Pittsburg, Kansas
We waited a little while for the Meet & Greet to start. While we were waiting, a lady came up to us and said, "Okay, which one is Mona?" I told her it was me. The lady was Melinda Carson, whom I had been emailing and asking many questions. She's the one who scored our front row tickets. She also told me that she had no intention of going to the show, but I was so emphatic about how wonderful RP was, she just had to see them. She said, "I am SO glad I came! They were wonderful!" Another fan born. *G*
Finally Phil came out and made sure the chairs were in the right spot, then told us to line up. All of Da Boyz came out together, except for Scott. I panicked for a moment because I wanted him to sign the infamous "Belly Button" pic and I was afraid he was missing the M&G for some reason. But in a few minutes he came out. YAY!
We started with Jeff. Krik and I both had a black and white 8X10 that we'd taken of the group at Street...side Records last year in St. Louis. They were impressed with how professional it looked. Krik had a special pic for Jeff to sign. The one of him doing the sleigh bells off mic at Street...side Records. Jeff:"Oh, THIS is an interesting picture. Hmm." Then he started DRAWING on it! Krik was like, "What the hell?" But Jeff was just drawing a caption bubble. Jeff: "This pic needs an interesting quote." (which was "I feel...I feel...funny.") Well, you didn't LOOK funny darlin'. Krik thinks that just about the sexiest thing she's ever seen. I have to agree with her on that one. *G*
George was next. The boy was in a tight orange sleeveless t-shirt. God help us all! OMG! Those arms! And what a smile! He signed our pics. We didn't get to say much to him 'til later though.
When I got to El, I told him, "I'm the one who won the phone call." El grinned and said, "Oh yeah...we remember that phone call." *G* Then I told him about winning the call and that my dad had surgery that day and I really needed to win that. He leaned forward and asked how my dad was doing. I'm not sure he WANTED to ask, maybe he was afraid that my dad didn't survive the surgery and he didn't want to make me sad. But he brightened when I told him that he was doing great and felt great and had hopefully many more years.
Then we get to Kev. He looks at me and says, "Seriously, we need to get you up for PW." I'm like, "Um, Okay." Then he looks at Krik, "and then you." Krik shook her head. Kev: "Really? You dont want to?" She really doesn't want to go up. I think it's cool that Kev respects that, knowing how some people don't do well in front of crowds. I don't do well either, but hell, IF he picks me, it's a once in a lifetime deal. I'd do it. I'm betting he forgets though. *G* Although he asked if we were going to the TN/KY shows. Of course!
Now...*sigh*...Scott! I was still talking to Kev and Krik had moved on to Scott and he was signing her pic. I looked up and saw him point at me and go, "Now that's Moe! And you're...." Krik says, "I'm Krik". and Scott said, "Oh yeah. I knew that. It's just that alzheimer's kicking in." hehehe
So I get up my nerve to show him the Belly Button pic. He said, "Oh yeah. I've been waiting for this.*sarcasm* This is ONE sexy picture." I told him, "Oh you don't EVEN know how sexy that is." Scott started laughing and said, "Yeah, I remember when we took this. You were like *imitating me* "OMG! I can't believe you're actually DOING this!" I showed Scott the sign I made for him cause I didn't think he saw it during the show ("Hey...Nice Navel"). Scott said: "No, I didn't see it...*grins*...but I heard about it." Kev looked at the pic and laughed, too. *G* So Scott signed the BB pic with a caption bubble from the BB which said, "Hey, hey!" Then he signed the B&W pic with "For My Mo, Love Scott." Then he says, "No "e", right?" I said, "Yes, there's an "e"." He kinda looked ticked at himself for forgetting, but I said, "Hey, you remembered my name, so I'll let you slide." Scott: "Cool!"
