August 18th, 2015, New York City was pleasantly surprised with the announcement of a free Stevie Wonder âSongs In the Key of Lifeâ concert at the Central Park Summer Stage. The only catch was that the concert was on the same day that it was announced, which was an hour or two before they opened the online gates to retrieve tickets.Â
It was nerve wrecking retrieving the tickets online because it was asked of you to enter a promocode. âWhat PROMOCODE!!!?â was the first thought that almost killed my chances of going. So I started guessing passcodes by entering âstevie wonderâ âsongs in the key of lifeâ even the âdoodoodododo....â of the beginning of my favorite Stevie song âAsâ, to no avail. My cousin in London sent me a link on Facebook where a whole bunch of determined Stevie Wonder fans bonded together to figure it out, to no avail. Finally, I contacted the Central Park Summer Stage head quarters only to find out that there was NO code! I was instructed to keep refreshing the link until I got through. So I went back to the computer and boom on the first try after being informed, I was in. I felt as if I won lotto!!
I ordered four tickets and made phone calls to my friends and family members whom I knew wouldâve just died for the opportunity to see Stevie Wonder for free! But life was being unkind to them at that glorious moment. One had a terrible ear infection, another worked during the hours of the performance, another was at work in Rochester, NY, another had to attend a meeting and so on and so forth.Â
Then I went on FB and mentioned that I had tickets, and was reminded by my friend in London that our friend Cav Manning would definitely make the effort to go. I didnât even hesitate, I inboxed him on FB and within 10 minutes I got a response and Cav was definitely down. So there were two tickets accounted for and two still available. At that point I figured I did my part, I ordered 4 tickets, I made an announcement on FB and I sent texts and made phone calls. If anybody was interested they would contact me.
So I began the journey of getting to the concert. I took the train to 59th Street and after walking up a mountain of stairs I decided to jump in a taxi to take me to the park. I gave the driver the address that was on the ticket, and it turned out that I was on the East side of the park when I shouldâve been on the West (or visa versa, I have no sense of direction). So to reserve my energy I jumped on a bicycle taxi cab and spent $10 to arrive at the gate in the quaintest of fashion.
When I got to the gates there was no sign of Cav, so I asked if I could leave his tickets at the door so that he could pick them up. They didnât honor my request but suggested that I should text my guest to call me when he arrived, and that I was to pick him up at the gate. It wasnât what I wanted to hear but I figured it wouldnât be a big deal to leave my spot to pick him up. But it was a big deal because I found a great spot that was two people deep from the front stage left, and I was hoping that Cav would come soon before it became impossible to return to the spot if I had to leave.
Time was drawing closer for the concert to begin and there was no sign of Cav. The grounds was slowly beginning to feel as if we were in a can of sardines and the thought that kept running through my brain is that if I were to leave my great spot, it would be hell to get it back. So I started to think hard and realized that I should email Cav the tickets. A duh moment but at same time, Eureka!!!
Thankfully, Cav came in just in time to see Stevie being escorted to his keyboard and was not too far from standing behind me once I told him where I was located. He got in and I didnât have to leave my post, and Stevie Wonder blew our minds!
To be a resident of NYC, the key to truly enjoying our bold and great yet expensive city is to be flexible for those moments that could end up being the highlight of your day or maybe your summer. Also impromptu moments can cause a hell of a confusion if your head is too giddy with excitement.
I just love Summers in NYC!!!
Photoâs by Marcia E. Wilson 2015
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