October 2009

Stevie Wonder 10/22/09

Thursday October 22 Stevie Wonder brought his “Wonder Autumn Night” tour to MGM Grand at Foxwoods Casino in Mashantucket, CT.

It is always fun to go to the shows at the MGM Grand because I get to play my favorite slot, Texas Tea. Unfortunately it seems that in the time between the David Cook show I went to there and the Stevie show they had completely revamped and Texas Tea was nowhere to be found.

Instead I played a few games – like Wheel Of Fortune, Lil Ladybugs and Survivor and ended up losing $25. Not a good night! Texas Tea always kept me at least around breaking even! (Which is probably why they got rid of it)

As we were entering the venue there were signs that no Photography was permitted. I didn’t risk it, although I should have because a lot of people were taking video and all I wanted was a couple of photos. But I came up with a pretty decent scrapbook layout idea during the show that has no photos included so hopefully I can end up pulling that off and making it look like it does in my head.

Near the end of the set he asked fans to come forward and form a group with him and sing with him. The first women to get down there, I believe her name was Patty, was brought on stage and got to sit next to him and sing for 2 songs. Interestingly enough, we had rode the elevator to the casino with Patty earlier in the evening! There was probably too many of us in the elevator at that point so it was a tight squeeze and the way she had her hair up, it was all in my dad’s face as we went down a couple of floors. We couldn’t believe it when we saw her up on stage, with her arm around Stevie! If someone had told us that one of us from that elevator ride was going to end up on stage we never would have believed them!

Stevie did not disappoint and played for 2 and a half hours! We thought he might go on all night! Near 11 he left the stage and we weren’t sure if he would be doing an encore or not. They teased us for quite a while before finally putting on the stage lights. While he had a TON more songs he could have done, his really big hits were all done at the end of the set. (He ended with Superstition)

Partial Set list under the cut (I think its missing a couple of songs, the review I had found that listed them said something like “and then he played a couple of lesser known songs” I guess the reviewer didn’t know the names and I didn’t bother to keep track)


Once Upon A Time
Master Blaster (Jammin’)
Boogie On Reggae Woman
Knocks Me off My Feet
Higher Ground
Living For the City
I Can’t Help It
My Mother’s Eyes
Don’t You Worry Bout a Thing
Part Time Lover
For Once In My Life
Hey Love
If You Really Loved Me
Isn’t She Lovely
Blowin’ In The Wind
My Cherie Amour
Signed Sealed Delivered (Im Yours)
Sir Duke
Superstition

Hanson Members Only Event 10/18/2009

Sunday I took a drive down to PA to my friend Maribeth’s house. From there, we went to Maryland and hopped on the metro to Washington, DC to attend the Hanson.net Member’s Only Event at The Madison Inn. (And I got a bologna sandwich for the ride from Sheetz which made me a bit too happy lol)

We got in about 5pm and grabbed a bite to eat at a nearby Subway and then started the walk to the hotel. On the way there, we spotted The White House so we decided to take a detour to go check it out and get pics near it.

We got in line at the hotel at 6pm (we were allowed to start lining up at 5:30) and it appeared that we were closer to the front than the back of the line, but once we were finally let in (7:30ish?) we got seats in the second to last row. It kind of stunk, because the “stage” was not high enough up for us to be able to see over everyone’s heads. People getting let in after us were able to sit on the floor up front, but I wasn’t sure I could handle an hour or more sitting indian style with no back support, so we stayed where we were.

When they finally took the stage, they joked about how they were on Hanson Time because it didn’t start on time. (But really, shame on us for thinking it would. We’ve been dealing with this for 12 years now)

They did 8 songs, 2 of which I had never heard live before – Leave The Light On and Devils Nachos. Devil’s Nachos was the first time (and possibly last) it had ever been performed live. Zac said that the song was never supposed to be heard by the public.

