I am writing this just a week after the reception. You might want to print this out to save your eyes. The memories are still fresh in my mind, and I suppose that I will never forget what it was like to meet Chris for the first time. MARCH 29, 2001 Kathleen and I had pretty much finalized our travel dates, and we thought "What if a bunch of fans could all go the same weekend?" this is the day that I emailed Kathleen to suggest that maybe we plan a cocktail party also. We thought there wouldn't be more than 12 people or so and we had originally just thought we could have it at the hotel. Turns out the hotel does not have a liquor license. Other possibilities included Tavern On The Green's Garden (an outside area with a noisy band) and Russian Tea Room (nice, but about $175 per person) We finally just picked a place from Zagat.com MAY 30, 2001 Made a contribution to the theater to recieve four tickets to "The Seagull" for August 3rd. JUNE 21, 2001 Called Café Luxembourg to tentatively book two tables - 16 people. JUNE 30, 2001 I sent a fan-club letter and an invitation to Chris and also one to his new agent in Los Angeles. The invitation was on a simple luminescent silver paper and just said "please join us" and had all the details as far as date, time, place, etc. The letter explained the plans for the evening and said we hoped he could come, even if for just a breif time. It was a short letter. JULY 23, 2001 Chris appeared on David Letterman, sporting a beard. He talked about working in Central Park and the racoons under the bleachers! JULY 24, 2001 This is when the excitement really started. Chris phoned to inform us that he would stop by the reception, "for just a few minutes to say hello." It was quite a surprise! There was little time to make the final plans. There was so much anticipation, I could barely sleep or get any food down for the following days! This was also opening night of “The Seagull” JULY 25, 2001 Called the Café to finalize plans for 24 people. Told the manager that Mr. Walken would attend and he guaranteed us a sectioned area that would be semi-private. He also promised that the restaurant would stay open as long as we needed past their usual closing time of 12:00, but that they must clost the kitchen then. AUGUST 3, 2001 I left on Friday morning, leaving my 1 1/2 year old son and husband behind to fend for themselves. This was the first time leaving them together alone. I knew they would be fine and, heck, I deserved this trip! On the plane to Newark, I was the only female passenger out of eleven passengers. It was a smooth, easy one and a half hour trip and the cab ride was equally as easy. I would highly recommend Newark as a good option to the crowded Laguardia airport any day. I paid the driver and walked into the Lucerne to be greeted by Kathleen, Danyael and Andrea. We all hugged right away. It was, as Kathleen says in the video, like meeting family. Kathleen was just as I had pictured her, so kind and elegant. Andrea was full of spunk and very lovable. Danyael was, well adorable, with her big, bright smile and beautiful face. Mysteriously, Kathleen had a room reserved for the previous night with an unknown credit card number, (maybe an admirer was trying to pay for her room? we'll never know!) so we straightened out the problem with the front desk and were able to check into one of the rooms. We put all of our stuff in the room, and were ready to head back down to the lobby when we were greeted by a beautiful blonde at the elevator. It was Kathy! She looked at us, and we at her, but we didn't say anything for a few moments. Then she said "you must be Kathleen, Candy, Andrea, Danyael?" And, we all hugged her. Kathy and I shared a room as Andrea and Kathleen did as well. Danyael had her own place in another hotel. The Lucerne also was occupied by several lovely ladies from Japan. It was to be a Wonderful Walken Weekend!! We all had lunch at a place on the corner of W. 80th and Amsterdam. Danyael then went to see if she could get a ticket to the play as she had not gotten one in the morning. Kathleen, Kathy, Andrea and I walked up to the Delacorte to check it out. What a beautiful place! Andrea then went back to the hotel to rest and the remaining three of us then hiked down to W. 70th, where the Café Luxembourg was. Kathleen and I went in and, as I was talking to the hostess about arrangements for the evening, I looked up and there was Yoko Ono sitting there having lunch! I was completely star struck, as I am a huge Beatles fan and my only thought was this lady was married to the legendary John Lennon! Kathy came in and we quickly pointed her out, as subtly as possible. We did get a curious glance from Yoko as I am sure our jaws were on the floor. Our first celebrity sighting! The rest of the day was spent resting from our travels and preparing for the big night. We got dressed up and ready to go to the play. We were quite lucky to have tickets, after seeing how difficult it was standing in line. Walking up to the park in our lovely attire, we started to feel a few raindrops and our hearts sank. What if it started pouring! Would we miss the play? Would Chris assume the reception would be canceled if it rained? We waited outside the theater looking at the ominous sky, praying for the heavy clouds to pass. Kathleen had a fan (the kind you wave at your face) decorated by Eiko with Chris' face all over it. A woman walked by us and, when she saw the fan, she said "Are you part of the Online Christopher Walken Fan Club?" and we all nodded. "I'm Michelle!" Hugs all around. Then, we saw Eiko, Ritsuko and the other lovely Japanese ladies. I was great