Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, whaddya know? It’s Turkey day today! Thanksgiving day, always something I look forward to every year. There’s a lot to be thankful for, I tell yah that much. God has been good, well, He’s always good, but I just want to take this opportunity to say that. These past few months have been hard on all of us. This country has been a target of inexplicable evil and so many lives have been lost because of some senseless acts of violence…and it hasn’t stopped…yet. But there is some good that came out of these very horrible circumstances of the last couple of months, it has brought people closer together and, most notably, closer to God. God is amazing!

Rockapella Concert - Lancaster Center for the Performing Arts, Lancaster, CA - October 26, 2001

Waiting for 4 months to see the boys again in concert was not an easy thing to do. The last time I saw them was at Hofstra University in June for Camp Heartland. You can imagine the excitement that I felt to see these 5 very talented men once more. My cousins and I arrived at the Lancaster Performing Arts Centre a tad bit late, and walked in at the end of the 3rd song, "So Much Better." After a brief intro by Elliott, they went right into "No Doubt At All," the new tune El wrote, which I (and my cousins) absolutely adore! I love jazz music and I love how El sings those jazz tunes, his voice is so perfect for them, so mellow. Great arrangement and I love the exchange between El's scatting and Jeff's "drumming" towards the middle of the song. The song is adorable! They segued right into "Dancing in the Streets" complete with Kevin's own brand of "shake-down" much to the delight of the audience. After the song, Barry takes center-stage and does his "manly/wimpy" speech, and goes right into "16 Tons." During the song, the audience started to clap along as the guys were singing, but at one point, the audience went off-beat with their clapping, almost throwing off the guys and causing Elliott to laugh! Barry started snapping on beat, but he still couldn't get the audience to clap along on beat, which caused one of the guys to say, "they are determined, aren't they?" which I thought was very amusing. "Use Me" was up next. Again, this song always puts a smile on my face. It's got a great fast R&B feel to it, and the fact the Jeff is drumming and singing at the same time makes it even more fun to watch. Oh, and I love the BGV's - "usein-me-ga-git-gotcha-ooh-ahh-usein-me" - now, that's clever. Scott also gets a chance to "set-off" his vocal pyrotechnics during this song (even more so than in other songs), which is why this song is one of my absolute favorites in their repertoire. Before singing "A Change in My Life," Kevin took a moment to talk about how it was great to be in Lancaster, and to be back in Southern California once again. He mentioned that Bear was from Los Angeles and being back "home" makes Bear happy. (LOL) The guys went right into "Dance With Me" a '70's song, I believe, which Scott arranged. This is starting to become my new favorite Rockapella tune. It's so beautifully arranged, the harmonies are very tight and you can dance to it! J This song brings back childhood memories for me. I remember my uncle playing this record when I was a little kid. After a 10-minute intermission, the boys were back on stage again, doing "Love Potion #9." Then, El stepped up and introduced Rockapella's "greatest hit" which is, of course, Folger's "Rockin' Morning." They also did "Holiday Wake-Up" complete with the bells, much to the audience's delight. Elliott also mentioned that the Christmas Folger's commercial will be aired again this season. Yay! "Don't Do It" was next, followed by "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress." After the song, Kevin commented that Scott didn't smack his bottom like he usually does and that he misses it. (Uh, okay Kev…LOL) Then Kevin walked off-stage and into the audience to look for his "Pretty Woman." Sandy was the PW of the night and she did a fabulous job. They followed PW with "Don't Tell Me You Do" which was a total surprise to me! It is my favorite Rockapella song of all-time and I was absolutely thrilled when I heard the first chord of song - I let out a shriek which startled Mr. Leonard, almost causing him to lose his concentration (my apologies to Scott and the guys, LOL). This song is what got me hooked to Rockapella. I will never get tired of hearing this song. They should put it back on their repertoire, permanently! After Scott's "girly man" bit, Bear took center-stage again to sing, "Big, Bad John, a new Bear song, which was also arranged by Scott. ;-) This song is very enjoyable. I love Scott's facial expressions! And I love the arrangement, you couldn't tell that it was originally a country tune. Jeff had some kick-butt moments in this song as well. WITWICS followed which "rocked da house" and Jeff's VP solo -whoa! It clocked in just a little under 3 minutes. They ended the show after 2 sets of encores. They sang the Star Spangled Banner of course, and during the song, the American flag was lowered behind them. That was a very moving moment. The show was great, it was definitely worth my 4-month wait. Thank you guys again for a wonderful weekend! Come back soon!

Karaoke momma.

Call me the Karaoke Queen…LOL I went with a friend of mine to her cousin's house for a birthday party, and as soon as we walked in the door, she told me that I couldn't leave until I sing karaoke. After getting my grub on, my friend's cousin set up the karaoke machine so we could start singing. Well, whaddya know?! They have I Will Always Love You, sung by Whitney Houston, on laser disc! Of course I HAD to sing it… It never fails, it's like a curse, everytime I go karaoke-ing (if that's even a word, lol), I always end up singing that song. But hey, I ain't complaining one bit. I love to ham it up, well, once-in-a-while, with the whole karaoke thing. I even have my "money song," Nobody's Supposed to Be Here by Deborah Cox (a fellow Canuck). Anyway, I knew I wasn't gonna be able to leave that place without doing one more song…LOL So, I did Celine Dion's Because You Loved Me complete with her Quebecian-like (okay, so I don't think that is a word either) accent…LOL

Childhood and growing up.

I saw a couple of my childhood friends today who I haven’t seen in ages, it seems like. These people have been friends of mine since we were in diapers, and I just can’t believe that they’re both married, and one of them has kids already. Anyway, they went off today on some cruise along with their other married friends and it’s just so weird being around all of them. I felt so out-of-place and so much younger than they are. But, that’s the thing, I am not much younger than they are. We’re all within the same age-group, grew up in the same decade, I just thought it was bizarre. My good friend asked me what my plans are as far as moving back to Toronto is concerned. It’s so weird discussing my plans with her and to have her talk about her kids (adorable, btw), and her husband and all the marital issues of the day. We’ve totally gone on our own different paths in life, and I’m happy for her because she has a great life, a great marriage and great family. I just felt so “single” when I talked to her. LOL But despite the fact that I feel so much younger than they are when I’m around my friends who are married, there’s this part of me that feels so “grown-up” knowing the fact that I do have friends who are married and have children and have careers. Can’t wait ’til I too am married, and go off on some married couples’ cruise, but first, I have to find a “significant other.” LOL It’s all in God’s hands.