After the set they did a Q&A; which was interesting because the questions were not pre-screened. They were asked “Since the most awesome holiday is coming up in a couple of weeks.. what are you going to wear?” (meaning Halloween) but Zac said “I don’t usually dress up for my birthday” (his birthday is October 22) and someone said they should dress as Blue Man Group, which Taylor misheard as Man Group and asked how that would look. Isaac said like Backstreet Boys or NSYNC and then sang “Oh baby baby..” which is… Britney Spears… not a mangroup lol uhhh ok.

One of the questions was pretty deep, asking them where they were on September 11th and they said they were in L.A recording “Underneath” and that one of the women they knew from the record label, one of the few who had moved from Mercury to IDJ was married for 9 months and her husband was in one of the towers and lost his life.

Another question was asking if they were lobbying to congressmen about aid in Africa and they said that 30,000 people writing letters (roughly the # of people who have taken the walk with them) would be a lot more effective than 3 guys from Oklahoma, but that they had met with congressmen.

They are always a lot more fun at the members only event and I wish they’d let that out a bit more at their shows!

Then it was time for pictures. Maribeth and I ran over to merch first to buy our stuff before it got to crowded. We had to pre-order the Members Only Event merch sight unseen and hopefully we picked the right sizes for the shirts! I also pre-ordered the Hanskey Monskey dolls which they said will be ready for Christmas, so I expect to have them by my birthday in July. And I got the new sticker and pin sets as well.

We waited around a bit for pictures but then realized everyone else was doing the same thing, so we jumped in the line and went through it really quickly. It was done on stairs, so I told Taylor I couldnt really go up them and he said that was fine and kept me near him for the picture. He shook my hand and few times and thanked me for coming. I went over to talk to Isaac but he was oblivious to my presence so I went over to Zac. I had been debating either telling him about Honor Society or asking him for a hug, but didn’t think I would have time for both. I went with asking for a hug, which he said “sure!” and gave me a hug. Somehow in 12 years I had never managed to get a hug before that so I was incredibly excited. Then I got yelled at for waiting for Maribeth to come through the crowd lol

We bypassed the merch and made our way outside (with a brief pause so I could type out omgomgomgomgomgomg for my twitter hahaha) and walked back to the metro station. We ended up getting back to Maribeth’s mom’s in PA at 1am, exhausted.

Hanson @ Northern Lights 10/16/09

Last night I went to my 150th concert, which also happened to be my 40th Hanson concert. The “Use Your Sole” tour is in support of the “Stand Up, Stand Up” EP, which was what was recorded at the Members Only Event that I attended in Tulsa earlier this year.

Also on the tour are Sherwood (we arrived late and missed their set), Steel Train and HelloGoodbye.

I attended this show with my friend Natalie – we have a club – it’s called “the My favorite Hanson married a girl with my same name club” (There’s got to be a way to shorten that…) We’re still taking applications for an Ike girl named Nicole…

We found a booth and sat watching the video monitor for HelloGoodbye’s set. Northern Lights had done a huge revamp to the area since I had been there last (2004?) I could actually SEE the people on the stage and there seemed to be a lot more room.

Hanson took the stage just after 9:30 and started off with the new song “World’s On Fire”, this song is on the Stand Up Stand Up but was not recorded at the event so it was nice starting off with a new song to add to the list. (I keep track of how many songs I have heard live and how many times I have heard them. These days, a show with 2 new songs is a victory)

Taylor has the flu and had missed his 3rd walk in a row earlier that day. He didn’t sound too off (although the notes in the beginning of “Cecelia” were a bit harsh) although he did make a few mistakes throughout the night.. like singing the wrong verse during This Time Around, but Isaac seemed to straighten him out. Cecelia was the 2nd new song for the night for me and was also the one voted on by fans.

This tour they have added the feature of having one song in the set voted on by fans. They put up 5 choices on the website and voting ends at noon on the day of the show. For Albany there were 3 songs I hadn’t heard live and 2 that I had. So odds were good I’d get a new one, though my vote went to “Hard To Handle” I’m a but upset that they are mixing up the set list so much on the tour that I am NOT going to multiple shows on, but hopefully they will consider the voting a success and continue it on future tours.

