Matchbox Twenty Meet & Greet 

Hartford, CT 8.18.01

What are the odds that one person can attend only three matchbox twenty concerts and have Meet & Greet for all three? A million-to-one? Higher? Well, whatever the odds, I’ve beaten them. The story of the other two meet & greets have already been told, so I’ll concentrate on the latest.

This tale starts with a phone call I received on Tuesday, August 14^th. It was Lora from the matchbox twenty Fan Club (you’ll recognize her's as the voice from the Fan Club hotline). I got a little nervous when she questioned me about the tickets I ordered through FC for the Hartford show - I thought for sure my order was fouled up and I didn’t really have any. It turns out that wasn’t the case. Now, if you frequent the band’s website, or call the hotline, you are probably aware of the tour packages the club organizes. Well there was a Boston/Hartford package that included a M&G prior to the Hartford show. It seems that whenever the club organizes a tour M&G they randomly select one FC ticket-buying fan from the show to attend. I was that lucky random fan. (Unbelievable isn’t it?)

Because the tour group was being bused in from Boston, my "guest" and I needed to meet the group at the Meadows Music Theatre at 4:30 p.m. for a 5:00 p.m. M&G. We arrived a few minutes before the bus and when it arrived me and my friend Pam kissed our husbands goodbye and got on the bus, which was a very weird feeling – a fifth wheel sort of thing. The bus drove as around back to a loading dock.

The forty or so of us were brought into this large garage-like area and separated into four groups. Jason told us the rules and inspected any gifts we had for the band (I was delivering a photo and a copy of registration papers for quarter horse name "If You’re Gone" to each member for my friend Amy.) The plan was that the band would first pose for a photo with each group. Then they would split up and sign autographs. We were to stay with our group and we could take our own photos, but not posed because it slowed things down.

My group was number four and the last to pose for a group photo. The band approached and Adam spotted me as we were organizing for the photo and started telling everyone that "our quilter" is here. Make room, take the photo again, etc. It was sweet and kind of embarrassing since I already felt like an interloper. We ended up shooting the picture three times since Adam was making such a fuss.

After the group shot Adam and Kyle took off for other groups and Rob, Paul and Brian hung out with us for autographs. Pam and I spoke first with Rob and Pam was really nervous and didn’t know what to say. He shook our hands and asked how I was doing. (Great – how could I be better?)  I told him how my Rock ’n Roll quilts may be invited for exhibition for two quilt shows in the spring and I’d let them know if it happened. He signed Pam’s laminated tag and moved on.

We saw Kyle next. He hugged me and we did the kiss-the-air-by-the-cheek routine. It was the most animated I’d ever seen Kyle. I told him I was on a mission to get a good photo of him and me together since all the ones I had sucked, so he posed and made Pam take three of them. (I reciprocated of course). He asked about my quilting and I told him I was working on art from an Edwin McCain CD. He thinks Edwin is a great artist – so do I. We talked a little about how well the tour was going and I gave him the horse stuff from Amy. He was a little confused and thought for a minute it was my horse – I straightened it out. He did a funny little pretend-to-ride-a-horse skit that we all laughed about.

Paul was talking with someone else (Michelle) about "Stop" and contributions to future records. He told her he expected to do some more writing and that Stop isn’t his favorite song on Mad Season (she didn’t ask what was). When he finished with Michelle, we approached him and I took the opportunity to ask him about copyrights regarding the record art since I may get to show my quilts. (I won’t bore you with it.) Anyway, he seemed really pleased with the tour' progression.

We had a little time to kill before Brian came around so I talked with Jason. He’s truly a big, brawny teddy bear and he told me he knew I was going to be there. That threw me, although I shouldn’t have been surprised. He told me Josh Lippman told him I was on "the list" and that really surprised me. I didn’t know Josh knew about it. Jason told me he knew lots of things the rest of us would never know – I believe that. I told him that I actually spoke with Josh a few times and Jason asked if it was a good thing. I said that I guessed so since he took my calls. Hhhmmmmm…anyway, Jason posed for a picture with me – what a sweetie.

Brian came around and I gave him the horse stuff. He signed some things and I told him that my dental hygienist had cleaned his teeth a long time ago (gross, huh?). It turns out the dentist my hygienist worked for is his uncle (what a small world). Anyway, we talked about the tour and he told me that 7 Mary 3 (the first opening band) was a band they knew from Florida and that 7M3 actually signed a record deal before MB20 did. 

Adam finally came around and we had a cozy hugging moment that we needed to repeat since Pam missed the photo opportunity the first time around. Adam really got a kick out of the horse thing. He thinks he might hang the photo in his bunk – I’m not sure what that means. With Adam, you never know. He’s very playful and the conversation might go anywhere.

We were chased from the room right after that and loaded back on the bus for our short ride to the parking lot. Other than the poor setting, the M&G was really great. The fans and the band are genuinely nice people. It makes me proud to be part of such a wonderful group.

Happy listening and thanks for stopping by.

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