to meet them all after so much time. It was a very pleasant greeting! As we were seated in that beautiful theater, we could still feel a few raindrops. We kept our fingers crossed. A few rows in front of us sat Scottish performer Alan Cumming of the Tony-Award-Winning "Cabaret", below us in another section, we could see Chris' friend, artist Julian Schnabel, and in our row, just a few seats down, was Chris' costar from "The Dead" Blair Brown. Another woman came in with a hat, wig and a magazine over her face, so I am assuming she was a celebrity. She did not take the magazine down the entire time! Give me a break! Nobody is that famous! Just then, we saw Danyael inside the theater! She successfully snagged a ticket at the very last minute! We were so happy to see her. We could see Eiko and several of the Japanese ladies on the other side of the theater. Even though we were not all sitting together, we could feel the tension build as we waited for Chris to appear on-stage. We could barely contain our excitement. Kathy sat next to me and she grabbed and squeezed my hand when he first appeared on-stage. She grabbed Kathleen's hand and Kathleen grabbed Andrea's. It was all we could do to control ourselves. It was a life altering moment for me, when I suddenly could say that I had seen Chris Walken perform live, in the flesh -- after so many years of just seeing him onscreen. The Seagull was wonderful. Watching Chris perform live was such a magical experience for me. I felt like this was a long time coming. I had gone to New York in 1998 to see him do a poetry reading, only to discover on the day of the performance that he had canceled due to schedule conflicts filming "The Opportunists." I also missed his stint of James Joyce's "The Dead" as I was expecting my first child. So, this was wonderful that I was finally going to see Chris perform! Chris was dressed in a fancy suit and hat when he came out on-stage. His character was a lively, older gentleman who had a lot of spunk. It was a hilarious role for him. All the other actors were equally as talented and did their very best. As the play's end drew near, my pulse quickened at the thought of meeting Chris face-to-face in just a short time. As the play let out, we hurriedly tried to find a cab. No luck on Central Park West as there were just too many people getting them. We walked a couple blocks and found one and we were off to the restaurant. We arrived to see Guy Dorian and his wife Marnie, Linda Partain and a couple of other guests who did not see the play that evening. I spoke with the waitress and we decided to order several small plates of food and serve wine or soft drinks for everyone. It was a bit tense as the last thing on my mind was the food! Without even having a chance to breathe, Chris arrived. I stood at the entrance of our section and shook his hand briefly and then greeted Julian and his daughter. Everyone applauded for Chris as he walked in. He shook Kathleen's hand and went around the room greeting his fans. What happened next is what I didn't expect! His original plan was that he would "stop by a couple minutes to say hello," so I had expected him to maybe pose for a few photos, sign a couple autographs, and leave. But, to my joy, Chris, Julian and Lola sat down at our table. For the first few moments, I was quite nervous. Chris looked at me and said "How'd you get so many tickets?" I said, "They're contributor's seats - contributions to the theater." he nodded, "Where are you from?" I replied "Charlotte, North Carolina" Then we all sat and settled into conversation. All of the sudden, I was not nervous at all! Here was Chris Walken, Julian Schnabel, Kathleen and I, Andrea, Kathy, Eiko and Ritsuko all sitting at the same table! Unbelievable! The conversations were relaxed. It felt like just having dinner with friends for a while. We brought up the Fan Club a few times, but we were flexible and talked of all sorts of things. Chris drank red wine. He says he doesn't have a favorite, he just likes red wine. He nibbled at the onion rings and bread. Julian ate well. He worked on some spring rolls and calamari. He then proceeded to ask Kathleen for the rest of hers. A very entertaining guy I must say! I didn't eat much. I was too busy talking and filming. I did get possessed by a sudden girlish urge to grab some onion rings after Chris' hands had been in them. I giggle when I think about it now. I videotaped at several points, but I did not think it was polite to leave the camera rolling the whole time, so I did shut if off for much of the meal. Suddenly, the phone in my purse rang. I realized that I had forgotten to call my husband whom I promised to call after the play while in the cab. My husband tiredly said "Hello? I was waiting up for your call..." Knowing, I was in hot water, and then seeing the opportunity as Chris gave me a curious glance, I passed the phone to Chris, saying "Say hi to my husband!" Chris asked me what his name was and then said "Hello, Jonathan." It was funny because I have a small cell phone and Chris was holding it to his mouth rather than his ear, so the conversation was like, "Where are you? What? I can't here you. WHERE ARE YOU? Oh! Charlotte! Yes, it's all good. Okay, I'm gonna give you back to your wife because It's hard to hear" I laughed and took back the phone. Jonathan had perked right up, being startled by the voice on the phone, and said "Have a great time, hun!" At one point, Chris said something funny, and I remembered I had an audio cassette recorder with me. The topic was whale sperm. Julian had apparently eaten some at a fancy restaurant and asked Chris if he