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| Jo Dee Concerts 2001 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Little did I know, half of The Billy Gilman Fan Club was staying in my hotel. In the lounge there were about 25 people wearing "I'm A Billy Head" shirts. That was really scary. There were a few non-Billy Gilman people in there, and I felt sorry for them. I went back up to my room and watched the rest of the awards. DAY 2 The next day was pretty uneventful. We went to Ryman Auditorium where I met Darryl Worley. We also went to Opryland Hotel, Opry Mills Mall (THE BIG JO DEE BILLBOARD), and did other touristy stuff. Nothing Jo Dee related happened that day except the $30 I spent on a Jo Dee cootie catcher (SO FUN!) and the single of Downtime. The first full day of Fan Fair was never really very eventful, as far as I can remember. Nobody was signing that day, or at least as far as I knew.
DAY 3
JDM FCP! Oh, kick butt day! When I woke up, I wasnt exactly feeling great. I had been sick right before Fan Fair and was still recovering. But, despite the fact that I felt like crap, I got up at 5:30 to get ready. I think I changed my outfit about 10 times before I finally settled on a purple tank top with a sparkly flower on it and jeans. And these one pair of brown sandals I've had forever that make me 5 inches taller than what I really am...LOL. I wanted to be taller than Jo Dee for once in my life!
Before we left for Wildhorse, I was shaking in my shoes. I hadn't seen Jo Dee in a few months, so I was really nervous. I'm not quite sure why, It was to be my 8th time seeing Jo Dee live, which turned out to be one of the best yet. When we got there, my aunt dropped me off and her, my mom, and my mom's friend Diane went to park. It was only 9:00 and the line was already starting to grow.
So, I got in line, and I didn't really know anyone at first. I had my nametag on my shirt and this sticker that said "Hello, My Name Is Princess" on my jeans. So, I'm standing there and waiting for my mom and people to come back from parking and I see this person go running down the street, turn around, and run back to me. It was Laura! And it was the funniest thing in the world! She goes "Heather? My Heather? JoDeePrincess Heather?" and I'm like "Hi Laura. Yeah, that's me." and she screams "Oh my God!" and hugged me so hard I almost fell over. Yes, that was my most memorable memory of FCP '01! Laura.
So, I waited there awhile and Laura came back and drug me off to the front of the line. By then my mom and aunt and Diane had come and got in line and ummm...I didn't really tell them where I was going. I went and talked to Aimee, Sky, Laura, Crystal, Amanda, Emily, Jen, David and just...everyone! I didn't think I'd really know anyone, but it was really cool because I did! In 2000 it was mostly adults at FCP, but in 2001 a lot of my friends were there and...the young Jo Dee fans totally took over!
It seemed like forever until we got to go in because the fan club party before JDM's (Brad Paisley...?) was running late. So, we went in, found our seats, and got to eat. I was at Table A, which was on the 2nd floor of Wildhorse. I sat by my mom, aunt, Diane, and guess who we sat next to? Meghan & Elaina! I didn't really eat much because I was so nervous, but I've been told that the food was good. I think I ate about a bite of chicken, a forkfull of mashed potatoes, and maybe a quarter of a roll. Oh, and I drank about a million glasses of water. Elaina and I talked about our two famous incidents forever, her being "Recorder Girl" and me being "Poster Girl".
Then, we decided to go down on the floor and go talk to people. That was the first time I met Kathy, MrG, and Buck. Kathy was such a sweetheart. She came up to me and gave me a hug and said "You're JoDeePrincess! You're so cute!" and then she gave me a kiss. Then, I met MrG. I said "Do you know who I am?" and he smiled and looked at me for a second and said "Heather. JoDeePrincess." and I was like "Yeah!" It was so funny, because everyone knew me as JoDeePrincess. Like Buck. I'd heard he was a little nutty (LOL!) and I thought he was so funny. Then, we got our famous picture taken.