More than you'll ever know.

I found out this morning that one of my favorite music groups just added another show during their October California tour. Whoo-hoo! *cabbage patches around the room* I’m pretty excited about this, can’t you tell?! Anyway, work has been pretty slow and I’m kinda getting antsy, and now I’m really wishing that I’m moving back to Toronto sooner than later. *sigh* This weekend, my bestfriend from Toronto called me and we had a great conversation, which made me want to go back even more! I miss her and it was great talking with her again.

I was listening to this song by Watermark earlier today, on my way to Starbucks (what else is new? LOL), and I just love the message of the song. I dedicate this song to all of my friends who have been an encouragement to me and who’ve lifted me up in prayer. The song is called “More Than You’ll Ever Know.” And the song goes (the lyrics may not be accurate though):

“You’ve been more than a friend to me
You fight off my enemies,
‘Cause you have spoken truth over my life;
And you’ll never know what it means to me
Just to know you get on your knees for me,
Oh, you have blessed my life….
MORE THAN YOU’LL EVER KNOW…
You’ve carried me, you’ve taken upon the burden
that wasn’t your own;
May the blessings return to you a hundred-fold.”

Meeting new friends.

Wasn’t able to sleep-in today. I had to get up early today to meet up with a friend that April and I made in The Blenders club. Her name is Sarah and she’s from Arizona. It was great meeting her and swapping stories about The Blenders. We had lunch in Westwood and headed over to The Block in Orange and walked around, window-shopped and played in the arcade. She had to meet up with her dad and some relatives later on in the evening so we drove her over to where they were supposed to meet. Anyway, after dropping her off, April, our friend Jeremy, and I went to go see “The Others” at the AMC at The Block. The movie reminded me a lot of “The Sixth Sense.” The twists in the plot were definitely unexpected. Man, the movie just straight freaked me out! LOL

Where in the world is Wayne Brady?

I'm watching my Rockapella video collection right now, and I'm a little miffed that The Wayne Brady Show wasn't on tonight. I thought they were going to premiere it?! Or did I completely miss it? I love Wayne Brady, he's so good at the "musical" improv on the show, and he's not a bad singer either! Anyway, I was watching "Who's Line Is It Anyway?" (hilarious show, btw, one of my faves) and was laughing so hard, my cheeks and sides started to hurt and I started tearing! LOL I used the watch the British version on Comedy Central before they had the American version. Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie are two of the funniest people on earth!….Another show that I absolutely love is "Will & Grace." I love this show, they have such a great cast! And I got a chance to watch a taping of the season finale last year, and got to meet Sean Hayes (Just Jack!), he's sooo adorable and really nice in person. And I absolutely adore Will, a.k.a. Eric McCormack. Got a chance to see him play the lead in the musical The Music Man on Broadway this summer. He's too cute! But throughout the show I kept thinking that Grace, Jack and Karen are going to show up. LOL

Back to my Rockapella videos…Gosh, watching some of the old stuff they had done and their Carmen stint, I'm thinking, they have certainly changed a lot over the years, looks-wise, which is definitely not a bad thing at all! Oh gosh, I wonder if they ever watch any of the old episodes of Carmen? All I can really say is "Wow". LOL

Bowling anyone?

Went bowling with the family last night. I haven’t bowled in years and I totally forgot how fun bowling could be! Hey, and I didn’t do so bad either, I had the 3rd highest score at the end of the evening. And there were about 10 of us playing! Not too shabby eh? Anyway, my arm is sore from last night. I just might go again next Monday. LOL

The one about Music.

Saw one of my favorite bands, Dakota Moon, last night at The Whiskey in West Hollywood. Man, they are too good! They rocked so hard! The band is great to watch live, it was kind of annoying though that the microphones were a little muffled, so you couldn't really understand a word they're singing. But I guess that didn't really matter because these guys can play and blend so well. Individually, they all sound great, but the 2 lead vocals, Malloy and Ty stick out the most. Malloy's voice is very soothing and full, can't help but swoon everytime he sings. And Ty, his voice soars…when he reaches those high notes, oh my gosh, it's insane! I'm such a sucker for guys who can sing and, hands down, Malloy and Ty are 2 of the best vocalists I've heard in my entire life. I can't wait for their new CD to come out, it's tentatively titled "A Place to Land" and the title track will be used by NBC to promote their fall line-up this year. The CD is coming out in October.

I went with my cousin to the Lighthouse Christian Bookstore today. I went there to pick up a copy of the latest Avalon CD but ended up getting copy of the new Katinas' CD called "Destiny" and All Together Separate's live worship CD called "Ardent Worship." "Ardent" means passionate; fervent, and "worship" means honor paid to God. When you listen to the CD, the title is very appropriate. One of the better live worship CDs I've heard in a long time. They sang "oldie-but-goodie" worship songs, but added a funk, jazz, soul twist to all of 'em. My favorite, of course, is their cover of the Martin Smith (Deliriou5?) christian anthem "Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble?" And while we're on the subject of worship, my cousin and I went to Christian Assembly this evening to attend their Saturday evening service. Was hoping that Tommy Walker, famous Praise and Worship leader, would be leading P&W tonight, but he wasn't there. Anyway, his substitute was and he did a great job leading the congregation in worship. It was very uplifting and heart-filling (for lack of a better way to describe the experience I guess, LOL).

Dance, Dance Revolution.

For the past couple of days, my cousins and I have been heavily into DDR. For those of you who do not know what DDR is, it stands for Dance Dance Revolution. It’s a video game that requires for you to dance on a huge game pad on the floor. It’s quite addictive and fun, and it makes you sweat alot. I love to dance so it’s perfect for me, ME, who watches taped music videos for hours just to learn the dance routines. I’m not a great dancer or anything like that, but I can pick up dance steps really quickly.

