I had heard Andy before, in recordings, but for some reason they didn’t quite *grab* me. But this duet grabbed me. Andy’s voice was an arrow that hit me square in the heart. I would never be the same.

Over the weekend following that show, I made it a point to buy all the music starring Andy’s voice that was on sale on Amazon. All the MWK music. All the To Have Heroes music. Later I managed to get my hands on demos that weren’t even for sale. I had to have it all. I had fallen utterly in love with his voice, and I was like an addict getting my first taste of my drug of choice.

As it turned out, around this time I would become very good friends with the person I now call my best friend, a woman that calls herself Coolshades online, and whom I refer to as “Coolie” (even though I know her real name, lol). I’m not exaggerating when I say that Coolie is Andy’s biggest fan. I’m not sure I know anyone who is as devoted to a musician as she is to Andy (I would even say her devotion to him outstrips mine to Joey Clement, if only by necessity since I do have a husband and children, lol).

Anyway, the reason I mention her at this point is because she had already begun to attend Andy’s To Have Heroes shows around the time that I fell in love with his voice. At this time, I was living in Ohio. Andy toured with David and would hit Ohio for several shows over the next year, but he didn’t play solo shows anywhere near me. Remember that husband and those children? They made it kind of difficult for me to pack up and go see a show of his.

But that remained a dream. I wanted *so badly* to see Andy play a To Have Heroes show. The closest I got was an MWK show in Tulsa, when I threw caution to the wind and did fly out from Ohio after rearranging my life. That was an incredible show, and I’m thrilled I went. If anything, it further fed my desire for a To Have Heroes show because I so enjoyed hearing Andy’s voice live.

Then, as you know if you know me at all, the most miraculous thing happened: earlier this year, my husband was offered a job in a small Oklahoma town just 45 minutes to an hour away from Tulsa. My very first thought after I knew we were moving was, “Now I just might finally have a chance to hear Andy perform a To Have Heroes show.”

Coolie and I wondered week after week when Andy would make his annual announcement of a holiday To Have Heroes show. We waited and waited, but all that happened was that Bryan Jewett announced a “Bryan Jewett and Friends” show. We knew Bryan was a very good friend of Andy’s; we knew they had performed together many times in the past. We also knew that Bryan was teasing us with a “special surprise guest performer.” We suspected that special surprise guest was Andy.

The show was scheduled in Tulsa, so of course it was no problem for me. For Coolie, who lives in Arizona, it would require a bit of traveling for a show where Andy’s presence was hardly guaranteed. Ultimately, she decided to take the plunge and hop a plane. As she explained to me later, this was less of a risk than it would seem. If she came and Andy didn’t perform, well, she did all she could, plus she could visit me (we hadn’t seen each other since February 2010), so all she had to lose was the money for a plane ticket. If she didn’t come, and Andy *did* perform, she would regret it deeply.

So Coolie arrived, and we had a great 24 hours before it was time to leave for the Blue Turtle Tavern. That was an adventure in itself. I had my handy GPS on my phone, so I wasn’t worried about finding my way there… until I found the main highway was closed right before downtown Tulsa. The detours were confusing, and my GPS was struggling to reroute and figure out what the heck we were doing. Fortunately, I was somehow able to combine what GPS was telling me with the detour signs, and eventually we made it back on the correct route.

Getting into the Blue Turtle parking lot was another adventure. I took an entrance that didn’t actually lead to the parking lot… then I went through what was once the drive-thru of the former taco place that the Blue Turtle had been in a previous incarnation… then the drive-thru dead-ended and I *still* couldn’t get into the parking lot. I am terrible at backing up, especially in my big boat of an SUV. But somehow I managed, and we got ourselves into the parking lot proper.

We had arrived around 7:30 (though Bryan had told us on Twitter that music should start sometime between 8 and 8:30). Once inside, we had one singular thought: where will they play music? It looked like a very typical bar, and we did not see anything remotely resembling a stage.

The bartender (or maybe the bar’s owner) came up to us and said “I’ll bet you’re looking for the restroom.” We explained that what we were actually looking for was the music. He told us that probably wouldn’t begin until 9 (thanks, Bryan ), but it would happen over “there” and pointed. … to a tiny corner of the room. There was no “stage.” There was a bench, a couple of chairs in front of the bench, one speaker propped next to the chairs, and a couple of microphones on stands. I have never seen a less formal set-up for music!

On the bright side, there was no cover (yay!) and the bartender/owner asked for our IDs (yay carding!). To wake up a bit and to ease the small headache I had going on, I requested a rum and diet Coke. We then situated ourselves at the table directly in front of the “music corner.” I’m going to call it that because calling it a “stage” is just ridiculous.

We chatted for a while, then we started wondering where Jeannine (zoo2 on Twitter) was. We were in the process of looking up her Twitter profile to see if she had tweeted recently when she walked in! She arrived with Keri (Lobsters1), and we all hugged. A little while later, Bryan himself arrived, and he said hello to us all. It was so sweet. He then announced what I, at least, had been hoping to hear: that Andy would be performing. I was happy to see Bryan perform, and of course I was happy to have Coolie visit and stay with me, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t really, *really* hoping Andy would be performing too. I mean, I had been waiting to hear him perform THH for three years.

All I was really expecting was for Andy to perform 2 or 3 songs with Bryan. I wasn’t even sure if he would sing. But that would be enough for me.

Bryan went to the music corner and began performing, and I was reminded of how much I enjoyed his singing and his performance style. I had seen him perform once before, at the MWK show in Tulsa in 2010, when he was the first opening act. I recognized a song or two this time from that show. I really loved his voice; it was so powerful and masculine. Within 2 or 3 songs, I was even more determined to buy a CD.

A few songs in, Andy arrived. A few minutes after he arrived, he came to our table and said hello. What shocked me was that he actually approached me first and said “hi, good to see you!” and hugged me like he *knew* me. I can only assume he recognized me from Twitter, though I don’t tweet him *that* often. I suppose this screaming mop on my head makes me fairly recognizable.

He proceeded to deliver hugs to the rest of our table (including Angie, angelangie_kc on Twitter, who had arrived a short while before Andy did) and express surprise and delight at the fact that we had all come out to this show. I’m sure he was especially surprised and pleased to see Coolie and Jeannine, since he knew that neither lived within driving distance. (Jeannine lives in California.) We all told him how happy we were to be there.

My favorite performance by Bryan alone was his cover of Snow Patrol’s “Chasing Cars.” That is one of my favorite songs in life, and Bryan performed it exquisitely.

After a short break, Bryan returned to the stage with a friend in tow whose stage name was Enos Nighttrain. He explained that the two had once been in a band together, and they performed several originals. My favorite, by far, was an hysterically funny song called “White Trash Queen.” I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard at a song! I’ll have to see if it’s on YouTube anywhere.

Enos performed a few songs by himself, after which Andy finally came to the music corner and prepared to perform. By himself. I was stunned and thrilled. After 3 years, I was finally getting what I had dreamed of — Andy performing solo.

(Brief comment that when Andy went to the music corner, just as he began to sing he caught sight of Coolie’s iPhone, which has an Andy Skib skin on the back. He commented that he was “staring at myself on a phone.” At the “fan table,” which is what we called our table since we appeared to be the only ones at the bar who weren’t either friends or family of Bryan and Andy, we all laughed.)

He first performed “Don’t Give up on Us,” a To Have Heroes song from his first EP. Next was a cover of John Waite’s “Missing You,” which he performed beautifully. Next was his newest song, “The Beggar,” and that was when my camera ran out of room on its memory card. I spent the rest of the night frantically looking for ways to record. I had to settle for using my phone to record audio. I have no idea what the quality is like; I have yet to listen back to any of it. (Since writing this, I have listened to my recordings. Some are pretty good, most are pretty bad. Fortunately Keri took some great videos, so I don’t feel quite so pressured. If you need a song that she didn’t get on video, let me know – I might have it.)

Then he performed a song I never thought I would hear him play live: a cover of a Killers song called “When You Were Young.” I remember holding both hands over my mouth when he began singing it. It was so, so beautiful. What a voice he has.

Then there was a brief break while Bryan joined Andy in the music corner. Coolie had actually told me before the show that she wanted Bryan and Andy to perform a Tenacious D song called “Jesus Ranch.” I remembered (vaguely) that they had performed it once before together. It seemed a long shot, at least to me, that they would perform it again, here. But wouldn’t you know it, that was the first song they played together! I immediately turned to Coolie and laughed, and she turned to me and said “I knew it!!”

After that rollicking cover that had the fan table in stitches, they began to play “Wicked Game.” I thought I would pass out. That song has been a favorite of mine since it was released MANY years ago, and I never had even dreamed Andy would cover it. Although… actually, he didn’t. Bryan sang it, and Andy just sang a small bit of backing vocals while playing guitar. It was still exquisite. Bryan’s voice was well suited to the song.

Next, Bryan and Andy performed several of Bryan’s own songs. I didn’t recognize any of them, but I loved watching Andy play and sing backing vocals. His voice blends so nicely with Bryan’s.

One of the most enjoyable moments was when Bryan and Andy encouraged Will Gray, Andy’s professional tennis playing friend, to come up and sing a song that I assume is called “Copacetic.” The truly funny part of this was that Will didn’t actually know the words, so he had to Google the lyrics on his phone. Then, he held the phone in front of his face and read the lyrics as he sang. What Will lacked in technical vocal precision, he made up for in enthusiasm and puppy- like charm. I wanted to put him in my pocket and take him home.

Then came the moment that broke me.

Bryan returned to the music corner, and he and Andy began playing their guitars. I recognized the song at once. It was “Hallelujah.”

I’d like to stop here for a moment. I, like a lot of people, feel like this song has been covered to death. I love the song, but I feel like a lot of the people who have covered it haven’t come close to doing it justice. I can think of three people whose covers I’ve loved: Jason Castro, Nick Gibson, and k.d. lang. Everyone else’s version, I could take or leave.

And then Andy began to sing. And then I realized that this was a song reserved for special, beautiful, unique voices. With the right voice, this song has the potential to break your heart. And that’s exactly what listening to Andy’s stingingly sweet voice did. My heart lay in tatters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toEaPCCtd3g

In the past 3 1/2 years, I have attended many, many concerts. Many of those concerts have been incredibly special to me, with moments that I will remember all my life. But the one thing I had never done is actually cry during a show. Even though I am a very emotional person, and I have cried while listening to music at home on my MP3 player, I have never actually cried at a show.

Until Andy and Bryan finished singing “Hallelujah.” (They split verses.) And then, I was so overwhelmed by what had just happened, by what I heard in Andy’s voice, by this moment I had dreamed of without even realizing it, that I cried.

I managed to pull myself together when Bryan and Andy began to play “Circles’ Anthem,” an MWK song that I loved. I had been hoping that I would hear at least one acoustic MWK song, so I was thrilled.

After “Circles’ Anthem,” Bryan announced they were taking a break and would be back to play some more in a moment. “Hallelujah” was still fresh in my mind, and I didn’t want to wait another moment.

I stood from my chair and waited for Andy to pass by our table. Then I kind of intercepted him and said, “Andy? I just wanted to tell you that hearing you sing ‘Hallelujah’ made my life.”

He thanked me and told me that he’d actually never sung it before. (I knew that, because I was pretty sure that if he had sung it before, I would have heard about it from Coolie!)

I told him it was beautiful and that it made me cry, and Andy looked a little dazed when he responded, “Thanks. Wow. Thanks.”

Then I asked him if I could hug him, and he was kind enough to let me. I tried not to squeeze the stuffing out of him. It wasn’t easy. I was still overwhelmed.

I went back to the fan table, and Andy kept walking. Then Coolie asked me what I said to Andy, and I told her.

While we were waiting for Bryan and Andy to return to the music corner, a couple of other people performed. One man (I think his name was Ben Moser) performed two songs, and another couple of guys sang one additional song. They weren’t awful, but I was eager for the main event to return.

Finally Andy returned to the music corner by himself, and he told us he was going to sing a cover. That he had never performed before. That was by a band he’d been listening to a lot called Switchfoot. Points one, two, and three that made me extremely excited. Even better, the song was a slightly lesser-known hit called “Meant to Live,” and it’s my favorite Switchfoot song. Andy, of course, sounded amazing. It’s a powerful song anyway, and one of Andy’s strongest qualities as a vocalist is the ability to fully inhabit a song, to where you believe every note streaming from his vocal chords.

Next he performed “Anodyne,” another MWK song, one that I would consider one of their most powerful. I squealed when he began playing it, even though I had snuck a peek at the set list during the break. I had discovered that though “Anodyne” wasn’t on the set list, the lyrics for its bridge were on the music stand in front of the microphone stands. So it seemed a good probability that he might perform it. Even so… sigh. Acoustic “Anodyne” is so gorgeous.

Lastly Bryan returned to the music corner. I think they were planning to perform several more songs, but they (okay, Bryan, lol) spent too much time talking before they began to sing, and so they had only time for one more. But it was a good one: a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” It was fun, especially since it encouraged a huge singalong during the chorus.

One amusing moment actually came before they sang the Stones cover. Bryan was telling us all about his CDs and T-shirts that he had available. He was also telling us that Andy’s music is on iTunes, with MWK and To Have Heroes. The fan table shrieked at this, and then Bryan said, “You guys don’t count.” Instantly we all pretended to pout. I emphasize “pretended”; we *knew* what Bryan meant. But Bryan, I think, not knowing us that well, thought he really had offended us and immediately felt bad. He began apologizing profusely, letting us know how much he loved our yelling and screaming and cheering, and that all he meant was that we already *knew* about Andy’s music. Which, of course, we knew full well.

After the show was over, Bryan made a point of reiterating that it was a stupid thing to say and couldn’t take it back enough. We all assured him that we weren’t mad or offended, that we got it, and that we all loved him. Bryan even told us to quit putting money in the tip jar and go buy drinks instead. Coolie protested that she didn’t drink; I protested that I still had to drive home.

Bryan then handed all of us CDs and T-shirts and refused to take money for them. We chatted about the design of the CD artwork and the T-shirts. Then I asked him if he would sign my CD cover, and he told me I should get Andy to sign it as well, since he put a lot of work into it too. At that moment, Andy was sitting at what had been the fan table, and I took the CD to him after Bryan signed it. Since Andy was signing, I asked him if he would also sign my THH CDs.

Right about then, a friend of Andy’s — who I later found out was Travis Carter — asked Coolie if he could see her tattoo. She asked me to help her pull up her shirt so she could show it to him, since it was on her left shoulder. After he took a picture of the tattoo, she showed him the photo it was based on, which was on her phone. Once he saw the picture, he could better understand the tattoo.

Angie and Keri had already left. Keri left after Bryan and Andy took a break after their first set together, because she still needed to drive 2 hours to get home. Angie left shortly after she received her CD and T-shirt from Bryan. Coolie, Jeannine and I were the only fans left. We were sitting at the table with Andy and Travis. Then Travis asked us a question that, I’m pretty sure, *none* of us had ever been asked.

“Are you guys fans of Andy, or are you fans of David Cook?”

I think Coolie was the first one to respond. She said that she was a *fan* of David Cook, and if it weren’t for David, she never would have discovered Andy. But she emphasized that once she found Andy’s music, he became her favorite. I told Travis that Andy was Coolie’s favorite musician, and he also happened to be my favorite singer. Coolie added that Andy wasn’t just her favorite musician; he was her favorite person.

Through all of this, Travis wore a look of incredulity on his face, while the look on Andy’s face was a little more enigmatic to me. At first I thought he was dissociating himself because he had this tiny smile on his face the whole time. But then I thought that he was actually trying to let himself enjoy hearing praises from his fans, without being embarrassed by it, the way I think he sometimes tends to be.

Coolie’s theory is that Andy knows that we’re the “real deal” — not people who would try to use Andy to get to David (and frankly, all three of us felt a little offended at being indirectly accused of such), but genuine fans of Andy and his music, and that the small smile on his face was an “I told you so” sort of smile.

During our conversation, Coolie asked Andy why he his appearance and performance in this show had been a secret. She pointed out that she and Jeannine had had to pay a lot of money for their plane tickets. He immediately apologized, but Coolie waved it off. I told him it was worth it, and Coolie added, “It’s always worth it.”

Andy explained that there were two reasons he didn’t advertise his involvement. First, he didn’t know for sure if he would be able to do the show, and he didn’t want to say he would be performing and then have to cancel. The second reason was that it was Bryan’s show, and he didn’t want to detract from Bryan as the headliner.

Coolie also made it a point to congratulate Andy on his engagement to Jennie. She added that she wasn’t sure anyone could understand how very, very excited she was when she found out that they were engaged, and that she was sincerely happy for them. Andy beamed and thanked her.

Also during the conversation — mostly because I wanted Travis to understand how someone could start out as a David Cook fan and then discover Andy — I told the story that I opened this recap with, of hearing Andy sing for the first time in Columbus and falling in love with his voice. I told Andy, “Your voice pierces my heart. I love how unique it is. When I hear you singing, I know immediately that it’s you.” Jeannine chimed in her agreement about the uniqueness of Andy’s voice.

For the last 20 minutes or so before we left, I heard the bar’s employees shouting that we needed to leave “RIGHT NOW.” For a while I ignored this because Andy, Travis, and Bryan were ignoring it. They weren’t encouraging us to leave; on the contrary, they were continuing to engage us in conversation. But the time came when the bar had thinned out to the point that the “LEAVE! NOW!” shouts were impossible to ignore. Coolie, Jeannine, and I decided we’d better leave before we were thrown out. Andy hugged all of us in goodbye. When he hugged me, he said “Thank you. You’re awesome.” And I melted. I noticed that when he hugged Coolie, it was an extended embrace, which made me smile.

After we left, I dropped off Jeannine at her hotel before we made the hour-long trek back to my house. The whole way home, we talked about the show, the conversation with Travis and Andy, and in general tried to relive that incredible evening as best we could.

I look back now and still can’t quite believe it happened. I had longed for a show like this, but I had no idea when we made plans to go to this show that it would turn out like this. As I commented to Coolie, my expectations for this show had been very low. I knew it would be fun. What I hadn’t expected was the heart-searing music that left me gasping for breath afterward. I never dreamed that a “Bryan Jewett and Friends” show would be a magical evening that I would treasure for the rest of my life.

And I never thought that after 3 years, this would be the show where I cried my heart out and told Andy Skib what his music means to me. For those reasons, this night will rank very near the top of my lifetime experiences for a long time.

Fast forward a year and two days, and I developed a raging stomachache, body aches, and a fever just a few hours before my husband Eric and I would leave for Oklahoma City to see him in concert again. It’s either a Graham Colton thing, or it’s a November thing. I think Graham felt bad about it.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

There was no question that we were going, illness or no. I had been eagerly awaiting another chance to see Graham live for over a year. We had booked a babysitter, and Kiersten and Elena couldn’t wait to play with her for several hours (or to enjoy yummy frozen pizzas for dinner, lol).

