December, 1995

I'm not exactly sure of the exact date but I believe it was the 5th. I had run around the night before looking for a copy of Howard Stern's Miss America, and had finally found it at a video store next to copies of Bambi on VHS. I grabbed the book and headed straight home to get a couple of winks of sleep before heading out.

The weather report that day called for snow changing to periods of freezing rain towards mid-day with a high of 34. The wind chill was a "brisk" 17 degrees F, perfect short weather for me. I was in the middle of a bet that winter. I had to wear shorts everyday for a year. I didn't mind the cold so long as I was bundled up on top so I dressed for the weather accordingly. With that I set out from my home in Frankford and caught the "El" into Center City around 4 a.m.

As I exited the train in Center City I could already spot the lines forming down 5th street. Howard Stern was big in Philly and close to 15,000 fans turned out for a chance to meet him. I walked down to the line and was told the end was somewhere near 9th street. So I hightailed it and finally found the end of the line at 8th and Sansom, a good 11 blocks away from where the signing was.

It was cold, snow had landed to the depth of about an inch on the ground and my boots were holding up so far. Exposed from my ankle to just above my knee the wind wrapped it's way around my legs freezing them. "I'm an idiot" I thought as I stood there shivering my ass off for nothing more than a friggin' signature. T-shirt vendors walked the line and I bought 3 of them to use as scarfs. When the snow turned to a light rain the situation got even more lousy. Without an umbrella the rain began to permeate my clothing while ice began to form on the hairs on my legs. I looked down at one point an noticed my knees were bright red, not a good sign.

As the hours passed many people began to walk off the line. The weather had become too much for them to bear. But I stayed. Hell I had already waited 7 hours in this weather and was only a block away from meeting Howard. "Hey if the kid in the shorts is staying I'm staying!" yelled a guy behind me in line. Everyone cheered. It was great that I had become a symbol of sorts even though inside I was rethinking the idea of remaining in line every 5 minutes. It was cold.

I finally got into the store and was able to warm up some. My knees now a deep purple it had looked like someone had broken hockey sticks over them repeatedly. I walked in with my book and placed it down in front of Howard who noticed I was wearing shorts. He shook his head, thanked me for coming out and called me an idiot for wearing shorts in this weather. I thanked him, grabbed my book and walked away.

8 hours in the snow and freezing rain for 35 seconds with and an autograph by a guy I listened to everyday in the morning for 4 hours. It was completely worth it.