Kris Allen @ The Social - Orlando 8/20
So Friday was pretty awesome. I got to hang out with friends and see Kris Allen from about four feet away at The Social, which continues to be the tiniest venue in Tinytown. Oh, and I met him (and Cale, Andrew, Torres and the charming Chris Nathan) after the show. :D
I took a bunch of pics and a few videos. Like this one:
I spent the day with mrsmaggiemae and bglbailey, then met up with arabella_hope, wildchild1222 and (very briefly) vienna_sausages. Plus, a few people who don't have have ljs (or at least, I don't know what they are). I love them all. ♥
I ended up dead center, two people back from the stage. \o/ Kris' one and only opener (THANK GOD) was Chris Nathan, who I'd heard was good times but didn't know. I loved everything about his performance. I haven't been this charmed by an opener I knew nothing about beforehand since Steel Train. I need to get his music asap.
My pics of him didn't really come out, which makes me sad. He's making a really unfortunate face in this one but I love his guitar art so I did a little creative cropping.
And then there was this one.
Then it was time for Kris and the Kris Allen Band. \o/ Before the show, I was curious as to how they were going to set up because that stage is really small, even for bands with three or four tiny people in them. Now, I've seen Cobra Starship there a few times and that's a band with two tall people and three giants, all of whom do not ever stand still, so I know it can be done, but it ain't easy.
For those who've never experienced the wonders of The Social, allow me to explain. There is literally no backstage. Stage right is a fake wood paneled wall. The back of the stage is a curtain with a brick wall directly behind it. Stage left is just... open to the floor where the crowd stands, with a little hallway where a merch table can fit and then a curtain that pretends to have a dressing room behind it. The pit can fit all of maaaaybe 10 rows back and then there's a raised area around the sides and back that fits maybe 3 rows before you reach the bar. And it has a disco ball, as Kris delighted in pointing out.
The stage is so narrow that it's basically not physically possible to have a person with a mic stand and a guitar be directly in front of a person at a drum kit unless both people are under 5'5". So Ryland's kit was set up off to stage right with Cale's keyboard pretty much on top of it.
By the time Kris came on, I was shifted a bit to the right, but that just meant more Andrew and Torres fun, though I was sad to be so very, very far away from Cale.
I'm glad I took a pic of Kris' setlist because it met a very premature demise. During the first song (Can't Stay Away) the tape holding it down got caught on Kris' shoe and it got torn/folded up. When Kris noticed (he was very confused at first) he peeled it off and gave it to someone in the crowd.
Kris' setlist (pic turned right side up):
I've seen Kris perform... five times now, I think? Three of those times have been with his band, over the past seven months. This is the first time I've seen a full concert set though, since the other two times were a radio station Christmas concert and opening for BNL. Every time he just gets better, and they just get better as a unit. Every time I'm just as amazed with how good he is onstage, especially when it's put against how unassuming and, well, good he is offstage in a very different way. And meeting him (all of them, really) after the show reminded me even more why I'm such a fan of this man in every possible way. ♥
So yes, the show. I could possibly talk about it forever. Alright With Me and The Truth continue to be favorites of mine. Is It Over took me a long time to love on the album (and I still kind of don't love the studio version actually), but I've see it live three times now and it is one of my absolute favorites each time. A huge part is how much THEY love to be performing it. I was so excited to see he was going to cover Don't Look Back in Anger, but then it ended up being a duet with Chris Nathan and I kind of flailed my face off a little bit. (And yet somehow managed to take video \o/) And he sang Everybody Wants to Rule The World! He covered Tears For Fears, you guys! JKGJSDKJSDKJGKJSDG. To Make You Feel My Love was the beginning of the encore, with just him and a guitar and just. Dudes. I don't even know. I can count on one hand the number of individual people I love musically as much as Kris Allen. Come Together was just a big pile of mutual love, including Kris walking around the back of the crowd along the bar and coming back onstage on the other side. (Even with him walking very slowly this took all of a verse and a chorus to complete, I think. HOW SO SMALL, THE SOCIAL?)
