Rockapella "Eat & Greet" with KLOS Radio contest winners - Dave & Buster's, Ontario Mills, Ontario, CA - May 2, 2000

My first meeting with Rockapella was a very memorable one. My cousin April and I won a chance to meet the guys and have a late lunch with them from a local radio show here in Los Angeles. There were 10 chances up for grabs and my cousin and I got the last 2. We were completely excited to meet them for the very first time, we were simply out of our minds! We were to meet the guys at the Dave & Buster’s at Ontario Mills Mall in Ontario, CA around 2pm. So, my cousin and I made a mad dash through the 10 Fwy to get to Ontario Mills. We met a fellow Rockapella fan, Tiffany, who also won a chance to meet the guys, and she brought along her daughter, Alex. So, the 4 of us waited in the lobby when Bob Morrison, VP of Sales and Promotion of J-Bird Records (Rockapella’s former label), came and escorted us to where the guys were. They had set up a small private area (where they usually have the pool tables) for Rockapella and the contest winners to walk around and mingle. The first Pella man that approached us was Kevin. You can imagine how nervous I was so when he approached us, I just gave him a quick smile, said “hi” and walked away. Brilliant move on my part, eh? *smacks forehead* I felt a little flushed after that brief encounter with Kevin, especially after acting like a complete dork, which my cousin, up to this day, would not let me forget. It was quite overwhelming to know that all 5 Pellas were within close proximity of you and that you would have to eventually interact with each one of them at some point in the afternoon. I wanted to redeem myself and searched for another Pella, Scott in particular, to talk to. However, when we found Scott, he was surrounded by a few people and there was no way we were going to have a conversation with him at that time. So, we decided to check out the table of hors d’eourves that they had set out for us to enjoy. As we got to the table, we saw Kevin again. Thinking I've been given a second chance to make a first impression, I gathered up the courage to talk to him and get a conversation going. As he came up to us, he extended his hand out to shake mine and introduced himself. After my cousin April and I have made our own introductions, I asked him the only question that I could really think of at the time. I asked him if he really played Marius in Les Miserables. He said that he did and it was one of the most wonderful experiences he’s had in his life. He also mentioned that he played opposite Debbie Gibson, who played Eponine. I asked how it was to work with Debbie, a former pop-star, half-expecting some kind of a sarcastic, cynical response. But he said that it was great, and that she died in his arms every night, and that’s how they fell in love!!! Needless to say, I had to lift my jaw up off the floor. That completely blindsided me and I didn’t know how to respond. I barely remembered the rest of our conversation with Kevin at that point after he had dropped that bombshell on us (well, at least to me it was!). We did talk about his family, his wife Amy and Grace (no, Hope yet. She was still a “bun in the oven”, so-to-speak). After excusing himself to walk about and meet other winners, we immediately looked for Scott. I had such a huge crush on Scott at the time, I was absolutely anxious to talk to him. Alas! When we found him, he was all by his lonesome, so April and I rushed over to where he was and started chatting him up. I was immediately drawn in, and was completely impressed on how composed and mild-mannered he was. He had the nicest speaking voice I’ve ever heard (with the exception of Jeff Thacher, of course). There he was, standing in front of me, my musical sensei, Scott-san. I don’t remember most of the conversation that we had with him, but I remember April asking him if they still kept in touch with the Carmen gang, and he said that he had recently spoken with Greg Lee at one of their shows in the West coast some time earlier that year. That was pretty much all I got from Scott because somehow, I was quickly left out of the conversation when a guy, one of the other radio contest winners, joined in on our conversation. So, Scott ended up talking to this guy and my cousin, while I found myself just standing in the middle of the room, with my plate of hors d’eourves and no one to talk to. I went over to the table to sit down and eat. I was about to set my plate down when, the next thing I knew, a shadow was kind of hovering over me. I looked up, and there was Jeff, smiling at me. I turned to him and he extended his hand to shake mine and introduced himself to me. I shook his hand and introduced myself and he commented that I have a very pretty name. I wasn’t with him alone long however because my cousin had joined us at this point. So, we chatted for a bit with Jeff. He asked where we were from, and what we did to win the contest. We told him that we were thinking of doing the rhythm part of “One Day After Day”, with April on bass and I was going to do VP. But we never go to do it, since they were running out of time during the radio show, so they just told us that we had won. He asked if we were in an a cappella group. I told him that we were a singing group but not an a cappella group. However, we mentioned that we do some a cappella pieces now and then. I told him that mostly sing contemporary Christian songs. He thought that was interesting and kept asking us if we wrote our own songs or have recorded any cds at all. We had quite an informative conversation with Jeff, as it was mostly about music and singing. I noticed that I got particularly chatty when we were talking to Jeff. I kept answering his questions. I don’t know why, but I guess he made me particularly