On This Day in 2003 - 8/18/03

A page from my scrapbook, made in 2008

Here's a post from my Livejournal that I wrote a few days after I met Hanson for the first time in 2003!

OK, so Sunday morning, I woke up at home, hurried to get ready, and picked up the van at church. I headed to Amanda’s house, was greeted by her yelling, “Bek!” from her room, and we went to Katie’s, ready for Hanson. Katie wasn’t there yet, so we sat out in the van and waited for her. While we waited, my old neighbor, Kathy, came over and talked to us. She was super nosy, so we just wanted her to go away. Eventually she did, but she came back again. Luckily, Katie and Theresa came back, so we pulled into the driveway. They loaded their stuff into the van, and we went back to Amanda’s to decorate the car with car chalk. After the car looked all clowny and Hansony, we went to Erin’s, stopping at McDonald’s for 39 cent ice cream cones. When we got to Erin’s, we took a couple pictures of us in our cute/dorky matching shirts and the van. Then we left! I drove first.

Of course we got many priceless reactions to the van. The memorable ones, we captured on video kind of. One was a small green bus that drove by. A girl was driving, and some guys were in the back seat, videotaping us. I can’t remember why, but I thought they were a band, and we would be on their tour video. Maybe they had instruments in there. There was also a woman who took our picture. That was amusing. Then there was a guy—I wasn’t really paying attention at this point—but apparently, Erin was flirting with him. I’m sorry I missed that! But I know he was wearing light a t-shirt on his head or something, and his car had lots of weird crap in it; I don’t know.

So I drove for a very long time. We were stuck in Chicago traffic for 5 hours—no exaggeration. Yikes is right. OK, so in Indiana, Erin started driving. We stopped at a Burger King, and I got a bacon burger in memory of Sorority Boys. Haha, Doofer rules. We stopped at the visitors building or something and got directions to where we needed to be because an exit was closed or something. So eventually, after stopping for directions again in Michigan (darn Michigan), we finally made it to our hotel.

I wasn’t tired yet, so I modeled all my outfits and one of Theresa’s. Hehe. I was a little wired and excited. Well, we planned on getting up at like 4:30 AM, and we got to hotel at 2:30 AM. That didn’t happen. We actually woke up at 5:30, I believe. We didn’t get to venue until 8ish. There were already about…oh I don’t know, 20 people ahead of us, maybe more, maybe less. We would’ve been in the same place even if we had gotten there at 6 or 7 because the people in front of us got there at like 5:45 or something like that. But anyway, the fans were all pretty cool at that point. One fan named Kendal danced for the cars and sang along to the This Time Around. She was entertaining. We played one game of Bullshit, and then Theresa and Erin interviewed some fans. We didn’t do a whole lot, I don’t think.

The excitement started at about 1:00. Hanson’s tour bus pulled in! I had my video camera in tow. Yay! We had to wait awhile before Hanson actually came out of the bus. In the meantime, we chatted with fans and shimmied around and stuff like that. But finally, the guys did come out! It was pretty exciting. They just kept walking to and from the bus. Well, mostly Ike and Taylor. I think Zac just went inside once and stayed there. Once when Ike was going back to the bus, he turned around and shot the crowd a sexy look, but I missed it on the video. Taylor was awesome enough to sign some autographs for us psycho girlies. Amanda got his autograph then! And we actually weren’t that psycho. I was very proud of the fans. We were all pretty calm—no screaming really, and no crowding the tour bus. We just stood by the barricades and waited for something to happen. Everyone was going click happy with the cameras, that’s about it.

At one point, those PHP members without a meet and greet pass tried going to the front of the building to sit around and wait for Micah, who was Hanson’s friend giving out passes. Apparently you’re supposed to bug him about going backstage, and we didn’t know that. We were under the impression that you have to be not annoying. We suck. But ah well, we found Theresa again and lined up soon after that.

Some people who had come there late started lining up, so Erin and I went to warn Kendal. She gathered her crew and got us all a nice spot in line. Theresa joined the other meet and greet peeps and went in to meet Hanson. A few minutes later, she called me and related the whole thing to me. Cuteness! You’ll have to check out her experience for that part.

Soon after, we were let in to the venue. We saw Theresa right up there in the front row. Lucky, lucky girl. I think Katie, Amanda, Erin, and I started out about 6 people from the stage. After awhile of listening to John Mayer’s and Ben Folds’ CDs, Teitur came on stage. I liked his stuff, and he had a great voice, but a lot of the Hanson fans were being stupid and gabbing away during his set. I felt sorry for him. At one point, he’s like, “So which Hanson do you fancy the most?” Haha, he’s so foreign. He assured us that they were all nice guys.