Tonight, one of my favorite bands, Dakota Moon, played a gig at a NYC nitespot called The Village Underground. This is to promote their latest CD which is coming out in October. I wish I was there tonight in NYC. They’re such a great band. I’m sure that anyone will be a fan once they hear and see them perform live. They’re playing at The Whiskey in West Hollywood on August 3rd, the show starts at 9:45pm. If any of you are in the area, you should go check ‘em out. And hope to see you there!

Visitors, roller coasters and In Harmony.

TGIF! I’m tired. It has been a long week. Actually, it’s been a long month. Cousins and friends from out-of-state (in one case, from north of the border) came and went, all within a span of 3 weeks! Of course, we had to take them out and show them around L.A. and did the amusement park thing, twice(!) in one week. Well, it was fun and all, however, I realized that after having been tossed, twisted and jerked around, that I am getting waaaayyy too old for amusement parks! Everytime I got off a ride, a body-part starts to ache. *groan* LOL ahh…I’m still feeling the after-effects of riding The Viper (3 loops and 2 corkscrews, and about 4 or 5 drops) towards the end of our Six Flags rendezvous. Ugh. Oooh! One highlight though was my friend, winning a stuffed pink pig for me! It’s soooo cute with its round cheeks and beady eyes! I call the pig Fred, and there’s a reason…but I won’t get into that now (if you’re curious as to why I named this pig Fred, just email me LOL).

Tomorrow, my cousins and I (In Harmony) are going to sing at a youth rally at the beach which is sponsored by a friend’s church. We’re trying to get as much singing as we can as a group before I leave for Toronto. It should be a good day tomorrow, haven’t been to the beach this summer yet, so I’m kinda looking forward to going and to have fellowship with other believers.

Busy day, and to top it off, SALSA!

Had a long day at work today. And to top it all off, all 3 of my bosses were there at the office today! Usually, I only get to work with one of the attorneys at the law office, but today, I worked with all 3! My stress level just shot through the roof, and I was just exhausted from all of it.

We went salsa-dancing tonight. It was for one of my cousins’ b-day celebration, so we all went to The Conga Room in L.A. to salsa our hineys off! Well, I didn’t really get to stay long since I was really tired from work and I felt like I was coming down with something (still do, hope it’s not the flu, ugh!). I didn’t really have time to rest and unwind when I got home from work today and I had only about half-an-hour of down-time ’til we had to leave to go salsa-dancing. They offered lessons at The Conga Room, so April and I went and learn the basic steps and some sequences while, my other 2 cousins, Joyce and Christine, and 2 of Joyce’s friends from work, were having dinner downstairs. Anyway, I had no idea how complicated salsa can be, and you really have to have a good dancing partner to be able to do it right. It’s critical for the man to know how to lead the woman because he does most of the work really, the woman just does what he wants her to do. My partner was pretty good. He knew how to lead and we just kept going and going until we were both comfortable enough to stop counting, lol. I had a great time. Ahhh…my feet are dying though! LOL

On my drive home, I was listening to Avalon’s “In a Different Light” CD. My most favorite song in that CD would probably be, “Can’t Live a Day.” A good love-song for Jesus. Anyway, I was singing along with the CD during this song, and man, I was just having a hard-time reaching those high notes. The singer, Janna Potter, has such a high range for her natural voice. I was straining the whole time I was singing along with her. I’m realizing that my voice is not as strong as it used to be, when I was a voice major. Anyway, I can’t wait to get some formal voice training again. I just want to strengthen my vocal chords again. I haven’t really been taking care of my voice, and I guess a lot of it has to do with being up so late and not getting enough rest (like now, LOL). Okay, with that said, I think I am going to bed. Nite.

Dirty, dirty, dirty POP.

Another day at work. Not much to do really. I am filling in for the legal assistant here at the law office while she's on vacation with her familia. It's slow here today, so I decided to kill some time by working on my personal website which I started last week. It's coming along pretty nicely, dontcha think? I will get to the pictures hopefully by the end of the day.

What else is there to talk about? Oh, I bought the new *NSYNC cd yesterday. Yeah, I know, I caved in. LOL Can't help it. I think these guys are great performers, not the best singers, but they're amazing performers. They can really put on a great show. With this latest cd, they have totally set themselves apart from the rest (of the boy-bands, that is). They have ventured into the world of two-step garage pop, I believe that's what it's called (forgive me, I am getting old and have not been keeping up with the music scene…leave me alone!) and it seems to be working pretty well for them. I still love the ballads however. One that particularly stands out is the Brian McKnight-produced, "Selfish" which is reminiscent of Boyz II Men, harmony-wise. Ok, ok, I'll admit, I used to be a huge *NSYNC fan. I have a lot of friends who are as well. We would rip off some of their dance routines and incorporate them into our own whenever we do our little musical productions during the summer. Yeah, basically we're wannabes. Well, actually, I'm not part of that group anymore, but I miss singing with them. *sniff*

Well, I've gone on long enough about *NSYNC. What can I say? I like the CD, enough to tell y'all to go out and buy a copy, and get your "Dirty Pop" on.

Why am I stressin'?

I came in late to work today. All day I was stressin’ about whether I wanted to go Miyagi’s (a restaurant/bar/karaoke on Sunset Blvd) or not. Tuesday night is Karaoke night at Miyagi’s and my cousin decided that I should sing up on stage in front of all these strangers and ocassionally, celebrities, producers and talent agents. Well, I wasn’t stressin’ over the fact that there was a possibility that some Popstars and maybe Devante’ Swing from JoDeCi might be there. But it was the fact that I was SO not in the partying, socializing, showcasing kinda mood today. You say, “what’s the big deal? just don’t go then.” Well, that may very well be true, but my cousin from New Jersey is here in Cali, visiting, along with one of his good friends, and I wanted to hang-out with him. Hence, my dilemma. Hey, don’t get me wrong, any other day, I’d be up on stage, hammin’ it up for a bunch of strangers, doing karaoke (my song of choice “Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here” by Deborah Cox, a fellow Canuck). But today was an exception. Man, I’m tellin’ yah, when I’m in a mood, I’m in a mood. It’s one of my many flaws.

