It's funny how words work. Sometimes there is the perfect word for a certain experience, and it sums everything up to a T. Then sometimes there doesn't seem to be enough words in the english language to even begin to explain things. That is how i feel right now. I don't that there are any amount of words that could be put into any certain order to explain just how amazing Thursday night was. I just feel like if for some reason i never woke up again, that would be okay with me because I am completely content. I realize that I am probably un-healithly obessed with OAR, but i can not help it. They have had such an impact on my life and my attitude towards life. They have been one of the biggest influences to me, not only musicaly, but in every other aspect of my life as a whole. To say that i love them is an understatement! I still don't think that it has sunk in yet that I acutally met Benj and Richard...and sat down with them...and talked to them. I realize that they are regular people too, but to me they are on this huge ass pedistal. I will now explain the night
Their tour coordinator came and got me from the lobby around 6:45. at first he seemed real cool, but as it turns out he is a douche bag. He led me through the theatre and onto the stage. At this point i totally cheesed out. He went forward to talk to someone else that was on stage and it wasn't until a few minutes had passed that i realized who it was! I was standing there, looking out across the stage, looked into the audience, up at the balcony...saw people filing in to take their seats...and i wanted to cry. I got to see exactly what they see...and it was such a surreal feeling! Then i came back to reality and noticed that my husband Marc was standing 3 feet away from me. I tried to be cool, I wanted to say hi, i wanted to run up to him and give him a huge hug and tell him that his music changed my life, then ask him to marry me and have babies, but all i managed was a wave and half smile because my nerves were shot.
Dave and i then continued on. He walked me upstairs into a backstage room where Benj and Richard were waiting for me. I was walkng up the stairs and i heard guitars and got real excited. I was tryin to figure out how the process was going to happen. I'd never done an interview with a band before and lets not forget that I am one of the biggest geeks on the face of this earth, so I figured that my mind would turn to mush and i'd end up looking like a dumbass that had no idea what to talk about. I suprsied myself though when that did not happen!
I walked in and shook their hands and set my bag on the counter when i noticed a few bottles of jack daniels sitting there. That made me happy! All i wanted to do was say "hey guys, lets take some shots and play guitar and call it a night!"...but that dave dude was creeping me out. He had this holyier-than-thou attitude and seemed to be implying that i was not good enough to be there with them, or that they had more important things to do than talk with me. fuck him. they were amazing!
Richard right away started talking about my nose ring. We had a bonding moment. It was beautiful (and so was he). Then we talked about their drive here, where they had come from, what time they left, how long it took. I asked one question and they told me their life story! and i LOVED every minute of it! I finally got the minidisc recorder out and was getting ready to turn it on when i mentioned that i had not used one before. I don't know why that came out of my mouth, but it did...and it was alright cuz they thought it was funny. I pulled up my stool real close to both of them and they did mic checks! They were so easy to talk to! My nervousness about it wore off almost completley, except for the fact that Dave sat right behind me the whole time and feeding off this negative vibe. The interview lasted about 11 minutes or so, and then i ended aburptly because Dave was REALLY starting to make me uncomfortable. Benj and Richard thanked me for coming...so i turned off the recorder and i was like "i want to thank you guys soo much for taking the time to do this for me. You have been a huge inspiration in my life and I am so honored to have gotten the chance to do this"...they got these huge smiles on their faces and just seemed so shocked that I was saying that. Then dave was like "come on lets go" and started being a big old jerk again. So i packed my stuff back up and was on the way out. I shook their hands again, said thank you once more, we chit chatted about my mid term in the morning and they asked if i was staying for the show, and they thanked me, then as i was walking out the door one of them said "hey wait", so i turned around, and Dave kind of closed the door and said "lets go" again. I wanted to cry! i had a feeling they might ask to hang out afterwards. There are certain things you can tell about people and sometimes you can predict what will be said by the way the conversation was going or the way people are acting or the atmosphere...and i just got that vibe. it was saddness! So i guess i will never know what it was that they were going to ask, but either way, the night was perfect.
