"Friday was the day we met, Saturday I was flyin'", or, one fan's review of her first time with CI&S (Vegas show)

Posted by Jeryl

Disclaimer: I am totally buzzed right now, so if this makes no sense at all, that's why. (It's not a chemical buzz, it's a 'Chris buzz', O.K.?) Where to begin? I truly have been 'flying' since the concert started. Just got home and came right to the old 'puter to share it with you all. I missed some of you at the concert, sorry Al, and LJD, never could find you. We did hook up with Desert Sky and her mom (both very sweet ladies) and also saw Akemi and two of her friends.

Concert: WOW! I have seen a lot of shows in my day, but none even comes close to this! (ok, Pink Floyd is incredible, but in a different way. I mean, could Roger Waters pull off the Mirrored Suit? I think not!) We had 11th row, which was close enough to see well, but boy was I ever envious of those in the first 4 rows! You can guess who will be standing in line next time a local show goes on sale! I agreed with Al that I did miss 'not sleepy', and was wishing for 'like the way she moves' as well, but I'm not complaining. I really came to appreciate some songs I had never been crazy about when they were 'rocked up' for the concert versions. Chris came out in a purple, crushed velvet, sequined suit. On anyone else it would have looked, well, silly, but the man pulled it off! WOW! He totally played with the audience, especially a few girls up front. His voice sounded superb, and they rocked much more than I expected. The audience got 'chatty' during some of the slower stuff, but mostly they all seemed to be really enjoying themselves. Then they left the stage for a minute, and Chris came back in the mirrored suit. It has to be seen to be believed! He looks like a walking, singing, disco ball in it! Much more rocking, funny stories, razzing of the band, etc. 'diddly daddy' was awesome. He even came down into the crowd and played amongst us, then took a few girls on stage to dance.

Autographs: It was a zoo, but I managed to finally get up there. Only Chris was signing, and they told us in line that we had to purchase something, but he was signing whatever you gave him. He was very sweet, nice to talk to, just all around DREAMY. I, of course, got all tounge tied, said I was from Stockton, and some other dumb things, but he signed my t-shirt, drew cute little devil horns on his head, and a cool microphone by the picture. He also signed my ticket. Then we were ushered out by security.

Camera woes: I took my camera, even talked a guard into letting me go up front to take a pic during the concert, and wouldn't you know it, batteries were dead. I was sooooo bummed. So I could not get a pic with him at autograph time. :-(

The REALLY good part: After the show we went out into the casino. I found Kenney almost immediately, and asked him to sign the sleeve of the t-shirt Chris had just signed. He very graciously did, and then when I thanked him for responding to my e-mails he said "well, who are you?" When I said "Jeryl" he said, "well hi, Jeryl, I was hoping to see you here, give me back that t- shirt" He then signed the sleeve again, writing "to my cyber-pal, Jeryl" and he even remembered how to spell my name (something that NEVER happens!). We then chatted a while and I let him go. He was very nice!

Jeryl has a great idea!: Hey, maybe the gift shop has batteries for my camera! I got some, found my husband, ran into Kenney again and got a great pic with him (he snuggles nicely!). I then introduced him to my husband, we ran into Desert Sky again, and all of us talked about the show (why they didn't play 'black flowers', Kenney did not know, as they had rehearsed it), the upcoming tour (Kenney just got his schedule yesterday, had no idea where they were eventually going), and about our excitement that on the back of the white t- shirts it lists San Francisco, Ventura, and Los Angeles as the last three stops! (Yeah! we will be at all 3!) We also said we would try to see them on New Years eve, and he said it should be a great show, that they would be really polished by then, etc. (I thought they sounded great now!) We then said bye as he wanted to go gamble. OK, so at least I got a pic of Kenney, and 'bonded' with my new cyber-pal. My husband really liked him too.

