Bad Buddha
11-10-2009, 12:18 PM
Back in August my daughter bought tickets to a concert by her favorite band, The Bravery. I went with her last year when she recorded a "Bootleg Video" for a local radio station. We had a great time; met the band and got pictures with them. She asked me if I wanted to go with her again this year. I thought she would have a better time with one of her friends, but she talked me into it. "Besides", she said, "They have a bar on the side so you don't have to stand all evening on your bad knee!" Always thinking of me! Sweet kid!
***QUICK NOTE***
My dad is the coolest dad in the world, he goes to rock concerts with me, we got tattoos together, we go on motorcycle trips together, and he plays the bagpipes. Yeah, try to beat that, oh wait you can't.
She has seen the band about 8 times. She always takes an "I ♥ SAM!" sign to the concerts; Sam Endicott is the lead singer. She won an opportunity to meet the band at a studio session where I took pictures of her with them. She had them sign an "I ♥ SAM!" sign that she had held up at the previous concert. She's had 3 songs dedicated to her at concerts and met them personally 4 times. I think they're starting to remember her.
So, she gets down from WWU yesterday evening, We make an "I ♥ SAM!" sign and we head down to Seattle. I drop her off at the Showbox and park the car. When I get back it appears that she is first in line. She's literally vibrating with excitement! Had a nice talk with the girls behind us (They liked my earrings!), we start talking about concert experiences and I tell them a story about a Frank Zappa concert that I went to about 25 years ago. We occasionally see the band members walking back and forth between their bus and the theatre. When we finally get in, my daughter gets a spot at center stage, one foot from the mike stand. I snag a stool at the bar counter overlooking the pit/main floor.
The opening band is The Dustys from Virginia. Not bad! Lots of energy and some catchy tunes.
The Bravery finally hits the stage and they are rockin'! They played a lot of their old classics and mixed in some new stuff that sounded pretty good. Sam is a bit of a spaz on stage, but he's got a great voice and tons of energy. Dirt (Mike Hindert - They have two Mikes so they call him Dirt?!?) the bass player sings and plays lead guitar for one tune. Micheal, the lead guitar player plays a drum kit for a couple tunes and Sam switches off between just singing, guitar and plays bass while Dirt sings.
So about halfway through the concert between songs, Sam looks down into the audience, grabs something... and holds up my daughter's "I ♥ SAM!" sign for everyone to see! He hands it back and says to her, "Thanks, I love you too!"! I'm thinking - Who's a happy girl? :D
So they finish the set and come back to play Fearless as their encore. Kick ass tune that I had been humming and singing all day long. They start leaving the stage Michael comes over and shakes my daughter's hand! Then Anthony, The drummer, gets of his stand, walks over to center stage and tosses a drumstick to my daughter. He tosses the other one out into the crowd. As the roadies are breaking stuff down, one of them peels Sam's set list off of the stage and hands it to my daughter.
It just keeps getting better!
She had been putting off buying any merch because she didn't want to lose her place at the stage. After the show was over, we went over to the t-shirt table to take a look. She was bouncing off the walls! "He said 'I love you'!", "Michael was playing a guitar solo one foot away from me!", "Anthony gave me a drumstick!"
It's pretty neat to see your kids having so much fun!
It turns out that if you pre-order their new CD, you get to go through a Meet & Greet with the band after the show! So, of course, my daughter orders the CD and gets the lanyard pass for the Meet & Greet. I pitch in to buy her a new poster. She's third in line for the M&G and the band shows up and gets settled at a long table. As security is getting ready to release the first people of the line, Michael leans forward and waves at my daughter.
The line starts moving and she gets to the table. Dirt is first and she has him sign the drumstick, her "I ♥ SAM!" sign and the set list, Sam looks at the signs laughs and says thanks for coming, etc. She chats with him a bit and is kinda bent that pictures aren't allowed. She moves down the line and Michael looks at the sign... with Sam's name on it... and says "I'm not signing this shit!". He laughs, signs all her stuff and passes it down the line. Jon, the keyboardist, is kinda quiet. He's signs it all and passes it to Anthony. He appears to remember her from all of the other concerts, sessions and meets. As he's signing the drumstick, he says something like, "I'm really glad you caught this drumstick, it was meant for you."
Look in the dictionary for "Happy Girl" and you'll see a picture of my daughter!
She was energized and bouncy all the way home. We got home at around 12:30 and my wife was still up doing homework. Of course we had to go through the whole evening for her and this just re-energized my daughter! "I can't believe all that just happened!"