For the encore, I was really hoping (especially with Taylor being sick) that it would be one of Zac’s songs, either “Don’t Stop Believing” (a new addition this tour) or “I Want You To Want Me” (the encore on the 2000 This Time Around Tour) Unfortunately I had set my hopes a little *too* high and ended up being disappointed in the encore of “Lost Without Each Other”, which is actually one of my favorite songs off of Underneath!!

I think this was also the quickest I had ever gotten out of a concert. We left as soon as the guys left the stage. The buses aren’t really accessible and we had a bit of a drive home so by 11:30 we were on the road. We made a quick pitstop to get some gas and M&Ms; (Natalie had a craving and my ipod playing Eminem wasn’t helping matters lol) I dropped Natalie off at her college at 2am and made it home by 3am, thanks very much so to Mr 305, Pitbull, who kept me alert on my drive home. Then I immediately crawled into my nice warm bed and crashed.

Hanson setlist 10/16

Worlds on fire
Great divide
Where's the love
Runaway run
Got a hold on me
Get up and go
Been there before
This time around(taylor messed up)
These walls
Cecilia (+1)
Song to sing
Use me up(z solo)
Carry you there
Minute without you
Waiting for this
Crazy beautiful
Penny and me
If only
Mmmbop
Something going round

Lost without eachother

Sent via BlackBerry by AT

Jonas Brothers Kick for Change 10/11/09

After getting home a midnight from PA (and staying up a little bit too late talking to friends once I got inside) I crashed in bed only to wake up at 8:30. (This is something I don’t even do on work days!)

My cousin got dropped off and we made our way to Lauren’s, who then drove us up to the ballpark. Tons of GPS’s were sending people to the wrong area, but we finally made it into the long line of cars waiting to get in a little bit after 11. (Doors were at 11)

We made our way inside and we were just a few rows up from home, on the first base side. Verizon was there getting us all hyped up. At one point, they played an Honor Society Tour video (which I had definitely already seen) but as soon as I heard ‘Hey we’re Honor Society’ I let out a terrible scream… and then covered my mouth once I realized what I had done. Usually, I scream so my throat WON’T hurt afterward, but this was pretty much involuntary and boy did my throat hurt after it!! My cousin found it pretty darn hilarious though. Yes, there is a teenie deep inside me somewhere that comes out every now and then!

Jonas was going to play 2 kickball games (of 3 innings each) and then a ROAD DOGS GAME after that!

Jonas lost the first kickball game to “The Black Keys” by a score of 4-3. They won the second game against “Team Love Bug” by a score of 6-0.

For the softball game, they played the Norwich PD and Papa Jonas was the pitcher. He gave up 13 runs in the FIRST INNING. Norwich also hit 2 grand slams. (Nick Jonas hit 2 home runs) and they ended up losing 20-18. We really thought they were going to pull out a win in the bottom of the 7th, but came up just short! (And Honor Society’s manager NED was playing which made me laugh. A lot. Every time he was up.)

 


Nick’s inside the park home run

 

The Pennsylvania part of the weekend – Part II

After a pitstop at Walmart Saturday morning, we made it to the ski area. I left Lauren at the car and went to meet up with Amber, who had won VFactory Soundcheck passes and invited me along as her guest. (And saw that KSM had canceled and Care Bears On Fire were replacing them. ugh!)

We waited around a while and heard Honor Society soundchecking and then it was time to head to the stage for VFactory. On our way there, I spotted Alex from Honor Society behind the stage but he was running off somewhere and I had to go in front of the stage for the soundcheck so I couldn’t say hi or anything.

VFactory did 2 songs during the soundcheck and then came off stage to meet us. We were told we could get photos and autographs, but due to time constraints it was autographs only and then we were told that later at the merch area we could get photos.