Anyway, we found out that Miyagi’s cancelled Karaoke night tonight so there goes that dilemma. Hah! I stressed out for nothing. We decided to hang out at the Long Beach Town Centre instead and ate at El Torito’s. Needless to say, we got our grub on! I’m not big on Mexican food, but hey, I was hungry! I actually had a chance to go to an *NSYNC concert tonight but because of the whole Miyagi’s karaoke fiasco, I missed my chance. Ah well…No biggie.

Oh, Miyagi’s is owned by Pat Morita (Karate Kid’s Mr. Miyagi, hence, the name) by the way. Okay, time to go to bed.

My DB friends.

Went to visit my friends up in Diamond Bar. It’s good to see them again, I don’t really get to see them as much as I would like to since they live far from me. Had dinner at one of my friends’ house, and then headed over to Starbucks to get some coffee and just talk. I’m gonna miss them a lot when I leave.

"Take my hand and walk..."

Well, I was late for church today. It was a good service though. We had a guest speaker today and he talked about why people need to be saved. It was very straight-forward and it also applied to those who have already accepted God’s gift of salvation.

I went to see The Kry perform at Calvary Chapel in Lakewood. It was for CC’s youth outreach night. Most of the songs that they performed were from their new CD called “Let Me Say”, but they also performed a couple of oldies-but-goodies, like “I Can’t Stop Thinking About You” and “Take My Hand.” The latter is such a beautiful song, a reminder of God’s promise that He will never leave us, nor forsake us. No matter what we’re going through, He’s always there, holding our hand. Yves (the drummer) painted a nice picture of how we should trust God. He gave an example of his son, Josh, and that whenever Josh goes on the road with him and the band, he doesn’t care where they’re going as long as he knows that daddy’s there. He trusts that his dad will bring him wherever they needed to go. We should have that child-like faith and trust that God will bring us to where we need to go.

“Just like a child, holding daddy’s hand,
Don’t let go of mine, you know you can’t stand on your own.

Take my hand and walk, where I lead
Keep your eyes on me alone,
Don’t you say “why were the old days better?”
Just because you’re scared of the unknown.
Take my hand and walk, where I lead
You will never be alone
Faith is to be sure of what you hope for
And the evidence of things unseen…”

Rockapella Rendezvous for Camp Heartland - Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY - June 2, 2001

