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.

Rockapella Meet and Greet - The Lobero Theatre, Santa Barbara, CA - December 9, 2000

The scene back in the dance-studio-turned-reception-room was madness! People were milling about, trying to get a chance to talk and take pictures with each ‘pella. April and I spotted Jeff first, so we went up to him. He immediately recognized us and we exchanged pleasantries with him. He said that we looked good in earth tones (but I believe he was only referring to my cousin April, who was wearing a brown coat. I, on the other hand, was wearing all black. LOL). We asked Jeff if we could each take a picture with him. After he signed our Christmas CDs, we thanked him and then moved on to Bear, who was sportin’ his platinum blonde hair! It was incredible! I told him that he could pass for a Backstreet Boy, he laughed and said that he’s too old to be one. But I told him that any of those boy bands could use a man like him! We said bye to Bear and found Elliott who was standing next to him. Poor guy had a cold! He was so congested, I was so surprised that he was able to sing at all! He was up on stage for 3 hours (and 20 minutes for the Christmas set)! But he got through the whole taping without a hitch. Although, he told us that he was starving because he hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast, and it was already close to midnight! Awww… Elliott! We tried not to monopolize his time any longer since he was feeling under-the-weather and we knew that he needed to get through the whole line of fans that were waiting to talk to him, so we said goodbye to El and looked for another ‘pella. Scott was next, and we went up to him, said hi, asked him to sign our CDs and got our pictures taken. I noticed as I was standing next to Scott getting my picture taken, I smelled hot-tamales from his breath. It wasn’t awful, I just happened to smell it from him. LOL I know, the things a person would latch on to. LOL We moved on to Kevin, and this guy immediately gave me a hug. I remembered that clearly! I was a bit surprised, but I thought it was really nice. We took our pictures with him and had our CDs signed, then we decided to go mingle with other Pellaheads. I noticed that while I walking around though, every time I ran into Kevin, he would hug me. It was weird. He ended up hugging me 3 times before the night was over! And he would initiate the hug too. It seemed like every time I was about to pass him, he would grab my hand and hug me. I kid you not! It was great though, I’m not even complaining. It was just weird. LOL Since this was a turn-around trip, we all said goodbye to our new friends, Angela, Sherry, and sisters Laura and Sarah, hopped back on our van and headed straight back to L.A. that night with wonderful memories from that night.

Rockapella Concert (PBS Special Filming) - The Lobero Theatre, Santa Barbara, CA - December 9, 2000

