#13 The Aiken Experience. There's nothing else like it.

[jmh123]

Yoo hoo lickiest--just saw y'all a few minutes ago. We had a gourmet meal from the vending machine. Yum. Fabulous, very special concert tonight. Totally pooped. My friend Barbara has crashed. I'm right behind her. Tomorrow we're touring Biltmore House and then heading back to the Triangle satisfied, or as close to it as possible, under the circumstances (that would be, because we can't actually, you know, do Clay Aiken and he is hawt, funny, and cool). MUAH to all.

[bottlecap]

You know, I was thinking how addicted I am to listening to the cellcerts and how...odd that is. I mean, I've seen four concerts in person so far and will be seeing three more next weekend, yet I can't stand 'missing' any of them, via cellcert if that's the only way. Same songs...almost same banter....what's the deal?

Yeap, I followed along with last night's cellcert, and yet the first thing I did this morning was to download deborah760's mp3's so I could listen to a clearer, on-the-spot version. The bat converation is hilarious, btw. I can't wait to see the Clack.

ETA: I went to bed before the end of the cellcert, and I apparently missed some banter. Handcuffs were involved? Really? MUST HAVE CLACK!

[bottlecap]

Some Asheville pics from fivegoldens. Looks like a new shirt:

[bottlecap]

Ummmmm,

[bottlecap]

Oh, oh - since Angela slapped on the cuffs, who gets to frisk the suspect?

[luckiest1]

Morning, y'all! Everyone here is sleeping so I'm sitting in the dark writing this up to pass the time. We are heading into the Biltmore this morning to do some sight seeing.

Cary recap….aka Drive .3 Miles and turn at…..recalculating……

Non-concert stuff.........scroll at will!

We left Ontario on Wednesday at 6 am. Waited 45 minutes at the border while every single vehicle had not only the contents of it’s trunk inspected, but the contents under their hood as well. Most were pulled to the side for even further inspection. We were not hopeful. But our guard was a sweet as could be! Did a cursory check, asked us where we were going, asked us to repeat the Clay Aiken part, and sent us on our way. Wheeee! First stop Mickey Dee’s, where we lucked into free iced vanilla lattes on Wednesdays only. Unfortunately, things slowed down from there, as we hit traffic snag after traffic snag, all due to construction.

Somewhere in Ohio we came alongside a vehicle with a lone woman driver, which had an OMC sticker in one window and a “I’d rather be at a Clay Aiken concert” licence plate holder on the back. By this point we’d probably been on the road 6 hours and were getting a little giddy, so we started screaming and yelling and rolling our windows down….I think the lady thought we’d lost our minds, and she didn’t seem to have any idea what we were on about, even though I flashed my boobs…er….shirt with Clay’s picture at her out the window.

OK….let’s see, other random things….were surprised to find a Chik-Fil-A in Ohio, so we stopped for lunch there…..we passed a guy in WV who looked eerily like Homer Simpson, and he had a rubber Homer Simpson in his underpants drinking beer antenna topper thingy on his car. Hee, we amuse easily, I guess.

I think we finally crossed the Virginia/North Carolina state line around 7:30 pm. Waaaay behind schedule but them’s the breaks. We were happy to be breathing the same air as Clay. Another Mickey Dee’s stop later and we were on our way again. Pulled into NCDonna’s driveway at 10:45 and almost 17 hours after departure. I think that is probably the longest stretch of time I have ever spent in the car in one day. Next time, someone remind me that I said I am flying.

So, we visited with NCDonna and mandmlady all through the heat that was Thursday (heat index 111), and found ourselves in a Pizza Hut when a nasty thunderstorm hit that evening. We tried to wait it out, but we were almost at the point of ordering a second dinner, so we braved the lightening and the rain and ran out the door, only to find ourselves about 3 or 4 inches deep in flood water in the parking lot. Great place to be in a lightening storm! But we lived to tell the tale, thank God. The highlight of our day was playing around on Ticketmaster, and stumbling across a pair of tickets in row L for the Cary show. I think it took us about 7 seconds to decide to buy them and upgrade 2 of our 5 seats from row S. I promptly posted about our extras on a couple of boards and they were sold within minutes, to the lovely Jasmine63 from the CH (this is relevant later).

