Ok Go in Chicago, Part Two
We were waiting in our little spot for a couple more minutes, then we were ushered into a room with a couch, a lamp or two, a little table in the back corner with coffee and what not, and a few people including the entire band.
The entire band.
The band.
Ok Go.
Damian Kulash, Tim Nordwind, Andy Ross, and Dan Konopka.
Turns out that Becky was able to arrange a meet and greet with the band before the show, because, as I have come to find out, the boardies aren't just a bunch of people that have become internet friends posting on the same message board for a band that they all like. No, this is a tightly knit gang, have been friends for years, have been meeting up as they could for years, and have become known and friendly with the band. It was quickly apparent that the boardies were special to the band as well.
As I thought of it later, Becky and Rachel have the same type of relationship with Ok Go as I do with Apologetix. I know the Apologetix guys, have seen them in concert nearly twenty times, anytime they are close enough to me in the midwest. J., the lead singer and lyricist, knows me and my husband Randy on sight, asks Randy about his leg (the short of a long story, Randy has a bad leg), and has emailed me back and forth. Where you would go to Becky and Rachel for Ok Go info, you would go to me about Apologetix. That realization helped me get my head around the fact that I was in a room with all the guys in Ok Go. Um, later it helped.
And, there I was. A very new boardie, as I am firmly a boardie forevermore, in this green room, with all these lovely people including the band.
I am a fangirl. My friends lovingly tease me about being a squeally fangirl of the shows Doctor Who, House and The Big Band Theory, and the bands Apologetix, King's X, and, as of January, Ok Go. Oh, yeah, I squee. I'm thirty five years old and I frickin' squee and jump and make a general silly goof of myself. (Side note - Ok Go is the first band/fandom that I am offically older than, only a year or two, but, damn, a bit of a mind f*** for me.)
Being in this room, however, shocked me into some sort of disbelieving calm. Shocked, like, struck dumb. I was happy with that, though, because I surely didn't want to cause any sort of stupid (and that's a noun, there) and worse, embarrass my new boardie friends.
After a couple seconds of arriving the room, the guys came over to us to say hi and chat a bit. My memory is a little blurred here. At first we were just standing in a circle, with the boardies on one side of the circle and the band on the other. I asked the guys to look at my shirt that I fabric painted on the back. I turned, and they said they liked it. =D The little circle broke up as the girls started talking to specific guys.
I hung back a bit to watch the scene. Becky was talking to Damian about some guitar chords. Predictively, Damian was bit surrounded. The other guys had their ladies to talk with. I thought I would try to talk to Tim, as at that moment he wasn't talking to anyone specifically.
I went up to Tim to ask to shake his hand, tell him that I really appreicate him and that I like the bass. Again, memory a little blurry. Tim was very friendly and accepted my request for a hand shake and asked if I played bass. I told him, no, no musical instuments, but that was I was more of a word person. Why did I say that? I'm an arty farty visual type person! But the topic of words had come up on the boards before, and I expressed by love of words, so that was on my mind instead of art stuff. So, Tim asked if I wrote, asked if I had an iPhone because there was a cool 'words with friends' game thingy on it, asked what I wrote, basically, kept asking me questions I believe to make sure I had something to talk about and not, presueably, start squealing or something. Very, very nice and gracious guy. We both started to drift away from each other, and I decided to approach Andy next.
He was more intently talking to someone, so I waited for a little break in their conversation to approach him to ask to shake his hand. He agreed readily and did so. The woman (DEBBIE!) he was talking to asked if I would take a picture of her and Andy and said, oh, yes, and did so.
I wandered back over to the Damian group to see how the guitar chord talk was going (or whatever, I just told Tim I didn't play, so I'm not sure what) on my way to ask Dan if I could shake his hand. I saw Damian sort of gesture, not quite helplessly, but that he needed something - his guitar! He said something like, I'll be right back, and he ducked out of the room. The staff member from earlier came over to Becky to say that he needed to get us in before the opening band started. Becky looked at him and said, Damian just went to get his guitar. The staff member sort of nodded slightly and backed away. I said outloud to myself, but I doubt anyone heard me, "Damian went to get his guitar. That trumps ANYthing you have to say."
