I had never been to NYC (not really, anyway, just a drive-by several years ago). S and I decided to make a long weekend of it and went a couple of days early. We did the obligatory tourist thing: took a bus tour, caught a couple of Broadway shows, stuffed our faces in the great delis along 7th Avenue. And spent a fortune in the process. Oh, well, it was worth it.The highlight, of course, was the three-hour cruise on the East River and New York Harbor, partying with Fastball.From start to finish, this was one of the most unique and entertaining Fastball experiences of my life. It was S's first. The adventure began with a hair-raising cab ride from the hotel to the pier. Once there, a quick phone call to QGirl (who was already aboard) pointed us in the right direction. Thanks to Tony and Joey we were able to bypass the line and board the Half Moon ahead of time, where we got to hang out with old and new friends. We met Fran, a lovely lady and quite fun to hang out with. Of course QGirl was there. She is, without a doubt, one of the neatest people I have ever had the pleasure to know.Eventually, the rest of the crowd was allowed to board. I have no idea how many people were there, but I would estimate about 100.The Half Moon is a smallish ship, with two decks. The upper deck is covered by an awning of sorts, and holds maybe 50 to 75 people. The place was pretty crowded with the real fans. Casual listeners were scattered about on the fore deck and the lower deck, where the band could be heard but not seen. Interesting set up.There was an opening band, a local outfit called The Energy. They were pretty decent, although I admit I was hanging out on the lower deck visiting with old and new friends while they played. Besides, that's where the bar was.I met a couple of people there that "knew" me from my internet presence. One was a fan from Montreal, who traveled eight hours by bus the day of the show and was leaving for home immediately afterwards. Apparently, he's been lurking on the Fastball message boards forever but has never made his presence known. O.K., Gil, the jig is up. Time for you to step forward.I also ran into Andrew, whom I had actually met two years ago in Fredericksburg, Texas when Fastball played at the Auslander Restaurant. We both shot video of Fastball that time, and you may have seen his clips on YouTube. He goes by "andyman25video." I had decided in advance that I was not going to record or film this show and did not even take my gear to NYC. I intended to simply kick back and enjoy it. Fortunately, Andrew did shoot video of most of the show (his battery died during "The Way"). Tony posted one of his video clips on his MOG and he has a few more up on YouTube. You can find them here:http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=andyman25videoThe reason the camera angle on these videos is so strange is that the floor in front of the band was crowded with people standing literally in Tony's and Miles's faces. It gave the show an exciting, intimate feel. One fan remarked afterward it was like a house party with Fastball.If you've read Tony's recent entry on MOG, you know that he thought it was a really fun show. And who am I to disagree? It was obvious that the band was ready to have fun. After the initial warming up, Bruce started off with the echoing bass line that introduces "Little White Lies" and we were off. One song after another, the band was right on. The set was energetic, the band was tight and the sound was really good. Everybody had a great time. The setlist, of course, was heavy on the new material. Quite a few in the crowd seemed to be familiar with at least some of the new songs, no doubt having heard them on MySpace. Of course, the "hits" ("Fire Escape," "Out Of My Head," and "The Way") received the most enthusiastic responses.Highlights for me were, once again "Always Never" and "Mono To Stereo." Man, I love those songs!Toward the end of "White Noise" Tony broke a string, leading to what can only be described as a train-wreck ending for the song. Hey, I've heard worse. While he quickly worked on replacing the string, Miles, Joey and Bruce launched into "Slow Drag." That was a surprise. After that song, Tony came back on "stage" but left his guitar behind, singing his part of "Soul Radio" American Idol style. After a brief break, they came back on for an encore. My friend S's second favorite Fastball song is "Every Time She Walks" so I shouted out the request, and Miles was kind enough to oblige. They closed out the show with The Small Faces cover, "Get Yourself Together."The band for this show consisted of Miles Zuinga (guitar & vocals), Tony Scalzo (guitar & vocals), Joey Shuffield (drums) and Bruce Hughes (bass & vocals). Derek Morris(keyboards) did not make the trip.I took a bunch of photos, which I posted on Flickr. It's a new camera and I haven't figured out all the settings yet, so some of the photos suck. Still, what I have is here:http://flickr.com/photos/texasyesfan/sets/72157605414281426/Click on "Slideshow" up above the thumbnails and scroll through them for the best look at them. Next up: The Small Stars in Port Aransas. I can hardly wait.Then: Fastball at The White Rabbit in San Antonio. Should be interesting.