Friday dawned up more of the same heat. crimsonice and disneykid took off into Raleigh early to do some shopping and tattoo hunting. Us old ladies (NOT) hung back and took our time getting dolled up for Clay. We managed to purchase another single upgrade ticket in row M, which we figured we could sell no problem at Lucky32. We piled into the van around noon and set the evil GPS for the Koka Booth Amphitheatre, so we could check out the BAF lemonade stand and buy ourselves some neckerchiefs to keep cool that evening. I’ve read lots of recaps about evil GPS units but I’d never experienced one before. Right away we pissed it off by remembering that we were supposed to find a copy of the N&O, so we took a different route than it was telling us to stop by the Piggly Wiggly, but alas, no posters in those papers. GPS lady recalculated our route. Hit the highway and found the venue no problem. There were only about 10 people in line at 1:30 pm, and no sign of the lemonade stand.

So we headed off to find our hotel and check in. I think this is when we started pissing the GPS lady off, because we noticed she seemed to be recalculating often, and her tone sounded a tad pissy. Checked in, relaxed and ate some munchies, then headed over to Lucky32 where we found jasmine63 waiting in the parking lot for us, money in hand. Seems she was going to seat her parents in our row S seats, and had upgraded herself to somewhere in row M! Woo hoo! We met up with crimsonice and disneykid in the restaurant, who promptly informed us that they were not staying for dinner as they had an appointment with a tattoo artist at 4 pm. Leave it to my daughter to arrange to have the state of NC tattooed on her leg hours before a Clay concert! So we dined with the lovely sassafras, jmh123, playbiller (who brought mucho glowsticks! ) and her sister FearOfH20. Much wonderful conversation ensued, and of course delicious food. I tried grits for the first time, and while I didn’t hate them, let’s just say I won’t be in any rush to order them again. But the crusted salmon was divine.

We headed back to the venue around 5:30 to try and sell our single tickets (because we hadn’t found any takers at the restaurant). Who woulda thunk it would be so hard to move a reserved Cary seat? I mean, they were snapping them up online! At the venue, there were already two ladies with the same idea, but they had made signs! So we hung around and encroached on their territory until we got a bite. Wheeee! Didn’t have to eat any tickets after all. The BAF lemonade stand was just packing up but we snagged a few of the precious neckerchiefs before they did. Back to the restaurant one more time where I think we saw part of the evil Houston posse in the parking lot (or I could be making that up, I can’t remember anymore), picked up the freshly tattooed girls, and headed back to the hotel. I think by this point the GPS lady was mad at us, because she took us some back roads way that involved about 25 turns down residential side streets. Still, she took us by the Benjamin Moore store in Cary and I got to see the Clay mural that I hadn’t seen since 2004, so it was all good. Freshened up one more time (which involved soaking our neckerchiefs aka boy scout bandanas in cold water) and then it was finally concert time! We decided to park about 6 miles away from the front gate, figuring that we would be the first ones out after the concert. Yeah, NOT. Hiked it into the venue, and saw the group of Japanese fans in their kimonos right away. They were very friendly, and one of them took our picture for us. We noticed right away that the lawn did not look all that full, but most of that was because they’d set the sound booth up right in the middle at the front, and no one wanted to sit behind it, so the middle third of the lawn was empty. When they eventually took the awning off the top of it, people filled that section up. But I still thought it was an odd place to put it….isn’t it usually much farther back, so it doesn’t obstruct everyone’s view? Plus, there were no jumbotrons. I know there was one the last time I was there, for the JBT. So some lawn dwellers weren’t particularly happy when we walked amongst them to get to our seats.

I found myself sitting in a row of CHers that included none other than the lady we’d sold our tickets to, Jasmine63 right beside me, and QueenP beside her, who was nice enough to share her spray fan with us. If not for the neckerchiefs and the mist she sprayed on us occasionally, I think we might have just melted right into the ground, it was so freaking hot.

