Please forgive me friends, I'm sorry... it's taken me ages to post a blog or show any sign of life on myspace since I started "the tour". I am at this moment, sitting in the hair and make-up room waiting to get all pretty'd up for the show here at the Arco Arena in Sacramento. The show is starting in about 30 minutes, and I'm finally getting a sec to give y'all an update on this insane experience that I can't believe I'm having...
I'm back...so where was I, I WAS in Sacramento when I started this blog, and now I am in my hotel room in Portland, Oregon. Last night just as I was getting ready to dive into a blog, I was called to the "hair chair", then it was show time! It was a great show, and a fantastic audience! Every one in the Arco arena left with laryngitis; they screamed and screamed... and screamed some more! Such enthusiasm and excitement... we love it and thrive off of that energy when we are on stage... thank you so much!
So as I was saying, this experience of being on tour is unbelievable. I'm having a great time, and I am SOOOOO exhausted! We have been out on the road for about a week and a half already...6 shows down, with 48 more to go! That being said, it is hard for me to remember what life was like before the tour, LOL! I thought maybe I'd give you a backstage look at a normal day on the road...
We roll up in the buses to our destination roughly around 5 am, we stumble out of our bunks after a few hours of sleep, grab our suitcases packed with the simple bare necessities, walk into the hotel looking like zombies, grab our key, head up to the elevator and into our rooms (we get our own rooms), as soon as we walk into our rooms we drop our bags and head straight for the bed and dive under the covers to fall back to sleep for a few more hours before check out and call time. Unfortunately, for someone like me... it has been quite a challenge for me to fall back asleep... you see I've been somewhat of an insomniac since I was in fifth grade, so once I'm up, I'm up... the brain gets to work and I can get it to quit! There have been a few days that I have laid there awake and watch the hours pass until it's time to get up and get in show gear after 2-3 hours of sleep. Thankfully, I think I might be starting to acclimate to this schedule, and I'm managing a few more hours of rest. Any who, I wake up with just enough time to hop in the shower, this is essential to my day, shower is like an instant "re-start"... get rid of the grime you manage to collect during the show and after sleeping on the bus, wipe off the raccoon eyes that I wake up with from the left over mascara on the eyes, wash the tangles out of my hair from loads of product and backcombing. Seriously life changing!
Just before noon, it is time for check out, I make my way back to the lobby and back on that bus! There is a boys bus and a girls bus, and a band bus. Usually when we walk onto the bus we've all congregated in the small kitchen area for our first meal of the day, eating bowls of lucky charms. During the ride most of us chill in our bunks and take a quick nap, talk on the phone or listen to music. Then it's off to the venue!
As soon as we pull up to the arena, we get off the bus where we are greeted with screaming fans, generally teenage girls in their t-shirts displaying their choice heart throb... holding up signs pleading either Cook, Archuleta or Castro to PLEASE marry them! Yep, this happens in every city, at every show, and then there are the nice parents that bring their cute kids... there they all await squished against the gate with their sweet homemade gifts, sharpies in hand, cameras ready for their moment to meet the boys of there dreams... and the rest of us, LOL
I must say these fans are devout, getting their bright and early, and often times braving the hot summer temperatures. So with wet hair and no make up on, we drop our stuff in our dressing rooms and we head outside with the security guard to go meet the fans! This is quite the experience, fans can be so sweet, Please know that I am always SO grateful for the sincerity of fans, from a thoughtful letter, or just a simple compliment, It means a lot to me. Now if I could make a dollar for every time a fan asked me if I could go inside and get a David or Jason to come outside and sign their t-shirt, I would be a very rich woman! These girls are very serious about these guys, it's pretty hilarious, and if I'm being completely honest, a little ridiculous! When the boys come out to greet fans, I often times have to cover my ears, because the screams are SO outrageously loud... I've seen girls hyper-ventilate, have a full on break down, I'm not kidding! I'm trying to relate and remember back to my teenage days when I had a little thing for Justin Timberlake when he was in 'N Sync, I guess I got a little crazy when I went to their concert, hoped he would call me on stage of course, but not THAT obsessed, LOL!
