It just doesn't happen.

Unless, of course, you are Melissa Etheridge.

Let us start at the beginning... :-)  

In Orlando I had the opportunity to say hello to Melissa one last time...

Frank talked to her first... he gave her some more nice stuff (he has impeccable taste in presents, I tell you! :-)  Melissa always likes what he gives her :-)  He told Melissa about the shows he'll be at from here on out and Melissa said something like "you're really bringing it in"... she told him "you've been to all kinds of shows"... then she walked to me and said "...and you too"... :-)

I told her "I just want to thank you for the best freakin' summer!" :-)  I also asked her "Are you like... ready to be done with this tour?!"  I totally expected her to say "heck yes!", but instead her answer was more about how Tammy's REALLY ready for the tour to be over :-) ... and how much she (Melissa) is loving it, and how great it is with THIS band... As she was telling me about how special THIS band, she interlaced her fingers like this... she truly loves THIS band! :-)

I also gave her a paper Tigger asked me to give her (with Edith's story), and told her to read it much much later... she understood and said "Yeah, it's deep, eh?"... I was glad to do that for Tigger, as she really wanted Melissa to get the "rest of the story" from the night before...

I gave her a couple of t-shirts from the Hard Rock Cafe in Bogota, Colombia... told her I figured she'll never really go there... :-)  Then I got my last Melissa huggie... Not sure I had mentioned this, but Melissa gives really really good huggies! :-)

Frank, my travel package angel... I cannot thank you enough for being such a huge part of a most amazing summer!  You are my favorite nuclear physicist!  Well, the only one I know, but still... totally my favorite! :-)

It was wonderful to see and spend some time with Dawn and Angie from England... they are the sweetest, funniest people!!! I love them! :-)  And Melissa is very fond of them too... at the meet and greet... she hadn't even reached them when her arms were outstretched, "already ready already" to hug them! :-)  And then they chatted for like half an hour!  :-)  OK, not really half an hour... but they did chat for a while... it was fun to watch Melissa talking to them... they were making her laugh... surprise surprise... they are SO FUNNY! :-)

I actually took a bunch of notes at the show, but they're not the most organized notes, so bear with me... I'll do my best to get things in sequential order, but there's a major possibility that I will fail that mission :-)  And of course, I already know this will be a very very very very very VERY long write-up!  So, proceed with caution ;-)

Even before the show started, I knew it was going to be a tremendous improvement from the DC show.  I'd already been hanging out with Angie & Dawn, and Kathy & Sandy... Then, outside the venue I exchanged huggies with some other freakazoid fans, like Gino (holla!), Giant, CG, and Linda... yup, this was going to be a whole different kind of crowd... I felt kind of *lonely* in DC 'cause I didn't know anyone there... :-)  Not to mention all of them were able to upgrade their seats, so we were going to be in the same area!  YAY!!! :-)

The front row of this venue was really cool.  It is 12 seats.  That's it.  12 seats right in the middle with enough space for others to rush the stage... that's important, you know....?  I actually do like to "share the wealth" :-) 

Not that the location of our seats mattered much, 'cause all of us freakazoid fans were just standing around by the stage... and security was really good at letting us hang out... :-)  At some point one of the security dudes asked me/us if we had seats on the front row, and I said "yes, that's my seat" and pointed to my seat, where Linda was seating :-)  He said "OK" and kept going on his merry way... :-)  The other security guard saw Dakota standing at the stage and was talking to her... I was afraid he was going to tell her to move, but then I heard him say "I saw you on the newspaper"... so I had a feeling Dakota would most likely keep her spot right there in the center... that dude was pretty cool!  :-)

The lights went down and we secured our spots on the stage.  I got my favorite spot... between Philip and Mark... closer to Philip, with the speaker (the one with Melissa's voice) on my left.  Perfect! :-)  There's something to be said about actually being able to hear what the woman has to say! :-)

The guys came out and took their places... Philip and I exchanged our hellos... and then Fritz saw me and we exchanged our hellos as well... :-)

This venue was really really great!  Very small and intimate... I do believe that's how Melissa likes her venues... small enough so she can "reach out and touch" people :-)

Unlike DC, we were able to enjoy Melissa singing right in front of us quite a bit.  Of course, the only drawback to that is the major neck ache one gets from looking up all night!  LOL! :-)

Cool moments:

I said hello to Chainsaw and spoke a little french to him... he said he speaks Quebecois and not french :-)  Whatever, man! :-) :-) :-)  I also told him I had like 5 bags of confetti (I was kidding, of course!) and he threatened to use the leafblower on my face... LOL!!!  Another nice Chainsaw moment was when Caren asked him at the beginning for the set list and he told her "no"... then at the end he took the set list, and when Caren asked for it, he just turned around and took it with him... Caren was disappointed.  But I never lost faith... :-)  He then came back with a clean copy for her (Melissa's had the sticky with "Ruins" on it)... I do like that Chainsaw dude! :-)