To Be Continued......

Edited August 12, 2007 by lickiest1

[luckiest1]

More Cary recap

What can I even say about the concert? Clay entered stage right (to our left) and walked along the riser that the orchestra was up on, then jumped down off the end onto the stage. We heard a couple of cracks in his voice in the first few songs, but I put that down to a week off and not much rehearsal. Otherwise, his voice was spot on all night. I honestly can’t remember a whole lot of the concert. I was peering through heads a lot because I had a tall woman in front of me, and a man beside her who wasn’t so short, either. Unfortunately, I’m 5 foot nuthin’. Anyways, I was only a couple seats over and behind my best buddies NCDonna and mandmlady in row L, so I probably spent as much time watching and enjoying their reactions as I did watching Clay. While NCDonna had watched some clack, and knew what to expect, it was her first and only concert of the tour. Her sister, mandmlady, was a complete and total SST concert virgin. Even though she kept trying to trip us up and get us to tell her what songs he would be singing….LOL. So watching her excitement every time he started a new song was so much fun for me. I remember he bantered a lot about the heat (and why wouldn’t he? He had to be dying up there) and the funniest thing I remember him saying was that he was sweating like Ruben, and then he went into a bit about the AI Christmas special, and how they should never have put Ruben in a jacket. He picked up a towel and mopped his face, imitating Ruben, and then said it wasn’t very authentic when he was sweating up a storm in what was supposed to be cold, wintery air. Hee, then he said he loved Ruben, he was his friend, and Quiana attested to that fact. It was v.v. funny, and most people in the audience seemed to know what he was referring to! I remember it, for sure.

I squeeeeeeeeeeeeed when the violins started playing the intro to RHW in the first half. I was so glad he was going to sing it, but even more excited that he’d moved it in the set list, because I wondered what he’d open the second half with? So I swayed and clapped and cried a little bit through the song, because I’ve been waiting forever to hear him sing it live. It was wonderful and very special to me.

Intermission came and there was much murmuring in our row about some shit that I don’t even care to acknowledge, so I won’t. We all squeeeed about how great he sounded and how great he looked and what wonderful seats we had. I was so happy for NCDonna and mandmlady, who said they had a wonderful view and the best seats ever.

When he opened the second half with ATD I couldn’t contain my excitement. That song is so special to me and to my friends, because we were all together in Cary the night he debuted it back in 2005. He sang the shiznit out of it this time, too! He got lots of cheers of recognition and a great standing O when it was over as well. Let’s see, what else happened in the 2nd half? It is so foggy already. He came down off the stage and went over to the other side, where he sang with some people and then his mama was in the front row with his grandparents, so we pulled her up onto the steps with him and they sang TWYMMF together (after he told her not to sing those words because that was disgusting!)

I had a hard time seeing much of the Classics because everyone was standing and obscuring my vision, so I watched mandmlady instead, who of course had no idea what she was in for. Her reactions were priceless! LAA was beautiful, as always. BYLM was fantastic, with all the glow sticks (I had brought extra and handed a few out at intermission). Clay seemed very moved and I was happy to log on and see the picture of him with his hands around the microphone stand, almost in prayer, and his face resting on them. That was an awesome moment.

So after it was all over, we squeeeeeeeeeeed for a while and eventually tried to make our way out of the venue. We met up with all sorts of people, who I won’t even try to remember and name here, but hi to y’all! We found ourselves a spot on the driveway to camp out and wait for the bus line. We started hearing reports from people who were on cell phones that Mary had blogged, but no one moved until Jerome finally came trudging up the hill, with an army of people following him, and told us that they couldn’t do it for security reasons. So we dispersed and made the 6 mile hike to our vehicle, which, by this point, was almost alone in the parking lot. So much for being first out! Hee.

It was a totally wonderful night and we were all on a Clay Aiken high on the ride back to the hotel. But I went from dying of heat to dying of cold in the A/C, so I just bundled myself up in my Clay’s Angel sweatshirt and hit the sack, so I could be fresh and ready for Asheville the next day.

