AlmosT A YeaR AnniversarY!!!!!

I wrote this almost a year ago (I think the 24th of this month will be a year). I was just thinking about how GREAT this night was and figured that putting it up on this blog would help me to reminisce and reflect back to such a blessed night!

Okay, so I want to record this story in here so that I can remember it for the REST of my life! It all goes back to before Christmas time; well actually I should probably go back to the summer after my freshmen year of college. I don't know how I came across it, but I was on myspace one day listening to different artists’ music (that's the only reason I even have a myspace). And on this particular day, I came across a girl's profile that had, "You Give Me Something" playing on it. I saw that the artist of this song was James Morrison from the UK and checked out his site. As I listened to the songs, I got excited! I LOVED his songs so much!!!! So after I had become his NUMBER 1 FAN, I called my brother Chris because we share a love for great music. We always talk to each other about unique artists and different songs that we like. I told him about James and he checked him out too. He loved him so much that he bought his CD! To make a long story short, I turned my whole family into rock hard James Morrison fans! There is just something so special about him- his voice has a sort of roughness to it and is just so amazing.

So there's a little background information to prepare you for what comes next. Jenni and I have made some crazy goals for ourselves in our lives. We've made a list of different famous people that we would like to meet in our lifetime and James Morrison was #1 on my "to-meet" list! I love all of the songs on his first CD and I am loving the new CD he recently put out. He is so talented and original. His version of "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson is so amazing! I am just in awe of his talent! So Jenni and I have made this list about the people we'd like to meet. One day before Christmas break, I got an e-mail from facebook's "i Like" saying that James Morrison had posted a concert near me! F.Y.I. "i Like" is just a part of the music a person has on facebook, which tells them where their favorite artists (as listed by them) hold events and concerts. I was so EXCITED when I saw this concert posted! We saw that it said it would take place on Fri. Jan. 23rd and bought tickets right away!!! All through the Christmas break, we were so incredibly excited to go see James live! I wondered if he would be as good in person and what a concert would be like- this was Jenni's and my first, lol. I had all of these things to get excited about!

The day drew nearer as we came back for winter semester. Time had flown by and finally, Friday- the day of the concert came! Jenni and I had been so busy this week that unfortunately, we didn't even get to think much about the concert. However, on Friday, the concert became a reality and we got excited again! Unfortunately, my two older brothers didn't buy tickets on time so they couldn't get any tickets for the concert. And the unexpected news came to us that the concert was not going to be JUST James, it also featured Adele. No offense to anyone who likes Adele, but I wanted James to sing the whole concert. I didn't even know who Adele was, lol! I listened to some of her music on myspace and she sounded good. I guess I was just hoping for James to sing the whole time.
 
The odds were against us on Friday. I had homework that I had to finish and e-mail to my teacher by midnight. I knew I wouldn't be back by then so I had to get it done before I left. It took longer than I expected (it was hard) and set me back a bit on getting a shower on time. We ended up leaving our apt. at 5:30 p.m. and the concert opened up to get seats at 7:30 p.m. To make matters just a little bit crazier, we had to take our bro. to Kearns on the way there to see our aunt. This was fine- we just had to drive fast and hope that we'd make it. Honestly, I am the worst person when it comes to directions and I got REALLY nervous when we got to our aunt's, that I wouldn't be able to find the Murray center. We got there around 7ish and probably left around 7:10. One thing that helped to alleviate a lot of this stress happened when Josh played James' first CD on the way there. I love his songs, love to harmonize with them, and through listening to them, forgot about the stress I had been feeling. As I said, the odds were against us- my homework, being pressed for time, and the added bonus of fog (and lots of it I might add) all played a role in making me feel a sense of panick! The fog was so TERRIBLE that I could barely see the signs on the road. You know you're in trouble when you don't know where you are to begin with and you can barely even see any signs to tell you where you are, lol. Jenni and I got lost one time on the way, but thankfully made it there! We said a prayer before we drove to the theater, which I think really helped us.