ALSO. Kris had been wearing a vest until Come Together (I think? Maybe earlier?). At the end of the song, he picked it up, looked at it in his hand for a couple seconds and then tossed it at the crowd.
I have a billion pictures of him (shocking!), but I'll get to those in a minute.
Okay, fine. Here's one to tide you over.
Can't forget to talk about the band. Cale! Was too far away from me mostly, since the stage is so weirdly shaped/sized. But he came out for some of the songs he was on guitar only and I have to say he was the most attractive I think he's ever been to me. He had on a short sleeved white button down with a loose, skewed, blue stripey tie and jeans that did wonderful, wonderful things for him.
JUST LOOK.
SEE?
Cale hiding in the corner. Fake wood panel stage right meets brick wall/curtain back of stage.
I was closest to Andrew and Torres that I've ever been, so I got to really watch them this time. Andrew is really intense. Very ~into things. Torres is so... smiley, I love it.
Intense!
And they did a lot of dorky synchronized dance moves.
Also, a lot of loving up on each other.
Speaking of loving up on each other...
LET'S HAVE A KRALE BREAK, SHALL WE?
I have to take a moment to say this, and I don't even mean it in a slashy way. Kris' band really loves him. Like, they really love him. Cale and Torres especially (Ryland was very busy drumming and Andrew was very ~into things) watched Kris a lot with either really intense stares (mostly Cale) or really huge grins (mostly Torres) that spoke way louder than words about how much they respect Kris as a musician (and a person, of course) and were really happy to be on that stage with him and each other. Knowing what we know about Kris, I am sure that sentiment is 147% mutual. Also, I love that they share Kris' stance that straight dudes can have open physical affection with other dudes. ♥
I sadly have very little to say about Ryland, since I was a little, um, busy, with everyone else. But he was awesome and adorable and I love him.
OKAY. Now a lot of pics of mostly Kris and a few videos. Then I'll talk about after the show, complete with pictures. When I MET EVERYBODY. Except Ryland. :(
His knees and shins were all dirty because he was kneeling on the stage. SLDGKHSD.
HANDS.
I had meant to ask him what the shape of that red silly band was but I forgot. Does anyone know?
I think this is my favorite pic I took.
DINO JAWWWWWWWW.
I just realized I caught Ryland staring at Kris in awe too. They LOVE HIM.
Andrew gets ~into things again and Cale's jeans continue to do me him lots of favors.
NNNRGH.
This is, amazingly, not even all the good photos I took. All of them can be found in my Photobucket album for this show:
http://s295.photobucket.com/albums/mm136/asmadasrabbits/Kris%20Allen%20The%20Social%20Orlando%20August%2020%202010/
Videos! I took only three. Well four technically, since my camera stopped in the middle of Everybody Wants to Rule the World so it's in two parts.
First, Kris and Chris Nathan duet on a cover of Oasis' Don't Look Back in Anger. I was just a little too close for the sound to be as good as it usually is with this camera, but it's not awful the WHOLE time and the visual definitely makes up the difference. :D (Also, upping the quality to 480p really helps.)
They covered Tears For Fears' Everybody Wants to Rule the World. My camera stopped in the middle so it's in two parts with very little missing in between. Sounds still not the best because I was too close. :( Again, watch in 480p.
Part 1
Part 2
Toward the end of Come Together -the last song in the encore- Kris started like, doing this, idk, dancing in right in front of me and I started video recording without my brain's actual consent. Sorry it's sideways; I wasn't really capable of much thought at the time.
The Social, with it's tiny-ness, doesn't really attract a whole lot of bands that actually have tour buses. So there's basically a narrow alley behind the venue that their bus managed to somehow back into where most buses dare not attempt and just park in the street instead. It was kind of impressive. Technically, one side of the "alley" is really a chain link fence with a small parking lot on the other side. Where my car was, actually.