Edited August 12, 2007 by lickiest1

[luckiest1]

Asheville recap

Saturday morning we got up and had a nice breakfast in our room with food we absconded with from the continental breakfast area of the hotel. It is always such a sad day for us when we have to day goodbye to our NC angels, NCDonna and mandmlady, but we always know we’ll be seeing them again soon anyways. We had arranged to caravan to Asheville with our old friend sassafras, so she met us in the parking lot and I hopped in her car, leaving the girls to fend for themselves. To her credit, she tried to tell us that we should probably avoid I-40 because of construction, but we poo-pooed that idea and hit the highway. Bad, bad move. We were at a dead stop in no time. I called cindilu2 on the cell phone, and she advised that they’d managed to get off and directed me down another road that would bypass all the construction. In the confusion we lost the girls but hey, we all met up eventually in Asheville 5 hours later, so it was all good in the end. What a gorgeous area! We checked into our room at the Crowne Plaza (the desk clerk told me they had never had so many Canadians before!) and I decided to go for a swim. I felt like I was in 7th heaven…the water was so warm, there was a nice breeze in the air, and of course the mountains were all around me.

We piled into the vehicle and headed over to the Biltmore about 6:30 which was a good idea, since we had no idea how huge those ground were! They took a portion of our concert ticket right through the car window as we were winding our way through the grounds. They directed us to park in lot C and then we all piled onto coach buses to be taken to the house. It was just an awesome journey….bamboo growing alongside the road, streams, fields, forests…..wow. The house aka castle is gorgeous. We got off the buses and hit the bathrooms before lining up to get into the venue, which was just a stage and some chairs set up behind the house. They weren’t kidding about the view! All night I just kept looking around me and pinching myself that I was really sitting up here, in the mountains of NC, behind a castle, listening to Clay sing in the open air. It was surreal.

Our seats were row N, almost on the outside aisle. Not as close to the stage as the night before, but the stage was higher which meant better sight lines for us short folks. Hee. We had the Houston posse in the row in front of us. It was so cool to know so many people all around. So Clay came out stage left (our right) and sang like an angel. The banter about the bats was hysterical. He really had the girls going. The bats were quite visible as the sun had just set but the sky was still quite bright. They were flying around the house and some were flying overhead as well. I don’t think any of them flew near the stage but when he did a bat imitation into the microphone (eeeeeeeeep eeeeeeeeeep) I thought I’d pee my pants laughing. Between the bats and the bugs he had lots of stuff to joke about all night. He had us sing to him a few times….at the beginning of the TV medley when we sang the whole Brady Bunch theme (isn’t it strange how those words can stick in your mind for years? I don’t remember the last time I watched that show) and he was cracking up so much at the beginning of TOA that we sang the first verse to him until he had composed himself. Wait, was that in the first half or the second half? No matter, it was awesome.

He really seemed to love this venue, and the crowd. Of course, it was a full house, and I can’t even imagine how amazing (hee, in the good way) his view was, at least until it was full dark. I can’t wait for clack because I want to remember every second of this concert forever. I was behind Solo and Perusing One who were trying so hard to stifle their laughter, because we were surrounded by clack gatherers or cell certers, but it was impossible. He was just so funny. Intermission came too fast, and I had a nice chat with geekette, who gave me some pointers on what to do in Vegas in November, even though she hates it there. I also chatted with merieeee about the ins and outs of flying with hard cheese. Hee, the things you learn at a Clay Aiken concert!

Second half started………I’m in the Aiken fog again……more bat and bug hilarity. He didn’t leave the stage for TWYMMF and he sang more of the words than I’ve ever heard him sing. The Classics started and he was just on fire. On the chain, off the chain…..handcuffs……….picking up a towel and twirling it around his head during “party all night”…..those are some highlights that stick in my brain. Angela sang and he threw his shoes at her. He talked about supporting the arts and he was so so funny about orchestras that “amaze” them. Hee, not in a good way. I think he might have been talking about Raleigh. He really made it clear that this was his favourite venue lately. It was so great to be a part of it. Lots of glowsticks during BYLM again (and I even managed to get one member of the Houston posse to take one, won’t rat her out) and then it was over, all too soon.