When we went to leave, we were told we would have to climb over a rope. It wasn’t that high, but with my CP any time one foot is in the air we’ve got potential for a problem. I asked the guy to untie it because I couldn’t go over it and a female on the security staff was like “If you untie it, we’re going to have a problem” Well, too bad honey, but either it gets untied or I stay inside!

Then cameras weren’t allowed inside! And they were being incredibly strict about it, which was ridiculous. (Turns out they never really had a concert there before and basically had no idea what they were doing and were told cameras were never allowed at live shows. That was concert #149 for me and my scrapbook definitely says otherwise…) Our first time through the line, I managed to sneak it in. We were given a wristband so we could leave the concert area and come back as we pleased, but every time we were again searched / patted down.

We took our seats in the front row, and were discussing how it was going to be impossible for Alex to get me a drumstick, even though he said he would, because the front row was VERY far from the stage, and the stage was at least 6 feet high. (If not more like 7 or 8 feet)

Tiffany Giardina was on first, and immediately girls rushed the stage and into the front row in front of us. Um hello? We paid for front row, you didn’t! It would have been fine if they stood in the (way too large) middle section, but to block people who were legit sitting in their seats? Really not cool at all.

After a couple songs, security made them go back, which was nice, but near the end they all rushed again. By this point I was miserable. No photos, no VIEW and no drumstick. And this was supposed to be the best weekend ever?

We left to go check out the merch area, and then decided to go get something to eat. Then we heard about the Honor Society M&G; and we had gifts for them so we got them out of the car and picked up our M&G; passes (supppper late lol) and waited to go see them.

I went first and thought Lauren was going with me. Andy was first and was introducing himself to me and then said “just kidding” but I was like “who? I know you guys?? really?” and then said hello to Mike and Jason and then (on a mission) told Alex there was a HUGE gap from the stage to front row so how would he get me a drumstick? First he was like “really?” and then said something about breaking down the barricade. I was next to him and Jason for the photo and only THEN did I realize Lauren was NOT with me. I felt bad I didn’t go in the middle!

I went off to the side while Lauren gave her gift to Andy. Alex seemed upset (kicking the air lol) that we didn’t have something for him, but this was Andy’s (early) birthday gift and Alex’s birthday was in May… soooo…. But our friend Ashley was behind us and told Alex not to worry because she had a gift for him.

When we left, we realized we had missed all of VFactory’s set 🙁 And Care Bears on Fire was coming on next 🙁 (we bumped into them in the bathroom after the HS M&G; lol)

When we got back to our seats (and my camera was found by security and had to go back to the car ugh), I rolled my pant leg up to show my brace off. THEN security decided that you could be in the middle section, but not coming into the rows because the people in their seats needed to see too. We asked a couple times if I could just go up to the barricade, but we were told no.

Honor Society took the stage just as the sun was starting to set. (So when they sang “See U In The Dark” it really was in the dark!) At one point I was standing there kind of overwhelmed with all the girls up front and losing my spot and everything and wasn’t really dancing. Mike looked at me and then wiggled a bit so I did it back and he smiled. Sorry I wasn’t dancing Mike but making sure I wasn’t going to fall over seemed a bit more important at the time 😉

A little after this I decided to unzip my hoodie a bit and wouldn’t you know… the security then told me I could go up to the barricade. I am HOPING it was just a coincidence…

Full Moon Crazy
Sing for You
Two Rebels
Where Are You Now
My Own Way
Here Comes Trouble
Don’t Close the Book
Why Didn’t I
Nobody Has To Know
Over You
See U In The Dark

I hung at the barricade for a bit longer, secretly hoping someone would come by with a drumstick but no such luck. Then we went over by the fence to watch them leave. By this point it was FREEZING.

A couple of handlers walked by and bragged that they were going to get Drake Bell. When he came out of the building he lit up a cigarette and walked by SMOKING. My childhood was ruined in that moment lol I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t even bother to walk over to watch his set, though we could hear it from where were.

