fanmamma

Returned home just after 2:30 a.m. and got my videos ready for uploading. They are uploading to YouTube as I write. I am uploading Live Every Second first as it is simply amazing. Actually – they all turned out quite well (yes – my new camera arrived almost two weeks ago), but I was thinking of doing some still shots when they went into Live Every Second and I wanted to get it on the video (including Tom’s guitar humping since I tend to miss that all the time), so it was on zoom when I started filming. I was stage-side, right by the barrier, and just barely to Bill’s left, but these pictures put me right on stage next to them—all except for the few seconds in the middle when they were pulling out a girl right over my head and it got worse for me than when the others were being pulled out. It was crazy in the pit – they pulled out about 4 girls before the concert even began and I swear they pulled out about 40 all together – I didn’t keep count – but I couldn’t, there were so many!

We arrived at the Newport Music Hall just before 11:00 a.m. and the line wasn’t too long. I had done my homework though and found that membership in the Newport Music Hall’s Decibel Club provided preferred (early) entrance, so there were only two gals in that line in front of us – Kayly and Juda (forgive me if I spelled your names wrong – I’ll have to check and correct if necessary). It was quite cold – but I kept telling myself that it was no where as bad as Toronto was in February… and there were lots of places to go to warm up, grab a bite to eat or a cup of cappuccino. And thanks to my friend Amy (who lives / works in the Columbus area) for bringing by steaming hot chocolate and lots of cups to share – I still don’t know how you kept it so hot on the way there!

They let us inside just before 7:00 p.m. (so about 8 hours outside) and we got nearly center stage – right up front by the barrier. Wow – awesome view. The curtain (with the Tokio Hotel symbol) dropped a bit past 8:30 as Tokio Hotel went into Break Away for their opening song. The rest of their set was Final Day, 1000 Oceans, Love is Dead, Live Every Second, Through the Monsoon, Black, Scream, Don’t Jump, Raise Your Hands Together, Ready Set Go!, and By your Side. They then returned for two encores, first performing Rescue Me and then Durch den Monsun. I thought I’d be disappointed that it was the same songs as almost every other time that I have seen them – but found myself thoroughly enjoying it none-the-less. I videoed all but Black and Rescue Me as I used those songs to get some still-shots of the guys.

Bill looked awesome in the silver jacket and silver jeans with the black down the outside and many chains around his neck, including two crosses – the suspenders he wore were great as well – be sure to check out the back views in the videos. Tom also had some glitter to his shirt –wow!

We decided to call this the Lingerie Concert as first one girl shot a bra onstage – Bill picked it up – held it while he sang and placed it on the microphone – another came up that Bill picked up and put on Georg’s microphone – the next thing you knew the stage was deluged with brassieres.

The band really seemed to enjoy the show tonight as well with Gustav really getting into the audience – actually smiling  a – and taking the time to get the crowd to go even more crazy after the show. Allison (my daughter who was actually next to me for this one—first Tokio Hotel concert since Toronto that we were side-by-side) got one of Gustav’s drumsticks and a copy of the set list. We’d originally given this to Andy (the great guy that goes to Ohio State that we met in line and stood on my other side during the concert) as he collects them for his walls, but then they got the set list up off the stage where it had been taped so he kept that one instead and gave the other back to Allison. Hey if you read this – hi Andy, Conner and Brittany (again – hope I spelled your names right) – it was great sharing the line with you.

Also high to Streamer (from Tokio Hotel America) who was up from Texas for the concert and to Marjeana-concertchk. It was great meeting you! Too bad we didn’t get to talk more (I should have gone to Starbucks with you and let someone else hold my place in line…!)

Anyone else get the music channels on their cable TV?  If so, and you have an "On Demand" station, I discovered that there is a great interview and clips of Tokio Hotel and that I can access it for free.  They have it as part of what they call "Fresh Crops".  The bad part is that the narrator can't pronounce Kaulitz or Schrei... ouch... it hurts my ears!  Check it out!  Let me know if you find it and what you think... and pass the word!

My brother relayed this episode - I thought it too funny not to post.  To my brother - thanks for letting me share this at your expense (ouch!)



This just in…

Jesse, a beagle of questionable lineage, set about a chain of events today that damaged our garage door and van roof.

Last week our remote in the Ford had stopped working and my wife brought it in for me to replace the battery. I did that and then went into the garage afterwards and set in on the passenger seat.

