Pitbull In Pictures

On Wednesday I had the extreme pleasure of, along with my friend Samantha, being an audience member at the taping of the season premiere episode of Steve Harvey’s daytime talk show.

Steve is great and all (and in fact I found lots of his small talk between takes to be very inspiring), but the “extreme pleasure” part can be credited to the presence of his guest, Pitbull.

Pitbull is currently one of my very favorite entertainers. His music makes me very, very happy. His music also makes me dance, even if I’m sitting down. Sofa dancing? Totally. Car dancing? Yes, please.

When I’m standing up? Look out. For real. You might get knocked over.

Anyway, I was looking forward to getting just one picture, a selfie of Samantha and me with Pitbull in the background. After that, I was going to put my phone away and live in the moment and enjoy the experience fully. That picture was not to be. Unfortunately the penalty for taking pictures during Wednesday’s taping was an escort offsite and I didn’t want to risk it so I left my phone in my purse like a good rule follower. There were cameras (for the show) everywhere and I knew that my typical M.O. (ignoring the rule and being stealthy about taking a picture or two anyway) wasn’t going to fly. Also, the head of security was standing about five feet away from us. Sad trombone.

Then I remembered that, six weeks ago, I didn’t take pictures when Jim and I enjoyed dinner out with friends and instead drew it up for you. Why couldn’t I use that same method to give you an idea of my experience with Steve Harvey and Pitbull?

No reason. I COULD!

I even invested in a set of colored pencils this time.

The set was pretty amazing. We were on the rooftop of Navy Pier on a beautiful day, and the sight of the Chicago skyline in the background was perfect. On one end, there was the set where Steve would interview Pitbull. It was absolutely gorgeous and included the requisite couch and chair, plus lots of beautiful blue and white drapes that were blowing in the breeze. The pillows on the white couch were bright pink and orange. The set was very, very “Miami”.

interview set

The audience was seated on rows of long benches with a runway going down the center; the runway connected the interview set with the performance stage, which had orange “Steve Harvey” banners and lots of pink and yellow lights. It was a smart set up, as when it was time for Pitbull to perform we just had to turn around.

Concert stage set

Samantha and I were a little annoyed that we were placed on the outside end of our row rather than on the runway end but still, being about eight people away from Pitbull was still closer than 99.999999999999% of Chicagoans that day, so it’s all good.

Before the taping started we were entertained by Steve’s warm-up guy and we danced to the music that was being played. We were pretty psyched. That’s me on the left.

Melisa and Samantha before

After what seemed like forever (along with some time spent doing audience reaction shots for the cameras, on purpose), it was finally time to begin the show. Steve greeted the audience and didn’t waste any time in bringing Pitbull out, which made us all lose our minds. I mean, I can’t even tell you how exciting it was. HE WAS RIGHT THERE. RIGHT!! THERE!!

Steve interviewed him for about twenty minutes and it was nice to see the down-to-earth guy behind the artist. I won’t recap the conversation except to say that it was really awesome to learn that Pitbull has opened up a charter school in his old neighborhood in the 305 (ahem, Miami). His pride over this school and the students was palpable.

I tried to draw a picture of Steve and Pitbull together but I’m not very good at drawing clothing on actual bodies (I’m a stick figure-y type of artist) so after four attempts I gave up and just drew their heads. I mean, that’s cool, right?

Steve and Pitbull

I can tell you what they wore, in case you’re wondering. Pitbull wore his sunglasses, of course (they came off for the interview), a gray suit jacket with a white shirt underneath, and white linen pants. He also wore a pair of awesome burgundy suede loafers that had gold buckle embellishments. No socks. He looked amazing.

Steve wore…a suit. It may have been blue with pinstripes. I think.

Unfortunately for us, Pitbull only performed one song, “Fireball”, which is from his upcoming album (do we still say “album”?) called “Globalization”. I am completely obsessed with this song. He had four backup dancers performing with him. They wore bright blue dresses and I wanted to be up there dancing and wearing a bright blue dress, too. I told Samantha that we really should have been up there dancing instead of in the audience dancing, and that we would TOTALLY be fantastic Pitbull backup dancers in general. I think she was only moments away from storming the stage at any given moment the entire time Pitbull was up there.

All too quickly it was time for Pitbull to leave Navy Pier. I’m not sure where he was headed but I’m fairly certain it was going to involve a private plane, some Voli on the rocks, and multiple women fawning all over him.

Our fate was very different. We were outside for another hour, getting thirsty, hungry, and majorly sunburned. By the time the taping finished at two, we were hot, bright red, and hangry. Fireball(s).

Melisa and Samantha after

It was totally worth it.

10 Comments

  • Liz

    I think all of your future posts should include your drawings…okay, most of your future posts…fine, a few sprinkled in…every now and again…would be awesome, thanks 🙂

  • Crystal

    I am jealous. Not of the whole Steve Harvey/Pitball thing but of your fancy colored pencils and artistic talents. My colored pencils are the cheap half-broken, partially used, and more-often-than-not-chipped ones my kids bring home at the end of the school year. While they do have smudges of past poor cafeteria lunch choices and tell stories of classroom hijinks, they are long past their prime. Also I recently tried to draw a sheep for a preschool neighborhood kid. She asked me why I drew a cloud with legs.

    Thank you for the laughter today! I’m so very happy you had such a wonderful time and that you shared it with all of us!!