Wow, where do I start? I'd waited for this concert for 4 months, and you can imagine the excitement I felt when I found out that this show was going to be taped as a PBS special, live CD and a video/DVD! I knew right then and there that it was going to be something special. Earlier in the week, April and I had made plans with other Rockapella diehards to meet up in Santa Barbara and have dinner right before the show started. We arrived in SB a bit later than our proposed meeting time, but we made it and met Laura & her sister Sarah, from Las Vegas, and Angela & Sherry, from Torrance, CA. We all had a quick dinner then headed off to the theatre. We got to our assigned seats, which was 2nd to the last row, and found ourselves sitting next to one of the cameras. I was a little disappointed that we had to sit way in the back, but I just decided to get over it and have fun anyway. But, as we were starting to get settled in our seats, we saw the director of the special come up on stage and he announced that he wanted all of us to move up closer and fill in the seats that were still unoccupied (which meant that if you were late, its your bad, hah!) As soon as we heard this, April, and I, along with our friend (and new Rockapella convert) Jeremy, quickly abandoned our seats and relocated to the 3rd row on the right side of the stage (VP territory), just right behind Angela & Sherry. We knew that it was only a matter of time before wed find ourselves on our feet, dancing and cheering on our beloved Rockapella! After a couple of runs of standing O's to tape for the special and to warm up the audience, the show was ready to go underway. As the crowd started to quiet down, Scott started singing his opening line for "I Am Your Man." As soon as he walked out on stage, my jaw hit the floor! Scott looked gorgeous with his blue dress shirt, a vest, tie and black slacks. Simply breath-taking! Up next was Kevin, and I just about keeled over at the sight of him! Full-on leather babee! (We asked him later on in the evening what made him decide to go for the leather because it sure looked like he was roasting in it and was uncomfortable. He said that he wasn't going for comfort this time, he was going for the "look" and man, did he work those pants! The man has some "junk in the trunk"- haha) Soon after, the rest of the guys joined them on stage. Jeff wore a pair of shiny, black pants, with a zipper on each pant-leg, a black t-shirt and a shiny, charcoal-black overshirt with the sleeves rolled-up that flew open when he walked out on stage, he looked like he was about to fly! Bear walked out in this beautiful deep-purple suit which made him looked oh-so dignified yet hip at the same time! El was simply wearing a black dress shirt, and tan pants (no red pants, yay!). He looked so adorable! *sigh* They segued right into "Moments of You" and during Jeff's intro, the lady sitting next to me let out a "J**** C****!" and she turned to her husband and said, "that's unbelievable!" And to think, we haven't even gotten to the big solo yet! With the exception of a few songs (they voted to take "60-Minute Man," and "Don't Do It" out), Bear got to show-off his earth-shaking low range with "16 Tons" which was a great choice, and El go to do "Let's Get Away From it All" and show-off his brilliant scatting. A particularly wonderful treat for me during this song was hearing Kevin scat! This was the first time I'd ever heard them perform this song with Kev and I thought he did a great job! The time for them to pick the Pretty Woman finally came and Kevin scoped out the audience to look for his "victim" for the night, LOL. He spotted this lovely young lady named Ilia, wearing a Superman baby-tee, sitting about 2nd row from the front, in the middle section of the theater, and brought her up on stage. As he sat her on the Rockapella stool, he told her that since this was a very special show, she had to be careful not to make any sudden movements while sitting on the stool because they had rigged it so that fireworks and such would launch at the appropriate moment during the song. Kevin then proceeds to sing a song they'd just written aptly titled "Ilia" and tried to go down on one knee, which he quickly found out to be quite a difficult task, much to the audience's amusement. LOL We found out later that they had to redo the Pretty Woman segment of the show and pick another PW because of trademark infringement due to the Superman logo on Ilia's shirt. "There's only one more thing for you to do, you know what it is..." Oddly enough, it seemed like there were only about 10 people or so who knew what to respond to Scott's prompting LOL. We took another try at it and this time the whole theater responded with such enthusiasm "DO IT ROCKAPELLA!" "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?" rocked the house and even the lady sitting next to me started groovin' in her seat. Little did she know what was coming up next - Jeff's solo! I made sure to watch the lady's reaction during his solo and she was totally dumb-founded! LOL It was the funniest thing! Well, I can totally understand her reaction - the man pulled out all the stops during his solo! Hey, he knew it was going to be nationally televised! He even did some turn-table scratching noises which I thought was a nice touch. What can I say? Da man is BAAAAD! ;-) Throughout the whole concert I would sing along and harmonize with the boys and at one point, the lady sitting next to me, turned to me and said, "you must know these guys!" So I said, "oh yes, I do. I've seen them in concert quite a few times." And then she says, "they're amazing!" To me, that said it all! Another proud moment! LOL Some other highlights of the night for me were: The Lion Sleeps Tonight: This is the first time I'd ever heard them sing this, live or otherwise. I didn't know they used to do this song in concert. It was such a pleasant surprise! Keep On Smilin': OH MY GOSH!!! This just completely blew me away! The last time I heard them perform this song was at the Starlight Bowl in '99 and even then I vaguely remember them doing this song at all! When each of them started to do their own thang during the VP break, I just sat there, totally in awe, I couldnt even blink. It happened so fast, I didn't even have enough time to soak everything in, it was amazing! The Christmas set: They did it especially for all of us after having done almost 3-hours-worth of taping. The guys were already tired, Scott's voice was strained, Jeff was getting restless and Kevin was completely soaked in his leather ensemble, but they stayed and entertained us. Talk about going above and beyond the call of duty! It just goes to show you how generous these guys are! Thanks Rockapella! You guys are the best!