We all (and a good bit of the crowd, which, really, wasn't that many people to begin with, thank you, The Social ♥) went back there and hung out on the sidewalk by the front of the bus. After a bit, Lizzie came out and said, "Kris is going to come out to see you guys; he always does. We just need a line." And then she tried to make one and we tried to keep it, except for how it didn't really work. But we tried!
Kris came out and it was totally low-key and not rushed and everyone (that I saw) was being non-crazy. \o/ Lizzie was handling it all in a way that made me love her kind of a lot.
Right before the show, I realized that I loaned out Kris' CD to a friend and thus didn't have it for them to sign if I met them. For some reason I didn't remember until I was AT the show that Cale gave me his setlist at the 106.7 XLlent Xmas show in December and that would have been a good thing to bring. Oops?
What I had remembered to bring was the Disney American Idol Experience mouse pad I got at work and had taken to the tour show. At my show in Tampa, only Matt had come out so he was the only one that had signed it (and geeked out about me working in Disney World, naturally).
Kris and I exchanged hellos and I handed him the mouse pad. He looked at it a little confused, because I'm sure it's Idol merch he hadn't seen before and said, "Whose..." so I told him Matt had signed it. He said, "Where did you get this?" In retrospect, I realize he meant where did I get the mouse pad, but at the time I thought he meant where did I get Matt's signature.
Here is Kris being confused about the design on the mouse pad. (My friend that took this pic is a co-worker. Her actual real-life job is to take photos of Disney World guests as they run up and meet Mickey or Cinderella and get autographs and photos and capture the ~magic~ on their faces. She did that to me here without me even noticing and LOL I am so, so amused.)
That could have lead to a possibly lolarious conversation about working in Disney World, but alas. Instead we talked about how only Matt came out at my Idol show in Tampa. He looked pointedly at Lizzie and with a fake-mad face said, "See? Here's another one who says I didn't come out at her Idol show." Clearly this is a playful argument they have had many times where Kris had wanted to come out to meet fans and not been allowed. ♥
By that point, we were turning to take a picture and I said that I had heard that the reason no one came out at that show was because Adam had a stalker or something. I didn't see his face for reaction since we were side by side and he had his arm around me but he said, "Nahhhhh", kind of like brushing off the possibility, but not even in a sarcastic or rehearsed way. So there was clearly another unrelated reason?
The rest of that conversation is kind of a blur, but then this happened. :D
:D :D :D
I went to talk to Andrew and Torres next. I'm sad that I can't really remember much of what was said because I was still on a sort of Kris contact-high? I don't even know. Shut up. I remember telling them I was excited when I heard they were playing The Social because it's so small and Torres asked me if I came to shows there a lot. I told him that I did and I loved it there. Mostly I remember they were very sweet and they signed my ticket (Why didn't I remember to bring the setlist? Whyyyy?) and we took a picture.
Also, I love how meticulously Andrew signs his name. It's pretty much adorable.
Cale was having a rather involved conversation with two fans, so I talked nearby with arabella_hope and mrsmaggiemae for a bit. I took a pretty hilarious picture of them with the half-Kris cutout in the bus window lurking in the background.
Chris Nathan wandered out right about then and I was again completely charmed in every way. ♥_♥ I talked to him a bit and asked for a picture and he is possibly the tallest person I've ever stood beside. Well no, that's maybe not true. Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Peter Mayhew or Ryland Blackinton may win that, but STILL.
He continues to be charming on twitter, by the way (@ChrisNizzle). I would very much like to see another of his shows asap. :D
We were again waiting for Cale when suddenly the front shade on the bus went up and there was ET Mills. Cale was confused too.
Notice half-Kris in the window too. He had been there when we got there and parked too, by the way.
Julia and Angela started talking to Cale about seeing them a bunch of times in New England (and other stuff too, but I completely forget what else). I took pics for them on my camera.
arabella_hope and Cale! (Plus ET totally photo bombing in the background, ahahaha.)
mrsmaggiemae and Cale!