My wife failed to see it on the seat and went on a short errand with Jesse in the car, leaving the garage door open while she was out.

Upon her return, Jesse got excited and must have depressed the remote button as my wife was pulling into the garage. My wife, thinking that she didn’t have a remote in the car with her, decided that it was me pulling in behind her since I was also out running an errand. She thought that I would see the door closing and hit the button on my remote to open it back up.

Anyway, before she could get all the way in the garage or stop, the door caught on the luggage rack and pulled the door inward, damaging the door. The car roof isn’t too bad though.

So, don’t leave your remotes on the car seat. Or have beagles as pets!

I just about fell out of my chair when I saw Tokio Hotel on the front page of the entertainment section of our newspaper.

Here's the article:

Okay - I just had to comment.  I finally got around to watching Sweeney Todd last evening.  What can I say?  I think it will be very memorable...  I knew that he went around killing people, but still -- not quite what I expected; and a musical none-the-less; somewhere along the lines that part had escaped me before I sat down to watch the movie.  In the light of day I am looking back upon it more favorably than I thought I would - having no bad dreams I am sure helped in my outlook.  A very thought-provoking ending too.  Any one else have any thoughts or comments on this movie?  Has anyone reading this journal seen it live (or dead - ha ha) on Broadway?

When I was growing up in the 70's and searching to find my way in life I found a musician who told me that there was only "One Way".  This musician was Larry Norman.  On Sunday, February 24, 2008, he ended his visit with this planet and went home to be with Jesus.

SJ Camp had this to say about Larry in his blog, "He was a voice of faith for an entire generation and whom many consider the Lord used to bring about the last great revival in our nation called, 'the Jesus movement.'"  You can link to his full blog here: http://stevenjcamp.blogspot.com/2008/02/larry-norman-home-with-lord-for-me-to.html. 

I want to use this opportunity to express my thanks to Larry for his roll in my faith-walk and for sharing the Word through music.

Looking forward to seeing you again someday Larry! 

Here's his website if you are interested: http://www.larrynorman.com/ 

In August of 2006 I was fortunate to be part of an in-service Mission team that spent a week at the Renewal Orphanage in Dmitrov, Russia.  Dmitrov is about 45 miles north of Moscow and the orphanage is one for handicapped children.  While there we were touched by the lives of these children.

You can view the pictures that I took during the trip at http://groups.msn.com/JudysRussiaTrip/russia2006.msnw.  These pictures include pictures of the children, the orphanage itself, some sightseeing we did while there, plus a trip to Yuzhniy, outside of Krasnodar in southern Russia, where we visited with members of a sister-church to one in our town and did service projects for them and their community.

One of the things we did at the orphanage was to play soccer (USA vs. Russia); we didn't have any advantage over these kids as many of us had never played soccer before and our goalie was age 78!  However, their goalie, a 16-year old boy by the name of Vlad, had lost his legs in a train accident when he was 12.  To tend the goal, he would get out of his wheelchair, tie his pants up around his legs and go at it.  Vlad really captured our hearts.

From the time we returned to the states we began our own mission we called "Legs for Vlad".  Through the efforts and kindheartedness of many, and despite many setbacks, Vlad, now 17 years of age, arrived in the states on December 17, 2007.  The local paper had a nice front-page article on Christmas Day.  You can view it here: page 1- http://archive.vindy.com/pubfiles/vin/archive/images_pages/12252007_A01_001.pdf and page 3- http://archive.vindy.com/pubfiles/vin/archive/images_pages/12252007_A03_001.pdf. 

It has been two months since Vlad has been here and he is doing well with his physical therapy using his prosthetics.  Another article about him ran recently.  You can view it here: page 1- http://archive.vindy.com/pubfiles/vin/archive/images_pages/02162008_B01_001.pdf and page 2- http://archive.vindy.com/pubfiles/vin/archive/images_pages/02162008_B02_001.pdf. 

What does this have to do with Tokio Hotel you may ask?  Well, Vlad is a big Tokio Hotel fan!  My daughter and I have had fun listening to TH's music and sharing pictures with him.  He prefers the German to the English versions of the songs and I think his favorite song is Vergessene Kinder.  Next time you listen to this song - think of Vlad and the other kids at the Renewal Orphanage, I know I do...

