and my sister and the guy next to me). Gulp. Can I just say again how beautiful this woman's eyes are? God. It was actually disconcerting. We actually made eye contact several times during her segment, and I kept looking away! It's not like you're having a conversation and can say something, so you just end up staring and it feels weird.
Anyway, Carson started the interview, which I won't detail too much here as it will be aired in its entirety on Tuesday. But basically, he opened by stating that he noticed that magazine writers asked her about sex a lot...and that she seemed to like talking about it. Alyson said she and a friend met Carson when they were 13 at an LA radio station and her friend developed a massive crush on Carson...but her friend is a lesbian now. He asked her about Buffy fans and she told the horse story again. She said that she just bought another house, this time with Alexis. Carson asked when that man is going to propose and she basically said she'd been thinking along that line too, but when they bought the house, sharing a mortgage ended up feeling like a big enough commitment for now. They only briefly talked about Willow and BtVS in the second segment. She basically said Willow went a little crazy last year and then they showed a clip from "Lessons." They didn't dwell on it. They also talked about American Pie 3 and some other things. As much as I don't like Carson Daly, I actually thought he did better than some interviewers with Aly. At least he knows her and didn't ask as many stupid questions. He let her talk, instead of talking over her like a lot of hosts do. It wasn't first rate, but it was better than most. And Alyson was animated and sweet and funny. Be sure to tune in on Oct. 8th.
And now for my final mini-encounter with Alyson of the day...
During the "commercial break" (it's a taping), 2 make-up people and a hair stylist came running out to touch-up Alyson. My sister and I started laughing because they're all serious and really getting into it. I mean Aly had only left make-up 10 minutes before and then sat down in a chair. There was no breeze in the studio to mess up her hair, she hadn't moved around much or touched her face and messed up anything. Plus, ya know, it's Alyson. She looked great. But still the make-up ER team hovered and fussed. Finally the make-up people went backstage, leaving only the hair stylist who whipped out a mega can of hairspray and attacked a curl on the left side of Aly's face. She practically emptied the can on it. While this is happening, Alyson looked up at my sister and me who are staring at her with a mix of amusement and bemusement. She started laughing and rolled her eyes and said to us, "I know, I know, but what are you gonna do?" She shrugged and stuck her tongue out, then made a little face when some hairspray got on her tongue. The stylist finally retreated. Aly smacked her lips trying to get the hairspray taste off and laughed again. Then...be still my heart...
she winked at me...uh, I mean us (my sister insisted I say "us," but it was
me dammit!!). It was just a conspiratorial wink (like, "Now you know what I go through"), but it was a wink, so I'll take it.
So, then they taped the next segment and that was it. Aly left and they brought out the guest band, Gov't Mule. I actually enjoyed that too, because I play guitar and the lead/singer guitarist was, again, standing right in front of me and I could watch his playing technique, etc. Cool.
Anyway, that's it. Not a whole lot of Alyson contact, but much more than I ever expected to have. It was an entire day of being in the right place at the right time. I'm normally never lucky, so this was a pleasant change. I'll consider it my cosmic/karmic birthday present.
Who cares if I'm old?
Amy
Edited by: Willowlicious at: 10/3/02 9:53:45 pm
by bgfilly » Sat Sep 28, 2002 6:24 pm 
at: 10/1/02 2:51:55 pm
Alyson 'tricked' into playing a lesbian? hmm....... Is it against the fac for me to call the guy from TRL a 'putz' or an 'idiot'?
worthy!!!! SHES GORGEOUS!!!! 
Alyson is so amazing and such a hottie! 