I’d heard a lot of good things about Camp Heartland and Rockapella Rendezvous and I made a point of going to this particular one. It was perfect timing because my cousin April was in New York City, doing internship at BMG as part of her Music Industry program at USC. So, my other 2 cousins and I decided to take a week-and-a-half long vacation to NYC to visit April and to see Rockapella at Hofstra University for the Rendezvous. This was very exciting to me because, not only was I going back to New York for the first time in 4 years, but I was going to see my favorite music group perform, get to have dinner with them, and, not only that, but I finally get to meet these friends that I’d made online (fellow Rockapella fans) in person! I was absolutely looking forward to meeting, Barb, who I affectionately called “B-mom” or “ma.” I’d only met her online, after she sought me out and we struck up a friendship right away. We became very close, very fast and I, to this day, still consider her one of my best and dearest friends in my entire life. I still miss her to this day, 2 years after her passing. We took a “red-eye” flight out of LAX and arrived at JFK at approximately 6am EST. As soon as we arrived at our hotel in midtown Manhattan, we all crashed and slept ‘til about 11am. We had to get up and get ready really fast because we had to meet my aunt at the Marriott Marquis in the heart of Times Square and we walked over to a restaurant, the name of which escapes me at the moment, and ate there before heading over to Penn Station to take the LIRR into Hempstead. We barely caught the 6:00 pm train, and got into Hempstead around 7:00 pm. We waited around for a bus to take us to Hofstra University, and that took us at least half-an-hour. We finally arrived on campus grounds at approximately 7:30 pm, and when we walked in, the Camp Heartland part of the show had already gone underway. Luckily, we got there just in time for the guys to come on. The show…. Guys did a great show as usual. Scott was wearing cargo pants that were so tight, and were very low on the waist, that you could see his abs every time he moved around. And he moves around A LOT, y’know what I’m sayin’? ;) Anyway, the best part of the whole thing was the auction. They had signed picture frames that have capability to record sounds being auctioned off, along with some other goodies. I absolutely enjoyed the moment when Jeff licked his frame so that he could get a higher bid for it. Classic! LOL If I had the $$$, I would’ve definitely made a bid on that frame. Nasty as it was, heck! It’s Spitter’s spit all over that darned thing! April even elbowed me when he did that, just to make sure that I was looking. Oh yeah, she knew I’d get a kick out of it. Okay, I better stop before I incriminate myself any further. Let’s just hope that the “subject” himself does not stumble upon this site and read this little anecdote. *ahem* Let’s move on, shall we? *nudge, nudge, wink, wink* LOL The Rendezvous… Before I go on, let me just say God bless the caterer! I was starving towards the end of the show and I couldn’t wait to get my grub on. It was buffet-style and a wide variety of delicious dishes. And the dessert table!!! OH MY GAWWWWD! LOL Anyway, after getting our eat on, my cousins and I proceeded to hound the guys for autographs. I wandered off by myself at first and found Kevin. Talked to him, he gave me a hug, was surprised to see me on the wrong coast, got my picture taken with him (along with my cousins. They ran towards us just in time for the shot to be taken.), blah, blah, blah. The usual. Anyhoo, we made our rounds and found Bear. He was so sweet! Upon seeing April and me, he smiled so big and gave us both a big hug and referred to both of us as “my girls.” I think it’s the whole Los Angeles connection, you know? We Angelenos are always glad to see one another. I noticed that Bear strategically situated himself right next to the giant coffee percolator and I made sure I pointed that out to him. He smiled at me as if to say, “where else would I be?” LOL It’s the coffee-lover in Bear. That’s why I love him, because of the whole caffeine connection. (Where’s my caffeine I-V?) We made our way to Scott. I barely remember what I said to him. He was kinda stand-offish, somewhat tired I believe. It’s forgivable, Scott. I love you anyway, because you’re absolutely brilliant and when I grow up, I want to be just like you. LOL We went over to Elliott afterwards, he was feeling a little under the weather, hence, the blue turtle-neck sweater and not to mention, the bright, Santa-red pants (Goodness gracious! LOL)! Anyway, he sounded very congested, but managed to talk about his son, Eli, at length, and showed baby pictures. Abso-freaking-lutely adorable! LOL Was there every any doubt?! Just look at who the father is! Duh! Anyway, I got a very nice hug from El and a very adorable picture (Damn those dimples!). We found Jeff next. For some reason, I decided to bring every single thing “Rockapella” that I have and handed them over to Jeff to sign. Of course, being the smart-“you-know-what” that he is, he had to say something about it. And of course, being as star-struck as I was, I was too slow to come up with a comeback. He did, however, say that it was very sweet of me to fly, and I quote, “2500 miles” to see them. Uh, sure thing Mr. Thacher. ;-) And because of that act of devotion from yours-truly, the man was compelled to give me a hug and a kiss and repeatedly said the phrase, “you’re so sweet.” hehehe…. Ah, Mr. Thacher, I do like it when you are in a good and appreciative mood. ;) I asked if I could have my picture taken with him, he obliged, but not without trying out a few antics, if you will. As we stood there, arms around each other’s waist, he decided to give me a squeeze, which hurt a bit, I yelled “ow!” and darted a look at him thinking it was some kind of accident. But it wasn’t an accident, because he decided to do it one more time, just for the fun of it. Ah, goofy Mr. Thacher. During some time in the course of the meet-and-greet, I found myself standing around, watching Kevin sign CDs and posters, and as I looked up, I saw Jeff looking at me, as he was talking to a group of girls, and was doing “flying” motions, his arms stretched-out as if they were wings, and pointed at me, which prompted the girls to look back at me, which was very weird. I didn’t know why he was talking about me (and I still don't), but I should be flattered, I guess…. LOL Anyway, after all the hoopla, I decided to chill out and talk to some friends. Caught up with Barb, took pictures, snickered about our favorite ‘pella. (Care to take a guess who? LOL) Eventually, I ended up talking to Fred, their sound technician, and later on, we were joined by my good friend, MJ. We were talking about the Yankees (?) gig the guys had the other day, when they sang the National Anthem before the baseball game, when Kevin came and joined us, carrot cake in hand. As he approached me, I looked at his cake and said, “hungry eh, Kev?” He nodded and offered his fork to me. Thanks Kev, but are you sure you wanna share? LOL He joined our conversation and we started talking about fishing. He said that he could just go to his backyard to fish because he has a lake in his backyard. Whoa Kev! He even invited me, MJ and Fred to go fishing in his backyard sometime. Uh, Kev, I’d like to take you up on your invitation now. LOL At this point, my cousin and other diehards congregated around Kevin. When Kevin noticed that our “little singing group” was complete (meaning, my cousins and I, a.k.a. In Harmony), he asked us if we were going to sing for him again. (We had sung for him at a previous "meet and greet" in Los Angeles a few months back) I said “sure” and we sang “Zombie Jamboree” for him, Sean-version. He gave me a good ribbing about that. He said that it was good, but it would’ve been better if we had sung the “eyeball” version. Sorry Kev, I learned Sean’s version first, and I kinda liked it better because it has more of the calypso flava to it. After “Zombie” we asked Kev to sing “A Little Fall of Rain” from Les Miserables with one of my cousins. She started singing, but of course, Kevin didn’t remember the words. Ahhh…shame, SHAME on you Marius! LOL So, fellow Rockapellaholics Amy, Jenn and Cheryl tried to help him out, but it was hopeless. OH well… What could you do? This, from a guy who sang, “she’ll take you for a ride on the hhmmhmmmmm Carolina.” heeehehee The Rendezvous ended with Scott coming back inside (he was, apparently, outside waiting for everyone else to come out and get in the limo), and kinda yelled at Kevin to get the heck outta there. Kinda scared me there a little, Mr. Leonard. It’s understandable. We still love yah. ;-)