Honor Society came out and waved, hopped in a van and pulled away. They did no public merch M&G.;

After that, we decided to go to Dunkin Donuts to warm up a bit, and make the trek home… as we had to get up early on Sunday for the Jonas kick ball game.

 

The Pennsylvania part of the weekend – Part I

This weekend… was crazy. Friday night we headed to PA which is a crazy story in and of itself (aka this post). Then Saturday we went to see Honor Society at a festival in Palmerton, PA at a Ski Resort and Sunday we went to see the Jonas Brothers play a kickball game. This post will focus on Friday…

As we were making our way to NJ for a detour, something hit the front of my car and the windshield leaving a streak right where I look out the window. Nice random bird/squirrel/whatever. Real nice. My car also hit 20,000 miles so now I have to find time to bring it in for service before Friday!

Then we thought we would be going over the GWB but instead ended up in Manhattan and then going through the Lincoln Tunnel. Have I mentioned how much I hate driving and merging? Because I do.

We made it to Hoboken, but didn’t get close enough to the train station (probably could have but I was stressing out) though we did view it from a distance from the park. Amazing view of NYC skyline.

Then we took a walk to King’s for Pears to enter USA Pears Honor Society contest. Winners get a trip for 4 to LA to hang with HS. They’ve really been pimping it out on twitter so we feel like entries aren’t as many as they would like. After some drama with Lauren’s pears ringing up for 2x what they were listed as, we walked back to the car.

I didn’t want to walk in the street with my back to the cars coming at me, so I asked Lauren if we could take an alternate route. She thought there was a sidewalk somewhere else so we walked but there wasn’t. Then she stumbled a bit. We both looked down to see what it was she slipped on – A DEAD RAT. If this was not a sign of things to come I don’t know what was. But we went back to the car and freaked out, and then took some pics near the water.

Next stop was Sonic in PA. Which had an address that my GPS could not find, so we blew past it. To turn around we took a left on to a …. street that didn’t exist. AWESOME! Made it to sonic though, and had our dinner.

Then we made it to the hotel and relaxed on our giant beds and waited for Ashley to meet us there. I felt like I didn’t sleep at all that night (I was hot, cold, hot – or as Ashley said – a Katy Perry song lol) and I remember waking up at 2am throwing pillows off the bed.

And then it was time for what was supposed to be… the greatest concert ever…

Honor Society @ Little Bit O Sole Pearl River, NY

Sunday morning Lauren picked me up at 8:30am and we were on our way to Pearl River, NY for the Little Bit O Sole 5K walk.

We got there and registered and then walked around checking out all the tents that they had set up. We ended up spotting Dominique and Dierdre that we had met at the CD Release Party and I hung with them in line while Lauren went and did the 5K.

I thought it was odd that they were allowing girls to wait in line to get to the stage area before the walk had ended, because it didn’t seem fair. Then Lauren told me that the walkers were being let in a separate entrance. Apparently some of the girls at the front of the line had a bit of a fit, so they let some of the girls who had waited in, then the walkers, then the rest of the line. The whole part of the day was to raise money and awareness by doing the walk… NOT Honor Society… but teenies will be teenies…

JJ from Z100 was trying to pump up the crowd and asking what states we were from. At first, he skipped CT. Then he asked what grades we were all in and paid no attention to those of us who might have finished college… ugh. Stupid jonas brothers getting HS the teenie demographic.

The setlist was the same as the Fasionably Late tour with the exception of You Really Got Me – which was not played.

Afterwards, was the M&G; line. Those who won through the fan club / volunteered for the event went first. After was those who had bought merch ($15+ and you got a wristband – big thanks to Dom for taking one for the team and getting all our merch for us!)

It took a while for the guys to come out, but once they did they had the line moving through quickly, and everyone got a picture with the guys.

