See the photos of Rona with the band
I met most of Céline's band in September of '98, when Céline was doing a charity concert for CF at the Hummingbird Center in Toronto, Canada. This concert was a private affair which went almost unpublicized, but word leaked out and I dragged my friend Melanie to wait at the stage entrance with me for most of the day. Fortunately we weren't the only nuts, there were about 50 people there :)
I had brought my tour book for autographs, and the first person that arrived from the band was Paul Picard. Unfortunately I wasn't sure whether or not it was him, and by the time it crossed my mind to check the tour book to see if it was him he had gone inside :( One opportunity missed, but many more to go :)
The next person that arrived by himself was Claude "Mégo". I was a little nervous but excited, and first went up to ask him for an autograph. I had a blue sharpie pen and he kept trying to sign, but couldn't because the lid was on, lol ;) (he was in a bit of a rush, I guess he just didn't realise) I could tell he was getting a little frustrated and gave me the pen back saying it didn't work...I didn't know what to do! If I would have had another pen I would have given it to him with the lid off, but it was my only one and I didn't want to make him feel bad. I did my best to look really surprised and took it saying something like "maybe I can fix it", then I kind of hid it with my body and took the lid off and gave it back saying it should work now, lol ;) He signed "To Rona, have a happy day Claude "Mégo" Lemay". I didn't want to ask him for a picture because he seemed really rushed but then Ryan, a member of Destin that also came with me got an autograph and a picture so I figured what the hell and went back up and asked him for a picture too. He looked at me kind of funny but then put his arm around me and I got a picture with him :)
A while later the band's bus came, and Taro was one of the first ones off. He was so nice! I went up to him and told him that I loved To Love You More, and he seemed really flattered. I asked him for an autograph, at which he started laughing and saying "you know, I'm not Céline!" I started laughing too and can't remember exactly what I told him, something about the musicians being just as important, and he signed and posed for a picture with me.
Next- the highlight of the day.....Elise Duguay :) She's always been my favourite, don't know why exactly, but there's just this extra little bit of charisma that she has. She's always smiling, winking and waving at people, I don't think you can help but notice her. When I met her she was wearing a white t-shirt and muticoloured vertical striped shorts. She had her back to me, but I recognized her right away from the hair. I was a little bit nervous going up to her, but she smiled at me and said hi right away. I asked her if I could have her autograph and she said "sure", and then she took my tour book and started flipping through it saying "oh my goodness, this is so old!" Personally I didn't think so, it was just from the previous concert, but I wasn't going to argue with her! She then asked me where she should sign and I told her anywhere she wanted, which she repeated "anywhere I want...", all the time flipping and smiling at the pictures. Then she turned to where her picture was, pointed at it and started laughing, and signed near her name. I put my hand on the book to take it back but she didn't release it, instead she started blowing on her autograph so that it would dry. I guess she saw while flipping through the book that I managed to smudge everyone else's, ( I was just so excited I wasn't really thinking and just closed the book right away) so Elise's is the only autograph that isn't smudged :)
I asked her for a picture too which she also said sure to, and she put her arm around me and started rubbing my back while posing. It was really awkward because in my hands I was holding my glasses (didn't want the reflection) and in my other hand I had the book, and Elise had a whole pile of clothes in the other hand. It was like a brown jacket that looked like it was just dry-cleaned which I guessed was for the concert, but I didn't know why she was the only one holding clothes. It was a little awkward because we were both holding stuff and as a result I almost dropped the book, but we both kind of caught it at the same time. Then Melanie took the picture and Elise left, the whole thing probably lasted only 30 seconds, but she was so sweet she left a great impression on me :)
I had spent the most time with Elise, and when she left everyone else was gone. I was just kind of standing there happy that I met the band, when Terry got off. I totally wasn't expecting anyone else, and I just got this sudden burst of energy and grabbed his arm asking him for a picture. This was totally unlike me cause I'm usually extremely calm, but I was just too excited at that moment. Luckily Terry just laughed and apologized that he couldn't because he was really late. I wasn't too upset though, because a few years ago my friend in England met him after a concert (chasing after the limo at 3am!) and he got me his autograph.
I met Eric on two different occasions. The first was in Sept. of '96, at the Falling Into You concert. I saw him walking around and had a feeling it was him, but wasn't sure. I hadn't been a fan for a long time at that point, and Céline was the only person I really cared about. I had seen Eric on TV once and thought it looked like him, and the tour book wasn't much help because there was only a picture of the back of his head. I figured I had nothing to lose and went up to him, I never felt so short in my life! <G> I was a little hesitant at first and asked him if he was Eric, and he kind of half smiled and said "maaaybeeee". I kind of laughed and asked him if he could possibly get me Céline's autograph, I must have come across as a little rude but at the time getting her autograph was my only goal. He told me that he would if he could, but he just didn't have the power to go backstage at the moment. He sounded very sincere, and I told him it was okay.
My second meeting with him was much better, in Sept. of '99. I went to the concert with Clare, another member from Destin. This time I had a small gift for Céline (an inflatable frog shower cap), so I had an excuse to go up to him. I went up with Clare and told him hi, asked him to please give the gift to Céline. He said okay, and put it in his jacket pocket. I also asked him for an autograph, and he started laughing saying no, but I wasn't gonna hear it...I handed him a Nickels postcard and marker, and he said something like "ooooo...she even brought a sharpie!", and signed it. I then asked for a picture, and he apologized and said he had no time. At this I went into an immediate burst of please's, I knew I was sounding obnoxious but he laughed and told me I cracked him up, and asked if my mom (meaning Clare) was gonna take my picture. That was the only little incident, as Clare is only about 10 years older than me and I had a good laugh about it after. Unfortunately the picture came out a little hazy and I look weird because I was separated from him by a half wall, but it's the memory that counts :) After he kind of made a face and asked us "you're not sitting here, are you?" I think Clare and I both thought that we had scared him and he didn't want to be near us, but when when showed him where we were sitting he told us that's good, cause the seats where we were at the moment weren't good and we wouldn't have been able to see Céline.
I don't know how to tell these stories without sounding completely hyper, I am a very laid-back person but these are exciting memories, I'm not normally like this!