Okay, so back on track... after we do this meet and greet, we head inside and get a quick bite to eat and then get ready for press. We put on a little make-up, look presentable and head over to do local press interviews. This last around an hour, then it's on to the sponsor meet and greets. We all sit behind long tables with sharpies and boxes of Pop Tarts. Pop Tarts, Net Jets and Guitar Hero, are our tour sponsors, I often times eat a strawberry pop tart during the meet and greet cause I didn't get a chance to eat lunch
. Then the fans that were contests winners, family members and friends of the sponsors line up with an 8x10 photo of the Top 10 and we "sign and slide" it on to the next person, as they "walk and talk" to each contestant... this is what the security guard reminds everyone through out the meet and greet. Next we take big group photos with all of these lovely folks, then we mingle and eat appetizers with them. This all last for about an hour and half or so, then it's time for sound check...
This is where we all get on stage and work out the bugs with our in-ear monitors. These are like little earphones that are custom made to fit in your ear so that you can hear yourself and the band in these gigantic arenas, it's taken me a while to get used to these, often times it is hard for me to hear the audience which sometimes makes me feel a little disconnected or unsure, but every once in a while the crowd is loud enough to hear through the in ears... exciting! During soundcheck we sing our group song, "Please don't stop the Music"... everyone gets a little goofy during soundcheck usually involving a humorous change in lyrics accompanied by some ridiculous dance moves. Once we get a handle on the sound, it's time to go get ready for the show... off to hair and make-up...
We have a fabulous hair and make-up duo, they really make all ten of us look like fancy superstars for this show. First the hair stylist tames my curly and massive hair, then he snaps in a few extensions in the back to add a little bit of length, and wha-lah it's ready! Then in make-up, the make-up artist gives me some smokey eyes and long eyelashes. After I got my face on, it's into wardrobe, as we are just moments away from the show. From backstage we can hear people starting to load into the arena, as the Emcee gets everyone pumped for the show! This is wear my nerves set in!
At 7:10 Chikezie opens up the show and brings down the house with his hi-energy soul and hip hop moves
And now it's off to the races, every body getting ready to hit the stage. Following Chikezie, is Ramiele... the cutest lil' gal alive sings and dances her little heart out , then it's time for Mr. Austrailia Michael Johns and his blusey-rock vibe. After Michael it's Kristy's turn to bring her country sass to the stage. Then while Carly blows the roof off the place with her power house vocals, I am underneath the stage getting ready to kick off my shoes and play some piano.
So side note (sorry this is getting uber detailed and much longer than I planned) I generally play with my right shoe off, so that I can feel the pedal with my foot, I also do this when I drive
Anyway after my first song, I just put back on my shoe, originally I had these tall skinny heels on that I was wearing while I played my second song on guitar... let me say, I LOVE heels, I have since I was a small child waiting to fit into a size 5, I love that they make my legs look longer than they really are, and make me look taller than I really am... HOWEVER, I have yet to master the art of standing in them while playing guitar, or dancing and singing in them while walking up slippery ramps and walking down stairs
Yes, I know I'm looking a little... awkward, I'm working on that!! So the night of the Fresno show, at the last minute as I was running to the stage I found out that my shoes were no where to be found, that meant I had to go out and play with out shoes! This was a wonderful blessing in disguise, as just the day before I was trying to figure out how I was going to play in those heels again and actually look... cool
Sure enough this really helped me play and move with greater confidence and ease, I might still be a little "quirky" as my husband says, but I don't know if there is much I can do about that
So I decided to ditch the shoes all together... well at least until the group songs....
I am enjoying my set, I am still learning the ropes of singing in an arena! It is overwhelming, but pretty dang cool. As a performer I like to look at people, but here it can be hard to see everyone as there are thousands of people, but I still try! I love to see people connecting with the music, and "snapping it out" during 1,2,3,4... it makes me happy and makes me want to sing my heart out for y'all! Some days I still wonder how I got this far, and when I am on the stage and see the fans, I get this feeling of gratitude, for everything that everyone has done to help me
In these moments, all the challenges, the struggles, the work... becomes worth it!! Thank you all, truly! After my set, I get a brief chance to introduce the group song and motivate the audience to help the world, especially those kids in Africa suffering from Malaria. I love this experience and the opportunity it's given me to do a little something good. We then sing "in the name of Love" as a group. It's awesome...
Then it's time for intermission... as well as a "to be continued" for this blog, it's 1 am and we've got a show tomorrow. Again, this turned out to be much more intense than I planned
I will finish as soon as I get a sec... good night!
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She's so sweet. I love her.
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