Walk = Action = Change

Who gets kicked out of a Hanson concert? Well, I didn’t know it was possible till the concert on Wednesday.

The path, the road and the journey for Hanson has been an admirable and remarkable experience for the brothers, and I’m not just saying that because I’m completely and utterly enthralled with their music. Alas, I might be a little a bit biased but their effort is undeniable.

After their world-wide sweep in 1997, progressing as artists became extremely difficult because of the record company control. So after producing their 2nd album, Hanson invested in their talent, in their ability and in blind faith started their own record company producing their 3rd album. The upward struggle rang through in every song they produced on “Underneath,” which only came to audience ears after writing over 84 songs for this record that had been shot down by the Tyrant.

Then Hanson went to South Africa and spent time with women and children suffering from HIV and became to determined to make a difference – a contribution to the fight with any and all means necessary including 99c from itunes donated. Shoes donated. Walking one mile in every city during a tour to motivate people from all over the nation to make a difference! This is an extremely passionate subject for the band, and I am continued to be in awe of my favorite band. For them it’s always been about the music. Music changing lives. Music that speaks to people. Music that makes a difference.

So, Hanson’s talking about their journey and their fight to make a difference. It’s quiet in the small venue, and someone screams out, “EFFING PLAY MMMBOP.”

Calmly Taylor replies, “Security can you please escort him out.”

Issac says, “Please get your money back.”

Sure enough this guy walks out escorted by security, and Taylor continues to discuss the prevention of small coffins being built in Africa.

C’mon kid – would you make a joke at a funeral?

Truly, it was ridiculous.

Yes, Hanson did play Mmmbop and they were fantastic! The whole concert was fantastic, and for the finale they sang a complicated three part harmony at the end perfectly!!!!!!! Oh, they are so amazing in all respects.

Check out their impressive and generous fight for such an important cause. Take The Walk

The Show.

Tonight we had a show. My poor "husband" has a sinus infection and lost his voice. So we had to cut song, and our song we struggled through! It was a tough night.

I still have not washed my face and I have not told you about the Hanson concert.

Tomorrow.

I can not find my Hanson Cd.

So the whole world has stopped, and I can feel the tears starting to flow down my face.

Yes, I tried itunes. No, it's not there.
itunes - we're fighting.

UGH. It's really hard to focus on anything else except for the fact that I can't find my cd of my favorite band's 10th year anniversary album. Inside I am secretly loathing the fact I bought this lame apple computer and had to switch over my itunes because I'm only figuring out what I lost the hard way!

I'm sitting here at 3:33 pm on a Saturday not working, not rehearsing, and just relaxing. The laundry is going, and I'm trying t figure out what I'm going to wear tonight. :) I have some big plans.

Ok my dear friend called. I'm going to talk to her.

Star Struck

I have met Hanson twice in my life, and I utterly become a complete embarrassment to human kind.

Once, I drove to Reno from Santa Rosa with a girl I had just met to go to this special concert where you could attend a press release and then get their autograph. This was an event that I thoroughly spent a month preparing. I made them each scarves, and the bag had to be perfect in which I presented the scarves. I also had to have the perfect outfit – an outfit that I was only going to wear once. Turns out I only did wear it once because it got taken when my laundry was stolen. Anyway, I spent weeks preparing for what I was going to say when I shook their hands, and I wanted to make sure that I was not going to act all star stuck and I was going to be NORMAL d –it.

Well, no, that didn’t happen. I shook their hands and I stared at them. I would start to curse myself for blinking, and then I tried to say something funny. Ok, let me rephrase, I tried to say SOMETHING. ANYHTING. I mean I could have said… Hey I love your music. I could have said anything. Nope, I just stared and answered the question, “Hi, what’s your name?” Did I say anything remotely close to I-have-loved-you-since-the-beginning-of-time-and – I-can’t-live-without-you? Nope. Not even close. I’m glad I got my name out, but now I wonder if perhaps I should have used a pseudo name because now I will forever be the girl that stare drooled.

This was a few years ago, so, I figured when the chance came again I would be a little less “star struck”

Yeah, no.

November 2007 they did this “walk” where they walked a mile before the show with people who wanted to join them. So, I decided to go thinking that I would never see them, but at least I would be apart of the event. Oh I was wrong. I didn’t even get time to PREPARE. I got to walk right next to them as if I we were walking together just us. RIGHT NEXT TO THEM.

Did I say anything?
Not even hello.

I even got pushed into Issac, the eldest, and did I say ANYTHING?
Not even hello.

He asked me if I was ok, I nodded. I nodded? Nodded?!?!?!??! I couldn’t say, “hey, yeah sure I’m cool.” No, I become a basket case.

I was SURE that this only applied to Hanson, but alas, I am mistaking! There is another person in the world that makes me act like a complete embarrassment to human kind. Why? I’m not sure, but help me get passed it because this ducking behind corners to avoid you is not working for me.