Melissa changed the set list more than once - She did Cherry Avenue for Kathy (and Gino) instead of Brave and Crazy... which had already been changed to Ruins by Chainsaw :-) She also did All The Way To Heaven instead of Talking To My Angel for Trina from Ireland... sweet! :-)

Philip noticed my haircut and told me it looked good.  Some time later, Fritz noticed and also told me it looked good!  Yay! :-)  (Now, what I want to know is why Melissa didn't mention my haircut too?! (just joshing, but y'all know that already... ;-)

When she was singing All The Way To Heaven, and she came to the part that says "you'll pierce your nose and I'll tattoo my arm..." she lifted her t-shirt sleeve and showed her "Angel" tattoo to the peeps on the right side :-)

Mark, he's so funny!  During his solo, some people were screaming for him and he totally stopped playing and just looked in their direction!  LOL!  Afterwards he was telling Melissa about their screaming and then ran to the edge of the stage to get them to scream some more.  I do love me some Mark, dude! :-)

Melissa was on a roll with the funnies in Orlando!  Here are some things I jotted down 'cause they were too funny:

- I spend a week in Florida and I'm like... "Y'all"...

- My mother taught me not to say "expecially"... so ESpecially... How did my mom get into this conversation!?

- Love yourself.  Simple.  They should teach in in the sixth grade. (Great quote if you ask me! I think I may just have to borrow it ;-)

- Taking about how the tour was scheduled... taking her from Florida to Indianapolis... she was like... lots of bus time... will be watching Law And Order over and over! :-)

- It was quite warm in the venue... So, when Kathy, Gino and some others were fanning her with their signs... she said "These are some of my biggest fans!"... then she laughed and said "You can take the girl out of the lounge..." LOL!  Cute!

During Piece of My Heart she kneeled and played with Philip... it was intense!  So much so, that when she was done, she just fell back and lied there on the stage for a bit... LOL!!!

Some of my signs to Melissa:

When she sang The Different -->  Could any song rock more than this one? - She liked it and smiled big.

During Mercy --> Another total masterpiece!  No real reaction.

Really - Don't stop touring --> Big smile and that look like "I wish, but..."

After Sleep (on the piano) --> That was sweeeet!  WOW! - Everybody was giving her some major feedback then, so not sure if she noticed mine.

How can it be the BEST every time? --> Big grin on that one!?

Sleep on the piano was out of this world, woman! --> I'm told she really liked that one.  I was actually texting someone when I was punched in the arm and told "she just smiled at you!"... I totally missed it.  And it was the only freakin' time I texted all night!  Of course! :-)

Of course there had to be one that should have never been:  When she was doing "Meet Me In The Back" I held up a sign saying "I'll need a backstage pass"... What a dork!!!  She read it and it looked like she was thinking... how cheesy and dumb can a sign be? :-)  Oh well, I was just trying to be funny and it sounded clever when I thought of it!  LOL!

I also wrote down on my notes that I made a sign saying AWESOME!  But I have no idea when that was :-)  Could have been during Meet Me In The Back, 'cause that SOOOOOOOOO ROCKED!!! :-)

As soon as she started Piece Of My Heart --> Tonight we must feed the dog! - Big big smile and thank you to Melissa, who gave us the whole story... Ahhhh we LOVED IT!!!

Also during Piece Of My Heart I looked to my right and saw Dakota making a sign for Melissa... It said "Wail here!".  I looked to my left and saw Kathy with her sign saying "Scream here!"... I then saw Melissa reading both signs (one person was between me and Dakota on the right, and there were about 4 people between Kathy and I on the left).  Melissa looked at them with that "OK, you both want the same thing you crazy people"... :-)  So she went over to the right and when she came back, I held up my sign which said "No!  Here!"  LOL!!!  She totally laughed when she read it!  I was really only trying to be funny, not seriously asking for the scream... So imagine my surprise when she kinda divided it between the three of us, but finished it up screaming right to me... AAAAAAAHHHH another PRICELESS moment brought to you by the one and only Melissa Etheridge!!! :-) :-) :-)

When she came out for the encore, I said Nobody does it better!  :-)  Damn skippy!  

Looking at my notes, it looks like I didn't make any signs for Philip... Ack!  I did make a couple for Mark and Fritz...

It's very hard - a challenge really! - to get Mark's attention... After his solo I wrote a sign saying "The bass man holds the key"... well, try as I may... he never did look at it!  Typical! :-)  A little later I wrote another sign that said "You totally missed my sign" or something like that :-)  He did read that one and I think told me to try again, so I wrote "I said you hold the key!"... it was about 5 or 10 minutes later that he FINALLY looked at it!  LOL!