Cale introduced himself to me with a handshake and everything (so many charming gentlemen on this tour, what even?). While he was signing my ticket I mentioned that I'd seen them at Red Rocks in Denver a month ago. He seemed happy-surprised and said, "Oh yeah? That's a long way from here." I told them that my sister lives there and also that as soon as I heard they were touring with Barenaked Ladies, I couldn't pass that up. Then we took a picture.
As we were turning to take the picture, he said, "I like your shirt, by the way." Which makes me SO HAPPY because I love that shirt and I'm was beginning to think I was the only one who appreciated its awesomeness. It's for the 'Awesome Scouts' (Troop 625) and it has all kinds of badges for like, Staying Positive and Pillow Fighting and Break Dancing and Hi-Fiving and Ballin' and stuff. Thank you, sir. You have endeared yourself to me forever.
Anyway! Cale told me the BNL guys were great and they had a good time on that tour. Then I remembered the necklace I always wear and showed/explained it to him. It's a coil of used Barenaked Ladies guitar string on a cord. A few years back, when BNL was really getting into their thing with trying to be Carbon Neutral on tour and reuse/re-purpose things, they gave all their used guitar string to this woman who made really cool jewelry out of it. I couldn't possibly have ordered that necklace faster. It's the only piece of jewelry I've worn not on a special occasion for years and I love it SO MUCH.
(A close up for reference.)
He stared at my neck the entire time I was talking. And then he was silent for a minute before saying, "That's really cool." Then he was silent again, and still staring. "I may have to steal that idea."
On the inside was was very LSKHGKLSHGDSDGKJSD, but on the outside I said, like a totally normal person, "You should! That would be awesome."
YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST. If the Kris Allen Band puts out any used guitar string jewelry you have me to thank. \o/ :D
We said our goodbyes and I told him to come back to Orlando and he said they would for sure.
And... that was it. I hugged all of my girls goodbye and got in my car right beside the bus (LOL, oh The Social) and went home to SLEEP FOREVER.
A final thought to leave you guys with: The Social has (or at least had, as of a few months ago still) a photo booth in the dressing room and bands are encouraged to use it. THINK OF THE HILARIOUS POSSIBILITIES.
I took a bunch of pics and a few videos. Like this one:
I spent the day with mrsmaggiemae and bglbailey, then met up with arabella_hope, wildchild1222 and (very briefly) vienna_sausages. Plus, a few people who don't have have ljs (or at least, I don't know what they are). I love them all. ♥
I ended up dead center, two people back from the stage. \o/ Kris' one and only opener (THANK GOD) was Chris Nathan, who I'd heard was good times but didn't know. I loved everything about his performance. I haven't been this charmed by an opener I knew nothing about beforehand since Steel Train. I need to get his music asap.
My pics of him didn't really come out, which makes me sad. He's making a really unfortunate face in this one but I love his guitar art so I did a little creative cropping.
And then there was this one.
Then it was time for Kris and the Kris Allen Band. \o/ Before the show, I was curious as to how they were going to set up because that stage is really small, even for bands with three or four tiny people in them. Now, I've seen Cobra Starship there a few times and that's a band with two tall people and three giants, all of whom do not ever stand still, so I know it can be done, but it ain't easy.
For those who've never experienced the wonders of The Social, allow me to explain. There is literally no backstage. Stage right is a fake wood paneled wall. The back of the stage is a curtain with a brick wall directly behind it. Stage left is just... open to the floor where the crowd stands, with a little hallway where a merch table can fit and then a curtain that pretends to have a dressing room behind it. The pit can fit all of maaaaybe 10 rows back and then there's a raised area around the sides and back that fits maybe 3 rows before you reach the bar. And it has a disco ball, as Kris delighted in pointing out.
The stage is so narrow that it's basically not physically possible to have a person with a mic stand and a guitar be directly in front of a person at a drum kit unless both people are under 5'5". So Ryland's kit was set up off to stage right with Cale's keyboard pretty much on top of it.