I'm done.

I’m done. I’m done. I’m done.

Yesterday, I finished the procrastinating project, and it took an entire evening to come down from that stressful few days. I still have a lot to do, but at least it feels more manageable! Kinko’s, however, you are rivaling with Target in my disdain for lack of customer support!

Part of the stressful project entailed a huge amount of scanning pictures! Sure! No problem, but my resource, I discovered too late, only scanned in black and white. Crap! I’ll buy my own scanner, no, I’ll go to Kinko’s!!!!

I left work, and started walking to a Kinko’s located about ten minutes away. On my way there, I found a closer Kinko’s. I walked in and I stood at the counter, and waited, and waited, and waited and I waited. The guy behind the counter looked at me, and he kept looking at me. Then he kept ho-humming on his computer. I then hit the little bell incessantly while saying, very loudly, “How long does a person have to stand here making eye contact with you before you step away from solitaire and help?”

Ok, so I didn’t really say that, but he came over to me, finally, and said, “Do you need some help?”

I replied, “No, you remind me of someone, and I’d like to just stand here and look at you.”

Ugh, I didn’t really say that either, but I soon learned that this particular Kinko’s did not have self service scanning. So, I had to continue on my way to the far away Kinko’s. By the way, it’s raining, and I don’t have an umbrella. So, I arrived at the far away Kinks, and I asked for the self-service scanning.

Yeah right, sista ~ it’s broken. This know-it- all rep, at least, was much more helpful then the other counter rep, and he called the even farther away location for me to make sure they had the scanners over there before I hauled my cookies all the way over there.

What fortune! They do, and Kinko’s in the financial district functions like Starbucks. Thus, there is one at almost every street corner! After 30 minutes of scanning, 12 dollars later and drenched in the rain, I finished the scanning project! Whew!

Now with that project checked off the list, I managed to put away all my laundry and work on my monologue. Thankfully, my mood has vastly improved! This is also due to the fact that I am so jamming out to the new Hanson 10 year anniversary Middle of Nowhere Acoustic CD that I got yesterday for Christmas!

Who can seriously be in a bad mood and listen to Hanson? Not ME! It is part of the reason I love them so much. Please remind me of this the next time I get like this.

Love

Pasha has his own way of saying I'm sorry, showing love and being supportive. Missing soccer to go to a Hanson concert with me - ha! that's big.

After the concert I said, "Honey did you have a good time."

"If by good time you mean torture, than yes I had a great time."

"Oh come on...it's not like I pulled all your fingernails off."

"You didn't ask me which would be worse."

Oh Pash! I saw you singing along to MMMBOP, don't worry, I'll only tell the whole world.

I have a long post about Hanson, but it's going to have to wait. I want to get all the pictures in a neat movie, and I want to spare my audience...talk about something else for a change.

Wedding Land Part 2

I got the church yesterday afternoon at 3:00pm, as planned, and I discovered that I was supposed to provide the accompaniment for the organist. Wha?!? The selected songs were given to me by the couple, and all I had was a make shift piece of paper with the melody printed out sort-of... uh oh. The organist decided that this was a perfect time to lecture me on being a soloist. I begged him to please make-do with this piece of paper that I had, and he refused. Panicked, I decided to practice the first song. The acoustics in the church made the singing better than usual, but I had the scariest seat in the house. This was my view:

It was great! Except, I was up above the alter, and I saw the entire congregation... yes, that was nerve racking. Plus, these people were friends... you want to do a good job for them.

Anyway, after we practiced the first song. He decided that I could sing the second song a cappella. Ugh! This man has played the organ for this church for almost 20 years, and has played 18 weddings in one year. You would think that his disgruntled self would muster up the creative piano-playing juice I know he has to invent a chord progression for a not so hard piece. Yeah, no. He wouldn't. Then! on top of that...the wedding planner said, "Can you play something to hide their walking?" He said, "sure." Then he proceeded to play the first verse and chorus of the song..that I was to follow singing a cappella. Jerk.

It turned out fine. I loved it and the whole event turned out to be really really beautiful. We went to the top of the Bank of America building for the reception. We saw the sun set behind the city, and it was something to write home about. I tell ya. It's nice to take a step back from all the "problems" in life, and take in the gorgeous surroundings. I do feel very blessed to live in such a beautiful place.

Then Pasha and I spent the morning with the Bride and Groom and the rest of the out of towners and wedding party this morning at a beautiful brunch. The whole weekend was truly spectacular, and I was so thrilled to be part of such an amazing wedding for two incredible people.

So, things with Pash are ok. He is going to the hanson concert with me tomorrow. This is going to be interesting. I pray pray pray that it will be ok, but if he hates it...he can always leave. Hanson is actually very good, and VERY talented. I think they are so amazing! I am very much looking forward to this spectacular evening.
I'll tell you all about it on Tuesday. I'll tell you more about Pash later. I'm feeling a little drained, and I want a nap.

