Wednesday June 19th, 2002
this rant has been invaded by tiff while mandy is off unloading a dollar general truck. phear me and my madd typing skillz.
Here it is goobers, my much anticipated third Goo Goo Dolls concert. A blonde (Stephanie), a brunette (MandyMay), and a red-head (Tiff); sounds like the beginning of a joke I know; make their way to Memphis and have the time of their life! First of all, the concert kicked ass. Alot of ass. I'm talking steel toe, size 11 boot kicking ass!! Do you want to know why? I'll tell you, MandyMay's dream has finally come true. She got to meet the Goo Goo Dolls!! (you weren't the only one ya know. we were there too.)
The concert was awesome. They were really getting down and acting crazy. Talking to the crowd, I especially liked the USAToday speech. Go to MandyMay's Rants to read about Goo's rant. It was really good, really funny, too.
Here is the story. I went with my sis, yet again and one of my best friends Stephanie. (everyone say "hi!" to Stephanie and thank her for driving MandyMay's drivers license-less ass up there) Well, as we are leaving, the center aisle was really crowded so I tell Tiff to go down one of the rows to the other side where less people were. She and Stephanie go down the aisle and for some reason, I end up like 10 people behind them and for a moment, I lost sight of them. So I'm trudging along trying to find them, I look to my left and the exit door is there and opened. There stand Tiff and Stephanie smiling back at me with these cheesy grins. I go out the door and the first thing Stephanie said was, "Look what we found," and what do my eyes happen to fall on? Three tour buses lined up along the curb! And guess what I say? Something really smart and intelligent, "It's the tour buses!!" (really? i thought they were twinkies. . .yum.) which earned me a few odd looks because obviously it was their tour bus and I said it a bit loud. Then I see a little bit down the sidewalk a sign attached to the wall: STAGE DOOR. So I take off, booking it to the door, they follow and we end up like three people from the door on the right.
Next one of the security guards, a really cool bald guy named Jason came out and tried to bring some order to the chaos that was unfolding. He was like, "Everyone needs to line up against the wall on either side and against the bus." So, what do people *not* do? They do not line up against the wall. Then he was like, "They can either work together or not," and left. We were leaning on the wall from the very beginning and people are all bombarding us, squishing us against the wall and finally after we complained and the girls behind us complained; nicely of course because even though Jason was cool, he was a man to be feared. . .and we didn't want him on our asses. . .after a bit a few of the people move on down the line and my sis made the comment to me, "Look at all the nice people moving to the end of the line." Then I yelled down to the end of the line, "Thank you nice people for moving!" and the girls next to us just kinda chuckled.
Jason left, came back and told the people not to lean on the tour bus because they were very expensive and unfortunately didn't like what he saw because more than half of us were still not lined up on the wall. So he said with much authority, "This is not what I asked for. That's it. I'm not bringing them out." Then someone said something like, "How else are you supposed to bring them out when the buses are right here." To which he said the coolest thing I have heard in a long time, "You do not believe the powers that I have." Some people groaned and complained, some left. There was this chick who cut in front of us and was talking to Jason and was like, "I came all the way from Pennsylvania and they're not coming out?" I think she might have said something along the lines of, "Can I get back there," or something because he was like, "Alot of people came from somewhere to see them too. You're not getting any special treatment." (good job jason. i didn't like her. she left anyway, i didn't see her again.) He was very fair and that is why he rocks!! There was this funny part, well I thought it was funny, cuz there were people complaining to another security guy and he was like, "You'd better stop that or I'll give you back to the bald guy!"
A few minutes later, the lead singer of Five For Fighting came out and I had him sign one of my checks and he was like, "Oh a check!" He made it to the order of "FFF" for a million dollars and signed it. He was really cool, really nice. I think he might have been a little overwhelmed though because a bunch of people went rushing up to him, but we kinda hung back a bit because I mean, it's Five For Fighting! We were kinda nervous, but we did it. He was our first brush with celebrity. Snuck in a picture too.
