Through an Okie's Eyes

Something to be said about me is that I'm impulsive. I got two tattoos (which I love) on impulse. I started taking ballet after reading about an adult ballet class offered here in the city, once. That being said, I found myself in New York City on Friday and Saturday based purely off impulse. 


You see, one of my favorite bands, Steel Train, announced last Monday afternoon that they had 30 or so spots for a music video for their song "Bullet" that they would be shooting the following Friday. The video was going to be taking place in Northern New Jersey. I immediately thought, "I must be there". But there were a few minor problems: 1) I was in Oklahoma 2) I had to work on Saturday 3) I might not have a way there. 4) I wasn't 100% if I'd have anyone to go with. I instantly got to working. I texted my good friend who lives in NYC (and 30 minutes outside New Jersey) and told her that I might be coming up and explained to her what was going on. I looked up tickets and found nothing cheaper than $735. I talked to my boss and got work off for that Saturday even though the shoot was Friday I wanted to give myself some time to get home. So after some serious consideration of emptying out my savings account to go I decided to talk to my dad, who happens to work for American Airlines and ask him if I could use his free flying benefits. He was like yeah! Of course!! Go! So I worked until 7 on Thursday night and drove myself up to Tulsa and stayed with my best friend so I could just leave from there instead of OKC. I booked my flight for 6AM Friday morning and I was supposed to arrive in NYC at 12:40 pm. I got on my flight out of Tulsa no problem and we landed in Dallas earlier so I was able to get myself on an earlier flight to NYC. I arrived in NYC hopped in a cab and headed towards Queens where my friend, Krista, lives. 


Krista met me outside her apartment and then we went inside to get ready/figure out the rest of the day. I took a shower and put on my flannel dress, black tights and combat boots. (we were to dress 90s for the video) [We got ready because we were going to be out and wouldn't have time to come back]. Once we were both ready we took the subway to Hearld Square so we could do some shopping before hand, we then ventured to the tree at Rockefeller Plaza. It was a lot more sparse than I thought it would be, but it was still really cool to see. We grabbed some New York style pizza then headed to Port Authority to buy our bus tickets to Teaneck, New Jersey. We then went and waited for the bus that ended up being 45 minutes late. But that was ok cause we weren't needed until 7l We arrived and met up with the other fellow music video extras, which included my friend, Lauren, from Lake Tahoe, California. (Yeah, she flew across the country to be in the video.) We hung out a bit and got to know some of the other people that were waiting and around 730 we were finally allowed in. 


We were quickly told the rules. The rules were 1) you had to move spots after a take. 2) don't do anything too inappropriate. 3) Have a lot of energy and go nuts. The feel of the video was just like a big house show. The band was set up on the ground and we were encouraged to sing in the mics with them and just have fun. So the band started off playing "Turnpike Ghost" and "Fun to Dance" to get us warmed up and then they started to play "Bullet" with the album version dubbed over it. The whole crowd went nuts. We were all singing and dancing so hard. During one of the the takes, Jack, the lead singer, stabbed me with his guitar and his mic stand twice. He grabbed my hands after and was like I'm sorry I keep beating you up! After we did about 2 or 3 takes we took a break and they asked us what songs we wanted to hear. They played "Touch me Bad" "Children of the 90s" and "Soldier in the Army" which was EPIC because they haven't played those since 2008 and probably won't play them on tour. We kept going through the song and being super crazy, getting pinned up against each other, and getting beat up. The boys were really great at making sure everyone was hydrated and not getting too hot, because it was like an oven in there. During one of the breaks I just laid on the cold tile floor because it was so hot. They ordered pizza for us, had free beer at the bar, and just kept playing songs OTHER than "Bullet" to keep us from going crazy. (They played about 10 songs in between takes) The director was trying to get some certain shots of characters that were in the video, but ended up hand picking people for the certain shots, and he picked Krista, Lauren and I. Krista was in the front and Lauren and I were in the back. The characters were trying to get through the crowd and the guy sort of like moved my shoulder to get around me. Then they were getting other characters from a different angle and Lauren and I were moved to the front and the shots were once again near us. We finally wrapped around 12. We had some pretty sweet good byes from some sweet boys then were on our way back to NYC. 


Krista and I got back to her place and slept so hard until the next day. We got up and ready and went to this precious holiday market, where we drank delicious apple cider for $1, and saw lots of really neat things. We grabbed some sandwiches to go from Whole Foods and then I headed to the airport to go back home. Luck was really on my side this weekend because I got on the flight no problem, and we arrived to Dallas early and I got on an earlier flight back to Tulsa. I got to Tulsa around 10 and I had to drive an hour back to OKC, but I was home by midnight. And my Sunday plans continued as if I didn't go to New York for 29 hours. That's all.


love, Lauren