20pgs Post-Concert Report (Dec. 4, 2010)

8/8/2019 20pgs Post-Concert Report (Dec. 4, 2010)

1/24

So, Im going to be a bad girl and totally and completely ignore what mymother told me to do. I am going to write up a post-concert report forStraight No Chasers performance at the Wiltern Theatre here in Los Angeleson December 4, 2010 when I should be studying for finals.

Im writing this a few hours after the Cupertino show ended, as the guys areprobably waiting for their flights to London Oy vey. I really hope theyhave a safe flight And theyll be coming back on Tuesday, the day aftertomorrow!!! That is insane. Anyway, let me start with a little explanation ofhow things started.

I got my ticket for the concert Oh, months ago. My ticket says that I got itthe 7th of June. So, yeah! SIX months ago! It was around that time thatSarah had gotten her tickets, too, so I knew for sure that she would be there.We got them before the Get Tickets button was activated on thesncmusic.com website, so they were pretty good seats. The non-PBS ticket

seats started on the second floor level, and my seats were for the secondrow. Great seats.

Well, lets get to more background stuff. I dont remember when I found outthat Rosa and her mom were coming, but I do remember how excited I wasthat I would get to meet her! THEN, Carla DMed me telling me that shewould be coming to the concert, too, with her family! This was maybe Idont know, a month and a half before the concert, maybe? Got even moreexcited to know that I might be meeting the one and only #blameCarla!THEN, a week or so before the concert, I get a DM from Annie telling me thatSHE was coming, too! I became ECSTATIC and overloaded with joy! Id

known that it was a possibility for a few weeks, but when she told me that ithad happened and that the planning at work had just worked out this way, Iknew that it was fate, kismet, or whatever you want to call it. Carlas andAnnies attendance was not really made public, though, for their own reasonsthat I dont really know. Whatever their reasons, I was just so happythatwed all get to hang out and that Id finally get to meet them!

We planned to meet at The Novel Caf right next to the venue (even closerthan the Dennys!) at 6:30 P.M. before the concert started at 8:30 P.M.Sarah, Andrew (her brother), and her mom so graciously picked me up frommy dorm. All day, the day before, and the whole week leading up to the

concert, I was getting so excited and jumpy, getting a weird feeling in mymouth and a twisty feeling in my stomach, from excitement. I was sojumpy And the fact that I had green apple licorice right before the Twilleyspicked me up really didnt help

We made it to the theatre at around 6 P.M., so we parked in the structurebehind the Wiltern (where we saw a tour bus) and went into the caf. Its acute, quaint, and slightly more upscale restaurant than the Dennys next


2/24


3/24

he wouldnt tell me what. I was a bit apprehensive, and I reallydidnt wantto go to the theatre by myself, because (a) it was dark and downtown LA issketchy (even if it is just a few feet from the exit of the restaurant), and (b)because that would mean that Id have to walk by Seggie, Tyler, and Charlie.Which would make me SUPER embarrassed. I grabbed Sarah, and we went

to the box office. Let me explain the layout of the restaurant before I go on;that way, you can understand why I just couldnt sneak around. Well,technically I could, but Well, let me explain with a PICTURE!

Okay, so I could have technically gone out the door on the right, but the baris there, and I really didnt want to make a scene and get in trouble, sinceIm not allowed to be in the bar area. And its impractical to go all the wayaround and take the long way. (Im lazy.) I grabbed Sarah, and told theothers that I was going to pick something up at the box office (Ill be rightback!). We BOLTED out the entrance to the main dining area, me facing

Door Door

Entrance to MainDining Area

BarBar

Bar

Their Table

OurTable

OtherEntrance

The

Wiltern


4/24

Sarah the whole time (she was standing on my left), and then walked out thedoor, passing by Korby on the way (who Im pretty sure didnt recognize us,even as we said, Hello as we passed him). Part one of Operation: No Hub-Bub was a success. Now, coming back in THAT would pose a challenge.

After I go to the box office, we re-enter the restaurant, and walking straighttoward their table (because we have to in order to get to ours), I see them,tip my hat, say Gentlemen, and turn to the right immediately before Icould see anyones reactions. Except, I didsee Charlies. That smile ofrecognition made me turn even more beet red once I got to our table. Annie,Carla, and Rosa are all asking what happened, and what happened next didNOT help my confusion, mortification, and scrambled-brain situation.

I had set my phone to text me notifications of @replies and direct messagesfrom Twitter, since I wasnt sure how reliable the WiFi would be. My phonebuzzes, and I receive this text:

From: 404-04SNCSeggie: OMG @shainae12 is eating at the same restaurant as me,@therealsnctyler and @charliemechling!!!Dec 4, 7:16 pm

I am MORTIFIED. Also, knowing Seggie, I realize that Im getting teased.AND THE CONCERT HADNT EVEN STARTED YET!! After a few minutes of/headdesking (I mean, /headtable-ing), burying my face in my arms,continuous beeping from my phone, and giggling from the other four, I senda tweet back to Seggie:

@SNCSeggie YOU SUCK.

To: 404-04Sent: Dec 4, 7:18 pm

Please note that my first defense mechanism against becoming mortifiedwith embarrassment is insulting the offender. This means that I might notnecessarily mean what I say when I say it. Or, in this case, when I tweet it. Ido not believe that Seggie sucks. I do believe that he is a VERY badinfluence. But I do NOT believe that he sucks. (Note as I go back to edit amonth later: I may want to retract that previous statement and leave theYOU SUCK as it was.)

Anyway, back to the story. Im getting a lot of tweets replying to Seggie andmentioning me (AACK! MY INBOX IS 85+ PERCENT FULL! AND MY PHONEWONT. STOP. BEEPING!!), and my YOU SUCK tweet is getting quite aresponse from the SNC Twitterbugs. The other four, Im sure, are cackling,and Im just getting an overwhelming feeling of confusion. You should knowthat I hate being confused and not knowing whats going on. I like, nay, Ineedto know whats going on at all times; lack of control over what Imdoing just freaks the heck outta me.


