Friday February 18th, 2000- Spin Street Music: Atlanta, GA
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| The Smashing Pumpkins Friday February 18th, 2000- Spin Street Music: Atlanta, GA |
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| On Friday, Stephanie and I woke up at like 5 in the morning to head out to Spin Street. Luckily, we both didn't have school that day but we would've skipped for Billy and James if we had to. We were surprised to see people already there when we got there. After a couple of minutes some people we had seen at the Live X the day before showed up. We found out that their names were Richard and Katie. Katie immediately recognized me and said, "You're the girl Billy kissed yesterday!" and I said, "Yep" and she said, "Oh my god that was so cool" I felt special. Katie had to leave for work but Richard saved her a place in line. Oh and did I mention it was like 50 degrees that day, raining and dreary and just really ugly outside, but we didn't care. We had our blankets and chairs and food. Richard taught Stephanie and I how to play gin rummy, and some kids had stereos so we listened to the Pumpkins all day long of course. A 99x van came down to the store around 10 or so and talked to us for awhile. It was cool to be on the air. They were like �you freaks what are u doing there so early, the signing isn't till 6� and we said, �Because its the Pumpkins!� an obvious answer of course. Stephanie and I also met these two cool girls, Haley and Amanda. They were two of the coolest chicks ever! They had me laughing all day long. They told us all about their wild adventures. Anyway, Amanda was telling me that when the Pumpkins played The Fox here in �98 she was at that show, and was supposed to meet Billy but something happened and they wouldn't let her backstage. See, she had cancer and she was apart of the Make a Wish Foundation and her wish was to meet the Pumpkins. But anyway, while we were waiting for the signing, I could tell that she was so excited about meeting Billy. She just wanted to tell him how much his music has inspired her, especially since she's been sick and how much he means to her. So time rolled by....99x brought us sandwiches from subway around lunch time, which I thought was cool. Guess they figured we hadn�t eaten anything all day. People who were walking around and shopping at the other stores thought we were so weird for sitting outside in the cold weather. I overheard one guy saying, "Was I ever that young?" Anyway the time finally came to meet Billy and James so we cleaned ourselves up and bit and messed with our hair, because we wanted to look presentable of course. Haley even changed clothes and put on makeup. Haley and Amanda asked us if we wanted to go in first since we had met Billy the day before. They were very nervous. I just told them to relax and that Billy was a cool guy, really down to earth and they shouldn't worry. So then they started letting us into the store. We were waiting in line and it was Haley�s turn to go up to Billy. She gave him something she had made and I didn't hear what she said to him, but I saw Billy�s mouth say, "WOW" she gave him a picture she had drawn. You know what the front-page of the Mellon Collie lyrics book looks like? Well that's what it was...hand drawn of course. Then I saw her crying, I guess she was telling Billy about all of the things that she had been through. He said, "Oh don't cry, would you like to sit down next to me?" I was like, "Oh my god!" she stayed with him for the WHOLE signing. Amanda got to stay as well. When it was my turn I went up to James first and I thought it was cool that we kind of had the same glasses, blacked framed. I gave him this poster like thing to sign. I got it out of a guitar magazine. It has a Megaman like character on it and a picture of Billy and his Fender on the other side. Anyway, I gave that to James and he started signing it and I said to him, �Are you feeling better?" because they had told us that he was sick at the Live X. He got this weird look on his face and said, "Umm, was I doing badly before?" I just laughed because I thought that was one of his normal kinda funny responses. But I found out later that he hadn't been sick. The Live X was just going to be Billy all along, but whoever was in charge didn't think people would want to go if it was just Billy. Well Duh of course people would. It�s Billy Corgan! But anyway, when I got up to Billy I said, "Do you remember me from yesterday?" and he said, "Oh yeah" and I said, "Did you read my poem yet?" and he just got the cutest look on his face, kinda dropped his head and gave me a 'forgive me please' look and said..."No...I�m sorry." "It�s OK," I said. I hope he's read it since then. So after the signing Stephanie and I waited for Haley and Amanda to come out. When they finally did, I ran up to Haley and I said, "Oh my god, that was so cool." And she said, "You would never believe...he gave me his phone number." My mouth dropped. That was way better than getting a kiss on the cheek. "Really?" I asked. "Yeah," she said. "He said that if I have a hangnail or something not to call him but if I really needed to talk, he'd be there for me." That is just the coolest thing I�ve ever heard...have you ever heard of a rock star doing anything like that? Only Billy. He's the best! | |||||
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