So, yeah...lots of fun! The show was about to start, so we ran upstairs to our seats. We only stayed up there long enough to get our cameras. We ran back downstairs and Laura had us come sit on the floor beside her table. God, I was getting dragged all over the place by everyone that day, LOL. We kept standing up until someone behind us yelled at us. Then, Sky came over and as soon as "Get Up And Dance" (AKA "Come On Let's Go" or whatever you wanna call it...) started, we started the conga line. I was behind Laura and she practically dragged me along. Jo Dee was like "You guys are gonna be in trouble!" because we went right up to the front of the stage.
I was dead tight against the stage, right in the center. It was awesome, Jo Dee was less than a few inches away from me the entire show almost! Here are some of my pictures of Jo Dee onstage at FCP 2001...remember, they are my own personal pictures that I took, each and every one of them. Please do not reproduce or take them without my permission.
Durring "Because You Love Me", I started crying. There's something about that song that always brings tears to my eyes, especially live. Jo Dee was a little teary herself. Laura, Elaina and I put our arms around eachother and started swaying back and forth, LOL. When Jo was picking people out of the audience to go up onstage with her, I wanted to more than ever. But, she didn't pick me...that's a story within itself, though. LOL
As soon as her performance was done, I went up to the top floor to talk to Mary with my mom and aunt. My Aunt Patti was so embarassing! She goes "Heather is obsessed with Jo Dee! Can she adopt her or something? Or give her a job? Because she's driving me and her mom nuts!" Mary was sweet about it, though. She went on for awhile about how cute and little and sweet I've always been and talked about how so many kids look up to Jo Dee. Then she told me about how Jo Dee was really hurt by people making remarks about her looks, style, and weight. She told me that Jo Dee actually felt so bad about it because she felt it hurt the kids/teens who look up to her. That made me want to cry. But anyhoo...we talked to Mary some more, and my mom and aunt took a bunch of pictures of me and Mary.
Now, unless you've actually physically seen my photo album with pictures from FCP '01, you haven't seen a picture of me and Mary from that day. And you won't. Why? Because I look gross. Those who have seen can vouch. There are some I look so bad in that I couldn't bear to show anyone. So, you won't find them here on my site. The same with my picture with Auntie. But, she was helping sell merchandice and I bought a hat so my picture with Jo Dee could be somewhat tollerable.
Waiting to meet Jo Dee was...tiring. They did it by table, with Vinnie calling off table numbers. While waiting, there wasn't much to do. We took group trips to the bathroom. We sat on the stage and talked to Vinnie. Outside, it was raining. As the day wore on, it got boring. Everyone who had met Jo Dee had left, basically. My mom and Diane were going to a 4:00 taping of MWL, so we had to go. So, I went and got in line to meet Jo Dee.
When I got to have my turn, I was...nervous. I walked up to Jo Dee and she leaned over and gave me a hug. "Hi love. Mmm, you smell good. Like rasberries." she said. That was so funny, I will never forget that. I giggled and said "Thanks, this is for you." I handed her this cute little doll named Princess, and a letter...
Yup...that's the picture. It's not that great, but OK. As I was leaving, I go "This is my birthday present. My aunt and my mom brought me down." Jo Dee looked at me in disbelief. "No way, how cool! How old are you now?" When I told her I was 15, she freaked out. "You're so sweet. Take care." she told me, and she patted my back. "Bye, you too. See you in August up in Michigan." I said and she goes "Yay! Bye." and Don put a line across my nametag and I went back over to the main area. I kinnda stood there awhile and watched Jo Dee, and then I went back to find my mom and my aunt. On my way upstairs I met Sara (Brutus, Troublster) and then found my mom. She wanted to leave, so we went and got our stuff and we left.
It was about 3:00, and we walked over to The Country Music Hall of Fame. My mom and Diane wanted to see Billy Ray Cyrus on MWL. So, my aunt and I left to go eat and see Jo Dee's performance at Adelphia. We went to eat across the street from Wildhorse, and Mary and Vinnie were standing under an umbrella waiting for a cab. It was still raining, and I was getting soaked. They said hi to me, and I stopped and talked to them for a minute or so. Mary even let me stand under the umbrella. Then they left, and I went inside to eat. After we ate, I left and went to Adelphia to meet up with everyone...decked out in my Jo Dee gear!