5/24

I guess now is a good time to do a seating chart of whos at the table:

So OUR table is buzzing with activity Then, apparently, Annie was DMingwith Kim about the fact that Tyler had ordered a French onion burgerwithout the onions, soooooo She goes over to our server and asks her ifshe could please send a plate of onions to that table over there, right by the

entrance. Heheheheh, were showing our horns now, arent we? Theywould NEVER suspect that it was Annie. The server asks her, Do you wantme to tell them who its from? Annie says, Only if they ask. I do thathand motion where youre moving your wrist across your neck, a gesturethat means, NO, DONT DO IT, EVEN IF THEY ASK!! Of course theyd know,though. Drats.

The waitress goes over to their table and gives Tyler, the man who orderedthe French onion burger without onions, a plate of raw onions. Were allcracking up And we all tweet some variation of Served to him. Minelooks like this:

@therealsnctyler Served.To: 404-04Sent: Dec 4, 7:36 pm

Were all laughing and giggling. I tweet, I think Im gonna get an earfullater (7:39 pm) Were feeling pleased with ourselves. Im feeling lessconfused. Until my phone buzzes. Again. This time, its Tyler:

From 404-04therealsnctyler: Thanks @shainae12 Thanks for the onions. Iappreciate the gesture.Dec 4, 7:42 pm

I immediately tweet back:@therealsnctyler It wasnt me. Onions are gross.To: 404-04Sent: Dec 4, 7:44 pm

Me AnnieMamaHerrera

Rosa

Mrs.Twilley

AndrewCarlasMom

CarlasBrother

Sa

ra

h

Ca

rla

Ca

rlas

D

ad


6/24

GOSH, now WHY does he automatically assume its ME?? I must be thescapegoat after #blameCarla. WAIT A MINUTE. HOW WAS I BLAMEDBEFORE CARLA?! This is SO not fair. Its all Seggies fault.

My food has arrived sometime around now. I didnt really pay attention; I

was too busy being confused. But, theres one problem; Im not reallyhungry. Once my adrenaline starts pumping, I just am NOT hungry This isproblematic. I eat as much as I can, and the food was GREAT, but -sigh- Iended up taking it with me in a box.

So were trying to figure out if the guys had left (it WAS extremely close toshow time, after all); we dont see them through our very obscured view, butthen, just as theyre about to leave, they get up and come walking towardsour table. I AM FREAKED OUT; I grab my sweater and dump it over my head,covering my face. I think I hoped it would be my invisibility cloak; that didNOT work. If anything, I think it made me stand out more, now that I think

about it

I have no idea what happened once they came over. I know that I took mysweater off once they reached the table (it took me ten seconds to realizethat what I did with my sweater was stupid), I know that they chatted witheveryone, I know that I didnt say much, I know that Seggie pushed all thesurrounding glassware away from Carla, and I know that Annie gave themthe brownies that she told me to watch when she went to the restroom (andthen, with an added afterthought, she asked me to watch her purse). Someconversation went something like this:

Charlie: So, you guys coming to the show tonight?

Annie/Carla/Rosa (aka. not me): No.He then proceeds to ask them about why theyre here, Annie says that sheshere for work, Carla and Rosa probably say things that I cant hear, Sarahsprobably sniggering at me and my stupidness stupidity, and Im just sittingthere. Probably turning beet red again. They leave after a few minutes,heading out the door closest to the bar, and were all just sitting there. Carlasays, Wow, that was nice that they stopped by. They really didnt have to.Aaaand, Im just kinda Confused again. We use the bathroom beforeleaving, and we pay for our meals. (It was the first time I ever paid for myown meal by myself at a restaurant that I can remember Dont judge.)Then, I grab my shoulder bag and two large brown paper bags, catch up with

the others, and merge into the line that had been forming outside the caf.

(Returning to this more than a week after it happened; therefore, mymemory is bound to have some gaps. I never thought that I wouldprocrastinate on writing THIS. This always happens; I start writing anincredibly in-depth account, then once I stop, my mojo goes away )


7/24

I feel kinda awkward with my two brown paper bags with me AND a fairlylarge shoulder bag (the one that Tina, Dave, Kathy, and S got me for mygraduation present), and were all chatting about what just happened, about

the show, and about how we think the guys will react when they see all fiveof us sitting front and center Were just standing there for a little bit; then,after a few minutes, the line starts to move and they begin to let people intothe theatre. I had been concerned that the venue staff might not be sopleased with me carrying my two brown bags in, so Id contacted Ryan aboutit via Twitter DMs the day before. He told me to get in touch with Korby, butwhen Korby didnt respond, I tweeted Ryan again, who told me that thevenue has a right to inspect anything, but that they shouldnt have an issue.Phew!

Anyway Im standing in line, and I get right up to the guys who are looking

at the tickets. Im making up the rear of the line, and I show one guy on myright my ticket while the other guy on my left asks me, Can I see thosebags, please? I reply, Sure, and I open them up to reveal several smallerbrown paper bags. He says, Could you open them up? Uh, NO. It took meforever to get them CLOSED! I say, Umm, well, theyre gifts for the guys.He says, Oh. Then, as an afterthought, Were the guys! Uhh, what?Were the guys! Not YOU guys, the STRAIGHT NO CHASER guys. Oh.Okay, then. Laughing, he tells me I can go on ahead. Phew. That waseasier than Id thought.

We enter the theatre, get out tickets scanned, and then the five of us crazy

(ahem, I mean enthusiastic) Chasers split up with our families and head toour FRONT ROW SEATS. Carla leads the way (well, technically it was theusher, but whatever), and we are FRONT AND CENTER. Im so excited, and Icant believe were so close to the stage! Somehow, Im able to fit my twolarge brown paper bags AND my bag underneath my seat, and while wereall getting settled, we have Andrew, who was sitting at the front of thesecond section, take pictures of the five of us from afar.

Now, for those of you who dont know what the Wiltern looks like, there are (Ithink) four floor levels and two balcony levels. The first floor level, where wewere sitting, was below stage level, like most are. The second floor level is

at stage level. To go from one level to another, you take either the stairs orthe ramp. Its the same way for the other levels, too. Except when you wantto go from floor to balcony. But I digress.

I want to say that we got to our seats at about 8pm, and while we werewaiting for the concert to start, we all pulled out our phones/mobile devicesto tweet (Haha, that mustve been such a sight to see the five of usTwitterbugs in action!), chatted with the others around us, chatted with


8/24

Blaine (I mean Bret. No, wait. Blair. Lloyd? Nooo Susie.) who was gettingstuff set up on stage (and we sent him some, erm, mischievous tweets, too,showing our horns), noticed that our chairs were connected in pairs of two(my chair was attached to Sarahs), chatted about Annies de-linting of me(It is my NATURE to de-lint people!) and then we started to get antsy for

the concert.

