Close Encounters of the MLE Kind

5 July 2005 - Look for the yellow to listen to sound bytes from the 8:00 pm show! :-)

19 April 2005

Just returned from a wonderful vacation which included a week on the OLIVIA Eastern Caribbean cruise, plus a few days of relaxation in Key West :-)

Before I begin, I have to tell you all: If you have not had an OLIVIA vacation, please... please... PLEASE do yourself the biggest favor in your life and travel with them! If you don't like the idea of a cruise, they also have other choices, like resorts and stuff. I had THE BEST time ever! Vacationing with 1800+ women and being able to be open and free was simply awesome! There were great activities, great entertainment, great shows, great sights, great food... great EVERYTHING!!! We met some cool people, and I loved seeing couples ranging in ages from their 20's all the way to their 80's... it was beautiful! So freeing and special! I could go on and on and on about what an amazing time I had, but you're here to read about Melissa, so I'll just tell you one last time: OLIVIA and OLIVIA vacations rock!!! And please, don't take my word for it... experience it yourself! I certainly know this has been the first of, hopefully, many OLIVIA trips for me! :-) :-) :-) The only drawback is having to come back to reality... :-)

There were two concerts, one at 6:00 pm and one at 8:00 pm. The concert time was based on what time dinner was. Those with early dinner seating got to see the late show and those with late dinner seating early show tickets. Knowing that I had early dinner seating, I started working on trying to secure an early show space before I left... I posted on the Olivia board and actually found someone who was not interested in seeing Melissa. It all worked out very well and she hooked me up with the ticket to the early show. I mean... you all know there was no way I could miss Melissa's first performance!!! :-)

For this show I was sitting upstairs. I was lucky to find a seat on the first row of the balcony to the left of the stage. As I'd been told, anywhere you sat, there was a very good view of the stage... so other than being way too far away from Melissa (I've been spoiled with being by the stage too many times), I had a very good visual :-)

Compared to the second show, this one was more subdued... which definitely makes sense, considering how thrilling and emotional it was with it being the first live show after her diagnosis. I know it definitely meant the world to me to be a part of it. I think the audience was also a bit tentative, not knowing how we were supposed to act :-)

I absolutely loved her hair. It was very short (you can see it on the TIME magazine special issue "The Time 100"). Sorta butchy but in a very chic way. I personally loved it and would not mind one bit if she left it like that!

One of her first comments was something like "I bet you thought it was Eminem"... :-)

I don't do the fashion report thing, but I remember she had a pink t-shirt with a western type shirt over it (with light blue squares) and different appliqués - it said WESTERN on the back. She had light jeans on, and I can't remember the shoes. Hopefully someone will send me some pics... hint, hint... ;-)

I took my light toy thinking she may remember it from Europe... I'll never know if she did, but regardless... it definitely caught her attention. Throughout the concert, she kept looking up at me twirling my light and sang in my direction quite a few times... won't say she sang TO me, 'cause I haven't a clue if she could see my face up there :-)

She joked about not accepting Olivia's invitation on previous occasions, thinking "me in a ship with 1800 crazy lesbians???" :-) That was cute. I hear that Tammy, Rosie and Kelly were there, but I did not see them. BTW, you can see a picture of her with Beckett taken during the vacation she took in Miami -which I guess was spent with the O'Donnells- in the PEOPLE magazine (with Drew Barrimore on the cover).

When she introduced TWIM, she started to talk about how the English say her name ("Melisser"). She started the story about when Joss Stone introduced her at the Grammys (and then said "I'm assuming you all saw that, but that may not be the case" or something like that)... anyway, she started that story a few times and kept getting sidetracked... she blamed it on chemo brain and said she'd have that excuse for a couple more months, but that was it :-)

I had a sign with a message from the Pink Bracelet Fund. It said "The PINK BRACELET FUND SAYS HELLO AND WISHES YOU WELL". Even though I was very far away, I still showed it to her. She was definitely trying to read it, and nodded, but I don't think she was able to see it.

