Tour Day 9 – Church and Sites with Bemo in NYC

There are probably quite a few of you who don’t know that I (Joseph, again) retired from the Army after 22 years. You can imagine that I have done some pretty grueling work in my day. I’ve carried very heavy rucksacks for many many miles at a time, I once went three days without any sleep to speak of, and I spent a literal year in the desert in a tent. And while I am sure it happened, there isn’t a time in recent memory when I remember being this tired. After today you’d have thought Bemo prepped for this tour at Fort Benning, GA.

Suffice it to say, this post isn’t going to be particularly long. Of course, I’m kidding about how tired I am, but I bet the singers won’t have any trouble getting to sleep tonight themselves.

This morning we hit the subway again down to Greenwich Village for a Sunday morning performance. However, this was not a normal Sunday morning performance. Bemo booked this church the day before we left for tour, so it was somewhat of a wing and a prayer. Since our busses are in New Jersey and the equipment truck is down in Pennsylvania, we obviously had no risers, sound system, or instruments. The church helped us line up their chairs for the singers to sit in and we just performed from the other side of the room. They did let us borrow some instruments and found out that their drummer is a regular in the pit on Broadway, so of course all the music nerds flocked to him. It turned into a wonderful experience and even ended up with the kids dancing around in the sanctuary with the rest of the congregation while we jammed to a Cuban hymn. I could see Village church becoming a good future friend of New G.

But what everyone really will remember this day for is the Bemo Myers New York City Marathon of 2023. After a short stop at the Chelsea Market for lunch, we lined up and started the 2-mile walk (ok, it wasn’t really a marathon) down to the 9/11 memorial. We then hopped on the Staten Island Ferry for a swing by the Statue of Liberty. We then headed back home on the Subway for a much-needed break off our feet. We wrapped up the night with dinner in the Times Square area.

Everyone is now safe and sound in the hotel, hopefully sawing logs.

One last time from the 17^th floor, this is Joseph signing off