I went back into the lobby and met Bryan and we decided to go to our seats. My seat ended up being soo damn close. Granted, i have been closer at unseated shows, but it just added to the evening. Their set started off with marc coming out alone to sing "short a try"...it's such a sad song, and I have to admit i had tears in my eyes...I don't count that as crying though...Since i did cry 9 times total that night! They played an allman brothers cover, and finished the acoustic set with,"I feel home"...it's my favorite song of theirs..so yes. i cried...acutaly i bawled. it was amazing.
They left the stage and let the roadies set up for their actual show. It was such a wierd show because they played songs that weren't necessarily favorites, but they had so much energy and the whole place was just wild, so it ended up being one of their best shows that i have seen yet. The song they started off with made me cry...the way that the lights were and the way they were standing and the enthusiasm of the crowd all combined and it hit me. Tears were streaming! it was so beautiful!
During Hey girl i decided that maybe i should wave to Richard, since he was right in front of me. I noticed that they don't really look out into the crowd much, so i waited for the next time i saw him look up and i waved. He kind of did a double take- he looked once, then looked again closer, then he noticed me and got this huge smile on this face! I loved it.
The show ended, they came out for an encore with the second half of Delicate few...then left the stage for good. I stood around for a while, taking everything in one last time...looking around at the crowd as they filed out with big smiles on their faces...all rowdy and wild. I cried one more time. It was perfect. Then i got a chair shoved into my ankel by the stage crew people and now i have a bruise...and even that was perfect.
I loved everything about the night, even Dave (although he prevented me from getting pictures or autographs, and made me real edgy and nervous). It was still perfect. All of it. I wish i could explain to everyone how much the night really meant to me. It was the most unbelievable feeling being able to sit down with 2 of the people that i seriously idolize more than anything. I tried real hard to be chilled out, but my heart was just racing. Good things like that don't happen to people like me, so part of me still thinks that it was a dream, that it didn't really happen, that i'll wake up some morning and all of it will just be a part of imagination.
Times like thursday night are what make me realize that coming to (and staying at) north central really was meant to be part of the plan for me. If i hadn't come here, hadn't decided to stay, hadn't gotten involved in radio and somehow got a position on senior staff with the promotions stuff, then i wouldn't have had the opportunity to do what i did. I am greatful for all of it!
Their tour coordinator came and got me from the lobby around 6:45. at first he seemed real cool, but as it turns out he is a douche bag. He led me through the theatre and onto the stage. At this point i totally cheesed out. He went forward to talk to someone else that was on stage and it wasn't until a few minutes had passed that i realized who it was! I was standing there, looking out across the stage, looked into the audience, up at the balcony...saw people filing in to take their seats...and i wanted to cry. I got to see exactly what they see...and it was such a surreal feeling! Then i came back to reality and noticed that my husband Marc was standing 3 feet away from me. I tried to be cool, I wanted to say hi, i wanted to run up to him and give him a huge hug and tell him that his music changed my life, then ask him to marry me and have babies, but all i managed was a wave and half smile because my nerves were shot.
Dave and i then continued on. He walked me upstairs into a backstage room where Benj and Richard were waiting for me. I was walkng up the stairs and i heard guitars and got real excited. I was tryin to figure out how the process was going to happen. I'd never done an interview with a band before and lets not forget that I am one of the biggest geeks on the face of this earth, so I figured that my mind would turn to mush and i'd end up looking like a dumbass that had no idea what to talk about. I suprsied myself though when that did not happen!
I walked in and shook their hands and set my bag on the counter when i noticed a few bottles of jack daniels sitting there. That made me happy! All i wanted to do was say "hey guys, lets take some shots and play guitar and call it a night!"...but that dave dude was creeping me out. He had this holyier-than-thou attitude and seemed to be implying that i was not good enough to be there with them, or that they had more important things to do than talk with me. fuck him. they were amazing!