We took our time meandering out of the venue, saying hello to cindilu2 and goldarngirl and canfly172 and lots of other people I am forgetting. Security seemed well informed about the bus line and directed us to the front lawn of the house/castle, which was just this huge square about the size of a football field. We all formed a big square but we were certainly not single file. I figured Jerome would sort it out when he came out, which he did about an hour later, and made us hold hands, and dragged our end of the line right down into the centre of the field, so that it was a square with one end stretched in. We met a woman from Stateville who had brought her teenaged son and her mother to the show, and we chatted with them. The elder lady told me that she was a big Rod Stewart fan but she came because her daughter asked her to. She said that she had no idea how good Clay was, and how much of an entertainer he was! She said the show was awesome, and much, much better than she would ever have believed. I told her you just can’t really describe it to someone, they have to experience it for themselves, and she agreed. She had a hard time believing that Clay was going to shake all these peoples’ hands, but I convinced her it would happen.

Jerome walked the line a few times making sure everyone was single file. It was funny watching all the Biltmore buses just idling at the curbs, all around the lawn, while we waited. I bet the bus drivers were less than impressed, but hey, if they were getting overtime, maybe they didn’t mind. It seemed to take forever until Clay came out. It was definitely after midnight. But finally, there he was, flying down our section in the middle of the lawn. Jerome was already shouting and sounding pissed, because people kept moving and he didn’t want anyone doing that. He shouted “one more person moves and I’ll pull him out!” as he approached us, so we froze our feet to the spot and leaned over as far as we could to get the Aiken touch. He was by us in a flash, but we were afraid to move, in case we ruined it for anyone else. So we stayed put and watched him go around the whole lawn. It was quite the thing and I hope someone captured it on video. We eventually made it onto a bus and back to parking lot C. There was a not.just.us person in front of me on the bus and she was looking out the window at a red car that was decorated with Clay pictures (looked like Cookie’s car from the TV, not sure if it was or not). She said to her seatmate “can you believe that some of those people (pointing out the window) have been to 27 concerts? They are crazy.” Hee, I said to her “no way, 27????” and she said “yes! That’s enough money to buy half a car!” BWAH. I told her I’d been to 27 and she seemed to inch away from me quite quickly. Poor lady just doesn’t get it.

So we made our way out of the ground and went across the road into the drive though line up at the swankiest Mickey Dees I have every seen (there was a piano in the lobby!) but after sitting there for 20 minutes and not moving we abandoned that idea. Headed back to the hotel because we didn’t see any other fast food, but there was no food to be found here either. Was surprised by institches in the bar! It was so great to see her again. Tried to get food out of the vending machines but they didn’t like our money. So we ate snacks in the room and went to bed.

OK, it’s almost 10 am and no one here seems to be stirring. Hee, I think I am going to have to wake them up soon, because check out time is 11! Off to Knoxville……….

Edited August 12, 2007 by lickiest1

[Ansamcw]

I don't know how you do it but bravo for your recap.

YAY...now I have something to put up on FCA!!!

[atinal]

lickiest, What a great recap.

Early this am, (about 2), someone on CV had recommended a section of Deborah's cellstream audio from the second half. It was TWYMMF, and lickiest, you're right that is the most of the song I've heard him sing, and he sounded great. Anyway, that's the first time I've downloaded the full concert, or in this case half, from this concert series. I was amazed (in the good way) at how clear the sound was. I'll be going back later to do the first half.

[Couch Tomato]

lickiest, What a great recap.

Early this am, (about 2), someone on CV had recommended a section of Deborah's cellstream audio from the second half. It was TWYMMF, and lickiest, you're right that is the most of the song I've heard him sing, and he sounded great. Anyway, that's the first time I've downloaded the full concert, or in this case half, from this concert series. I was amazed (in the good way) at how clear the sound was. I'll be going back later to do the first half.

