All Access Column 4

	ALL ACCESS Column 4 11/3/01 Started 10/28/01 Wow, wow, wow, wow is all I can say. Are there anymore words that mean wow? How about whoa? I have to say that last night was one of those highlighted events for Townsend. Their performance at Great America will without a doubt stick out in the minds of everyone who was there. I got to GA around 2:30pm, got in touch with Todd and tried to get in touch with Courtney (Get your phone fixed!), and found everyone I was supposed to meet up with. Would you believe there were already twenty people in line to get in at 9am? That's insane, but I know it was well worth the wait for them. I was very excited, being it the first time I'd get an exclusive look on what went on behind the scenes. That was definitely a new learning experience for me. It was crazy behind the scenes, I did a lot of walking that night. Now I'm glad I brought those extra flyers of mine in addition to the ones Todd gave me because we ran out fast. I spent most of my time before the gates opened, distributing the flyers to those who volunteered to help out and to other people waiting in line to get in. Thank you so much to everyone that helped! You guys did a great job and I couldn't have done it without you. Most of the guys' families were there, the Torres, Bob (We missed you Wendy), The Yoakum's, etc. Matt's parents drove all the way from Oregon to see their son perform. I thought that was very sweet. Matty boy, your parents loooooove you! =D I had the opportunity to meet the Yoakum's and that was one of the cutest conversations I've had with someone's parents before. I heard about the motorcycle/haystack incident, the Michael Jackson's Bad incident in high school, the track years - it was just priceless. And Matt's siblings are adorable! This was the first time Matt's family got to see him perform with Townsend, so they were very proud of him. And they're glad to see how happy he is with the other guys. And I think I owe Matt an apology because I've been teasing him a lot. Sorry Matt, it's my nature. Sugar bear- where do these names come from? :P I was semi-surprised when Todd showed me all of their dancers. I figured the little experiment Bob had been hinting at earlier either had to do with the addition of back-up dancers or back-up singers. The girls were really nice and pretty darn flexible may I add. I saw them warming up and stretching before the show. Let's just say my legs hurt watching them. I remember when I could kick up my leg that high in fourth grade. Haha I so cannot do that anymore. Then watching Julie's daughter and her friends running around backstage, showing off their dance moves made me a little envious. I have never seen 8-10 year olds that flexible! One of them told me she had been dancing since the age of two. The closest thing I've done to that was taking piano and vocal lessons from age 4-10. After that, I just started tinkering on the keyboard by myself from time to time, and of course I still sing. I could afford to brush up on my piano skills a whole lot more now that I think about it. Sound-check was fun to watch. I'd seen the guys do sound-check before, but this one was a little different. I finally got to hear Rye and Todd sing by themselves. It's like when you think about Lance Bass from *NSYNC who does the bass vocals. You think his voice is super low because you never really hear him sing by himself, but wait until you hear him sing in his new movie On the Line. His voice really isn't as low as you think, and that goes for Rye and Todd as well. It just depends on what part of the 5-part harmony they're singing. For anyone who's never seen it, sound-check is when the performers test their in-ear monitors & mikes to make everything sounds alright. And there's always a sound guy tapping the mike going, Two, two, two. Yep, yep. Can you turn off the house? Yep, yep. LoL It wasn't that crowded when they let all the people into the Amphitheater, but by the time it got dark, it was pretty filled. From what I could see, all of the Townsend regulars were spread out amongst the first few rows. And this time, my parents were able to see the guys without a bunch of girls standing in front of them. When the lights dimmed and the intro music began to start, there came those butterflies again. I was so psyched because I knew the guys were gonna blow the audience away. And they did! That was by far, the best performance Townsend has ever done in front of a live audience. The energy was high, and it showed. I have never seen the guys so happy. I know you've all seen Rye smile before, but Saturday night, I saw a whole new smile on his face. I swear, it was far beyond ear to ear. LoL All of them looked so happy! I could tell they knew this was it. They were smiling and waving at everyone. It was so cute! Then the throwing of things onto the stage began. Oh boy. Well at least it was only candy. That's nothing compared to the things I've seen thrown onstage at concerts. And the unveiling of the Townsend dancers went great as well. I thought they were a nice touch to the performance and added something a little extra. And as far as the guys' dancing VAST improvement and I say that in the nicest way. All those numerous, late-night rehearsals really paid off. They're all getting better at being emcees and introducing themselves. This time, I couldn't decide which song was performed best because all three were executed very well. So everything went the way it was supposed to, and we all went home happy. Continued 11/1/01 I'm also very glad to hear that the fans passing out flyers on their own time at various other concerts has paid off as well. I just recently heard that a girl in Courtney's class heard about Townsend from the Plus One concert we were at promoting the guys while in line. Townsend picked up a lot of fans from that crowd and that was the day Plus One first heard of them. One of the guys has their CD. A lot of people don't realize it, but there are actually quite a few big-name stars that know about Townsend and have heard their music. To name a few, Plus One, *NSYNC, Mandy Moore, Steve Smashmouth Harwell (Obviously), Jessica Simpson, Dante