Rockapella Meet & Greet - The Starlight Bowl, Burbank, CA - August 6, 2000

Burbank, CA. The Starlight Bowl. This day was like going full circle for April and me. It was the same venue and the same time of the year when we first saw Rockapella in concert ever. It was a very momentous occasion. The Blenders were there as well, who also double-billed with them the year before, so it was like a huge reunion for us! The year before, they didn’t have a meet and greet after the concert because the guys had to fly back to NYC for another concert the following day. April and I thought that it was going to be the same case this time, so we decided to head out when we overheard one of the workers at the Starlight Bowl and he said that the guys were coming out to sign autographs in a few minutes. As soon as we heard this, April and I rushed back and immediately stood in line right in front of the autograph table. I believe we were the first ones in line. Well, there may have been a couple of people right before us. Anyway, the guys finally emerged from backstage and situated themselves at the autograph table. First up was Scott. He was looking down so I shoved a picture that we took with them back in May for the “Eat and Greet” right under his nose. He looked at the picture then looked up, saw us and he smiled, “I remember this picture!” I said “hello” to him, and we exchanged pleasantries. He was about to sign the picture when he looked up at me and asked me how to spell my name. I looked at him and said, “aww…you don’t remember my name?” He said, “Oh, I kind of remember it. I remember that it’s unique.” And then he smiled. *sigh* Anyway, I told him what my name was and spelled it for him. He said, “That’s right! Your name is Aura.” And as he wrote my name on the picture, he said something like “I like how I write your name.” :-D That was cool. I asked him if I could get a hug and he said, “Sure!” So, he got up and gave me a huge hug. As I pulled away, he smiled and said, “It’s nice to see you again!” El was up next, he was sitting there with his big grin looking at the picture, looked up at me and said something like, “Hello. How are you?” Just had a bit of a chat with him, then I asked him for a hug. He smiled, and then he said, “I could use a hug anyday!” And he proceeded to tell me that it’s nice to get a hug especially when you’ve had a rough week. So, that was El for me. He was too cute! Bear was sitting next to El. He looked up and smiled, got up, and gave me a hug! I didn’t have to ask this time! LOL He was probably paying attention to me when I was talking to both El and Scott. LOL Sitting next to Bear was Jeff. I went up to him, but he didn’t even look at me! He just kept talking to this guy who was standing behind him with a girl. I was going to ask him for a hug, but he wasn’t paying attention, so I just took my picture and slid it over to Kevin. At this point, Kevin was looking at me with this smile on his face. I guess he noticed that I had this disappointed look on my face, like “oh well…” and I just shrugged and smiled at him. But what Kevin did next completely made my evening. Before I even got in front of him, he got up out of his seat, walked around the table and gave me a huge hug. I guess he was trying to comfort me or something because Jeff ignored me. Pathetic ol’ me eh? LOL But it was great of him(Kevin) to do that. So, I stood next to him, started chatting away while I was waiting for April to be done with getting her stuff signed by Kevin. As Kevin got up to hug April, Jeff looked over to where I was and said, “Hey! How are you?” So, I said, “I’m okay, but I didn’t get my hug yet.” (I know, sad puppy aren’t I?) He laughed and said, “Well, it will cost you $5!” I said, “5 bucks?! I got it for free last time!” So, I walked around April to get my hug. He said, “It’s good to see you.” That brought a smile to my face. (Yeah, I was like a big teenaged dork around her crush!) So, I went back and stood right next to Kevin. While Kevin and I were talking about when they were going to have their next show in So Cal, Jeff looked over to where I was standing and said, “By the way, you smell good.” I looked around to find out if he was talking to someone else, but he was talking to me, so I said, “Thanks Jeff!” And then he said, “It’s nice to get a hug from someone who doesn’t smell.” I just started laughing. Next thing I knew, Bear chimed in and said that I smelled good as well, followed by Elliott and Scott! I had to pick up my jaw off the floor! Then I looked at Kevin and he said, “Yeah, you do smell good!” So, that completely made my night! :D After we got our stuff together, we said goodbye to the guys and told them that we would see them in Santa Barbara in a few months.