So after I was able to pry Elena off of me (she’s in a “clingy” phase), we were heading off. And then we were heading right back home, because Eric had forgotten his wallet. Then we were heading off again… and I realized that I had forgotten to print our tickets. So back home we went.

Not the most auspicious of beginnings!

Finally we had no more things to forget, and we were off for real. We had planned to avoid the toll roads, but with our later-than-planned start, we realized we really needed to take them. Avoiding them would add a good 40 minutes to our drive.

I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, because at lunchtime my stomach hurt so badly that the mere thought of food made me want to cry. I did think I should eat something, though, so when Eric stopped for gas, I went inside and bought Sprite Zero, a bag of Bugles (the closest thing I could find to plain crackers), and a package of Tylenol. I was hoping to fight off the intense achiness in my arm and leg muscles.

We arrived at the venue and found a parking spot – a free parking spot – right across from the place. That was a very nice surprise! The not-so-nice surprise, though, came when we walked up to the venue. The doors were locked.

I could have sworn that I had read somewhere (Graham’s Facebook page? Twitter? I don’t know, I swear I saw it somewhere!) that the show started at 7 and doors opened at 6. I pulled our ticket printouts out of my cell phone purse and inspected it once I had some decent light. “Doors: 8 pm. Show starts at 9 pm.”

Ugh. Seriously?! I don’t know how I messed that up!

Eric didn’t want to give up his primo parking spot. So we walked a little ways to see if we could find a nearby restaurant. Turns out there was one about a block away. As it would happen, Kamps is located in what’s called the “Asian District,” so this was an Asian restaurant – more specifically, a Chinese/Vietnamese/French restaurant. (Yeah, not sure about the French part either.)

To be honest, I didn’t really feel like eating, so I just decided to try a chicken and black mushroom soup that sounded like it wouldn’t be too much. Imagine my shock when a HUGE bowl of soup was brought to me, complete with chopsticks and a Chinese soup spoon. Chopsticks?! Well, yes – the better to eat the ENORMOUS chunks of chicken and mushroom in the soup. The mushrooms were okay, the chicken was fine, but I couldn’t eat much of it. All I really felt like eating was the broth. Honestly it was a huge waste of money. Not the restaurant’s fault, of course. I should’ve just asked if they could bring me a tiny cup of broth!

The restaurant was probably when I was at my lowest point. Everything hurt. I felt terrible for how sickly and tired I felt. I told Eric I was probably the worst dinner date ever. Eric was relentlessly cheery, telling me that it was perfectly okay that I wasn’t bright and sparkly tonight (not his exact words, lol). I spent entirely too much time resting my head on the table and taking feeble sips of iced water, tea, or broth.

When we left, Eric opened up the fortune cookies we received. Then he gave me a big hug and said, “Give a hug to someone who needs one more than you.” I laughed. “You made that up!” “No I didn’t!” he insisted, and showed me the fortune. I read it, and he wasn’t lying. I don’t know why, but that made me feel a little better.

Unfortunately it had grown significantly colder since we left the car, and neither of us had worn our jackets to the restaurant. We were shivering like mad on the way back. I had feebly asked if I could nap in the car until the doors opened, and Eric was all for it. The car felt blessedly warm, and I slept surprisingly well for about 30 minutes until my phone alarm went off. I put my jacket on, Eric left his off; he was convinced it would be hot inside the venue, and he didn’t want to carry his jacket around.

A line of people had already formed when we approached the venue. I expected the doors to open at any moment… but they didn’t. We had to wait outside for over half an hour. I was wearing my jacket, and I was still cold; Eric was freezing. He eventually relented and ran back to his car to get his jacket.

While we waited, three nice things happened. First, Graham himself came out and chatted with us a bit. He said, “I’ll bet you’re cold! I’m sorry, the doors will be open soon.” He actually started greeting the first 6 people or so in line and talking to them, but he stopped just short of reaching us. He did see me and smiled and waved, which was nice. I smiled and waved back.

A little while later, out came three men. Two of them I didn’t recognize, but one of them I most definitely did. He was Daniel James, aka @danielisrad on Twitter, and I had been chatting with him on Twitter for about 2 years, give or take a few months. He is yet another FOJ (friend of Joey’s – Clement, that is); he was also once a drummer for Alex Band. I have wanted to meet him for a very long time. I just missed on the chance to meet him when he came with Alex to Columbus; I wasn’t able to attend that show, and I had been as bummed out about missing the opportunity to meet him as I was to miss Alex.

Daniel is actually the reason I’m a fan of Graham’s at all. He tweeted about working on Graham’s CD once, and I decided I wanted to check out his music. I did and fell in love instantly. If Daniel hadn’t worked on Graham’s CD, I might never have been introduced to him or become as big of a fan as I did.

When I saw him come out, I told Eric that I knew him, sort of, lol. I explained that he was Graham’s drummer. We then talked a little bit about the last show of Graham’s we had been to (and the fact that I had been sick then, too, ha).

By this time Daniel and the other two were several feet away from our line. It must have been just the right moment: I happened to look in their direction, and Daniel happened to look in ours. And then suddenly Daniel came running towards us! He said “there you are!” and engulfed me into a huge hug. I don’t remember exactly what we said to each other at this point – I think he said it was nice to finally meet me, and I remember hastily introducing him to Eric (it’s a good thing I had told Eric who he was before he charged over, lol!). We started to chat, but then Daniel said “hey, we’re going to eat now, can we talk later?” I immediately shooed him away.

A little while after that, Graham came out again and personally thanked all of us for coming and for our patience. He apologized for the wait and explained that the soundcheck hadn’t been going well, and as a result he hadn’t eaten for hours. He came to Eric and me and said “Why didn’t you bring me food?” with a huge smile and a hug. I laughed and said “I should have brought you what was left of my soup!”

A few minutes after Eric had asked me if I wanted to wait inside the car – and I said “no, I’m sure we’ll be inside soon” – the doors finally opened, and we were allowed to enter. Hallelujah! We heard that the reason we’d had to wait for so long was because they were looking for a bouncer. Which is funny – I seem to recall another night in Oklahoma, when I had to wait outside the doors for a very long time after the doors were supposed to open, because there was no bouncer available. (MWK in Tulsa, anyone?)

The front of the stage filled up fairly quickly, but I did find a clear spot not too far from the stage on the right. (Not to be confused with stage right.) Eric liked it because he had a pillar he could lean against, lol. At one point – with my muscles still very achy from illness and the cold – I considered sitting in one of the cushy little “suites” surrounding the place. But it turned out they were all reserved. One was reserved for a “Randy Colton,” who I’m assuming is a brother, or maybe a father.

At 9:30 the show started, with an adorable young man named Steve Moakler. He did an 8-song acoustic set. He had a nice voice, but what really set him apart was his banter. He told 2 really funny stories. The first one was about a morning at the gym. He said it was early in the morning, he was barely awake, and he got on the treadmill. He turned on his “workout playlist,” but then at one point he thinks he must have hit the “shuffle” button, because some slow Backstreet Boys ballad came on. He said he actually kind of fell back to sleep – while still on the treadmill – and as a result he got slower and slower and took really nasty fall, just barely saving himself from getting “half my face ripped off by the treadmill track.” He said he was surrounded by gasping girls on ellipticals. He also added, “I felt so humiliated that I didn’t go back to the gym for… actually… ever.”

The second story he told was about the day he finished his first CD. He said he and his friends went cruising around the neighborhood, in big loops, and about how he was in total egotistical mode, going on about how great the songs were and how awesome his voice sounded. Then he said he heard one song and started singing along, thinking about the girl who inspired it and how he felt when he wrote it – and completely missed a flashing red light. Unfortunately, a car on the left was going through the intersection at the exact same time, and they collided. No one was seriously injured or killed, he emphasized, but one of his friends had “the best one-liner ever: ‘Dude. This is a smash hit CD.’” I know, worst pun ever. But I laughed anyway.

My favorite song of his – I wish I could remember the name of it, but it was what I call a “not-country country song.” Basically it is a country song he wrote about the fact that he didn’t really have the background for a career in country music, but he enjoyed the genre anyway. My favorite line: “I know how to drive in snow.” (I lived in Georgia for 2 years – sad fact is southerners don’t know how to drive in snow!) It was a really cute, funny song.

Graham and his band came onto the stage a little after 10:30. I have to say, the moment he and the band appeared, I completely forgot I was sick. My legs no longer ached, my stomach felt fine, my head was clear. I don’t know if it was adrenaline or what, but it sure felt great.

I’ve been sick for the last 36 hours, and I don’t really have the best memory for setlists anyway, so I’m not sure I could remember every song he performed. I’ll try: First Week, 1981, Always in Love, Best Days (which he performed much earlier in the show than he normally does – more about that in a bit), Graceland, Everything You Are, Hold Onto My Heart, Our Story, Morning Light, Pacific Coast Eyes, and Cigarette. Oh, and a song he said had never been released on any CD but was requested in a previous show, called Runaway. He also performed a cover of Tom Petty’s I Won’t Back Down (for which he pulled Steve Moakler back onto the stage, which was very cool), and portions of Oasis’ Wonderwall, Steve Miller Band’s The Joker, and Billy Joel’s Piano Man.

One thing Graham did a lot of, particularly at the beginning of the set, was stop in the middle of the song to talk to his audience. He actually did this in each of the first three songs, and by the third song he was clearly embarrassed that he had done it a third time, lol! Most of the “conversations” he had related to reception and crowd participation. In fact, Graham seemed to be more concerned than usual (at least in my experience) regarding crowd reception and participation. I seem to recall at least twice he asked us to sing along; one of those times, he commented on how a bunch of us (myself included) sang the bridge of one of his newest songs, Everything You Are, very loudly and clearly, and that it was so cool he wanted all of us to do it. (That was one of the times he stopped during his song, lol.) He also asked us to sing really loudly for Best Days because, he said, “it would really give me a confidence boost.”

As I said earlier, he usually performs this song much later in his set, because it was his hit song, the one everyone knows him for. But he decided to perform it maybe 4 or 5 songs into the set, just to get people more excited and boost the energy in the room.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot, actually. I think if some musicians did this, it would come across as cloying, needy, and desperate. But for Graham, it didn’t. I think there are two reasons why. First, this was Graham’s hometown show. I don’t know how recently he has performed in Oklahoma City (I think he did do one of his CD release shows there), but this crowd was huge. It was the biggest crowd I’d ever seen for a Graham Colton headlining show. (Okay, so I’ve only seen one other. Still.) I expected Kamps to be a dive bar. It wasn’t, at all. It had a bar, but I would compare it more to, say, Akron’s Musica than Cleveland’s Grog Shop. (Apologies to my non-Ohioan friends reading this.)

Anyway, since Oklahoma City is Graham’s hometown, I think he was excited but also nervous. I think he really wanted to feel embraced and accepted by this crowd. From my vantage they seemed to love him, but maybe to him, at least at the beginning, they weren’t as excited as he had hoped they would be.

The second reason is Graham’s sincerity. There was something about him that just seemed so sweet and sincere and lovable. Graham is one of the musicians I have had the pleasure to come to know who does not seem to want a single barrier between himself and his fans. Being an independent musician, he seems to know just how much he depends on the support of his fans. I think that’s what allowed him to ask for their support during this concert, without sounding needy, and to get it, because we all want to see him succeed.

Remember when I mentioned that at the beginning, the stage was full in front of us? Well, somehow between the beginning of Steve Moakler’s set and about 2/3 through Graham’s set, I wound up moving further and further forward. I was actually touching the stage by the show’s end, and in fact I was right in front of the bassist. I was so close to him that at times I was afraid he would conk me in the head with his headstock!

Speaking of the bassist: His name is Brine Webb (oops, I totally thought it was “Bryan” until I saw a tweet – somewhere – with his Twitter name.) and he was fantastic. To be honest, I could barely hear the guitarist (probably because I was standing near bass speakers), but I could hear Brine loud and clear. I was in bass heaven during this show.

It was also a pleasure to see Daniel play. Before this show I had only ever seen him performing in videos with Alex Band. If a drummer can be intense and playful all at once, that’s Daniel. When I got closer to the stage, I was in his line of sight, and he sent many smiles in my direction. One time, he caught me taking a photo of him, and he stuck his tongue out. Unfortunately I’d already taken the photo when he did that, but I still saw it and cracked up laughing. Another time, I was using my phone, and he saw me once again, and this time he pointed his drumstick at me. That resulted in a great photo, my favorite from the night.

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If Graham had been a little anxious and nervous at the beginning of the set, by the evening’s end he was relaxed, flying high, and on fire. Yes, I know I’ve used a bunch of clichés, but they fit. I described Daniel as intense and playful all at once; the same can easily be said of Graham’s performance style. He gets lost in his music but never stops being aware of his audience. I’ve never seen a singer who smiles while he performs as much as he does. He relishes being on stage, sharing his music, and it’s so apparent when he performs. The way he gives his joy to his audience, you can’t help but feel you’re a part of something special.

Graham kept repeating “This is the last song. THE LAST SONG” before he performed that “last song,” which was the aforementioned Tom Petty cover. I kept repeating “the last song” and using air quotes because I refused to believe that it would actually be the last song. As the tall blonde next to me pointed out, he hadn’t even performed Pacific Coast Eyes yet.

Oh! Tall blonde girl! I can’t believe I’ve gotten this far without mentioning her. When I found myself touching the stage, I was situated next to a tall blonde girl in a leather (or maybe pleather, I’m terrible at determining such things) jacket. She introduced herself as Chrissy (and I’m probably not spelling that right) and decided I was her new best friend. She explained she had come to the show with a friend, but said friend was way in the back. I took this to mean said friend was either not a fan of Graham or wasn’t really into the “concert scene.” She said she loved my enthusiasm, and it made her feel like she wasn’t alone. Which was funny because the room was filled with excited Graham fans – but I understood what she meant.

Anyway, she told me she had been a fan of Graham’s for 12 years. Wow! I was extremely impressed. I think Graham is either 29 or 30, so she knew him back when he was in high school. I thought that was incredibly cool. She asked how long I had been a fan, and I told her I had become a fan only last year. She said “awww! You’re a virgin!” Which cracked me up. I protested “no I’m not, this is my third show of his!” LOL

Anyway, she was really sweet, and she kept hugging me throughout the rest of the show. I wanted to get some form of contact info from her before we went our separate ways, but she disappeared at the end of the show (probably wanted to get in line at the merch table, which is completely understandable) so I didn’t get the chance. So Chrissy… or Krissy… or however you spell your name… if you’re out there and you’re reading this, comment! I’d love to stay in touch.

At the end of the show, Daniel came to the front of the stage and handed me his drumsticks. That really touched me. I didn’t even ask for them, it never crossed my mind, he just handed them to me. I think I might have squeaked.

He then asked me if I enjoyed the show, but he immediately grinned, because I know he saw me dancing and screaming and clapping and waving my hands in the air like a lunatic, lol. He told me how great it was to finally meet me, and I think I said the same to him. Then I asked him if I could get a picture with him, and he said “sure!” So he jumped down from the stage and took down his topknot, and we got this lovely photo.

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We chatted for a little while longer; he asked us how far we had driven, he mentioned that he was very sweaty (lol, nothing I’m not used to), and said “now the fun part starts” – I assume he was referring to returning the gear to the CNG trailer. We again expressed happiness at meeting each other, and Daniel headed off to start his work.

Eric asked me if I wanted to get a CD. Graham had said on stage that he wanted to offer his new CD, Pacific Coast Eyes Vol. II, to us for “however much you want to pay for it.” Right then I thought, “I want to give him $30 for it.” Just because he’s an indie artist whom I admire and respect, and I want him to have what he deserves. Eric asked if I had money. I didn’t. He had only a $100 bill on him. I think he was kind of reluctant to break it, but we had no other choice. And I think Eric wanted to get that CD as much as I did.

When we reached the front of the line at the merch table, Graham greeted us and then asked “How are you feeling?” This took me aback. Unlike last year, when I was sick enough to worry that I wouldn’t be able to come to his show and tweeted him saying so just in case, I never tweeted to him about my illness that day. I tweeted about it in general, but not directly to him. Then I remembered that Graham follows me on Twitter. Of course he also follows 1,500 other people, so I don’t ever expect him to notice anything that I personally tweet. The fact that he did kind of blows my mind. But then again it doesn’t… this was the same man who tweeted to me yesterday, “u still coming right?” This is the kind of person Graham is.

Anyway… after I told him I was not feeling too badly right then, we talked about how this was the second time I had been sick for one of his shows. And then he said “is it me?” I laughed and said “it’s either you or it’s November. Let’s go with that.”

I asked if I could get my free T-shirt (I was owed one as a contest winner a month or so ago), and he said “oh yes, definitely!” He handed me an orange Graham Colton Band T-shirt (which I happen to be wearing right now). Then I asked if they could break a $100 bill, and he said “definitely! What do you want to pay, my dear?” I told him $15 (thinking that if I suggested the $30 that I originally thought, Eric would kill me, lol). Graham immediately said “That’s too much.” “Graham!” I protested. “No.” He was firm and I decided against arguing with him.

He signed the CD cover, and I had a feeling he was writing something silly. I was proven right when I read it later: “November… Under the Weather!”

I then asked him for a photo, and he gladly obliged.

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He gave me one last hug and said “Keep in touch, okay?” I just gave him this incredulous look. He immediately laughed and said “yeah, okay.” I said “You know how I jabber at you all the time!”

When we left Kamps and got back into the car, my body suddenly remembered I was sick. Stomach again felt queasy, muscles once again ached. I slept most of the way home. Poor Eric. (Though I did somehow, through my sleep, hear him singing along to his CD collection, which comforted me. Hearing him sing let me know he was staying awake. LOL)

So now I’m marveling at my pumpkin-turning-into-a-coach-and-turning-back-at-the-stroke-of-midnight story. It’s always such a pleasure to see Graham Colton perform live. You could even consider it restorative, if only for a few hours. And meeting the totally rad Daniel James? That was my icing.

You can see the rest of my concert photos here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2615196466934.147671.1465749134&type=1&l=1defcdbc05

However, having said that, I will add that MWK’s body of work was to me impressive enough that I believed it would be very difficult to top. Hearing over the past year that they were recording a new EP had me overwhelmed with anticipation, of course, but at the same time I wondered how they could improve upon their previous music.

I am here to say that I believe they have indeed outdone themselves with their newest EP, released November 8, entitled Luna Espera. This EP, while carrying perhaps their most mainstream sound since Incoherent with Desire to Move On, has not only continued the MWK tradition of complex musical lines and extraordinarily poetic, illustrative lyrics, but also improved upon them.

