taking a stroll
Hidey-ho, neighbors!
The lovely Allison and Jenny arrived late last night, and right now they're downtown at the House of Blues, probably either listening to the end of the opening band's set, unless it's already done. Hanson probably won't go on until after 9PM, even if they were miraculously not late to start the show (HAHAHA! Right.).
Even though I didn't have a ticket for tonight's show, I still went downtown with them and took part in today's walk.
Which, by the way, was total chaos. I honestly felt pretty bad for the guys, because people were just NUTS when the walk started. When Taylor started directing people so we could all make our way out to the sidewalk to start the walk, even before reaching it, people were running and shoving and pushing to get as close to the three of them as possible. It was like a stampede, no joke. I think I got jostled and shoved by at least 15 different people in less than one minute. And that was about when I decided there was no way in hell I was going to stay near that mess. It never fails to amaze me at how easily some fans can just...decide not to have any manners or consideration for other people at all. Oy.
The three of us got separated in that initial insanity, but by chance, Allison turned up beside me once we got out to the sidewalk of State Street, and she and I were able to stick together for the rest of the walk. We just stayed in the back end of it. It was nuts to watch - occasionally, you could get a really good view of all the people who were way ahead of us, and I think there had to be at least 500 people. There was one cop car that followed the walkers up near the front, probably both to help keep people on the sidewalk and also just because of how many people there were.
When I was perusing the Hanson sector of teh intrawebs earlier this evening, people who had been around the guys were saying that the pushing and shoving never really stopped all throughout the walk. Taylor was lucky enough to have a HOB security guy who stuck by him for the entire walk, who had to tell people continually to stop pushing Taylor, and Taylor was apparently repeatedly trying to tell people to leave room for each other. When the walk was over and the guys finished the wrap-up speech, they ended up going inside the venue instead of staying out to help sell the shoes or anything like they normally have, because things had been so ridiculous. Isaac told someone that there was definitely something very different about this walk. It makes me sad for them; they're trying to do something good and way too many fans are just blatantly not caring at all about what these walks are supposed to be about. That's got to be extremely disappointing for them. It is for me. No matter how much it can be said that this kind of behavior is to be expected, it's still just really, really disappointing.
On a more positive, sweet note: Isaac pushed someone who was in a wheelchair for the entire walk. I didn't find out until I was reading things on H.net and such about him pushing her the whole time, but Allison, Jenny and I did see him right near the end of the walk, as everybody was rounding back into the area behind the venue. All of the sudden, we saw him pushing her up the wheelchair access ramp that wound around a couple times. I think he had just turned onto it off of the sidewalk, and then he decided to be a big dork and pushed her up that ramp so quickly he was running as he did it, LOL.
I'm still planning on going to the walk tomorrow; I'm hoping that it might not be as crazy, but I unfortunately doubt it. I'm excited to see the show tomorrow night, though.
Allison and Jenny won't be getting back here until probably after midnight, so I think I'm going to watch a movie or maybe an episode or two of Dexter (yay for Showtime promotional periods!! The entire first season is available in that OnDemand feature that I get with my cable package, and it's free because they're trying to get people to subscribe to Showtime for the second season of this and their other shows).
But before I leave, here be some random pictures I took today:
One of the Marina City towers, which is right next door to the HOB. I've always loved these towers; they're so neat-looking.
Standing on the Dearborn Street Bridge, looking out onto the Chicago River and the State Street Bridge.
Just off of the bridge, looking up Wacker Drive.
After the walk was over, we were all thirsty, so we walked over to the Potbelly's on State and got smoothies. We sat outside and this was our view across the street - the Chicago Theatre. (Which happens to be where I saw Hanson in 2000 on the TTA tour, the only time I've ever seen Hanson in concert in Chicago, before tomorrow.) I'm so pissed I didn't know about this Ryan Adams show. SO PISSED. !!111!!
A photo from this morning - Jenny at the Medici.
My latest floral decoration, in the pretty new vase I got a few weeks ago.
The colors on both kinds of flowers are just so pretty. They actually weren't sold together, but I liked both of them so much and thought they'd look nice together.
Yours truly, signing off. Nutters was like, "Look at the camera, pfft."
PS: The song I have listed for this entry, Ingrid Michaelson's 'The Way I Am' is such an adorable song. Old Navy is using it right now for their new commercial about the FairIsle sweaters they have now.
