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23 March 2004

This is such a cool story!  You won't be disappointed... I was smiling biiiig while reading it!

(thanks for letting me share your story, Leigh!)

I had worn my Mardi Gras beads to the Super Tix pre-party. Being from Louisiana, I had brought some nice ones to share. Some how the bead thing with the boardies never really got off the ground. Sooooooooo I decided to wear them all (At Mardi Gras, the more beads the better . .I got some stares, but who yah' know, who really cares?)

I ended up winning one of the lottery tickets that allowed me to have a box seat. I was standing next to a girl (Tamara) who had won a seat in the same box. We looked at each other and then at security which had some how moved so that we were behind them. Tamara said "you think?" . .and I said . ."let's go" (the whole way I was briskly walking down this empty hall I was thinking . .'what's the worse that can happen, . . . well they just made Camille go back' . . . if you don't know what I'm talking about check out Camille's reviews)

We enter into our box and found that it directly looked at the stage from the side. We were right over Trace's head. I looked down and Phillip and Trace were making some last minute tune ups on the guitars. They were not very far down so I just looked at them and said "hey guys" . . and they promptly looked up and grinned and said "Hey back to you" I preceded to talk to Phillip and tell him how much I admired his guitar playing. He was quite humble and made a slight bow.

Since I was leaning over the small ledge of the box, so were my Mardi Gras beads. Trace looked at them and said something like "wow, nice beads". I immediately answered "Would you like some?" Welllll, then Phillip got into the action too . . .both wanted the Duck beads . ..but when Trace saw the wood carved Alligator beads he opted for those. Phillip was so excited "I love duckies" he kept saying. I gave them beads for Melissa and Tammy (one had solid small green dice on them all the way around and the other one had large white beads mixed with red lips) Trace said "I will put them in her basket . .that's all I can do . .and I said "fair enough". (Who knows who ended up with them.)

At this point I ask Trace . .you think I can have a pick? . .and he replied "sure" . .so he and Philip gathered up some picks and Trace stood on a huge box and handed them to me as I leaned down. (Figuring out how to do this was half the battle . . . both tried throwing them up to me with no success.)

Feeling a little bolder I looked at both and said "can I have your sigs". . both looked at each other and said "cigs?" And I said "yes, your signatures" and they both started laughing and said "we thought you were asking for cigarrettes" . . .LOL

Trace was reluctant and embarrassed but I persuaded him that I wanted his too . . .so up on the box Trace went AGAIN and he handed both Tamara and me the sheets of papers with their signatures on it . .

By this time, we had been joined by the other girl (Deb) that had won a box seat. She and I had eaten dinner at the same table with MichelleW and her girlfriend.

So now there are three excited (trying very hard to be cool) ladies hanging over the box rail talking with both guys. I had one last pair of beads and I said. . "Would y'all see that Kenny gets these" . .No problem they said . ."we will put it in his basket" . . .

During our chat, Deb looked at Phillip and said "Is there any way you could come up and give us a hug?" He looked at us with that quirky smile and said ."well yeah . .give me a few minutes" and he disappeared.. . .Deb, Tamara and I all looked at each other and were just shaking our heads. We were all mumbling something like . ." I can't believe this is happening and other nonsensible expressions.

Our waitress arrived to ask us our drink order (another perk for the boxes) and we were watching her leave when this tall, beautiful blonde young man came walking into the room. Phillip is sooooooooo cute!!! I gave him a hug and talked to him about how I felt he was "one" with his instrument. Silent tears were streaming down Deb's face. Tamara said "I'll just settle for a handshake". In retrospect, people react soooooo differently to unexpected surprises. Never in a million years would we three have thought that this would happen. After hugs goodbye,(Tamara shook his hand again, lol) he started out the door as I said , "Phillip don't worry about the stupid review" and he replied "what review?" I said "ohh, the jerk said they said you were 'trying to be like Hendrix'" and he started laughing. "What guitar player in the world doesn't try to be like Hendrix" he said. Which we replied "well we think you are better than Hendrix" . .and he laughed and left.