Since Espera has just five tracks (one more than I assumed it would have, which was a very pleasant surprise), I’ll do a track-by-track review. Again, the usual disclaimers apply: I love music, but I’m not a professional. I have no background in music theory, blah blah blah. You get the idea. I’m a fan, not a critic.

Also, any lyrics I quote are not official. They’re as best as I can make them out!

1. “The Captain, His Ship”: This song begins oh so delicately, then erupts into a hard wall of sound where you can nonetheless pick out every riff and drumbeat. This then drops out and allows the pure Andy Skib vocals to take center stage with his pleas for breath and survival. The chorus is hard and driving, both with its vocals and its intense, crashing instrumentals. Between the instrumentals and vocals, in addition to the lyrics, you get a nearly palpable feeling of being in a storm and being dragged down into an ocean’s whirlpool. “Are you everything you’ve wanted to be inside this frame, as it’s on the way down? May the water come deliver you… you’re the captain, here’s your ship, that’s let this ship go down with it.” Powerful.

2. “With Me Empty”: This has my favorite opening. It starts with Kyle Peek’s drumbeat, and then Neal Tiemann enters with a light, almost dancing guitar riff. Skib’s vocals begin, adding a voice to the lighthearted dance: “We walk these streets alone at night… beneath these streets, we hide our lives.” Joey Clement’s bass line adds depth about halfway into the first verse, but it remains light and gentle. And then the chorus begins, and again the instruments erupt. Yet the mood doesn’t change; Skib remains hopeful: “With me, just know you’re not alone tonight.” I think this is the EP’s most hopeful song, though as with any good MWK song, it carries that touch of realism, if not fatalism, that prevents it from becoming too sappy. My favorite part of the song, without question, is the bridge, which has a completely different feel from the rest of it. Up until this point this was most certainly a song you could dance to. At the bridge, “With Me Empty” soars. The instruments fall way back in both intensity and volume. Skib sings “You and me are nothing but dead leaves in fall, the fall of our lives…” He then sings that line again, but a soaring tenor melody adds “Who cares what they say? We’ll live life our own way! Who cares what they say?” … and that’s also Skib. The original line repeats again, with the second line layered over it, but then a third line — again, still Skib — sings that second line as well, but it’s a harmonizing line. The result is a lush three-part harmony. It is utterly unexpected, but it fits. In fact, it’s mesmerizing.

3. “Heaven or Worse”: I’d call this the darkest song on the EP, at least in mood. The entire song is in a minor key, giving it an eerie, almost apocalyptic quality. The instrumental break/bridge in the middle of the song drives home the apocalyptic tone with the combination of the thundering drumbeat, the growling bass, and the dreadful guitar (and I mean that as a compliment — it’s a shattering guitar solo that is filled with dread). Skib’s vocals are deliberate and filled with angst. “Pulling apart at the seams I just started to sew… breaking my heart it just never seems smart to go slow…” (I have to love such an intense song that includes needlework metaphors!)

4. “Mean to You”: This song opens with two distinctions: the intricate, often melodic Clement bass line, and the arpeggio-like opening lines of the verses. “Mean to You” is the EP’s only ballad, but the prominent bass line gives it a very different sound from your typical ballad. And lest you think a bass-heavy song might start to drag and feel too dark (not that I would ever say such a thing, I could listen to bass-heavy songs all day!), right before the final chorus is a blistering Tiemann guitar solo that snaps you to attention. But the story is the romanticism of the lyrics — “All I have to do right now is mean to you what you mean to me… have mercy on your restless heart, I dream of you, do you dream of me?” — and that bass line.

5. “Hearts Are for Suckers”: Here is another song of stark contrasts: the hard, crunchy instrumental breaks and the light, delicate verses. The choruses are far darker than the verses, and they become increasingly dark and brooding as the song progresses. For that matter, the verses themselves grow darker throughout the song, with the addition of a pulsating drumbeat.  Another study in contrasts is Skib’s vocals, jumping from the lower end of his range to the upper end, all without losing its sense of urgency or despair. Skib does an amazing job of restraining his vocals at key moments and then powering through them to match the intensity of the instrumentals. Then there is the poetry. “Guilty conscience builds my enemies… faceless angels, try your luck on me … I’ll have to pay for the bed that you made… you’ll have to face the heart that you waste…” The way those lines repeat at the end of the song, layered one on top of another, creates a tidal wave of urgency. It fades out, leaving a series of angry, crashing, breathtaking instrumentals.

Reading these descriptions, you might get the idea that Luna Espera is a hard listen. All the heaviness, the intensity — is it exhausting to listen to? I admit that the first time I listened to it, I was overwhelmed. But this music is done so well that you cannot help but marvel at its brilliance, even while realizing just how thick with emotion it is. And rather than dragging you down, it is immensely cathartic.

I have always loved intensely heartwrenching music, mostly because it makes me feel alive — and feel grateful for being alive. I think that’s what the best music of its type does. It’s what MWK does. And never has MWK done it so well as it has with Luna Espera.

Buy Luna Espera on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/luna-espera-ep/id475355774

Buy Luna Espera on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Luna-Espera-EP/dp/B005ZLUU6S/ref=sr_shvl_album_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320951534&sr=301-1

If you are still awake at the end, I will consider this recap successful!

First, some background. You must understand that I did not plan to attend this show at all. When tour dates were released, and we found out that David Cook would be touring with Gavin DeGraw, I had a sneaking suspicion that ticket prices were going to be out of reach for me. Sure enough, I was right. My husband and I recently moved to Oklahoma so he could accept a new job, one with, unfortunately, a sizable salary cut. This cut meant that there is now precious little discretionary income. Concert tickets were out of the question unless they were less than $25 each. The GDG/DC show was not outrageously expensive, but it was out of reach for us.

Therefore, months ago I had resigned myself to the fact that David and Gavin would be coming to Tulsa, and I would not see them. I was a little bummed, but not overwhelmingly disappointed. I had already missed one tour I had desperately wanted to attend this year due to finances, so I guess you could say I was used to it.

Then, three days before the show, a lovely woman named Connie asked me on Twitter if I would like to accept — free of charge — the extra concert ticket she just might wind up having. Relatives of hers were originally slated for the tickets, but it looked now like they might not be able to accept them. I was completely flabbergasted and eagerly said yes, but I knew there was a chance her relatives might be able to use them after all, so I kept my hopes low and assumed that nothing had changed. I checked with Eric before I said yes, and he was fine with my going.

The following morning Connie said guess what? The ticket is yours if you want it! I was floored, in complete shock. I’ve never before had a concert ticket just handed to me! About an hour or so later, Connie asked me if Eric would like to come, too, because she actually had 2 extra tickets. So I texted him and asked if he was interested. He said “sure, but what about a babysitter?” In Ohio, we had three always-eager and often-available babysitters: my mom, my sister, and Stevie, a teenager I knew from church. Here we knew very few people. Fortunately we had begun attending a local church fairly regularly, so I had a couple of contacts. I e-mailed the church’s director of youth ministries and asked if he knew of anyone who might be willing to take on a babysitting assignment. I knew it could be dicey, seeing as how I was requesting a sitter with only 2 days’ notice, but since it was mid-week I actually thought I might have a better chance.

The youth minister gave me the names and numbers of 3 babysitting candidates that he recommended highly, and he even said that if none of them panned out, he could offer more. Fortunately one of them did, a high school senior named Callie. She is very quiet and well-mannered, but great with my daughters. Much different from Stevie (who is extremely talkative!) but equally good.

So the babysitter was chosen, and Eric could come. I hadn’t really wanted to attend my first show at Cain’s Ballroom by myself, so I was really glad he could take Connie’s second ticket.

We have a camera, but the charger is missing (I think it’s packed away and in storage somewhere, oops!), so I just planned to take photos with my cell phone. But the night before the show, I saw @GraceC4David making an emergency callout for a cellcaster for Tulsa. I hated the thought of there being no cellcast, so I tentatively offered my services, saying I would do it if no one else could. Evidently no one else volunteered, because Grace asked me if I would send her my cell phone number, which I did. Grace gave me her cell number and her Skype number. I was quite anxious about cellcasting because I’ve never done it before, and this was the first show I would attend with my couple-months-old Droid. I didn’t know how well the battery would hold up. I could just imagine it dying 3 songs in, lol.

Eric and I left for Tulsa a little while after Callie came to our house, and we arrived just before 6 pm. As we approached Cain’s I saw nearly all my Twitter/DC friends that I knew were attending: Janette (@Curious_JG) and her adorable husband, Diana (@kccatdr), Terri (I don’t know if she’s on Twitter, but we’re Facebook friends), Kim (@kfuller924), Jeannine (@zoo2), and Catherine (@Poniente23). We exchanged hugs and chatted about the VIP Meet & Greet. I have to admit I was quite envious hearing their adventures with David, who I found out was so under-the-weather that he couldn’t talk — he either mimed or whispered conversations with everyone. It occurred to me then that I don’t think I have ever been to a David Cook show where he wasn’t sick. I guess I should warn everyone right now: if I’m coming to a concert, expect David to be sick. I may be a curse.

I couldn’t stay in the VIP line forever, sadly, so I said my good-byes to everyone and headed for the Will-Call window to pick up my tickets. Along the way I was happy to run into my ticket angel, Connie (@connico479). She then pointed out the woman who had actually bought my tickets and hers, a woman named Peggy. So I went and introduced myself to her, thanked her for the tickets, and went inside to pick them up. There was a mild snafu when they didn’t want to release the tickets to me without getting the verbal permission of the person who had originally bought them (weird, because she had given them my name earlier and had my name written on the outside of the envelope), but Peggy went back in with me, and we got it straightened out. It felt great to have those tickets in my hands!

As we awaited the doors to open, a Tulsa radio station came by with a HUGE sign and asked everyone if they could take their photos to be put up on the website. I agreed to do it, mostly because I knew it was most likely the only chance I was going to have to be photographed at Cain’s at all! Here’s the photo:

Eric & me outside Cain's

Finally we were let into the Ballroom. The moment we stepped beyond the barrier and onto the floor, I fell in love. There’s something about Cain’s that is so inviting and open. I loved the wood flooring and the huge stage. I noticed there were also a few risers scattered against the walls, presumably for those who felt the need to sit. I planned to do no such thing, of course, but I was glad to see them in case Eric needed to rest his back.

I was surprised when Carolina Liar started their set at 7 p.m., because our ticket and the website said the show would begin at 7:30. I wasn’t complaining though! I enjoyed Carolina Liar’s set. They were energetic and enthusiastic, and the music sounded great (although Eric says their lead singer hit several rank notes. I didn’t notice, to be honest). My favorite thing about Carolina Liar? Their guitarist. He’s an Adam Levine lookalike, which is to say, hot. LOL He’s also very smiley and just plain fun to watch. I admit it, I really didn’t take my eyes off him very often!

Gavin began his set just before (or just after? Ugh, I don’t remember) 8 p.m., and from the moment he came out to the stage until his last note, I was mesmerized. I had gone on a huge Gavin DeGraw kick right before the show (since I wasn’t overly familiar with his music and wanted to become moreso). I had fallen in love with his new CD “Sweeter,” thanks to Spotify, and I had listened to it nonstop. I love his piano-driven rock. Lots of great melodies and harmonies and complex rhythms. And the energy! Once or twice while I watched him perform, I thought, “This man was beaten and hospitalized just a few months ago.” And the reason I told myself that was because I couldn’t believe it to look at him. He held nothing back. He was all over the stage, from one side to the other, sometimes playing piano, sometimes playing guitar, sometimes just holding his microphone and singing his guts out.

The highlights: first, “Chariot.” It was fun to hear the HUGE swell of cheers and screams when the opening piano notes sounded. I think the entire crowd sung it as one, as well. The energy, the enthusiasm, it just sunk into my bones and blood. I had chills. Second, “Soldier.” Gavin began singing this, to the best of my recollection, not long after he talked about how he wanted this show to be a “community of music.” He talked about reading reviews and seeing Gavin fans and David fans attacking one another and each other’s “chosen” musicians. Very profanely (and honestly) Gavin spoke about how he didn’t want any part of that, how he loves David, and David loves him, and there shouldn’t be any of that “ridiculousness” going on. I cheered after every talking point because I’m in SUCH agreement. I hate that kind of fanwarring, I always have. I hate it when it occurs between fans of the same artist and between fans of different artists. I really wish we as a people could learn to tolerate each other’s differences a bit better.

*cough* Sorry… I’ll get off my soapbox now.

Anyway, as I was saying. “Soldier.” This is my favorite Gavin song, and after his speech about unity and community, he said that this next song was about love. I assumed that he was going to sing “In Love With a Girl,” so when he said that the song was about when you want to be a soldier for someone, I screamed with excitement. Something about this song really touches me, and hearing Gavin sing it live was a tremendous experience.

“In Love With a Girl” was actually the next song, and that was a highlight too, because it was one of the songs everyone knew, and so everyone was singing along. The passion of knowing a song and wanting to be a part of that experience with a musician just filled the room, and it was a beautiful feeling.

Another highlight was “Spell It Out.” For this song, the band took a break and departed from the stage, and Gavin took to the piano and sang it acoustically. I love this song, and I loved it even more live. It was beautiful and touching, and Gavin sang it so sweetly. It was a spellbinding moment.

As the third song that everyone knows, “I Don’t Want to Be” was another highlight. Again, that passion and energy filled the room as we all proclaimed along with Gavin, “I don’t want to be anything other than me!”

The final highlight, for me, was “Not Over You.” This is my second-favorite Gavin song, and it was his final song of the evening. I love the driving piano melody, and I love the angst of the lyrics. (My old love of angst and heartache once again rears its head, lol.)

A note about Gavin’s performance style: he is the most theatrical singer I have ever seen live. Having said that, though, I would never call him over-the-top or overwrought. His theatricality is perfectly suited to his music. When I watched him perform last night, I felt like he really feels his music. He lives it when he performs. I don’t feel like I’m watching someone putting on a show for effect. I feel like I’m watching a musician who is being himself, truly himself, on stage. He is incredibly comfortable in his skin.

I plan to buy Gavin’s CD “Sweeter” as soon as possible — hopefully today!

Finally, David Cook took the stage. Watching him come on stage felt like coming home. There is no other musician I have seen as often over the past three years as David, and it had been a long wait to see him again. While other musicians have since surpassed David as my favorite, something in his appearance and his music feels comforting to me. Comforting, but thrilling, at the same time. After all, I had not heard most of these songs live yet.

When I heard the opening notes of “Circadian,” I began whacking Janette on the shoulder. (Poor thing was standing right next to me at the time, lol.) That’s because I hadn’t heard “Circadian” live before, and it was a thrill for me to hear it now. It was the signal to me that I was in for something new, different, delicious, exciting. And so Janette got a sore shoulder. Sorry, Janette.

By the way, the cheers that went up when the stage darkened, signaling that David’s set was about to begin? EXPLOSIVE. I have never heard louder cheers at any show. And don’t forget — I went to a Selena Gomez & the Scene show just under a year ago! Thank you, Tulsa.

As much as I love David, I will confess that the one I couldn’t take my eyes off of was Andy Skib. He looked so good. And I had forgotten just what an incredible performer he is. David, I know that he’s awesome. Andy, I forget sometimes. If you’ve never really watched Andy live, I urge you to tear your eyes off David for one song (I know, it’s hard, but try ) and watch Andy. He pours his passion into his performance, whether he’s playing guitar, playing piano, or singing. One of my favorite moments of the whole show was watching Andy sing the counter melody in the final choruses of “Let Me Fall for You” — “Let me fall, like a stone on the water, let me fall like a plane out of the sky, let me crash, let me burn my heart out, let me learn to fly.” It was the first time I heard him take those vocals, and it gave me chills.

I don’t remember much of David’s legendary banter. I feel like there wasn’t much, probably partially because he was sick. He seemed to thank us, again and again, and say repeatedly, “It is so good to be back in Tulsa.” Which, to be honest, I loved. Sometimes I think David tries so hard to be funny (and he is!), and it makes it all the nicer when you hear him just be heartfelt and sincere and happy. It felt good to see David in that frame of mind, in that relaxed state.

Incidently, I also am quite sure I have never heard David swear so much on stage, lol! First he was dropping a lot of “damn”s. Then a few “hell”s. And then he dropped an s-bomb, and Eric gave me this look like “what has gotten into these musicians tonight??” LOL I personally found it endearing. To me it was just another sign of how relaxed and happy he was. I get the feeling that David usually watches his language on stage, but tonight he seemed to think, “F*** it!”

Musical highlights, in addition to “Let Me Fall for You,” included “Circadian” — the opening number set the mood, powerfully, precisely; “Right Here With You,” a song I personally was excited to hear because it was co-written by some of my musical heroes, including Ryan Star and Johnny Rzeznik; “Heroes,” just because it was awesome to hear the song that had captured my attention in so many previous David Cook shows — again, that feeling of coming home. I also loved hearing “Mr. Sensitive”– he’s changed something with that song. The opening seemed a lot more delicate than I remember hearing in the past, and I enjoyed the change. “We Believe” was the anthemic fist-pumper I imagined when I first heard it on the CD.

Then there were my two favorite David songs: “Goodbye to the Girl,” which was beautiful, poignant, and soulful, and “Rapid Eye Movement,” which closed the show. I had actually requested those two songs via tweet, though I’m pretty sure David always planned to include them and didn’t add them to the setlist on my request. Since REM was the final song, there was a split-second before he began when I wondered if I would be denied. Fortunately I wasn’t, and I was richly rewarded with that driving guitar riff I love so much, the lyrics that are such a glorious mix of angst, despair, and resignation, and the powerhouse vocals that even David’s illness couldn’t seem to quash. I was actually really impressed by David’s vocals all through his set. I knew he wasn’t feeling well, but you really couldn’t tell that he had been forced to whisper and mime his way through his pre-show meet and greet by his performance during the show.

Oh, and about that cellcast: that was a colossal fail. I called Grace’s Skype when the lights dimmed for David’s set, and when I checked my phone a few seconds into “Heroes,” I saw that the call had ended. I also saw I had a text, which was from Grace, who informed me that my sound had been dreadful and so she called the backup cellcaster. I actually wasn’t surprised, because we were getting blasted so hard by the sound at our position on the floor that I wondered if it would interfere with the cellcast. I felt bad that I hadn’t been able to help out, but I understand that Connie (who, in a fun twist, was the backup cellcaster) and her phone did a great job.

