Sunday
It was a super early start again.
We were ready to roll by not long after 5 am, but even so, outside the air conditioned house it was boilingly hot, although still dark. We quickly drove to Philly, only stopping at a drive thru for Nancy to get a doughnut and an iced tea. I had brought cherry juice and a banana with me from the house.
Getting to the airport I discovered that security were pretty interested in me and they unpacked all my case, and I must admit, I was pretty stressed. It's such a HUGE big day for me, and I was feeling quite nauseous after that. Once we were through, we got to our gate and had to wait a while, so we logged on and saw the pic of Patti's cake. Looked very nice.
The flight was as expected, in a much smaller aircraft but I loved it. This time I had the window and was looking out the whole time, with no ill effects. Rented a car at the other end and quickly found our hotel. We were very surprised and amused to discover that the whole West Ham football squad were out here playing some exhibition matches and were staying in the same hotel. The hotel was also full of Hammer's fans and Nancy found herself in the minority in her own country. Nancy was tired, and we couldn't check in right away as the hotel was so busy. We decided to have some breakfast and we got a good view of all the players moving about in the lobby as well as the huge numbers of fans of course.
The receptionist, a massive character, by the name of Sommer was going crazy trying to see to the throngs of English cluttering up her world. She asked us to wait a while, so while nancy nodded off pretty much I spent the time chatting to Glynn Snodin who is the Hammers team coach. I have a feeling he is famous, maybe even chief coach, but I dont much keep up with football these days, and I didnt recall whether he was or not. Eventually Sommer came through with out room.. an upgrade to a double suite, with 2 big tvs, a microwave, coffee maker, yadda yadda yadda for the inconvenience. Thanks very much Sommer. She said she was a huge Weird Al fan, which was lovely to know.
Now supplied with a reasonably private bathroom I was able to relax more. Nancy took a shower and went to bed so I decided to do this.
I barely dare to think about tonight. I am not sure that excited is quite the right word. It's not everyday a girl gets to meet face to face with the sexiest man on the planet, but today is gonna be that day.
I notice from what Patti has written on Woway that there is a "one picture, one signature rule" in force for after show guests.
That's a bit of a blow really, nobody has mentioned it before and I was so determined to do something for my Yahoo-homies who can't make it to an Al show this time around. I was so gutted. I am still gonna try to do SOMETHING for you, Jess and Raquel. It seems a very hard rule under the circumstances. I'll see what i can manage anyway. So sorry!:(( Please don't be too downcast....I will try not to let you down ladies
Ok now I am scaring myself talking about it. Nancy is still asleep. Its a quarter to two in the afternoon, and as usual, I look like shit. I'll go shower soon whethr she awakens or not.
Weather here is what Nancy calls overcast, but I call GREAT! but she still thinks it could rain which is a bummer as I didnt even bring a coat.
I'll post more later on what happens today obviously after it happens.
Well, we arrived at the LC Pavilion pretty early and we hung around with WOWAY forum pal Greg and his very nice girlfriend (whom I am hoping I remember correctly to be Rebecca?) They were doing a video for the "Make the Rock Hall Weird" Campaign. I was interviewed for this and they laughed some so I guess I did alright. Then we went around with a banner along the line persuading other people in the line to also take part. We met quite a few WOWAY pals like Denise and Ambra and Susie in the lines.
Then I went to Will Call to fetch my passes but was gutted to discover they wouldn't release them without photo ID, and I had left my passport locked up in the hotel. Luckily Nancy managed to sort this quite quickly, which was great. We saw Susie in a similar predicament and I promised her that as soon as I saw Jim I'd ask him, although, thanks to "Security" by the time we did find Jim (who had the pass in his pocket) the doors had been shut and they weren't letting anyone else in. So so sorry Susie. I swear I did my best, though I know that having the patch as a souvenir only must be cold comfort :-(
Anyway, I am getting ahead of myself. We went in around 7pm and it was still bright sunshine. We spoke briefly to Uwvark, Fred and others (sorry I didn't catch too many names- I was feeling totally scatterbrained at the time to the extent that I forgot to buy a water bottle or any merchandise D'oh! Stooopid! Good job I still have Scranton to look forward to.
I was sat at the right hand end of the very front row, in front of the speaker next to Steve. I was sat next to two GREAT guys, Aaron(sp?) and Mike who are real fans and genuinely nice guys. I passed on my email to them as I think they might have some awesome pics for me, I'm really hoping they get in touch by email or just by joining WOWAY, we had a blast together and got on really well. Even the security dude in front of us was quite a nice guy.
Uwvark, who I had been looking forward to meeting, let himself down rather by having drunk too much alcohol. He managed to screw up the pics of my WBUL moment by jumping in front of Nancy's camera and waving his arms about. Cheers Man! much appreciated.. not! He's made up for it since though as he passed on to me the awesome video clip.
First sight of Steve and Jim when they came to check their equipment, and Jim saw me and smiled. This got my companions pretty excited as they realised that I knew some people.
Wow! What a gig! Way beyond "AWESOME". Al could easily see me right from the start, waving my flag and saw I was singing every word of every song along with the two lads. My eyes were glued to Al the whole time. I find him completely mesmerising anyway and live? Well you can imagine I'm sure. He really is just so incredibly beautiful.. not as tall as you might think and his expressive face and eyes are so alive and quick and intelligent looking- sigh-
He SO knew where I was, and he knew who I was too. He kept on looking and smiling.