By the time Kris came on, I was shifted a bit to the right, but that just meant more Andrew and Torres fun, though I was sad to be so very, very far away from Cale.
I'm glad I took a pic of Kris' setlist because it met a very premature demise. During the first song (Can't Stay Away) the tape holding it down got caught on Kris' shoe and it got torn/folded up. When Kris noticed (he was very confused at first) he peeled it off and gave it to someone in the crowd.
Kris' setlist (pic turned right side up):
I've seen Kris perform... five times now, I think? Three of those times have been with his band, over the past seven months. This is the first time I've seen a full concert set though, since the other two times were a radio station Christmas concert and opening for BNL. Every time he just gets better, and they just get better as a unit. Every time I'm just as amazed with how good he is onstage, especially when it's put against how unassuming and, well, good he is offstage in a very different way. And meeting him (all of them, really) after the show reminded me even more why I'm such a fan of this man in every possible way. ♥
So yes, the show. I could possibly talk about it forever. Alright With Me and The Truth continue to be favorites of mine. Is It Over took me a long time to love on the album (and I still kind of don't love the studio version actually), but I've see it live three times now and it is one of my absolute favorites each time. A huge part is how much THEY love to be performing it. I was so excited to see he was going to cover Don't Look Back in Anger, but then it ended up being a duet with Chris Nathan and I kind of flailed my face off a little bit. (And yet somehow managed to take video \o/) And he sang Everybody Wants to Rule The World! He covered Tears For Fears, you guys! JKGJSDKJSDKJGKJSDG. To Make You Feel My Love was the beginning of the encore, with just him and a guitar and just. Dudes. I don't even know. I can count on one hand the number of individual people I love musically as much as Kris Allen. Come Together was just a big pile of mutual love, including Kris walking around the back of the crowd along the bar and coming back onstage on the other side. (Even with him walking very slowly this took all of a verse and a chorus to complete, I think. HOW SO SMALL, THE SOCIAL?)
ALSO. Kris had been wearing a vest until Come Together (I think? Maybe earlier?). At the end of the song, he picked it up, looked at it in his hand for a couple seconds and then tossed it at the crowd.
I have a billion pictures of him (shocking!), but I'll get to those in a minute.
Okay, fine. Here's one to tide you over.
Can't forget to talk about the band. Cale! Was too far away from me mostly, since the stage is so weirdly shaped/sized. But he came out for some of the songs he was on guitar only and I have to say he was the most attractive I think he's ever been to me. He had on a short sleeved white button down with a loose, skewed, blue stripey tie and jeans that did wonderful, wonderful things for him.
JUST LOOK.
SEE?
Cale hiding in the corner. Fake wood panel stage right meets brick wall/curtain back of stage.
I was closest to Andrew and Torres that I've ever been, so I got to really watch them this time. Andrew is really intense. Very ~into things. Torres is so... smiley, I love it.
Intense!
And they did a lot of dorky synchronized dance moves.
Also, a lot of loving up on each other.
Speaking of loving up on each other...
LET'S HAVE A KRALE BREAK, SHALL WE?
I have to take a moment to say this, and I don't even mean it in a slashy way. Kris' band really loves him. Like, they really love him. Cale and Torres especially (Ryland was very busy drumming and Andrew was very ~into things) watched Kris a lot with either really intense stares (mostly Cale) or really huge grins (mostly Torres) that spoke way louder than words about how much they respect Kris as a musician (and a person, of course) and were really happy to be on that stage with him and each other. Knowing what we know about Kris, I am sure that sentiment is 147% mutual. Also, I love that they share Kris' stance that straight dudes can have open physical affection with other dudes. ♥
I sadly have very little to say about Ryland, since I was a little, um, busy, with everyone else. But he was awesome and adorable and I love him.
OKAY. Now a lot of pics of mostly Kris and a few videos. Then I'll talk about after the show, complete with pictures. When I MET EVERYBODY. Except Ryland. :(
His knees and shins were all dirty because he was kneeling on the stage. SLDGKHSD.
HANDS.