The unbelieveable, "my karma must have been good today" part: My husband decided he was hungry (I was still too jazzed to eat), so we went to the little restaurant in the casino. Had to wait a while for a table,and then were asked which one we prefered, table or booth. I chose booth, and we were seated. Just as we sat down, who should get seated at the booth next to us, but Chris! (Roly was with him, but did not sit down) (and yes, I now see why Roly has his own little fan club - he's very handsome) Chris was all cleaned up, in jeans and a jean shirt now, and he looked really sweet. He sat down with a lady and a younger man. I felt bad about bothering Chris, but figured since my camera had screwed up during the concert this was the gods giving me another chance. I asked, very nicely, if he would mind if my husband took our picture together, and said if he didn't feel like it I totally understood. He looked like he was going to say no, but then said OK. I sure hope the pic turns out. I thanked him very much, and sat down at my table.

My husband then noticed that Hershel was seated at the counter, which was right next to us. There was a woman sitting next to him, but when she got up I took my t-shirt over to him and he very graciously signed it (had to put it on by back for it to work right, made a joke about his long name, etc.) He then thanked ME for coming to the show and supporting them. I told him we'd see them 3 or 4 more times on the tour and he said 'wow, that's great'. He was also very nice. (oh, I almost forgot: as he did not have a pen he first pretended to sign my t with a dill pickle wedge! Luckily I carried a sharpie!) I went back to our table and tried to eat, but coudn't. I mean, Chris was 6 feet from me! (I will totally sound like a school girl from this point on - no offense, those of you still in school, it's just an expression) I kept staring at his neck (it is VERY kissable). My very tolerant husband asked if I wanted to change seats with him as he was sitting with his back to Chris (about 2 feet!), but I said 'no, I'd rather be able to look at him'. Chris oredered a shrimp coctail, chatted with Hershel's female freind, who had now joined Chris' table. Then Hersh joined them, they chatted some more, a few women approached him and gushed, he was gracious, etc.

{Oh, yea, when Hersh was still at the counter Chris leaned over the back of his seat to get Hersh's attention, and was literally leaning on my husband. My husband made some crack about 'leave Hersh alone, he's off work now' and Chris cracked up. We then threw something at Hersh to get his attention for Chris, who said 'excuse me' after he bumped my husband. Just another little tid-bit you are probably totally uninterested in, but I just have to TELL someone!} Then Chris and Hersh got up and left, and we were joined by Desert Sky and her mom for a long 'Chris chat'. We finally left, and I literally floated back to our hotel (across the street). (I did, incidentally, thank my wonderful husband for putting up with my sillyness all night, and I thanked him in a very special way!)

I stayed up 'till 3 am reliving the whole night, playing cd's, etc. Even slept in my signed t-shirt.

Jeryl's great luck continues!: We got up today, showered, packed, and checked out. We then decided we'd better go over to the Hard Rock again to get the kids some souv's. As we were walking in the door, Kenney, who was standing outside with Rolly, Hersh, and the new keyboardist Brett, said "may I see some ID please". I hadn't even seen him . We chatted about how they were going to be on the road all day, the rodeo, and the fact that we had to leave soon to get home in time to take our son trick-or-treating. I WISH I had thought to wait out there for Chris to arrive, and get a pic of all of them and the bus, but my mind was just on CI&S overload and I wasn't thinking. As we enterd the casino, who should be leaving but, you guessed it, Chris. And I must say, ladies, that in the light of day those blue eyes are brighter than ever. I, once again, got all flustered (I'm totally relaxed with Kenny and Hersh! But then again, I have not been having impure thoughts about THEM!), our eyes met, I said something like 'have a nice trip', he said 'thanks' and I scurried into the casino. Gawd, I felt foolish! My husband said 'lets eat', I wanted to go back outside to see them off, but could not figure out how without looking totally nuts, so we went into the restaurant. About 10 minutes later hubby says' why don't you go outside and see if Chris is down there yet?'. I said, 'he walked past us when we came in, didn't you see him?' Hubby said 'I didn't see him', (something about 2 blondes nearby distracting him), and 'why didn't you go back out when you saw Chris?'. I confessed my sudden shyness, and he told me to go out and see if they were still there. I did, they weren't, but I didn't care. I was FLYIN'!

Well, my many apologies for the length, sillyness, and bad punctuation, but I just had to share. Hope you all had a great time who were there, have fun tonight to those of you going to tonight's show, and for those of you still waiting, THEY ARE WORTH THE WAIT! I'm sure I forgot lots, but would probably be banned from the board if I went on any longer. I'm so glad I have you all to share it with! Love and kisses, Jeryl