When we got to the theater, the parking was terrible! We ended up driving around for so long- wondering if we would even find a spot and wondering if we could park at subway or another restaurant without being towed. Towing would be the last thing we needed. So we ended up finding a spot in a nearby neighborhood. We parked in front of a person's house and walked a couple of blocks to get to the theater. We had to walk past the side of the Murray center in order to get to the front (since we had parked in a direction that was behind it) and alongside it, there was a bus. It was obvious to Jenni and me that it was a tour bus. The only question left in our minds was, is this James' tour bus or Adele's? As I walked past the bus, I jokingly said in front of Jenni, "Hi James!" It made us both laugh because we had no idea if that was his bus.

When we got inside the building, we were so excited! We were so late though! When we went inside to the actual theater, it was PACKED! Jenni and I were pretty close to the back- that was a little disappointing because we knew if we would have gotten there earlier, we could have gotten a better place to stand. So anyway, we ended up moving to the left side of the back and were standing near a nice couple. We waited there for about 20 or 30 minutes to see JAMES! Let me just make a note about the way that people conducted themselves at this concert. When Jenni and I went to the left side, there were some people standing around and we moved up a little and I believe that a girl behind me began to say rude things about me or about being mad that we stood there, yet I chose to ignore it- nothing was going to get me down before the concert I had been waiting to hear for so long! People were also very rude and unfeeling, I am sad to say. Even after the concert started, it was common to see people pushing through the crowd- making their way in front of other people who had been standing there since before the concert began, and they stayed there. They didn't care if the people they cut in front of could see or not. It was very disappointing to see this. I wish people took the time to think of others more often. If they did, the world would be a better place.

Enough about the people though, so the moment came! JAMES stepped onto the stage and began playing, "This Boy." As I said, I love ALL the songs on his first CD and this song in particular, is one of Jenni's and my favorites! As I saw him, I just smiled and got so excited! As he opened his mouth to sing, I realized what I always believed- HE WAS AMAZING! He was even BETTER in person! He changed up different parts of the songs, took risks, played his guitar like there was no tomorrow, and made me fall in love with him all over again! Haha! He played "This Boy," "Wonderful World," "You Give Me Something," "Once When I Was Little," "Broken Strings," "You Make it Real," "Nothing Ever Hurt Like You," "Love is Hard,” "Precious Love,” and "If You Don't Wanna Love Me." I hope I didn't forget any of the songs he played. It was so surreal for Jenni and me to be in that theater- the closest to James we would ever be in our life (or so we thought)! He was incredible and it didn't matter that we were in the back because we could hear his amazing voice! He was funny and he just impressed me so much! I don't know how popular James is in America- I know he is pretty popular in the UK, but I do know that he is starting to become more well-known. This guy did a duet with Nelly Furtado for "Broken Strings," his music has been played on movies, and his song, "Once When I Was Little" was played on an episode of "One Tree Hill" this week (Jenni and I saw it, lol). I do not mean any disrespect to Adele or Adele fans, but I think James should have been the main artist at the concert we went to instead of Adele. James opened for her for about an hour and Adele got the other two. I've never even heard of Adele and though she was good when I heard her on myspace, in my opinion, James is better.