On the bright side, the cellcast fail did mean I was free to take photos with my phone. I took only a couple during Gavin’s set, because I was trying to save battery for the cellcast, but during David’s set I took quite a few. You can see them here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2451213247456.143283.1465749134&type=1&l=bc3f229e8f

I could tell you about the girl twice my size who cut in front of me about ¾ of the way through Carolina Liar’s set, which reduced my visibility to approximately zilch; about the many other people who seemed to have no qualms about muscling their way beside and in front of us on the floor when they certainly hadn’t been there at the beginning; about the woman who draped herself against Eric’s front, then weaved around Janette and her husband, declaring herself “REALLY drunk” and extracting a pinkie swear first from Janette that she wouldn’t “kick [her] in the teeth” for hitting on Janette’s husband, then from me that I would “stay married forever” after she found out that Eric and I had been married for 14 years (“That’s a REALLY! LONG! TIME!!!!!”); about the $20 Eric found on the floor (undoubtedly dropped by one of the many drunks who surrounded us) shortly before the end of David’s set; about the hundreds of beer cans and bottles that littered the floor at show’s end; about the two girls passionately making out right in front of Janette and her husband at the end of the show, and about the two other couples I saw making out by their cars after we left Cain’s; or about the security officers who screamed “If you don’t have a pass LEAVE RIGHT NOW!” and the Cain’s employee who declared that the restrooms were “closed” when I asked where I they were on our way toward the door (really, who CLOSES restrooms at the end of a concert?!).

Oops… I guess I just did tell you about all that, didn’t I? My bad.

Oddly enough, whereas I might have taken such experiences (aside from Eric’s discovery of $20, I mean, that was pretty darned cool) and found them mood-dampening, they ultimately served to heighten my feeling that last night, we went to a real, honest-to-goodness, red-blooded rock show.

Somehow, it seems all too fitting that it happened in Tulsa, in my mind the music capital of the Midwest.

I can’t wait to go back.

David Cook and Selena Gomez, while two very different artists, do happen to have a common thread: a bass player named Joey Clement. (If you don’t know me that well but are familiar with my blog, you really should have seen this coming. ) Selena Gomez & the Scene is Joey’s current band, while David Cook’s band was Joey’s previous gig. So yes, I do have a personal stake in the success of both artists’ CDs and overall careers.

Disclaimer: I am not a professional reviewer. I’ve never taken a music theory class in my life. I know what I like and what I don’t like, and both of these reviews are entirely my own opinion, which you are certainly free to disagree with.

David Cook: This Loud Morning

Before Joey joined Selena’s band The Scene, I would tell you wholeheartedly and 100 percent that David Cook makes the kind of music I like to listen to. I really enjoy the type of melodic pop rock that is his forte. I’m a big fan of electric guitars and bass, of loud drums, and piano. I’m also a big fan of his rock voice. I love David’s range, the grit and conviction in his voice. I believe pretty much everything David sings – I think he “lives his music” as well as, if not better than, anyone.

There were five songs I had heard already before the full CD came into my possession: “Paper Heart,” “The Last Goodbye,” “Time Marches On,” “Take Me As I Am,” and “Goodbye to the Girl.” I think that probably has a little bit to do with what I find myself currently drawn to; I do find these more familiar songs resonate with me a little more strongly than the other songs on the CD. Although that is slowly beginning to change with each listen.

David has said in interviews that This Loud Morning, when listened to from beginning to end, is meant to tell a story of sorts — the story of a dream sequence. I can see how that plays out, how you fall asleep with “Circadian” and almost end thrashing in your bed as the final notes of “Rapid Eye Movement” sound.

Now I’ll go into my impressions of each song, track by track.

1. “Circadian”: The moment I began to listen to this song for the first time, I had chills. The music-box bell tone effect that opens the song gives it a dreamlike, eerie quality right from the start. Later in the song, a children’s choir sings “Mayday, somebody save me” — echoing the words of the chorus — which adds to that dreamlike eeriness.

The chilling vocal effects used in “Circadian” are just the beginning. I appreciate the various effects used throughout the CD; they add tremendous atmosphere to every song.

2. “Right Here, With You”: This song was cowritten by David with Ryan Star and Johnny Rzeznik, so I was extremely eager to hear it. Ryan is my favorite performer, and Johnny’s band The Goo Goo Dolls are one of my all-time favorites. Interestingly enough, when the song opened I nearly thought I was hearing “The Last Goodbye” — some of the opening chords are remarkably similar. I love the contrast between the very uptempo verses and the slower, more sweeping chorus. Also, I’m a romantic at heart, so I adore the theme of love-conquering-all-obstacles. One of my favorite moments comes right at the very end, when David sings “I’m on your side” to just a piano.

3. “We Believe”: This song is so up my alley. It’s perhaps the most optimistic tune on the entire CD. Many people have compared it to “Heroes,” from David’s debut CD, in how perfectly it would work in a sporting promo, like the Olympics. I can’t disagree — the song not only has a “united we stand” in theme, but it also uses metaphors such as “if we stumble at the finish line, we’ll start again” that seem tailor-made for sporting use. Musically, “We Believe” is sweeping; I can imagine a huge arena of people shouting “We BELIEVE!” in the chorus. I can’t help thinking songs like this show David’s ambition. He wants to fill huge arenas with songs such as these.

4. “Fade Into Me”: This is the CD’s first true ballad. Lately I’ve heard many people compare its opening to David’s first hit song, “The Time of My Life,” and indeed it is a waltz, with a few chords that are strikingly similar to “Time of My Life,” and even the opening lines are sung in the same rhythm as “Time of My Life.” Of course the song itself is completely different, as it the CD’s primary love song. Some have seen extensive sexual tones in the song. While I can see them (I’m not completely blind or naive!), I think the song is truly more about the dizzying feeling of falling in love than about making love, though arguments can certainly be made for the latter.

Musically, I absolutely love the lushness of it; a strings section is put to stunning use, but simple, sweet moments of solo guitar add poignancy as well. In all it’s a beautiful song that I could see being used as a first song at many wedding receptions this summer!

5. “Hard to Believe”: Perhaps my favorite thing about this song is its opening snare. I keep thinking I’m about to hear “Time Marches On” (because, you know, it sounds like a march). But then, surprise surprise, it’s this one instead. To be honest, this is probably my least favorite song on the record. I think it’s a little too indistinct musically. I think David can do better than this. Lyrically, I enjoy the whole apocalyptic feel of it: “When stars fall, when ground breaks, you’re sinking, ’cause it’s too late…” It’s not a terrible song, I just don’t think it’s as special as it could be.

6. “Take Me As I Am”: One of the most powerful songs, both lyrically and musically. I find it fascinating because the title indicates a song that might be somewhat defiant, but the lyrics tell a far different story — it’s more of a plea of acceptance, a confession of imperfection. And as such it’s quite touching, because who among us haven’t felt that deep longing to be accepted regardless of how flawed we are? The instrumentation fits that longing to a T. It’s full and strong at its most pleading parts, but then it drops away to nearly nothing, to let the full power of David’s voice touch us even further. This is probably among my top 5 favorite songs of the CD.

7. “Time Marches On”: This song literally astonished me the first time I heard it on the CD. My first listen came during a livestream of David’s Concert for Hope earlier this year, and the simplicity of David’s vocals, and the resulting poignancy, truly left me breathless. His vocals in the CD recording are quite different. They are far raspier, and as a result he sounds much angrier. At first I wasn’t sure what to make of this difference, but I decided eventually I liked both variations.

I find this song’s lyrics so striking — they’re both resigned and quite frustrated, hurt, and anguished. Call me a masochist, but I absolutely love these kinds of rip-your-heart-out-and-stomp-it-flat sorts of songs. I also love the way the song incorporates these airy “oooh, oooooooh, oooooooh” backing vocals from near the song’s end right through to its conclusion. That gives the song a continued sense of a ticking clock that cares about no one in its path.

8. “The Last Goodbye”: Now we’re to the CD’s first single. As a single on the radio, I love this song. It’s insanely catchy; within a listen or two of the song, I found myself singing along with the words and incapable of getting it out of my head. I also enjoy the song’s lyrics — “we were everything that was right at the wrong time,” “wherever we are, we’re miles apart”; “Goodbye” is filled with these kinds of turns of phrase that seem almost contradictory. I also love the song’s driving beat and the fact that it’s so uptempo while being so depressing. One last thing I love is that the song begins without introduction — David starts singing from the song’s opening note — and closes without fanfare — David also sings the song’s final note.

What I’m not sure of is how well it fits into the CD. None of the other songs on the CD are as catchy, as “commercial,” if you will. I’m not completely convinced that the song wasn’t included mostly because the label wanted a “first radio single.” Having said that, I truly do enjoy the song, and I’m glad it’s here even if it doesn’t really fit.

9. “Paper Heart”: This song took time to grow on me. When I first heard it — in a live video somewhere — I was less than impressed. Imagine my amusement when I later found out David himself didn’t like it at first, either! I changed my mind when I heard him perform it acoustically, and since then I’ve liked it a bit more upon every listen. The instrumentation kind of threatens to overwhelm it at times; that might be why it didn’t really strike me until I heard it acoustic.

The lyrics are so powerful. As a sensitive person, I relate to the idea of having a paper-thin heart that seems to break at the slightest touch. I’ve developed an armor of humor to try to guard against it, and I wonder if David has done the same thing to guard his own “paper heart.” “Let it fall, take it all, ’cause I’m so tired of feeling everything, so damn me and my paper heart in this pouring rain.” This song isn’t quite as catchy as “The Last Goodbye,” but it does come close enough that I think it ought to be a radio single.

10. “4-Letter Word”: I love the way this song opens, perhaps more than any other song on the record (not including “Circadian,” which is really in a class of its own regarding opening). The guitar riff that opens it is spine-tingling, and when the drums come in, it gives a tremendous groove to the song.

Unfortunately musically the song never really gets as distinct. I feel like the remaining instrumentation is kind of muddy, and it unfortunately has the same effect on the great lyrics. “I see us slipping away, starting to fade, crumbling down till we both hit the ground…” I do love the irony of the lyric “love is a four-letter word.” It is, literally, and to a broken-hearted person it’s also that other meaning of “four-letter word.” This song is probably tied with “Hard to Believe” as my least-favorite. Not that I’ll skip them on my CD player or iFaux, but I’ll not seek them out, either.

11. “Goodbye to the Girl”: Oops. Did I just say the opening of “4-Letter Word” was my favorite? Yeah… no. This song has my favorite opening, with the truly bone-chilling wind sound effect that leads to a haunting piano melody. “Goodbye to the Girl” continues to take my breath away, note by note, layer by layer. The lyrics hit me in the gut and heart repeatedly. “I’m leaning on the edge, of jumping off the ledge, and watching the night do what the light never could/So tell me I’m crazy, it’s not gonna save me from holding my breath till the lines blur…” This is a song of the ultimate anguish, the ultimate in suffering and heartbreak. Of all the songs on the CD, this is the one that makes me cry nearly every time.

David’s voice is in its finest form. The piano continues to haunt, the guitar solos are aching and eerie, the percussion gives it windswept, nostalgic quality, and the bass is stronger than in any other song and lends to the overall feeling of melancholy. (As a bass girl, I can’t help appreciating that!) And if that’s not enough to get that punched-in-the-gut feeling, there’s the lyric change at the very end: “Say my goodbye to the girl… and goodbye to the world.” Yeah… stick a fork in me, I’m done. (Tremendous kudos to the songwriting trio of Cook, Neal Tiemann and Andy Skib, for they did indeed create a masterpiece.)

12. “Rapid Eye Movement”: And then there’s the final song of the original version CD, the record’s heaviest. I love the opening metal-like guitar riff that repeats in patches throughout the song. Remember how earlier I referred to the “thrashing in bed” nature of this song? I feel like everything in the song contributes to that feeling. The driving guitar riff. The chorus’ lyrics: “‘Cause I, I can’t seem to find a way back inside every last thought of love we made…” Then there’s the echo of “That I’m trying to get back” about halfway through the song.

And then there are the echoes of “Circadian” that start about 2/3 of the way into the song, just when you may have thought the song was ending, opening with an urgent-sounding piano riff. In comes the children’s choir with “Mayday… somebody save me…” and the song develops an enveloping sense of madness. To add to that feeling, there’s a bizarre, circus/carnival-like whistle at the very end. This song is so over-the-top, so dramatic (if not melodramatic), that it really does feel a bit like madness. And I love it. “Rapid Eye Movement,” in fact, is probably my second-favorite song on the record.

Bonus song #1: “This Is Not the Last Time”: I nearly skipped the bonus songs, but then I remembered you could buy them piecemeal off iTunes and decided I should include them. Because both are phenomenal. “This Is Not the Last Time” is bold and sweeping, and it’s actually far catchier than either of my two least favorite songs on the record. I love the key change at the end — it really bolsters the feeling of overcoming obstacles, the idea that you can start over as many times as you need to, to get it right. I love “starting over” songs, so this song is right up my alley.

Bonus song #2: “Let Me Fall for You”: The piano-driven songs on this CD seem to be among my favorites, and so the opening piano here really delighted me. It made me appreciate the entrance of the remaining instruments that much more. Similar to “Right Here, With You,” “Let Me Fall for You” has a nice contrast of driving, uptempo verses and slower, more sweeping choruses. I also absolutely love the bridge, with its distorted vocals that give it a really gritty feel. I also love the way the “let me fall for you” idea is expressed in such fatalistic terms: “Let me fall like a stone in the water, let me fall like a plane out of the sky, let me crash, let me burn my heart out…” A far cry from the usual terms of love and endearment!

Overall, This Loud Morning is filled with complex instrumentation, fantastic lyrics, and overwhelming emotion. That kind of CD may not be for everyone; I, personally, love it.

Selena Gomez & the Scene: When the Sun Goes Down

Earlier I said that David Cook’s style of music was my preferred cup of tea before Joey Clement joined The Scene. That’s true. But today, while I still probably prefer the Cook sound, I’ve grown a real fondness for the sounds of The Scene.

Their latest CDs really couldn’t be more different. I don’t think there’s a single note of piano on Selena’s entire CD. I’m not even sure there are many electric guitars. (I’ll tell you once I get the hard copy — right now I’m just working off my digital download, which sadly includes no liner notes.) In fact I’m not at all certain there’s a single song that doesn’t use synthesizer. This is not a rock CD. It’s a techno/dance CD, and that has not traditionally been my preferred genre. I’ve grown to love it, though, because it’s fun. If This Loud Morning is cathartic, When the Sun Goes Down is a mood-lifter.

Track-by-track:

1. “Love You Like a Love Song”: This is Selena Gomez & the Scene’s newest single. I have a very good reason to appreciate the song; it has a very heavy, driving bass groove throughout. While Joey didn’t play the bass on the CD, he plays it live, and it travels right through to my core. Even on CD I can enjoy and appreciate it. The minor key incorporated into “Love You Like a Love Song” gives the fluffy love song a bit more depth and teeth.

2. “Bang Bang Bang”: This song has probably the CD’s silliest lyrics, if I’m being honest. It’s a kiss-off song that goes on and on about how her new beau is way better than the boy who just dumped her (or maybe vice versa, it’s not made clear). Having said that… it’s fun. It’s got a great beat, it’s insanely catchy, and it’s impossible not to dance to it. It’s probably my least-favorite song on the record, though.

3. “Who Says”: The CD’s first single probably has the best lyrics on the record. Is the inspirational “love yourself/ignore the haters” message overdone? Perhaps, but that doesn’t make it any less of a good message, and Selena’s delivery of this song is pitch-perfect. She calls this song “an anthem” for her fans, and for the millions of young girls who suffer through choruses from schoolmates and society about why they’re not good enough, it’s sorely needed. This might be the only song on the record that uses actual instruments (*cough*) and for that reason it holds an even stronger place in my heart. The effervescence of the instrumentation makes it a wonderful summer song, too.

4. “We Own the Night”: Cowritten and featuring British singer Pixie Lott, this song is a surprising twist. It’s the most ballad-like song on the record, and it stands in stark contrast to the heavy dance beats found in the remaining songs. Selena’s voice sounds very polished and mature, too. Oh… and I think I hear guitars! Be still, my heart. I’d call this the most sensual song on the record, both lyrically and instrumentally. The theme of the song is of two lovers who steal away into the night to enjoy each other’s company. Nothing overtly sexual here, but certain more “mature themes” are implied. (Wink, wink.)

5. “Hit the Lights”: For a dance song, this song has a surprising sweep to it. I would almost call it anthemic! I love the theme — basically it’s a “put your regrets behind you” song. How many of us have had rough days at work (or school, if you’re a little younger than I am ) and just wanted to forget about it for a night? This is the song that invites you to do just that. Selena’s basically saying “we all have days like that — try to shake it off and have fun tonight. Hit the lights!” I’d love to hear this song live. I can imagine a live audience shouting “Hit the lights!” at the appropriate moment in the chorus.

(And I only just realized: Selena’s singing of the words “hit the lights” uses an identical rhythm to David’s singing of “We believe!” in the song of the same name. Quite a coincidence, no?)

6. “Whiplash”: This song opens almost identically to the Britney Spears song “Womanizer,” and quite honestly that likeness continues throughout the song. The music really does sound extraordinarily similar. (Probably not surprising, as Spears cowrote the song.) The lyrics are completely different, as is Selena’s vocal.

Having said that, Selena’s vocal performance elevates the song and makes it far better than what one would normally think of a Britney reject. In particular I love the way Selena sings in a rapid-fire staccato in the bridge leading to each chorus; I also love the way she sings “Whiplash! Whiplash! Whiplash!” It’s probably partially due to production, but somehow the way she sings it really does sound like a whiplash. Then again, the word does have an onomatopoeic quality to it, so that could contribute to it as well. … have I officially thought too much about this? Perhaps.

7. “When the Sun Goes Down”: Full disclosure, here. It is nearly impossible for me to be unbiased or objective about this song, because it was cowritten by Joey Clement. (Yeah… that guy. ) In fact, the first time I listened to it, I began crying about halfway through it, just because I was so overwhelmed with pride and happiness for him at having a songwriting credit on this record. Listen to the song, and you’ll know there is nothing about the song in itself that would make you cry. In fact, it’s the exact opposite: this is a song about having fun, and its musical flights of fancy and infectious dance beat make it hard not to smile throughout. This is a song for and about dancing, and it’s tough to stay still while listening to it.

Traditionally I have strongly disliked what I call “party songs,” i.e., songs about nothing more than hitting the dance floor. But “When the Sun Goes Down” is far more substantial than your average party song, because it’s not just about “gettin’ down.” It’s more a song about shedding the concerns of the day and enjoying the company of your friends. My favorite part of the song is the instrumental interlude right after the bridge. It’s really sweet and happy. I have listened to “When the Sun Goes Down” many, many, many times, and I’m still not tired of it. It’s my unfailing pick-me-up song.

8. “My Dilemma”: This is one of the deeper songs of the record, and any girl or woman who’s been involved with someone who wasn’t right for her will relate to it. It’s backed by plenty of synth and a heavy dance beat, but those doesn’t obscure the relatable lyrics: “Here’s my dilemma, one half of me wants you, and the other half of me wants to forget… I try to run from you, but I find myself attracted to my dilemma, my dilemma — it’s you.” Why do bad boys hold such attraction to females? Selena struggles with just that in this song. And I really enjoy it.

