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I
had not even planned on going to Greenville until a friend of mine let
a few people know that she had a front row ticket for sale. I was in an
impulsive mood and went for it! August 17th, 1999...CD release day and I have flown to Greenville SC to attend the show from a front row seat and meet the Moody Blues. A bunch of us (including Pam Nault and Diane Palermo) headed over to the Haywood Mall to buy Strange Times. The email from OFC said there would be no admittance at Bi-Lo Center before 7pm, but luckily we got there a bit early because they escorted us down the hall at 6:45. I am grateful that my friends were there for support, to get me there on time, prop me up and push me through the door. We
reached a corridor and were told to wait. I was bubbling over, even more than usual, so here's my best effort at reporting the details (not in chronological order). For autographs I had brought the Octave tourbook (for the centerfold -- all 4), the Blue Jays tourbook for the Jays, and a couple of Lily Ikemoto's 8x10s of Graeme and Ray. Ray
mentioned the smug expression he has in the photo that I've brought for
signing. It's a very funny pose where he has his hands on his hips.
The photo of Graeme shows him ready to catch the drumstick (that you may have seen on Higher & Higher mag). He wondered if he'd caught that one, and I told him I was sure that he had! I chatted with John for a minute or so. When he signed one of the items, he sang "Hey Hey Paula" to me!! I laughed and told him that Paul and Tracy had both sung that song to me as well (at the HRC in Las Vegas in 1998), and he said it was a good song. He looked great, as did all the others! I'm
pumped up on adrenaline now, just enough to say something embarrassing,
and announce to the whole group that I've never torn the plastic off a
CD that fast in my life (the truth!!!), and absolutely love what I've heard
so far!!!! (I had just gotten it that afternoon and now there was barely
enough time to get ready to go to the show, Justin and I mainly chatted about the new album, how there must be something in the water over near Mulinetti that produced such great music, and he agreed that the location was inspiring. I told him that I loved English Sunset, Haunted and Foolish Love (the latter is my personal favorite so far). The cameras were malfunctioning, so I ended up with my arm around his waist for a bit longer than average. I hope he didn't mind, because I didn’t!! Justin stuck around until everyone had sufficient photos and autographs. These guys are so classy and gracious, it's truly unbelievable. Hey Hey Paula (Beard), a.k.a. CatBeard |
Then I emailed the OFC to toss my hat in
for a backstage pass. This would now be my first show of the tour, followed
immediately by Nashville, Chattanooga (ooops, that one was cancelled!),
Louisville and a little later St. Louis and most recently Cleveland. I
have now learned not to tell myself that I am attending my last concert....the
Moody magic and the warm feelings I get at the shows are simply too good
to do without.
Pretty soon, Ray was standing
there!! Then the others. Justin was last to enter. We had decided ahead
of time to snap each other's photos using our own cameras rather than trade
them around. Of course, I forgot most of the things I'd planned on asking
or saying.
and I wanted to hear as much
as possible before I got to the venue). Actually I've never torn open a
vinyl LP that fast either.