I reminded Alex that next week he owes me a drumstick and he seemed like he remembered. (I can never really tell with him though) Mike said he at first thought I really had a bowtie on, and liked my shirt. So did Jason. I told Andy that he threw a pick and it landed RIGHT next to me and I didnt get it. He reached in his pocket and said he was out so I was like its ok next week you can give me one and he said he would make sure he had a pocket full of picks. So if all goes according to plan, next weekend will be pretty awesome!

Then the guard was yelling at me to keep it moving so we went to leave and Andy peeked around the backdrop to keep talking to us LMAO.

Honor Society at School of Rock 10/1/09

Last night, Honor Society played their first sold out show on the Fashionably Late tour at the School of Rock in South Hackensack, NJ.

It was incredibly cold outside waiting for doors to open. Once we got inside it was incredibly hot. First thing we picked up our M&G; wristbands, which were Orange. Then we grabbed a spot on the side barricade.

This seemed like it was going to be a great spot but as time went on I kept getting pushed backwards. Some girls also went around the other side of the barricade (I think security should have been there so that didn’t happen…) and were standing on the ledge that security generally stands on. I also over heard them say that if security was going to kick them out of that spot, they would lie and say one of them was handicapped. As a handicapped fan, who was getting their space invaded I must say, girls, that was not cool and I don’t think you’d be able to handle a day with my CP. (And once again I wish I had magic powers to send my CP to annoying people like that for a day, and then I would have a CP free day)

But on to more fun things. Esmee Denters was the opener. I didn’t know much about her except that she was signed by Justin Timberlake. Her stage presence was great, which was kind of annoying if you were trying to take a picture of her haha but it was great for the crowd to get a glimpse of her. She sang several songs, one of which she had co-written with Justin Timberlake.

After her set was over they set the stage up for Honor Society. Security came out and said that everyone needed to take a step back and that if they surged forward during the show they would stop the concert.

The guys had new intros to a bunch of their songs, which was cool considering the set list was essentially the same as the Full Moon Crazy tour, just in a different order. Another new addition was “You Really Got Me” which is a cover song that they sing in the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie, out in theaters on Christmas!

After about 5 songs I decided the girls hanging on my head and leaning over me were just completely too much to handle so I went to the back. Since I was no longer crammed in between a mass of people, it was a lot cooler back there as well. Aside from the girls with the light up <3 HS sign, I could see all 4 guys without a problem. (Couldn’t really see Alex or Andy where I was originally)

Before one of the songs, Mike talked about how the last time they played here (August 08) they had to sell 30 tickets (they did) and tonight they had sold the place out and sold 500 tickets. They’ve come a long way in just a year+.

It was hard to get decent photos because reaching for the guys even though you’re 5+ rows back and making heart signs are a BIG trend lately… For a couple of songs I just kind of took it all in and didn’t try to take photos. I did manage to get a few decent ones (which is a MUST for this scrapbooker)

Once the show was over we made our way to the M&G; area, which was a MESS. Seriously needed to be thought through juuuust a bit better. They had the people with fanclub M&Gs; go through the door to the hallway and the merch M&G; people stand near the door. Of course a mob formed around the door so it made things difficult, but we made it to the hallway.

After waiting for what seemed like forever in a tight, crammed hallway the line started moving and we made our way in to meet the guys. Their new thing is “hand hugs” because REAL hugs aren’t allowed. But considering I’ve been getting real hugs since the start I didn’t want to be demoted so when Alex put his hand up I said to him “I am NOT handhugging you” and Andy and Jay were like “OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH” and then we hugged and Jay and Andy were like “awwww” and then I hugged the rest of them. Chatted with Andy quickly about the necklace website he had told us about and how we wanted everything and they were cool. (Our friend Cara had mentioned that we told her about the site too and so thats what led him to mention it to me again)

 

Full Moon Crazy
Sing for You
Two Rebels
Where Are You Now
My Own Way
Here Comes Trouble
You Really Got Me
Don’t Close the Book
Why Didn’t I
Nobody Has To Know
Over You
See U In The Dark

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