Rockapella Concert - The Starlight Bowl, Burbank, CA - August 6, 2000

It had been approximately a year since I first saw Rockapella in concert at the Starlight Bowl and seeing them again in the same venue of that fateful day was like going full-circle for me. It had also been about 3 months since the Troubadour show so I was all ready to get my a cappella fix. What was also exciting was that April and I were getting to see another awesome a cappella group, The Blenders, who were also at the Bowl that previous summer. It was like a big reunion for us! (LOL) When we first got there, we found some great seats close enough to get a good view, but we later left those seats and situated ourselves right in front of the stage to get a closer view of the Boys. After gettin' our groove on during The Blenders set and having our pictures taken with them and our CDs signed, we were finally ready for our beloved Rockapella. During the opener, which was "I Am Your Man," I managed to wave hi at Bear, Kev, El and Scott. It was really cool when each of them smiled back and/or winked. I finally was able to say hi to Jeff right after they did "Use Me." I was able to catch his attention (which was hard to accomplish, btw, when he's on-stage since he's in his own little VP world most of the time) when after Barry announced that JT was "singing and drumming" at the same time, I yelled, "Yeah, Jeff! You go!" which, I think, startled him! (Sorry JT, didnt mean to give you a heart-attack there! LOL) He looked up, scoped out the crowd, and when he saw me, I waved at him and he smiled! Anyway, they did their usual concert repertoire. Especially entertaining was the "Pretty Woman" segment because the lady that they picked turned out to be a chiropractor, and as soon as the Boys found out, they all fought for a chance for a back massage from her! Kevin won out though, getting a laugh from the crowd as he grimaced in pain while she tried to crack his back. (LOL) The Boys gave a great concert, as usual, but before we even knew it, it was all over. Again, April and I decided to hang around after the show, hoping for another meet-and-greet (they didn't have one the year before because they had to fly out that night to do another concert the next day). We waited for a few minutes, but then gave up, so we decided to head out. However, on our way out, we heard one of the volunteers at the Bowl announce that the Boys will be out shortly to meet with the fans. We immediately headed back and stood in line. It was nice to be able to speak with the Boys again and it was really cool that they remembered us from the "Eat and Greet" 3 months before! I was able to get a hug from all of them, and was even able to get a "you smell good" compliment from one particular Rockapella member ;-)! (LOL) After we got all our Rocka-stuff signed, we said goodbye to the Boys and told them that we will see them in Santa Barbara.

Rockapella In-Store Performance - The Virgin Megastore, Ontario Mills, Ontario, CA - May 2, 2000

This was an extra-special day for my cousin (and fellow-Rockapellaholic) April and I. We won a call-in radio contest for an opportunity to do an "Eat-and-Greet" with Rockapella and for a chance to watch the guys in the front row to the Virgin Megastore performance afterwards. We were escorted into the store by Bob Morrison, J-Bird VP of Sales and Promotion, and walked right into "Moments of You." A good-sized crowd had already formed and Bob escorted us to the front of the stage, along with the other "Eat-and-Greet" contest winners. The guys gave an excellent performance and after doing a handful of pre-selected songs, they got the crowd involved and asked for requests. We were so delighted that the guys obliged to our request, which was "Don't Tell Me You Do" which April and I yelled out in unison. Scott commented that it was a good choice and added, "This is the title track off the first album. It's very sad, perfect for a record-store performance." It's amazing to see these guys perform this song live (we were about 2 feet in front of Kevin), and were surprised to see Jeff do his little solo line towards the end of the song. I did not know that Jeff did that particular line during live performance so it was quite a treat for me to see and hear him sing this line. He has quite a beautiful tenor voice. Very mellow. (*sigh* - mind is drifting...) Anyway, where was I? After the song, Scott said that they haven't sung that song in a while and were pleased that they got through it without a hitch. For their last song, they did "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?" sans the VP solo, much to the disappointment of the crowd. Although there were a lot of requests from the crowd for Jeff to include his VP solo during the song, he politely declined. Scott told the audience, "Jeff is very tired and will not do the concert version of Carmen, unless you want to see the man bleed from the mouth," to which Elliott replies, "I'd pay to see that!" That got chuckles from the crowd. However, Scott did promise that if people show up at the concert the next night, they'd be in for a real treat.

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!