(that's right. don't even mention my signed shirt. you may not care but i do. and he was cool. buy their album and phear his madd check writing skills.)
Then Greg, the guitarist comes out and gets on the bus and people were screaming. He went to the back and opened the window and turned on this strobe light and these purple lights and started jamming some music. Some girls were like, "Turn it up!" He talked to some of us from out of the window and then all this smoke started coming out. It was funny, we were like, "What is he smoking in there?" I think it was that fake smoke stuff, but hey, ya never know. Am I right? Then the keyboardist, Jaalso named Jason, came out and got on the bus and people were screaming.
Then about half an hour later, Jason (security) comes back and he said, "I have good news. The guys are coming out, but you have to get in line, side by side up against the wall. The guys want to come out, but I am the one telling them no because this is not the way to do it. When they come out, with the way you are right now, you're going to swarm them and we're not having that." That kinda got people's attention because we all started lining up. He came down our way and there were a few people standing next to each other and was like, "This is not side by side, I want you standing like you are about to get a mug shot." He also said that, "It doesn't matter where you are in line. If you're in the front or at then end, you'll get something signed the same as the person does in front of you." (you forgot the story we heard about people lining up around the block in. . .wherever it was. may you feel the shame of your forgetfulness mandy like the buzzing of a million angry bees.)
Now, here is the moment of truth, we all get in line. . .finally, and we hear some screaming (the girly girly scream of rabid fangirls. i'm sorry, but if i were a rock star i wouldn't want teeneage girls/boys screaming in my ears when i come out the door.) and I look down the line and there is John Rzeznik in all of his tank-top-shaggy-haired glory signing people's stuff. People were asking Rzeznik for a kiss and I remember thinking to myself, "That is so childish, so much like a oogling teenager, I think I want to seem more professional and womanly." But ya know what? I'm a dumbass!! I should have asked for a kiss because he was handing them out freely!! A woman needs a kiss too man! So he gets down to me, says hi and I said, "I know this is kinda weird, but will you sign my purse?" Now, this is not the blue purse, this is my new Gutterflower themed purse. All Gutterflower promo pics and song titles.
I thrust it up at him and he's like, "This is cool!" and he signed by his picture and smiled and I said "Thank you," before he left. Now, all this time Stephanie is like, "She is your biggest fan! She has pictures all over her wall!" As if he hasn't heard that before, but needless to say, it was still embarrassing, but I still love ya Stephanie! Rzeznik took Tiff's shirt and told her, "Now you gotta pull it tight like this so I can sign it!" (thanks for the tip john. i'll remeber that the next time.) Then he demonstrated and I helped Tiff hold her shirt, he signed it then signed Stephanie's ticket stub. She told him the concert kicked ass. Why couldn't I have thought of that? I say kick ass all the time, then the one time I really need to say it, I am speechless. Then he went off to the other side of the line. Here is Tiff's shirt hanging in her room.
This is the best part though. Robby came down the line munching on this little box of Frosted Mini-Wheats and after he signed people's stuff, he gave a little pat on their head. Now it's my turn and he says hi and so do I, then I show him my purse and he said, "Oh man, this is so cool! This is awesome!" He stared at it for awhile before writing on it, which was when I kinda got a bit nervous and put a little arrow and "me" pointing to his pic and "Tucked Away," and signed it. Then he said, "Here you can have my Wheaties!" I was a little hesitant about taking the man's Wheaties, but since he offered. . .I took them. Then the best part of the story, he gave me the traditional little pat on the head, then he grabbed the top of my head, I mean full palm mode and looked me in the eyes with his little yellow glasses on and said, "You're awesome!" Now, I'm talking almost forehead to forehead, which must have been a sight because I was way taller than Robby. And he just smiled and stared at me all crazy for what seemed like 10 minutes, but more accurately was only 10 seconds. I said, "No, you're awesome!" Then he stuck his tongue out at me in full rocker mode, said bye and went on down the line and signed Tiff's shirt, patted her head (drunkenly, i swear he was at least a bit tipsy); signed Stephanie's ticket and (drunkenly) rubbed her arm. Here is a pic of me and the Frosted Mini-Wheats box. . .my bad Robby called them Wheaties. No longer are they Frosted Mini-Wheats, they are Wheaties!
