Having made the decision to leave NYC and with going the fuck money route at the Connecticut con, I had other plans.
First, I went to an airport for a flight, namely the 80s band The Romantics. They are best known for their hit "Talking in Your Sleep" which coincidentally played at the airport shortly before their plane landed. 3 of the 4 members are original, with a barely valid drummer. However, even here there would be a punch. Turns out the vinyl album I have can only be signed by 2 out of the 3 originals. Dammit.
Lead singer Wally Palmar is first, nice as can be. Get my stuff signed and the photo op. Bassist Rich Cole is next and again nice as can be. Next up guitarist Mike Skill says he'll only sign one. He is the one not on my album. So I get him on an 8x10 and get the photo op. Finally I get a photo op with the barely valid Brad Elvis.
Next up I try for the Pointer Sisters (I'm So Excited....I Just Can't Hide It). Sadly out of the 3 current members, only one is valid. Namely, Ruth Pointer. Technically she is not original but she started very early and is on all the hits. She is nice as can be and I get a photo op.
On to another airport, this time for the original drummer of Chicago, Danny Seraphine. Finally find him and I get a photo op and my items signed. Nice guy.
Now I go grab a meal, and since already in town I make the brave decision to venture for Miley Cyrus. Technically I got the shot before but my shot is badly in need of an upgrade.
The venue is huge, and there are different ways she could exit. To boot, police is all around the event and preventing anyone from being in any prime spots. When the event ends one side gets shut out due to crowd so that narrowed things a little bit. A tour bus leaves, and with that go to the spot where the tour bus is going.
Now here is a good example of why doing stuff outside NYC is smart. For Miley in NYC, there will always be a crowd and while she isn't nasty like the majority of pop stars of her caliber, the horrid NYC crowd can take the niceness out of anyone. Here, we are not 10, 20, or 30. We are but TWO! Sadly there's a long driveway on private property. So if she wants to blank on us it's easy for her to do so. She comes out the tour bus and we call for her. She signals for us to come over. She does combos with us! Perfect shots! People pay 1K for her m&g and don't even get an auto! Wow just wow I can't believe this happened! Against all odds we prevailed!
Of all the things that could have gone wrong:
- Cops could have been a huge factor
- She could have been in an SUV and not a tour bus, which would have made things 1000X harder
- She could have gone to the airport and flown out of town after the show
- She could have not been in said tour bus as suspected
- Her people could have prevented us from coming close to her
- The hotel employees could have forbid us from coming on their property
- She could have blanked and ignored us
Yet against all these odds, we prevailed! I couldn't believe it! Especially after the blow offs in NYC the prior days, this was such a fresh change of pace!
The next day I have a flight for the B52s. Three original members are touring, namely Fred, Kate, and Cindy. Kate I already got a perfect shot with in NYC so I had no reason to bother with an airport shot. Fred sadly by all accounts doesn't do photo ops on the street. So the only thing I had to gain photo op wise was Cindy.
Additionally, I heard their tour manager is a total asshole. So I braced for the worst. Arrive there and we are two people waiting. B52s pull up and all three sign. I get a photo op with Cindy and Fred says "I don't take pictures". Since I expected that I didn't press the issue. When I asked Fred to sign he goes "oh in blue, these are gonna go on sale" I said no they're not he goes "why do you have two of the same" I go it's for a friend. Not sure why he questioned me when the other guy had duplicates and was using blue sharpie.
In all this chaos I still had one item left unsigned by Kate. So I wait and the tour manager is touching me and grabbing me saying I have to "leave the building" or he'll call "security". WTF? Where does he think he is? A venue on private property? I tell him in a stern voice to call whoever he wants. So I wait and a woman who works for the airline comes up to me and tells me I can't take photos. She has no legal authority to tell me that at the airport. So I lash out on her saying I wasn't taking any photos but if she doesn't "get the fuck out of my face" I will in fact take photos. She then goes away from me. Shortly after the tour manager brings a cop who tells me to back away. So I go downstairs and wait at a spot where they all have to pass. Soon after the cop says I can ask but if they say no then not to peruse. I ask Kate for my last item to be done and she is nice about it. I thank her. As the policeman is going away I say "have a good day officer" and shake the cop's hand.
Overall I have to say based on all the stories I heard with that tour manager this went better than I expected. I got everything I wanted minus a Fred photo op, which I wasn't expecting to get.
Now to showcase some autographs
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