So... There's this ebay seller whose name I should start using as my motto:  "Front Row or Die!" :-)
   
Washington D.C... Another amazing show... of course! Although it did feel like Melissa was rushing through it... and there was no Melissa-Philip moment... which I found a bit odd.  Also, my friend D mentioned that she sensed some tension... Hopefully all is well, and they were just in a hurry.

This was a special show for D's sister, T, who had never seen Melissa live.  She likes Melissa, but only had one of her CDs... She came to REALLY like her after her Grammy performance and hearing "I Run For Life"... She bought "The Road Less Traveled" as soon as it hit the stores :-)  T's been battling ovarian cancer for a while, so Melissa's *bald* performance and the song mean a lot to her!

 

She was already super excited about going to see Melissa.  What she didn't know was that we had front row seats.  That was a cool surprise for her, to say the least! :-)  Our seats were left center, right in front of Philip.  The seats were about a foot from the stage, so all that discussion we'd had about rushing the stage proved unnecessary :-)  Too cool! :-)

 

The only thing about being on the front is that the sound is normally not good, unless you're standing right by the speaker that has her voice.  So I missed A LOT of what Melissa said when she was talking... grrr.  Although they did switch from the front speaker to the big ones on the side, so it got somewhat better :-)

 

I have to mention Jill, another Melissa virgin who was celebrating her 50th birthday.  She's a total sweetie and I was very glad I was able to help her with the fan club tickets... although I wish I'd gotten center seats for her... 'cause she was on the fifth row, but all the way to the left.  But she didn't mind... In fact, she was happy with her seats... :-)

 

My first sign to Melissa was "How Would I Know?  Oh yes... hello!" :-)  I couldn't tell if she saw it, so a bit later, I wrote just "How Would I Know?" and this time she read it and said "Maybe".  Not the definite "Yes" I was hoping for, but "maybe" is way better than "no"... :-)

 

Melissa was totally favoring the right side of the stage, and neglecting ours.  Which I found a bit strange, because although she does tend to favor one side more than the other (and it's normally the left side!), she always tries to take care of both... I believe it was during "I Want To Come Over" that I was beginning to take it personally, so I wrote on my dry eraseboard:  "What's wrong with this side?"... Melissa read it and proceeded to come over and sing -grinning & smiling- right to me for a nice bit of time.  OK, that was pretty doggone awesome! :-)  Then she also sang a little to the audience there on the left... I think they were pleased :-)

 

I was SO HAPPY when Melissa sang "The Different"... I LOVE that song!!! I really think it's superb!!!  At some point during it, she came over and sang right to me again... and I sang *with* her, which was oh so cool! :-)

 

Later on, Melissa again started to forget our side... I couldn't see, but the people on the front row over on the right side were totally getting her attention.  I know they were late getting in, 'cause she was joking that they'd missed like 5 songs, but then told them they'd only missed the first two... :-) Later someone told me that they kept switching places with other people who had seats somewhere else, so each time Melissa looked at the front row, it was different people... I reckon that would certainly be a way to keep her attention on them :-)

 

Which doesn't mean she should keep forgetting about us, though... so I made another sign telling her "We miss you over here"... She came back and sang to our side for a bit again... man, she made me work to get some attention for us *lefties* that night!!!  Each time she came over and sang in front of us, T really enjoyed it... it was way way cool to see her reaction to Melissa being that close to us.

 

Oh! Obviously I didn't like it when Melissa stayed on the right side for very extended periods of time, but T didn't really care... 'cause she would just stare at Philip until Melissa came back this way... tee hee... :-)

 

I was determined to get Melissa to give T a pick, so I began my campaign early during the show.  Before showing it to Melissa, I showed my first sign asking for the pick to Philip, 'cause I thought that'd be extra neat if Philip gave her his pick too... :-)  I then showed it to Melissa... She read it and gave me a very subtle hint of a smile... not very reassuring... hmmmmm...

 

Sure enough... As she was finishing up "Tuesday Morning" I asked again, but when she was done, she gave it to someone else... one chance down, two to go!

