Rihanna and Kanye West, Make It Right Gala, New Orleans, LA 3.12.12

U2, Charlottesville, VA 10-1-2009

Franti Reprise

Well, I am just now coming down off the high from the Michael Franti week.. it really was such an amazing time. I really was a fan of his music for years. And I peripherally knew things about him as a person - knew he was into yoga, knew his political beliefs (which mirrored my own), watched his documentary that he made when he traveled abroad. I admired him, certainly, but had never researched him in the sense that I would know his birthday or how many kids he had or whatever other details you pick up when you're really interested in the PERSON and not just the ARTIST.

So as all of this was happening, I started paying more attention. I read his wikipedia page on the plane trip. I watched youtube videos. And I found that his kindness, compassion and true interest in humanity is authentic and sustained. I found that my experience with him is not all that unique. I found that my story is like any other he's heard through the years. Which is what almost makes him even more impressive. He hears so many stories, meets so many people, yet doesn't seem to tire of making every effort to meet every pair of eyes, shake every pair of hands, hug everyone who needs a hug. I won a contest for tickets. That's it. But he just gave and gave and gave. And that is simply amazing. And it's inspired me to try and do the same in my life. We all have our trials, and I don't think I tend to be too depressive about mine, but this whole experience has led me to try and find the positive and focus my energy there instead of dwell on the negative.

A lot of this also has to do with my admiration of all talented people. I have brothers who can sing and write poetry/music, write stories. I am fascinated by people who can tell stories, make music, move people with their words and thoughts and melodies. I would give anything to have that talent, but it's just not there for me. I am smart, educated, can be quite funny if I know you well enough to let my guard down, but that particular brand of talent has always escaped my grasp. So I am always a fan of the people who have that - whether celebrities or just someone I meet on the street. To know I occupied the thoughts, however briefly, of someone I admire and believe to be vastly talented - the very same brain cells that creates these words and music I find inspirational - well, that's just a huge compliment.

So again, I have to thank Michael Franti - and all the other people I saw along the way in the story who were just as kind - for an amazing week!

Michael Franti

Michael Franti and Spearhead are one of my favorite bands. I was turned on to the music in 2002 and quickly became a huge fan. He is an amazing lyricist and an even more amazing performer and even more amazing social activist (or maybe not so much activist than voice). I finally got to see them live a few years back at the 9:30 Club in DC right before I participated in a March on the Pentagon war protest. Perfect weekend.

Since then, I've caught them every time they ever came near me.. several times in Richmond. And in the meantime, I've played the music for my family and everyone has fallen in love with them - young, old and disabled!

Two years ago, I was flying to Louisiana to take custody of my niece and nephews and I went to a DMB show in Manassas with Michael Franti & Spearhead opening the night before. I sat in the audience, completely overwhelmed with fear and resentment and felt like I was giving up my whole life. And then MF got on stage and introduced a song with a story about his son coming to him and wanting to move to New York, and he knew he had to let him go - he had raised him as best he could and now all he could do was send him in to the world to succeed or fail. And then he sung the song he wrote from that experience, which was beautiful. And in that moment, I had this epiphany that I was now entering into the most important job I'll ever do and that anything I am giving up doesn't mean a single thing anymore. And just like that, I was at peace. So I left the concert, a couple songs in to DMB's set, and walked into my new life.

So that's the background. Skip forward to last Tuesday. MF & Spearhead are opening for John Mayer and I knew the nola show was the night I was flying in for a birthday trip, but, I already had tix to the Cville show on 3/16. But on Tuesday night, MF announced he would be playing on the streets of nola before the show. I was excited, but didn't know if I could get there from the airport in time! Then they announced a contest for you to simply tell them why you NEED tickets to the show. I made a quick post and told my story (not the paragraph above though!) and also posted a video of my nephew dancing to their music. And I won! Next thing I knew, Michael Franti's facebook account had emailed me and asked some questions and the end result was he gave me tix to the nola show and the backstage passes for the Cville show for my family!

Everything travel wise worked perfectly on Wednesday so my friend and I rushed to the arena. The small acoustic show was amazing. After, he was meeting anyone who wanted to meet him. I was ambivalent about introducing myself - I figured I could just do it at the Cville date and I was slightly afraid that someone I admire so much may disappoint me. But I asked my friend if she wanted to and she said sure, so, we waited and she eventually asked for a picture which I then took. As we started to back away, MF looked at me and then came straight for me and hugged me.. now it would just be weird if I waited for Cville so I went ahead and said, "hi, I won your fb contest". He immediately acted almost like a fan of MINE which I have to say was an amazing feeling! He started saying "oh that's you! I want to interview you! And started calling his photographer over." Knowing that these videos wind up on their website, I kind of freaked out and asked please no. He was extremely gracious and asked if he could at least get a picture with me. At this point, the whole thing is just so surreal (he's asking ME to take a picture with HIM?) so of course I say yes.

