"New Years, the Fourth wrapped into one..."
There's going to be pictures and quotes interjected randomly, as they occured in my rant about the day. Be warned.
Kelly and I got to Summerfest around 10:30. I partook in my Fruit & Walnut salad from McDonald's and a big cup of ice to soothe this damned toothache that won't go away, even with pain killers.
As we were all lined up, waiting for the gates to open, there was a family behind us: father, mother, hideously ugly daughter. I'm sorry. She was. Anyway, just inside the Summerfest grounds, there are several flags lined up to represent each festival that's held there. Pride Fest, Asian Moon, Polish Fest, Summerfest, German Fest, Festa Italiana, etc. The daughter asked her father what the rainbow flag stood for. The mother replied, "Pride. Happy pride." She then looked at her husband and said, under her breath, "That's for the gays.". This did not start my day out on the right foot. I wanted to smack her in her head. Or scream, "OH, DEAR GOD, NOT THE GAYS!". Ignorant braud. Oh - and, her husband was staring at my chest for a good five minutes. Staring. He'd catch me looking at him and glance away, but his eyes were invevitably drawn back to OMGCLEAVAGE!.
A few minutes later, about 10 minutes before the gates opened, a guy pushed up to the almost front of the line: just behind me and Kelly. The mother/wife I spoke about earlier began telling him that you can't push to the front of lines. The conversation was as follows:
Him: Are we in the United States?
Her: ...yes?
Him: We're not in Iraq! I can do that!
Her: Here in the United States, we have these things called manners!
Him, cutting her off: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You wanna shoot some bullets today?
Her: Yeah, maybe I will.
Him: Yeah? Maybe I will. Blow your fucking head off.
Her: I'll blow your balls off. Oh, that's right! You don't have any!
Him: I'll blow your fucking cunt up.
They then proceeded to get into it further, ending when father/husband/boob ogler told the guy to "shut your mouth and face forward!". It was sort of scary. I thought the guy was going to open fire on the crowd or something. Thankfully, he didn't and the day continued.
I read a lot, talked a lot, met Howie. ;)
We saw The Mark Little Band first. They were okay... sort of boring. They were like... reggae-pop or something like that. We stalked the tour bus a little bit. Kelly took a really cool picture of the whole thing. You could see the top of it over the fence, but she accidentally deleted it. *is sad* She took a couple of pictures of the signs and such.
We talked about the next opening acts, Nissi Bergman and Blue Merle. I'd heard a bit of Niss on her myspace page, but hadn't heard anything of Blue Merle's.
Kat: She [Nissi, who is stunningly gorgeous and has a hot body - I'd seen pictures on her webpage] is gonna rail Howie. That's who's in the bus!
[Kelly, on one of our standard walk-around-the-tourbus-and-stalk-Howie trips, had seen someone moving around on the bus when Howie and Laurie weren't on it]
Kel: *gasps*
Kat: He'd better wash his thing off.
Kelly: Before he puts it in your mouth?
The second opener was Joe Durso who I surprisingly enjoyed! He sounded a lot like Mellencamp. He brought the rock. It was good times. During their break, Kelly went to the bathroom. I told her I had to go, but just didn't feel like it. I was content reading.
Kelly went to the bathroom and when she came out, I told her I had to go, but I was feeling lazy. She told me that the door to the tourbus was open, so I went.
I walked around to the side of the stage and I saw Howie, Laurie, and Nissi Bergman's drummer, JoJo, all around the Tootsie Wootsie machine. [I should insert that the Tootsie Wootsie is a wooden barrel with a metal seat on it and metal feet where your feet go. The metal feet vibrate when you put in a quarter or a dollar or something. I've never used one, I didn't even know what it was called, which you'll learn later, until Kelly told me.] I saw him from the back. He was wearing a navy shirt and his hair was so cute and messy and spiky! I knew it was him instantly.
I turned around to go get Kelly, but I didn't want everyone else to know Howie was over there, so I just said, "Kel! Come with me." So, she did. I'm standing there, watching Howie get a foot massage and she's like, "What?!". I pointed. "There's Howie." I didn't want to interrupt the foot massage, so I told one of four teenage girls who had spotted him to go ask him for a picture. He started to walk away and I thought he was ignoring us, but Kelly said that he had said he was going to get a pen.
I rifled through my purse, got my CD and Sharpie and made sure Kelly had the camera. It's sadly a bit fuzzy in here, but I'm trying to remember everything I can.
I walked up to him, absolutely stunned by how beautifully blue his eyes are and a bit surprised that he's taller than he looks in pictures, and stood next to him, to his right. I can't, for the life of me, figure out why I stood next to him and not in front of him. That's bothering me, I can't get it out of my head. I handed him my CD right away, but not my Sharpie. I don't know why I did that, either. I'm a dork and now I'm embarrassed. And I'm not even to the speaking part yet! I didn't even say hi... I just began rambling.
Me: I have a really weird favor to ask you.
Howie: *looks sideways (not just sideways because I was next to him, but shifty-sort-of-apprehensive-sideways) at me... *
Me: I'm getting a tattoo in a couple of weeks... to cover one I have that was done really badly.