I was first in the photo line, and I heard my name being screamed. I turned around and in the other side of the line were all my friends. So, I jumped over a bunch of seats and left the girls I was talking to (sorry!) and ran over to everyone. It seemed like we waited forever for the show to start, and we got stuck with the really bitchy security guard.
OH! I FORGOT SOMETHING! When we went to take my mom to MWL, we went to the convention center for a few minutes and Phil Vassar was still there. I asked the bitchy security lady if anyone else would get to meet Phil. She said "We're only letting handicapped people in right now, it's almost 4:00." and I go "Is there any chance I might get to meet him?" and she goes "Well, you don't look handicapped to me." real snotty. I was so upset. I had to bite my lip to keep from crying.
Just then, Phil came out of his booth (It was like this Hawiian/Tiki themed thing, LOL) and started signing and taking pictures with everyone else waiting. (You know, those of us who aren't handicapped.) A lady from the fan club had seen everything that happened with the security lady and she grabbed me and goes "Ignore her, OK?" and pulled me over to this little area. And so Phil comes over to me a minute later and says "Hi sweetheart, what's your name?" and I'm like "Heather" and he signed my picture and and I say real quietly (on the verge of tears) "Can I get a picture with you by any chance?" and he's like "Of course, sweetie!" and he hugged me and we got our picture taken together.
Wahoo! When we had to move along, we ran and screamed and jumped up and down and a security lady was like "Woah woah woah, don't run!" and stopped us, and I had to go to my seat and Laura hugged me and was like "See you tomorrow!" and yeah, I went to my seat.
When I got back to my seat, my mom was like "You girls were on the screen!" and I was all hyper and stuff and I sat and watched Jo Dee for the rest of the show...she rocked! Everyone around me kept like tapping me on the shoulder and they were like "There's Jo Dee! Did you meet her today?" and yeah...cuz by then, everyone sitting by us knew I really liked Jo Dee.
The rest of the show was OK, but I was still hyped about Jo Dee. Towards the end of the night, it started to sprinkle. As soon as Saywer Brown got offstage, it started pouring! Everyone was running up and down. It was chaos. It got really, really windy and started thundering and lightening. When it finally stopped, we ran out to the car and went back to the hotel. And that was that. One of the best days of my life.
DAY 4
I woke up and...I freaked out because nobody else was up and I wanted to get to the convention center to go see Jo Dee and all my friends. So like, we got there sorta late (9:30) and I started crying while we were in line because I knew I wouldn't get a ticket for Jo Dee's booth. When we got to go in, I went to her booth and Shaun was like "Oh, come back towards the end of the day, we might hand out more tickets. Or, you could come back tomorrow." Oh, I was so upset. I was crying by then. I ran over to Lila McCann's booth and got a ticket, and I got one for The Wilkinsons, too.
I was bored and bummed...I didn't have anyone to meet really until like, oh, 2:00. I went and talked to Laura and sat on the lovely convention center floor with her. She had 'Jo Dee' written all over her in black marker. I then went to the CMT booth, where I got to meet Lance Smith and talk to him for quite some time. That was pretty cool, he was soooo nice. And I was on TV, too! I saw Phil Vassar, Rascal Flatts, and Sara Evans in the CMT booth while I was there...it was cool, too. So at like noon, I went and sat on the floor in front of The Wilkinsons booth, first in line. And I sat. And sat. And when I got tired of sitting, I sat some more. It was boring. Some more people got in line. I was about to fall asleep.
At 2:00, I heard screaming and cheering coming from behind The Wilkinsons booth, and I knew it was Jo Dee. I seriously wanted to cry, I was so upset that I wasn't getting to meet her. But, I was happy when The Wilkinsons came. Tyler, woo hoo! So yeah, I got to meet them and that was cool. On the way to Lila's booth, I stopped by and saw Jo Dee signing at her booth and took a few pictures. Oh, I so wanted to cry for the millionth time that day. But, I went and got in line for Lila. It was wrapped around the entire building. It was so, so long. But I met Lila around 3:45ish...here are my pics from the entire afternoon up to that point...