The Bravery Breakdown:
[8 Concerts]
[7 Posters]
[7 Signatures from the whole band]
[3 Song dedications]
-Unconditional-
-Angelina-
-An Honest Mistake-
[3 Hugs from Sam Endicott]
[1 Endsession]
[1 Bootleg Video]
I <3 SAM
and he <3s Me! :D :D :D
Life is good!
***QUICK NOTE***
My dad is the coolest dad in the world, he goes to rock concerts with me, we got tattoos together, we go on motorcycle trips together, and he plays the bagpipes. Yeah, try to beat that, oh wait you can't.
She has seen the band about 8 times. She always takes an "I ♥ SAM!" sign to the concerts; Sam Endicott is the lead singer. She won an opportunity to meet the band at a studio session where I took pictures of her with them. She had them sign an "I ♥ SAM!" sign that she had held up at the previous concert. She's had 3 songs dedicated to her at concerts and met them personally 4 times. I think they're starting to remember her.
So, she gets down from WWU yesterday evening, We make an "I ♥ SAM!" sign and we head down to Seattle. I drop her off at the Showbox and park the car. When I get back it appears that she is first in line. She's literally vibrating with excitement! Had a nice talk with the girls behind us (They liked my earrings!), we start talking about concert experiences and I tell them a story about a Frank Zappa concert that I went to about 25 years ago. We occasionally see the band members walking back and forth between their bus and the theatre. When we finally get in, my daughter gets a spot at center stage, one foot from the mike stand. I snag a stool at the bar counter overlooking the pit/main floor.
The opening band is The Dustys from Virginia. Not bad! Lots of energy and some catchy tunes.
The Bravery finally hits the stage and they are rockin'! They played a lot of their old classics and mixed in some new stuff that sounded pretty good. Sam is a bit of a spaz on stage, but he's got a great voice and tons of energy. Dirt (Mike Hindert - They have two Mikes so they call him Dirt?!?) the bass player sings and plays lead guitar for one tune. Micheal, the lead guitar player plays a drum kit for a couple tunes and Sam switches off between just singing, guitar and plays bass while Dirt sings.
So about halfway through the concert between songs, Sam looks down into the audience, grabs something... and holds up my daughter's "I ♥ SAM!" sign for everyone to see! He hands it back and says to her, "Thanks, I love you too!"! I'm thinking - Who's a happy girl? :D
So they finish the set and come back to play Fearless as their encore. Kick ass tune that I had been humming and singing all day long. They start leaving the stage Michael comes over and shakes my daughter's hand! Then Anthony, The drummer, gets of his stand, walks over to center stage and tosses a drumstick to my daughter. He tosses the other one out into the crowd. As the roadies are breaking stuff down, one of them peels Sam's set list off of the stage and hands it to my daughter.
It just keeps getting better!
She had been putting off buying any merch because she didn't want to lose her place at the stage. After the show was over, we went over to the t-shirt table to take a look. She was bouncing off the walls! "He said 'I love you'!", "Michael was playing a guitar solo one foot away from me!", "Anthony gave me a drumstick!"
It's pretty neat to see your kids having so much fun!
It turns out that if you pre-order their new CD, you get to go through a Meet & Greet with the band after the show! So, of course, my daughter orders the CD and gets the lanyard pass for the Meet & Greet. I pitch in to buy her a new poster. She's third in line for the M&G and the band shows up and gets settled at a long table. As security is getting ready to release the first people of the line, Michael leans forward and waves at my daughter.
The line starts moving and she gets to the table. Dirt is first and she has him sign the drumstick, her "I ♥ SAM!" sign and the set list, Sam looks at the signs laughs and says thanks for coming, etc. She chats with him a bit and is kinda bent that pictures aren't allowed. She moves down the line and Michael looks at the sign... with Sam's name on it... and says "I'm not signing this shit!". He laughs, signs all her stuff and passes it down the line. Jon, the keyboardist, is kinda quiet. He's signs it all and passes it to Anthony. He appears to remember her from all of the other concerts, sessions and meets. As he's signing the drumstick, he says something like, "I'm really glad you caught this drumstick, it was meant for you."
Look in the dictionary for "Happy Girl" and you'll see a picture of my daughter!
She was energized and bouncy all the way home. We got home at around 12:30 and my wife was still up doing homework. Of course we had to go through the whole evening for her and this just re-energized my daughter! "I can't believe all that just happened!"
The Bravery Breakdown:
[8 Concerts]
[7 Posters]
[7 Signatures from the whole band]
[3 Song dedications]
-Unconditional-
-Angelina-
-An Honest Mistake-
[3 Hugs from Sam Endicott]
[1 Endsession]
[1 Bootleg Video]
I <3 SAM
and he <3s Me! :D :D :D
Life is good!