Dobrindts dot com...again

There is a pub near the hotel that people from my company hang out at when in town, so I popped in for a beer and to see if anyone was there. I sat down and saw some strange activity for an English bar in town. There were St. Pauli girl signs everywhere, which is a German beer, in an English and Irish bar. Not out of the question, but it’s a pretty low key kind of place. Then I saw a sign that said the St. Pauli girl was going to be there on October 16th from 5-7. I looked at my watch and saw it was Oct 16th at 6PM. I immediately looked around.

So there, at a table in the corner, was the 2008 St. Pauli Girl model, Irina Voronina, in the same outfit as the girl on the bottle. Apparently she is a Russian model who now lives in LA who is the official model for 2008. So in the spirit of the night I ordered a St. Pauli Girl on tap, drank my beer, and got an autographed picture for me and my father in law, who would appreciate the humor.

WARNING: If you google her name to find out more, be warned that there a number of images that are…risque, if that’s even a word. Just be careful not to do this in front of spouses or at work, because apparently this model is tall and has curves, and knows the Playboy organization.

I then walked out onto 54th between 6th and 7th, and realized something was off. Something was amiss. There were no cars on the street, and no people. It was me, a coupe of bell hops from other hotels, and that was it. I looked east and saw in front of the NY Hilton a bunch of cops, some black SUVs, and people behind metal barriers. I sprung in to action and walked down to find out what the delio was.

I quickly realized secret service was manning the side exit to the hotel and deduced the fact that a former, current or future president was about to walk out. So I asked and found out that John McCain was going to come out.

I walked into the hotel, which they let me do since I was staying there, and found a spot near the escalators where he would be coming out. There were about 20 people total there, with security guards in uniform, hotel security in suits, secret service and NYPD keeping the 20 of us back.

After about 3 minutes, a more senior secret service guy walked off the escalator, and looked at us standing there. He walked up and told a woman to take her hand out of her pocket and asked another guy to take his hands out of his jacket pockets.

Then walked out Senator McCain with a couple of other people and his wife Cindy, all decked out in tuxedos and Cindy in a ball gown. They looked great.

He looked at us and waved and said “Hi, thank you, good to see you” or something similar and turned to walk out of the doors and into his car.

Someone in the crowd yelled support.

John then stopped, turned around (feet from the exit and his SUV) and walked back. He said something as he was walking that he is never this dressed up and wanted to say hello to us. Cindy followed.

So McCain came up and talked to us, shook hands, took a 6 month old baby on his shoulder for a few minutes. He was great with the crowd, even though we were only 20 people. Cindy looked stunning in her gown and John made some jokes about how they always dress like that in Arizona.

I shook his hand as close as I shake the hand of a colleague or friend when I say hello. He was inches from me and I said something and he looked at me in the eyes and replied.

During the debate last week we were wondering how tall he was. I can tell you right now that he is 5-10, maybe 5-9, and looks much better in person than he does on TV. He looked great! Healthy and not pasty like he does on camera. He was gracious and outgoing, charming and conversational and held that baby like it was his own grandchild. Cindy was right there next to him and I could have reached out and put my hand on her shoulder she was that close.

I was in the elevator a little while later with one of his staffers and she told me he was in town to do Letterman (which will air tonight) and he was decked out for some black tie event in town. He is staying at the hotel tonight. I tried to get her to agree to have him meet me for breakfast at 7AM, but she didn’t bite. Damn.

Anyway, it was fun. A few years ago I met Bill Clinton in NYC at a deli on 42nd street, and now it’s McCain on 54th. Next up…Obama on 57th.

PS. The one freakin time I don’t have my camera phone or my digital camera, and someone famous is standing next to me. That, my friends, is my luck.