After a little while longer, there was a moment where there was some prettyLOUD feedback, which caused us all to jump. Then, Carla declares, I didntdo it! I was too busy laughing, but Rosa shouted, BLAME CARLA! Win.The bugs would later try to get #blameCarla to trend. Again. insert WIDEgrin here-

As time went on, we started getting restless. Wed thought that the concertstarted at 8:30pm, and once 8:30 came and went, we got a littledisconcerted. Fifteen minutes after 8:30, a voice came up over the theatre,

telling us to put our phones on silent, to find the nearest exits, and to notsmoke in the theatre (and of course, to remind us that since this IS a StraightNo Chaser concert *insert screams and yells here* we were able to takeas many photos and videos we wanted). But then more time passed, andthey still werent coming out Wed heard that someone was running late,but of course, I wasnt sure what to believe. Rumors, you know. We jokedthat they must be hiding out, terrified that there were five of us in the frontrow. Or that Seggie, Tyler, and Charlie took the brownies back to the busand were eating them instead of getting ready for the concert. Whatever thereason, we were starting to get antsy, to the point where we were like, I sawan arm! Ooooh, ooh, where?! Over there! Behind the curtain! Then,

we activated our SNC Twitterbug/Chaser powers (in other words, we putour hands in a circle, yelled, One, two, WOOOO!!, and raised our arms in abreak formation), and not five seconds later, we hear a bunch of applauseand whistles from the audience. Were all confused, but thats okay!! Thenthe lights go dark, and we start cheering and yelling and screaming, and OUTTHEY COME!!!!!!

They started off with Joy to the World, and I was gleefully reminded of whyI fell in love with these guys in the first place. Amazing musicality (duh), funand energetic stage presence (double duh), so much going on all at thesame time that just seeing it once isnt truly seeing it. And, Im pretty sure

that by the end of this song, all ten of the guys recognized us rowdy Chasersin the front row. I know that at least Mike did, since he pointed at us. Heh.Yeah, were definitely a rowdy bunch.

After Joy to the World, Rome gave us all a warm welcome and remindedthe audience to take as many photos and videos as we wanted, and heencouraged us to post them online: YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, yourspace (hah!), and the newly-acquired: TWITTER. (Yes, the five Twitterbugs


9/24

in the front row went CRAZY. I love how he got his Twitter account duringmy last Philosophy discussion. I was definitely NOT paying attention to theCosmology review.) They led into Grapevine, which was hilarious asalways. It was so fun to see them all getting into the dance moves, and ofcourse, I laughed myself silly (and got some silly photos, too)!

After that, they sang Im Yours, which was beautiful (duh). Then, up comesRyan with his Chicken Fried intro. Something about country music. Now,Im normally nota country fan; growing up in SoCal and not having anycountry roots, I cant say that I feel any sort of affinity for the genre. Butobviously Ill make an exception for Straight No Chaser. Chicken Fried wasthe first new song I was seeing them perform, so what I did was takepictures for half the song, then sat back and enjoyed the rest of the song.But when I say enjoyed, I dont mean to say that I sat back and merelywatched. Oh, no. I know I may seem innocent, but my halo has to be heldup by SOMETHING, and those somethings are my little devil horns. Red, just

like the sign I held up for the guys. It read something like this: SNC ISWINSOMESAUCE. Not wanting to obstruct the view of anyone behind me, Iheld it up just high enough to cover my face (aka. for the first thirty seconds,I hid behind it), and it was the most hilarious thing to see not only the guystrying to read what it said, but the audience members around me (and evenpeople on the other sections to my left and right) trying to read it, too!

I think Kim is starting to rub off on me a little (Who am I kidding? ALLChasers are starting to rub off on me!), but I thought it might be fun to teaseCharlie a little bit and try to distract him by holding up my sign. I hadntbeen holding it up until after I turned off my camera for the second half of

the song, and since it was an eye-popping red, Im SURE he saw it. How am Isure? Im getting to that; hold yer horses! The last little bit of the song iscoming up; yknow, the part where they all come to the front of the stageand encourage the audience to sing along? Im laughing and yelling out thesong lyrics (probably the wrong lyrics, though, since I didnt want to spoilmyself TOO much by watching the videos over and over again, and ofcourse, I wasnt that familiar with the song before SNC did it) with the otherfour Chasers, when suddenly, at the very end, Charlie looks at me, says,Just you, Shaina! and points the microphone RIGHT AT ME. Im seriouslysurprised that I didnt freeze up; after the split second that comes with thetempo of the song, I belt out WITH THE RADIO UUUUUUUP! (though, now

that I think about it, I wonder if I sang on instead of up) as loud and off-key as I could as my heart LURCHES inside my ribcage. Its a good thing wewere about a yard away from the stage and that the microphone was too farfrom me to actually pick up what I was singing Talk about surprises; thisnight was just FULL of them! As the song finishes, and Charlie takes a bow,he laughs and points at me as I applaud, laugh, and shake my head at him.


10/24

They go straight into Under the Bridge, with everyone going CRAZY at theline the City of Angels (as they SHOULD), and I put my sign away. Afterthat, they went right into the BeeGees/Stevie Wonder mashup: StayinAlive/Superstition, and then we get some nice intros! Thanks to a video onYouTube, I can say what was said and in what order:

1. Charlie: How many people in here are from the great state ofCalifornia? -insert LOUD cheers and applause here- Imfrom Indiana.

2. Seggie: Standard intro. Youre boring, Seggie. (Im just kidding!)3. Randy: Another standard intro. Merrrrr4. Walt: Heres an interesting bit that I didnt quite register the first time.

He says that hes moving here to LA soon, and I cant quite makeout what he says after that

5. DR: Currently lives here in LA: Im on the tour bus, got in this morningabout ten, and Ill be here until this evening

6. Mike: Smart guy. When hes not on tour, he lives in the place where

its warm (relatively speaking) all year. Right here in LA, BABY!7. Ryan: Thanked In-N-Out for a wonderful pre-show dinner. I wonder,though, which In-N-Out they went to. Probably the one in WestHollywood, but its almost four miles away in LOS ANGELESTRAFFIC. Loosely translated, thats about 45 minutes on theroad. Yeah If someone WAS late coming back from In-N-Out,well, now you know why.