I had meant to ask him what the shape of that red silly band was but I forgot. Does anyone know?
I think this is my favorite pic I took.
DINO JAWWWWWWWW.
I just realized I caught Ryland staring at Kris in awe too. They LOVE HIM.
Andrew gets ~into things again and Cale's jeans continue to do me him lots of favors.
NNNRGH.
This is, amazingly, not even all the good photos I took. All of them can be found in my Photobucket album for this show:
http://s295.photobucket.com/albums/mm136/asmadasrabbits/Kris%20Allen%20The%20Social%20Orlando%20August%2020%202010/
Videos! I took only three. Well four technically, since my camera stopped in the middle of Everybody Wants to Rule the World so it's in two parts.
First, Kris and Chris Nathan duet on a cover of Oasis' Don't Look Back in Anger. I was just a little too close for the sound to be as good as it usually is with this camera, but it's not awful the WHOLE time and the visual definitely makes up the difference. :D (Also, upping the quality to 480p really helps.)
Click to viewThey covered Tears For Fears' Everybody Wants to Rule the World. My camera stopped in the middle so it's in two parts with very little missing in between. Sounds still not the best because I was too close. :( Again, watch in 480p.
Part 1
Part 2
Toward the end of Come Together -the last song in the encore- Kris started like, doing this, idk, dancing in right in front of me and I started video recording without my brain's actual consent. Sorry it's sideways; I wasn't really capable of much thought at the time.
The Social, with it's tiny-ness, doesn't really attract a whole lot of bands that actually have tour buses. So there's basically a narrow alley behind the venue that their bus managed to somehow back into where most buses dare not attempt and just park in the street instead. It was kind of impressive. Technically, one side of the "alley" is really a chain link fence with a small parking lot on the other side. Where my car was, actually.
We all (and a good bit of the crowd, which, really, wasn't that many people to begin with, thank you, The Social ♥) went back there and hung out on the sidewalk by the front of the bus. After a bit, Lizzie came out and said, "Kris is going to come out to see you guys; he always does. We just need a line." And then she tried to make one and we tried to keep it, except for how it didn't really work. But we tried!
Kris came out and it was totally low-key and not rushed and everyone (that I saw) was being non-crazy. \o/ Lizzie was handling it all in a way that made me love her kind of a lot.
Right before the show, I realized that I loaned out Kris' CD to a friend and thus didn't have it for them to sign if I met them. For some reason I didn't remember until I was AT the show that Cale gave me his setlist at the 106.7 XLlent Xmas show in December and that would have been a good thing to bring. Oops?
What I had remembered to bring was the Disney American Idol Experience mouse pad I got at work and had taken to the tour show. At my show in Tampa, only Matt had come out so he was the only one that had signed it (and geeked out about me working in Disney World, naturally).
Kris and I exchanged hellos and I handed him the mouse pad. He looked at it a little confused, because I'm sure it's Idol merch he hadn't seen before and said, "Whose..." so I told him Matt had signed it. He said, "Where did you get this?" In retrospect, I realize he meant where did I get the mouse pad, but at the time I thought he meant where did I get Matt's signature.
Here is Kris being confused about the design on the mouse pad. (My friend that took this pic is a co-worker. Her actual real-life job is to take photos of Disney World guests as they run up and meet Mickey or Cinderella and get autographs and photos and capture the ~magic~ on their faces. She did that to me here without me even noticing and LOL I am so, so amused.)
That could have lead to a possibly lolarious conversation about working in Disney World, but alas. Instead we talked about how only Matt came out at my Idol show in Tampa. He looked pointedly at Lizzie and with a fake-mad face said, "See? Here's another one who says I didn't come out at her Idol show." Clearly this is a playful argument they have had many times where Kris had wanted to come out to meet fans and not been allowed. ♥
By that point, we were turning to take a picture and I said that I had heard that the reason no one came out at that show was because Adam had a stalker or something. I didn't see his face for reaction since we were side by side and he had his arm around me but he said, "Nahhhhh", kind of like brushing off the possibility, but not even in a sarcastic or rehearsed way. So there was clearly another unrelated reason?