Things turned a little sour as Jenni and I were standing in the back of the theater. At one point, I moved over a little bit to the left so that I could actually see James (at different points of the concert, people moved around and I could not see James at all). Anyway, I moved over a little bit and a girl behind me tapped me and said something along the lines of, "Um, I was standing here so that I could see him." The girl was unkind and I looked at her and replied by saying, "Well I'm sorry, I'm standing here." She must not have liked this because she sarcastically laughed and proceeded to go over to her 40-year-old boyfriend and tell him what I had said. I found out that she told him because my sister heard him say something rude about me and then he did something that STILL astounds me now. He coughed and deliberately sneezed- spitting in our hair. There was no doubt in our minds that this was done on purpose, especially since we knew that the man who did this to us was the boyfriend of the girl who had gotten mad at me. I turned around to the man and told him to stop it and with a face that showed he did it on purpose, he looked on and said, "I have a cold" in a sarcastic tone. My adrenaline was pumping. The man proceeded to do this to my sister and me again. I turned around to him and told him to stop it again. I could not believe that this man was doing to this to us because of where we were standing. It blew me away and was making me very upset at this point. The third time he did it, I turned to him and said I dared him to do it to me one more time. I was furious and thought, this man had absolutely no right to do this to us! I am sad to say that I lost my temper, but it was one of those moments where Jenni and I felt helpless. I am sure that if my older brothers would have been with us, the man wouldn't have thought of doing something like that! Yet, because we were young, defenseless girls, he took advantage of our predicament. I am sad to say that I really had a hard time enjoying the rest of James' songs at that point due to fearing that this man would spit or cough in our hair again. He purposely clapped loudly in our ears, but I didn't give him any recognition on that one. I just tried as hard as I could to keep my cool and to enjoy the performance I had been waiting so long for. I began to relax more and slowly but surely, began to listen just to James and continue to remember why I loved him so much. The nice couple I mentioned in an earlier paragraph (the one that was standing near us)- when all of the stuff happened with the man coughing and spitting in our hair, they were so kind to Jenni and I. I will never forget them for their act of service. They moved over and helped Jenni and I to move up with them, which though a simple act, meant so much to me. This couple proved to me a notion I was seriously wondering about, especially at that moment in time- that there is hope in the human race; there are still some nice, genuine people in the world. As James wrapped up with his last song, "Nothing Ever Hurt Like You," Jenni and I said we didn't want to stay for the rest of the concert. We were still pretty upset and didn't want to deal with the man behind us any longer. So I thanked the couple who helped us and told the man as Jenni and I left, that he no longer needed to cough in our hair because we were leaving. He responded with a mean comment and I just walked out. The man who took our tickets before we entered the theater asked us if we were leaving and we said that we were. I told him about the man behind us, who was doing stuff to our hair and he apologized as I choked back the tears. I hate that feeling so much- the one that comes and you feel like you can't control it at all. As a result, I started to walk out the door fast because I didn't want the man to see me cry.

I can look back on this part of my story now with laughter, but at the time, I could not even think of laughing. All the way to the car, I bawled like a baby! I couldn't help it. I must have been a funny sight to the people I was passing by! I just thought about how much Jenni and I had been looking forward to the concert and how we got to see the lengths people will go to just to get a better view! Jenni called my Mom as we walked the blocks to the car and when we finally got to it, I tried to stop crying. When I talked to my Mom, it all came back again. I told her that I couldn't believe someone could do something like that! I think that was my first real experience of meeting someone who could be so hateful and feel no remorse for it. The fact that he could look me in the eyes and feel justified in doing what he did, broke my heart. I cried to the point where you end up making that involuntary sound- when you can't breathe right. However, I was able to calm down after talking to my Mom. When we told our brothers about what happened, they were getting ready to drive to the theater and give this guy "a talking to." I was scared that my brothers would kill him and I understood why they wanted to help us. I am so lucky to have brothers that care about my sister and I. If anyone does something to hurt us, they are there to defend us. It meant a lot to me that they cared so much about what we had gone through and that they felt the need to make it right.