8. Tyler: When hes not on tour, hes amidst the corn that is DesMoines, Iowa! Living up to his nickname. I LIKE IT!

9. Don: Did a special shoutout to one of his friends. 10. Jerome: LAKER FAN FOR THE WIN!!!!!!!!

Then came Like a Prayer. Dear Randy, thank you for the intro ahead oftime. Otherwise, I wouldnt have known to take a video; the only video I tookall night. I held my camera in my hands, but I wasnt focused on taking agood video. I just held it. I probably looked at the LCD screen once or twice,but I was just too entranced too transfixed and I really didnt want to betoo focused on anything that would impair my enjoyment of the song. I thinkI just sat there, eyes wide open, and staring, taking it all in, and once itfinished Wow. Just Wow. I swear, if they dont record that song fortheir next CD -insert threat here-

And then, in comes Charlie with a Thats the way Madonna wantedit to be.And now, its time to get into the Christmaserm, I mean, holidayspirit.(Sorry, Walt.) Hey Santa is up, then afterwards comes Jingle Bells with achallenge from DR: to do the song in under two minutes, since he doesntreally like the song all that much. Their Ha ha ha ha ha has were hilarious,as were the gallops!! And their time? 1:56! NICE. (Im not gonna lie; I waskeeping time Hee hee!!)


11/24

And then GRINCH. First new Christmas song I heard live, and OH MYBut before it started, some random lady yelled, We love you, Seggie!Couldnt tell if he smiled or not, but Rosa later told me he did. -giggles- ButOH MY I mean, I knew that it was a pretty low song, but Charlies andRandys bass solos were just Oooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh (I LOVE

booming bass solos) I could feel the bass through my seat!!

Then, for the last song before intermission, they sang The Christmas Can-Can. Loved Walts intro He encouraged us to buy as much holidaymerchandise we could And, personal note, I think we shouldcelebrateChristmas all year round! Well, not the shopping and crazy person part, butthe goodwill and Christmas carols part.

My favorite parts of the song: Seggies ho. The first Can-Can line, where at the very end, the all turned around

stuck their gluteus maximus (plural: glutei maximi) out at the audience(its less weird and more hilarious when you see it).

Walts part with the Jewish part Umm I have some photos with hishilarious expressions, and when they turned him around like a dreidel.

Ryan and Tylers FA LA LA LA LA! At the very end, when Mike turned his back to all of us when he put up

his arm.

We all EXPLODED in laughter, cheers, shrieks, and whatnot, and then, thelights came up and it was time for intermission. Of course, what kind of SNCTwitterbugs would we be if we didnt tweet an #intermissionreport? So,thats what we did! We must have been a sight, the five of us on ourphones, tweeting! Annie ran to the bathroom because shed had a LOT ofwater before the show (-giggles-), and we chattered about the first act.What was REALLY funny was a guy from the venue wandered over to wherewe were and I looked at him questioningly, and he asks, I heard there wassomeone up here who had a sign? Whoa. Did NOT know that news aboutthe sign had traveled that quickly!! I showed it to him, and he seemed to beamused by it. That was interesting, and definitely quite funny! Then, beforewe knew it, it was time for the second act.

Carol of the Bells was stunning, as always. Thats always been my favoriteChristmas carol, and SNCs version is my holiday Like a Prayer. Yep. I loveit THAT much. And Lloyds lights just made it even more spectacular(Okay, Im sorry, Blake. I promise from now on, Ill use your real nameFine. I promise from now on in this reportthat Ill use your real name.Because the former would just plain be impossible. Like, Seggie NOT beinga bad influence impossible, or Kim NOT antagonizing Charlie impossible.[Sorry, Kim, couldnt resist!]) I love that when they start into the actual song


12/24

(after the intro), only half of them were singing, and then everyone joinedin Ooohhhh (For those of you that watched The Sing-Off: that gaveme a musical orgasm. Haha!)

Then, after that, they sang Hark the Herald Angels Sing/Angels We Have

Heard on High, which was beautiful, like always. Then came Seggies intro(he was westof the Mississippi tonight, so I guess that means that hesMexican!) and Donde Esta Santa Claus (lovedthe Latin dance moves;swing those hips!), and I loved the nicknames part Looks like they dubbedDon Ginger! Snork.

Now, Im not sure if I mentioned this, but throughout the concert, I keptmuttering, STOP MOVING. Dont get me wrong; I love the choreographythat theyve since added to the show. But it makes my picture-taking job aLOT harder. Sarah and Rosa kept sniggering when Id mutter thatHeehee!

Anyways, after Donde, they finished their Christmas set, and they movedright into Billie Jean/Poison. I absolutely LOVE this mashup; Ive had itstuck in my head multiple times since the concert, and Jeromes and Mikes(and the rest of the guys) dance moves were SICK. After Billie Jean comesthe cartoon medley. Charlies intro was HILARIOUS. But I think my favoritepart about the intro was DRs miming along to what Charlie was saying; hisbuilding the pillow fort (which I totallyused to do with my brother, except wedid a tunnel, not a fort) using the microphone as a remote (which,apparently, did not turn on the TV Theres supposed to be a knob on theTV? Sorry. Im a young one. Hah!) Then, cheers for Walt, SNCs fearless

director and leader, AND the arranger of the medley, then they began themedley. Highlights:

1. WIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAA!!!!!! (Don)2. Charlies and Seggies skipping around in circles while everyone else

looks at them like my parents look at me (like Im crazy). And thenwhen Seggie tries to do it again later, but Charlie shakes his head athim Heehee!!!

3. Whooooooooooooooooo Lives in a pineapple under the sea?!SPONGEWALT SQUAREPANTS! Why yes, I didscream that out.Sarah did, too: I screamed SPONGEWALT SQUAREPANTS as if I wassitting in the rear of the theatre wanting to be heard. And Rome was

telling me to simmer down [from stage]. He and Walt mentioned itwhen I was in the M&G line too... I apologized. Said I truly forgot forthat moment that I was this close to the stage.