So, as soon as I met Lila, I tore across the convention center to Jo Dee's booth, and Aimee and Elaina were there. I think they felt bad for me. By then I think I was looking pretty teary-eyed. But a minute later, Johanna came and handed out more tickets! Everyone sorta mobbed her, but she grabbed my hand and shoved a ticket into it. YAY! JOHANNA IS MY HERO! LOL, not really, but that's how I felt at the moment. So, I got in line and a little girl came and got in line next to me, and her dad asked if I'd watch her. I agreed...
Aimee turns around and she's like "You got a ticket, yay!" and so me and this little girl are standing there and she's like "Who's that guy?" and I tell her "Oh, that's Don, Jo Dee's fiance. They're going to get married." And she's like "Oh! That's her BOYFRIEND?!" LOL it was so funny. She wanted a picture of Jo Dee really bad, so I bought her one to get signed. We get up close to Jo Dee (Like, directly in front of her, 10 people away from her, and Amber (that was her name) starts going "Jo Dee! Hi! Hi! Hi Jo Dee!" over and over and finally Jo Dee looks up and waves and said to someone "They're from the fan club." and she points at me and goes "She was at the party." and waved and smiled and went back to what she was doing.
But then Amber screams to Don "Hey! Kiss her! Give her the ring!" and Don says "We're not having a wedding here." and Jo Dee looks at us and starts laughing hysterically...
'Twas funny! So, so funny! And as soon as Jo Dee calmed down, I heard someone screaming my name. I turned around and it was my mom, aunt, and Diane. "We knew we'd find you here! Hurry up, your mom is going to a BBQ at Billy Ray's!" my aunt screamed. I said something to them, and I watched Amber go meet Jo Dee. I was a little miffed because she had a "BUrN" CD cover and to get signed that she'd tucked into her shorts! GRRRR! That little 7 year old con artist...LMAO. But it was almost my turn, and I gave my picture to Don and I was like "Do I have to take my hat off to get it signed?" and he's like "Yes." and took it. AH, MY NAPPY HAIR!
So, I go up to Jo Dee and she hands my hat back to me and I put it on. She goes "Hi." and gave me a little hug and went to sign my picture and she squinted at me and said "What's your name?" and I told her and she said "That's right." and signed it and we got our picture together and Jo Dee said "Bye" to me and I started to walk away and my aunt yelled "Heather & Jo Dee! Over here!" and Jo Dee pulled on the back of my shirt and pulled me back and hugged me and laughed, and my aunt took the picture. Jo Dee laughed and screamed "Hey lady, you're holding up my line!" and started laughing hard. I go "Oh my God, that's my aunt." and she laughed and goes "Bye sweetie, take care." Here are the pictures that were the product of that famous incident...
On August 5th, 2001, I experienced yet another Jo Dee concert! This time, my best Jo Dee friend Amber West was involved. Since this show was quite some time ago as of now when I am writing this, the memories are a little bit foggy...but there is a lot to put here, and a few pictures to offer up.
This story starts many months before, in December of 2000. I found out Jo Dee was going to be coming to The Jackson County Fair, the very place where I had seen her years ago. I immediatley conned my parents into letting me buy tickets...but I paid for them myself, thank you very much! Stellar seats- 5th row dead center! And I was reading JDM's board the next day, and there was a post from a girl named Amber. I informed Amber about the tickets and Jo Dee's concert, and we began talking back and forth. It was that we found out that we had both just turned 15 years old and...lived less than a half hour away from eachother! Let me tell you, that was a great revelation.
A few days later, Amber and I decided that we would meet up at the Jo Dee concert. Then, we met for the first time in March 2001. It was pretty cool...I knew from that minute we had a lot in common and would become good friends. We went to a movie, LOL and I remember it like it was yesterday! So from then on, we talked on the phone and wrote letters and such. We went to the mall a few times togther and stuff, too. We always talked about Jo Dee forever, it seemed. Amber came over to my house sometime in June just after I returned from Fan Fair, and from that point on...it was sincere friendship. We decided then that we wanted to go to the Jo Dee concert together, both being HUGE JDM fans and now friends. We decided that we'd do something with her tickets...what, we didn't know, and use mine for the show. (My mom was originally supposed to go with me.) So...that was that!