Howie: *nods, still looking rather sideways at me*
Kat: ...and I want to get a star with "even the stars refuse to shine" by it... so could you write that?" *hands Howie the pen, shaking like a leaf*
Howie: *takes the pen, begins to write*
Kat: I know it's weird. *laughs nervously*
Howie: *looks sideways at me again, but smiles, so I knew he was teasing me and writes it*
[I know. It looks like "eve u the stans refuse to shihe!". The exclamation point is cute, though. And his signature looks like "Hone Pay". I'm not complaining! Just stating.]
Kat: Thank you! And... do you have time for a picture?
Howie: Sure! But I haven't even showered yet. [Now, I didn't actually hear him say the shower part. Kelly told me later... or I probably would have offered to was his front back for him.] *puts his arm around me*
Child, with his mother: *goes on Howie's right side and puts his arm around him. I didn't want to be in some random kid's picture and I highly doubt he wanted me in it, so I moved away. I felt Howie arm drop off of me and he laughed... I don't know why.*
Me: *goes back, gets a picture with Howie. When the picture was done, I thanked him and scratched his back. This is when I felt the chub. It was a very small amount, but it was there!*
Kelly: Can I get one, too?
Howie: Sure, no problem, come on! *takes the picture*
Howie: *asks Kelly asks her name (he didn't ask mine, but I didn't notice *fumes*), signs her CD* I can still feel that! You guys gotta try that!
Kat: Oh, that Tootsie Footsie or Footsie Tootsie thing?
Howie: Yeah!
Then I asked Laurie for a picture. He said, in his beautiful accent, "Of course!".
Then he told us to "Have fun, girls!", which sounds really lovely in an English accent. Go figure. I said I'd see him later, and that was it. We came around the front of the stage and Kelly took some stalker pictures that I'll post in my next post about the show.
Not much to tell, really... but so amazing at the same time. The very first thing I said to Kelly was, "Oh, my God! Please tell me you have Jo's cell phone number in your phone!". She didn't. I was sad. I wanted to call her so badly! I ended up calling my cousin, since she was supposed to meet up with us that night, anyway. She was a big sweetheart, as always, telling me she was speechless and "that's like your dream!". It was cute, she was excited with me.
I showed my picture and autograph to the Howie fans around us and had a giddy spell with Kelly.
Kelly, talking about a hypothetical... I forget what: Howie'd be like "ARR!" *hand motion Kelly and I do all the time... we stole the sound from her cousin, Danielle* Would you pee if he did that?!
Kat: I'd be like, "Give me a list of all the girls you've tourbussed. If there's a Danielle Peltier on there, you're in trouble." *pause* All of the sudden, he whips out a Little Black Book... it unfolds like one of those picture things -
Kelly: He whips out a scroll -
Kat: The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy! He starts punching stuff in, doing search.
Kat & Kelly: *wheeze*
Kat, re Shalena or Stallina or Stalin or whatever her name is: And I didn't see her! You know, though, it doesn't bother me. Because I don't think it'd be very hard for him to cheat on her. *pause* Is it sick that I find him more attractive because of that?
Kat: I was like, "These are my tits! Bury your face in them".
Kat, on a quest to find a pay phone so she can call cmon_get_happy and Mom to tell them she met Howie!: This tells you how freaking out I am! I go up to this building that turns out to be an Injured Spinal Chord Association and I'm like, "My nail polish matches your shirts perfectly!. And they're like, "Yeah?! You can walk!". The lady's all like, "You need help finding a pay phone?" Like it's all trivial 'cause I can walk.
Kelly: I should make an icon: Stop the Fucking World Already - Specialest Edition. We burn CD's and hand 'em out.
Kat: There's a hidden track of you and me singing 'Morning After'.
Kelly: I'm like, *super high voice* "Girl is cold, but so is he!".
Kat: You're singing 'She Says' and I'm doing your harmony. We do 'More You Understand - "The CIA is after you!!". 'Ghost --> Beams of Light'. I'm banging on a pickle tub while you try and pick it out on a guitar.
Kelly: You're like Angel!
Kat: You're like, "Light, light!", I'm like, "In the fu - In the fu!". There's a 2-minute intro where I talk about how Kelly's wearing silver nail polish to try and channel Les. I've got my hair spiked, I'm addicted to crack, and I've stopped eating to channel Howie. I've started drinking Jack instead of water.
Next was Niss Bergman, who you should check out. She's 18, gorgeous, and totally fun! She was sweet and cute and Southern and just... I fell in love with her. She was darling. Howie came out on stage in sunglasses to watch her for a while. We thought he was drinking something, but he was actually eating something out of a cup. He had changed his shirt and was just wearing a navy blue tee shirt now. His hair was a bit messier and he'd put on some fuckable jeans. Kelly took stalker pictures, which I will post later.
Kat, re: one of the stalker pictures. You can't see Howie's face in it, so Kelly was going to delete it.: No! If you sharpen it, I might be able to see his freckle!
The last opener was Blue Merle. They were awesome! I was very pleasantly surprised. Howie came out for a while to watch them, too. He was sexy. Sitting on an amp, drinking beer out of a plastic cup, smoking a cigarette, and bouncing his head and tapping his feet.
I need to go to bed! More tomorrow!