4. GUMMI BEARS!5. [Stutters] Thats all, folks!

Then, Dont Stop Believing started. Id love to know who arranged that,but Tyler ROCKED the solo. And I lovedthe lights (once again a testament to


13/24

Blakes awesome lighting skillz), which lent itself well to some great photosand dramatic shots. Then, it was AUDIENCE PHOTO TIME! The five of usChasers decided that we would take a picture of Randy taking a picture of ustaking a picture of him taking a picture of us taking a picture of him (Icould continue, but since this isnt that fairy tale where the characters

needed to tell a never-ending story, I think Im good.) So, if you look at theaudience photos, youll see the five of us with our cameras out and pointedtoward Randy, whos taking a picture of us taking pictures of him takingpictures of us taking pictures of him You get the idea.

After Ryan explained what Randy was doing (and after he told us to go tagourselves on the photos once they were posted, which I did as SOON as thephotos were up), he launched into an intro for Tainted Love, saying thatthey made a music video for it and that its available online. I have to say; Ireallylove it live. And the mic stands, stomps, and snaps are, for lack of abetter word, fun. After that finished, DR introed Fix You (Im pretty sure it

was just a generic intro, saying that its one of their favorite songs toperform), and then they sang this beautiful rendition of Coldplays hit. Then,when Walt came forward and started to intro their final song of the night, Iwas stunned that the concert was almost over; I remember turning to Sarahand saying, What?! ALREADY?! NOOOOOOO!! Their concert just FLIES byso fast for me; I always have the MOST fun at Straight No Chaser concerts,and even MORE so when Im with friends!

Then, all of a sudden, as all of this flashes through my brain, Don interruptsWalt and says that he wants to take over the intro to the song. And so itbegins

Don: We have a lot of independence and a lot of freedom. Independence todo a lot of kinds of music, different genres, different time periods, you know,and were very lucky to have Have that freedom. [Long pause, someaudience laughter] But every once in a whileJerome: Go ahead, brother, preach, preach![Laughter]Don: Every once in a while, an artist comes along...[Muttering of the guys in the background; some put up one of arms and doessomething resembling jazz hands]Don: An artist SO HUGE, so IMPORTANT to the MUSICAL LANDSCAPE, so

INFLUENTIAL, so VITAL to the very FABRIC of our CIVILIZATION.[Now theyre hootin and hollerin]Jerome: Can I get an AMEN?[Audience yells back Amen!]Don: An artist so important that if we didntdo a song by that person, wedbe doing all of yall a disservice, and we would NEVER NEVER do that toyou. So we put together this next piece; I hope you enjoy it I imagine


14/24

youll recognize it. I apologize now for the lack of Of suits made out ofbubbles or meat

Im not going to lie; I didnt realize that they were doing Gaga until hementioned the suits made out of bubbles. After that EPIC performance (my

FAVORITE dance moves of the night), they took a bow, and we (theaudience, or at least us five Chasers) leapt to our feet, screamed, applauded,and stomped. It was even more touching to see some of the guysacknowledging the five of us right up front DR pointed at us, which Ithought was SO TOUCHING. So, of course, I just kept cheering and cheering,and after a few seconds, they came back out for their first encore: 12Days. It was great, as always, but my favorite part was during theeleventh day part where they do the Carol of the Bells thing; during theding dongs, Seggie mimicked ringing bells, and the bells happened to bethe heads of the two people next to him: DR and Charlie. So, he starts of bygoing for DR, deftly dodges Seggies arm, then tries hitting Charlie, who acts

shocked and stunned, like he wasnt expecting it, then Seggie turns to DR,who dodges it again, then Seggie decides its time to attack Charlie, whotries to defend his head against Seggies arm HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Itsbetter if you see it on video; my description cant do that gag justice. I alsoloved seeing Don take over the Africa part of the song, and Ryaninterrupting Jeromes moment with the five golden rings and Jeromesretort: HEY MAN! We aint singing about EUROPE! This aint GERMANY!!Heheh

And after another standing ovation, more screams and yells, and feverishclapping, they came out again for their final, off-mic encore of O Holy

Night. But, there were some audience members who wouldnt be quiet; Idont think they realized that they didnt have microphones But anyway,Jerome was trying to say something, but since people werent listening, hekept trying to get them to be quiet and pay attention, saying somethingalong the lines of, Be quiet! Im trying to introduce the song! So, we allstarted making shushing noises, and eventually the theatre got quiet. Then,they all started singing, and man, it was BEAUTIFUL. You could hear a pindrop in the theatre when they were singing; it was so quiet! Then, once thelast note faded into the air, the theatre ERUPTED in cheers and applause,and we were all on our feet again. Then, the house lights went on, and weall reluctantly started to gather our things.

We decided to wait until the theatre filtered out; we stood where we were,tweeting, chattering, and buzzing excitedly about tonights performance, andwe saw that they started to take down the set already! They really wastedno time in getting that set taken down and put away; then we saw Blakecome up to the stage again, and he proceeded to unstuck the set lists fromthe stage floor as we chatted with him. There were four copies of the set list,so Rosa and I split up the fourth one. It was then that I decided to give


15/24


16/24

couple of seconds while Carla kept waving. Then, we hear the guys singinghappy birthday (Im assuming it was to this guy in front of us in line; Annietook a picture of him and the girl he was with), and then Sarah turns to meand says, Okay, were not gonna sound thatgood, to which I respond,Yeah But were only two voices; they cant expect much from us! We

both nod, and agree that were still gonna do it!

Now would be a good time to give the order of whos sitting where:

After Annie takes the two peoples photo in front of us, the guys at the end ofthe table closest to the line start chiming in, Annie! as she gave them theircamera back. She and Carla move up first, chatting with the guys at the endof the table, when all of a sudden, Rosa starts yelling, MOVE ALLGLASSWARE! MOVE ALL GLASSWARE!! I giggle, and (I dont rememberwho) responds, Hey, hey, hey! to which I say, Not you! CARLA!! (By

the way, Im transcribing this from the videos I took. Thank goodness; Iwouldnt have remembered this all anyway!) While the line moves up, andas Carla and Annie make their way down the table, I realize that I didnt takeout my stuff to get signed, and my camera is on! Well, this is a dilemmaRosa offers to help me, since two arms just arent enough, and I hand her mycamera as I dig into my bag to get out the stuff I wanted signed. And as I getthe stuff out, I realize that I didnt give Carla the restraining order Id printedout in my dorm earlier that day! (Well, there goes the secret of myinvolvement) I pull it out and hand it to her, and the guys all read it andlaugh as I go back to my place in line and finish up whatever I was doing.Rosa asks if Im going to get my sign signed (heh heh heh; nope; gonna justgive it to them) and I let her know that my camera is still on (and she tries topoint it at me; I try to hide behind my hands).