AGAIN . .We three just looked at each other . . I said something like "this is surreal" and Tamara and Deb agreed, each of us looking at the pics and autographs. I leaned down and ask Trace how many tour pics there were and he held up 3 fingers and said "a white one, orange one and black one". I looked at my pics and said . ."Traceeeeeee, I didn't get a black one" and so the search began for the black guitar pic . . .3 minutes later he is up on the box handing me the black guitar pic. ( I think I'm going to adopt Trace.)

The three of us were settling down and calling out to boardies that we could see coming toward the stage area. Phillip and Trace would help us shout the names with Trace doing a count down "o.k. . .on 3". . LOL . .(I think Gigi was the only boardie that heard her name) . . .LOL

It was getting closer to show time and the waitress had just arrived with our drinks. We turned and there were 4 people coming into our room that didn't look like they were MEIN people. I looked at the one that was pointing to the others the stage and the seats (behind ours) and I said "Kenny?" and Kenny grinned and said "yes" and I said "wow, can I give you a hug, you are wonderful" and he said "surreeeeeeeeeee" So now I had a big bear hug from Kenny. Deb was beside herself, totally gone, now she was really crying and Kenny held her and said "aaaaaaaaahhh don't cry" . . .. Tamara shook hands again. LOL

I ask him "Kenny, did you get your Mardi Gras beads?" He said "noooooo, I saw Mark with some". I replied "Kenny those were meant for you, those are your beads". He looked at the dressing room door and said "Well, I'm getting them back". I started laughing and said "you think I could get a drum stick from you" and he said "you got it, I will get one up to you" So now he signed my paper that had Phillip's and Traces "sigs" on it and told his "friends" goodbye, hugs all around and he left. (Tamara shook his hand again, LOL)

We immediately started chatting with Kenny's friends. They were very interested in "Boardies" and the fan club etc. There was one man and two ladies. We all chatted for about 10 minutes and getting settled for the concert. I ended up sitting next to one of the ladies, a very pretty blonde, and I finally introduced myself and she shook my hand said "Hi, I'm Jill" . . .

She and I chat a bit more about the stage . . etc. . and I notice that she had an 'all access pass' hanging around her neck . .. I commented on something like "oh, that's what they look like". . and she says yes and held it out for me to examine . .I turned it over and it had J. Arnoff on it. I said. . "Arnoff? Are you Kenny's wife". She smiled and said "yes". Oh my goodgod, my mind starts silently spinning, this is going way beyond surreal . .. I'm going to be watching a Melissa Concert, sitting next to Kenny's wife !!

Sitting in the far end box seats, you do have an awesome view of the backstage, and plus you get to see what Melissa's sees when she looks out over the audience. A sea of smiling faces, waving hands and dancing bodies. Truly incredible. Others have reported on the concert and how truly magnificent Melissa performed so no need to add on to what they have described so beautifully.

Jill Arnoff and I exchanged quick comments on things we saw or heard during the concert. We shared our favorite songs from the CD. Talked about Kenny's website that they are trying to get off the ground. Talked about his tour with Michelle Branch and how it differed from the Melissa tour. Jill is a very delightful, soft spoken lady and I enjoyed visiting with her very much.

All of us stood and danced, shouted and hollered. It was a fun night. I have been thinking of the other things I saw that were not meant to be seen by the audience. I have decided that if they were not meant to be seen, then I will respect the privacy of the band members and Melissa. Some were cute expressions, some were reactions, some were what I saw Melissa mouth to her band when her back was turned to the audience. Kenny exchanged some cute gimmicks with Jill. He was sitting behind his drum set, waiting for his cue to play so I know he didn't mean for anyone but Jill to see him.

So all in all it was a wonderful experience. Very unique and very different. Kenny forgot to throw me a drum stick, so his friends from Indianapolis went to his dressing room promising to bring me back one if they could. What they brought back to me was a very cool stick with Kenny's name imprinted on the end and dents and scrapes where it has been used. So after more hugs and thank yous to his friends, I wandered back out of the HOB back to the HOB's hotel, feeling like I had been in a twilight zone episode.

So how cool does it feel to have the tour guitar picks, signatures, hugs, talks and greetings plus experiencing a marvelous concert . . . .pretty dang cool and very, very, very LUCKY!!

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