Rockapella Concert - The Key Club, West Hollywood, CA - April 12, 2001

I was making my way through the 101 Fwy to get to West Hollywood when I got a phone call from April asking me where I was. I told her that I was trying to make my way to The Key Club. I was supposed to meet up with her and Jeremy so that we could go and watch Rockapella do their sound check. While on the phone, April was telling me that Bear had just gotten dropped off by his mom, right in front of them. I thought that was so cute. Can you imagine Barry saying bye to his mom after getting dropped off? Too adorable! Anyway, I got to The Key Club, parked my car, and walked towards the entrance. As I was walking, I noticed Barry was talking to a group of women, one of which is Stacey, who I recognized from the back. As I approached their group, Barry looked up and saw me, smiled, and gave me one of those cutesy waves. When I reached them, I tapped Stacey on the shoulder and we hugged. Then Bear said hello to me and gave me a hug as well, said that I was "lookin' good", and told me to go right in and that they were waiting for me. I went in and found April and Jeremy, along with Angela and Sherry and other diehards inside watching Scott do his mic check. I saw Jeff on stage as well, working with his little sound board for his sound-spots and microphone. They did a quick run-through for of “I Am Your Man” and we all started dancing! After the sound check, I got a phone call from home, so I decided to head back. While walking to the parking lot with April and Jeremy, we saw Scott and Kevin outside in their rental cars and we said hi to Kevin who seemed to be surprised seeing us for some reason. I returned to The Key Club that night with my other cousin Christine and our friend Cat. The show was enjoyable as usual. The guys were in rare form and seemed to have taken a dip in the “naughty pool”. Kevin, during the Pretty Woman segment, was being particularly animated and kept shaking his butt, so April let out a “smack that thang!” which caused Kevin to shoot a look at our direction and continued on shaking his thang! LOL And this was also the show where Barry, as he was singing “60 Minute Man”, knelt down in front of the diehards who were in the front row (which included me by the way), and the girls stuffed dollar-bills down his pocket. That was the most hilarious thing I have ever witnessed! After he had collected the dollar-bills, he took them out of his pocket and started handing them out to the rest of the guys, and whatever was left, he threw them into the audience, one of which landed right on my left hand! All I did was held out my hand and the dollar-bill just landed on it! I thought that was too cool (unfortunately, I wasn’t able to keep the dollar bill)! After the show, we all headed downstairs to their bar area, and we waited for the guys to come out for the meet-and-greet. We saw Jeff first, and we went over to say hi to him and had him sign our posters. We didn’t get to talk to him much, just the usual, “hi, hello, nice to see you, etc”, as there were so many people that wanted to say "hi" to him, and apparently some of his LA friends were there, so we were snubbed for the night. Oh well, such is the life eh? LOL Anyway, we looked around for another pella and saw Kevin. So my cousins and I (a.k.a In Harmony) went up to him and we had him sign our CDs and posters. For some reason, he asked us if we were a singing group (I don't know why he thought to ask, I guessed we looked like a singing group to him or something). I told him as a matter of fact we were. So, he asked us to sing for him. We sang the most recent a cappella song that we had learned, “Why Do Fools Fall In Love?” with me on the lead. He seemed to have liked it a lot, he had this huge grin on his face while we were singing. After we had sung, he somewhat teased me, saying that I was really getting into it. Of course I was! I just get in the zone every time I sing! C’mon Kevin! You should know how it is! ;) Anyway, he said that we sounded great and to keep it up. That was quite a highlight for me! While I was standing there, trying to figure out who to hunt down next, I noticed that Trist Curless from m-pact had just walked in, so I went up to him to say “hi” as I had just seen him the day before at their concert in Hermosa Beach (see April 11 – Rockapella Meet-n-Greet). He remembered me from the previous day and we chatted for a bit. It turns out that he and Jeff are good friends and that he actually would stay at Jeff’s place whenever he was out in New York, back in the day. We searched around for the rest of the Boys, found El, had him sign our Rockapella paraphernalia, then moved on to Bear who was standing next to him. I asked him about the burgundy suit that he wore at the Santa Barbara show that past December (the one that they filmed for PBS), and I complimented him on how good he really looked in the suit. He thanked me and told us that the suit was actually a Versace suit and he got to keep it! Very nice! ;) We found Scott last, and we chatted with him a bit. The 4 of us took a picture with him (which is one of my favorite Rockapella pictures to this day), and then next thing we knew, Phil was telling everyone that The Key Club people needed for us to leave and that the guys needed to go. We looked at Scott and asked him if we could get a picture with the guys before they left. He said “sure!” and rounded up the rest of the guys for a picture with my cousins and me.
While our picture was being taken, I could hear Kevin telling the guys that we’re a singing group and that we had just sung for him. Scott asked him what we sang and Kevin told him it was “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?”. He told Scott we sounded great! How incredible was that?! After the meet-n-greet, we all headed over to Denny’s down the street to grab a late dinner. On our drive down there, my cousin Christine put on my Rockapella CD, rolled down her window and turned up the volume! We all started singing at the top of our lungs, it was insane! We got to Denny’s and even sang “Zombie Jamboree” for our waitress! We were on such a high that night, singing for Kevin and all. Definitely one of my best Rockapella moments ever!

