Yacht Rock and Getting Stuck in the Subway

 

The Yacht Rock Review

On the exact same day and time as last year, we headed down to Pier 17 to watch the Yacht Rock Revue. This is the band that coined the term "yacht rock" which... is a term that I think means whatever this band decides it means. 

All I can say is the crowd goes wild when they play that Piña colada getting caught in the rain song or the Brandy what a fine girl song or the She's a man eater song... tunes like this that blared out of your mom's radio unit that literally had legs and stood on the floor. 

But whatever the song is, rest assured you will know all the words even if you have no idea where or when you learned them. It's a hoot and the band is great... "they sure found their niche" is how Tom D. put it. 

After the show ended, we told Andy and Stace and Kelly and Tom D that we'd take the subway up to Moynahan Station with them and grab a drink at the new bar in there. They had some time before their trains, and so, sure.

Everything was going swimmingly until the subway starts to pull out of the 28th street station and... the train stops. An announcement blares over the speaker which luckily we could hear AND understand, neither of which I take for granted. The New York City Mass Transit Authority is not known for the caliber of its audio communications equipment. 

We learn that there is an "unauthorized individual" on the train tracks up ahead and we will be held "indefinitely." 

It's amazing how fast everybody becomes friends in a subway car when you are being held indefinitely at 11:30pm because an unauthorized individual is on the train tracks. 

The "unauthorized individual" turned out to be a homeless man with a blanket just kind of sitting on a track like it was a little chair and making himself comfortable in the 34th street station. We know this because ... photos on the internet. A guy three seats up the car from us showed around some good ones. I asked him what he searched for on Twitter or wherever he found them and he said his sister sent them to him. 

Go Sis I guess because the photos calmed down a few people who were certain that the "unauthorized individual" was dead and that now the tracks were a crime scene and we should make ourselves at home because we'd be there until morning.

One guy said he was going to suffocate unless they turned the air conditioning back on because... yeah, when they announced we were being held indefinitely they immediately shut down the train including the A/C. And it was fucking hot.

Then suddenly the lights came on, the A/C snapped into high gear and the train lurched forward, We were held for 27 minutes in total. I wouldn't have known it was 27 minutes but Stacie had checked the time.

Anyway, it was a thing.