OH I highly recommend Deb760's audio clack. I like to download it, put it in my ipod, listen a couple of times... and replace it with the next. And I keep my favorites. I'm so happy she does this for us.. plus it's so much easier than trying to put the concert toether one song at a time.

Lickiest..how in hades do you do that. I don't even pretend that I can do an actual recap where I remember everything from the shows. heeee. Sigh. I still have to do LA and Indio.

[AnAmeraikenInTX]

lickiest, What a great recap.

Early this am, (about 2), someone on CV had recommended a section of Deborah's cellstream audio from the second half. It was TWYMMF, and lickiest, you're right that is the most of the song I've heard him sing, and he sounded great. Anyway, that's the first time I've downloaded the full concert, or in this case half, from this concert series. I was amazed (in the good way) at how clear the sound was. I'll be going back later to do the first half.

That might have been my 'find' in TWYMMF - good lord, I can't wait for the video of this! Anyway, in case my recommendation was what you saw, I'll post it here too - and I'm not sure why I didn't last night. Maybe the late hour and being tired?? Enjoy:

WOW and WHOA!! Clay's vocals on TWYMMF are some of the sexiest sounds I've ever heard him sing! Holy moly! Listen to all of it, starts about 26:50ish in deborah760's Set 2 from Ashville, but I marked these as the times that really got to me:

27:52 to 28:07

28:11-13

28:38-53

28:57/59 (just GAHHHHH)

29:07-09

29:15-17

I think you'll enjoy this!!

And I second what CouchTomato said about deborah760's concert audio. I ALWAYS d/l it. It's wonderful to have clear audio that is all in one place! Gotta learn how to go back and chop it up into smaller pieces though, so it doesn't always start over at the very beginning when played other than on my computer!

Edited August 12, 2007 by AnAmeraikenInTX

[Claygasm]

Its so quiet in here today! Everyone downloading clack?

[Couch Tomato]

Its so quiet in here today! Everyone downloading clack?

yep...I've already downloaded all that is available and will watch while I watch my other boyfriend, Tiger Woods. Also updating FCA...sooooooooooooooooooooooo far behind. Last night seemed like such a wonderful show...off to watch clack.

[muskifest]

Good Lord, lickiest! I'm in shock and awe! I didn't know which to sit down with my latte---your recap or the bigassed Sunday newspaper! Thanks for the memories

Today Kenny and I have MANDATED that our kids stay home and we are all de-cluttering our respective pieces of upstairs real estate---

OUT with clothes that don't fit/we don't wear anymore!

OUT with books and magazines that no longer hold relevance or provide pleasure!

OUT with games and do-dads that have inches of dust on them!

OUT with broken lamps, hair dryers, gizmos and gadgets!

OUT with pillows/blankets/comforters/sheets that we no longer like/are falling apart/don't have matching pieces/display Disney characters!

OUT with posters/pictures/calendars that no longer serve a purpose!

OUT with pieces of furniture that serve no purpose other than providing space for all that other stuff!

Ok....I'm goin' in! If you don't hear from me by tonight, call Waste Management, Inc.

Edited August 12, 2007 by muskifest

[Ansamcw]

Hee Muski...I got home with all the clutter boxed up and put away...that can be pretty scary too.

have fun with all the reorganization!!!

[jamar1700]

Its so quiet in here today! Everyone downloading clack?

Not me. I finally unpacked *heavy sigh* and am now dealing with resulting laundry.

[Claygasm]

Today Kenny and I have MANDATED that our kids stay home and we are all de-cluttering our respective pieces of upstairs real estate---

Are y ou sure it wasn't an ultimatum????

I saw this picture over at CV and something in it just CMSU. Look at the woman to the right of Clay if you're looking at Clay (and I know you are!), the one with the bangs. Look at the expression on her face. It is either one of diapproval or......

considering how loooooooow those jeans are.......

considering he is bending over a bit.......

Could she be getting an view of his butt crack????

