Back at the Sculpture Garden - RNC Day 2

The great thing about the RNC is that they start so late in the afternoon you get to have a few extra hours of sleep. Today’s show starts at 6:20 (odd time) and runs through 10 pm. We go to the event site in shifts, rotating the early morning shift every day. I’m with the 11:30 shift today. I also get a brief change of scenery. I am heading to the Minneapolis Convention Center to cover a press conference with the Robot (Cindy) and the Smoker (Laura). The two are going talk about their support of the ONE Campaign, a charitable organization that donates care packages for people doing humanitarian service in impoverished countries. They are going to pack a ceremonial box for the cameras. Laura raced through the assembly line process once and was done. Cindy went through twice, both times with a very determined look on her face.

Back at the Sculpture Garden, it was another day of stiff wax-like speakers. The only difference today is the addition of music. ACDC at the RNC? Yup. Contemporary country tunes also rocked the house. At least the crowd seemed to be having fun today. Yesterday was like a funeral.
The costume of the day is worn by the delegates from Alaska. Photographers go wild to get photos of them wearing orange construction vests and hard hats that have a message about drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. A photo on the back of their vest shows animals roaming in oil fields. Cute.
Today’s schedule is chock full of speakers whose names I don’t recognize. It isn’t until the last hour of the program that more familiar names appear. Joe Lieberman? What the hell is he doing here? George Bush Senior and Barbara are in the hall watching from the VIP box alongside Cindy and her adopted Bangladeshi kid. Laura Bush is back on the podium. What’s up with the recycling of speakers at this event? Not enough people to fill the slots I guess. The Smoker introduced her husband, the President. He couldn’t get himself to Minnesota so he phoned it in. Bush on the big screen. Yikes.
I do my best to not fall asleep as I sit atop my 12 foot tall riser as Fred Thompson told us tales about John McCain’s life. He made sure to use the convention’s slogan “country first” in just about every sentence. Lieberman was after him. He still calls himself a democrat. I thought he dumped that party. I need a drink.

Minnesota Nice at the Polka Bar - RNC Day 1

Day one of the RNC was amazingly dull. The session was cut down to about 3 hours, a perfect length for an event like this. The highlight of the evening, if you can call it that, was when Cindy McCain (the robotic Stepford Wife) and Laura Bush (The chain smoking librarian) gave brief remarks on how to donate to the hurricane relief fund. Aside from the gangbang to shoot the Texas delegates and their cowboy hats, the day was not very photogenic inside the hall. It was kind of like shooting a sculpture garden.

Outside the hall, all hell broke loose. So-called “anarchists” took to the streets of St. Paul, breaking windows and trashing cop cars. Pepper spray was deployed into the faces of protestors and photographers. People got arrested. My buddy Evan Vucci from AP had his camera smashed and was detained briefly by police. He walked away with some great footage and made a very solid video. His colleague Matt Rourke (who made fantastic frames) spent most of the evening in jail. Outside was definitely the place to be for photos on day one. Protestors 1 - Republicans 0.
With the abbreviated schedule, we were done by 7 pm. A big group of photographers and editors were headed to Nye’s Polonaise, an old school polka bar in Minneapolis. My friend Sam Morris had told me about it a few weeks ago and it sounded like a place that you have to experience.
Nye’s is a restaurant that features live polka music as well as a sing-along piano bar. It is an awesome place. Glittery vinyl upholstered booths in red and gold dazzle the main room. A trio of senior citizens known as “The World’s Most Dangerous Polka Band” perform in the adjacent Polka Lounge where they eek out all kinds of tunes from polka to country. Founding member, Ruth Adams, plays a modified accordion that doesn’t require her to squeeze it like a traditional accordion. All three of the musicians barely move as they perform. The music is exactly what you would imagine from three frozen elderly folks. It’s brilliant.
The manager of Nye’s volunteered to take us on a tour of the establishment since it was our first visit. It was a very nice gesture and a fun tour. Minnesotans are so damn nice. The New York guys are freaked out by all the nice people here. They’re not really sure what to make of it.

Since it was Labor Day, Nye’s was scheduled to be closed but stayed open to accommodate convention goers. Sadly, the restaurant only had on food offering, polish sausage. It was good, but I want to experience a full meal at this cool place. Hopefully we can return before weeks end.