Clicky: Experience #1 Experiece #2
On Monday night was the first annual Flicker Fest with Flicker Records artist such as Riley Armstrong, Pillar, Phat Chance, T-Bone, and a special Audio Adrenaline performance. The day before I had gone downtown to hand out flyers to promote this FREE concert!! :) So I had met Bob Herdman, Riley, Pillar, T-Bone and some other people who worked with Flicker the day before and I also got to hang out on the Audio A. tour bus and even got an authentic Audio A. purchased Coke!! Haha. :) Well we arrived downtown at the Liquid Lounge in Nashville at 8:00 because A.J. (the promotions director) said I could come early to help with decorations inside. The doors didn't open until 8:45 and there was already a line of about 30 people outside!! But I noticed two girls I had met the day before and they were at the front of the line, kind of to the side. They said they were waiting for A.J. to come back and bring them some more flyers to hand out before the concert started. The girl at the door handed everyone in line free music and these really cool glowing bracelets. The first AA member I saw was Mark, he was standing in the parking lot. The second person I saw was Bob - he had come out to bring someone outside something. And then...coming out of the door in his shining glory (lol) was Tyler!! YAY!! And his cute lil' wife Ali!! The first thing he said was to the girl with the bracelets, "Hey! Do you have anymore bracelets?? I want one!" But she was fresh out...I wanted to give him mine, but someone had already gotten one for him!! Well he and Ali walked down the street and I think they went in a restaurant to eat dinner. Well A.J. comes back outside and says "I can't find anymore flyers, so you guys can just come on in!!" So we got in 30 minutes b4 the doors even opened!! Inside I saw Ben, Will, Mark, Bob, and Riley. Mark had a flashlight, walked up to us, and shined it in our faces and he was like "Hey how'd y'all get in early??" and we were like "A.J. let us in." He said, "Oh cool...where y'all from??" The people that I was standing with were all like "Clarksville" and then he asked me and I was like "Franklin!" and he was like "Really? Yeah me 2!" and I said the neighborhood he lives in and then he was like "Yeah!". I said "Me 2! My friend told me you live there cuz she lives across the street." And he was like "Which side do you live on?" And I was like "The non-Albertson's side..." and he was like "Oh cool, that's the side I live on." :) Well he walked away and we got to listen to sound check and stuff and we saw like Will, Bob, and Ben walking around. Tyler didn't show back up til RIGHT before the show started. During sound check Riley and T-Bone were HILARIOUS!! Riley was like "This a new song I'm working on..." and he started to play "I Want It That Way" by BSB and the sound guy was like "Hey Riley, that sounds allot like BSB!" and Riley said, "No it doesn't!! Take that back!!" *lol* When T-Bone did sound check he was like "Yeah boy, we're going straight, like a heterosexual!!" *lolol* I thought that was soooo funny!! Well it was like 5 minutes until the doors were suppose to open, so we made our way to the front of the room to the TINY TINY stage. I was sooooooo close!! As close and ANYONE could get!! Well the first act was Riley, he was GREAT!! He sang only too songs, but he was sooo hilarious!! He like stopped after each verse and started talking about Wal-Mart and then he would say "Now what you've all been waiting for...the second verse!!" *lol* After Riley played, Mark Stuart came to the front to introduce Phat Chance and he got ALL of their ages wrong (because they are young). It was funny, and then he sat on the big speaker RIGHT in front of me and his head is in some of my pictures!! (By the way, he had shaved his head since I had last seen him in February). Phat Chance was pretty cool, the rhythm guitar player was sooo cute!! ;) In between the acts I talked to Marky! He is like the nicest, coolest, most down to earth person I have ever met!! After Phat Chance, Pillar played...and in between one of the songs, Bob said they had to turn down the speakers and amps and stuff because the floor was going to fall thru!! *lol* (the stage was upstairs). Pillar was pretty good...they were EXTREMELY loud!! And Rob jumped off the speaker I was sitting on and he like kicked me in the face when he was crowd surfing!! Owwy!! After Pillar, T-Bone played...he