Amber and I had a pre-Jo show party the weekend before the show. We went to the mall and got a bunch of stuff for Jo Dee and concert gear. Then, came the day before the concert. Amber came over to my house that afternoon, and we just dorked around and stuff. I don't really remember what we did besides talk about Jo Dee and watch non-stop Jo Dee videos. We painted posters...I remember that much! And that's about it. We were up until 5AM!
Concert day was pretty wild. We woke up around 8:00ish...yeah, 3 hours of sleep! LOL. We did some final little stuff and began to get ready for the show. I dressed in THE COOLEST jeans in the world, these jeans I made that said "Jo Dee Messina" down one leg and "Jo Dee ROCKS!" down the other, plus it said "BUrN" on the bottom hem, my pockets, and the sides. I wore a purple and white tie-dyed tank top I had also made that had rhinestones around the neck and shoulders and said "Jo Dee Messina" in white tie-dye. But, I also wore my BUrN t-shirt over it. I wore purple flip flops and just wore my hair down, but planned on bringing my Jo Dee hats just in case.
My grandparents were up from Florida during the time of the concert, and they were going to go to the fair with us. As I was getting ready, I remember my grandma saying "You look like that Jo Dee Messina. I think you and her are about the same size." I insisted no, that I looked nothing like Jo Dee and she was WAY smaller than me...but I mean, if Jo said she was a size ten, I'll take her word for it. So yeah...we got ready to head down to Jackson, Michigan to see Jo Dee at The Jackson County Fair!
Yeah, that's me and Amber before the show, in front of my garage...LOL. So, we loaded everything in the car and...we went! We had to go over to my grandparent's hotel so they could drop off their car and we could all take our van. I remember Amber and I sat in the very back two seats and put our Jo signs in the back window. So, we're just driving along and...we notice we're behind the WITL van! LMAO! So, we wave at all the cool people and they wave back, and we notice that Jeff Michaels is driving! LMAO and his girlfriend is following in the car behind the van, and we keep passing them back and forth the entire way to Jackson. Pretty funny stuff, actually.
So, we get there and my dad pulls up to the curb and makes us bail out. This is difficult in a mini-van...in the front seat is my dad and my grandpa, in the middle is my grandma, brother, and mom, and in the back is me and Amber. LOL so instead of having to crawl over all those people, my dad just opens the trunk and we climb out that way. We grab all our gear (I clearly realize that we both brought far too much stuff!) and pile out. So, we scream to my parents that we'll see them around 11:00 after the show and leave.
We go inside, and we see a radio station and go talk to them. Then, the WITL van pulls up and we go running over and Jeff gets out and we were like "We saw you on the way here!" and he goes "I know, I figured it was my two favorite Jo Dee freaks." and so we just sorta talked to him for awhile. Then, we saw Jo Dee's bus, and we snuck around back and went and checked everything out. We managed to spot Jo Dee with Russell and we saw her jogging on the sidewalk once, too. There was so much time until the show started, and I swear, it was a million degrees out. And I had on jeans! 'Kill me now!' is what I thought to myself, I'm sure.
There wasn't much to do...neither of us had much money, so we didn't want to go ride rides. I'd say at this point, it was 5:30 and we wouldn't even be let in for M&G until 7:15. But that's me...always there early! Around then, Sara got there and we talked to her and hung out with her for awhile. Jeff and the rest of the WITL crew that was there came and talked to us for awhile. Then, the other radio station did a drawing for M&G passes for Jo Dee and Rascal Flatts. Well, I had signed up, and I wanted to win...! I would get to meet Jo Dee beacause I was in the fan club...you see, I couldn't go to Rascal Flatts M&G because theirs was at the same time as Jo Dee's. But if I got the passes, I could go together. So, I didn't win...and Sara did! Ummm, she won enough for her and friends I think...she was gonna take me, but didn't want to cuz she was with friends and couldn't take both me AND Amber.