My story is almost over, but I saved the ABSOLUTE BEST part for last! Jenni and I drove away from the home we had parked at because there was a weird guy standing on his porch just staring at us, which freaked us out. And we ended up going to the little parking lot where the tour bus I mentioned earlier was parked. My Mom called Jenni to ask where the boys were- she wanted to make sure they weren't really going to the theater because their tempers were hot and she didn't want a fight to ensue. In the car at this point, Jenni and I were both thinking about how this night was so different than what we expected. We thought, how could Heavenly Father see this and let it happen? I knew that He was not responsible for what happened with the man who was unkind to us. I just wondered why it happened and what purpose it served. It hurt Jenni and me so deeply. So as we talked in the car to our Mom, we thought of something. Jenni told our Mom that we were sitting near the tour bus we thought may have been James.' She told us that we should try to knock on the bus door and find out if James was in there so that we could get a picture. My Mom got to meet David Cassidy and other famous people this way so we figured what the heck, why not give it a try?!?!? We really had NOTHING to lose! The night could not get ANY worse at this point. So we went outside of our car and we were so nervous! We saw a TV on in the bus, but didn't know who was in it. I was about to go to the door two times, but could not quite get myself to do it. And then we saw him! Standing there in front of us, James must have come out of the bus to smoke a cigarette. I wasn't sure if it was him so I said in an unsure voice, "James?" He looked at me and then I asked him if we could get a picture with him. He was SO nice to us! He walked over and Jenni and I COULD not believe that we were talking to our music idol! He shook our hands and asked us our names. We told him and he said it was nice to meet us. He said, "You must be cold"- in a British accent that made my heart skip a beat, haha lol! I said, “Oh no, it’s not too bad. We haven’t been out here too long.” We told him how awesome his concert was. I told him he was even better in person. He laughed when I said, "We thought that this concert was going to be just you and then we found out that Adele was going to be here. I don't even know who Adele is." He said in his cute British accent, "I didn't think any of them would really know who I was" and Jenni responded by saying, "Are you kidding me?" We told him we loved his music. I also told him that it was a dream come true to be meeting him. I told him I had written a message to him once on myspace (he laughed when I said it) telling him that I heard his music and then turned my family into big fans of his. Jenni told him it was our first concert and he said, "Really"- in his awesome British accent of course. I said I couldn't even believe we were talking to him and asked if it would be okay to get the picture we had asked him for. He said, "Well sure, sure" and one of the members of his band or tour people (I don't know) took our picture. When we weren't quite sure of where to stand, he said "I guess I'll go to the middle," which made us laugh. He went in the middle of Jenni and I and he scooted us in, rubbing our shoulders to help us get warm. It was so awesome! And as if that wasn't awesome enough, he shook my hand after the picture and then he KISSED MY CHEEK! And after he kissed mine, he shook Jenni's hand and kissed her cheek! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I am never washing my cheek again, haha! When he kissed my cheek, I couldn’t help but giggle! Jenni did too. Before we left, I told him, "Keep making music James and I'll keep buying it." He responded by saying, "Oh I will." And then we parted ways! He told us to have a good night, Jenni said to have a good one, and I said, “Thank-you so much. Have a great time.” Haha, I meant on tour, but my words were not coming out the way I’d hoped they would at that point, haha! I swear we floated home on a cloud that night!!!!!!!!! James Morrison was so down-to-earth, humble, and kind. He was so willing to get a picture and hold a normal conversation with us. I love him even more now than I ever did before because I know that he has not let fame go to his head. I am proud of Jenni and I for not acting like crazy, maniac fans in that situation. That was the cool thing about this experience- we talked to him like we would a friend and I think he respected us for it. I always told myself that if I ever met a famous person, I would never act like some people do.

This story taught me a valuable lesson. Jenni and I went from being at our lowest points in the night with the whole guy-being-mean-to-us thing and within an hour, went to being the HAPPIEST people in the world! We met the man who has inspired us so much! We met James Morrison! We met the guy that was far away from us in the theater- the one who we could see, but wished we were in front of when he sang! I truly believe that Heavenly Father had a plan for us that night, as cheesy as that may sound. He knew that we would meet James. It is crazy to think that had the man in the theater not been mean to us, we may never have left the concert and thus, would probably not have come even close to James' tour bus. We were the only people to meet James that night. (When we talked to him, the people in his bus were packing up the instruments and leaving soon thereafter). I just think that the odds of meeting a man who is in London most of the time were very unlikely. It was truly a rare opportunity. I never want to forget the events of Friday, Jan. 23, 2009. My heart will forever hold this event in a special place, as my wishes came true on this special night!!!!!!!!

Here are some of James' amazing performances at the Murray Theater!