Rockapella Concert - The Coach House, San Juan Capistrano, CA - April 11, 2001

This was the show that I completely missed altogether. I actually wasn’t planning on going to this show until fellow diehards, Angela and Sherry, left me a message on April's voicemail that night telling me that Angela bought me a ticket to the show and would leave it at the Will-Call window. I had spent the whole day, having a late lunch/early dinner with my cousin April, our friend and So Cal CASA co-ambassador Amy, and m-pact, and helping out with the preparations for m-pact’s first-ever Los Angeles concert, with Sixth Wave (Amy’s group) as their opening act. April and I had volunteered to help sell tickets at the window and man the CASA table. Anyway, the m-pact/Sixth Wave concert ended around 9:00pm and I noticed that I had gotten a new message in my voicemail and turned out to be Angela and Sherry’s message. Needless to say, I darted out of Hermosa Beach Auditorium, and drove to San Juan Capistrano like a maniac (SJC is at least 1 hour away from Hermosa Beach). I got there just a little under an hour, but as I exited the freeway, guess what happened? I got LOST! Sure did! I couldn’t find the street where I was supposed to turn onto to get to The Coach House. I kept driving up-and-down the main street, looking for a street sign, which was impossible to find, by the way, because there weren’t any street lights at all! After about 20 minutes of driving, I finally saw the teeny-tiny street sign (I was ready to hop back on the freeway and head home. Who wouldn’t?). So I made the turn, found The Coach House, and immediately parked on the first available parking spot I could find (I didn’t really care if it was a handicapped parking spot at that point). So, I went in and found the place almost empty, with only a few fans wandering about. I didn’t really notice anyone. I was too pre-occupied looking for Angela and Sherry (you can imagine that I was a little frazzled when I got there) I almost ran into Scott and knock him over! I was literally inches away from him. He had to grab a hold of my shoulders to make sure I didn’t fall over (or was it the other way around? hehe). He immediately recognized me and hugged me. I apologized to him and told him that I was looking for my friends. He noticed that I was a little frazzled so I told him what happened. I explained to him that I had just arrived and missed the show completely. He looked at me with this worried look on his face and asked if I was okay. He must’ve thought that I had gotten into some kind of accident judging from the look of concern he gave me. I assured him that I was okay, it’s just that I had just come from helping out at the m-pact show in Hermosa Beach, and that it took me an hour to get there and had even gotten lost after I got off the exit. That was why I was incredibly late. He smiled and told me to be careful next time, and that he was glad that I made it. He got curious about the m-pact show, so he asked me what exactly I did to help out, so I explained to him that I helped sell tickets at the booth and man the CASA table. He thought that was interesting and he proceeded to ask me about Hermosa Beach Auditorium. He wanted to find out if it was a good venue and such, so I told him as much as I knew about the place. I explained to him that it’s where the Los Angeles Harmony Sweepstakes are held every year, and I thought that it would be a great place for them (Rockapella) to perform at. I guess he was shopping for new venues. After that conversation, and another hug, he excused himself and said that he was going to go upstairs to grab a bite to eat, he offered to look for Angela and Sherry, as he thought they might be upstairs (they’re part of the Rockapella fan club, so they had the privilege of hanging out with the guys in the “green room” – I wasn’t a member at the time. Yeah, I know.), and told me that he would send them down if he saw them. So, I said goodbye to Scott, and off he went upstairs. After Scott left, I found myself all by my lonesome, so I turned around and who did I see? Jeff, about 5 feet away from me, talking to a guy and signing his CD. I just stood there, somewhat waiting, then he looked up, saw me, turned to the guy and said, “excuse me, I have to go say ‘hi’ to her”. hehe So, he walked up to me, said hello and gave me a hug. It was a nice, tight, “haven’t-seen-you-in-while-I’m-so-glad-to-see-you” hug. He even made a sound, like a groan or a sigh (LOL). He asked me how I was doing, I told him that I was tired, and that I had just gotten there and completely missed the show. Like Scott, Jeff looked at me with this worried look on his face and asked me if I was okay. I said that I was and explained to him why I missed the show. When he found out that I was at the m-pact show, he gave me a hard time about it and that he was disappointed that I’d rather go see m-pact than them. Of course he was joking. I had to explain to him about helping out, so that somewhat got me off the hook with him, but he did say that I had to make it up to him. So, I told him that I was going to, because I will be at their show at The Key Club the following night. So, that did the trick, I guess (me, getting off the hook). We hugged again, and then he turned to these fans that were waiting for him so they could take a picture with him. So being the nice, helpful diehard that I was, I offered to take the picture for them. After I took the picture, I waved goodbye to Jeff with a “see you tomorrow”. At this point, Angela and Sherry made their way downstairs and found me. I had to explain to them my whole ordeal over again. They showed me all the goodies that they had for the Boys, and told me that they were incredibly excited that Scott knew who they were because he figured out that they were the “friends” that I was looking for. Anyway, the girls went off to look for Elliott (or Barry, can’t remember which) to give him their gifts. So I told them that I would meet up with them again later. I wandered around and saw Kevin talking to a couple. So, I went over and sat down on one of the chairs right in front of Kevin. He noticed that I was sitting there and he smiled at me (cute!). He continued on talking to this couple, and then they asked him if they could take a picture with him. So, again, being the nice diehard that I was, I offered to take their picture. After the couple left, I went up to Kevin, and he gave me a hug, said that it was nice to see me. I had brief chat with Kevin, talking about So Cal weather, and that he didn’t anticipate that it was going to be a little chilly in So Cal so he didn’t pack a jacket. Poor thing. Anyway, like I said, it was a quick chat with Kevin, said bye to him and then I was off. I found Barry next, he was standing next to Kevin, but there were a bunch of guys standing right in front of me, talking to Barry, so I just stood on my toes and waved hello to Bear. He saw me, and gave me this big surprised grin! Next thing I knew, he worked his way through those guys, and gave me a hug! I didn’t get to say much to Bear, basically I just told him that I was just wanted to say "hi" before I left. He thought that was sweet and said that it was good to see me. *sigh* I love Bear! I didn’t get to talk to Elliott at all, but I did see him play with Bear’s mom’s dog (I think it was a golden retriever, from what I can remember), he saw me, flashed that adorable smile of his, and said that he had to go upstairs. Awww…I know. But as El walked up the stairs, Jeff was walking down, and he started playing around with the dog and started talking to Bear’s mom. Too cute! I went to look for Angela and Sherry as I was about to leave. I found them, said my goodbyes. I hopped in my car and tried to make my way out of the parking area, but I soon realized that I didn’t know how to get back on the main street to get to the freeway. So, I went back to The Coach House and asked one of the workers there how to get back on the freeway. After I had gotten the directions, I went back to my car, and I noticed that Jeff had just walked out of the club and was putting his garment bag in a white car, which turned out to be Bear’s mom’s car! As I got back in my car, I yelled bye to Jeff, he turned around and said bye as I drove past him, with Level 42’s “Something About You” blaring on my car’s CD player…how appropo. hehe

