The show rocked as it always does!!! My friends and I arrived at the casino hotel early and headed straight for one of the restaurants. On our way, we ran into Mike (Mark's brother)...very cool...and he told us Mark was somewhere about. This was great because that meant that some diehard fans were there!!! Then we ran into the guys walking through the hotel and it was hugs and chatting a bit! Henry assured us that we were REALLY going to be impressed with the fan club CD of unreleased material because it contains some of their best work. He also said that the delay of the new single and the "For the Sake of the Song" CD, is all about timing and when they and Rust feel it will get the most attention. The new single will definitely be released in January. Oh and Henry said they may release another fan club CD with more unreleased material next year when we re-new our memberships...YEEEHAWW!!!...not many artists that I know of are doing that for their fan clubs!!! I asked Henry if they were going to sign after the show and he said he didn't know.Then it was off to eat and call Heather to see if her and John had made it to their hotel yet. We were the first to arrive at the Rollins Center and since the show was sponsored by the Three Little Bakers dinner theater in Wilmington, one of the ladies (Vickie) who subsequently sold merchandise for Restless Heart, told us that she may be able to get us into the meet~n~greet seeing how dedicated we are. The meet~n~greet was presumably for contest winners, etc. I told Heather we'd save spots for her and John in line since the show was general admission. At around 5:00P some others began to join us in line and Heather and John followed suit. It was great seeing them again! grin A short time later, Vickie came over to three of us and handed meet~n~greet laminates to my friend Brenda which was very cool! Heather asked one of the female employees if she could personally give Henry a check she'd brought. So those of us with passes as well as Heather and John were let into the showroom first so we could get our seats and then we lined up for the meet~n~greet only to be greeted by Buck and the whale of a fish story about one he'd recently caught in the Gulf and how much they were enjoying it on the bus. Buck is without a doubt one of the craziest people I've ever met!! But then again, he WAS born in NJ. ;) The meet~n~greet was with BlackHawk and 2 members of Restless Heart, as well as 2 members of Little Texas. We missed Anthony earlier in the day, so this was the perfect opportunity to get a hug from him! The ladies know how imporant that is. :D When I stood between Henry and the drummer from Restless Heart(whose name escapes me), he said to Henry, "man you guys know everybody...we don't know anybody". That was too funny! Henry told me they would be signing afterwards and to come see them. I forgot to mention that I had taken a new denim jacket with me for the guys to sign and with luck if get enough signatures on it, which I'm sure I will, if there's another auction for the research fund in Van's honor I will donate it. Henry and Dave signed it early in the day.

It's now back to our seats to prepare for Restless Heart and on the way there I ran into Mark who had on his very cool t-shirt with with the words Henry 4 Prez. Those guys sound as good as ever but I think it would have been really cool if Dave had joined them on "Bluest Eyes..." Larry Stewart came off the stage and took a very cute little girl into his arms. After Restless Heart and a brief intermission, Joyce and I walked outside to get some air and there was Miles. Miles is a boss at the casino hotel and although I'd only met him one other time, he wanted a hug...it must be something in the air up here. LOL Then it was time for BlackHawk to rock Dover and rock they did!!! I know I'm going to forget some of the songs they did but I do remember "Brighter", "Who's Gonna Rock Ya", "Knoxville Girl", "Voices" (which Henry dedicated to me and Heather...their Northeast friends...thanks Henry that was very sweet!), "Just About Right", "Goodbye Says it All", "Love Like This" and "Big Guitar". Just before the last song on the list, Chris came out and laid a sign on the stage that said 'Add 5 or 10 mins'. The crowd really cheered for BlackHawk and by then some of us were at the stage and at the feet of the masters (our rightful spot)!!! They really enjoyed Restless Heart and Little Texas but it was in my opinion BlackHawk that really rocked 'em. After the show, they signed autographs and I was able to get Anthony's signature on the jacket. We hung out a bit with the guys and got more hugs and then they were off and took our seats back in the showroom where Little Texas had taken the stage. Porter Howell can play his butt off on the lead guitar! My friends and I left during the last song to beat the crowd. It was an incredible day and excluding the approximate 15 min. breaks in between acts, the shows lasted for 2-1/2hrs. Although each act performed for approx. 45 mins., they selected the best songs for that time period.

Thanks guys for being you and for the reason we love you!!!!