The radio station was also doing ticket upgrades. When we tried to see if they had better tickets than me...well, the guy laughed at me and said "Hold on to those puppies...5th row is a whole lot better than what we have!" Yeah, they had like 45th row or something. LOL. Amber however had tickets that she was trying to scalp, and she never ended up getting rid of them. So, our favorite Jo Dee crew member Shaun showed up to sell merchandice right about then. We went and bugged him. I bought a Jo Dee shirt (You'll see a picture of me wearing it later) and a zebra Jo Dee cowgirl hat, and a Rascal Flatts tank top. I had everything else up there, LOL!
OK, so let me think what else...I know we stood there in line for a really long time. I had one of those mini portable fans with me and was still roasting. I took off my BUrN shirt for awhile and wore my tank top, but I started to get sunburned. By then I was a nice tomato red color all over. Finally we got to go by the gates for M&G...we were right at the front of the line. But then, they let all the radio winners go in first! Oh, did that ever tick me off because there were SO MANY OF THEM. Like never before. This was the biggest Jo Dee Meet & Greet I'd ever been to, I think. Amber and I stood by this little girl and her parents...this girl reminded me so, so much of me the first time I met Jo Dee. She was 9. I let her play with my fan and I talked to her, and she asked to see my pictures of me and Jo Dee (I had put them as stickers on an envelope of a letter for Jo) and I showed her the present I had brought Jo Dee.
So, we finally got to go back. Got FC cards punched, and we were lead to an area by a little room where Jo Dee was. I put my backpack and poster against the wall and had Jo Dee's present, my camera, and a poster to get signed. We decided to go in with the little girl and her dad. I wanted to go in by myself...but I settled for what Amber wanted to do. Right before it was our turn, Amber decided to go put her stuff by mine. She was walking over to the little area and the door to the room opened and SMACK! She ran right into Don. Literally. She was so, so embarassed...she turned so red! Don and he laughed and said sorry to eachother, and Jo Dee screams "WHAT IS GOING ON OUT THERE?!" and Don disapeered back into the room.
The two girls that had gone in before us came out, and it was our turn. I slipped on my zebra Jo hat, and Don came and retrieved us and gave us a slightly sheepish look. We walked in the room, and I did my normal thing...looked everywhere for Jo Dee. Once again, like I never expected and always knew was coming...I got that little rush of her just being right there. It was weird how I could hardly look at her. She said hi to the 4 of us, and...why, I don't know, but I really felt like crying. I am not sure that Jo Dee was in a very good mood. We all just sort of lined up and she went down the line signing stuff for us. When she got to me, she looked at my poster and said "Man, I'm signing stuff I've never even seen before!" and signed it and moved on. (You'll see a picture of it later, too.)
Jo Dee retreated to the little area for pictures, where a big Jerzees/JDM poster thing was set up. I guess it was decided that I would go talk to her first since I was the most comfortable around her. I walked up to her and I handed her the present I had brought her...a little white crate with pink, purple and green curling ribbon tied all around the sides (That took me HOURS to do, let me tell you) with a butterfly pillow, a candle, and candy inside. She smiled, a little bit of cheer finally coming forth. I looked at her, she looked at me, and she laughs and goes "It's got a purple belly!" in her cute little voice. At that point I erupted into giggles and she gave me a hug. She tapped the little crate and said "I love this. I can use this on the bus so all my stuff doesn't slide around anymore!" and laughed and went and put it on the couch.
So...she did a cute little run/jump thing back over to me and put her arm around me and sort of hugged me, and we got our picture taken...I thought for a second it was going to be a miserable picture, but here it is...