Thomas, the Backstreet Boys, and probably more. And I know a lot of people have gone home with those blue flyers. Someone I haven't talked to for a couple of years just contacted me recently to tell me how much she liked Townsend without realizing we had gone to school together. And she now attends a different high school, which excites me to know Townsend's popularity is spreading throughout the East Bay. Ohh I just remembered. I had one of those really embarrassing moments involving Townsend last week. I really don't want to elaborate on it since it makes me look incredibly stupid, but let's just say it has to do with Todd. Only my parents and one friend know. Maybe I'll tell you if I'm up to it. Hehe Can you believe how fast Thanksgiving & Christmas are coming up? Halloween just passed, it's not even Thanksgiving yet, and I've already seen Xmas stuff at the mall. You know what would be cool? Townsend singing Xmas songs. That just popped into my mind now. Hm - On the first day of Xmas, my best friend gave to me, a picture of Nick Restani. Hahaha Yea I know that was dumb, but hey it rhymed. Now I'm getting ideas. Watch, in a few weeks you'll be seeing an infomercial for Joy Presents Townsend Xmas Carols. LoL Well I'm ready for another phenomenal show at the Girl Scout Expo 2001, and I'll see some of you there. My friend Hong is thrilled to be seeing the guys perform for the first time. She hasn't seen them since February. It should be interesting with girl scouts in the audience. I hope they're selling cookies. Hehe Thin mints baby! Those are the best. Continued 11/3/01 Whew I am worn out. I just got back a little while ago; we went out to eat after leaving Great America. I had some major yawns going on, but surprisingly didn't fall asleep in the car on the way home. Hong and I were too busy singing *NSYNC songs and talking nonstop. Where should I begin? Well today was yet another successful performance; the guys gained a lot of new fans. Easily over a thousand. The show was in the Paramount Theater in the middle of the park. We passed out a lot of flyers beforehand; however there weren't that many people waiting in line to get in. But right when I went inside to get some more flyers, boom, all these people showed up in a matter of minutes. The line went from thirty-something people to hundreds. But I really should base today on what my friend Hong thought because this was her first time meeting Matt (who she adored!) and seeing the guys perform. She met Dom, Nick, Todd, and Rye back in the day (as Dom put it). Plus, she's never really been to a concert before, so this was the next best thing to a BSB concert for her. Hehe She had so much fun! I'm really glad I brought her because seeing her enthusiasm made me happy. I think Nick & Dom's arms sort of had her spellbound for a few minutes because after we talked to them, her reaction was Whoa, hum-a-nuh, hum-a-nuh! I was cracking up listening to her. And of course, Matt succeeded in winning over yet another one of my friends. She liked Matt's personality the best, but was very impressed by all of the guys. Hong loved the performance and was thrilled to be able to hang out with them. There were a whole bunch of first's for her today. She was a little overwhelmed by all the screaming fans, but got over it pretty quickly. I also discovered the secret to the maintenance of their fashionably glitterized clothes. =) I will definitely try that one day. There was a contest for the Girl Scout Troop Leaders before Townsend performed their last song. Oh my lord, that was hilarious. All of the troop leaders were older women, so it was really funny to watch them dance. But some of them were pretty good! Then Matt just ran onstage and started to bust a move. LoL Those girl scouts sure are spirited. These girls sitting by me were the loudest ones in the whole theater, especially when Nick threw one of them his towel. There were a lot of I LOVE YOU *insert name here*'s! Townsend performed Understand This, Just Say Goodbye, and Tonight is For You. Todd was mentioning how he put in a request for thin mints, but hadn't gotten any. Click here for sound clip...! The meet-n-greet afterwards was just nuts. Very organized, but lots of screaming. :P Screaming obviously comes along with everything they do. A few of us managed to slip in a couple of rides in order to occupy ourselves in the meantime. One thing that cracked me up was listening to some of the adults who were watching the meet-n-greet by us. Some kid's parents are just, what's the word? Observant and opinionated I guess you could say. And did you know the guys stayed there until every single person had gotten an autograph and picture? It lasted an easy couple of hours. You have to hand it to them. I know the guys were tired, but they were sweet enough to wait for everyone. Now that's dedication. But after the meet-n-greet, we packed up and headed for the rides. I think we managed to tick off some of the little kids since we didn't wait in line. Oops. I'd probably be mad too if I were them. It was still tight nonetheless. Let's see, we went on Stealth, Top Gun, Drop Zone, and the Demon. Then we went to go play some games. And may I mention I was the first one to win a game! Whohoo! Go me! LoL I never expected to win because everyone always talks about how the games are rigged. Man,you have to go on all those rides at night. It's the best because they go faster and it's more thrilling being in the dark. Top Gun was whoa, I left my stomach back there somewhere. Hong almost didn't go on Drop Zone the second time, but she went on like a trooper. Good job! Ok and who's decision was it to close the Dip-N-Dots booth when we were next in line?! I love those things, but I settled for shaved ice, which was sooooo smart considering how cold it was. Yea, you can see how high my IQ is. We were just running around like a bunch of kids, acting like dorks which is always fun. Thanks to Julie, Steve, Bob, Lou, the other Julie ^_^, Jeremy, Kendra, everyone basically. Tonight was probably the most fun I've had at a Townsend event. And now I'm going to go get some much needed sleep! Return To All Access Column Index