And so it begins

It's November 1st. I've created a list of ideas to go back to incase I loose steam this month. I don't want to spend the entire post writing about November because it is a cop out post. I will say that I didn't post yesterday because I wanted to save up my energy, but now, I'm looking at the screen, and my mind is going like this adkfj;dakjf;jasdfl;kjalsdlkfjl;adjgoiowuerhmdnvjhiwjrn. (read: mush.)


Pash and I had very long talks the last couple of days. We're still together, but I feel like I have a lot to evaluate. I don't know if it's him, us, or me.

While I mull over my relationship, I have been gearing up for the Hanson concert on Monday! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!! I can not even express the excitement that I feel right now. I have not stopped listening to the The Walk, and I decided that I needed to brush up on the past cd's.

So, I busted out Middle of Nowhere, This Time Around, Underneath ,The Best of Hanson Live and Electric and, of course, The Walk.

I hesitated at first because the first cd was released in '97. I was 15. Um, ten years later would I still feel the same way? How devastating would it be to me if the answer to that question was NO? Luckily for me and for my friends, the answer was a resounding YES!!! You should have seen me driving to work this morning rocking out to MMMBOP at 7:30am! I think someone got on their cell phone to dial 911....
"The girl next to me is not fit to drive. I don't think she's looking at the road."

So sad.

October 14, 2005 my young beautiful nephew was born into the loving arms of Jackie and Douglas Joos in Tampa, FL.

October 28, 2005 Hanson was playing at the house of blues in St. Petersburg, FL.

Momentarily overcome with glee, I seized the opportunity to visit my adoring baby nephew, and go see Hanson perform in St. Petersburg.

This wham bam thank you mam type of visit I obviously rationalized with HANSON playing. :)

Then hurricane "I mess everything up" tacked St. Petersburg the same weekend, thus, Hanson canceled their show. I really don't CARE that we all might be standing out side in the pouring rain potentially being ran-sacked by the wind. I have seen March of the Penguins and I have seen Happy Feet. I fully believe that I could have gotten the entire group to emulate the dad penguins huddling together in the snow storms. If the penguins could do it, The Floridian fansons and I could do it.

The worst part is the Floridians weren't afraid of this hurricane Hanson, it had already passed by the time Saturday night came. PLUS, it wasn't even raining. Aren't you from Tulsa? Don't you get worse storms then these?

Alas, Hanson had no regard for my pleas, and proceeded to cancel their concert.

THEN they went on tour ONLY on the East Coast. WHA?

NOW THIS!!!!!!

Please get better Issac.
The Fillmore needs you!!

MMMbopped straight to my heart

HANSON IS COMING TO TOWN!!!! I can hardly contain myself with all the excitement that I feel at this very moment. I think that I need to take dancing* breaks as I write this blog. There are three big things that concern me about the fact that they are coming. 1) I have rehearsal on the day that they will be here. This is Monday, November 5th. 2) I will drop out of the show if they don’t let me go to see this concert. 3) I have tickets to see a concert on November 6th to see Maroon 5. (I also have rehearsal.) There is no way that I can miss TWO days of rehearsal…especially since we open nov. 16th… What do I do? I’m DEFINATLY going to see Hanson, but I can not just up and tell my friend that I’m not going to see a concert that I was already going to see with her, but it’s HANSON!!!! They are only my all time favorite band since I was the mere age of 15. We are talking 10 years of dedication here… a true Fanson (Hanson fan) at heart. Should I seriously ask for TWO days off of rehearsal the week before we open? Please advise. (keep in mind that I’m a Fanson.)

I’m going to the Hanson concert. It’s already done. I am going to have to prepare for it… it’s going to be really overwhelming. Have you ever met a Fanson? I mean they are CRAZY. Most of the Hanson fans are older than you think because they have grown up with Hanson. So now they are in their 20s and 30s and FIERCE. I stood in line for a Hanson concert in Los Angeles from 6am in the morning until the concert at 8pm at night along with 700 other Fansons. These people do not have any issues with personal space and personal health for that matter. I mean people in the front were so smooshed from the pushing and shoving that they were passing out. Security guards were coming from who knows where and picking up these passed out 20 year olds. I would be devastated if I had waited in line for more than 12 hours only to be carried out for the concert.

So, standing in line for 12 hours, I’ll never do that again cause it was just a waste of time. However, I do have to practice standing for long periods of time because I’ll get into the line around 30 min before the line starts moving into the Fillmore venue, and then I have to stand around “holding” my space for 30 min before the concert starts. Then I have to stand and listen to the opening, and finally at 9pm.. Hanson will come on. I have to make sure that my legs aren’t tired because they are usually dying the time the headliner comes onto the stage. Not to mention I will have to deal with pushy Fansons…so I have to make sure that my elbows are sharp and exercised.

Wow. I am so excited.

*dancing: defined as jumping up and down in a spastic manor