You must read this report. This is "The One."
Aug 28th - September 3. Manhattan. 

Picture New York Harbor on a perfect moon blessed night. The lights of New Jersey and the Jersey clock lighting a pathway to the Lady Liberty shining brightly and proudly in harbor. It's republican convention week and George W Bush (Dubya) has just finished his 1 hour speech for re election at Maddison Square Gardens in front of the GOP. (Good Old Party, which I think is astonishingly funny). The president's  Helicopters have just flown W out over the Hudson River and a peaceful hush has formed over the city except for the sprinklers that have just come on to water the lawns in Battery Park and also to scare the daylights out of the midnight lawn strollers. That was rather entertaining. I am asking you to picture this because it is from here I am writing THE report of the tour. So with your mind transfixed on the magnificently serine New York harbor, allow me to carry you back to last Sunday morning where this week of magic and mystery began. 

We were staying just off Central Park West at the excelsior hotel. New York's most convenient situated, priced and nicely appointed (wireless internet and Library for writing) but somehow strangely lacking in service or hospitality of any kind. The night before we had spent a splendid evening showing Grace Times square and generally trudging around the city catching up on friends we have met.  The night culminated with a walk home through the park and a stop off at the famous tavern on the green. We had a refreshing beer and while I was buying the beer I met a sweat covered, darkly dressed man at the bar. I said to him "are you a dancer?" Ohhhhhhhhh he said in a Manwellish spanish accent, I lerv to dunce. And he did. We watched him dance with everyone in the room. We were worries Wazza would be next. We returned to the hotel and planned our New York Church attendance for the morning. We had to go by the Manhattan Church of Christ to catch up with my friend Larry Mudd but the concierge at the hotel had told us about a black gospel church on 9th and 38th. The Unbroken Chain. We went to the 9 AM service at Manhattan on the East side and hit the subway and headed downtown. As we walked through the steamy Sunday morning streets with Saturday nights garbage piled high, we started to wonder about the type of church we were heading to. We found an old rundown building at 305 W 38th with a broken glass door and a ragged dirty piece of paper saying "upstairs to the Unbroken Chain." We headed up the narrow concrete staircase Wazza Grace and I, looking warily at each other as we seemed to head depper into the depths of the unknown building. But half way up the stairs, we heard that sound. The Godly sound of a black Gospel worship leader laying down the heavenly sound of Jesusahhh. As we neared the top of the stairs the sound engulfed us until we burst through the door at the top and unleashed the full fury of what lay within. We had found it. We have searched for 2 years in New York and all over for this church and it was magnificent. The room was beautifully appointed with red velvet curtains framing the Sunday morning sunshine streaming in the windows that formed the backdrop of the Unbroken Chain Gospel Choir. ( I told you this report would be more exciting). 

We were welcomed in to that church with open arms and shown to a seat. It was only seconds before the emotion overtook us and we were clapping and screaming with the rest of them. The Concierge at the hotel said "you won't be able to control your self, you'll be standing on the chair singing halleluiah with the best of em. George was right, this was everything we had been looking for. There was a lady out front singing the lead and a Grand lady of the gospel conducting the choir. The band was cooking and the audience were rejoicing. It was very blues brothers but very very spiritual and wonderful. We sung for 40 mins before it all calmed down and eventually a very old black lady walked up while a song was quietly being sung and signed the words of the song to the deaf while they finished. This Lady turned out to be the pastor of the church and she had as captivated for a full hour while she spoke out a message that would bring even the most skeptical to their knees. When it's real you just can't fight it. At the end of the service people went to the front of the stage and the pastor anointed them with oil and prayed over them while laying her hand on their heads. Wazza Grace and I just sat there right up till the end and I finally sprung up and said, common let's go be in this. We stood at the front of the stage with the music playing and she came and anointed us and said a prayer, pushed me back and moved on. All of a sudden she stopped and looked at me, turned around and came back. She called me back over and said "I'm not finished with you yet." You are holding back, she said with her hand on my head, the good Lord has blessed you with great gifts and you are holding things back. You need to let go and be true to your heart. I have never seen you before but I know your heart and you need to let go of those last little things that are holding you back. She then looked right into my eyes and smiled and said "You Know What I'm Talkin About." Now this was a Sunday. There was many things that she could have been talking about and Lord Knows I am not perfect (although I have been thoroughly convinced otherwise in the past) but one thing came to mind. I had been asked to speak in Italy at the Surf Life Saving Championships. They are are having a church service and I spoke at one in Australia for Terry Legg (Chaplain of the Surf Life Saving). I was holding back because I have been away for along time and didn't want to leave my family again. This meant I had to take Molley Dekko and Hannah (Grace would be in Albury) and flights would be $6000. I was holding back because it's all a bit tight after the Manhattan apartment experience. I emailed Terry and said I was coming. It was a great opportunity as a speaker and I felt I was being selfish and perhaps even disobedient. So I'm going to Italy but that's not all. Many other things were highlighted by this lady, she really made me think on a new level. Anyway more of that later. The day had just begun and big things were afoot. 

