A Tale of Two Cities

Saturday started out well enough – and ended okay - but it certainly had its moments!

The evening began with us heading over to the W Hotel in Minneapolis to celebrate Joe’s birthday (Joe being a friend and former co-worker of Josh’s). Josh was looking stylish with brown wool pants with a thin white pinstripe and a bold mustard-colored shirt. I looked pretty cute myself :) I hadn’t been to the W yet (in the Foshay building) and it is pretty swanky. The party was up on the 27th floor in the Prohibition Bar, which is all the rage with the downtown party-goers these days. Overall, I have to say I was more impressed with the lobby bar, but I’m sure that’s just a sign of age ;)

Joe is a nice/funny guy and I really enjoyed meeting his friend Nicole. We are now Twitter friends. Drinks and apps were ridiculously expensive there, but at least they had a very good happy hour special. Our waitress was barely clothed.

We stayed for about 2 hours but had tickets to see Mike Birbiglia at the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul at 8, so we bailed at 7 so we’d have time to grab some fast food before the show. Swung up to University Avenue to McDonald’s, and were in DT Saint Paul by 7:30. Imagine our surprise when there is a block party on the street just outside of the Fitzgerald; it turns out Garrison Keillor is giving some sort of free outdoor concert. Had we known, we would have skipped Mickey D’s and gone in for the $5 meatloaf and mashed potato dinner, or perhaps the mini doughnuts.

We wander around outside for a bit but head into the theater at about 20 to 8. Josh grabs a beer at the bar there and I run to the restroom. There aren’t a *ton* of people around, but there are some, and I make the assumption that people are staying out at the free concert as long as they can because, well, this IS Minnesota and it IS Garrison Keillor. We find our seats and sit down, but it gets to be 10 minutes to 8 and we are still about the only people sitting in the theater, though there is a crew up on the stage tinkering around. Josh notices the stage doesn’t seem to be set up for a comedy show and asks me if I have the right night for the event. I say yes, I am positive, but we pull out the tickets to check. Yes, it’s Saturday, September 26. Yes, the show starts at 8 p.m. Imagine my horror when I realize the show is ACTUALLY at the State Theater in Minneapolis.

I am *hugely* upset. Here we had just been in DT Mnpls, and left a party early to come to Saint Paul – where we weren’t even supposed to be. I considered chucking the whole damn evening and just going home, but we decided to hightail it out of the theater and see if we can’t sprint over to Minneapolis, which we do in fairly speedy order. I spent the entire car ride praying there was a first act and trying not to burst into tears.

We get BACK to Minneapolis and valet at Chambers, flying down the sidewalk to the State Theater. We ask if we can be seated (because sometimes they won’t let you interrupt ongoing shows) and the usher says yes, and that they will be going to intermission soon. And I think – YES! At least we will be able to see half of the show. We get to our seats and it is *not* Mike Birbiglia performing on stage, which means there was an opening act and we didn’t miss the important part of the show at all. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!

The opening act sounded pretty good, what we caught of him, and then I thought Mike Birbiglia was just great! This was a mystery date I had planned for Josh, so I am glad it wasn’t totally ruined. Although it is funny now, and makes for a good story, I was supremely UNamused as it was happening.

After the show we popped into Solera for a beverage and a snack, then home and to bed!