My wife Karen and I, along with another couple, hit The Orbit Room a little late. We missed the first song and a half. Oh well. That room is great for seeing a show, and offers a great vantage point from anywhere on the floor. Extremely wide stage.
TR was in great form dispite his cold, and was really hitting everything. The sound system in there is awesome.
Afterward we met Kasim outside the dressing room door. He shook our hands and thanked us for the compliments. We told him we would see him tomorrow. He was in a hurry to leave, but still took the time to stop and say hi, which was very cool.
That was only the first "brush with greatness" we were to encounter in the next 24 hours.
Then it was off to the Fort Wayne show at Piere's. We arrived with plenty of time to spare. We weren't there for longer than 10 minutes when Al the "bar waiter" asked my wife and I to participate in the show. He asked her to be a stewardess and me to be the drunk patron. It was our third show so we definately knew the parts. We were more than a little nervous, but had to go for it!
As far as TR's voice tonight, he was really struggling.(As posted by Kirk B.) I think he blew it out in Grand Rapids, and was simply shot from the illness. But as Kirk also said, he did make his way around it, and actually got a lot of range back at the end.
I stood in place after the comedian, and met the girl I was supposed to flirt with. My first question to her was if she was on the wizzard list. She said,"Yes, I'm Bashful, Lisa B"! (I'm hoping she gives her account of this.) I told her who I was and she knew from a recent post that I just saw the Tubes. Small world for sure. We took the stage for the best concert seats I have ever had in my life! I was nervous at first, but once I sat at the bar for a while I became more and more relaxed. Lisa helped by talking to me and being real nice. And guys, if you've never seen Lisa, well....uh...... never mind. Let's just say she's very easy to flirt with. What was fun was being able to do this right in front of Karen, who was sitting at the first tiki table! For anyone who was there, my wife was the one with the dark hair at the table, the last set. Pretty funny. We played the thing out. I got the water on me and passed out. I was watching the band out of the corner of my eye. Next thing I know I see Todd coming over to me. I felt him give me the "bar baptism," which I would have to say ties in to my fondest Todd memory! They carried me off, end of show. My first acting job. I couldn't believe I did it. It was really a great experience. That wasn't the end of it.
When we were leaving the parking lot, we spotted the tour bus right across the street at a little restaurant/bar. We went over to check it out and sure enough, they were all there having dinner. I hated to interrupt, but you've got to be opportunistic. We walked in and there was hardly anyone in there. Prarie yells out," Look who's here." They passed my WAT cover around the table and all signed it. Todd made some small talk with me. I told him that was my first acting experience, and he said something about me being a real method actor. We had a drink at the bar and said goodnight and they all said bye and thanks. Too unbelievable!! (but true)
Robert Henry