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House of Blues, Myrtle Beach, SC
2 June 2001
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Also Known As
The Roller Coaster Ride to RickWorld
The House of Blues, Myrtle Beach PICTURES, Page 1!
The House of Blues, Myrtle Beach PICTURES, Page 2!
The weekend did NOT get off to an auspicious start. It was damned scary if you want to know the truth. We weren't even out of the Hampton Roads area (of Virginia, which is where Shauna lives) when we were thisclose to getting wiped out by an out of control SUV. And then.... the rains started. Torrential downpours the likes of which I had never seen before. I've lived on the Eastern Seaboard for almost my entire life, and I can honestly tell you, I've been through Category 2 and 3 hurricanes that didn't have that much rain. And this wasn't just a brief shower. Except for about 45 minutes to an hour all told, this was a steady rain. I was afraid for my life on more than one instance, and had to pull over and stop altogether at one point. I was told later that that storm produced tornadoes and hail, and caused a couple of large pile-ups on I-95. When we finally arrived at the hotel at almost 11 PM, I thought I had never seen anything so beautiful and comforting in my life.
Feeling somewhat better after a (semi) good night's sleep, I took the attitude that hey! I would see Rick today! The day could only be so bad, right? (If I only knew! LOL)
My signs for the show....
Making them was fun.... but I doubt I'll do it again!
After a delightful visit with the Great and Wonderful RickMagnet from the RS.net chatroom, Shauna and I made our way to the very nice Colonial Mall, just up the street from the hotel. While doing some window shopping, we came across a pair of caricature artists. As we were watching them work, I commented to Shauna that if I'd known they were going to be there, I would have brought a picture of Rick because I had a great idea for a caricature of him. Shauna reminded me that I had my Karma CD in my purse. "Oh Yeah!" I said. So I showed one of the artists the picture of Rick on the back cover, and told him that Rick's nickname is Rooster Boy. Did he think he could put Rick's head on a chicken? "Sure," he said. "No problem." And he went to work. He produced a great cartoon of Rick, as a rooster, behind a mike with a guitar (for some reason, he made Rick left-handed, but I didn't want to quibble).
Artist Calvin Blassingame at work.... and the finished product! Funny, eh?
By this time it was close to 4 PM, with the Eat & Greet scheduled to begin at 4:30, so Shauna and I went back to the hotel to change and pick up the items we planned to take along to the show. We arrived at the House of Blues shortly after 4:30. I picked up my tickets to the show at the box office, and we made our way inside. It was so wonderful to see everyone.... RickMagnet and hubby, Jos, Janice and hubby, Shashanyc, Angel About to Sin... I know I'm forgetting people! We had a good meal, and a nice visit.
Now it's 6:30. Time to get in line. Because we had eaten at the HOB, we were entitled to "Pass The Line," but so were a lot of other people, so we still had to wait! Security finally let us in at about 7:20.
Shauna and I were able to stake out a fairly decent location - about 10 feet from the stage on Dave's side. A very nice location if one's camera has a decent zoom (which mine does). As with all General Admission shows, there was a certain degree of pushing, people jockeying for position, but after what I'd been through Friday, let me tell you, I felt I could handle anything! I stood my ground! We also met some more very pleasant people, whose names I unfortunately neglected to get! Dang. In fact, one of the couples I met, I would soon owe a big "thank you" to. More on that later!
Finally, at 8:30, the opening act (The Eddie Bush Group) began, and played for an hour. Not too bad, I suppose, but not great, and certainly not who I paid to see! Although, I give the guy credit.... he gave props to Rick during his portion, saying what an honor it was to appear on the same stage as Rick (damn right!).
The opening act: The Eddie Bush Group
At last, at about 9:40, we hear the Nomad music. I dialed Karen's number, and at that point had to assume she picked up, because I could never have heard anything on the phone - the speakers were WAY loud! "AOTH" began, and the curtain opened to reveal Rick with his back to the audience. He stood that way for the entire intro, then spun around to reveal the fact that... he seemed to have forgotten to button his shirt!!!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One word: DAMN!! He looked soooooooooooooo good! Unbelievably good! Amazing, even! And happy! He laughed and smiled the entire time!