9. “That’s More Like It”: This song cracks me up. It’s a tongue-in-cheek song about a woman who has brought her man in line and now is in complete control. “That’s more like it — make my dinner, bring it to me, that’s more like it!” I cannot wait to see Selena and the Scene perform this one live. With Selena’s great sense of humor and actress’ sensibilities, I have a hunch she’s going to have a lot of fun with it. (This is a Katy Perry cowrite, and I think its cheekiness comes from that.) My favorite lines: “I like chocolate… and I like daisies… maybe you better write this down!”

10. “The Outlaw”: Musically, I really like the beat and the synth effects. Lyrically, I think it’s only a touch better than “Bang Bang Bang.” The theme is just so tired — “you’re an outlaw running from love.” Yeah, yeah, yeah, we get it. Your man is a commitment-phobe. Whatever, I’m not fond of the comparison of such a dude to an “outlaw.” I feel a little bad about these thoughts, because this is one of the songs Selena cowrote, but I’m not impressed. (She may have just written the bridge, because she makes reference to being from the Lone Star state, and Selena is a native Texan.) Actually I like the bridge — it’s probably the best part of the song. She describes the hurt the jerk has perpetuated and says “I’m gonna make you pay for all of your sins.” You tell him, Selena.

11. “Middle of Nowhere”: I’ve seen a lot of folks put this song down, and it’s too bad, because I actually think it’s one of the strongest of the record. This song reminds me of Vixen’s “Edge of a Broken Heart” or Heart’s “Stranded.” It sounds a little like the former, and thematically and lyrically it’s very similar to the latter. Selena’s vocal delivery really captures the anguish of the lyrics. “So cold, no one to hold me, you’re so wrong, believed you when you told me you’d never leave me alone, out in the middle of nowhere.”

12. “Dices” (“Who Says” Spanish version): I can’t really say anything different about this song than what I said about the English version of “Who Says.” The instrumentation is exactly the same; the only difference is the language of the lyrics. It’s kind of cool to hear Selena singing in Spanish, but the novelty wears off after the first minute or so. To some native Spanish-speaking fans, this song may be a delight.

What I enjoy about When the Sun Goes Down is that it is just plain fun to listen to. It’s a great workout CD, since every song has a great dance beat. Even the sillier songs are enjoyable in some way, and most of the songs have surprising depth for a techno-dance-pop record. Selena’s voice has steadily improved over the past two years, and that growth really shows in this CD. Of course I can’t wait to hear most of these songs live, because The Scene elevates every song they play with their musical skills. (And I don’t just say that because Joey is part of The Scene, though it certainly doesn’t hurt!)

Just like I’m sure This Loud Morning isn’t for everyone, I’m equally sure When the Sun Goes Down isn’t for everyone, either. But that’s really the beauty of music, isn’t it? If heavy, emotional, soaring rock songs are your thing, This Loud Morning will be perfect for you. If you appreciate the light-hearted effervescence of dance pop, you’ll love When the Sun Goes Down. And if you’re lucky enough to enjoy both styles of music for what they each bring to the table and how they can touch your heart, then you may very well find that you enjoy both This Loud Morning and When the Sun Goes Down.

Just like I do.

Much like Vanity Machine, I was introduced to Steve Shane thanks to a Joey Clement tweet, this one in March of 2010. Joey announced that he was performing with a friend of his at a Molly Malone’s show and encouraged everyone to come. Of course, that was kind of impossible for me, since Molly Malone’s is in Los Angeles and I’m in Ohio, and my teleporter remains broken (as I like to annoyingly joke every time I want to whine about how much I’d love to attend X show but cannot because of the distance). But I always like to check out the music of Joey’s friends. I’ve found some of my favorite artists that way (see Ben Wise, Alex Band, Vanity Machine, et cetera).

I visited Steve’s MySpace page and listened to some of his music. I recall enjoying it, but what I think really caught my attention was a video I found where he covered Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.” At that point I wasn’t quite sold on that particular song, or on Lady Gaga. Steve’s cover was the first time I really appreciated the song; his interpretation completely sold me on it. I gave him all the credit. I have since come to appreciate her performance of it as well, but I think it would have taken me far longer had it not been for his cover.

I followed him on Twitter, and I kept meaning to write about him, but as I mentioned earlier, I neglected to do so. But I never forgot about him. I always found him entertaining on Twitter, and occasionally I responded to him. He replied back a few times, always with a great deal of charm.

So what did it, you may wonder? What finally pushed me into writing this post at last? What did the trick was a little thing called Kickstarter.

If you’re a fan of the band Green River Ordinance, you’re probably familiar with Kickstarter, because last year they funded their upcoming CD using this website. Kickstarter is a cool fundraising website geared toward the arts. They are designed to allow artists to collect pledges from fans to fund a particular project. In the case of Green River Ordinance, the project was a CD. But the project can be nearly any kind of artistic endeavor. It could be a sculpture, a magazine, a film, mixed media. It could be – well, you get the idea. It could be almost anything, as long as it’s art.

Steve Shane decided to use Kickstarter to raise funds for what he calls an “interactive music video” for his song “Every Pretty Smile.” Now one of the neat little tricks about Kickstarter is that it offers different “pledge levels,” and the artist can offer various incentives depending on the amount offered per pledge. Typical incentives from musicians include EPs, CDs, T-shirts, free tickets to shows, meet and greet passes, thank-you notes, posters, credits in album liners, sometimes even songs written for pledgers.

Here is Steve’s list of incentives. I personally found it to be not only the most creative list of incentives I had ever seen, but also the funniest.

Pledge $1 or more

I will say some good things about you. Like if your name comes up in conversation I’ll say something like “Oh, I really like him/her. He/She are real good people.”

Pledge $10 or more
A copy of my debut EP and a high-five and a thank you in the credits.

(note: I was tempted to select this one, as I was curious as to how I would receive a high-five from across the country.)

Pledge $20 or more
A Signed CD, a hug, and I will say lots of good things about you. Like, I will go out of my way to mention how great you are.

(note: I was even more tempted to select this one, for the same reason. I wanted to know how Steve would hug me from across the country.)

Pledge $35 or more

A personalized voicemail & complete digital back-catalog of my music. We’re talking about my first ever EP called, wait for it: “Suburban Nomad” & copies of all my ruff demos.

(This is the one I did choose, because I’m a sucker for a complete catalog of music in one fell swoop. Especially since it was only $15 more than just the CD alone. I’ll have to live without the high-five or hug, I guess. haha)

Pledge $50 or more
3 Previously unreleased songs and a home cooked meal. Yup that’s right. I’ll come to your place and cook you a delicious meal.

(It does kind of kill me that I’ll have to forgo the home-cooked meal… sigh…)

Pledge $75 or more
A handmade, one-of-a-kind designed Steve Shane T-shirt. Made by, guess who, me!

Pledge $100 or more

LIMITED REWARD

4, one hour, Voice Lessons. It’s a value of $240. We’ll have some fun, and I’ll help you get the confidence to get that cutie at the Karaoke Bar who you’ve had your eye on! http://vocalcoachshane.tumblr.com/

(I think this has to be one of the best rewards ever. If I were anything remotely resembling a singer, I might have chosen this one. 4 voice lessons for $100 is a crazy bargain!!)

Pledge $125 or more

LIMITED REWARD

Private Living Room Concert, w/ a custom concert cocktail. Before your perfect house show, we’ll sit down a design a cocktail specifically for the festive night. Libations, Steve Shane music live in your apartment? Sounds like a great night to me.

(I wish I could choose this, although I’d feel terribly guilty about Steve flying across the country for a lousy $125 just to put on a show for my husband and me. Haha)

Pledge $150 or more
I’ll write a song about you. Or for you. You don’t have to tell people I wrote it if you want to take the credit. I’m cool with that. I’ll even teach you play it on the guitar!

(I found this one pretty funny, as well as remarkably magnanimous. Write a song & then let the pledger take the credit! Wow!)

Pledge $200 or more

LIMITED REWARD

Lead Part of this Music Video. Yup. True story. You can pay to be the lead in this innovative, guaranteed viral video smash hit. Your pretty face seen on hundreds of thousands computers and mobile devices. There are only 2 of these. So act quick!

(This, I thought, was another bargain. I can imagine plenty of lovely young ladies who dream of being a video vixen who would jump at this chance for a fairly middling $200. If I were about 15 years younger I might jump at the chance myself! LOL)

Pledge $500 or more

LIMITED REWARD

Be the Grand Marshall in the 1st Annual Slow-Motion-Cupcake-Fight. If that doesn’t entice you I don’t know what will.

(I have NO FREAKING IDEA what a “Slow-Motion-Cupcake-Fight” is. But this made me laugh my arse off.)

Pledge $1,000 or more

LIMITED REWARD

My Seagull Acoustic Electric cut-a-way guitar, Signed. $1250 value. She’s my first love and a beauty. 3 piece flamed maple backside. Mahogany neck. Great big beautiful sound. I’ll even throw in a pair of new strings. I don’t want to part with her. But this project is worth it to me. I believe in it that much. And you’ll get a rad guitar too!

(Okay, now this one made me kind of sad. I kind of hope no one pledges this amount. I’d rather have someone jump right to the next amount because I don’t want Steve to give up his beautiful guitar!!)

Pledge $2,000 or more

LIMITED REWARD

Lifetime VIP access to all future Steve Shane events. This could be a great bet to hedge. AND a sweet California Coast road trip. We’ll see the beauty this left coast has together. Maybe fall in love. Who knows? But it’ll be worth every penny. I put out.

(This one made me laugh the hardest. It was “cute” until the very last sentence. Then it became hilarious. What can I say? I’m twelve.)

So what made me decide to pledge to Steve’s Kickstarter? Besides the funny incentives? Because let’s face it, that wouldn’t be enough. No way would funny incentives be enough to make me want to invest in a musician’s project if I hated his music. And one entertaining Lady Gaga cover wouldn’t be enough.

No, I’m a reasonably smart investor. Before I plunked down my pledge I visited Steve’s website and took another listen to the songs I found there. And that sealed the deal. Granted, before I got that far I wanted to like his music, simply because I found him so likable. But I was pleased at how very much I enjoyed what I heard.

Steve’s voice is a smooth, silky tenor that has a great range. It’s one of the purest voices I’ve had the pleasure of listening to in the past few years. Depending on how he uses it, it can be very soothing, when he uses a light, delicate touch, or it can be heartwrenching, when he’s wringing anguish out of a song of despair. It can also be rather seductive, when he’s crooning temptingly to the woman in his sights. And there are quite a few such songs in his repertoire!

I also really enjoy Steve’s songwriting. His lyrics can be playful, poetic, and/or potent, sometimes all in the same song. I love a songwriter who can show range and depth. I appreciate someone who can write a lighthearted love song and a sad song you can cry to. I would call his lyrics sincere, which is the highest compliment I could pay.

Finally, let’s talk about the instrumentation. Here, too, Steve shows a nice range. He isn’t a hard rock or heavy metal artist, and he’d probably laugh at the very thought that anyone might consider him that. He is, however, a very solid and very enjoyable pop-rock artist with an equally adept touch at lighter instrumentation — like with the almost-acoustic “Ice Cream Soup” or the jazzy/bluesy “Use Me” — and a harder rocking sound, such as with the drum-heavy and full-of-guitar-riffs “Love Without Ending.” Steve seems able to offer a song for every mood. Now I kind of wish I could have him write a song for me. Maybe I should start saving up my pennies…

I would definitely encourage you to throw a buck or two Steve’s way, even if you do no more than offer a dollar to have him say nice things about you. He’s one of the good guys, a hard-working blue-collar musician with a big heart and a genuine talent.

P.S.: After I found Steve’s tweet regarding his Kickstarter, I tweeted to him that I found his incentives hilarious, that I would definitely be pledging and that I was thrilled he was doing this. His response: “Thanks so much! And I love the new hair!” Okay, how many musicians would notice a new hair color or style? COME ON. You’ve got to love this guy!

Steve Shane’s website: http://steveshane.com/

Steve Shane’s Kickstarter page: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1670455865/steve-shanes-every-pretty-smile-music-video

Steve Shane’s YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/steveshanemusic

Buy Steve Shane’s music on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/steve-shane/id352864662

Buy Steve Shane’s music on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Steve-Shane/dp/B0036B16VW/ref=sr_shvl_album_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304354058&sr=301-1

Steve Shane on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Steve-Shane-Music/205428422520

Steve Shane on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/steveshaneplaysguitar

Steve Shane on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/SteveShane

In order to properly explain what on earth possessed me to be interested in, let alone go to see, a Celtic punk rock band, I need to offer a bit of background. And his name is Ben Wise. Ben is the lead guitarist for The Mighty Regis. He also happens to be an extraordinarily talented singer-songwriter in his own right. I’ve been acquainted with him for about a year (though I had never actually met him in person).

For the full story, you’ll need to read the blog post I wrote about him last year. You can find that here: http://nleighh.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/ben-wise/

Go on, I’ll wait. It’s a quick read.

Back now? Great! Forging ahead.

I had a previous opportunity to see The Mighty Regis in concert during last summer’s Warped Tour. They had a stop in Cleveland. The Warped Tour, though, wasn’t really the sort of show I wanted to attend by myself. I did have a friend who was willing to go with me, but only if TMR was going to be on at a certain time. I asked Ben if he knew what time TMR would play; unfortunately, the band didn’t receive the time of their set until the morning of each show. For two mothers of young children, that simply wasn’t enough lead time.

To make matters worse, I found out later that their Cleveland show had been a terrible experience. That led me to believe that the band would never be back, which made me think, “ah, that was my only chance to see Ben live, and I missed it.”

But no! About a month ago I saw a series of tweets from TMR regarding tour dates. I thought, “nah, no way will they be playing in Ohio,” but I checked it out anyway… just to be sure. And, what what? They were playing a show in Toledo! On a Monday! Totally doable!

I’m in love with Ben’s music enough that I would have been completely willing to go to the show alone. But I thought it would be a lot more fun to have a friend with me. So I thought, why not see if any of my over 500 followers on Twitter would like to be adventurous and join me? I wasn’t expecting anyone to be. I mean, we’re talking a Celtic punk rock band, for crying out loud. Most of my followers are David Cook fans. Fans of rock music, yes, but more mainstream-sounding, melodic rock music. Not that there’s anything wrong with this – that’s my general preference as well.

But something about The Mighty Regis’ music had grabbed me. It was fun, it was catchy, it was at times very beautiful. I honestly feel the “punk” part of “Celtic punk rock” is a little bit of a misnomer, because when I think of “punk,” I think of music that lacks melody to the point of being nearly painful to listen to. That’s not the case with TMR at all.

Anyway… I threw it out there, not counting on any takers. “Hey, anyone want to come with me to see a Celtic punk rock band in Toledo in March?” Imagine my surprise I did receive an interested party: @HeyJoanieB – someone I had chatted with on Twitter, but had never met in person and didn’t know *extremely* well. She said “hey, I don’t live far from Toledo, what’s the band called and what’s the date?” I gave her the information, she listened to some of their music, liked it, and literally within minutes was all for it. I later found out that this very sweet woman is my mother’s age. Not that this matters, at all, but I found it even more awesome that such a person had been the one to respond to my invitation.

So after a few weeks’ worth of DMing back & forth to nail down the details of when & where we would arrive to ensure our safety (Joanie continually reminded me that Toledo had one of the highest crime rates in the country), the big day had arrived. My drive took slightly less than two hours, and I arrived at the very charming red building known as Mickey Finn’s Pub.

When I pulled into the parking lot, I did notice something a little peculiar… it was empty. I checked the clock. It was right around 7 p.m. The show’s starting time was supposed to be 8:30, according to some of their tweets, and 9:00 according to other listings I’d seen online. Why on earth would NO ONE be here at 7 p.m.? I wondered if the place wasn’t open until later. I remembered my experience at one Ryan Star show a few years ago, when the doors didn’t even open until 10 p.m. (Gulp!)

Joanie arrived very shortly afterwards, and after emerging from our vehicles and hugging, we surveyed the scene. We came to the same conclusion, that we were the first ones there, and we joked about how we were the early-comers like at a David Cook concert, ha! We then went to the front door, and I nervously noted that while the sign stated that the pub opened at 4 on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays… today was a Monday.

Uh-oh.

I tried the door, and it wouldn’t open. This wasn’t looking good at all. Joanie and I exchanged worried looks.

Then the door opened, and a blond woman stepped out and asked if she could help us. I asked if they were open yet, and she apologetically told us that no, they weren’t really open yet, that they didn’t really open until 8. Joanie and I thanked her, and we stepped away from the doorway.

Okay, now what? We began to plan our next move, as we were going to need one. This wasn’t the best neighborhood, it wasn’t the sort of place we would feel comfortable hanging around outside the door for an hour waiting for it to open. Joanie was about to call her son, who lived 15 minutes away, when the door opened once more.

“Would you ladies like to come in for a drink?”

I could hardly believe my ears. “Are you sure?” I asked.

“Yes, absolutely!”

We didn’t need to be asked twice. “Thank you!” We stepped inside, and I confessed that I really needed the bathroom, lol. The woman told me I was definitely welcome to do that, ha! When I returned, Joanie and I nabbed seats by the bar, and we ordered drinks. Better yet, after we ordered our drinks, the woman handed us a menu so we could go ahead and order our dinner. I can’t say enough about how nice this pub was to us, when we were a full hour early! Never once did they make us feel stupid or like we were imposing or inconveniencing them.

While Joanie and I waited for our food (and my Corona – not a Light, but an Extra, which began the relatively simple task of going straight to my head) and chatted, I began to realize that The Mighty Regis were all hanging out at the bar. Including Ben. He’s pretty easy to spot since he’s the only member of the band with platinum blond hair, lol. I thought about going up to him and saying hi, but he was on his phone, and I didn’t want to interrupt. Actually, it seemed like they were all on their phones. It kind of cracked me up. Welcome to the 21^st century.

At various times I thought about going up to him and saying hi, but my courage kept failing me. I could chalk it up to my traditionally crippling social awkwardness, although I had been merrily chatting with Joanie since we had arrived. In all honesty, my thought process was more like, “but he’s a rockstar! I can’t just go up to him and say ‘hi’ like I’m, I’m somebody!” (Ben, if you’re reading this… I’m sorry. I do realize how ridiculous that was. Lol)

It was ridiculous because even before I met him, I knew, intellectually, that Ben would never want someone to be afraid to go up and introduce themselves to him. He’s not at all an intimidating person. It’s more that I admire him so much, and I am so in awe of his talent and skill, that I just completely psyche myself out and think that I’m not worthy of saying hello like a normal person. Again, I know this is ridiculous. I’m trying to get better. Really, I am.

