[Here's daydreaminmeme's Copia account of our adventures at the HOB New Orleans concert! She's a real storyteller!!!]Annie, Alex, Pamela (BUD) and I got to the venue around 5-ish....had talked to the delightful Cookie on the phone durin the day re M&G procedure, so we had some time to grab some dinner at the HOB restaurant. We weren't gonna hafta meet Stephen until 7:30 at the merch table. Cookie was SOOOOO sweet and helpful...can't wait to meet her one of these days at a concert!
[Ditto from annie!] After we ate, some of us went upstairs to the Foundation Room......WOW. It looks like what I imagine the inside of a sheik's tent would be...all oriental rugs and overstuffed sofas and chairs....rugs on the walls....really plush and intimate setting....had a drink up there....didn't even THINK about takin a picture...facepalm. Around 6:45ish Annie, her granddaughter, Alex, and I went to the Parish Room where the concert was gonna be so we could be sure to be on time for Stephen and our M&G.
REALLY neat venue! An oblong room with the stage upfront, and awesomely close access to it...with old church pews and sofas lining the walls, and a cool bar in the back...wish I had taken some pics of it...but again...facepalm...I'm too stupid to live....all I could think about was that M&G!elebenty-oneelebenty-one!
All of a sudden we realized MICHAEL was at the merch table!elebenty-oneelebenty-one! Ran back there to get a picture of him with Alex, Annie's granddaughter, but he was gettin ready to go onstage by then, so he said he'd catch us after his set. We all ran back up to the stage, but there were already people standin in my spot up close to it. I asked some very sweet ladies in front if Alex could stand with them, and they put her right in front of themselves! She was actually able to lean on the stage...and bless her little heart...she used my camera and she recorded one of Michael's songs...when I figure out how to load vids, I'll put it up. I got some good shots of Michael, and he had the crowd eatin out of his hands...he's such a chawmuh [charmer] with his banter..his set was GREAT, but too darn short...I told him later that he needs to do MOAR songs! He was kinda bummed cuz his "alb"s didn't arrive and he had nothin to sell at the merch table...he told us he calls his ep an "alb" cuz nobody knows what an ep is, and it's really a short album, so he came up with "alb"...I love him!
I was kinda distracted durin Michael's set, cuz I kept lookin back at the merch table to see if Stephen was there for our M&G...I'm not gonna drag this out...he never showed. I tried to call Cookie, but I couldn't get any cell service in the room...that's why nobody got any concert crack,btw....I'm sorry, y'all!elebenty-one!!
Annie managed to get a message to Cookie, or I did before I lost my service...or we both did...can't remember now...anyhow, no Stephen, no M&G, Michael's finished and they're settin up for Jason now.....am I bummed? Whaddy'all think? Bummed, pissed...you name it....I felt bad for little Alex cuz she was SO lookin forward to seein Jason one on one...
yeah, I felt sorry for ME, too. 
But y'all don't worry y'all's pritteh lil heads for anuthuh minute, y'all heeyuh? Cuz, as y'all will see, all's well that ends well Man, that Willy Shakespeare guy sure knows some shiznat, don't he?
So the guys all come out onstage except Jason, and start tunin up the instruments...I'm shootin daggers at Stephen, but of course he has no clue...Jordan is all bizness gettin everything just right...and then...JASONNNNNNN!elebenty-oneelebenty-oneelebenty-oneelebenty-one WAY loud screamin and cheerin for him....awesome!elebenty-one He's all smiles and they launch right into Heart of Stone...I realize the rest of my posse hasn't shown up, and they have the VIDEO CAMERA!elebenty-oneelebenty-one OMG! Finally, BUD arrives and then somebody else tapped me on the shoulder and handed me the camera, which I promptly gave to BUD and
ordered asked her to start tapin....not sure which song that was by then...we didn't get em all, but we got some goodies, I think.
The crowd was fantastic...REALLLLY responsive to Jason and so appreciative...talked to a few peeps around me..some were from Destin, some from Houma (LA), most locals, tho....OH! (Facepalm) I forgot to tell y'all that as we were walkin to the HOB, we passed the NOLA Tours shop where Annie and I put some posters of Jason up...there was one still up on the front, and that sweet lady was there...she remembered us and told us that all week long, teenagers would come and stand by the poster and have their pics taken with it!elebenty-one! And ALL of the flyers were gone!elebenty-one That was cool!
There were about 125 peeps at the show, so the turnout was lots better than we thought, especially for a mid-week show in the NOT main venue at HOB...I'm totally happy about that.
Jason and the guys were terrific...I don't remember the order of the songs, but they sang everything from the 14 track cd, plus Changin Colors and Learnin to Fly...yes, we hollahed and screamed and stomped our feet until they came back out to sing it!
One lil unusual tidbit....Jason forgot the lyrics for a lil minute when he was singin "You Can Always Come Home" with Amy,Ben's wife! he was smooooov about it, tho and covered it well...he joked about it after the song was over and said sometimes he likes to make up the words, but it usually works better when you're NOT singing a duet! Everybody LOVED it!elebenty-one
We all had a blast dancin and singin along....everybody there knew the words to "Let's Just Fall in Love Again", and Jason asked us to sing it with him...when he'd step back from the mike and let the crowd sing, you could tell how much he loved it by that smile on his gawjus face!
And now........HALLELUJAH!elebenty-oneelebenty-one!! I hopehopehope BUD got that all on tape...it was incredible!
So, we all know by now that Jason is doin Hallelujah unplugged and last night was no exception....he asked for help from the crowd and everybody shushed right up. When he started to sing he was on the opposite side of the stage from where we were standin...he came right to the edge of the stage and was singin his sweet lil heart out to them....and THENNNN!elebenty-one!!