ever tried it. Chris said something like "Not from any whales I didn't know." I laughed and promptly got out the tape recorder and turned it on. Chris' first line on the tape is of him asking Julian how the whale sperm is prepared, "But, I mean, how do you have it, as a saaaauce?" It taped the rest of the time, about 15-20 minutes before he left. I am so glad that it taped him saying "My fan club is cool! Other people have fan clubs, but my fan club is kewl!" It was a great line. I asked Chris a couple questions about the Fan Club. He said he found out about it a couple months ago and that Kathy sent him a letter about it. It is amazing that it took him that long to catch on that he had such a big fan club! But, anyway, he knows now and that is what's important. He received many gifts, possibly more that he could carry. There were two large gift bags waiting at the restaurant when we got there. Then, there was the fan club gift, a tote bag, filled with a few cards and a couple things from me. Gifts from Kathleen, Andrea and a few of the Japanese ladies as well. I said to Chris, “If you need help getting these home, we’ll take care of that for you” Chris said to Julian “What should I do with these? Were going to Abel’s. Julian mumbled “You can carry them, I will put them in my bag maybe” and Chris said “Alright, I will carry them.” and he joked, “I’ll bare my burden” I thought “Darn!” as I would have loved to deliver them to his brownestone doorstep! Oh well, at least I offered. I have a feeling they would perhaps the gifts at Abel’s if they were all just sitting around. Who knows. At one point, Chris asked Julian if they should go and meet Abel Ferrara. Julian said "Lets just wait a bit longer" That is when Kathleen pulled out her "Lion In Winter" book to autograph. Chris exclaimed "My goodness you're taking me back!" He paged through the pages explaining to Lola how it was his first play and how he nearly got fired. Meanwhile, Julian conducted interviews with Kathleen and Kathy about why they decided to join the fan club while I videotaped. We all chatted a while longer. I asked Chris to autograph my copy of "Theater Week" with him on the cover from 10 years ago. Andrea asked him to autograph her scrapbook. Chris then decided to get up and greet the fans sitting at other tables. It got a little crazy at that point. I had planned on introducing him in an orderly fashion, but we let him do his own thing. Also, everyone started to rise from their seats and crowd him so it was a bit chaotic. He posed for some photos and signed some autographs. He made a big effort to greet everyone, but some of the shyer people may have been left out, unfortunately. I had hoped on getting myself and Kathleen in a shot with Chris and then getting a group shot out on the sidewalk, but it didn’t happen. Things were just crazy. The restaurant was also very small, so there wasn’t a lot of room. Kathleen grabbed me and helped me through the people. I just said “can I have a photo?” he just put his arm on my back. I slipped mine around his waste and smiled. Of course, I knew right away that I blinked, but I was too shy to ask Kathleen to snap again. Several other people took photos and I asked the waitress for the check. Chris then grabbed all of his gifts, said "Farewell, thank you!" and headed toward the door with his friend and in moments he was gone. I watched them walk past the window and into the night. Wow, I was floored by this man’s graciousness toward his fans, his patience, and his utter kindness. We began to slowly wind up the evening, settle the tab and talk amongst ourselves. There was such an outpouring of appreciation for what the Fan Club had done. I proudly thought, "We did it! This is the reception we always talked about but never thought would happen!" After finishing up at the Café, we went back to the hotel. It was about 1:30 am. There was no way any of us were ready to go to sleep! We took a few moments to listen to the audio tape and talk about the event. We all cheered when we heard Chris say "My fan club is cool!" on the tape. Then, we decided to go out for drinks. At this point, I was starving. I really hadn't eaten since we had lunch at 11:30, so there I was, at 2:30 in the morning, at a bar called "Blondies" ordering a helping of potato skins and a beer. We finally wound down and went to bed at about 3:00. I could not sleep a wink. I was wired and I lay there from 3am-6am, simply reviewing the events of the evening. I did not want to forget a thing. At 6, I got up and showered, which made me tired enough to sleep for about an hour. We then got up and got ready for a day of adventures in New York. I felt fine. I was invigorated and bright-eyed, despite very little sleep. AUGUST 4, 2001 We headed for the subway and took it down to Times Square. I had been there before, so it wasn't anything special for me. We looked for a place to eat, but everything just seemed so busy. We walked over to the Belasco theater to take some pictures, the we ate at Cafe 123, next door. We then walked up to Rockerfeller Center and around that whole area. We were typical tourists. Andrea suggested we grab a cab to Greenwich Village, so we did. She dropped us off at Record Runner and headed back to the hotel for some r & r. We walked around Greenwich Village and even walked up Christopher Street! We then hiked up to the Tribeca Grill, the restaurant that Chris owns part of. It was closed so we went to the Deli across the street for a break. We then walked all the way down to the World Trade Center and went to the top of the building. It was very cool, I must say. We bought some souvenirs and