is great!! I love him! He is really funny 2. Then after T-Bone played was the part I had been waiting for...It seemed like 4ever because it was already like 11:30 and the concert had started at 9:30!! Well Mark got up on stage and all the guys were on there setting up except for Tyler and Mark said, “Tyler!! Get up here!!” And he was walking thru the crowd and he walked RIGHT by me and I patted him on the back. ;) HEHEH. Tyler got up on stage and he was RIGHT in front of me!! YES!! I am the luckiest person alive!! And he was like “Can someone get me some water?? I have asparagus in between my teeth.” *lol* Audio A. was only supposed to play like 4 songs, but then people started yelling out songs to play, and they played them!! It was great!! Let's see if I can remember everything they sang...they played "Some Kind of Zombie", "Get Down", "Hands and Feet", "Big House", "Underdog", "Chevette", "Let My Love Open The Door", and at the end they did a really long version of "We're A Band" with T-Bone and Rob of Pillar. They also played a BRAND SPANKIN ' NEW song called "Beautiful Thing" that they said NO ONE had ever heard before!! It's not even finished yet because it doesn't have a second verse!! *lol* It's really good!! I like it!! I yelled out for them to play "One Like You" but Mark said they LITERALLY hadn't played it in 2 years!! Hehe, but that's okay!! During "Big House", Mark pulled up this girl on stage to sing with him and she was a bit wierd, and Tyler was giving her funky looks...it was HILARIOUS!! After the show was over, a bunch of people were helping take the stage down so I just sat on a stool and waited for some people to come back where I was. Tyler was, of course, the first one I got my picture with and autograph. I had my little bag with me and I had my "Hit Parade" CD so I whipped it and my Shapee out. I walked up to him and said, "Hey Tyler?" and he was like "Yes?" Then I said, "Can you sign my CD?" and he was like "Sure!" and before he signed it I said, "I'm Sarah, just in case you wanted to know." :) Then he was writing it out and said, "S-A-R-A-H?" and I was like "Yep!!" It looks like he wrote "Sapah!" *lol* and he drew a smiley face after my name and his name. ;) Tyler was just standing there, not doing anything so I just stood there with him and he was like, "I am so tired I could just fall over right here." I said "Yeah, I get to go to school late in the morning." And he was like "Really? Cool." Then some person walked up to him to get him to sign his video and he said, "Sarah, can I use your pen?" Duh.."Of course!" When he was done signing it I asked him if we could get our picture together and he was like "Sure." And I told him we'd have to find someone to take it and he was like "Let's ask T-bone!" and then he was like "Hey Bone! Can you take our picture?" And he did! ;) T-bone takes good pictures. ;) After that I was like, "Well I gotta go," and Ty was like "Okay!" I said, "It was nice meeting you Tyler." and I shook his hand and he said "You too! Bye Sarah!" After that, I couldn't find any of the other guys, but I saw Riley and one of Audio A.'s photographer's took our picture! Riley is great!! I love him!! He was like, "Thanks for coming! It was nice to have you here!" ;) Then I saw Mark and he signed my CD and one of his friends took our picture too! (All of my pictures came out GREAT!) Then I was looking around for Mark or Ben and couldn't find them!! And then Scott Brickell (the manager) made us all go downstairs and I waited for like 15 minutes and they never came down, so I left...but that's okay!! I was still AWESOME!! And I wouldn't trade that night for ANYTHING!
This was the best day ever! The concert started at 1 o'clock and I got there around 11. I called Jason the second I got there, and I got in and him and this guy Brian were like the only people waiting. So right away I scored VERY front center. We were so close I was resting my foot on the stage! Me and Jason talked about Audio Adrenaline and dc Talk and stuff and I gave him some pictures from Flicker Fest because he was saving my spot. And we talked with other people who were there. He had like every single Audio A. cover, picture, like that he owned cuz he wanted them to sign it! *lol* And then these two girls go there and they were right behind us. There names were Felicia and Nicole, and they were so nice! We talked to them, and I told them about my Toby site and stuff. And