We were talking about the TN/KY shows and I said, "We wasted...well okay, not WASTED, but we spent alot of money buying subscriptions so we could get good seats." He laughed about that. I told him we were psyched that they were finally coming to Texas. We wandered around taking pics and eventually Da Boyz came out from behind the table. Somehow we circled back around to Jeff. As luck would have it, there was a girl there with the exact same blouse as I had AND she was from Texas. Jeff says, "You guys are color coordinated tonight." Guess he doesn't realize how embarrassing it is to show up at a party dressed the same as someone else. *G* But I said, "Yeah, must have been a sale." He laughed. Then he noticed my necklace and reached out to touch it."That's an interesting necklace. What is it?"(it's a baseball glove/bat and football..for Mackey) So I told him. He says, "Oh are you a sports fan?" I told him that the charms were for my son but that Krik and I were huge baseball fans. Jeff: "That's neat." Sidenote: Krik did NOT try to kill me after Jeff touched my necklace. *G* Yay, me! Then he noticed my camera which Krik was holding. Jeff:"That's a fancy camera." Krik: "It's Moe's". Jeff looked at the lens, etc, asking if it was a wide angle, etc. I told him it was our "stalking" camera. He said he just had a little digital one. But I bet it's a FANCY digital one. *G*
Then we start talking about them coming to Texas. Jeff asked how far we were from College Station. I told him I thought about 2 hours and Krik said, "Well, an hour and 45 minutes, but I can get there in an hour and a half if I have to."
Then I got very brave (we're talking to Jeff and George): Me: "We have one request when you come to Texas. Jeff looked a tad bit suspicious but asked, "What is it?" I said, "We want you to wear either Levis or Wranglers." George (scratching his chin and thinking): "Hmmm.." and Jeff looked at George and said, "Maybe with black shirts?" Then Krik said, "Well, Moe wants Levis. I want Wranglers." Jeff said, "I'll probably forget by then." I told him, "I'll email you and remind you." Jeff: "It's kind of cliche to wear jeans in Texas, isn't it?" I said, "You can blame us for it." Jeff: "Okay." Okay it's a long shot, but how cool would that be? They would look SO great!
Gotta say it. El looks amazing in jeans. Just amazing! And I finally got a hug from the boy. Their wives are so lucky! Getting hugs like that anytime they want them. *sigh* Actually got hugs from everyone. I THINK I got two from George cause I couldn't remember if I'd gotten one, so he gave me another. *G* Sometime during the M&G Kev, El and Scott each said, "Thanks for the signage". I swear, Krik and I had no idea what they were talking about 'til later, when Krik goes, "Oh man! We are f***in' stupid!"
At one point, we were just standing around watching things happen and Jeff happened to stretch his arms up over his head. His t-shirt was a tad short and as he stretched, it worked its way up above his belly, revealing just a flash of flesh. I thought Krik was going to explode! Literally. God Bless Jeff for unknowingly bringing a little patch of sunshine to our lives. He should do that more often. Humina!*G* It was just about time to leave and I asked Scott if we could get a group pic without anyone else in the shot. Of course they didn't mind. So they got up and stood together. Many fans popped in the picture so we had to wait quite a while to get them by themselves. Krik got frustrated at one point and um..cursed. George heard her and laughed. Then he said, "It's going to be a while." So finally we got the pic and it turned out very nice. We were standing at the top of the stairs cause we hate to leave 'til 'Pella leaves. *G* George walked by on his way out and said: "Heeeey, Girls!" and gave us the little finger wiggle. We "heyed" back. This is when I got my second (?) hug and told him that "Papa" was dominating! George said "Since the third of September!" (a line in the song). Yummy!
And *ta DA!* the number one stupid-foot-in-mouth-oh-God-did-I-really-say-that-kill-me-kill-me-now-never-mind-I'll-kill-myself-here's-your-restraining-order-award goes to....*drum roll* ME! When I got my "Scott hug", I said, "I love you." Okay so I didn't mean, "I love you" like in a romantic way. I meant it as "You are so cool and sweet and gorgeous and funny and I just adore you!" But it came out wrong. Geez. Poor Scott. Scary to be stalked by a woman from Texas cause it's legal to carry handguns here. *G*
But that's the story. Can't wait for the next one!
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