Sarah and her family move up, and Sarah starts to distribute her card andgifts (these beautiful star ornaments that are Fair Trade), and Seggie asksher if she made them. She says, I wish, and Seggie says, Just lie and sayyes. No one will ever know! (BAD INFLUENCE. Just saying.) Then, she

Seggie

DR RyanTylerCharlie

DonRandy

WaltJerome

Mike

People standing inline


17/24

goes on and gives the rest of the guys their stuff. After a few seconds,Seggie turns to me, sees all my crap (I mean, stuff), and says, OH MYGOSH. I automatically switch to defense mode: Well, okay, I dont get tosee you guys, like, FIVE times each tour. Soo He interrupts me, beingtypical Seggie, and says, You need to sleep earlier, seriously. I stare at

him. Im a college student. SO?! What do you mean, SO?! Yourenot out partying! Im out writing ESSAYS. Because I procrastinate! Theonly excuse for not sleeping in college is if youre out. In my head, the littlevoice screamed, THERE IT IS!!!! THERE IS HIS BAD INFLUENCE CAUGHTON TAPE!!!!!! And so, I say, You are SUCH a bad influence. Youre aHORRIBLE INFLUENCE, just as he says, THERE, I SAID IT. Then he turns toDR on his left and says, What is the only excuse to not be sleeping atnight? DR pauses for a moment, looks at me, and looks back at Seggie witha completely straight face and says, Drinking? (/HEADDESK.) Seggieapproves: Good. Very good. I shake my head, and set my camera down atthe edge of the table so I can free up a hand to get the gifts out And then

Seggie grabs the camera, saying that it was going to fall, points it at me, andpresses the shutter button Effectively ending the video Id been taking.Did you stop the video? Sorry! (scoffs) Give me that!! I grab thecamera from his hands (Hey, hes been annoying me all night. Meh.), pressthe shutter button down again to restart the video, and set the camera(SAFELY) down on the table.

Now, this part is confusing because the video is picking up everything. Imean EVERYTHING. And theres no video to go with any of it. No usefulvideo, anyway. The worst part, in my opinion, about the meet and greets isthat youre trying to go through the line in a semi-fast pace, and in addition

to trying to get out stuff to give to them, you get two or three of them askingyou questions at the same time, and it gets so confusing and overwhelmingbecause you dont know which way to turn, who wants to tell you something,and all the while, youre trying to get things straightened out, and AUGH!! Inever feel like I get to really TALK to any of them when Im there, because ofthat. But anyway, thats the end of my rant. Now lets see how much I canpiece together from my cameras recording, my iPod recording (it was in mybag and is pretty much useless because you can hear the fabric and otherstuff bumping up against the mic), and my poor memory

After that whole debacle with Seggie (I swear hes like the annoying older

brother I never had, what with all his teasing and bad influencing), I starthanding out their gifts in their sad, brown paper bag packaging. As I do this,Ryan says to me, Shaina. How is freshman year? right as Tyler says to me,Hi, Shaina. I thinkI told Ryan that it was hell or stressful, or something likethat, and he says, Uh oh! Are you getting along with your roommate?Yeah, shes hardly ever there! Well, that works out great! Its like Ihave a single! Then, I turn my attention to what I wanted to get signed. Ihad my With a Twist tote bag, my All I Want for Christmas insert, and two


18/24

birthday cards (one for my friend and one for S). So, I explain who the cardsare for directly to Seggie, who said, Im not signing these. (Youve GOT tobe kidding me. Like I said: ANNOYING OLDER BROTHER I NEVER HAD. ThankGod I donthave an annoying older brother.) I open my mouth to protest,and he shoots out: YOU TOLD ME I SUCKED! Via tweet! (Oops. You saw

that, did you?) I giggle nervously, but before I could respond, Ryan says,Shaina! He points to an All I Want For Christmas insert. Is this oneyours? Is one of them yours? I told him yes. Is it FOR YOU, though; not agift? Nope. Well, it was a gift from Cindy, but I dont think he needed to beconfused at the moment. HE wasnt the one being annoying(coughSEGGIEcough). I then explain that the other card was for S: This cardis for S. Brandon, and she doesnt know that Im doing this All of asudden, interest perks. What does the S stand for? Seggie (?) asks. Icant tell you, I said; Ill let her tell you. She told me, but I forgot, Ryansaid. They turn to Sarah, and ask her, and I say, Sarahh! After a flurry of Idont know what is being said, Seggie asks Sarah, What does the S stand

for? She responds, I have no idea. They start wondering, Is she asecret service agent? Shes a former Colombian secret service agent.

I continue to pass out the bags, and Ryan is surprised that I spelled his lastname right. (I was confused. Had I misspelled it before? Had othersmisspelled it before? Did the VENUE misspell it AGAIN? I hear someone say,WE dont even do that. Hmm I think it was Seggie.) I guess I keeppassing out gifts, because I hear a Awww, Shaina, youre awesome in theresomewhere (it sounds like Tyler), and I guess I gave Seggie my tote bag tosign, because he says, YOU GOT ME AN SNC TOTE BAG?! in an excitedvoice, to which I replied, You wish. He replies, Nooot really. I wouldnt

carry a tote bag. Ouch.

Ryan asks me if I was able to bring everything in and if everything workedout. I said that it did, and thanked him. Then, my totebag came around, andthe sweet harmonies of The Totebag Song (Copyright Straight No Chaser2010) popped up all of a sudden. Awesomesauce. Aaaaand, that is onvideo. WINsomesauce.

After that was Tyler. Me: Okay. Did Annie tell you that I did NOT send youthose onions??? Tyler: Then who was it? Me: It wasnt me! And it wasnice that you blamed me for that. My phone kinda blew up. He wanted to

know who it was, but I wasnt about to give any names, KimandAnnie.