Anyway… at one point I confessed to Joanie that I had been trying to gather my nerve and say hi to Ben for the past half-hour, and she encouraged me to go for it. I trembled some more and acted like a 15-year-old with a crush, lol, then finally finished my Corona, waited for her to get another drink herself, and just went for it. Ben was by the jukebox at the time, and I forced myself to go to him.

I said “hi, Ben?” to get his attention. When he turned to look at me, I said, “It’s Nicole.”

His reaction… was priceless. His face split into a huge grin, and he held his arms out wide. I gave him a big hug. It was so sweet.  He told me how great it was to finally meet me and how awesome it was for me to have come out all this way. I introduced him to Joanie, told him she was my “pretend mother-in-law” (a running joke for the two of us throughout the evening, something I don’t think anyone ever really understood, but that everyone laughed at anyway, ha!). He asked me about my drive, and I told him it went well. Joanie told him about her own drive as well, and he was impressed to find that someone else had driven such a long way to see their band.

I had a great conversation with Ben about his work in the band, about his work in booking the tour, their decision to take their annual St. Patrick’s tour beyond the LA-area and extend it across the country (which had been done largely through his encouragement), about the general experience of being, as Ben likes to put it, a “do-it-yourself” band. This was exactly the kind of conversation I’d hungered to have with him, so I was in heaven.

One thing I never got around to asking Ben, though I had planned to, was why he is nicknamed “The Sarge.” However, after talking with him… I think I figured it out.

Joanie was trying to take a photo of us with my phone, but the bar area was way too dark to be conducive to a photo. So we moved to the next “room,” which was kind of a joint game room/band room, I think Mickey Finn’s refers to it as the event room. There was a bulletin board of some sort that had some light shining down above it, and Joanie suggested we situate ourselves there. We gamely posed, but I guess I failed to take Joanie’s advice to tilt my head back properly, or something, because it still came out rather dark. I sent it anyway, but I deleted the photo this morning since (spoiler!) we got much better photos later. Lol

While in this room, we ran into Darby, the band’s bassist, who was kind of practicing playing shuffleboard by himself. I really, really should have taken a photo of this shuffleboard game. It’s hard to explain without seeing it. It was a shuffleboard game kind of like a foosball game in concept – basically shuffleboard played on a table instead of the floor. Instead of using big sticks to slide the pucks (or whatever the heck you call those things, lol) along the floor, you just use your hands and slide them along the table.

Anyway, we introduced ourselves to Darby, and Joanie asked me if I had told him about the thing we had in common. I kind of blushed and told Darby that I was an extremely beginning bassist. He said something to the effect of, “sweet! I’m a beginning bassist, so I’m only one step above you! Keep at it and you’ll be at my level in no time!” LOL! Darby was really, really funny. Also really sweet and, as Joanie will tell you, very cute. (She liked his dimples. Lol) I have to say that talking “shop” with a bassist for the first time was a pretty cool experience.

I’m not sure how it happened, but the next thing we knew, Joanie and I were invited into a shuffleboard game with Ben and Darby. I was completely flabbergasted. I think Darby mistook my shock for horror, lol, because when I was saying, “wait, what? Us? What? You want us to play with YOU?” he said something like “oh wait, I don’t think they’re interested.” I was like “no wait, no, we want to do it, this is awesome even though I don’t think I’ve played since I was in middle school!” LOL

So while I was still pinching myself (okay… we’ve just been invited by two of the members of the band to play shuffleboard with them. And one of them happens to be one of my favorite musicians. Yeah. This just happens every day…) they were dividing us into teams. Darby took Joanie and Ben took me. Joanie’s all “hello, dimples!” and I’m all “and now I’m on a team with one of my favorite musicians, okay, NO ONE WAKE ME OR I CUT THEM.”

The game itself was silly and fun, even though we all roundly sucked – no, make that especially since we all roundly sucked. But we all also got in a couple lucky shots, which made for some fun times, and of course I cheered like the silly ninny I am, and even though Darby and Joanie had built a good lead in the beginning, Ben and I managed to come back to win. Go Green! LOL

Darby played with his family (who had been following the band in their RV to their tour stops since North Carolina, which was completely cool) after that, and I decided to ask a pub employee if I could grab one of the tables I saw stacked in a corner and set it on Ben’s side of the stage, since there were currently no tables set over there. I got the employee’s blessing, and better still, the employee even came out and brought the table down for me, along with some chairs. Joanie and I set up “camp” there, and then we hit the merch table. Ben and The Mighty Regis’ lone female, Ryan O’Neill, were there for us.

Joanie was checking out the T-shirts, while I was eyeing the CDs. I asked Ben if it was too early for me to buy the CDs, and he said definitely not. He then pointed to one and said “this is our latest CD, so I definitely recommend it.” I just gave him a look and said “Ben… I’m going to buy them all!” He gave me an incredulous look and told me I was awesome. A sentiment I returned. He told me that since I was buying all of them, he would give me a “bulk rate… like Costco.” LOL Which was cool because that meant I would definitely have enough money for a T-shirt.

At some point – either while I was at the merch table, or maybe before then, I’m not sure exactly – Ben had, unbeknownst to me, sent Joey (yes, that Joey) a text, saying, “Hanging out with Nicole.” It became beknownst to me when Joey sent him a return text, which Ben then showed to me, that said: “Very cool. Tell her I said hi. Rock her face off.”

Yeah… little bit of a happy-happy-joy-joy moment for yours truly.

Ben then went on to tell me that he had only recently had a chance to spend some quality time with Joey after having to settle for “drive-by texts” for a while. I knew they had both been very busy recently. That’s a good thing for musicians, of course, but it’s not such a good thing when it keeps good friends from spending time together. When Ben had tweeted a week or so ago that he’d had a chance to have a brunch with Joey, it had made me really happy.

He also told me the one thing that night that made me unable to contain a squeal of joy: that he had created several demos for a second solo record that he was hoping to be able to record in the summer. And that Joey was on board for recording bass again, as he had for Ben’s first solo record. Ben’s voice and songwriting and Joey’s bass is, to me, an unbeatable combination. If I could preorder THAT record, right now, I would. Just tell me when, where, and how, Ben.

So once Joanie and I had our T-shirts and I had my CDs (and labels, and even a magnet), we sat down at our table and relaxed and chatted. We talked about anything that popped into our heads, basically. It was a long wait, because the band was waiting to see how big of a crowd they could get. Ben had told me earlier that their originally-scheduled opening act for tonight had canceled a couple weeks ago, so tonight it was going to be just TMR. Which was fine by me, really. Opening acts are such dicey propositions, anyway… indie bands can have some seriously sucky opening acts. Besides, it turned out that the lack of an opener meant TMR got to have 2 sets, with an intermission in between. Very cool.

The band’s soundcheck was kind of interesting. They all kind of hopped onto the stage, and after a bit of tuning, FLUNG themselves into one of their songs with abandon. It was awesome. But at the same time I felt like I should get up and start rocking out, lol. I thought, “hmm… is this the beginning of the show? Or are they just soundchecking?” After they finished they started yelling instructions to the sound crew, which answered that question pretty fast. Hahaha

I knew they were getting ready to start the show for real when a) I saw Ben rolling up the sleeves to his shirt (and I yelled out “Ben’s rolling up his sleeves! Now we’re getting serious!” which earned me a big smile from Ben, lol) and b) I saw pretty much everyone in the band *except* Ben stretching. STRETCHING, y’all. I thought, “dang… this is going to be one heck of a show, if they feel the need to stretch first!”

I’m not going to describe every song, because a) I don’t remember every song, anyway, and b) most of you don’t know their songs, so it wouldn’t make any difference. LOL What I will do, though, is tell you what it’s like to attend a show of The Mighty Regis.

It’s loud. LOL But in a good way. They don’t blast you with noise. They blast you with intricate melodies and harmonies. They blast you with foot-stompin’ rhythms that make you want to dance. (Which I did, all night, and which did not go unnoticed by the band… ahem…) They blast you with tongue-twisting lyrics that I don’t understand half of, but which make me smile just because they’re so much fun to listen to roll off Mike O’Hara’s tongue. Mike O’Hara, obviously, is the lead singer of The Mighty Regis. He has a powerful voice, although he doesn’t use it to belt out songs the way a “traditional” singer would. Instead he uses it to muscle his way through complex, guttural vocals that would bring a lesser man to his knees whimpering for mercy.

The Mighty Regis is composed of an eye-popping seven musicians. What astonished me about watching and listening to them is how cohesive they are. There’s a drummer, an accordion player, a mandolinist, a sometimes-acoustic guitar player/ sometimes-tin whistle player, a bassist, the aforementioned lead singer, and an electric guitarist. They could be forgiven if, at times, they sounded occasionally like they were all playing something different. Yet they never did. Every song they played sounded completely in sync. It was always together in perfect punk harmony.

In addition to being yummy, yummy junk food for the ears (and I’m not sure “junk food” is even the right word, because really, how can it be “junk food” if it makes you get up & dance? LOL), The Mighty Regis is utter unbridled joy to watch. They don’t just sound great, they have fun doing it. They jump around on stage. They dance around. They lose themselves in their instruments (or in their vocals, if they’re Mike or Ryan – Ryan is the guitarist/tin whistleist and also, sometimes, lead vocalist as well). Ben sometimes also gets down on one knee while he plays, which I totally dug. (I told him this after the show, and he told me he prides himself on making a complete fool of himself on stage. I don’t know if I properly articulated to him how much I genuinely adore and love musicians who are willing to do this. BUT I DO.)

During the first set, I think I and one other person, on the other side of the stage, were the only people dancing (which would explain their tweet during the first intermission, “Nic_Leigh and Carlos are keeping us afloat all by themselves.”) But during the second intermission, there was a small but dedicated group of people in front of the stage, right in the middle, who were loud, rowdy, and fun. I was glad to see more people involved. It no longer made me feel like it was solely up to me to make TMR feel appreciated, lol. (To be fair, I know Joanie tried her best to get up and get moving during the second act, as well. And I appreciated that, too. As did TMR. )

A brief interjection, here. Ben blogs about his shows. I’ve been reading his blogs pretty religiously, and I’ve done so since TMR did the Warped Tour last summer. I’ve celebrated their successes and grieved over their – well, “failures” sounds so harsh, I’ll say “disappointments” instead. But there was something that hadn’t occurred to me about attending a show for a blogging musician right up until the point where I was actually at that show. I realized, about halfway through the show, that I desperately did NOT want to be part of a show that Ben blogged about as being a disappointment. I wanted Ben to blog about this show and call it something special. And I felt like, anything I could do to help make that happen, I was going to do it.

Now granted, it wasn’t hard for me to do that. I really, really enjoyed this show. The Mighty Regis’ sound and the show they put on were so entertaining that I couldn’t help throwing myself into it. But anytime I felt my energy start to lag even the slightest bit, I just looked at Ben and thought, “This show is going to be a good one. FOR HIM.” And that was all that was necessary.

It was about half past midnight by the time the show was over. I lost count of how many songs, but I think TMR played for a total of about 2 hours. To say my face had been well and truly rocked off is definitely an understatement… so, Joey, mission accomplished.

I wanted one last chance at a decent photo with Ben, so Joanie came with me to approach Ben, and he graciously agreed. He suggested the stage. We hopped up on the stage, and Joanie took two photos while we stood on stage. I wasn’t sure about the whole perspective difference, so I suggested we sit on the edge of the stage instead. All 3 photos actually turned out pretty well.

After our photos Ben kept hugging me and thanking me for coming and for pouring so much energy into showing my appreciation of the band’s performance. As I mentioned earlier, I told him how much I enjoyed watching them as well as listening to them, as well as how impressed I was by the band’s cohesiveness. I also told him that I wouldn’t have been so enthusiastic if they hadn’t been so awesome. While I was talking with Ben, I was also approached by Gavin McLoud, the mandolinist, who actually came to – really, I’m being serious, here – compliment me on my dancing.

I’m going to let that sink in here.

Because I have never, ever, ever been complimented on my dancing. In my entire life. I may have been thanked for dancing during a set by musicians who appreciated my enthusiasm… but I have never actually been told, “hey, you know, you showed real thought and intelligence and heart in the way you danced. You showed that you got it. So thank you for that. So very, very much. THANK YOU.” But that is, more or less, exactly what Gavin said to me.

That seriously blew me away.

I told him, in turn, that I have to respond to something really great in order to dance like that. Which led to a pretty hilarious conversation which started by Ben saying to Gavin, “We entertained the s*** out of her.” The conversation kind of went down the drain (or down the toilet, you could say) when Gavin proceeded to take this literally. It was so funny I honestly nearly got a stomachache from laughing so hard.

Joanie got into the conversation and told Gavin how much she had enjoyed their show, and Gavin complimented her on how she had gotten into it as well, and they proceeded to have an equally hilarious conversation about wheelchairs and dancing and… well, I think we were all pretty punchy by this point, let’s just leave it at that. LOL

Finally Ben was like “okay, I think they’re trying to leave now, we really ought to let them leave!” Ben had no way of knowing that I honestly could’ve stayed there all night. I was really only leaving because I knew Joanie wanted to leave and get home at a quasi-reasonable hour. Joanie said to me, “They’ll be back, and so will we.”

Of course, she was absolutely right.

Ben promised before we left that one way or another, The Mighty Regis would return to Ohio. He even said, “Next time we’ll try to be a little closer to you, so you don’t have to drive so far.” I told him, “Ben… you guys show up somewhere within the Ohio border, and I will be there.”

I never would have thought that my first live show of 2011 would be that of a Celtic punk rock band. But I am absolutely thrilled to have TMR as my maiden voyage of the new year.

The Mighty Regis website: http://themightyregis.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?profile=1&id=10768509135

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/themightyregis

Twitter: http://twitter.com/themightyregis

Download The Mighty Regis’ music on iTunes: http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vaXR1bmVzLmFwcGxlLmNvbS9XZWJPYmplY3RzL01aU3RvcmUud29hL3dhL3ZpZXdBcnRpc3Q/aWQ9MjgxMTg2MDQx

This story really begins many, *many* months ago, in April or May of this year, after I purchased a set of 4 tickets to Selena Gomez & the Scene’s concert. This particular show was such a perfect investment, I didn’t think twice about a) plunking down cash for Selena Gomez’s fan club, in order to be offered first crack at tickets through a preasale, or b) purchasing 4 not-exactly-cheap tickets for the second row. My older daughter Kiersten *loved* Selena Gomez. She loved her Disney TV show, Wizards of Waverly Place, and she loved her music. To only a slightly lesser extent, this love was shared by my younger daughter, Elena. (They are ages 10 and 4, respectively.) Heck, even my husband Eric and I enjoyed Wizards.

Of course, for me there was the added bonus of Selena’s bassist, Joey Clement. I trust that everyone reading this recap knows how I feel about him, so: moving on.

Once the tickets were purchased, and Kiersten and Elena were notified of the show’s existence and of where they would be sitting (commence very noisy, very excited screaming), Kiersten began to daydream aloud of meeting Selena. After a year and a half of concert attendance and noticing the level of security around various music stars, I was well aware of how difficult this might be.

On the other hand, through the magic of Twitter and Selena’s message board, I had discovered that many people who didn’t have such things as formal meet and greet passes had been able to meet Selena. What I had never quite figured out, though, was HOW this had happened. Were they in the right place at the right time, and if so, where were these magical places and times? I knew they had also met band members as well.

This provided a segue of sorts for me. I kind of, well, knew Selena’s bassist. I thought, “okay, let’s just ask him where these magical places and times might possibly be.” I had, of course, NO desire to ask him outright for the personal favor of meet & greet passes; that seemed far too presumptuous to me. So I sent him a message asking just that – where I might position myself and my daughters to have the best chance to meet Selena – and specifying and emphasizing that I was *not* asking for backstage/meet & greet passes.

Joey wrote back and told me, quite succinctly, that he thought it would be “no big deal” to get us on the list for meet & greet passes. The exact thing I HAD NOT asked for, he was offering. I nearly passed out from joy.

You might remember what happened next; the show originally scheduled for July 29 was rescheduled for November 6 when Selena became sick, her vocal chords inflamed, and her voice threatened if she didn’t go on immediate vocal rest. I was devastated, my daughters were devastated. It was a rough time.

But there was nothing else to do but wait. At least we were *able* to wait; 3 other shows had been canceled outright. My heart broke for the little girls who were told they couldn’t see Selena at all.

So wait we did, for what seemed to me like centuries. My daughters, of course, in time forgot there was a concert coming as they went about their day-to-day lives. Their mother suffered the curse of loving this bassist so intensely that she could feel how badly she missed him, and how desperately she wanted that concert to be here ASAP, every single day.

Slightly less than a week before our rescheduled date, I decided to take the plunge and write to Joey again, asking if there was any chance he would still be able to get us those prized M & G passes. I fully expected to hear back from him immediately (he’s usually very good at responding to my messages that make a request), whether aye or nay. Unnervingly, I didn’t hear back from him for the next 5 days.

But when I did hear back from him… the night before the show… the response was, simply, “I got you the meet and greet passes.”

I nearly dropped dead from the shock. At this point I had convinced myself that after this much time, the answer, if I was going to get one, was sure to be no. It shouldn’t surprise me that I’d gotten what I’d hoped for only after all hope seemed lost, lol.

Joey told me the meet & greet was scheduled for 4:15 p.m., and that the passes should be available at Will Call. So a little after 3:45, I arrived at the venue with Kiersten and Elena in tow, eager and excited (and maybe just a little nauseated) at the thought of attending the meet & greet. At the venue, we could hear the sounds of Selena & the Scene’s soundcheck, which of course excited the girlios tremendously.

Unfortunately, we hit a snafu. I went to the Will Call window and requested our passes. The extremely skeptical-looking woman at the window asked me how I had procured said passes. I explained – tentatively, for it really did seem impossible even to me – that, well, actually, they were given to me by Joey Clement.

Her response: “Joey Clement?”

OMG I wanted to reach through the window and slap her. HOW COULD SHE NOT KNOW WHO JOEY CLEMENT WAS??? He was Selena’s very own bassist, for crying out loud!!

I tried to control myself and say, calmly, “Selena’s bass player.”

“I see,” was her response. “May I see some photo ID?”

I whipped out my wallet and handed her my driver’s license, confident that soon I would be getting the passes and we would be on our way. Instead, she returned after checking her list and said, “This name is not on our list.”

Wha? No, that was impossible. No way would Joey tell me we had passes when we didn’t. I asked her if maybe they were under *his* name? Nope. I was struck dumb and horrified as the realization began to dawn that I had promised my dear daughters a meeting with Selena Gomez and just might not be able to deliver.

I stood there for a moment, my brain reeling. I finally said “okay, just a minute,” and did the only thing I knew to do: DM Joey and ask him if, maybe, there was another name the passes were under? Unfortunately, the sounds shaking the venue told me that Joey was a tad busy at the moment and very well might not get my message.

