I'm still in shock that it happened in the first place! Everything kind of happened very quickly. I found out about Bobby coming a week before he was due here. He did the clinic in the afternoon and a concert that evening!
When I arrived that afternoon, Bobby was already there. I couldn't believe what he was wearing! The man was wearing shorts on the coldest day of the month! Needless to say, the next time I saw him, he had changed into warmer clothing. Smart man!!! The clinic was like nothing I had ever experienced before. It was just awesome!! He demonstrated percussion techniques on, now get this, two toilets!! It was quite a site! He also demonstrated his famous Octopus. Most impressive! With him were Neil Zaza and Bill "The Budda" Dickens. I had never seen guitar playing like that in my life! I never thought fingers could move that fast. They put on some performance. All three, especially Bobby, really impressed the audience. When the clinic was finished, Bobby took time for some autographs and pictures.
A few hours later, Bobby, Neil and The Budda took the stage again for an evening concert. Many who had attended the clinic had returned for the concert. He was so surprised. He even remembered me from that afternoon. The concert was just fantastic. Poor Bobby was put on the spot when we all asked for an encore. They did one more number for us.
Unfortunately, the night had to end for me. I went over to Bobby after the show, and said goodbye. This was an experience that I won't soon forget.
Alright, it was quite a night. I got to the venue and walked in. It was my first time there so I didn't know exactly where to go. I went to the nearest counter to ask for directions. No one was there so I turned around to look for someone who remotely looked like they worked there. No one fitting that description was in sight but I spotted a familiar face coming down the stairs. It was Bobby! Yep the Legend himself! By that time a staff member had arrived and asked if they could help me. I said, see this guy coming down the stairs behind me? Direct me to where he is playing. She told me and off I went. By that time, Bobby had stopped at the bottom of the stairs and was talking to someone. Well since I had to go up the stairs from where he had come from to go to the room, I had to pass right beside him. I stopped and said hi to him. I told him that I had come to see him and that I had a surprise for him, pointing at the envelope containing the precious letters that some of the fans sent him.He said good and that he loved surprises. I went upstairs and took my seat.
They started late. Have you ever seen musicians that started on time? The place was packed! Lots of people and stage lights so you can imagine how hot it was. Bobby was introduced first. He then introduced Neil Zaza and The Budda. Now, if you haven't seen these two gentlemen play guitar, I recommend that you do. You won't be disappointed. Awsome!!!!
Now about the pictures, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I took some but not many. There were just too many people. I had a hard time seeing the stage but I did want a couple of Bobby on his new set of drums. All in all, I took seven pictures and one of the brand new drum kit. I did move up to the front and got a close up of Bobby.
Now unfortunately, the concert came to an end. We were then told that they were going to have the meet & greet across the street at the music store but since the store wasn't going to be open for another ten minutes, we were to stick around and there were prizes to be won.
Now, this is were it got interesting. Now at our Nelson chat on the night before, the theme from Gilligan's Island was discussed. Well you wouldn't believe what one of the prizes was. A Gilligan's hat. Oh Lord!!!! You should have heard the theme song going through my head. Anyway, they were also giving away some t-shirts(not of Bobby but of the music store with it's logo on it). In order to win the t-shirts, you had to answer some trivia questions. Ok now the first question was obvious to me but I didn't think it was obvious to anybody else. The question was name two bands Bobby played with. Now here I'm thinking, that shirt is mine! There's no way that they were going to guess Nelson. Most folks around here don't know or remember them. All of a sudden, everyone yelled out "NELSON". I was stunned but very proud. I didn't get the shirt but was very happy that the band was remembered. Chalk up one more point for our guys.
After the prizes were given out, we were off to the store for the meet and greet. Before that got started, a short drum/guitar clinic was conducted. I sat in on the drum clinic. It was funny. Bobby had to sit at a very run of the mill drum kit. His reaction was I'm sitting in a foreign territory. Imagine playing the huge kit that he plays then sitting at a small one. I did find out something though and that was cute. When Bobby does small riffs on the drums, his tongue sticks out just a little. Hehe, just thought I'd share that with you.
After the clinic, it was time for the meet and greet. I took my spot in line and waited. I was talking to some guy who was ahead of me about Bobby. He introduced himself as Scott. Upon hearing his name I was frantically looking around for a crowbar but realized it was the wrong Scott. !!LOL!! (inside joke) My turn came up. I took out the precious letters out of the envelope. He was happy and surprised. He quickly took a glance at them then put them in his shoulder bag. He was going to read them later. I showed him that I had kept everyone's e-mail addy on the letters so if he wanted to respond to them at some point he could. He then asked me if I had his e-mail and I said yep and that I will e-mail him when he gets back home. It was then that his webpage was discussed. I mentioned to him that I had trouble accessing his sections on the page. He said that he new about it and that they were experiencing some trouble. He said that they had to change servers and everything was a big mess. I was goinging to offer the use of the crowbar but I decided not to (again an inside joke). They are working on it. We took a few minutes to talk about Matt & Gun(Nelson for those who don't know). He told me that he had spoken to them about two and a half weeks ago. All of this happened while he was signing my 8x10, the Renaissance Man poster and the Snap Crackle and Pop CD. Fantastic CD by the way. You should all get it.
Alas, the envening came to an end. I said goodbye to him and was on my way home. What can I say but I wish you all could have been there to share it with me. Meeting him for the second time was awsome!