then went to the bottom of the building where we caught the Subway back up to W. 79th. We then went back to the hotel and rested. That evening, Kathleen, Kathy, Andrea, Danyael and I went to Sarabeth's for dinner. I celebrated with a glass of Pinot Grigo and some lovely pasta. It was delicious! We toasted Chris and toasted each other for such a wonderful trip so far. We then went over to the theater. Even though we didn't have tickets for that night, we just felt we had to attend. We listened to the play from outside the theater. You could hear pretty well. A couple of us had scripts and we could follow along. We chatted, and sometimes got so loud we had to be hushed by one of the theater volunteers! A couple of the actors came out to smoke when not on stage, Larry Pine, and then later, John Goodman, who saw us and promptly went back behind the gate. At intermission, we met Abe Vigoda who was much older now and I don't think anyone except us recognized him. We also saw Fiona Apple walking past. We were having fun just being there. After the intermission, a friendly police officer kept us entertained for a while and even posed for photos with us. He put me in handcuffs for one of the pictures. It was great fun. He told us Nicole Kiddman was in the audience. After the play let out, they made us stand away from the gate on the grass to wait for the stars to come out. We anxiously awaited seeing Chris again. We could see Richard Dryfus and Diane Sawyer mingling behind the gate. It was my plan to get an autograph for Carolyn since I hadn't gotten her one at the reception. I also had bought a t-shirt from the production that I was thinking I could have all the actors autograph. One by one, they started coming out. First out was Larry Pine. I took his photograph. Then I realized if I tried to chase down autographs, I would miss Chris, so I stayed put with camera in hand. Next was Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who made his rounds with autographs and I believe some of our group got them. Then, out came Chris. We cheered and snapped photographs. Chris breezed by us and everyone else. He was obviously in kind of a hurry. We followed him a bit and when it looked like he was not going to stop, Kathy waved and said "Good-bye Christopher" Chris stopped in his tracks and looked back. He said "Oh I didn't know it was you guys" He stopped briefly to sign autographs. I asked him to sign a joke book for Carolyn from England who couldn't make it. He wished us a safe journey home. I told him "Thanks for coming last night, it was a treat" and then he left with his bodyguard. We waved good-bye and he waved one last time. We waited around for a few more celebrities. Richard Dryfus came out hurriedly. Marcia Gay Harden came out with her bicycle and asked Kathleen if she had enjoyed the play while giving an autograph. We were then told that all the celebrities had left the building. After that point, the fatigue started to hit. I knew I probably wouldn't see Chris again this trip, so my excitement had settled. A couple of the girls wanted to go for drinks, but I just couldn't. I was wiped out. We went back to the hotel and hung out in the lobby. I had nice conversations with Monica and her mother, Cindy, and countless other fans who had gone the second night. It was so great meeting them. I said good-bye to several people, for I would be leaving the next day around 11 am. Then I went upstairs. I couldn't stand it any longer and I watched the video I taped from the Reception through the black and white viewfinder with no sound. Then, I went to bed and slept a solid five hours. Nothing could stop me from sleeping at this point. AUGUST 5, 2001 In the morning, we all got up and got ready. We went up to the penthouse level where they had free breakfast. Kathy had gotten a newspaper and there was a write up about "The Seagull" in it. Then, it was time for Kathy to say good-bye. She thanked us for including her - as if we would even consider not inviting her! Haha! So, we said our good-byes to her in the elevator and she was off to Rochester for a week with her family. Kathleen, Andrea and I went down to the lobby. Kathleen and I decided to go to the park one last time. I took my camera and took some footage of that incredible line for tickets. There was some people doing meditation in the park and I taped that too, childishly poking fun. I couldn't help myself. Haha. As Kathleen and I were walking back, we spotted John Goodman once again. He was crossing the street and then he went into a Starbucks. We went back to the hotel and I went upstairs, collected my luggage. After checking out, we all said our good-byes in the lobby. The doorman hailed a cab for me and loaded up my luggage (I am so embarrassed I forgot to tip him!) Just as the cab was about to leave, out ran Danyael, Ritsuko and Eiko. I told the driver to wait and gave them all tearful hugs. Then it was time to leave. I saw one last celebrity as I was in the cab. The cab driver pointed and said "Vicki Lewis." I looked, and sure enough, she was getting into a cab in front of a Talbots (or some store like that, I don't recall) I got to the airport early, so I had time to sit and reflect on the wonderful time I had in New York. When I would be back, I didn't know. But I did know one thing, there would never be another first Walken Weekend. You could never top this - even if we have another reception, he attends and has dinner with us, the first time will always be the most memorable for me. I got home safe and sound, and it is all still so fresh in my memory. I hope that parts of it stay that way for a long time to come.