The rest of that conversation is kind of a blur, but then this happened. :D
:D :D :D
I went to talk to Andrew and Torres next. I'm sad that I can't really remember much of what was said because I was still on a sort of Kris contact-high? I don't even know. Shut up. I remember telling them I was excited when I heard they were playing The Social because it's so small and Torres asked me if I came to shows there a lot. I told him that I did and I loved it there. Mostly I remember they were very sweet and they signed my ticket (Why didn't I remember to bring the setlist? Whyyyy?) and we took a picture.
Also, I love how meticulously Andrew signs his name. It's pretty much adorable.
Cale was having a rather involved conversation with two fans, so I talked nearby with arabella_hope and mrsmaggiemae for a bit. I took a pretty hilarious picture of them with the half-Kris cutout in the bus window lurking in the background.
Chris Nathan wandered out right about then and I was again completely charmed in every way. ♥_♥ I talked to him a bit and asked for a picture and he is possibly the tallest person I've ever stood beside. Well no, that's maybe not true. Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Peter Mayhew or Ryland Blackinton may win that, but STILL.
He continues to be charming on twitter, by the way (@ChrisNizzle). I would very much like to see another of his shows asap. :D
We were again waiting for Cale when suddenly the front shade on the bus went up and there was ET Mills. Cale was confused too.
Notice half-Kris in the window too. He had been there when we got there and parked too, by the way.
Julia and Angela started talking to Cale about seeing them a bunch of times in New England (and other stuff too, but I completely forget what else). I took pics for them on my camera.
arabella_hope and Cale! (Plus ET totally photo bombing in the background, ahahaha.)
mrsmaggiemae and Cale!
Cale introduced himself to me with a handshake and everything (so many charming gentlemen on this tour, what even?). While he was signing my ticket I mentioned that I'd seen them at Red Rocks in Denver a month ago. He seemed happy-surprised and said, "Oh yeah? That's a long way from here." I told them that my sister lives there and also that as soon as I heard they were touring with Barenaked Ladies, I couldn't pass that up. Then we took a picture.
As we were turning to take the picture, he said, "I like your shirt, by the way." Which makes me SO HAPPY because I love that shirt and I'm was beginning to think I was the only one who appreciated its awesomeness. It's for the 'Awesome Scouts' (Troop 625) and it has all kinds of badges for like, Staying Positive and Pillow Fighting and Break Dancing and Hi-Fiving and Ballin' and stuff. Thank you, sir. You have endeared yourself to me forever.
Anyway! Cale told me the BNL guys were great and they had a good time on that tour. Then I remembered the necklace I always wear and showed/explained it to him. It's a coil of used Barenaked Ladies guitar string on a cord. A few years back, when BNL was really getting into their thing with trying to be Carbon Neutral on tour and reuse/re-purpose things, they gave all their used guitar string to this woman who made really cool jewelry out of it. I couldn't possibly have ordered that necklace faster. It's the only piece of jewelry I've worn not on a special occasion for years and I love it SO MUCH.
(A close up for reference.)
He stared at my neck the entire time I was talking. And then he was silent for a minute before saying, "That's really cool." Then he was silent again, and still staring. "I may have to steal that idea."
On the inside was was very LSKHGKLSHGDSDGKJSD, but on the outside I said, like a totally normal person, "You should! That would be awesome."
YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST. If the Kris Allen Band puts out any used guitar string jewelry you have me to thank. \o/ :D
We said our goodbyes and I told him to come back to Orlando and he said they would for sure.
And... that was it. I hugged all of my girls goodbye and got in my car right beside the bus (LOL, oh The Social) and went home to SLEEP FOREVER.
A final thought to leave you guys with: The Social has (or at least had, as of a few months ago still) a photo booth in the dressing room and bands are encouraged to use it. THINK OF THE HILARIOUS POSSIBILITIES.