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ALL ACCESS
Column 6
January 6, 2001
We’re finally here in the New Year and just about done with the first week of January. 2001 was a bumpy ride of emotions and new experiences. Thank you everyone who made this past year a treat for me. I have to say that my Christmas & New Year’s Eve were very eventful and full of surprises. It really was nice to get out on the day before New Year’s and see some familiar faces at the Silicon Valley football game and the Radio Disney Bash. And it was a definite plus to see the guys after being Townsend-less for over a month.
Speaking from my perspective, I was so nervous for the guys’ halftime show. Courtney, Amber, and I were sitting in the stands...nervous wreck's, butterflies in our stomachs, shaking our legs, going, "Oh my god, oh my god…This really is happening." But I’m sure just about everyone who was there to see Townsend or watching them on TV felt the same way. The Yoakum’s, Restani’s, Torres’, Dolci’s, everyone’s family was there, even mine. Some of you might have even caught a glimpse of Holly from Dream who was there to lend her support.
It was pretty unreal to see "Townsend" in lights on the stadium scoreboard or the whole ad for them in the pamphlets being sold. Even the fact that they came in a limo kind of made me step back and go, "whoa things are really coming along for them." Think about it, Townsend has their own vocal coach, choreographer, dancers, make-up artist, bodyguards, manager, label, the whole nine yards.
The luncheon before the game was your basic tailgate party in a tent. There were separate tents for Fresno State and Michigan Stage. We were all in the Fresno one. Football fans really get in the spirit for bowl games I tell ya. There was a guy all in green (Michigan’s colors), and I mean literally painted head to toe. Then there was a Fresno fan all up in red too. The guys did a meet-n-greet where fans were given autographed t-shirts (with the new design) and the guys wrote personalized messages for everyone which was very sweet considering the time factor. Todd’s lips and teeth stayed blue-free that day. No more blue ringpops for him. LoL.
I really didn’t think that Fox Sports was going to show the halftime show since they usually go back and look at the first half of the game’s highlights. But evidently they did indeed show Townsend’s performance nationally. Ooooo the word nationally scares me. I don’t know how the guys looked to the tv viewers since I didn’t have the chance to record it. From what I saw from being there, I’d say it was an all right show for national tv first-timers.
All of the Townsend fans were mostly seated in two of the front row sections by Michigan’s goal post. From the moment the game started, everyone was counting down to halftime, and once a while we’d pay attention to the actual game. Well, that’s what I was doing. A stage was set in the middle of the field and when it was time, Townsend and all of their dancers ran onto the stage ready to began. The guys were all wearing blue, white, or red jersey’s that were customized with their names and favorite numbers. And did you notice they all had the same kind of jeans on? They had about twenty-something other dancers in addition to their own partners. "Understand This" was the first song and at first, it was hard to hear Matt’s vocals and we were seated pretty far from where they were performing, so I was looking at the big screen most of the time. By the time they were singing "Pour Some Sugar On Me", I could hear them much better. The choreography for it is tight! I didn’t even know that Rye had a solo in it until the Radio Disney performance. Rye sounded really good. I’m just not used to hearing him sing by himself. I was able to get a much better perspective of what the new song sounded like at the Radio Disney event. As soon as their half-time performance was done, we all jumped out of our seats and headed for the San Jose Convention Center, which was relatively close.
The 3 of us arrived just as Sweet Addiction and Kyniption were finishing up their "Celebration" set. I didn’t realize it until later, but I think Christian Hawkins from Diversity had opened the door from us. We just hadn’t recognized him. I really hope that Townsend and Kyniption can do some shows together in the future because with those nine, they’re bound to blow up big. The Radio Disney show was actually a lot more hectic than the football game, as crazy as it sounds. It was a big crowd of excited girls all smushed together in the front. Man was it loud! It felt like seeing Otown or BBMak again at the Fillmore. Matt’s buddy Bryan Chan from "Making the Band" was there. He was in the top eight of the show and is now in the group LMNT along with fellow Making the Bander’s Ikaika Kahoano, Mike Miller, and new addition Jonas Persch. He hadn’t seen the guys perform before so he brought his support for the guys as well.
Townsend’s Radio Disney gig went off excellent without so much as a few mic problems while they were talking. I just feel so much more confident when Matt’s dad is there to monitor the sound. But we finally went home after staying as long as we could possibly stay.
I cannot wait to hear the new EP album! So far, the songs that I know will be on there are:
-Tonight is For You
-Just Say Goodbye
-Understand This
-Close Your Eyes
-Jealousy
-Pour Some Sugar on Me
Don’t forget to order your Townsend album. You can do so by going to http://spunoutrecords.com/ and filling out the order forms.
Townsend will continue their Middle School Tour next week by heading out to Las Vegas. I think that’ll be pretty interesting. I’m sure that the middle schools in Vegas aren’t much different from any other school, but just the fact that they’re in Vegas should make it fun.
Alrighty, well school’s starting back up next week (Yikes!) and I think I better get ready, so enjoy your last weekend of vacation everyone.
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