The lovely Allison and Jenny arrived late last night, and right now they're downtown at the House of Blues, probably either listening to the end of the opening band's set, unless it's already done. Hanson probably won't go on until after 9PM, even if they were miraculously not late to start the show (HAHAHA! Right.).
Even though I didn't have a ticket for tonight's show, I still went downtown with them and took part in today's walk.
Which, by the way, was total chaos. I honestly felt pretty bad for the guys, because people were just NUTS when the walk started. When Taylor started directing people so we could all make our way out to the sidewalk to start the walk, even before reaching it, people were running and shoving and pushing to get as close to the three of them as possible. It was like a stampede, no joke. I think I got jostled and shoved by at least 15 different people in less than one minute. And that was about when I decided there was no way in hell I was going to stay near that mess. It never fails to amaze me at how easily some fans can just...decide not to have any manners or consideration for other people at all. Oy.
The three of us got separated in that initial insanity, but by chance, Allison turned up beside me once we got out to the sidewalk of State Street, and she and I were able to stick together for the rest of the walk. We just stayed in the back end of it. It was nuts to watch - occasionally, you could get a really good view of all the people who were way ahead of us, and I think there had to be at least 500 people. There was one cop car that followed the walkers up near the front, probably both to help keep people on the sidewalk and also just because of how many people there were.
When I was perusing the Hanson sector of teh intrawebs earlier this evening, people who had been around the guys were saying that the pushing and shoving never really stopped all throughout the walk. Taylor was lucky enough to have a HOB security guy who stuck by him for the entire walk, who had to tell people continually to stop pushing Taylor, and Taylor was apparently repeatedly trying to tell people to leave room for each other. When the walk was over and the guys finished the wrap-up speech, they ended up going inside the venue instead of staying out to help sell the shoes or anything like they normally have, because things had been so ridiculous. Isaac told someone that there was definitely something very different about this walk. It makes me sad for them; they're trying to do something good and way too many fans are just blatantly not caring at all about what these walks are supposed to be about. That's got to be extremely disappointing for them. It is for me. No matter how much it can be said that this kind of behavior is to be expected, it's still just really, really disappointing.
On a more positive, sweet note: Isaac pushed someone who was in a wheelchair for the entire walk. I didn't find out until I was reading things on H.net and such about him pushing her the whole time, but Allison, Jenny and I did see him right near the end of the walk, as everybody was rounding back into the area behind the venue. All of the sudden, we saw him pushing her up the wheelchair access ramp that wound around a couple times. I think he had just turned onto it off of the sidewalk, and then he decided to be a big dork and pushed her up that ramp so quickly he was running as he did it, LOL.
I'm still planning on going to the walk tomorrow; I'm hoping that it might not be as crazy, but I unfortunately doubt it. I'm excited to see the show tomorrow night, though.
Allison and Jenny won't be getting back here until probably after midnight, so I think I'm going to watch a movie or maybe an episode or two of Dexter (yay for Showtime promotional periods!! The entire first season is available in that OnDemand feature that I get with my cable package, and it's free because they're trying to get people to subscribe to Showtime for the second season of this and their other shows).
But before I leave, here be some random pictures I took today:
One of the Marina City towers, which is right next door to the HOB. I've always loved these towers; they're so neat-looking.
Standing on the Dearborn Street Bridge, looking out onto the Chicago River and the State Street Bridge.
Just off of the bridge, looking up Wacker Drive.
After the walk was over, we were all thirsty, so we walked over to the Potbelly's on State and got smoothies. We sat outside and this was our view across the street - the Chicago Theatre. (Which happens to be where I saw Hanson in 2000 on the TTA tour, the only time I've ever seen Hanson in concert in Chicago, before tomorrow.) I'm so pissed I didn't know about this Ryan Adams show. SO PISSED. !!111!!
A photo from this morning - Jenny at the Medici.
My latest floral decoration, in the pretty new vase I got a few weeks ago.
The colors on both kinds of flowers are just so pretty. They actually weren't sold together, but I liked both of them so much and thought they'd look nice together.
Yours truly, signing off. Nutters was like, "Look at the camera, pfft."
PS: The song I have listed for this entry, Ingrid Michaelson's 'The Way I Am' is such an adorable song. Old Navy is using it right now for their new commercial about the FairIsle sweaters they have now.