Kay Hanley

I feel like I just woke up from a dream. After the Ft. Lauderdale show on Tuesday night, the rest of the Hannah tour rolled on to Nashville and I stayed behind to catch a flight to New York for my debut at the the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. I have no idea where to start in retelling this story so I guess I’ll just begin at the beginning.

Last year, I was asked by American Greetings to appear in the parade to perform one of the songs I wrote with USA Mike for the Care Bears. I said yes (because I say yes to everything) not realizing what that meant (because I never really think about what happens after I say yes to things). Well sure enough, the time arrived. Macy’s arranged for first class everything so I and my family hopped on our flights in first class seats; me from Ft. Lauderdale and Michael, Zoemay and Henry from Los Angeles to meet in New York.

The car service picked me up at LaGuardia and deposited me at the London, a splendid hotel in mid-town. I dropped off my things in my spectacular suite and went down to the hotel bar for a snack and a drink. This is where the excursion began to take shape. I was walking through the lobby and ran into Fan’s dad, Elliot Lurie who also happens to manage Corbin Bleu (cutie!) who also happened to be in the parade. As we’re talking, I hear “KAY!”. I turn around and here come the Jonas Brothers, Miley’s opening act and my fellow float riders, who seemed slightly confused to see me there. Hugs and pleasantries are exchanged and I was all “I’ve been trying to tell you for 2 weeks that I was going to be here!!” No matter, we were all happy to see each other. Okay, bye lobby people, I have to eat dinner.

I’m eating and having a glass of wine and Benji & Joel Madden plop down at the bar beside me. We had all worked together on a Shut Up Stella thing last year. “Hey guys!” We chit chatted for a bit, mostly about Joel’s impending fatherhood. As it turned out, we all needed to be in SoHo so we grabbed a cab and rolled downtown together. We all hopped out at Ludlow and Houston and went our separate ways.

One of my favorite stylists, Jackie Atkins had agreed to be my stylist for the parade. She has 2 shops on Ludlow called Pear and Plum, respectively. I arrived an hour late but she was cool about it. We caught up, drank wine and tried on piles of clothes. Here’s Jackie at Pear, the shoe wing of her empire:

Michael had dropped of the kiddos at his Mom’s house in Jersey and came to meet me at Jackie’s store so we could go out to dinner and enjoy some private time before the onslaught. The 3 of us agreed on 3 possible outfits for the parade and Michael and I split to find some food. We didn’t have to go very far. I forget the name of the place (gah! why do i always do that??) but they had a bazillion beers on tap and my favorite food. Oysters from the Atlantic ocean, specifically from the freezing salty waters off the northern coast of America.

my man is wicked cute

After dinner, Michael drove me back to the hotel and we said our goodbyes and such. He went back to Jersey so he could retrieve the kids and bring them to the grandstands in the morning and I went to sleep because Jackie and my make-up gal, Amy were coming at 5:30am to get me ready for the parade. A little drunk and very happy, I slept like a dead person.

The alarm went off at 5:15am like an air raid and I reluctantly extricated my tired ass from my fluffy bed. Amy arrived right on time and I showered while she set up. Jackie was a saint and made a coffee run on the way. The 3 of us got everything done by 7:30, only 15 minutes late for my car.

amy and me and my outfit. aww yeah.

I rode over to the “talent” site with my chaperone Frances in a car that was big enough for like, 40 people. There were a bunch of buses that acted as the green room where we all waited for our turns to get on our floats.
Well lookie here, check out who’s on my bus. I’m sorry, but Joe and Nick Jonas are getting pretty darned good at the steely-eyed stare into the camera. That’s Jordin Sparks in the middle, btw. Lovely girl.

Other people on my bus? Anika Noni Rose (dreamgirls), Corbin Bleu, Ashley Tisdale, Michael Feinstein (jazzy piano dude), Willard Scott (!) and the oldest woman in the world. I tried to ask her how old she was, her name, did she need help to the bathroom, etc., but she couldn’t hear me so I can’t actually tell you anything else about her except that she is the oldest lady in the world. Or maybe just the United States. She looked quite good for her age, whatever age she may have been which I assumed to be very, very old.

Okay! It’s finally time for me to go to my Care Bears float, which is way at the end. A few things: I have never been to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. I have been told nothing about what I am supposed to do. I mean, I walk through my everyday life in a slightly baffled state but now I am just plain old disoriented. This is what I see when I take in my Care Bears float for the first time:

oh. my. god.

Skating Care Bears. At this point, one just needs to go with it.

We start slooooowly driving (riding? floating?) down Central Park West to Columbus Circle through Times Square.
It was truly surreal.

As we cruised into the the final stretch, some guy hops on the float and puts an NBC mic in front of me with no explanation. By a careful and quick series of deductions, I assume that I am supposed to sing into it at some point. Will a song play? If so, when? Shit! I have NO IDEA WHAT I AM DOING!! I hear a familiar voice which I identify as Matt Lauer’s saying something from somewhere that I can’t see about blah blah blah blah Kay Hanley. WHAT??!! I hear music - is that my Care Bears song? Yes. I am totally freaking out. How did I get here? Okay, just go with it. Wait, it’s over? What just happened? I am whooshed from my float by a pack of guys that would look perfectly appropriate running alongside a Presidential motorcade and the next thing I know I am sitting in my giant car again all by myself. I am soon joined by Michael, Zoemay and Henry and we rode back to the hotel together. Whoa.

Michael opened a half bottle of wine, I started packing my bags and the kids jumped on the bed while delighting in the fact that they could do so while switching channels on the flatscreen TV. It was beautiful.

Then it was off to Nana’s. It was awesome to spend the day with Michael’s family, some of whom I have not seen in a few years. I think this was the first time all the cousins have been in the same place together. Aww..

zoe, alex, hannah, matthew, joshua, justin and henry

Oh, and Nana has a new Golden puppy named Jessie James. The cuteness is kind of ridiculous.

By 8pm or so I was completely running on fumes so we decided to start wrapping things up. My flight to Nashville was at 7:55am so Michael, Henry Z and I got in Nana’s sweet Acura and drove back to the city. We all slept together in my gigantic bed. The alarm went off at 5am and I quietly gathered my things to head back to work. This is what was in my bed when I left NY.

I have a lot to be grateful for. The End.

xok