Next up was Charlie. I handed him his gift, and he got up and gave me a hugfrom over the table. He thanked me and said that it was good to see me,to which I replied, You too! I mentioned the call-out from stage, and hesaid something about being distracted by the sign and almost forgetting thelyrics Heehee!!! [insert mischievous smiley here Oh, wait! 0=:-) ] Hesaid that he had no idea what the sign said, so I set my camera down on the


19/24

table and pull it out while he continues: I cant read And Im not thatgood with lyrics anyway! Aww, poor Charlie and his bass-ness. (Ill stoplaughing at my own jokes now) I unroll it, and show it, and now EVERYONEis looking at it, trying to read what it says. Ryan then pipes in and tries todecipher what winsomesauce means: win + awesomesauce =

winsomesauce. Its a wombo, whatever that means. Yes, Im a nerd.Yes, I know. No, I dont want to ever change that. Hah!

And THEN, I turn it OVER. Id written a little something therea jab at themall, if you willthat said something along the lines of (Even though all ten ofthem are Mac guys). After thats read, Charlie (?) exclaims, OH, what doyou mean?! Someone (I think it was Ryan), said, Her dad works forMicrosoft. That isnt entirely true He doesnt work FOR Microsoft; he fixesMicrosoft computers. Hmm I guess someone made a jab about that orsomething. Mustve been Walt. I say, Hey! Youre not getting your gift!And Charlie replies, Give it to me! Ill take it! Jerome defends himself,

saying that he was the last one to turn over to the dark side, to which Ireplied, Yeah, I heard about that. (Still doesnt justify that, though.)

Next up is Don. Hugs and its nice to finally meet yous were exchanged,and I give him his gift. I can sense a feeling of urgency to go faster throughthe line, so I move on to Randy, whose brown paper bag was slightly biggerthan everyone elses So I had to get it from my other bag -sigh- I amNEVER doing gifts like that again. Haha, he greeted me with a Hey, longestFanChat. These guys dont believe me when I say that everyone LOVES itwhen they talk more! -shakes head- And speaking of the FanChat Walterwas up next, and as I got his gift, he asks me, Are we gonna do a FanChat

soon? I told him, Oh, I would love to! AND, he gets cool points fornoticing my BEAT UCLA button. And we did. Because were better. Andmore awesome. But I digress

I hand Jerome his gift next, but for some reason or another, Im distracted,and I leave the poor guy standing there, wanting to give me a hug for a fewseconds until he tells me so. ^___^ I like hugs. Hugs are nice. If I had time,Id just stand around campus with a Free Hugs sign. I saw someone dothat once. And I went up to her to give (and get) a hug. But anyway, Imtyping off topic.

Mikes turn! Hes at the end, like my diagram showed; I gave him his gift,and then he wants to make sure that I have everything that I sent throughthe signing line: tote bag, two cards, box set insert. Except that Im missingthe box set insert. Uh oh. Im pretty much standing there, confused and notas concerned as poor Mike, who seems to be more worried than I am as hereassures me. He tries to get someones attentioncalling K-merch andKorby (and getting to Korby)saying that someone took my box set insert.AND, Im just standing there, confused. So, nothing new, basically. They


20/24

didnt want to have to open up a box set just for the insert (I was shockedthat they even CONSIDERED doing that for me), but now most of the guysare wondering whats going on And as I look down in my brown paper bag,I realize that Dons tag came off, so I go give him the tag Even though heprobably didnt need it Eh. -shrugs-

Aaaand, now theyre all trying to help straighten this mix-up out. Someonewent to go chase someone else down (heh), and now DR and Charlie areexplaining to me that the house manager accidentally took mine instead ofhis and since Ryan had written a note to me in mine... Ryan says, Yes, andits on MY picture, (he turns to Charlie) where Im NOT on a training toilet!Charlie bursts out laughing, and tells me this HILARIOUS story about thenight before: Somebody came up last nightwe did NOT set it up at ALLand was like, Why is this guy on a training toilet? So, were like, I dunno!Ask him! Hahaha!!

While waiting for my insert to come back, I thought that it would be a goodtime to sing to Tyler, so I ask Andrew if hed hold my camera for me, andmarch off in search of Tyler But before I can take two steps, Ryan tells methat he likes my hat: Very co-ed, very college. SO hip and cool. Ha ha ha.I tip my hat at him, and then the manager guy arrives and gives me back mybooklet; yay! As I flip through it, seems that Andrew caught Ryan tellingSarah, who was next to me, on video: The thing that you guys did for Danwas amazing. The scrapbook thing. Amazing. AND, Im done looking at theinsert, and wondering what Im doing, and then Ryan says that hes notgoing to open his gifts until he gets backstage (I think thats what he said?).Sarah says, Merry Christmas! and tells him that Andrew is getting this all

on video. Ryan then turns to me and asks me again if anyone gave me anyproblems with my bags. I reply, Nope! Well, someone asked what was in it,and I said, Theyre gifts for the guys, and he said, Were the guys! and Isaid, No, youre not the guys. He responds, Theyre trying to get ourgifts! Those gift-stealers! And then he tells us that its time to takepictures, and so we head on over We were going to sing to Tyler then, butCarla needed to leave soon, so we decided to postpone it and took picturesinstead. So. Many. Cameras!!! Haha! And I held my sign I dont knowwhy. But I did

And then Ryan started singing Sara by Jefferson Starship, and Sarah says,

If youre gonna sing a Sarah song, sing Sarah Smile. Ive never heardthat song before, but I guess Mike started singing it, since she turned to himand said, Mike, youre my favorite now. Kekekeke~ (OMG, Im typing likemy suitemate. Who said that she would come if I got an extra ticket. WhichI had. But then she made plans. FAIL.)

Once the picture-taking died down, Sarah and I decided that it was time tosing to Tyler, finally. We go up to him, and, with a big smile on our faces, I


21/24

say to him, HI. We werent sure if you got our Facebook message, but wewanted to sing you a belated happy birthday. I look at Sarah, she looks atme and says, Ready. Always. After a second We start singing. I tookthe melody and Sarah did an alto harmony, and when he realized we weresinging in two parts, he exclaims, Oh, harmony! (*facepalm* Oh, Tyler)

As we get to Happy Birthday dear Tyler, Jerome yells out, SWEET CORN!and everyone starts cracking up. We finish it up, everyone claps, Tyler givesus a hug, Ryan mutters to me something along the lines of, That was reallygood!, and I give Sarah a high-five.