Yeah, doesn't Jo Dee's hair just look so cute?! LOL someone had fun with the do-it-yourself frosting/highlighting kit! This picture kind of means a lot to me. Even though I'm sunburned and midget-looking (picture how short I'd be without the hat on!) I love it. So Jo Dee just gave me a little hug and I toddled away and Amber went up there and talked to her and stuff and got her picture taken, and then the guy and the little girl. So on the way out, the guy is like "I hear you've got a birthday coming up soon." (Amber had told him this while we were waiting in line.) and he's like "How old are you gonna be?" and Jo Dee grins and looks down at the ground and laughs (She was about to turn 31) and I cough and go "31" and she turns around and hits me on the arm and laughs and goes "Shhh!" and goes "Yeah, I'm going to be 31." and Amber goes "Well, you can just keep telling peope for the next few years that you're 29." and she goes "Yeah, there you go!" and so she hugs the little girl and says goodbye to the guy.
So, Amber and I are going to leave and Jo Dee is standing by the door and she says to me "Did you have fun at Fan Fair?" and I freeze. I thought she didn't remember me...and so, I go "Yeah, it was really fun. You were awesome." and she goes "Awww, yay, awesome. Take care." and hugs me and I leave and she says bye to Amber and we go and get our stuff and leave. Yeah, we didn't really say much to eachother. We just went to our seats and...they were awesome! I sat down and just put my stuff away and for some weird reason, I started crying. Yup, I cried for awhile. LOL.
Rascal Flatts came onstage right around 8:00, and they were good. When they were doing introductions, and it was Jay's turn, I screamed "I LOVE YOU JAY!" really, really loud. Everyone laughed and he goes "Awww, I love you too sweetie, but you're making the other guys feel bad." and he kept looking at me and smiling, and then he introduced Gary and Gary is pretending to be all sad and stuff and it was quite funny...so yeah...
Durring the intermission between RF & Jo, the CMT people came up onstage and played games. They threw a hat to me, but Amber knocked me out of the way and caught it. (She's way taller and ow, it hurt.) It didn't even fit her, it was too small. *harumph!* and then her dog chewed it up a few weeks later. Oh well. When Jo Dee came onstage, she rose up out of the stage and went into "Downtime"! That was so cool...my pictures didn't scan well, so...they're not on here. But yeah, she performed "I'm Not Goin' Down" live for the first time ever that night...she said she wasn't sure that she could remember the words.
There was this weird, semi-drunk guy sitting behind us...but he was nice! He kept taking my Jo hat off and wearing it and laughing and pulling it over my eyes. I kept standing on my chair to take pictures, and he said he'd let me sit on his shoulders to take pictures...I said no, that was alright. LOL and yeah, it was awesome...I had glow sticks and Christmas lights and stuff, and Jo Dee thought my lights were just so cool...LOL. Fun stuff.
The funniest thing was when the guy selling water walked by the stage and is screaming "WATER!" So when the song ends, he's standing over by me sort of, and Jo Dee goes "Hey, I'm trying to do a show here!" and he looks up at her and she goes "Can I have one?" and he goes "That'll be $1." and her jaw drops to the ground and she leans over and goes "Does it looks like I can fit a dollar bill in these pants?" and everyone bursts out laughing. So she goes "Will someone buy me a water?" and so I pull out a dollar and run it up to the guy and she goes "Thanks!" and he goes and gives her the bottle, and she opens it and takes a sip and goes "Delicious." and it was just...way funny.
The rest of the show rocked. It was long, but that was great! Awesome, awesome, awesome. And confetti was everywhere! That was exciting for me, let me tell you that. So, when Jo Dee went offstage after encore, Amber and I went up to a security guy and were like "Can we give this poster to Jo Dee?" and he was like "Hold on, I'll be right back. I'll see what I can do. Stay right here." So we were all excited and stuff, and I see my mom and my dad and my mom is yelling at us to come on, and I was like "NO!" and we wait there and the guy is coming back and my dad is yelling at me, and he comes and like drags me away and says that we have to go. Naturally, I start crying. I was bawling. I'm not sure if Amber was crying, but she very well might have been.