In desperation I asked a nearby venue staff if there was any way Joey could be contacted. Again, the staff had no idea who Joey was. (Talk about wanting to bang your head against a wall…) I asked the woman at the Will Call window the same. Both of them said nope, unless Joey contacts YOU, there’s nothing *we* can do. And of course there wasn’t any additional way for me to contact him. It’s not like I had the man’s cell phone number.

The girlios were getting hungry, and there were some concession booths just outside the venue entrance. 4:15 had come and gone, and it was increasingly looking like this just wasn’t going to work out. So I went to get them a slice of pizza each. I had bought them fries earlier, of which I had had many, so I really wasn’t that hungry.

They ate their pizza while I apologized for what had happened. I felt terrible, Kiersten in particular looked *so* disappointed. My girlios are nothing if not resilient, though, and after I reminded them that the venue doors would open at 5:30 (it was nearing 5 by now), and we would at least get to go inside the venue soon and get warm (it was SO COLD outside), and sit in our SECOND ROW SEATS, they began to cheer up a bit.

Then Kiersten announced she needed to use the restroom. No problem, I knew of a nearby building where restrooms were available. Alarmingly, Elena – my very newly potty-trained child – alerted me that she was about to need the restroom AT ANY SECOND.

I may have panicked, lol. I grabbed Elena’s hand, urged Kiersten to come with, and we RAN to that building with the promised facilities. I even carried Elena part of the way (until my out-of-shape bod and her increasing weight made this no longer possible, lol). We made it to the restroom, thank God, in time and without accident or incident.

While I was helping Elena, my phone buzzed. It was Joey, responding to my DM at last. And he was PISSED. In all honesty, in addition to being flattered that he was so angry on my behalf, I also found his anger rather hot. Lol Anyway, he was obviously upset that my name wasn’t on the list, and he apologized and told me he was “trying to sort it.”

I urged the girls to finish up quickly, which they did, and we returned to the venue as quickly as we could. I returned Joey’s DM, telling him to let me know what I needed to do.

As we approached the venue front doors, where there was quite a line of people waiting to be allowed inside already, I was able to see Joey peering through the glass, obviously looking for me. I encouraged the girls to follow me, quickly, and we raced to the door.

Joey opened the front doors for me (I wondered what the folks in line thought of our being allowed in already – I was now fairly certain no one would know who he was, lol), and after the three of us went inside, Joey held up a roll of pink paper wristbands and said, “Your backstage passes.”

“Thank you, sir!” I said jokingly, and after all three of us had received our wristbands, Joey grabbed me and gave me a big hug. Sigh. He introduced himself to Kiersten and Elena, so sweetly, and he asked them for their names. Oh yeah. The musical love of my life was *wonderful* with my girls.

He told us to follow a security guard, who would lead us to the M & G line. He said it was nearly over, so we needed to go quickly. He also assured me he would catch up with us in a bit.

We followed the guard to the M & G line, which indeed had dwindled down to nearly nothing. Upon our arrival, another guard ran down the rules: No autographs. No giving Selena gifts or, in fact, anything. All our personal belongings were to remain on our own person at all times. I was to give the security guard my camera, and he would take the photo with Selena.

Now to you or I, these rules might seem LAME with a capital L. To my Selena-loving girls, however, the mere opportunity to hug their idol and get their photos taken with her was heavenly.

Joey caught up with us right about the time that it was the girls’ turn to get their photos taken. Kiersten eagerly hopped over to Selena and hugged her; Elena lagged a little, but Selena (OH this was cute) sweetly gestured Elena to come join them. Elena then trudged shyly over. Once Elena had joined Selena. I began laughing because I had only just noticed that Elena’s hair had several leaves buried in it. I told Joey about it, and when Elena turned, he saw them too, and he laughed. (I explained that one of the ways the girlios had passed the time was to play Ring Around the Rosies. ) The guard took 2 photos when he decided that Elena’s face wasn’t quite optimal in photo #1, lol. Photo #2 turned out better, and he handed the camera over to me. We got to look at the photo while the girls squealed with glee.

The M & G ended shortly after that, and boy, I’ve never seen an area cleared so fast. Selena was whisked away (NO idea where she disappeared to, honestly, lol), the backdrop was folded up and put away, and you’d never even guess afterward that anything unusual had just taken place. Once the girls were no longer occupied with Selena, they began running around in circles in the large, open space that would soon hold more chairs for the concert.

I was left, pretty much, alone with Joey. Not knowing how much time I would have with him, I immediately said to him, “I have a gift for you.”

“Oh, really?” he said quizzically. Just then, though, we were interrupted by another group of 3 people to whom Joey had also supplied passes. Joey wandered off a little to talk to them and get photos with them, and I used his absence as my opportunity to dig my gift for him out of my purse.

For those of you who don’t know, Joey’s birthday was in May. I had hoped to offer the gift I made for him at the show in July (when it would’ve been only 2 months late), but of course I wound up having to wait another 4 months. When he returned, I said, “Now, I’m not really sure what to call this now, since your birthday was a *long* time ago…”

“Indeed, it was,” he said, nodding.

“But, since I couldn’t really get it to you then… here we are.” I gave him the plastic baggie that held his gift.

“What is this madness?” he asked. He opened the baggie and pulled out the fingerless gloves I had knit for him (and carefully embroidered on the knuckles: JOEY CC plus a bass clef). “Oh, no,” he said, pulling them out.

And then he said, “Wow.”

And then he said, “WOW. These are actually *really* badass!”

It became rapidly apparent that he LOVED this gift, and I was over the moon with joy. He put them on immediately, and he joked about how hardcore these gloves totally made him look, what with the “knuckle tattoos,” and he even did some posing that I can’t even describe to you, lol. He told me how much he could use the gloves, and he made mention of how he could even play bass in them. I told him that one, the moment I found the pattern I knew it would be perfect for him, and two, that I had seen either photos or video (and possibly both) where he was playing outdoors in the cold, and I had thought, “that boy needs fingerless gloves.” Thus, my decision to knit them.

He agreed that yes, these were exactly what he needed, and they were wonderful. He gave me lots and lots of hugs and kept thanking me for them. <3

This began what I can really only describe as an out-of-body experience, because I cannot possibly explain how I was able to remain upright, in my right mind, and from becoming a trembling, incoherent wreck. Because Joey and I continued to talk for the next half hour… about just about anything.

Any “agenda” I might have had (specific questions, things people had asked me to tell him) flew right out of my mind. 100% of my attention was focused on Joey and the amazingly natural, free-flowing conversation we had. I couldn’t even tell you 75% of what we talked about. It wasn’t like talking to someone I idolized. It was like talking to someone I had known for years. There wasn’t a single awkward pause or a moment when I panicked and thought “oh crap, what do we talk about now??”

What also didn’t happen was any indication that Joey wanted to get away. Oh, no. It seemed pretty clear to me that this was where he wanted to be, and this was what he exactly what he wanted to be doing. In fact, it almost appeared to me that he had two purposes in securing those M & G passes for me. One was to allow my girlios the chance to meet Selena; the other was to talk to me.

I still find this rather overwhelming, and I’m sure I won’t be able to wrap my brain around it for at least a month.

I can tell you two specific things we did talk about. One, he told me that he had played tennis with Andy and David before the latter had gone to Florida. I asked him if he knew David had gone to a celebrity tennis tournament, and he said he hadn’t known that, but he *had* seen the photo David had tweeted of him with Martina. We both kind of geeked out over that (turns out Joey LOVES tennis, like I do), and then he said, “In fact… I tried to tweet something in response to that photo. You know I don’t tweet David very often, so when I do I try to make it *really* good.”

I didn’t have to beg him to tell me what he had tried to tweet. He said, “I tried to tweet, @thedavidcook: Three confirmed lesbians.”

I cracked up. It was so Joey, it was so the kind of joke those guys would make.

Joey said that Twitter was down when he tried to get that tweet through (naturally…) and that by the time he was able to pull Twitter back up again, the joke was too stale to tweet.

Then I kind of whispered, “Joey… I didn’t know Gigi was a lesbian.”

He said, “Well… I’m not sure, is she?”

I said, “I don’t know… I didn’t think she was, though.”

He thought about it for a moment, and then said, “Wait… Conchita Martinez!”

I giggled and said “Yes, Conchita Martinez is definitely a lesbian.”

“Oh yeah, okay,” he said.

Then I leaned in and said, “I’m thinking maybe it was a good thing Twitter went down.”

Joey laughed. “Yeah… that probably could’ve caused a firestorm, right?”

I said, “In this fandom? Uh, YEAH!”

So yeah. LOL

The other thing was… well, we got on the topic of hair. Specifically, his. Lol He told me that his brown hair was not really by design. He’d meant to have the tips dyed to match his natural color growing out, but they didn’t turn out quite right, and as a result “my hair looks brown.” I told him it looked really good, though. And then… I got the courage to ask him something I’ve wanted, well, basically forever.

I said, “Joey… um… could I touch your hair?”

“Oh yeah, of course!” he said.

So I did. I didn’t run my fingers through it or anything, I just kind of stroked it. I was surprised at how soft it was, and told him so. He said, “Redken conditioners!” LOL  (I am SO getting that for the next time I need to super-process my hair. LOL)

After that half-hour of one of the most amazing conversations ever, Joey then told me he needed to get ready for the acoustic set. Actually, I think that was one of the first things Joey told me, was that as a special treat to make up for the fact that the show had been postponed, they were doing a short acoustic set right at the beginning of the show. So he told me he had to go prepare, and then I realized I hadn’t gotten a photo with him yet. I said, “Wait, before you go, could I get a photo with you?”

“Sure!” he said.

Then I panicked. Because all this time, we were more or less alone in the concert hall (aside from various venue staff and security milling about), and there wasn’t really anyone *right there* to take a photo. I was like, “Ack! There’s no one here to take a photo!”

Joey said, “That’s okay, I’ll take it. I have quite a reach.”

“You do have long arms, don’t you,” I said.

“Yes, I do.”

So Joey took my camera and took a photo.

Joey and me. Aka "Joey and the stoned girl."

I saw my expression and was like, UH, NO. I said “Oh, no, I look ridiculous! Could you take another one?”

He did, of course.

This one is actually my favorite, but I said, “It’s kind of off to the side,” and he said, “Yeah, it is. Not good.” So he took a third photo.

Yeah, yeah, I'm clinging to him for dear life. Got a problem with that?

Finally we had the “perfect” photo (though I like the second one better, lol). Joey gave me another hug. I said, “Could I get a photo of you with the girls, now?”

“Oh yeah, definitely,” he said. One of the cutest things ever was Joey helping me round up the girls (they had gone to their seats and were getting all wound up over how close they would be). Elena, especially, he did a lovely job of coaxing over for a photo.

And then this happened.

Please don't hold me responsible for any exploding organs resulting from the viewing of this photo.

Sigh. Just… sigh.

I thanked Joey. He thanked me, again, for the gloves. I said, “Joey, I don’t know how I can possibly repay you for this.”

He said, “You’re here. You came to the show. That’s payment enough.”

GAH.

I passed him one last time before he departed for good, and he couldn’t seem to pass me without giving me another hug. Sigh. Again.

After he left, the girls and I went to our seats. Then I called Eric to tell him about the acoustic set so we could make sure he was there right by 7. He, fortunately, was already on his way, and he arrived maybe 20 or 30 minutes later.

While we waited, I had two very pleasant surprises. First, Dane Forrest (Selena’s keyboardist) came out to us, approached me, and said, “You’re Nicole, right?” I said yes and said “Hi, Dane!” enthusiastically. We hugged, and he told me that Joey had told him I was here, and he said something about my tweeting him more often than anyone (awww, I didn’t even realize that!), and so he wanted to come say hi. I introduced him to the girls, and they were clearly impressed that I knew yet *another* band member, haha! We chatted a bit, and then he gave me another hug and left.

Then, a little while later: out came Greg Garman, Selena’s drummer and Joey’s roommate. He spotted me and said, “Nicole?” I said, “Hi Greg!” We hugged, I introduced him to the girls, and he, again, told me that Joey had told him I was here, and that he had decided to come out and see me and take a walk around and meet people. We chatted for a short time, and then off he went.

Eric then arrived. It was about 6:30 by now, so we had a fairly brief wait until the acoustic set.

LOVED the acoustic set, of course. I was so excited to see Joey playing acoustic guitar (and acoustic bass, for that matter) live for the first time. I knew this was something he really enjoyed, and he was so into it, it was just breathtaking. Selena’s voice actually seems to shine most during acoustic songs, so she sounded really good. They performed Off the Chain, a Cheryl Cole cover called Parachute, and Ghost of You. All beautifully done.  Oh, and when they were finished, Joey came right to the edge of the stage, looked right at me, and tossed me a pick. It fell a little short of its mark, and the two kids in front of me scrambled for it… but good ol’ Kiersten, she came up with it. I told her she could have it. I, after all, already have JC Pick #1.

About 15 minutes later, on came Days Difference, who as you might know also opened for Ryan when I saw him in Dayton. My opinion on them really hasn’t changed, though I did appreciate their music a little more. They clearly have talent, their songs are quite catchy, and the young girls in the audience LOVED them.

Then, another 20 minutes or so later, Selena and the Scene returned to the stage. They were slightly late (which is why I tweeted Joey at 8:17 teasing him about being late, lol). I have to say that live, Selena Gomez & the Scene are absolutely incredible. I’m not going to compare them to any of the other acts I’ve seen live, because that’s not fair. They’re a different kind of band. But they rock, hard, they pull the audience in, they have fun and they show their audience a really good time. Thanks to all the SGTS live videos I’ve seen over the past year, I knew nearly every song by heart (surprising both Eric and myself, lol), and I danced and sang to every song.

I have *never* heard Selena sound better than she did last night, either, aside from maybe her full acoustic show to benefit Unicef. Her voice was very strong, she was completely in tune, and she has really improved her stage presence over the past year. She has developed into a strong and confident frontwoman, which was fun to see.

I was really pretty much right in front of Joey, and I could tell he played to my family & me as much as he could. I really loved being so close to him for the first time in a show. I was able to watch his hands more and see exactly what he was doing on his bass, which was a real treat.

SGTS performed a LOT of songs, which surprised both Eric and me. They performed Round and Round, Kiss & Tell, Crush, More, A Year Without Rain, Falling Down, Rock God, Intuition, Off the Chain (I thought it was pretty cool that they performed this both acoustically and electrically), and Tell Me Something I Don’t Know, plus covers of Mama Do (from a British artist named Pixie Lott), Love Is a Battlefield, and In My Head. That’s not even counting the encore, which started with Naturally and ended with a cover of Magic (which is part of the Wizards of Waverly Place movie soundtrack).

Naturally is my favorite SGTS song, and they rocked it as always. Joey was *really* on fire for this one, and at the end, where he normally jumps right on the last downbeat, he came right out to the edge of the stage for the jump. I KNEW that was for me. : )

Then came the last song of the night, Magic. And then came one of the highlights of the night for me, when I saw *something* on Joey’s right hand… and I realized it was a glove. My glove, one of the pair I had given him. My heart melted, and I thought, “Oh, JOEY.”

Meanwhile, Eric noticed the glove not long after I did. He started laughing… and then he got smart. He put two and two together. “That glove… did you knit that for him?!”

In a very small voice I said, “Yes…”

Eric kind of lost it then. Even moreso than I did, lol. I found it tremendously funny that his reaction to Joey getting us M & G passes was “oh how nice of him,” whereas his reaction to Joey wearing a glove onstage that I had made for him was astonishment and bewilderment at this “connection” between Joey and me. (His word… NOT mine! Lol) I wouldn’t say Eric was jealous, exactly. I think he was just honestly and truly shocked.

I can’t say I blame him.

He took several close-up shots of The Glove. This was the best one.

After the show, Joey stepped out to the edge of the stage once more and tossed a handful of picks out, then departed. Unfortunately, all the picks wound up landing between the stage and the barrier that kept us all *away* from the stage. My clever hubby went to the stage and asked a stage hand for one of the picks. His reward was a pretty white pick. (The other pick, the one Kiersten had nabbed, had been orange.) We gave Elena this white pick.

So now all the ladies of this house have their very own Joey picks. : )

I met up with Lisa (@Rockfan22) after the show. It was too bad we didn’t get to spend much time together (as usual, right, Lisa? : ( ), but it was nice to catch up with her for a little while and chat about the show, about Joey, et cetera. Especially since she was the only person in the entire arena outside my own family that I actually knew.

Aside from Joey, of course.

After we left the show, I was *really* glad that Eric and I had taken separate cars here, because I really needed a moment. Parking lot “traffic” was packed, and I was kind of glad to have a moment of solitude and quiet (Kiersten was in her dad’s car, Elena was in mine, but Elena was actually kind of tired and seemed happy to sit quietly and listen to SGTS’ Year Without Rain CD). I took the time to reflect on the evening, on everything that had happened.

I reflected on how my favorite musician had taken the time to get M & G passes for my family and me…

… on how he came in, guns blazing (metaphorically speaking, of course), when Will Call stubbornly insisted our names weren’t on the M&G list…

… on how Joey had interacted so adorably with my daughters, and had taken the time to do nothing but talk with me for a half hour…

…on how much he loved the gift I made for him…

… on how he had told two of his bandmates enough about me that they decided to come out and say hello to me themselves…

… on how he had tossed a pick directly to me at the end of the acoustic set, put on his best showman self for us during the electric set, and worn the glove I made for him at the end of the electric set.

And it hit me. After 2 years of loving and supporting this musician, this man, and fighting my own insecurities about how and why this incredible person could treat me the way he has treated me… it finally hit me, after tonight, that Joey Clement truly cares about me.

I have no idea how I will ever wrap my mind around this. It’s inconceivable. All I know that I am one of the most fortunate women that has ever lived.

This would be a slightly different situation than usual for a show. Eric, my husband, was coming with me, but he had parent-teacher conferences until 6:30 p.m. The show started at 8, with doors opening at 7, and the drive to Dayton would be just shy of 2 ½ hours. I worried at first that we wouldn’t make it in time to see Ryan. I asked around about the opening acts, and discovered that there was a good chance Ryan wouldn’t even come on until about 10 p.m. This would give us plenty of time. The only thing was, I figured this would doom me to standing in the back of the room. I’ve been spoiled to seeing Ryan REALLY close. I told myself it didn’t matter that much, that a Ryan Star show was a Ryan Star show regardless.

When we arrived, the first person I saw was Natalie, aka @Nitnat20. She had texted me earlier to tell me that I didn’t need to worry about being squashed against the back wall, because there were only 50 to 75 people there. She also told me not to worry about the timing, because at 8:21 or so, no one had performed yet. Eric and I arrived shortly before 9 pm and discovered we had missed only the very first act, Hope. I heard she was really good and was sorry we had missed her. I hugged Natalie after making some small talk, and Natalie departed for the stage area.