We headed down to Battery Park on the Subway and researched a new hotel. The staff at the Excelsior were just too rude and stupid (bless their hearts). We found the Embassy suites right on New York Harbour. Same money, bigger room, wireless internet, free breakfast, free New York Sports Club Gym membership, free internet for Grace (so she didn't have to wake up at 4AM to use my lap top while I was asleep). This hotel rocks. If your in New York, stay there. It's the best hotel I have found in New York apart from the Ritz Carlton which is $1000 a night US. Actually this is better because it has a NY Sports Club downstairs. We then got on a water taxi and did a tour of Manhattan from the water which was just so good I couldn't stand it. The water taxi dropped us at East 34th St so we walked over to the Empire State Building, which I swore I would never climb again, and we got in line. an hour later we saw the sunset over New York City, bought some I Love New York boxer shorts and headed to Rossini's for dinner. As many of you will know, Rossini's is my favorite Italian restaurant. The owner, Pino, was there and greeted us at the bar. Hugs, kisses chit chat, I was just in Italy, really I am just going to Italy, oh you must stay in Florence at cousin Gino's. You get the picture. What a well rounded and magnificent day. We wet back to the hotel and packed for the morning move. I had an early morning meeting with the bank and a quick meeting at Trump to make some arrangments and the day was ours to move to the flash new hotel. As it turns out the bank and other meetings plus finding exactly the right bagel cutter took until 4PM and we had to meet THE GREAT and now world famous New York real estate broker, Alan Berger, for dinner at Issabellas on W 77th and Collumbus. (the SE corner, Alan is very particular)  

Grace of Harlem. 
So we checked into the hotel and got dressed for dinner. We headed to the subway. It's much easier to get around on the subway, especially during the national Republican Convention. We got on at World Trade Centre. The A train is an 8th Ave express so it hits 59th (SW corner Central Park) and then does not stop until 125th St. We know this because we ended up in Harlem on the way from the airport because we didn't know it was not stopping at 81st which is where the hotel is. So We got off at 59th this time because we really didn't want to go to Harlem at night. Wazza and I stood and waited for Grace. As the train pulled away, we realised Grace was not getting off but had obviously decided Harlem was a good place to be. She realised as she saw Wazza and I standing outside the train and then her face was stricken with fear as she became aware she was on her way to 125th St Harlem. We grabbed a cab and dropped Wazza at the restaurant. I headed for the 125th St station to pick up little lost Grace. I walked down the stairs and she saw me. She had alerted the NYPD the NYFD, the station master. She was not leaving the subway station. Poor little thing was hyperventilating and was going into sock. She saw me and ran over and threw her arms around me, I thanked the rescue team and walked her up the stairs to the waiting car and we headed off to the restaurant. 

Private West side tours. 
Dining with Alan Berger is just the most pleasurable experience. We had the nicest time. Eventually in any conversation with a New Yorker the conversation will lead to the day of the World Trade center tragedy. Each account of where they were and how they coped is amazing. The depth of change in peoples lives is still amazing. There is just nothing to compare it to. We also spoke about property values, life experiences and just had a beautiful evening. After dinner, Alan offered to take us on a West side tour. We walked down Central Park West and Alan pointed out every building's history and the famous people who live on which floors. Yoko, Madonna, Danny Devito, Al Pacino, Michael Douglas, Billy Joel etc etc. The guy who paid 45 million for an apartment in the Time Warner building and spent 15 million getting it right. The history of the amazing buildings is just incredible. The Dakota, where John Lennon was shot, was named so because they said that no one would ever live there. They said it was so far out of New York it was like the Dakota', so they called it that. Now it's 1 quarter of the way up Central Park West. Top night.com. We were so grateful to Alan for the work that he did on our apartment deal that we wrote him a song. He loved his song and told us it was the best gift he EVER GOT, which was an amazing thing for us. You can hear the song, Berger with the Lot at www.londonmusicgroup.com/alanberger 

Yankee Stadium
And for 2 years I have been trying to see the Yankees play at Yankee stadium. Back to George the concierge. He not only got us tickets, he got us tickets just behind home plate 10 rows back from the action. I think that one of the greatest things you can do in the world is take you children to Yankee Stadium and watch a game. As it turns out they lost. Not only lost but the worst they have ever lost in the history of the Yankees. Well at least we were there for a historical event :-). They were playing the Cleveland Indians and the Indians, on this particular night, rocked. We had a beer and a chilli dog and cracker jacks and it was just about the most fabulous sporting event I can ever remember attending. This is a great week to be in New York City. I know it is because all weeks are great weeks to be in NYC :-). Did I mention how cool it was to sit behind home plate at Yankee Stadium? It was pretty cool. Just ask Grace. She will be back to earth around December 2006.  