Richard right away started talking about my nose ring. We had a bonding moment. It was beautiful (and so was he). Then we talked about their drive here, where they had come from, what time they left, how long it took. I asked one question and they told me their life story! and i LOVED every minute of it! I finally got the minidisc recorder out and was getting ready to turn it on when i mentioned that i had not used one before. I don't know why that came out of my mouth, but it did...and it was alright cuz they thought it was funny. I pulled up my stool real close to both of them and they did mic checks! They were so easy to talk to! My nervousness about it wore off almost completley, except for the fact that Dave sat right behind me the whole time and feeding off this negative vibe. The interview lasted about 11 minutes or so, and then i ended aburptly because Dave was REALLY starting to make me uncomfortable. Benj and Richard thanked me for coming...so i turned off the recorder and i was like "i want to thank you guys soo much for taking the time to do this for me. You have been a huge inspiration in my life and I am so honored to have gotten the chance to do this"...they got these huge smiles on their faces and just seemed so shocked that I was saying that. Then dave was like "come on lets go" and started being a big old jerk again. So i packed my stuff back up and was on the way out. I shook their hands again, said thank you once more, we chit chatted about my mid term in the morning and they asked if i was staying for the show, and they thanked me, then as i was walking out the door one of them said "hey wait", so i turned around, and Dave kind of closed the door and said "lets go" again. I wanted to cry! i had a feeling they might ask to hang out afterwards. There are certain things you can tell about people and sometimes you can predict what will be said by the way the conversation was going or the way people are acting or the atmosphere...and i just got that vibe. it was saddness! So i guess i will never know what it was that they were going to ask, but either way, the night was perfect.
I went back into the lobby and met Bryan and we decided to go to our seats. My seat ended up being soo damn close. Granted, i have been closer at unseated shows, but it just added to the evening. Their set started off with marc coming out alone to sing "short a try"...it's such a sad song, and I have to admit i had tears in my eyes...I don't count that as crying though...Since i did cry 9 times total that night! They played an allman brothers cover, and finished the acoustic set with,"I feel home"...it's my favorite song of theirs..so yes. i cried...acutaly i bawled. it was amazing.
They left the stage and let the roadies set up for their actual show. It was such a wierd show because they played songs that weren't necessarily favorites, but they had so much energy and the whole place was just wild, so it ended up being one of their best shows that i have seen yet. The song they started off with made me cry...the way that the lights were and the way they were standing and the enthusiasm of the crowd all combined and it hit me. Tears were streaming! it was so beautiful!
During Hey girl i decided that maybe i should wave to Richard, since he was right in front of me. I noticed that they don't really look out into the crowd much, so i waited for the next time i saw him look up and i waved. He kind of did a double take- he looked once, then looked again closer, then he noticed me and got this huge smile on this face! I loved it.
The show ended, they came out for an encore with the second half of Delicate few...then left the stage for good. I stood around for a while, taking everything in one last time...looking around at the crowd as they filed out with big smiles on their faces...all rowdy and wild. I cried one more time. It was perfect. Then i got a chair shoved into my ankel by the stage crew people and now i have a bruise...and even that was perfect.
I loved everything about the night, even Dave (although he prevented me from getting pictures or autographs, and made me real edgy and nervous). It was still perfect. All of it. I wish i could explain to everyone how much the night really meant to me. It was the most unbelievable feeling being able to sit down with 2 of the people that i seriously idolize more than anything. I tried real hard to be chilled out, but my heart was just racing. Good things like that don't happen to people like me, so part of me still thinks that it was a dream, that it didn't really happen, that i'll wake up some morning and all of it will just be a part of imagination.
Times like thursday night are what make me realize that coming to (and staying at) north central really was meant to be part of the plan for me. If i hadn't come here, hadn't decided to stay, hadn't gotten involved in radio and somehow got a position on senior staff with the promotions stuff, then i wouldn't have had the opportunity to do what i did. I am greatful for all of it!