[Note: I am now currently on my own, relying on only my memory, trying toremember what happened a month ago. Oh, boy]

During that whole debacle, Carla had left with her family. (SO sad I didntget to hug her goodbye) Once that was over with, there were more groupphotos, and someone wanted to record them singing happy birthday to

someone (before which Ryan motioned at me, trying to get me and Sarah tosing I promptly stepped back and said, Noooooo way.). After all thatwas said and done, I called over Charlie because I wanted to get a picturewith him, and I wanted to get rid of the sign. I mean, give it to him. So I did.Then, Annie wanted to take a picture of Korby for once (since hes usually onthe other side of the camera), so he posed with Charlie making the mostAWKWARD face EVER (HILARIOUS). After she took the picture of them, Iasked her if she could take a picture of me with Charlie on my camera. Ataround this time, Ryan came on over and saw that Annie was having troublejuggling the two cameras. He offered to hold Annies camera for her, andended up taking two shots of us on her camera, one of which was taken just

as I laughed at Something. Then, I got a picture with Ryan, who held uphis gift in the picture (still so happy about me spelling his last name right).

Now, I thinkwhat happened is that I chatted with Charlie about I dontremember what anymore for a few minutes before we started taking pictures(so after I gave him the sign; geez, and this is why Im so mad I waited amonth to write this part of the report; I dont remember what we talkedabout!), and then after we took pictures, I chatted with Ryan for a little whilelonger. I do remember a little about what I talked to Ryan about. He askedme about how school was going, how my classes are, what I plan to study,etc., and he also gave me some great advice and wisdom about college life.

Well, I didnt want to keep him long, since they had a long day of travelingahead of them (and then LONDON, for goodnesss sake!), and the theatrewas starting to close up anyway. The four remaining Chasers (and family)started to head out, and I apologized to Charlie, saying that I was sorrythat I leaked TheinterviewtoKim (and then I ran away close to the dooras he was still laughing). We all yelled a goodbye to Randy, then headed


22/24

out. We all headed over to the parking garage, giggling and chatting abouthow great the night was, then we all exchanged hugs and goodbyes as weheaded to our cars. Sarah and I chattered about the night as we headedhome; they dropped me off at my home home (aka., not my dorm). It was atop night. TOP NIGHT. And the best concert experience Ive ever had.

Okay, their gifts. I hope I can remember what I gave everyone

Each of their gifts was wrapped in a brown paper bag (lunch bag) with holespunched at the top to close it and a red bow fitted to close the bag. I wroteeach of them quite a long card, and I attached these to the front of the bag.Inside, I used those metallic stuffing things (like thin strips of that stuff mylarballons are made of Umm Mylar?) as packing peanuts to cushioneverything in them. Each of the ten guys got, from me, a salt shakerdisguised to look like a jar, filled with origami straw and paper stars I made.

The actual shaker part (the metal part with the holes) was covered with apiece of fabric and tied on to the shaker with ribbon. I also gave each guy apen that goes with the journal I made them last year (better late than never)that had the same logo on the barrel of the pen as was on the journal, aswell as a print of a Keep Calm and Carry On parody I made for each SNCmember. Additionally, each member got a more personalized gift as well.Heres the breakdown:

1. Ryana. Color of the stars: Green (obviously)b. Sweet Potato snacks (I asked him to give em to Dmitry)c. A wristband that said USC Trojans

d. A button to commemorate the day of the concert that said BEATUCLA. Since, you know, USC kicked some Bruin butt that samenight.

2. Tylera. Color of the stars: Blue (for his Cowboys)b. A birthday card that had a corn cob on it. (-evil laugh-)

3. Mikea. Color of the stars: Combination of Red, Blue, and Greenb. Peanut M&Ms and Starburst (with instructions to continue

tormenting the P90x-ers with them, haha!)4. Jerome

a. Color of the stars: Purple and Yellow (LAKER COLORS, BABY!)b. A container of cookies. Since, you know, he was the only one

that said that hed like some cookies.5. Walter

a. Color of the stars: A random mix of mostly yellow stars, but withbits of red and brown in there. I tried to make it look likeSpongeBob. I failed.

b. SpongeBob SquarePants headphones


23/24

c. A cardboard square. BUT, inside the cardboard square was myWalter trading card. I didnt think that hed gotten a hold of onesince he mentioned it to me in May, so after much deliberation, Idecided to give him mine. Heh, its still autographed, but thatmakes it worth even more!! I hope he and Molly enjoyed it.

6. Seggiea. Color of the stars: Red and white (with paper stars; only two ofthem had paper stars)

b. A bunch of business cards that have the Google logo on thefront and his name in the search bar. (Google me, b!tches.)

7. Dona. Color of the stars: Red (all straws, since hes been dubbed

Ginger)b. Since he wasnt with the group when I gave everyone their

journals I made him one. Looked nice with the pen8. DR

a. Color of the stars: Red and white (with paper stars)b. A jar of jelly! Because on that video of the bus tour by a station

in Indy, they seemed to have a LOT of peanut butter, but nojelly

9. Charliea. Color of the stars: Green (because I interviewed him once I knew

what I was going to be making everyone, and I asked him whathis favorite color is)

b. A (really) belated NUBW card.c. A design of something that I made, printed out, laminated, and

strung on a chain. I know Im being vague, but I dont think Im

allowed to say what it is that I designed.10. Randy

a. Color of the stars: Blue (also interviewed him before the concert,so I asked him what HIS favorite color is)

b. A (really) belated NUBW card.c. Organic licorice from USCs on-campus market. Theyre REALLY

good. And I was told he liked fruit, soooo There ya go.

I also gave gifts to

1. Blake

a. Cardb. Sharpie and Hello My Name Is stickers (I couldnt order a

badge for him from that place on eBay Wouldve come toolate )

c. A notepad with his name on it2. Korby

a. Cardb. A notepad with his name on it


24/24

3. K-Mercha. Cardb. A notepad with his name on it

4. Brothers Micklea. Card

Supposedly, theyre all supposed to share a small tub full of cookies I baked(chocolate chip and cinnamon sugar). I gave one tub to Korby and one toBlake, wrapped with ribbon and with a card attached (and the names withwhom they were supposed to share said cookies). I have no idea if theywere shared. But I mentioned it in ALL their cards, in case either Blake orKorby (or both) tried anything funny.

Documents

20pgs Post-Concert Report (Dec. 4, 2010)