I decided to go to Pearl River about a week before the concert. A friend of mine was due to have some serious surgery in two weeks and it took me about 5 seconds to convince her that we needed to do this before her surgery.
the conversation went like this:
Me: Let's go see Taylor in Mississippi next weekend.
Her: I can't.
Me: Come on!
Her: Okay!
I got to the airport in NYC in PLENTY of time, check in and at the gate, what do I hear over the speakers, but "Heaven Knows!!" We always see or hear a "Taylor Sign" somehow before the concert. This was the Taylor Sign!
Anyway, Crazymomelon (coming from NC) and Soul Cajun (coming from NJ) and me (coming from NYC) were supposed to meet in Detroit (don't ask) for the same flight to Jackson MS. They got there on time. I didn't.
The airport story is not pretty. My plane was late getting to Detroit, where I was supposed to have 30 minutes to get to my next gate. But it turned out I had 6 minutes to RUN over a mile down the whole Concourse A, down the escalator, through some sort of an simulated underwater tunnel with flashing dark blue and red lights, up the escalator, to the end of Concourse B. And I made it just as the desk clerk was closing the door. The jetway was still attached, but SHE WOULD NOT LET ME IN! I could hardly breathe from running and then the jet left. They did give me $20 in meal coupons and a bunch of miles. A pissed-to-all-hell New Yorker hanging around their gate is not something Northwest wanted on their hands, so they let me wait in their VIP lounge for the next 4-1/2 hours. Didn't they realize I was going to see Taylor!??!!
It worked out okay though and I got to the hotel only an hour behind Cra-z, dg and SC because they got lost in the wilds of Mississippi for a while. I asked for a free upgrade on my rental car and they gave me a rocketship thing called an Eclipse. I got to the hotel in less than an hour and didn't get lost because I looked at a map. And all my cares just drift right into space when I see:
I had gotten to the casino after dark, but in the morning we got to see exactly what the Golden Moon Resort looked like. A little bit of Vegas glitter in the middle of Mississippi! You see that ball at the top - we had dinner in there Saturday night.
Breakfast was late.
Everyone came rolling in. We saw old friends and people we hadn't met yet. This weekend reminded me a bit of Wilkes Barre or Jacksonville in a way. there were so many people I hadn't met but that I felt I knew from the boards. It was great to see and meet them.
The band came in while we were in the lobby and it was great to see everyone again. They were hugging everyone in sight whether they had met them before or not! We were so happy to see Josh, but sorry about Sam's father. Josh was very talkative and friendly - he has sure opened up a lot this past year. We talked about his CD and he seems so very proud of it.
Josh's CD - Deep Roots - it is really good. In the Silver Star lobby, I asked him if he said seen the email CD Baby sends you when you order the CD and he hadn't, so I sent it to him when I got home. It is hilarious. Josh said that every time someone buys a CD from CD Baby, he gets an email from them telling him the name of the person who bought it. He said they take only $3.00 and send him a check for the rest, which sounds really good to me, but I don't know much about that business. the CD is cool looking - it looks like a 45 rpm record. Here is the email CDBaby sends you (in case anyone hasn't seen it):
"Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.
A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure it was in the best possible condition before mailing.
Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money could buy.
We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved "Bon Voyage" to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet, on this day, Sunday, October 28th.
I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did! Your picture is on our wall as "Customer of the Year." We're all exhausted but can't wait for you come back to CDBABY.COM!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you,
sigh.....
Derek Sivers, President, CD Baby
the little store with the best independent music"
So far so good, Diane. I can't wait to hear more!
That REALLY large photo of Taylor...I can only imagine the unspeakables!
And, why haven't I ordered Josh's cd yet?
LMAO,
Diane, I am so glad you went - can't decide if I am laughing harder over imagining the pissed off New Yorker terrifying the Northwest employees or the letter from CD Baby.
Keep meaning to order Josh's CD - have heard it and it is Very good - the prospect of getting that email is making sure I go do that right now -
That sign is something else - looks like they gave Taylor great publicity.
Thanks for the great recap Diane!
I know someone who licked Taylor's tour bus....I saw the photographic evidence! You ladies must have had a blast with that huge photo of Tay!!
Ha! I kissed the picture's lips! But so did a whole bunch of other nuts, so I was in good company! I figure that is the closest I will ever get to do it. We had so much fun with that picture, just cracking up so much we were peeing our pants.