 

She was standing by the piano talking and I held up a sign saying "Sing my song!"... Tee hee... She mocked me by *pounding* on the piano and saying "Sing my song!  Sing my song!"... it was too freaking cute!  LOL!!!

 

She totally sang my song! :-)

 

Someone had a big nice sign that she liked.  At some point she was telling them that next time they should bring a dry eraseboard so they could write things, erase them and write new stuff... :-)  There was a point during that dry eraseboard conversation that she looked at me and gave me a great smile... I smiled back :-)

 

During "Bring Me Some Water" she, Mark and Philip did that cool "1...2...3...etc" thing I like to see :-)  Melissa messed up once... :-)

 

During "I'm The Only One" I held up a sign saying "Damn skippy!  you're the only one!"... yeah, that's another dumb one that's going straight into retirement :-)

 

I can't remember during which song it was when I held up a sign that said "YOU CANNOT STOP TOURING!"... :-)  She read it, smiled big and then said "Yeah"... as in "Not yes... but hell yes, I can!" I wish she wouldn't, but I guess it's only fair that she should get some rest after giving us the summer of our lives.  Hopefully she will get to rest some before the babies come! :-)

 

Oh, cute moment!  When Fritz spotted me, his reaction was the cutest thing! :-)  Ahhh... gotta LOVE the Fritz man! :-)

 

I called different people for the "Call Me From The Tour Tour" during the show... I didn't have good reception, so some of them didn't get to hear very well, and the calls were getting dropped... boo hoo...

 

During "Piece of My Heart", I again asked for a pick for T.  She finished the song and gave me an "I'm sorry" look as she gave the pick to the cute guy standing a couple of seats to our right... obviously she'd promised it to him... As she was standing there with the guys ready for the group bow, she once again gave me an apologetic look for not giving T the pick... Gosh, how sweet and special is she???!!!

 

When she came out again for the encore, I held up a sign which said "Thank you for the BEST time... over and over again!"  Smile! :-)

 

During "Like The Way I Do" she did come all the way to the left and did her solo to the people on the orchestra left and the balcony... they loved it!  Although I have to tell you... her solo on the right side was longer... yes, she liked them more over on the right, and it showed! Whasssup with dat? :-)

 

When she called the guys to come up and play together... you know, how they go to the left, play a bit there and then go to the right.... well, when they were going to the left, Mark's cord didn't reach!  It was funny, but not so much for the people on the left, I guess... 'cause they ended up basically playing in the center... grrr for the left!  :-)

 

I showed them the sign saying "See you in Orlando"... which Melissa acknowledged... :-)

 

After "All The Way To Heaven", Melissa came over and gave her guitar pick to T.  OH YES!  She gave T the priceless moment I'd been hoping for.  T was way happy! :-) :-) :-)

 

We shook Melissa's hand and thanked her... and then she was gone... Ahhhh... I do love me some Melissa! :-)

 

The guys played for a bit after she left...  I tried to get Fritz to "stick" T, but I knew that was probably not gonna happen.  It didn't. 

 

As Philip was leaving, he said bye to me and then remembered about the pick, so he threw one my way.  Only it landed right in front of the lady to my left.  I could see she totally wanted it, but she was very respectful and didn't even touch it... 'cause she knew Philip had thrown it at me.  I told her she should keep it 'cause it was right in front of her... :-) she was happy and I was glad to see the smile on her face :-)  

 

You know, I totally believe in karma... but I didn't realize karma could work so darn fast! :-)  'Cause no sooner I'd let the lady have the pick, when one of the crew guys threw one (which Philip had definitely used!) RIGHT AT T! So she got her Philip pick too! It totally worked out for everybody! :-)

 

Jill came over and told me what a great time she'd had and what a wonderful show it was!  GREAT!  I so love being part of  popping a Melissa virgins' cherry! (Rhondda's expression, not mine!)!

 

We walked back to the hotel to have a quick drink before going home... Frank was happy, D was happy, T was SO freaking happy!  And you know I was way happy too.  But apparently I jumped A LOT during the show (well, not apparently... I DID jump A LOT! Tee hee)... 'cause my knees... well... they weren't too happy :-)

 

ORLANDO, HERE I COME!!! :-)