Some lucky fans, including myself, got a picture with Artie at the Poughkeepsie, NY show on 11/17. Click on pictures for full size view. Also check out previously submitted fan pics here.

Matt Save Baby Gorilla creator

Don C.

Tom N.

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS FROM THE SHOW

Where to start?!

First off I have to start by saying that Poughkeepsie sucks and unless some really really cool event takes place there, then fuck Poughkeepsie, I ain’t never going back. If I was Artie I would have cancelled the show and gone to Hawaii. With that being said, Saturday night was real fun.

Getting into the show

After taking a couple wrong turns and looking at the local pimps and druggies from inside the confines of the car, My brother and I got there a little after 7pm. Show start time was 8pm. Went to the box office and picked up our comp tickets and backstage passes which was a Visitor sticker you can buy from Staples with a handwritten (black sharpie) “AL” on it. Security was top of the line, A-plus crap. I brought my camcorder and digital camera with me in two carrying cases. When I got to security, I pointed out my VIP sticker and said I have cameras. He said “O’kay, is that all you have?” I said yes, he patted me down and I walked through. Did I point out that I can carry a number of weapons in my bag if I wanted to? But I guess that didn’t matter since I was some dude with a sloppy written “AL” visitor sticker in his hand. Not that anyone could have duplicated that.

On we went into the main auditorium which looked like my high school gymnasium, I am not sure how they managed to hide the basketball lines under the fold up chairs we got to sit in but oddly enough I didn’t see any. We made our way to some doors and flashed our stickers and a security guard kindly walked us down some stairs to the basement and pointed us out to where the “backstage” area was.

Meeting Artie

There were a couple dozen people down there. I started walking towards Teddy and he looked at me and I said “Teddy, its Matt”, surprised he said “Oh hey I didn’t recognize you, ya look different”. I shook his hand and he said “Artie, its the Leave Artie Alone guy”, I added out loud “Save Baby Gorilla”. I could hear a couple bystanders behind me say “oh thats the guy from the video”. Teddy walked me over to the man but Artie was still talking with someone else. They left and he greeted me. Shook my hand and told me that he found the video real funny and also said that I looked different than I did on the video. He asked where I was from and I said “Connecticut” and then he asked how far Boston was from Poughkeepsie. My brother started making some quesstimations for him. He mentioned help yourself drinks or any of the stuff on the table which was an assortment of chips and dip. He said he didn’t see any booze. But there was a huge container of assorted beers he must have missed. He then said “well there is some Jack in the other room”. I took a peak and the seal was still on it.

Then Artie kind of wandered away. He seemed kind of spacey. Who knows why. It might had something to do with a bunch of strangers hanging around or some subutex. I also couldn’t help but notice his obsessive chewing on a green plastic straw.

Just standing around with B-listers

So now my brother and I are kind of standing there like “what do we do now?”. Big fucking deal right? I grabbed a soda and we made our way over to one of the tables. There were a couple of characters sitting at the table next to us and they were having a discussion of emails and text messaging. I started to chime in and one of the dudes started talking to me and then another guy said “why are you talking to him?” I would later find out that those to guys were Michael Bocchetti and Joe Anthony. Joe was the one being a wise ass and come to find out later he is a comic hailing from Brooklyn. Well that explains that.

We continued to stand around for awhile not really doing anything. I was wondering if they were going to have a formal time when people can get autographs and pictures with Artie or if you just do it whenever. So later I see Artie taking a couple pictures with some people. I told my brother to let us both go over there and get our pic. Again we approached Artie. I asked him if it would be cool to get a picture with him, he said no problem. I then thanked him for giving me some money for my video. He said that he used it in Detroit and it killed. I had told him that I did both videos that made it to the show, he was surprised and recalled how Howard thought it was a different guy. He said keep sending in stuff they can use on the show. I took a picture with him and so did my brother. I then pulled out my Beer League dvd cover and asked him to sign it. This time around Artie seemed a little more focused and he was very nice.

Let the show begin

After a little while of sitting around we got back upstairs. I took some small video clips of the room starting to fill up. By the time Artie came on it was a packed audience. We decided to head to our seats and by that time the lights had come down and we had an usher point out our seats. 4th row, right in the center. Not bad for Free!! The MC of the night, Pete Dominick, had already started doing his little bit. I think his name was Peter and he may have show over at Sirius. He was alright.

…to be continued

Artie’s agent got a call from the USO department and they said he was given the green light to go to Iraq but it would have be after February 15th. Artie said if at that point they can agree on specific dates then he will go and entertain the troops.

I asked Steve Langford if he will follow Artie to Iraq and he said “We