[atinal]

AAIT, Yes, it was your recommendation I read, thank you for that, I went ahead and listened to the whole second half, it was so fun. I literally was sitting here LOL at almost 3am, there was some funny sh....stuff in that. I loved where Clay kept saying on the hook instead of off the hook and even the people in the crowd were correcting him, he was making it work perfectly.

[Couch Tomato]

Ok....I'm goin' in! If you don't hear from me by tonight, call Waste Management, Inc.

Bwah..I used to work for WMI and still have connections so not to worry...

Canandaigua photos by KarenEh - Beautiful

Yep I'm behind..what of it heee

[Gibby]

Good Lord, lickiest! I'm in shock and awe! I didn't know which to sit down with my latte---your recap or the bigassed Sunday newspaper! Thanks for the memories

Today Kenny and I have MANDATED that our kids stay home and we are all de-cluttering our respective pieces of upstairs real estate---

OUT with clothes that don't fit/we don't wear anymore!

OUT with books and magazines that no longer hold relevance or provide pleasure!

OUT with games and do-dads that have inches of dust on them!

OUT with broken lamps, hair dryers, gizmos and gadgets!

OUT with pillows/blankets/comforters/sheets that we no longer like/are falling apart/don't have matching pieces/display Disney characters!

OUT with posters/pictures/calendars that no longer serve a purpose!

OUT with pieces of furniture that serve no purpose other than providing space for all that other stuff!

Ok....I'm goin' in! If you don't hear from me by tonight, call Waste Management, Inc.

Hey, when you are all done, feel free to come on over and do the same thing here. We actually have done quite a bit of decluttering this summer, but my youngest daughter (just turned 13 yesterday) seems to think she needs to save EVERYTHING. She has already taken 6 large boxes of junk out of her room (only 'cuz she was bribed) and needs to take more out.

Anyway, good luck. Tell us where you end up putting it all!

[bottlecap]

Okay, having now seen the handcuffs bit in the Classics section (twice, 'cause I had to back it up and watch it again), I'd love to know the story about them. Jesse just happened to have handcuffs handy? Q&A certainly knew they were coming, and they worked together as a team. Clay didn't seem too upset, and was even compliant up to a point, and then seemed to get frustrated. Just what exactly are y'all getting up to on that bus after the show?

[muskifest]

Muski struggles to climb out from under bags of trash and recycling and Goodwill donations....trips over broken lamps and hair dryers, steps on a pushpin that used to hold up a picture of someone SOOOO yesterday on Carrie's wall...bumps into two boxes of books to be donated to the library...and continues to move boxes of things that MUST.BE.SAVED from one spot to another to another.....

and....

[ldyjocelyn]

It was quiet here today because I was gone!!! I was at a family reunion...a hot, sweaty family reunion. Usually this group organizes a family baseball game, and after the game, we eat leftovers from the noon meal for dinner. Today -- everyone was pretty much and out of there by 2:30 p.m. Well, when it hits 104 in the shade, you do feel like leaving. So, I'm home now.

Sounds like I've got a LOT of clack to download.

And did someone say "HANDCUFFS?!?!?!?!"

Guh.

*I personally prefer neckties myself...*

[FearofH2O]

We are sitting here in our room Asheville after eating at a really sad restaurant of which we were the only patrons. A little letdown after last night. I'll leave it to Playbiller to do the recap this time. Nuf said.

Although I must say no one can top Luckiest's recap. It was so nice to see Luckiest, NCDonna, Mandmlady and Sassafras at Lucky 32 and some of them again in Asheville. I really enjoyed both Cary and Asheville as the sound was perfect to my ears.

Some of my pictures came out not as bad as usual. I am the world's worst photographer with a really nice camera. I gave my husband my old camera and now he is taking great pictures with it. I was going to post a few but can't get photobucket to work. My husband has been using my laptop and I think he turned it off when I was downloading the pictures. Oy!

" target="_blank">Yowza!

" target="_blank">Whoa!

I haven't figured how to make them small, so here is my little contribution, for what its worth.