She asked who had been to the first show... A few people clapped and I got up and twirled my light toy and she said "I remember YOU. You were up there before" and pointed to the balcony where I was sitting for the previous show. I kept playing with the light toy whenever she looked my way, but this time she wasn't so much into it. Tee hee... I probably annoyed a bunch of people with it... but hopefully she was not one of those people :-) Listen to Melissa talking to me :-)

I asked for THIS MOMENT (I'd made a sign that said THIS MOMENT IS PRICELESS [man, I was SO sure she'd play that song!], so I used it to ask for the song by covering "IS PRICELESS"... ) but she kept making the "maybe but probably not" face. At one point I asked again for THIS MOMENT and I had my "Melissa moment" of the night :-) as she focused on me and was making faces about my request and shaking her head as if thinking it over and deciding on "nah"... while I was making my "please, I beg of you" face :-)... then she looked away from me and looked at the audience with an expression on her face as if saying "Oops, there ARE other people here, let me pay attention to them!" TOO CUTE! :-) - See, that's what I mean about Melissa... the way she can make you feel special even when you know she doesn't know you from Eve :-)

She talked about Tammy and how she took care of her. She said something like "I worship the temple of the love of Tammy". Don't remember the exact wording but that was the idea :-) She told us how Tammy made her listen to all her CDs in order, starting with the first. She commented about being worried around Breakdown :-) Listen to Melissa tell the story! :-)

Heal Me

I Want To Come Over

Precious Pain

Chrome Plated Heart - better version... there was more energy behind it and she had a little fun with the guitar...

The Weakness In Me

Silent Legacy - Yes!!! Thank you to the fan who requested it! :-)

Lucky

You Can Sleep While I Drive

Bring Me Some Water

Towards the end, I held up the PBF sign and this time I was close enough and she read it and thanked me for it. It may have been after this when she thanked everyone for the outpouring of love and support (I read somewhere that she thanked the PBF, but I don't remember hearing that) Listen to Melissa thanking the fans :-)

That's about all I can remember... I did try to do the "Camille thing" and write things down, but it was too dark plus I didn't want to miss a thing while I was trying to write :-)

Oh... for both shows, the audience remained seated... boo hoo... :-)

Also, Melissa made a remark (maybe both times) about being tired after just one hour of playing... I'm sure it will be some time until she regains all her energy. Tired as she was, she rocked as usual! She looked and sounded beautiful! :-)

I can't recall exactly which show it was that she made comments about how she liked the fact that we would get her jokes, or something to that effect. She said on her regular shows her audience is very varied and OK, "we" are normally at the front, but she can't really say certain things or joke the way she could so openly in this all-girl setting :-)

Melissa was her usual amazing self and it will be quite hard for Olivia to top such a huge star. But I will say this: Even if she hadn't performed, this cruise would have been just as AWESOME! And that's a lot to say coming from this freakazoid fan, wouldn't you agree!!!??? :-)

I loved the fact that Jen Foster was there. I got a pic taken with her and my CD autographed... pretty neat. When I approached her after she sang by the pool, she recognized me from the audience because I was singing along to some of her songs... :-) She's working on her next CD with Jeff Trott, who's produced Sheryl Crow and Stevie Nicks. I really liked her new material, so be on the lookout :-)

Oh! Here's a tidbit from Jen Foster's journal (11 April entry): "...but the coolest thing was the melissa etheridge show...of course! wow, she was great. she came out lean, mean, and bald - and she rocked the house. she didn't have a set-list, and she took requests, so it was raw and intimate. she talked a lot more than she usually does, i heard...shared herself, let's say. i was impressed with what a great performer she is. always scanning the room, looking right into people's eyes, reaching out to everyone. and she seemed like she has grown immensely from this experience she has had with breast cancer. and she's come out stronger and more confident than ever. also, it was neat to see melissa's girlfriend - tammy - as well as rosie o'donnell and her girlfriend, kelly - in the sound booth enjoying the show. melissa sent a lot of love up to tammy, for helping her through her rough time. it was sweet."

Here are the other performers, who unfortunately I didn't really follow up on:

Mica Lee Williams

Rachael Sage

Anne E. Dechant

Edie Carey

Kristie Stremel