He ventured out onto the barrier between the audience and the stage. At this point, my mystery benefactors jumped into action. They had seen the caricature, and I had told them I planned for Rick to have it. At this point, the male half of the couple, using hand motions, and shouting, asked me if I wanted to get closer, to give Rick my gift. I nodded; then he pulled, and his girlfriend pushed me into position - almost right under Rick! I held up the caricature, and he saw it! He cracked up! Unfortunately, he was singing "Inside Sylvia" at the time. Whoops! I guess I need to work on my timing. I passed the cartoon forward, hoping Rick would take it, but he didn't so the folks who took it passed it back to me, and my benefactors helped me get back to where Shauna was.
Rick's reaction to the caricature!
At some point during all this, I had called Karen back, disconnected from her, then as "DTTS" began I dialed another chat buddy, Ally. She got to hear most of it, when a security guy comes up to me and tries to make me give him my cell phone, saying "You can't have a cell phone in a concert." Since when?!?!?! Cell phones are a staple of RS concerts! Give me a break! But he made me disconnect (sorry Ally) just 10 seconds before Rick pulled not one but two phones out of the audience. DANG!! Whazzup wit' DAT?!?!? But as soon as I was sure security went away, I called Ally back! :^)
By this time, I was having battery issues with my camera (I KNEW I should have put a new battery in!), so picture taking was becoming problematic, but all in all, I had a great time. Got to hear the Medley live for the first time, and was delighted to hear "Bruce" as a part of it! What a nice ending to the Rick Drought of 2001!!!!
Too soon, the concert was over. I met (the very nice) Johnny Z. I showed him the caricature, and he laughed at it also, pronouncing it "very cool." I took the opportunity to ask him if he would "play delivery boy" and take it backstage to Rick. He said, "You know, I'd be happy to do that, but I tell you, he'll just look at it, and say 'oh cool' and then lose it, because he doesn't have a bag with him big enough to put it in right now. What you should do is send it to Ron Weisner's office. Do you have that address?" I replied, "Yeah I can get it off Rick's website." John said, "Yeah, that's right. You should do it that way, Ron will make sure he gets it." After Johnny Z left, RickMagnet (who was there also) pointed out that I could also take it to Vegas with me, and maybe security would help me give it to him then. A good point to ponder. In any event, I'm kind of glad it went that way. This way, I can have time to get the caricature framed, and make it nice for Rick.
After buying a t-shirt and postcards, and visiting some more with some people, Shauna and I decided to wait for Rick. Before long, I heard very familiar voices - Bucky and RICK! Of course, Rick was pounced on by the other folks who were there waiting. Shauna managed to get next to Rick, and asked him to sign her Living In Oz Tour program. I hung back, knowing Shauna's Ricksperience would be interrupted too soon as it was.
Shauna with The Man! Way to Go, Shauna!!!
But I caught Rick's eye - Now was my chance! I said to him, "I wanted to give you that caricature, but Johnny Z said I should send it to Ron Weisner." Rick said, "Yeah, that's probably better. I'll just lose it right now." Then another fan demanded his attention. But wait! There's still more! There was a lady there with two small kids, who wanted a picture with Rick, so she shoved her camera into my hand, and said, "Can you take our picture?" I said, "Sure." As I struggled to take the picture I said, without really thinking, "I hope this picture's framed up all right, my hands are shaking." - and Rick heard me. And laughed at me! Which just made my hands shake more!!!! LOL After that, Rick spoke with a few more people, signed a few more autographs, then was whisked away by our Bucky. It's probably a good thing Bucky was there - otherwise, Rick would probably have stayed there all night. Bucky takes good care of Rick....
And then it was over.
I saw RickMagnet one last time. She showed me the autographs she'd gotten, Shauna shared hers, and then we made our way back up to our hotel. On the way up to our rooms, I reflected on everything that had happened in the last 48 hours. Was the pleasure of Saturday night worth the pain of Friday? Absolutely yes! If I had known Friday night that Saturday night would be my reward, I would have endured it all with much better humor. I would go through it all again if I had to.
But I still hope the Vegas trip goes more smoothly! :^DAnd now for the pictures!
The House of Blues, Myrtle Beach PICTURES, Page 1!
The House of Blues, Myrtle Beach PICTURES, Page 2!
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©Candi Bowman, revised 7 July 2001