I made two signs for Fritz... one said "Fritz, you rock!"... The other one may have scared him... LOL!  But I was just trying to be cute! :-) When they came out for the acoustic song... Fritz ended up sitting right across from me.  I thought that was pretty neat, so I wrote "It's my Fritz! :-)"  Tee hee... he looked a little bit like he was thinking... uh huh... stalkerish some, are we? :-)  But I do hope he knows that's SOOOOO not the case!!! LOL! :-)

Oh, I did make a sign for Philip, reminding him he needed to come see me at the end of the show... I'd brought a little something for the guys... Philip didn't forget, and got the stuff at the end... cool! :-)

There were many many MANY awesome moments that night!  The stage was small enough so that, even though I was on Philip's side, I was still able to interact with Fritz too - which by now you all know is one of my favorite things to do! :-)  Of course there's also no better treat than watching Philip do his magic on the guitar, by himself AND with Melissa... it is ALWAYS an absolute joy to watch him!!!  He is an AMAZING guitarist, and an even more AMAZING human being!!!

The show was one of the very best I've seen and experienced! Two incredible moments that stand out:

Sleep - For the first time she sang Sleep on the piano.  This was truly something!!!  As if driven by some invisible force, while she was playing the song... Gino and I looked at each other at the exact same time and mouthed "WOW" to each other... over and over again... OMG, that was absolutely amazing!!!  I think she got the message when everybody was telling her and signing to her how incredible that was, because she said "I need to do that more often..." :-)  OMG... there's really no way to explain how BEAUTIFUL that was!!!

Meet Me In The Back - I can't think of ever having had more fun rocking to a song!!!  I just danced like a total nut!  I did not care if I looked like the biggest fool!  It was the most fun ever, man!!!  And hey, I wasn't the only one... I know tiny little CG was going to town too!  LOL!

I tell you... NOTHING beats being at the stage all night... I have been spoiled to no end on this tour!!!

I couldn't talk about incredible moments without mentioning sweet Linda from Canada.  It was a great night for her too! When Melissa went to bend down to get her water the first time, Linda reached for it and gave it to her.  Melissa said something about the fans knowing the drill or something like that and how cool this was, because she wouldn't have to bend down.  Well, after that... Linda officially became Melissa's "water girl" for the night.  It was way cool! :-)  At one point, Melissa took the water from the other "water girl" on the right and Linda yelled something like "did I lose my job?", so I quickly wrote on the whiteboard "Was I fired?" and gave it to Linda who showed it to Melissa.  Melissa laughed and said "no... I was just on this side"... or something like that.  It was super cute! :-) 

Linda did the job so well that Melissa graced her with... not one... but TWO picks!!!  Cool for her! Even though that pick was like... almost in my hand when she changed her mind and gave it to her favorite "water girl" instead :-)

Linda totally touched my heart when, after the concert, we were outside chatting and she thanked me for my energy and told me that I made her dance... :-)  How SWEET is she!!!???  It was truly a pleasure to have met Linda and I hope to see her again... maybe next time I'll make it to Canada during the tour ;-)

One of my (many!) favorite parts of the show is when Melissa hits the high notes!  That is really something to see!  Goodness gracious!!!  I love it!!!  This time, she went really high for a long time... When she was done, she looked at us and pointed to her head like... Whew... I got a headache now! :-)

As you may have gathered by now... too many wonderful memories were made... again!

But the absolute highlight of the night was Dakota's moment... One of Dakota's many signs was that this was her last show (and I was very glad that she got to hear Mercy -for her AND for me! :-) and that Melissa honored her and Tigger's request for Sleep- and thensome!!!)... So... Melissa finishes singing "All The Way To Heaven"... and comes by shaking hands... as usual... When she gets to Dakota, she kneels down, grabs her whiteboard and pen and signs her name on it.  Then she writes "Thanks!" on top of it. 

 

 

The "M" got a little smudged, but hopefully they can preserve this... a little difficult with it being written with a dry erase pen... but if anything, at least there is the photo... and the amazing memory of a perfect moment, of course... :-)

As Tigger says, Melissa was *talking back* to Dakota the way Dakota had been talking to her all along.  It was hands down my favorite moment of the night... Just when you think Melissa couldn't be more special if she wanted to... BAM!  There she goes again!  She is just freaking amazing, that's all there is to it!!!

Oh, almost forgot one sign:  During I Run For Life --> Best line of any song: "I'll tell you I run for us all" THANK YOU!

And see... I absolutely mean that. 

I don't know that there is a line on any song that summarizes who Melissa Etheridge is better than that one. 

This is a woman who has never shied away from anything life has thrown at her.  Whatever it is... She grabs it and not only survives it and grows from it... she actually makes it her mission to use it to educate and inspire! 

At the risk of sounding a tad mushy here... Melissa truly has my undying admiration.

Is it 27 August yet? :-)