I would like to thank Mr. Elliot Winick of Winick Productions and Detective Joe Bunster of the NYPD's Midtown South Community Affairs Council for the opportunity to stand on 34th Street with my family, right in front of the Macy's Star, to continue a life-long Thanksgiving tradition.

As a kid, I distinctly remember wondering what it would be like to stand in front of the performers and look up at the larger-than-life balloons.

So Gentlemen, thank you for a delightful morning.

Whether you are watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from home or standing behind some bike rack on 34th Street, you can be sure that all of those cheerleaders, Rockettes and square dancers are freezing their behinds off as they wait for the act/float ahead of them to finish.

And you know what, those ladies are doing a pretty good job of staying happy.

Who doesn't like celebrities on floats at festive parades?!

Top photo: Gladys Knight
Middle photo: Joan Rivers
Bottom photo: Jimmy Fallon

There was a weakling man
Who dreamed he was strong as a hurricane
A ship in a bottle set sail
He took a deep breath and blew across the world
He watched everything crumble
Woke up a weakling again...

Dave Matthews Band/Madison Square Garden/New York, NY/11.12.10

Some might tell you there's no hope in hell just because they feel hopeless,
But you don't have to be a thing like that.

Dave Matthews Band/Madison Square Garden/New York, NY/11.12.10

Wash out this tired notion that the best is yet to come...

Dave Matthews Band/Madison Square Garden/New York, NY/11.12.10

It took me 15 years to stand in that spot.

Dave Matthews Band/Madison Square Garden/New York, NY/11.12.10

Dave Matthews Band/Madison Square Garden/New York, NY/11.12.10

Dave Matthews Band/Madison Square Garden/New York, NY/11.12.10

When I come home from work, I like to take a bit of time to take my brain from Cirque and move it to either my current read or... the greatest channel on Earth.

The other night, I flipped on Palladia around 11:00 p.m. to find selections from Glastonbury 2005, including the above Coldplay performance of "Fix You". While I'm not really enamored with attending festivals, I love building festivals. On top of that, Coldplay certainly doesn't make my top ten must-see bands, but their LD and pyro guys always knock it out of the park.

I just sat there and watched this thinking, "This is why I do this. I've done this exact set and am just as stoked now as I was standing stage left then. Look at how happy those people are. Look how beautiful this is."

But what is it that makes it so spectacular? Light, sound and atmosphere designed to the very last detail - straight from the musician's brain, to the sound engineer's console, to the lighting designer's vision, to the pyro guy's need to blow things up at the appropriate moments.

Creating art, which creates moments, which will create a memory of a distinct emotion that will never be replaced. That's why I do this.

I paid $40,000 to be a Penn State cheerleader and to have Steve Manuel tell me that I maybe should consider photography as a career option. I'm finally coming to grips with the fact, that perhaps, it was money well spent.

Look at that room. Look at the remaining half of Roger's rig - wall included.

Steve Manuel, wherever you are, I graciously send my best.

Roger Waters' load-out/Madison Square Garden/New York, NY/11.6.10

If you haven't figured this out already... I love my job. I love the people with whom I work. I may not have much of what most consider a conventional social life - but I guarantee that my definition of social covers more areas than the accepted definition.

No, I don't have a conventional boyfriend, no I don't have a conventional group of girlfriends, no, I don't have a conventional boss. And for some reason, people feel bad for me. For the record, it is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

My job is live music. My job is photography. My job is travel. My job is Madison Square Garden. My job is New York City. I made up this job. I created it out of paper clips and glass. And if there's something I don't like about it; it is my own damn fault.

And still I hear:

"You work seventeen-hour days?! They better be paying you well." "Oh, it must be so hard to date." "You had to do what?" "Don't you ever get lonely?" "Why don't you have any normal pictures on Facebook?" "How does your life work?" "You don't make any sense." "Did you go to school for this?" "I haven't seen you for two weeks... and I live with you." "You're so distant." "How are you ever going to have a family?" "You can't do this forever."

Gosh darn it, people. Whether you've been paying attention to this blog for four years or for four days, you may note the content as somewhat unique. There was no major, there was no internship, there was no grad school. There is, still, just a lot of ambition, imagination and a desire to accomplish by creating my own rules instead of taking someone else's rules as the be-all, end-all, God-given path to success. Sure, it would be nice to add some normal human elements, but I wouldn't trade any of this for the world, because in my estimation, I have the world.

It's funny how things change though. Once upon a time, I thought I had the world. My definition was very different, but equally as important. I was determined not to give it up, but in the end, I did. Very curious how those things happen. Did you have to leave one world to get to the other? Can you be in both worlds at once?

Can I be watching Roger Waters for the 2nd time, camera in hand, at MSG and have someone beside me who is equally as ecstatic to be there for a repeat performance?

Of course, of course, of course. Don't be ridiculous. Who doesn't want to see The Wall?

Photos: Roger Waters/Madison Square Garden/New York, NY/11.6.10