The entire band.
The band.
Ok Go.
Damian Kulash, Tim Nordwind, Andy Ross, and Dan Konopka.
Turns out that Becky was able to arrange a meet and greet with the band before the show, because, as I have come to find out, the boardies aren't just a bunch of people that have become internet friends posting on the same message board for a band that they all like. No, this is a tightly knit gang, have been friends for years, have been meeting up as they could for years, and have become known and friendly with the band. It was quickly apparent that the boardies were special to the band as well.
As I thought of it later, Becky and Rachel have the same type of relationship with Ok Go as I do with Apologetix. I know the Apologetix guys, have seen them in concert nearly twenty times, anytime they are close enough to me in the midwest. J., the lead singer and lyricist, knows me and my husband Randy on sight, asks Randy about his leg (the short of a long story, Randy has a bad leg), and has emailed me back and forth. Where you would go to Becky and Rachel for Ok Go info, you would go to me about Apologetix. That realization helped me get my head around the fact that I was in a room with all the guys in Ok Go. Um, later it helped.
And, there I was. A very new boardie, as I am firmly a boardie forevermore, in this green room, with all these lovely people including the band.
I am a fangirl. My friends lovingly tease me about being a squeally fangirl of the shows Doctor Who, House and The Big Band Theory, and the bands Apologetix, King's X, and, as of January, Ok Go. Oh, yeah, I squee. I'm thirty five years old and I frickin' squee and jump and make a general silly goof of myself. (Side note - Ok Go is the first band/fandom that I am offically older than, only a year or two, but, damn, a bit of a mind f*** for me.)
Being in this room, however, shocked me into some sort of disbelieving calm. Shocked, like, struck dumb. I was happy with that, though, because I surely didn't want to cause any sort of stupid (and that's a noun, there) and worse, embarrass my new boardie friends.
After a couple seconds of arriving the room, the guys came over to us to say hi and chat a bit. My memory is a little blurred here. At first we were just standing in a circle, with the boardies on one side of the circle and the band on the other. I asked the guys to look at my shirt that I fabric painted on the back. I turned, and they said they liked it. =D The little circle broke up as the girls started talking to specific guys.
I hung back a bit to watch the scene. Becky was talking to Damian about some guitar chords. Predictively, Damian was bit surrounded. The other guys had their ladies to talk with. I thought I would try to talk to Tim, as at that moment he wasn't talking to anyone specifically.
I went up to Tim to ask to shake his hand, tell him that I really appreicate him and that I like the bass. Again, memory a little blurry. Tim was very friendly and accepted my request for a hand shake and asked if I played bass. I told him, no, no musical instuments, but that was I was more of a word person. Why did I say that? I'm an arty farty visual type person! But the topic of words had come up on the boards before, and I expressed by love of words, so that was on my mind instead of art stuff. So, Tim asked if I wrote, asked if I had an iPhone because there was a cool 'words with friends' game thingy on it, asked what I wrote, basically, kept asking me questions I believe to make sure I had something to talk about and not, presueably, start squealing or something. Very, very nice and gracious guy. We both started to drift away from each other, and I decided to approach Andy next.
He was more intently talking to someone, so I waited for a little break in their conversation to approach him to ask to shake his hand. He agreed readily and did so. The woman (DEBBIE!) he was talking to asked if I would take a picture of her and Andy and said, oh, yes, and did so.
I wandered back over to the Damian group to see how the guitar chord talk was going (or whatever, I just told Tim I didn't play, so I'm not sure what) on my way to ask Dan if I could shake his hand. I saw Damian sort of gesture, not quite helplessly, but that he needed something - his guitar! He said something like, I'll be right back, and he ducked out of the room. The staff member from earlier came over to Becky to say that he needed to get us in before the opening band started. Becky looked at him and said, Damian just went to get his guitar. The staff member sort of nodded slightly and backed away. I said outloud to myself, but I doubt anyone heard me, "Damian went to get his guitar. That trumps ANYthing you have to say."