I didn't say anything on the way home, I just laid my head against the window and cried. When we took my grandparents back to the hotel, my dad sat there and yelled at me the rest of the way back to our house about how him and my mom had to go to work in the morning and I better 'get out of this whole Jo Dee world' and stuff. OK, if you were 15 years old and someone said that to you and was basically ripping on everything that you loved and the one interest you really had in your life...you would be upset too. It was about midnight when we finally got home, and Amber and I went up to my room and I threw all my stuff on the floor and I remember just being so, so upset. I threw my pajamas on and just sat curled up on my window seat with all my stuffed animals and I cried until about 2AM.
Amber and I were both still awake and sort of upset by then, so we got up and listened to Jo Dee and tried to calm down. We talked for a really, really long time. We went to bed sometime around 5AM or so, and I think one of the reasons we were so emotional was due to lack of sleep. But yeah, the next day nobody was home...(my parents were at work) so Amber and I slept in until the afternoon, then got up and I cleaned the house and we watched TV and stuff. We had a lot of film to waste...LOL. So we took some pictures.
So that's me, in my spanking-new Jo Dee outfit the day after the show. The poster that I got signed is the one over my left shoulder, where it says "JO DEE MESSINA" at the top and she's got her hands behind her head and making a really cute and big smiley face. Amber waisted her film taking pictures of my bedroom...pop cans, Jo Dee stuff, me making really weird faces. I took a million pictures of my room, my brother, and stupid stuff. LOL when I got the film back, I was so thrilled that my M&G picture with Jo Dee was actually pretty good. (If I do say so myself!) Somehow, the people at Target gave me three copies of some of my pictures, so I have a bunch of me and Amber and me and Jo Dee. Amber went home late in the afternoon...her mom picked her up from my house after she got out of work at 4:30. I remember that my mom came home from work and Amber was gone, and she finally took the time to sit down at let me tell her about the concert. I think that was when my mom really, really started to support me in my Jo Dee fanism, LOL.
So yeah, even though the end of that show was rather soured, it was a wonderful and great experience. I look at the picture all the time and remenisce, thinking about how awesome it was. It meant a lot to more, for various reasons, that nobody or very few people would understand. I wouldn't say it was the best Jo Dee concert...but when I figure out which one was the best, it'll for sure be running a close second. :::Sniffle Sniffle::: I'm going to get all sentimental now...LOL! But really and truly, I loved it. So, thanks for taking the time to read about my 10th Jo Dee concert- August 5th, 2001, a day that I will never forget!
The end of 2001 was planned to be a big Jo Dee blast for me...on August 29th, I bought tickets to see Jo Dee in Grand Rapids, MI and Saginaw, MI on the last leg of her BUrN Tour with Rascal Flatts and Cyndi Thompson. My next Jo Dee concert was set to be September 16th, 2001 @ The DeltaPlex in Grand Rapids. But on Septemeber 11th, when the terrorist attacks occured...I thought for sure it was going to be cancled. But Jo Dee went on with the show, even though she tried very hard to get it cancled. However, my next Jo show at Wendler Arena in Saginaw scheduled for September 30th, 2001 did not fair too well. Just days after Sept. 11, it was announced that it was postponed until December 11th, 2001. At that point, I didn't care...concerts seemed very trival and not very important to me at that point.
Amber and I were going to go to the concert together. I had spent a lot of money on these awesome tickets. On the night before Halloween, my phone rang sometime in the evening...it was Amber, and she had just read on JoDeeMessina.com that the concert was cancled with no chance of being rescheduled. I remember how bummed out we were...I got off the phone and went and told my mom, and I just laid on her lap on the couch and cried. I was so dissapointed...I had been sick, it was right before my birthday, and everything just seemed to be going wrong.
For me, the end of 2001 wasn't a very good time. I was still struggling with kidney problems a lot, and around my birthday I got sick again. Turns out, one of my friends wrote a letter to Jo Dee's fan club about me and on my birthday, I found a get well note from Mary and a brand new autographed picture from Jo Dee. That totally made my day...and brightened up the rest of the year for me. So, 2001 came to an end...and if you would like to read more, go to Jo Dee Concerts 2002! Happy Reading! |
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