He got THE most adorable smile on his face and walked over to RIGHT IN FRONT OF
ME US, and just kept smilin that smile and SANG RIGHT TO
ME US!elebenty-oneelebenty-oneelebenty-one!! FOR THE REST OF THE SONG!elebenty-oneelebenty-oneelebenty-oneelebenty-one OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!elebenty-oneelebenty-oneelebenty-one! I get all giddy like a lil kiddie just thinkin about it.....it was like a private serenade... like it was only Jason and
me us. sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I just love that boi. I just love him. I do. Have I said that I love him? Well, I do.
I so hope BUD got that all on film......I remember sayin awwww Jaaaaaaasonnnn and I remember BUD sayin You just hafta come home with us now, y'know?, and he just kept smilin that dreammmmmyyyyy smile.....OMG! It was perfection.
I forgot to say that the harmonies on the openin of LU were simply STELLAR! I hope BUD got THAT on film too, cuz I wanna see/hear it againandagainandagain!
After Hallelujah, the crowd went wild and made tons of noise until the guys came back out and did Learning to Fly...and it.is.made.of.awesome!elebenty-oneelebenty-one!! A perfect cover for Jason to do...loveditloveditlovedit! And I love HIM, just in case y'all missed that.
Then Jason went back to the merch table where EVERY SINGLE ONE of the crowd was lined up for their pics and autographs. (except me...guess who I was waitin for!)
Yeah. HIM. Stephen.
He was talkin to an older couple and some other peeps for a LONG TIME! But I waited patiently and politely for my turn...no way Stephen was gettin outta there without a "come to Meme" chat!
So, as it happens, the older couple are his GRANDPARENTS! No wonder they couldn't stop huggin on him! Turns out they're from NooWallins, and Stephen was born in the same freakin neighborhood where I raised my boys!elebenty-oneelebenty-one!! We met his grandmother, too, and they are simply lovely people. I told them who I was, and they wanted to know all about street teaming, so I explained...they were quite impressed that we do this kind of thing for the guys. I told them it was a labor of love.
Finally, we got to talk with Stephen and by this time, I wasn't upset anymore, so it was a really good thing it happened the way it did. He was most gracious and apologetic and explained that the venue hadn't been ready for them, so there was a huge delay and they hadn't eaten and yadayadayada...he said we could do the M&G after, if we wanted to wait til Jason was done at the merch table.
I said,
well, lemme think about that and get back to ya OFCOURSEWE'LLWAIT!elebenty-oneelebenty-oneelebenty-one Duh.
So,we went back over to the merch table and got in line and took a bazillion pics with Jason and Michael when it was our turn and I told Jason about the M&G and HE apologized and said they really had to get better about that and I told him what Stephen said and he said absolutely we'd have it when he was done.
And at long last....THE MEET & GREET!elebenty-oneelebenty-oneelebenty-one!
Stephen disappeared....Jason walked back up to the stage, and I asked him if we needed to wait for Stephen to start the M&G...he said " NO! Let's go over here where there's more light and a table"....so we did. He was just adorable...he signed Alex's yearbook, and he knew right away what it was...he was chattin with her all the while....he's so natural with kids! I got to thank him for retweetin my poster...he said he remembered that and that he liked it! swooooon.....we gave him the bag of goodies we'd gotten for the guys and told him there was somethin in there for his better half (well, we said her name to him). Alex gave him the cookies her Mom had made for them and he opened them up and ate one right then and there and said they were delicious!elebenty-one!
I asked him where they were goin next and he said they were drivin to Lake Charles...they have something to do there the next day, I think...he wasn't sure exactly what it was. Then on to Houston and San Antonio....he told us they'd gotten to N.O. around 6 a.m. yesterday and were exhausted, so they went right to sleep. I asked him if he got to sleep in a real bed and he laughed and said yeah...they stayed at the Marriott. I asked him if he was feelin better and he said he was...I told him he sounded great..he was appreciative of that. As we were leavin, I told him that Atlantic needs to get them a bus and a driver...he said that'd be great! I told him I'd drive and he got a kick outta that...he said he didn't know when they'd get a bus...I told him I'd get on Atlantic for him about it and he laughed again........he is just such a DOLLBABY......and I cannot WAIT to see him in concert again. This was such a wonderful experience....and he is such a GREAT GUY! I know y'all didn't know that, so I thought I'd throw that in there....
One last lil tidbit...we went to Cafe du Monde for beignets after...no, just Annie and Alex and me...not Jason!
[Turns out we missed Jason and the band there by an hour!] Anyway, we saw a coupla gals there who were at the show, so we talked to them...turned out they were from CANADA! They were passin thru N.O. and one of them was turnin 21 last night, so she wanted to go to a concert to celebrate...she looked in the paper and saw JASON CASTRO at the HOB and said she just about died.....she LOVES him, so she and her Mom (I think ) went to the show last night! Isn't that just AWESOME?
??
Oh, I forgot one thing...I got to talk with Jason the drummer for a bit...he's sweetheart and it turns out his Mama is from New Iberia! I told him I was at the Dallas show, and that I really loved what he did with the beat thingies on LTF...he liked that and laughed. He said they're really ready for a break now...I wanted to ask if that meant there'd be another leg of the tour, but they were tired and I didn't wanna keep them any longer...I think they'd have stayed, but I didn't wanna impose on them any further......they were all so sweet and gracious.
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Nobody can tell a Noowallins tale like Meme, huh!?!?!][/i]
