I took my son Steve to the concert with me, though I'd see a few of the people I knew from online. 'This will be interesting' I thought, in light of the almost-snub in Calumet City. Turns out I spotted them easily and we all were talking, but I was picking up vibes I was intruding...body language and all that, you know....anyhow, once we were in the lobby area, there was a wait because sound checks were still being done. When we were finally let into the theater, they were seated right up in front. I wasn't that far away from them, down the aisle a little, seated right on the aisle.
The Grass Roots were on first. They played Midnight Confession, Temptation Eyes, etc. At one point, though, someone was telling the lead to speed it up from off-stage when he was introducing a song. I guess because the show got a late start?
The Buckinghams were next. Kind of a Drag, Susan, and Don't You Care, among other songs, had me on my feet and singing along. They even played a couple of songs by the group Chicago, because the lead singer said their manager in the 60's was also the manager of Chicago.
By the time Micky came on, I was full of energy from the Buckinghams. He was wearing black and gray and looking pretty good I thought! I did see a solo concert of his before, remember, but this one seemed a whole lot better for some reason. He can really sing so fine - and when he sang a Beatles song after he told about meeting them and being in the recording studio, he sang Oh Darlin'. Wow. Fantastic.
Afterwards, Micky was in the lobby for a meet-n-greet. I brought along a book for him to sign. It's called The Monkees Day By Day Story by Andrew Sandoval. I happened to see a few others with the same book too. There was a long line of people in front of me, but it was moving along at a good pace.
My turn and I say, "Hi Micky, will you sign this for me?"
"Sure darlin'"
"I saw you in Pippin."
"Did you like it?"
"Yes!" Then I said, "This is my son Steve."
Micky said, "Hi Steve! How are ya?"
"I'm doing fine!' Steve says.
"Great!", Micky says.
"Can I get a picture? My son will take it..."
Steve fumbles around with the camera, admitting, "I'm just a little nervous...ok, I got it."
"Thanks Micky!", I say and then we were moved along by the attendants.
I saw one of the online fans nearby, on the other side of the rope that was used to mark the line. "Let's go over there for a bit", I tell Steve. How come you were nervous?"
"I never met a really famous celebrity person before"' he said. "He was right in front of me!"
Once by my friend, I chatted with her as I watched all the interactions. "Where's everyone else?", I ask her.
"That-a-way I think...", pointing to the right. We stood talking about the concert. Then she told me she had to go find them.
The line ended. I heard Micky say, "So that's everybody?" Someone answered yes. "Ok then", he said. "I'm thirsty", I could hear him saying as he walked away with the attendants.
Then I saw the others coming my way. "Must be going home or something', I thought. "Hi guys! You leaving?"' I ask. Yes, they were saying, as I begin to walk with them. They sounded in a hurry...."Where are you staying?"' I ask.
"Down 30 to the east", one of them said. "We're going home from here right now."
By now we were all in the parking lot. Turns out they parked close to where I did. The driver was rushing everyone into their suv. "Bye!", they all were telling me. Zoom! Off they went! I became suspicious they were up to something, but then I put it out of my mind. I later inadvertently learned that they met up with Micky at an after party thing in the bar. Apparently they didn't want me to come too, let alone know about it.
I get da pichur guys...