While I talked to Natalie, I recognized a hooded figure with curls peeking out from underneath, and I said to Natalie, “Is that… Artie at the merch table?” “Yep, that’s him!” she’d said. After she left I was looking around to see where he had gone, but it looked to me like he’d left already. Then I saw Dallin and Dan walk by, and I said hi to Dallin (Dan was walking too fast, lol). Her eyes lit up, and she said “Hey! Great to see you! Thanks for coming!” She gave me a huge hug, and then she hugged Eric and told us how glad she was that we could make it. It made me feel very warm and welcomed. Can’t help finding it awesome that after only 3 shows in which I actually met and talked to her, Dallin knew exactly who Eric and I were. Even through 3 different colors of hair.

I was about to head for the stage area myself, but Eric and I walked by the bar, and I again spotted that lanky dude with the curly hair. “Oh, *there’s* Artie!” I said delightedly to Eric. We went up to him, and I said, “Hi Artie!” Very much like Dallin, his face lit up, he said “Hey there!” enthusiastically, and he high-fived me. Then he hugged me. I began trembling a little. Eric suggested to Artie that he hadn’t shaved since NYC, and Artie insisted he had, lol. I mentioned he *had* gotten a haircut, and Artie acknowledged it. He mentioned “I even washed my hair the other day.” I said, “And how long had it been before then?” He grinned and said, “A long time.” (For those of you who don’t know, Artie believes in washing his hair as seldom as possible. He says this is the secret to his gorgeous hair. It does always look great, so I can’t say he’s wrong!)

He told me he had just received some Thai food (it looked and smelled REALLY good, I got a peek when he had the Styrofoam case open), and he was seeking something to eat it with. “I’ll take a spoon,” he told the bartender, making me giggle. Finally he had something to eat his Thai with, and off he went. Leaving me on cloud 9 for the opportunity to talk to him, let alone be hugged by him. : )

We went to the stage area, where a very small handful of people were congregated. Emily (@carrottop999) was the first one to see me, and she waved wildly to let me know where she was. Then she dragged me in and hugged me. Her hair? GORGEOUS. I love what she had done with it. : ) I also got to finally meet Stacy (@redefiningme), which was awesome. I found Kristen (@Kristen8108), who told me that Tracy (@Tracy143DC) had moved away to give some young Days Difference fans a chance to be front-row for their favorite guys. I also saw Rachel (@Raefabulous) with Natalie and got to give her a big hug.

Emily and Stacy warned me that I might “fall for another bassist” when I saw Days Difference. I’m not sure now if they were joking or not… but I definitely came nowhere near falling for the baby bassist, lol. He was cute, sure, but he was completely over the top, for me for you, even for a bassist, lol. He was good, don’t get me wrong, but I found all the antics to be a bit much for me.

Overall they’re a decent pop-rock band. Not the best I’ve heard, but they were fun to watch, especially thanks to Mr. Bassist, lol.

Then came Ryan & the band. It’s hard to describe this show because I’ve been to so many already, and most of you who read these recaps know all the songs. I will try to recall the setlist: Brand New Day, Right Now, 11:59, Sink or Swim, Last Train Home, Breathe, Waiting for Love, Psycho Suicidal Girl, Start a Fire, Back of Your Car, and (sigh, my favorite) Losing Your Memory. These are NOT in order, although I know Brand New Day, Right Now, and 11:59 opened the show, and Back of Your Car and Losing Your Memory closed it.

A few notes: Ryan was on fire. The band was on fire. I think Ryan can’t stand barricades, because he came up against those barricades, as if desperate to reach out to his fans, more often than I can ever remember. Breathe was done with full band, and one of these days I might even be able to upload the video I took of it. I’d never seen him perform it with a full band before, it had always been acoustic. So I was thrilled. It was a different sound, obviously, but a great one. I think the full band had the effect of making the song even more dramatic and powerful, interestingly enough. Losing Your Memory – I loved that Ryan said “this might be my favorite song on the CD,” because after many many listens of 11:59, I’ve decided Losing Your Memory is *my* favorite. This was also the first time I have heard Ryan perform Losing Your Memory *without* making it a mash-up with So Ordinary. I love So Ordinary, but it was a refreshing change for him to perform it purely and in its entirety. I also loved the fact that he ended with it.

To me it was a shorter set than usual, but then again, no R* set is really ever enough for me. ; )

So: the show (brilliant, passionate, powerful, amazing) was over. I needed a bathroom break, and what was hilarious was that Artie, Dan, and Eli were all standing in my path when I headed for the restroom. I said, “Excuse me, rockstars!” in order to let them know I needed to pass through. Darling Artie, he looked at me and held out his hand for a high-five. (This was a trend that night– every time Artie saw me, he held out his hand for a high-five. Sigh. I love Artie. : ) )

Afterwards I hugged my friends and chatted with them, and I found the line for Ryan. DANG. It was long. I had *never* seen such a long line of people waiting to chat with Ryan before! This excludes the meet & greet in NYC, and of course it excludes the after-show line because I wasn’t in that one, lol. But anyway… I saw Artie and Dan hanging out with a few people right next to the line. Being a die-hard Artie lover, I wanted to talk to him again. Plus I had taken a really awesome photo that I wanted him to see. So when he was done talking to those folks, I got his attention and said, “Artie… check out this photo I took of you.”

http://twitpic.com/3435vq

Artie LOVED it. He was so excited, it was so cute. He said, “You’re going to post this online, right?” I said yes, of course. He called it his “Jimi Hendrix pic” and said it was so cool because it looked like he was actually playing his bass behind his back, when all he was probably doing was just finishing some sort of upward swing, lol. We had a nice laugh about that. Then I showed him the pick pendant. For those of you who need a refresher:

http://twitpic.com/2dgn2l

In NYC Artie signed a pick given to me by Jenny (@JennyH1012) and told me he would like me to wear it on Tuesdays and Thursdays. That was a joke, of course, but I actually *have* been wearing it those days! Also, yesterday was of course Thursday, so we had a nice laugh about that. Artie said something about how the pick was “where it belonged” and I joked that he was trying to take it back, and I said something like “oh no, this is mine forever now!” It was cute.

Eric teased the guys about the fact that poor Dallin was all by herself on stage taking care of the equipment, and after Artie joked about Dallin’s amazing strength (hee!) he and Dan said they really should go up there and help her out. I said, “Could I get a picture with you guys first?” Artie immediately said “Of course!” and I said “oh good, I was afraid I’d have to give you puppy eyes.” I got between Artie and Dan, and Eric took a photo.

Unfortunately, Artie made me laugh by making this incredibly silly hand gesture toward me, like “Tada! This woman is AWESOME!”

http://twitpic.com/343b0r

Yeah. I laughed, hard. Eric had the misfortune of snapping right about here. Immediately I was like “no, no, I was laughing, I look ridiculous, we have to try again!!” We tried again, and Artie made another funny hand motion, and I was gritting my teeth HARD to keep from laughing. It was slightly better.

Artie then took the camera and said, “Hey, let’s do a MySpace photo!” So he took a picture. Scratch that – he took 3 pictures. Because the camera had a mind of its own the first two times. He had me in stitches complaining that the camera “hated him.” OMG I love Artie. Seriously.

FINALLY he got a good photo. Actually, an amazing photo. This is my favorite.

I love this photo. Artie and Dan look SO adorable, and my hair is glowing so brightly. Awesome.

So then Artie held up both hands. I had NO idea what he was trying to do. I thought he was trying to high-five me, but as you *might* notice in these photos? Artie is basically twice my height. I couldn’t REACH his hands when he held them up that way. So I kind of tried to double-high-five him back, but I couldn’t reach his hands. After several awkward attempts by me, Artie just dropped his arms and wrapped them around me in a big bear hug. Sigh. Bliss.

I hugged Dan too and told him how great it was to see him again. I do love these boys, both of them, even if Artie is My Boy. : )

Then… I hopped in The Dreaded Line. It wasn’t all bad. Eli happened to make his way down the line, and he came to me and hugged me. I told him he was awesome, as they all were, and then he gazed at me with this adorable smile and said, “You. Are the S***.” I don’t really know why he said this, but I was touched all the same. I gave him a smile and waved to him as he went on his way.

Unfortunately, after that I had NOTHING. Okay, not “nothing.” Emily did come by to give me a laugh by asking if I wanted to sign up for Ryan’s e-mail list. (ROTFL… yeah I’ve only been on his e-mail list for a freaking year and a half… ;D) So that was awesome. Natalie came by and chatted about the show, her friends who’d come with her, and her upcoming day of subbing the following day. That was nice, I’ve never gotten to talk to Natalie much before, at least not in real life. : )

But aside from that, I basically did nothing but wait, and wait, and wait, for a good half-hour. It was excruciating. I felt a little guilty for being annoyed by the line, because it was a sign of a successful show AND Ryan’s personal success. I could never begrudge him that. But still. I was rapidly losing steam, and my feet were hurting. Whine, whine, whine.

One last nice thing happened just before I got to Ryan: I met Serena Lingo. What happened was, she approached *me* and said, “You’re Nicole, right?” You could’ve knocked me over with a feather. I consider Serena a rockstar, truly. She’s an amazing fan of Ryan and has done so much for him. So the idea that SHE knew who *I* was just blew my mind! I said “Yes! You’re Serena, right?” And we hugged and talked about how we’d seen each other at so many shows but had never had the chance to actually meet. Serena said to ME, “I can’t believe I’m finally meeting you!” I felt the exact same way about her. It was awesome. Guys, Serena is amazing. I love her.  : )

Finally, I was at the front. I kind of thought I would just collapse into Ryan’s arms, I was SO tired at that point. But Ryan took one look at me, pulled me into his arms, pointed at me, and announced to anyone within earshot: “This is The Best Rockstar of the night.”

Yep. That woke me up!

He continued: “Every show, she’s bouncing and giving so much energy. She’s her own laser show!” Now that part made me giggle uncontrollably, because I knew that was a reference to my hair. But yeah. Ryan melted me within the first 3 seconds of my interaction with him.

It’s so hard for me to remember all the ways Ryan melted me, because he did so up, down, and sideways. He told me how much he loved my energy. He asked me how I was, and I said, “I’m TIRED! You rocked the life out of me!” He said “yeah, I know, right?” and we hugged (or maybe I just kind of fell against him, I really was exhausted, lol). I pulled out my 11:59 case and told him he was the only one in NYC who hadn’t signed it, so could he do so now? He said “of course,” and he asked if I was coming the day after Thanksgiving. I was like “oh Ryan, I’d love to but I can’t keep flying out to NYC to see you! I already did it once!” lol He then told me about the contest that he announced today, the one where he’s giving away a guitar. I said “OMG that would be amazing, my husband would LOVE that!” He said “Aw, it would be really hard for you to win, the winner is the one who brings the most friends to NYC.” I pretended to be crestfallen, and he said “oh it’s okay, you’ll win something else, you’ll get so much free stuff from me.” LOL

THEN Serena informed him that I’m part of his “army” (meaning, his Internet marketing group). Ryan was even more excited, and he gave me ANOTHER hug and told me I was amazing. He thanked me so sincerely for that. He also signed my CD case twice – once on the inside liner, with his other band members (he signed it enormously and told me he never signed so big, lol – he even pointed out the letters and everything!), and once on the outside. He wrote: “Nicole – thank you for all that you do.” Sigh.

His eyes caught my pick pendant, and he said, “Whose is that?” I grinned and said, “That is your bassist’s.” He said, “Seriously? That is f***ing awesome.” How sweet was that?

At some point I felt someone take my camera out of my hand, and I looked up and saw that it was dear Emily. : ) I happily let her take the camera for my photo with Ryan. As you can tell, I was 100% on cloud 9 at this point.

http://twitpic.com/343cci

I couldn’t help it. Ryan had been so sweet to me that I just couldn’t resist wrapping my arms around that man.

*giggles* He had his hand on my back, which as you can see is slightly bare. Right as Emily was shooting the photo, he said, “You have soft skin.” Um. Okay, Ryan… *swoon* LOL I said “Aw, thank you!” Thank God Emily did NOT capture my mouth open as I was saying “aw!”

So finally we were done, and Ryan gave me another huge hug and said, “Thank you. You’re amazing. I love you.”

GUH. I said “I love you too. Thank you.”

I gathered poor Eric, who was sitting in a chair in exhaustion and probably back pain as well, and told him I was ready to go. I drove home because he was *so* tired and had to work in the morning, but I have to tell you that the last hour of that drive was a TREMENDOUS struggle. We arrived home shortly before 3 in the morning.

I’m running out of adjectives to describe Ryan and his shows. I love the way he pours so much intensity into every single performance. I NEVER leave one of his shows feeling shortchanged, like he didn’t give his all. This was my 5^th headlining show for Ryan, and I feel immensely blessed at having the opportunities to basically rob him blind to come to these shows and be rewarded SO richly with every drop of passion, adrenaline, blood, sweat, and tears that he has to offer.

And I equally love the fact that he is such a caring, generous, and appreciative individual off the stage. Not to mention that he is surrounded by an equally caring, generous, and appreciative band. I love them all and am so glad I got the chance to interact with each one of them. Dallin, who treats me as an old friend every time I see her… Dan, dripping with sweetness and a sunny disposition… Eli, always ready with a smile and a hug… and Artie, goofy, adorable, wonderful, awesome Artie.

Every time I go to one of their shows, epicness seems to ensue. That’s why I go to every show I’m able to. I’ve never been disappointed and feel pretty confident that I never will be.

I discovered this band’s existence in November 2009, when Kevin Hastings and Joey Clement both posted messages on Twitter of the latter’s involvement in the creation of the band’s EP. Kevin posted a short video from the studio, where he and Joey were ensconced. Being Joey’s biggest fan, I was of course intrigued, and I started following Kevin to make sure I would be aware of the EP’s release.

Kevin Hastings is best known as the keyboardist for Rihanna. On that instrument, he is extraordinarily talented. What his band’s newly released EP, “Eat Words,” proves is that he is an equally talented songwriter and a fascinating singer. Kevin wrote all four songs on “Eat Words” with his brother, Jon. One of the songs also includes a cowrite by Rihanna’s guitarist Adam Ross.

It’s hard not to be aware of Rihanna or her musical genre. For this reason I was curious as to what kind of sound Kevin’s own band would have. I wasn’t expecting him to produce a pop/hip-hop/R&B record, necessarily. But I don’t think I was expecting the kind of sound that is so easily in my musical wheelhouse that I would fall instantly in love. Yet that’s exactly what happened from the moment I heard a sneak peek of the second track, “As I Am.”

“As I Am” is a hard-hitting, bass-heavy, synth-grooving anthem of defiant individualism. The message is simple – “Take me as I am, ‘cause I don’t give a damn if you don’t like me” – yet, in the hands of the Hastingses, surprisingly powerful and provocative. I love that the verses’ low-key quality is enhanced by an almost menacing synth backing track. The first time I heard this song, I felt the need to listen to it on repeat for about an hour. Something about its instrumentation struck me as absolutely hypnotic.

The opening track of the EP is entitled “Sell Out” and is equally powerful in its rocking intensity. Yet its verses are intriguing in their light, almost delicate touch. They provide an energetic contrast to the chorus, as loud and anthemic as the verses are almost a whisper. The contrast provides not only drama but urgency. The theme of the song reminds me very much of Matchbox Twenty’s “Push” – it seems to be a response to outside forces attempting to reshape an artist’s vision. As someone who has considered the role of corporate music in shaping the careers of artists they are ostensibly charged with promoting, I found this song both poignant and inspiring.

For me, the highlight of the EP is its third track, “Monday Mourning.” On the heels of the machismo of the opening two tracks, I wasn’t expecting a song as sensitive as this one. It opens plaintively with the sounds of a phone call being placed, segueing into an electronic, almost industrial sound as the song ratchets in intensity. Then it places you into a gentle wall of sound and, even more disquietingly, into painfully honest lyrics of resigned heartache. The first time I listened to this song, it brought me to tears as only the most sincerely anguished songs can do. I’m listening to it right now, in fact, and feeling a lump rise to my throat all over again. This is a song I could see as a perfect soundtrack moment to a television or film drama. It is probably the most “pop” of all the songs on the EP. To me that’s not a bad thing. It helps make “Monday Mourning” imminently listenable, and it sticks in your mind long after you’ve listened to it.

“Change Who You Are” is the EP’s closing track. Compared to the heaviness of the other three songs, it opens with a light, airy instrumentation, almost bell-like tones. Overall it is probably the softest song on the EP, although after its very gentle opening, it does have a few heavier transitions. I’m still trying to figure out the message of this song, to be honest! It’s interesting that a song like “As I Am” exists on the same record as “Change Who You Are” since on its face, the songs are directly oppositional. The first line of the chorus is “Change who you are, and become what you’re not.” This is of course vastly different from “Take me as I am.” I’m still trying to decide if this song is meant to be ironic, or if it’s more along the lines of Sister Hazel’s “Change Your Mind” – i.e., if you don’t like your life or the way you’re living, only you can change it. It’s possible that every listener will make up his or her own about the meaning of the song, and perhaps that’s even what the Hastingses had in mind.

Although both “Monday Mourning” and “Change Who You Are” have definite pop overtones, neither song, nor either of the two opening tracks, are anything close to run-of-the-mill. I absolutely love the many interesting twists taken by every song on this EP. No song starts and finishes the same way. The closest might be “As I Am,” because it has the same thumping, bass-heavy groove throughout, but the effect of this is, as I said earlier, hypnotic rather than catatonic.

I haven’t said much about Kevin Hastings’ voice. I’m still trying to decide how I would describe it. I wouldn’t call it beautiful, but I also wouldn’t call it hard on the ears. It’s distinct – low, broad, earthy. It’s a very masculine voice, though it also has a flexibility I love. In “Sell Out” and “As I Am” he shows a propensity for rock shouts, but he also shows the ability to emote in the more sensitive moments of every song. In fact, I think it’s that emotive quality that brings me to near-tears every time I listen to “Monday Mourning.” I truly believe when I listen to this song that I am hearing a man who’s ready to give up, and I think that’s what makes it so powerful.

Above all, “Eat Words” does what the best EPs do – make you eager to hear more. I really want to hear more from Vanity Machine. I’m eager to see what themes they explore next, I want to see what kind of intriguing twists they can take in their next songs, and I want to hear more of what Kevin’s vocals can do. If you’re ready for some truly fresh, new music, I highly recommend you give Vanity Machine a listen. I challenge you not to become hooked.

Kevin Hastings’ website: http://www.splinterkey.com

Kevin’s Twitter: http://twitter.com/kevmokeys

Vanity Machine’s Twitter: http://twitter.com/VanityMachine

Kevin’s Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kevmokeys

Vanity Machine’s Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vanity-Machine/163046860389536

Buy “Eat Words” on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/eat-words/id398819200