comfortable so I kept gabbing away. At this point, one of the staff from the radio station KLOS asked all the contest winners to pose for a picture with the Pella guys. I remember Jeff came over and stood next to me, rather close, and I kept thinking, “This guy’s kinda cute.” LOL I think that’s when my infatuation with him started (Yes, I was a Jeff girl. I still am, a little bit. *winks*). After getting our group pictures taken, my cousin and I found Barry and we had an awesome time talking with him. He was chatty that afternoon too. He talked about everything he could think of, his family background, school and ex-girlfriends. I noticed that he was holding a beer bottle, so that might have something to do with why he was particularly chatty. LOL I asked him about his experience at Juilliard (one of my dream schools). He said that it was a great experience, but the atmosphere was competitive and went on about how the suicide rate is really high because the fact that the students are so competitive, they put so much pressure on themselves to excel that they buckle under pressure. Sad, isn't it? He told us that when he started going to Juilliard, it was for French horn and not singing. Eventually, he took some voice classes (or switched majors, I can’t remember which), but his voice professor had something against him, I guess, because he told Barry that his voice was awful and that he would do the world a favor if he stopped singing! I was shocked that this professor was so awful and I felt sorry for Bear, but Bear just shrugged it off and said, “Oh well. He’s dead now.” I guess that was Bear’s ultimate revenge. :\ One thing I noticed during our 20-minute conversation with Bear was that Jeff kept walking around us, and I couldn’t help but look every time he approached. It was a little distracting and a bit confusing. He kept smiling and/or making faces at me, it was kind of cute and creepy at the same time. haha It’s hard to explain why I thought it was creepy, but I’ll just leave it at that. (Sorry Jeff. But I don't think you're creepy anymore!) Anyway, talking to Bear was one of the highlights of the afternoon for me, he just had a lot to say that were interesting and very amusing. Oh, and by the way, he said not to take ATA Airlines because they either lose your luggage or they get left out in the rain. LOL Elliott was the last Pella guy we talked to and I just found myself completely intimidated by him! I think it was his smile. That killer smile *sigh*. I kept staring at him the whole time, he probably thought I was some kind of weirdo. LOL He reminded me so much of this guy I had a crush on my freshman year in university. I didn’t get to say much to Elliott, I just stood there like a nervous little schoolgirl. LOL He was cute! Actually, the word “cute” is a total understatement when it comes to Elliott. He’s just simply adorable!!! After talking to Elliott, it was time for us to take out our CDs and videos and have them signed by the guys. Jeff was the only one who wasn’t occupied at the time, so we went up to him and asked him to sign the items that we brought. Jeff was a little taken aback and was somewhat amused by how much stuff we brought along with us. LOL After he had signed everything, I asked him if he could teach us how to do the “sleigh bells”. So, he motioned me to lean forward and get closer. The next thing I knew, he was leaning forward to get close to me and his lips were like 2 inches away from my ear, doing the sleigh bells! I almost passed out! Hello?! LOL Can you imagine Jeff Thacher’s lips 2 inches away from your face?! LOL I can still feel his warm breath in my ear! My cousin told me that when she was looking, it looked like it was happening in slow motion from her point of view. LOL Oh man…It was great! Anyway, when I regained my composure, I reminded him that I didn’t want to “hear” the sleigh bells, I wanted to “see” how it’s done. That was quite an interesting situation with Mr. Thacher. One of the most memorable ones I’ve had for sure… heehee. We took our individual pictures with the guys and one group shot as well, and then they were whisked away to the Virgin Megastore which was adjacent to Dave and Buster’s, to do their in-store performance, while the contest winners were left behind to continue eating and mingling. Just a few minutes later, Bob Morrison came and walked us over to the Virgin Megastore and escorted us to the front of the make-shift stage the guys were standing on. I was standing right in front of Kevin, who was within arm’s length. We were so close that I think during "Don't Tell Me You Do", Kevin heard us singing BGVs which caused him to look down and smile at me. Cute. :) After their set, they had a CD signing. April and I were contemplating on whether we should just wait until everyone in line had their CDs signed to say goodbye to the fellas or not, but when one of the workers found out that we were 2 of the contest winners, he had us cut in front of the line so we could say goodbye to the boys. Once we got to the table where they sat, Jeff beamed and said, “Hey, I know you!” Funny. Of course, he had just met us a couple of hours before at the meet and greet so I would be incredibly surprised (and disappointed for that matter!) if he had forgotten us already. ;) Scott was sitting next to Jeff, and tried to remember each of our names, surprised that he got my name right and even spelled it out correctly. haha Scott’s great. He thought that my name was interesting. :) After working our way down the line, we waved back to the guys and told them that we would see them again the next day at the Troubadour. As we walked away, I heard Jeff yell out “It was nice to meet you.” So I turned around, waved and smiled at him. *sigh* Cute huh? heehee. You gotta love Jeff. What a way to end the day!