For a video of some of our soccer clips, check it out on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ0yhNBhzLQ

It’s the morning of Saturday, January 5 – while searching online I find that Ticketmaster.ca is listing that tickets went on sale that morning for a Monday, February 4, 2008, Tokio Hotel concert at the Mod Club in Toronto.  Is this for real??  I can’t find any verification of this at the Mod Club’s website, the promoter’s website or any of the Tokio Hotel sites.  I don’t want to buy tickets if this is not the “real” Tokio Hotel or if this is somebody’s idea of a joke; so I send out a couple emails.  I actually received a response verifying that it was indeed The Tokio Hotel, but now the tickets are listed as “currently not on sale”.  Why?  Did they sell out, was the concert pulled, what’s going on?

 

January 7 – I hear from the promoter (thank you for responding) that the concert is being rescheduled to another date.  I’m going away at the end of this week – I hope that they don’t go back on sale while I’m away – I don’t want to miss out on getting them this time.

 

January 18 – I’m back in town (and back to my computer) – great news!  The concert has been rescheduled for Sunday, February 10 and they go on sale tomorrow at 9:00 a.m.!!!

January 19 – 9:00:01 a.m. – I’m making my purchase on Ticketmaster.  Yeah!  I got two tickets!!!!

 

The waiting… can I get into a Meet & Greet?  There are a number of promotions – can I enter any of them?  Yikes, the cell phone texting one is not working from the states – you have to live in the Toronto area (or Montreal) and I don’t live there, but I’m going all that way!!!

 

February 9 – What should I wear?  What pictures should I bring in case the guys will sign something?  Is everything all set to go in the morning?

 

February 10 – Our final day has come – errr, that is, the day is finally here!  I didn’t get as much sleep as I wanted to the night before – I was just like a kid on Christmas Eve!  The day starts at 6:00 a.m. and we’re finally ready to leave the house by 7:30, but I need gas in the car.  Good thing I went to a nearby gas station; I had loaded up the car and forgot my purse, let’s try this again…  On the road again – but just a mere 17 miles north of us I run into a snow storm with unplowed roads and white-out conditions.  We used to live in what Ohio calls their “snow belt”, but I have never in my life driven through such conditions as I did for the next 46 miles.  My daughter was having a panic attack and we seriously considered turning back, but we’d just have to go through it on the way back as well – don’t you turn around… together we can make it.

 

We arrived in Toronto about 1:30, parked the car and walked to China Town in the blowing, freezing wind where we warmed ourselves to hot soup, tea and other dishes at the Lucky Dragon.  After finding a great anime shop (with my daughter lamenting that there was nothing like it where we live …) we headed back to find the line forming outside of the Mod Club.

 

We hopped in line and quickly made many friends – TH fans are great!  This was a good thing as we stood on the ice-cold cement walk until they finally let us in the door at 7:30.  Thanks for those who shared their warmth – both friendship-wise and some body heat!  Even though we were in the first dozen or two to come through the doors there were enough others already inside that we could not get stage-side spots, but they were still pretty good.  I stood up on the side and had a great view above everyone’s heads – and I found some really nice other “over 30 something fans” – you go girls!  Thanks for your support and yes, we all agreed that Bill is hottttt!

 

The concert was to begin at 9:00 p.m., but we’re all inside and ready to go so they started the show at 8:30.  It was great, but not nearly long enough.  TH played for only an hour, at best.  Sweet Gustav was the first one on the stage – and the last one off.  He stayed around for a couple minutes touching hands with those up front and tossing water on us all.  We hung around until Saki and the others kicked everyone out of the theatre – much to our great disappointment the boys did not appear again for autographs and the like.  Also realized afterwards that they did not play 1000 Oceans (along with many others) – since they had just released their English version of this song I thought for sure that they would perform it at the concert.  Oh well… maybe next time.

 

Synopsis:

 

2 weeks of expectation of a concert date

22 days of anticipation

6 hours of harrowing travel (12 if you count the return trip)

3.5 hours for a quick walking tour of the Toronto neighborhood and getting a bite to eat

2.5 hours of the frozen cement seeping into the soles of our shoes to freeze our feet

(Did I mention that it was about 7° F/-14° C while we were waiting with wind gusts up to 45 mph / 74 km/h?)

1 hour to thaw

1 hour of being in the presence of Bill, Tom, Georg and Gustav

But the moment that is forever locked in time – realizing I was screaming just like all the other fan girls