The next day we decided was to be theatre day. We went into mid town and did some Central Park touring and photo taking and headed off into the theatre district. Grace wanted to see the Producers but Wazza and I had seen it so we set Grace up there and set off to find one for us. We decided to split up and share the experiences afterwards. I chose a play called I am my Own Wife and Wazza chose Wicked, the untold story of the Wizard of Oz. When I arrived at the Lucearn theatre on 45th St, I found that the Play was on holliday and a replacement mind game show was on. I decided to have a look at that. Marc Salem was his name and he was totally brilliant. He basically used psychology to solit certain responses from people. I was very skeptical until he was blindfolded and had my business card put under his hand on stage. He was guessing objects from the audience members. He got them all 100 % right. When he got to my business card he was struggling. He said, "it's a company, it's many companies, it's 9 different businesses. Sir is this your business card?" Yes I said, He said sir are you aware that the CEO of General Motors only has one business card, what do you put that down to ? Laziness, I said:-) got a good laugh from the audience. So I was out an hour and a half early. I have always wanted to go to Carmines on 44th but it's always booked out. I headed over on the off chance and there was one table left on the top floor. Trouble is they only serve family style meaning if you order Pasta, one huge plate comes out for 2 or 4 people. They asked me if that was OK. I said sure, I could eat a family sized horse. I ordered a Veal dish. When it came out it took up most of the table. Eventually Grace and Wazza got out of their shows and came and helped me out. Grace and Wazza absolutely loved their broadway shows and we shared our experiences while eating the entire cow. Just then I got a call from Scott Sciarrino, our attorney's brother. He had tickets to the Rockafeller center. The Republican Senator from Tennesee was hosting a party and had Brooks and Dunn playing. It started at 11.30 PM which was in 15 minutes so we headed right over to 5th Ave and walked on in. I love brooks and Dunn. While we were waiting for the show to start, the 5 star waiter service brought around amazing food and wine and suddenly, right there on stage was the entire Harlem Gospel choir. A large black man was yelling at the top of his voice, Do You Mind If We Have a Little Church tonight ? NO said the people so they sung out a storm. They sung Oh Happy Day and about 9 other brilliant Gospel songs. It was just amazing. Grace was just not believeing what on earth was going on around her. She was definitely not in Nerang anymore. Then the Senator got up and spoke for a minute. He was working up to something but I wasn't really paying much attention. All of a sudden he introduced Bono. I thought he was joking but we were 3 people back from the front of the stage and on walked the man himself. He spoke for 5 minutes on Aids and some other issues and fired up the crowd and then introduced Brooks and Dunn who started with my favorite B and D song, She comes from LA she flies to New York City. I think it's called you can't take the Honkey Tonk outta the girl. It was a brilliant show. It finished up at about 2 AM and we were shuffled off in a car to some nightclub with loads of famous important drunk people. They kept on congratulating us on a great performance so obviously we looked like the band. 4 AM we got back to the hotel and were woken up by Scott again to say he had tickets to the next republican function at Planet Hollywood. Blues Traveler was playing. We rocked up at 5PM Thursday (tonight) and it was all on. the food, the wine, the amazing service. VIP tickets, red carpet, we were having a good time. Blues Traveler rocked out a show through a triple Mayer PA system. I have never heard anyone play harmonica like that. These blokes seriously rock.

After the show Scott was talking about heading over to Maddison Square Gardens for the President's speech but we had to head back to the hotel and get some work done. We are leaving for \Ithaca tomorrow. We have a concert in the park on Saturday and are flying out of JFK on Sunday. We have much business to do and still alot of work to finish. What a trip this has been. I recommend taking your children out of school for 3 weeks and giving them an American education :-) I think Grace has changed for ever. This was a big big big adventure and we still have 3 days left. Here's a few photos to add some visuals to the adventure.

Just click any image to see the whole deal.

The Westside Berger tour	Unbroken Chain	The game.	Wazza at the Apartment	The YMCA Toro men at half time.	Front desk at Trump	Our NY pad	The apartment building			Central Park
Grace and Liberty	Yankee Dog man					Grace of Harlem
Central Waz	Harlem	Gospel Choir	Bono and Senator	Harlem Gospel	Bono	Grace and Bono	Brooks	and Dunn
		Central Park fountain	Central Park	Dad and Grace in Central Parkand	me at YS	Our apartment building	The Boys at Yankee Stadium	Yankee Wazza	YS nite	YS Day

 And here is a jingle we wrote in DC for the MDCD broadcasters. The jingle is for Cluck U Chicken. www.londonmusicgroup.com/cu