Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Music meets: 3 states in 1 day that ended with IMMORTALITY

Let me tell you about a day when I hunted down music names in three different states. My initial plan was to go to nova con but since I didn't need much there I left to another state to try for bigger music names (and figured the nova con folks will likely do other cons anyway). 

I drive up to state #1 and arrive at a spot where a Master there shared with me some of his Masterful info on condition that I share it with no one else. 

First up comes Martha Davis but since I had a photo op with her I didn't bother. I did however get a photo with Marty Jourard who is an original member of The Motels and was in their studio albums. 

Go check out another spot then come back to this one. Upon arriving see Billy Ocean who is nice as can be. 

Back to another spot where I hope to see Jefferson Starship lead vocalist, Mickey Thomas. Then I go to the venue spot cause I hear Pete Byrn of the Naked Eyes (Always Something There to Remind Me) is about to arrive. Sure he enough he shows up but I get PUNCHED as I'm told Mickey showed up at the previous spot and did photo ops. Wow that hurt a lot.

Head back to the previous spot to get Mickey as he is leaving, then at the venue I hear they get Taylor Dayne (Tell It To My Heart). Another PUNCH. 

So Right now I figure no way I could miss Mickey Thomas as he has to go to the venue. Then I get a call and I'm told that he did in fact show up at the venue and did photo ops PUNCH! He must have used the back to leave the spot I was waiting at. Wow what a slew of bad decisions and circumstances that cost me not one but two wants (Mickey and Taylor). 

With these punches I bailed on this state and move on to the next state. Upon arriving to the venue I get a photo op with Dave Wekeling of English Beat (who is super duper duper nice). 

Then came Modern English. Already have them but got updated with 3 of 4 original members that came over (all but the lead singer who again I have). Then I score one of my major wants from this spot, Annabella Lwin of Bow Wow Wow (I want Candy). She is nice as can be, signed and took photos. My next big want, Katrina of Katrina and the Waves (Walking on Sunshine) does combos with all and I get her as well. 

Now here is where I had a huge decision to make. I had info on where and when Queen would arrive in town. And I've heard that they got soured up as of late.

Do I stay where I'm at and get an upgrade shot with Ivan Doroschuk of Met Without Hats (Safety Dance) and get Howard Jones to sign my albums? I would gain no fresh photo ops but would have a good chance at getting something over nothing. Or do I go the high risk high return route? 

I asked a few people and no one else at that spot wanted to come with me for Queen and instead opted to simply stay put at this venue and get what they could.  I on the other hand decided to take the huge plunge into oblivion in the hopes that I would land on glory (that glory being Brian May of Queen as I actually do have Roger Taylor). So I run into my car and rush down to state #3. 

While driving there I did some magical research. Upon this research I find out that the drivers of Queen have to actually pull up to a ramp and go right by the planes, making access to them pretty much non existent. So I went to a spot where I thought they would stay at (which is a 45 min drive from where they were landing, so I had some time to get there) and basically began a prayer to the combo Gods that they would actually arrive there. 

Upon waiting I get a phone call from a Master. He tells me that they could be going where I'm waiting but suggested another spot where they could be going to. The Master recommended I drive somewhere where I can see the cars drive through, and from there see where the cars are going. This seemed way too cumbersome for me, so I decided to check out the other spot the Master suggested (which was like 5 minutes from where I was waiting to begin with). 

Upon arriving I see two greeters actually waiting outside, as if to receive VIP guests! Jackpot, or so I hoped. Wait about 10 minute and sure enough bunch of black vans and SUVs arrive. My reaction was this face 


Another instance where you truly appreciate not being in NYC. We are but TWO people, myself included. We get lip from the employees working there not to come on the property. Since I heard they soured up, we decided to go with ZERO merch and shoot for just photo ops. First up is Roger Taylor, we ask for a photo and he calls us over. I get an upgrade with him. 

Next up, Adam Lambert. We call him over but he is foul as he ignores us and just enters. Finally Brian May arrives and we get more lip from the employees. We plead him for photo ops and sure enough he walks over, is as nice as can be, takes pictures, shakes our hands, wow I couldn't believe how nice and friendly he was. He was honestly so nice he probably would have signed, but then again maybe he was that nice because we made our intentions (ie photo ops and no autographs) very clear. 

I honestly couldn't believe this victory, goes to show you that sometimes in combo hunting you need to take risk. Without risk you're guaranteed to have no shot at glory. Now I could have gone back to the initial state to try again for Micky Thomas in the morning but I decided to go call it and drive to state #4 and simply go to my house to greet my dog. As I was driving home I called back the Master and told him what happened and thanked him. 

Sucks I missed both nova con and a couple of music wants earlier in the day, but I would say by evening's end I made up for it a million fold  

I think it's safe to say Brian May is my best music name that is not a lead vocalist.







Brian May

Roger Taylor

Billy Ocean

Pete Byrne

Annabella Lwin

Katrina Leskanich

Full list of tri state photo ops

Billy Ocean and Pete Bryne autographs

Annabella and Katrina autographs

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