About 15 minutes after Teitur’s set was over, Hanson came on! Holy crap! Awesomeness! They kicked off the show with one of my favorites, “Strong Enough to Break.” Other songs they sang were “River,” “Runaway Run,” “Deeper,” “Underneath,” “Penny and Me,” “MMMBop,” “This Time Around,” stuff like that. They also each had a solo. Taylor sang “Never Let Go.” Now, I love this song, but I didn’t even recognize it at the concert! I’m dumb. Zac sang “Tightrope,” I hear it’s called. Ike sang “Call Me,” I think it’s called. He looked and sounded so sweet. I couldn’t stop staring at his arm, though ‘cause he was wearing short sleeves. Oh, they also sang two covers—“Teach Your Children” by Crosby, Stills, and Nash and “Rip It Up” by Little Richard. In the middle of their set, I was getting parched, so I went to the back of the place to get water. I looked over by the merchandise table and saw Jessica Hanson and Micah selling things. Teitur was nearby, looking all lonely, so I approached him and asked, “Where can I get your CD?” He turned around and dug around in a duffle bag. “What’s your name?” he asked. I told him, and he autographed the CD to me. I handed him my money and thanked him. He thanked me back, and I shimmied away all giddy. Katie came out of the crowd, and after stopping in the bathroom, we watched the last few songs of the Hanson show at the back.

When it was over, we all reunited and headed outside back by the buses. We watched people walk back and forth and chatted with Micah and sang Hanson songs in front of Jessica. She was amused. Ike was signing autographs in the front of the bus, so we hurried over there. I was way in back, maybe 4 people away from him, so I knew I wasn’t gonna get any Ike lovin’. Theresa did, though. She got her Underneath Acoustic CD signed. Ike was being funny. He may have been a little tipsy. He told us to stop taking pictures, and right after he said that, Amanda’s crazy flash went off. Ike warned us that his Oklahoma accent might come out, saying, “Don’t piss the man off, asshole.” Amusing. Well, Ike left, and I was all bitter, but we had work to do. I hurried to the van and hopped in with the girls right behind me. We peeled off right behind the bus along with a few other cars. After making several weird turns and going in a circle, the bus arrived at a Hilton. We parked and hurried to the entrance where maybe 10 people were waiting. We sat on the curb and waited for something to happen. Ike came out of the bus and walked into the building. A few people said hi, and he just said in this dejected voice, “Hi, guys.” Katie said that he shook his head after that. Aww, he hates us! Mrs. Hanson also came out with their dog, Bravo. It was so cute! Some others came out, like Jessica and maybe Micah. But then Taylor came out and came right on over to us. “Looks like a party,” he said.

“A streaking party!” said Amanda, referring to a joke made during the concert.

“No, not a streaking party,” I corrected.

“Which is it?” Taylor wondered.

“Well, which do you want? Streaking or not streaking?” I asked as he LOOKED RIGHT AT ME! Eye contact rules. It really does.

“You guys don’t want to see me streak,” he assured us. Boy was he wrong! Mr. Hanson came along and told Taylor they had to get going. Taylor said, “It’s OK, it’s OK.” It was so cute! He wanted to hang out with us! But he did go inside. While we waited for something else to happen, a couple of the girls went to the bus to try to get Zac was coming out. He closed the blinds on them. Har har. Ike came out again and said in his bitter voice, “Goodnight, guys.” Aww, sadness! But the second he walked on the bus, he started dancing. He also started chugging some beer. Must have been tipsy. Who knows. Taylor came out again, so we swarmed him right by the entrance. He stuck around and took a few pictures with people, and one of the PHPers kept asking if we could take a group picture with him. He said sure, but Micah came along and told him they had to go. Katie was brave and asked him for a handshake. We all followed suit. I was the last one, so as the PHPer before me was shaking Taylor’s right hand, I grabbed his left one. Well, he was leaving, so I had to hurry. He has such soft hands. I was shocked.

So the five of us made our way back to the van, giddier than ever. I had said earlier that day that Taylor was my least favorite, but that changed completely! I now have no favorite, or least favorite. How can I choose? Even though Ike was cranky, I can’t blame him. But that’s not where my fun ends!

To be continued...if you actually read all of that, I should give you a prize.