Paul in Ottawa
Monday, April 15th, 2002 ~ The Museum of Civilization
Well, I met up w/ April and we headed out to the Museum of Civilization. It was cloudy and cool outside, but the chance of it raining didn't stop us from getting there at 7h30. Let me tell you, we were the FIRST ONES THERE !!! Even before the workers !!! they started arriving shortly after...   Some people asked us who we were waiting for, and we said Paul, and they told us he'd be out for rehearsal around 8h30 !

When he arrived, I took out my "Paul Brandt's No.1 Fan !" banner, and put it on the fence. Some guy came up to me and offered to bring it to Paul and get him to sign it. I suggested that maybe he should get Paul to come over and sign it for us.... The man came back and said "Even better, someone will come and get you after he's done, and you'll get to go backstage to meet him "   When Paul started singing, we just kinda clapped, etc, and Paul waved to us... and just before he did the song again, someone pointed out the banner to him, and Paul just LAUGHED !!! Sooooo cool !!!  

So finally, a girl came and got us, and we were super excited !!! He greeted us w/ a hug !!! He said to me "You wanna get a picture for your webpage ?!" ( My jaw dropped!) It's true, he did say that, ASK APRIL !!!   I GOT MY HUG PIC !!!!!!
I got the  scoop we've been waiting for ...   I said " Well, we had a survey and we all agreed that *I'm Gonna Fly* should be the next single", and he said that it will be, and that it should be released at the beginning of May.   Also about the tour, he said it's coming in the fall !   I told him that the next time he'll be in the city, I'll be in Calgary, so unfortunately, I'll miss him :(:(:(*CRY !!!!*... he asked me where I'll be going, and so we talked about that ..... 
I had an actual conversation w/ him !!!!!! And 3 hugs !!!!! He signed my banner and my Hockey CD single. He said he'd never actually seen it before, so I guess I got the first autographed copy ! Woo hoo !   Anyway, I guess me and April were ready to go home after that ! ;) J/K We went back to our original spot, and later on he walked by and said hi again.   They let us into the gate before the show, but I decided to stick outside w/ April.  

The performance. You can  hear me screaming on the tape !!!! At one point int the song, Paul sings "... let by our fearless hero Gretzky, he should the Prime Minister if you ask me", and he looks at Jean Chretien right in the face ! The PM didn't seem to impressed ! Later on, while he gave a speech, he said something like "Unlike what Paul Brandt said, I'm glad I didn't have to run against Wayne Gretzky to be Prime Minister !" Paul missed the comment ;cause he had already left by then.   We got shots of my banner on TV plenty of times, and we got interviews by a lot of the media that was there.  

We got Brian McRae and Marc Gagnon's autographs, but Sal� and Pelletier didn't come out... but if they did, we weren't there..... we would have been mobbed. CRAZYNESS !!!  

We had a BLAST !!!!!     Well, it pays to go early 'cause we never would have met him again !!! And we were the only two there, which made it that much more intimate !
(Para-Olympics gold medalist Brian McRae)
(5 time medal winner, speed-skater Marc Gagnon)
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