Rockapella Concert - Artemis V. Ham Hall, UNLV, Las Vegas, NV - March 23, 2001

I almost didn’t make this trip because my cousin April and I had a miscommunication regarding going to Las Vegas with her Jeremy, and Jeremy’s friends Sean and Annie. She thought that I wasn’t going to be able to go, so she didn’t buy me a ticket. I found out about it a couple of days before we were to leave for Vegas and I told her that I had wanted to go. I asked her to see if she could get another ticket for me in the same row they were in. She called me back the day before we were to leave to let me know that she got my ticket, but I was not going to be sitting with them. “That completely sucks” I thought. It wouldn’t be as much fun sitting by myself watching Rockapella. Or so I thought. ;) (April and me) So, we got to UNLV, went to the “Will-Call” window to pick up my ticket. Walked in to the theatre and we split up. I proceeded to look for my seat, and I found myself sitting all the way in the back of the theatre, in between 2 “not-so-young” couples and I was absolutely mortified! And just looking at how they were, I wasn’t sure if I wasn’t going to be able to let lose and have fun. I started to look around the theatre and noticed that they were some empty seats in the very front row, so I waited until they turned off the lights, got up and headed towards the front row. I found an aisle seat, front row, on the Kevin/El side of the stage! The show… The guys started off with “I Am Your Man” and during the song, I caught Kevin’s eye. He saw me, gave me a big smile and waved at me from the stage. I waved back, and when I looked over to the side, I saw a couple of people on the row just behind me looking at me, smiling. Elliott saw Kevin wave at someone and he got curious so he looked to where Kevin was waving at, and saw me. He smiled as well and gave me a little wave hello. So, I smiled and waved back at him. I noticed that the same people who were sitting in the row behind me were looking at me again. I guess they were probably wondering who the heck I was, since both Kevin and Elliott waved and smiled at me. LOL Throughout the show, I would interact with Kevin and Elliott now and again, since I was sitting on their side of the stage, and it was so easy to catch their eye, which was a lot of fun, at least on my part! And I believe at one point, Bear saw me and did a double take. Later, at the meet and greet, he would tell me that he actually recognized me, but he wasn’t sure that it was me because I looked a little different that night. The meet and greet… Weeks before the show, a lot of the West coast Rockapellaheads from the Yahoo! RKP club planned on doing something special for the guys for the UNLV show. So, someone had suggested to design t-shirts for them, with all the pictures of the West coast Rockapella diehards printed on the back. That night, Lilly, a fellow Pellahead who designed the shirts, brought them and we all signed the back of the t-shirts for the guys and present it to them at the meet and greet. We assigned 5 girls to present the shirts to the guys. I ended up with the Jeff shirt, much to the teasing of everyone there, led by my dear cousin April. So, we waited around until everyone else was pretty much done with the guys, then we all stood in line, with shirts in hand, and got ready to present them their shirts. First up was Barry. I shoved my CD in front of him and he looked up he had this surprised look on his face. He got up and gave me a hug, then said that he thought he saw me sitting in the front row, but he wasn’t sure if it was really me. But now that he'd seen me up close, he was sure it was me that he saw during the show. It was sweet of Bear to remember me. :) Kevin and El were next, said my hellos, etc. I didn’t get to talk much to either of them since the line was moving along very fast. I reached Jeff and he was signing a bunch of CDs, then accidentally signed one CD twice, so he put “Jeff 2” on the CD. I told him that the CD should go on ebay. And then he said, “ahh, so you’re one of those people who pay 50 bucks for a CD!” I laughed and said, “Nope. I haven’t really paid 50 bucks for a CD yet.” Then he looked up at me and said, “It’s nice to see you again.” I smiled back at him and moved on to Scott, who was sitting at the end of the table, he wasn’t even behind it anymore (the table wasn’t long enough for all 5 of them). So, I said hello to Scott and he smiled at me, said “how are you?” as he signed my CD. After I got my CD back from Scott, I stood right next to him while waiting for the moment when we would present the t-shirts to the guys. Scott, at this point was just sitting there, waiting for someone to hand him a CD to sign, so he looked over to me and said, “it’s good to see you”, looked me up and down and read the writing on my t-shirt out loud (my t-shirt said, “Tommy Girl” on it), and he just kind of stared at it for a while and then just kind of nodded. I wasn’t sure what that was all about so I just said, “yeah, it’s Tommy Hilfiger” or something like that, and then he just smiled at me. We chatted for a bit and I said that he must be really tired and he said that he was and then the next thing I knew, I had my hand on his shoulder and started giving him a rub. It felt a little weird after a bit, so I stopped. haha As the crowd started to leave, we all got ready to present the guys with their gifts. I moved in front of Jeff and then gave him his customized shirt. His eyes lit up and he was completely surprised at the gift. He examined the shirt and noticed all the little details on it. At one point, he asked me if the drawing of the little Japanese phone operator girl was me. I told him that it wasn’t and he said, “Oh look. She speaks Japanese!”. I thought that was cute. And then said, “This is great!”. I told him that it was for him from all of us. So, he got up and gave me hug across the table, and said “thank you” but before I pulled back, BAM! he kissed me on the cheek! That caught me completely by surprise, I didn’t know what to do next, so I kissed him back! Now, I think that caught him by surprise because as I pulled away, he didn’t let go of my arm. I looked at him as if saying, “Umm...let go of my arm” but the next thing I knew, he started rubbing my arm (well, my sweater sleeve actually) and said, “Oh, you’re warm”. I thought that was totally random and I didn’t know what to say so I just said, “yes, the sweater keeps me warm”. And then he sat down and finally let go of my arm. It was quite a weird moment there with the Spitter, but it was nice nonetheless. :) The whole thing left me a little flustered (duh! LOL), I almost forgot to ask him for a picture! So, I turned back around and asked him if I could take a picture with him. He said, “sure!” and I tried to walk around to get behind him, but there were a few people blocking my way, so I couldn’t get to him. He saw this and said, “Will you please let her through? I would really appreciate it.” Hello! Thanks Jeff! I took a picture with him and then as I got up, he turned around and asked me if he was going to see me again. I told him that I’d probably see them again whenever they’d have their next show in L.A. He then told me that they were going to have 2 more shows in the L.A./O.C. area the following month, so I told him that I would probably see him then. I said thanks and then walked off. I walked back to where the rest of the girls were, and one of the girls, Laura, asked me what went on over at the autograph table. I asked her what she was talking about, she said, “I saw that kiss!” I started laughing and then my cousin April said, “Someone’s not going to wash her cheek tonight!” LOL So apparently, some of them saw what happened at the autograph table with Jeff. It was too funny. After the presentation of the t-shirts, some of us sort of lingered around, so I decided to go talk to Kevin about getting my cousin April up on stage for “Pretty Woman” the following month as a birthday present to her. I sat behind him and asked him and then he said, “Hey no problem. I’ll get her up there.” I thanked him and said, “At least I get to live vicariously through her since I don’t think I’ll get my chance to be Pretty Woman” (yeah, I know, I'm sad eh? LOL). He turned around and said, “Don’t worry about it, I’ll get you up there too.” (Umm Kev, still waiting! LOL) Then someone asked if he could take a picture of me and Kevin, so I put my arm around Kevin and leaned over as the guy took the picture. Not long after that, another person came up again and asked if he could take a picture of me and Kevin, so I looked at Kevin and said, “what do you think?”, he just smiled and we posed for the picture. I was about to get up when another person asked if he could take a picture of me and Kevin. I leaned over to Kevin and said, “How many pictures are they gonna take of us?” He sort of laughed and as the guy was about to take our picture, I pulled Bear in and got him in the picture! Rockapella sandwich! That was great! That picture is one of my favorite pictures with any of the Rockapella guys! Right before all of the Rockapella Yahoo-ers were to leave, we got our pictures taken by some of the husbands/boyfriends/stragglers who were waiting around. There were too many flashes going off, we felt like the celebrities. The guys got curious as they got up from the autograph table, they stayed around for a bit and watched while our pictures were being taken. At one point, they started applauding us! I thought that was great! I wasn’t sure why they did, but hey, I’m not gonna complain! LOL After we got our pictures taken, we made sure that we got some good group shots of the guys before they left. The guys started posing and modeling their shirts. They were acting all goofy, it was the cutest thing! When we were all finished taking their pictures, we all said our goodbyes and they were whisked away.