they talked about how they got really 3rd Day tickets and fun stuff. And we talked about Audio Adrenaline. They worked at Kindercare in my neighborhood - which I thought was cool. And Scott Brickell's son was in their class. I couldn't find AJ the entire time we were waiting (she was backstage). So we started yelling her name, but everyone just stared at us. *lol* Then it was like 1:06 and the concert started at 1, and I was like "Hurry up!" and Jason was like "We should start chanting." And right before we did they walked out! And I go "THERE'S TYLER!" and they all walked out. *lol* They came up, and Ben waved at us and I was like "HI TYLER!" *lol* and Bill's hair is so short! It's like buzzed! But it doesn't look bad...I told him I loved it like 50 times. Mark was like "Everyone - this IS Bill McGinnis." And Marky broke his wrist (I asked him and he told everyone). And he was like "Wow, we are pretty packed here..." and he reached over and patted me and Jason on the head. They were taking request and the first song they played was "Big House". During like the bridge Mark was like "I need some help, does anyone wanna sing?" and my hand shoots in the air and I'm like "ME! I DO!" and he was like "Really?" So I got up on stage, and Mark was like "You are going for the Vols today right?" and I was like "No..." and he goes "Well you can't sing then...I'm just kidding. What's your name?" "Sarah." "Okay. Sarah's gonna sing for us now!" and I sang like the last 2 chorus's the "Big House" like BY MYSELF! And Mark was like "That's pretty good!" It was so cool! And before I got up there, I gave my camera to Jason and he took some pics. Felicia said she took a bunch and she is gonna e-mail them to me! It was too rad! I think the next song they did was "Beautiful" and Mark asked if someone wanted to sing and I raised my hand again because "Beautiful" is my ex, and he was like "You've already sung!" And this guy got up there and sang and it was pretty funny. And he like forgot the words to almost every song! *lol* But Jason had all the CD covers and kept handing them to him so he could get the words. Haha. Their set wasn't very long...they didn't even play a full hour. Let's see. They also sang "Get Down", "Rejoice", "Hands and Feet", "DC-10" (which Tyler had some trouble with because he had an acoustic guitar), and they ended with "Never Gonna Be As Big As Jesus". In between the songs I yelled out "One Like You" but they didn't play it. I was sad. BUT! When they were done Jason was like "Ben! Your drum stick!" and he threw it to him, and he caught it. Then he threw the other one and gave it to me! Yahoo! Then I took a really cute picture of Tyler, and Felicia was like "You have to give me one of those!" *lol* Mark gave Jason a hug and I was like "What about me?!" Not really. He gave me 'five' with his broken hand. Ha! Okay so we went and waited in line and Jason walked over to Subway and bought us all drinks cuz we were sooooo thirsty! And he got us these door hanger things and one side has Audio A. on it and the other has Toby. We talked with this guy while waiting, and Jason got out all of his stuff and I was like "Do you really think they're going to sign all that?" So we got us there and Tyler was first and I was like "Hey Tyler!" and he goes "Hey! How are you?" and I'm like "I'm awesome!" and he signed my CD and I said "Would it be too much trouble to get a picture with you?" and goes "No way! Just come back here." So I got like down on my knees behind the table and Jason took a picture. My knees like locked. It was scary. *lol* Then Ben signed my drum stick and when I got to Mark (who was at the end) I said "Hey do you remember on ZJAM when I called in and asked about Survivor?" and Ben was kinda looking at me but he knew I was talking to Mark. And Mark wasn't really paying attention and he goes "What was your question?" *lol* I said "If you were on Survivor who would win, and who would get kicked off first?" and he goes "Oh yeah! I remember now." And then I looked at Ben and said "You said you would sign a CD for me, but I got it in the mail and you didn't." He says "But we signed one, I remember looking at your name on the computer screen...what was your name again?" Right as I say "Sarah" he goes "Oh yeah! Sarah!" at the exact same time! How crazy is that! Then I took a picture of just Mark, then one of Will and Ben. And I was getting ready to leave and Ben was like "Bye