When WBUL came on, and he got to "Do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk by again?" He put his foot up on my chair and presented me with a faceful of gyrating groinage. I'm like yelling "Bring it On!" as he's grinding in my face. I looked up and his face is SO close I could feel his breath and hear his unamplified voice. He gave me such a wicked grin you wouldnt believe, and then moved away to sing to others but was back for the chorus to shove his butt in my face so close I could have bitten it. RESULT!!
and well worth the large cash outlay to come to the States Hahaha! I'm a happy bunny!.
Sadly, or maybe happily, I managed to keep my hands to myself- I am not ACTUALLY a disrespectful animal, you know!
It was very tough though.. he has the sweetest ass in the history of humanity.
Nancy got all the end screaming bit done right at her and he touched the end of her nose, so she was pretty happy too.
Nancy and I swapped seats at the start of The Saga Begins, so I could get a taste of centre front.. which was truly fantastic. The only trouble with this was that, Al having located me at the right, near Steve, he decided in Yoda to shout out "OK only the British People sing now" and held the mic over that way. Nancy Aaron and Mike were yelling and pointing back to the centre of the row, and I was yelling "I'm over here" but it was dark now and he couldn't see so well with all the dry-ice around as well. Oh well, it was really funny anyway and a most HUGE privilege that he did that. He knew who I was anyway. Bless him, what a sweetheart!
The show pressed on and I was still singing everyword and waving my flag so Al easily found me at the front again by the time White & Nerdy was on and he kept making eye contact. Steve was laughing and making faces too.
I didn't have a cell-phone so I held up my hand-fan that has an LED light on it that reads "I LOVE YOU AL" on it . Hehehe.. me and my creepy fan-girl ways huh?
Right at the end of Albuquerque as he was saying goodnight he made eye contact again and some sort of hand gesture that looked like a thumbs up so I responded likewise and mouthed THANK YOU! and he smiled again. What a babe!
I hadnt missed out on any of the lyrics to any of the songs. I even managed to keep in with most of the YODA chant although I'd love to see a lyric sheet for the African bit because I'm pretty sure its not what I'm doing LOL
I wish I could remember more detail. I didn't bother taking any pictures, as I knew Fred was there and when I saw her after she said she had about 500. As Fred is an awesome photographer, I figure I won't need any pics of my own. Like I said, the only really personally important image got screwed up anyway. Shit happens I guess.
After the show, we put on our passes and waited at the Admin door. I was expecting Jim to come as that was the message that I had had but instead some Security dude herded everyone like cattle into a dingy little room with a long table and told us to line up. Al was brought in by a Security guy who explained we could get only one signature and one picture, which was a big blow as I had been hoping to get autographs for Raquel and Jessica.
I looked at Al, he seemed small and delicate next to the security guy, he was patient and friendly and obviously very tired. Nancy and I hung back at first hoping for a better chance but something told me waiting wasn't going to be OK tonight and I already suspected there'd be not meet-and-greet by the buses just from seeing how tired Al appeared to be, so I did go forward, (still conscious that I needed to find Jim and get to Susie somehow) and we shook hands I suppose. I have no idea what he said, or what I said.. maybe it will come back to me. I hope so. He signed my flag and I gave him the painting and the other things.
Nancy took some pictures very quickly, maybe five? I still haven't seen them properly so far. Nancy was gonna send them to my Yahoo mail but they've not arrived yet and I think we need to find another way. One is very cute, of me catching him doing one of his silly faces so we are looking at each other which is lovely.The others luckily are of the side of my head and my hair so they're a lot nicer to look at anyway lol.
I suddenly realise there is probably no pic of Nancy getting her book signed. I don't remember her handing me the camera at any time.. Oh dear!:(( I guess I was away with the fairies. I wonder if anyone took a pic. There was a lady from the venue taking some.
After that we left the room and Security tried to herd us out of the building but I just said NO, and that we were guests of a band member and were going to wait to see them. They left us alone after that. Fortunately, Jon happened to come past and kindly led us off to look for Jim. It was interesting seeing the crew dismantling all the rig. I introduced myself to Jon and we chatted about my mad fan-journey to see them and he said that was a really nice thing to do. I complimented him on the show and explained about the mix up when Nancy and I swapped seats. He thought it was funny.
By now we were standing by the big black bus and Jon went inside, returning a moment later with Jim in tow. I quickly said about Susie and he fished a pass out of his pocket, but alas I now had no way of getting it to her which I felt very bad about. Jim said there had been a few mix ups and that sometimes Security did their job "too well" or something like that. We stood and chatted to Jim and Jon for ages and Jim fetched us water bottles from the bus I gave Jim his painting and explained about it. We talked of my US adventure and especially of our day in New York and I said how much I had enjoyed it, after feeling rather worried at first, I'm not a person who feels at home in a crowd of people.
Nancy took a pic of Jim and I together and I got a couple of big hugs from both the lads, but I don't think Nancy took one of Jon and I together though. I got both of their autographs and Jon wrote for ages it seemed, he put a little thank you on there as well which was so sweet.
Shortly after we said our goodbyes and were taken out of the compound. In the street we were met again by Aaron and Mike (Aaron provided me with the pic of my red suit moment). They were really excited for us and wanted to see my signed flag etc. I gave Aaron my email written on a piece of Canadian Idiot Streamer. I really hope he didn't lose it, as I am sure that if anyone captured my big moment, it would have been him (He did!). Then we bumped into Susie again and I said she might get in if she hurried, but she said that the doors had shut not that long after we had gone in anyway. I gave her the pass anyway. I hope she's not mad at me.
Back to the car and we drove back to the hotel in a haze of very happy thoughts getting lost in the One Way system a bit but really not caring at all.
I'm more than slightly hazy at this point, I think I was online for a while on Nancy's laptop as I remember the time being 1:11 by the clock on there (Who knows where the time goes?) I think I posted a brief review on WOWAY.
I slept pretty well.
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