Then I tell him the story above, his music's effect on me the night before I got the kids. I really couldn't tell you if it was coherent. But he did hug me at least two more times (it's like trying to hug the jolly green giant, I seriously need a step stool! lol). Then he asked if he'll see me in North Carolina (which was a mistake from our exchange of emails) and in that portion of the conversation it occurred to me that it was REALLY HIM emailing me this whole time! Or at least he was paying attention to what was being said.

The show that night was amazing... this is the largest setting I've seen this band in and they are the absolute perfect opener! Eventually, they posted a new episode of Frantv on youtube and he actually gave me a shout out at the end!

Then the Cville show came around, tonight. I wasn't sure if they were going to follow through on the passes, since I hadn't heard anything. But I finally got an email from a Franti contact.. only, she said "I just talked to Michael and he said he wants to give you a pair of tickets for tonight." I wasn't sure how to respond, since we had tickets - was this a "no" to the backstage pass? But then she emailed again and asked how many passes I needed so I replied stating we didn't need tickets but we had four people. She said we'd have "after show" passes at the door.

Toward the end of the night, as he was about to play that song I told him about, he started his normal intro, and then he said "and I met a girl recently. She's very shy. But she is taking care of three kids that aren't her own right now, whose parents can't be with them. And she sent me a message on facebook, and I want to say how amazing she is, and she's in the audience tonight." Well, that's what I remember, although I've heard he said my name and talked about my story in relation to the song. I couldn't believe he paid attention to my story enough to introduce that song with it!

So then we had to ask 47 people to find out where to go with our "after show" passes. We eventually wound up 'backstage' in an area you can't normally get to, but we were just stuck in the hallway. The usher said he didn't know where we needed to go, that someone may just come and get us. We waited for a few minutes, and I was just about to give up and leave when a British guy walks by and says "are you KC?" He then introduces himself as Michael's tour manager. He asks us to wait in a room. Then he comes back a few minutes later and says Michael wants us to COME BACK TO HIS DRESSING ROOM!!! Warns us we'd be going right past Mayer and basically not to make a fool of ourselves (as if, that tool!;) and then leads us through a maze into a room... where I hear Michael Franti say .... wait for it... "is that our KC?!" I mean, seriously?

And then there were introductions and the chatting with the kids, and he repeatedly asked us to sit down and just hang out for awhile but I wasn't comfortable with that b/c my nephew can be a handful. We took a few pictures, and then I said we didn't want to take up too much of his time and we made our way out. My mom's first question was how many other fans were backstage.. JUST US! He made that much of an effort - to send his tour manager to seek us out - to have just us in his dressing room! Have you ever even heard of such a thing?!

After the show, I recieved an email from Ben Renschen, the photographer/videographer from the show. He was sending pictures that he had taken backstage. In our brief email exchange, I was again so impressed by the character and spirit of the people MF surrounds himself with. You can tell these people are living their dreams, and it's so uplifting to be a part of that, if even for just a moment in time.

How amazing is this story? I mean, really? I have been a music fan for as long as I can remember and I have never had anyone go to these lengths to make a fan feel special. This man exudes peace and love and I adore him. And the band kicks some serious ass too. :)

Remembering MJ

Ok, so I know the Michael Jackson stuff is all played out at this point, but I have to take an opportunity to express my deep sadness at his passing. See, I was a huge MJ fan, long after it was popular to be one.

Born in '76, some of my earliest childhood memories involved MJ. I remember being in second grade and watching tv while eating a grilled cheese in our observatory (yes, it still strikes me as hilarious that I had a room called an obervatory growing up), and flipping the channel (on the tv, you know, when you had to get up and turn the knob?) onto MTV *just* as MJ was turning into a werewolf. I quickly flipped it off again... it totally freaked me out.. and then it fascinated me.

My sister was a huge fan, she owned the red Beat It jacket and everything. I remember her going to the Jackson Reunion tour in Philadelphia. Afterward, my dad, big brother and I went to pick her up. As we waited for the show to end, my dad stepped up to the venue's fence and put me on his shoulder's so I could watch. I was fascinated.

Then when I was in high school, I watched the Oprah interview right when things were really going downhill for him and for some reason I was fascinated yet again.. I just became so amazed at his brilliance as a musician and songwriter and dancer and for a few years became his biggest fan.