(and so the heavens did part and the holy light did shine through the darkness of the back of the orpheaum theatre and in his heavenly tipsy voice the almighty robby did so declare: Wheaties dude. Wheaties. . .)
Dudes, it was so odd because while they were right in front of me, I was fine, because they were so nice. Not intimidating at all, just really friendly, so you had no reason to be nervous. But as soon as they left, I was freaking out! Here I am, with this dumb ass look on my face and holding a half eaten box of Wheaties, so star struck, that I don't even remember him signing Tiff and Stephanie's stuff, they had to tell me about it later. My hands were shaking, it was horrible. And Stephanie is looking at me with this odd look on her face saying, "Mandy, he just grabbed your head. . .do you understand? He just grabbed your head!" Then Tiff is like, "Dude, you were so hesitant about taking the Wheaties that I was fixing to grab them!" And the more I think about it, I didn't really say anything to any of them. Like the exchange of words were like, "awesome, cool, thanks," with a couple of "the" and "and"'s thrown in there.
Unfortunately, we didn't get to meet Mike. He started on the other side so we were standing there, waiting and waiting, then after waiting. . .we waited some more. Finally, we move up to the front of the other line and I think this might have confused him. Because he might have thought he already signed our stuff because he started walking towards the line and all of us were yelling, "Mike come sign our stuff," and he just waved and got on the bus. Sorry if we confused ya there buddy, we still love ya though! (but next time, if you hear someone say "come sign our stuff!" just go check and make sure you made it there. . . . . .i still love ya though!!!)
(ya know, while this was going on, jason was screaming at the guitarist on the bus to close the window and stop talking to people because he was ruining everything her was trying to do. he didn't close the window though. he told the people to just ignore jason.)
So they all get on the tour bus one by one, I got a pic of me and the Wheaties in front of it, just like in , and leave. Not before we move up the sidewalk to the front of the bus, Rzeznik was up front by the driver, and we are just waving to him like a bunch of dumbasses until he looks up, smiles, and waves. That's it. No more Goo, and sadly, no more encounter story. It must end sometime, but not before I say how cool Jason was though. He kicked ass man. I wish I had asked for his autograph. He knows how to show that power and authority off, but not be an asshole about it all at the same time. It's his job to make sure Goo doesn't get mauled by over excited fans. You do like he tells you to and you'll get to see Goo. So, when he tells you to get in "Mug Shot Pose" against the wall do it. . . then tell him how cool he is. *wink*
(if you meet goo and see him, tell him how awesome he is and that we're sorry alot of the people in the original crowd were complete dumbasses who couldn't follow simple instructions.)
Lastly, here is a pic of my Gutterflower purse, then me and the purse the next day, with the Wheaties yet again.
Front
Back
End Note: While Tiff was invading my concert experience, she did bring up a good point. Jason was talking to this other security guy about this one time in New York, there were like a thousand people outside waiting for Goo to come out. It took them an hour and a half to get them all lined up in a single file line, I forget how many blocks he said they wrapped around, but the guys gave an autograph to everyone. They got done in the wee hours of the morning. You see, this is why the Goo Goo Dolls have such a dedicated fan base. They treat ya good.
**Guys, we made it on the Tour Diary when they put up a few pics from the Memphis concert! How much does that rock? I was looking at the picture and I was like, "Dude, who is that dork with the light shining off their glasses?" Upon closer inspection, I realized I was the dork and the glasses were mine. *hangs head low* Not one of my most shining moments. Here is the pic anyway.
(see this link? i made this link on every page! even the fic pages and how much credit do it get? i'm handcuffed to a table in the story thing and my hamster is insulted.)