Sarah!" and they all said "bye". Okay well, I went outside and I got in my car and I was almost at Cost-Co, when I realized something. I had made them Christmas cards, but I 4got to give them to them! So! It was only 2:20 so I turned around. Jason was in line again and was almost to the front cuz they were signing ALL of his stuff! So I kinda cut in front of him and I was like "Tyler, I made you this Christmas card, cuz I probably won't see you again before that." He was like "Thank you so much! I promise I'll read it later." Cuz he was signing a bunch of CD's. Then I was like "Bill, I made you a card too!" When I got to Ben he goes "Oh! Sarah's back!" and I gave it to him and said "I was on my way home and 4got to give you these so I came back." and he goes "Aww thanks! Where do you live?" and I go "Fieldstone Farms" and he goes "Oh! That's where Marky lives." Mark goes "Huh?! What'd I do!?" And Jason goes "She knows where he lives!" and I go "Yeah I know some people who live across the street." and Ben was like "Who?" and I named them and he was like "Oh cool!" but has this expression like "I have no idea who you are talking about." *lol* Then he told me "Ya know the photo shoot for the greatest hits was done in Mark's garage?" I was like "Cool." I gave Marky his card and he was the only one to read it right there. He opened it up and laughed cuz I wrote "Rudolph thinks you're cool." He thought that was funny. And then I was about to leave AGAIN and I told Mark maybe I would see him at Walgreen's sometime. *lol* Then I saw AJ! Woohoo! I was like "AJ!" and she goes "HEY!" and she gave me a hug. Then I talked to her and I was like "Did you see me singing on stage?" and she was like "That was you?! I was in the back, I couldn't see." Awww. And I was like "Yeah! It was so fun!" and then she introduced me to this other girl who worked at Flicker. I forgot her name, but she seemed cool. AJ was like "This is Sarah. She helps with a lot of the local stuff." I wanted to be like "I've only helped with one thing..." LOL! Then there were these guys standing behind her and I was wearing my Celtics shirt and one goes "Oh the Celtics. Remember that guy? Larry Bird? He was cool..." *lol* And AJ was like "Do you know them?" and I said "No." and she was like "They are a band, Puddle Lump." (or something...I don't remember). And so she introduced me to all of them. And I looked over at the AA table and they were taking a picture of them with all the Lifeway staff. So I told AJ I was gonna go over there and take a picture of them since they were all together and no one was in the way. So the second I get over there, they all stand up. Haha! But like they are talking to people so I am like "Picture time!" Bill is closest and he's holding my card and I go "Did you read my card?" and he goes "Yeah, I love it!" And I was like "I really like your hair. Why'd you decide to cut it?" and he was like "I dunno." And so I got my picture with him. And then I took on of Jason and him. Then we went and saw Ben. He was like "Hey Sarah! I like the card!" I was like "Thanks!" and then I was like "Can I get my picture with you?" and he goes "Sure!" and I was like "You are really tall..." Cuz he is. Then I took one of him and Jason. Then I wanted one with Mark and Tyler and me, so I went over and was talking to Marcus and I said "Do you like the card?" and he was like "Yeah! But I'm not sure if I want a white Christmas..." because I said something like that in there. And I go "Come on!" He asked "Which side of Fieldstone do you live on?" and I was like "The cheapside...the non-Albertson's side." And he was like "Oh. I live on the other side." And I was like "Yeah on my side the houses are really close together and I don't even have a mailbox!" He looked at me like "What?!" but I told him we shared one with the rest of the street. Then I was like "Tyler!" cuz I wanted my picture. And he was like "Oh! Sorry!" So Jason took the picture of me and Mark and Tyler. Then the sound guy, Ryan - right? Took one of Jason and them. Then I really left. Mark was like "Bye!" and Tyler said "Thanks for the card!" and I went outside and Ben was walking to his car at the same time and he goes "Bye Sarah!" and he gave me a high five. Everytime he saw me he said my name. I thought it was funny. But I think that is it! It was soooooooooo incredible! I loved it! I was like screaming in the car! Like "AHHHHH THAT WAS SO FUN!!!!" THE END!
