It seemed like it was going to be a lazy Tuesday around the BK (that's fun speak for BrooKlyn, y'all!) when Carrie and I decided to do lunch together at Moe's - arguably our favorite place for reasonable (read: CHEAP) Tex-Mex food. So I grabbed the Q train and made it into the Apple* a little after 1:00.
*Anyone remember WAPP, 103.5 FM in New York, known as "The Apple?" It was a rock station before it switched to Top 40. Now it's dance music as WKTU. A WAPP DJ from there spun the tunes at my junior prom. Good times.
I made my way out into Union Square and sent Carrie a text. She said it was just too early for us to meet up. So with time to kill, I walked along E 15th St. until I came to Stuyvesant Square. With a small park at my disposal, and some bright sunshine (the windchill in the big town was around 10), I figured it was a good place to stroll.
That's when I saw the lights. Police lights outside of a church made my spidey senses tingle. Hopefully not a funeral. Yet I saw a boom microphone. Plus I saw onlookers. This appeared to be as good a spot to waste a few pre-lunch minutes as any.
I got closer, and that's when it hit me. I had walked into a shoot of some kind. As I watched more closely, I noticed a familiar face. That of Tracy Marrow. But you better believe I'd never call him that. That, friends, is Ice-T.
A scene from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit was being played out right in front of me. I knew exactly what to do.
Call Mom.
You see, she's a huge fan. I mean...a HUGE FAN. The "I'm going to DVR it because I can't miss getting my fix" type of fan. Of course, telling her that I saw Ice-T wasn't enough for her. She needed to know the important things:
- Was Christopher Meloni there? (No)
- Was Mariska Hagartay there? (At first, I didn't see her, but I found she was in the scene being shot)
The picture above is to prove that cell phone camera takes crappy pictures. Ice-T and Mariska Hargatay are in there but you probably can't see them. My cell phone is another post for another time...
I watched for a bit, until they got a take that the director liked. For me, I enjoyed the behind the scenes of it all. Sure, hanging with Ice (as I call him) and Mariska was sweet, but it was watching the process of make-up (our heroine needed a brush for her hair), the clapping of the clapper to set the scene, seeing over the shoulder of the director, the camera work, the positioning of the actors (main characters and otherwise) and all of the other stuff that I liked. Not really a stargazing moment for me. Just enraptured by the making of it. Watching them do takes from multiple sides. Seeing an actress who is reacting to a body on the street in the process of slamming into Ice-T, and watching as she turns to Ice after the scene was done to say "did I run into you too hard?"
Are you kidding, lady? This is ICE! This is the dude from Body Count. He rapped "Cop Killer!" You think some blond actress is gonna mess him up? The guy was shadow boxing (and losing the bout*) before "Action!" was yelled.
*If anybody recognized that line, then you're either seriously warped, or a knowledgeable (or obsessed) Huey Lewis and the News fan. I mean it: MONSTROUS. Because only the most devoted fan would recognize a line from "Stop Trying" off their first album. Of course, that's where I come in, and I am both warped and devoted. And knowledgeable.
I can't tell you if Mariska or Ice are nice people. They were in their element and, other than Ice-T's shadow boxing, I didn't notice many amazing moments of levity. They talked to each other during breaks. They didn't approach the crowd. They were doing their job. Nothing negative to say about that.
As this all played out in front of me - outside of St. George's Episcopal Church (marked "St. Francis Church" for the scene), I couldn't' help but think how this was just a "New York" kind of moment. Here I was walking along, randomly picked out 15th St, and stopped in Stuyvesant Square just...because. Here I watched TV magic being made. After a few minutes, I was gone - off to First Ave to eat Moe's for lunch with my amazing girlfriend.
It wasn't long before, as usual, I found New York continued going about their day.
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