When I graduated high school, he had married Lisa Marie Presley and they were doing a really awesome official Elvis anniversary tribute in Memphis at the Pyramid Arena. I convinced my mama to drive me and brought along my two best friends. Sure enough, they announced at one point that Lisa Marie, Priscilla, Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson were in a box watching the show. We were slightly disappointed he didn't perform. My friend and I raced around the arena to get to the box right as he was rushed out the door into an elevator.

A year later I saw an ad on tv for the VH-1 Honors awards. The second I saw MJ was supposed to be there, I was all over it. At 19 years old, I hopped on a plane to Los Angeles without a credit card or a cell phone and went to the Shrine Auditorium in South Central L.A. It was actually one of the best shows I've ever been to with amazing duets (Annie Lennox and Smokey Robinson!). It was a star studded, televised event and this little girl from Louisiana didn't really know how she wound up allowed in the building! And sure enough, there was Michael Jackson, stepping on stage to do a little bit of a song with Boyz II Men. It was so very exciting.

As we all know, things continued going downhill for Mr. Jackson after that and slowly my love spread to other music. However, I always always always will love his music and will forever mourn the fact that I won't see him peform again.

DMB, the Gorge in George Washington, Labor Day Weekend Part 2

On this last trip, I discovered the joys of lawn seating at concerts. I'd never been on the lawn. I love the rush and competitiveness of getting great seats to shows (for face!) so I've had my fair share of great seats.

But just this once, my little group decided to sit on the lawn at a massive show, and we loved it so much that we gave away our tickets for the next night and sat lawn again on purpose. Lawn is brilliant because you can 1. stand up and dance, 2. sit down and watch or 3. lay down and almost fall asleep - all depending on your mood!

I have one favorite memory from that last night on the lawn. There's a new song, one that I am really loving. All three of us laid down on our blanket, staring into the stars. When the chorus started (my favorite part) I reached my hand up to the sky and started to swing it left to right. Almost as if it were scripted and without speaking, my two friends reach up and start the motion too. Then we all raised both of our arms, swinging them in the air left to right, in unison, and to the beat. I have no idea what the people around us thought, all I know is that it was a magical moment. And every time I hear that song, I will immediately be back in that moment, in the most beautiful place, laying down, and watching for shooting stars.

DMB, the Gorge in George Washington, Labor Day Weekend Part 1

The Gorge is the most amazing music venue on earth.

You know how sometimes you go on a vacation that has lots of potential, but then it actually winds up being stupid and boring and a huge waste of money and time, but instead of actually copping to that, you make up stories about how wonderful it was?

My vacation was the exact opposite of that. :)

I was worried.. we had less people coming than usual, we're all older and have more responsibilities, I was hanging out with a married couple - third wheel syndrome, anyone? But none of that mattered... we picked up right where we left off. Three stooges. So many moments that were hilariously perfect.

I could write probably 50 pages, but noone would ever read it, right? So, probably randomly, I'll just offer up tidbits as they come to me.

The first one is not about the trip, really, but something interesting on the plane ride home. On the last leg of my long journey home, a man entered my plane. He was, quite simply, a giant. A true, living, breathing giant. Now, I may be short, so many people are "tall" to me, but this man was bent in half as he walked down the aisle of the plane. I'd never seen anything like it.

I immediately thought of how annoying that may be, to have a physical characteristic that truly sets you apart from every single other person and makes people stare. I may be fat or short or anything else that defines me, but I know I'm not THE fattest or THE shortest or THE whatever that anyone has ever seen. I wondered about his life, and the challenges he has to endure.

This entire trip was my first time in first class. I had lucked out on a promotion where I got the ticket for free. I decided that first class isn't all it's cracked up to be. While it's nice to have extra room, it was room that I didn't need... my feet barely touched the ground and I could have barely touched the seat in front of me if I stretched out my legs. So as I sat there in my first class seat, thinking about this man, I was overwhelmed with the desire to go back and ask him if he wanted to switch seats so he could have the room. I thought about it and thought about it. I'd love to end the story with me having done it and him having eternal gratitude, but of course that's not the case. My natural reserve and dislike of calling attention to myself overrided the desire to do it - and, I wasn't sure how he would react. Would he have been offended? I'll never know.

As we waited for our luggage, I got my first good look at him standing up. He had to duck as he came through the doorway of the large baggage claim area! I found the second tallest guy in the room who looked to be about 6'5 and this guy was clearly heads above him, so the giant was probably closer to 8'0 if not over. He was in his 30's, very good looking. I watched as the 100 or so people in the room pretended not to be staring (just like me, I'm ashamed to admit). Again, how weird that must be? Although if you've never known anything else, maybe not?