07/17 - 07/21/07 Costa Mesa, CA Orange County Fair

[catanddogdoctor]

Just to lighten the mood a bit........

Being this close to Al during WBUL..... priceless >:)




More pics very very soon!

Maria

[catanddogdoctor]

removing double post

[weird_el]

Here's Maria's close-up from another angle

This pic is one of Rachael's.

[Gadget Girl]

I was so mad when I read that post that I had to get off and steam for awhile.

For at least 27 reasons - YOU DID THE RIGHT THING EL!!!

[weirdalisthephantomoftheopera]

Totally, you can't argue with someone who follows the law.

Those are really good WBUL pictures! :9~

Thanks for all the reviews everyone! Make me feel like I was there for each concert day!

[Rachael27]

Yeah, I wanted to say something about that post a while ago, but didn't really know what to say. The first thing that came to mind was "Wow, that was mean"

Honestly, who wants to sit through the whole show smelling that crap? All of this happened during the polka.

BTW, those two tall gues did NOT ruin our view! I got amazing pictures even with them sitting there!

I'm home safe and sound, and I took the day off of work today because I'm so exhausted. I had to go into NYC today anyway in the pouring rain to pick up my poodle. By the time we got home, she was completely soaking wet. Yuck. Boy did we miss each other. I'm glad to have her back!! I wish I could have brought her with me.

[algonacchick]

Thank you for posting those awesome WBUL pics, Maria! Certainly made this gal feel better!

:9~

El, cool shot!

Rachael, when El posted that the guys making beer runs only did it during video breaks, I was so happy! You two did not get your "precious view" blocked after all! Yeah! Seems the folks ingesting legal substances were more courteous than those ingesting the illegal ones.

to anth on the awesome, and even humorous editing on that post.

[Orthography Enthusiast]

I asked Steve what the African language was they use during the new Yoda chant, and I think he said Zarma -- a language spoken in Niger. He only learned those words phonetically, he doesn't know what they mean.

Oh, my goodness! He'd better find a native speaker of Djerma and find out what the heck they're singing then!

Steve asked the audience at an Ak & Zuie show once if anybody spoke Djerma, I thought he said "German" and he spelled it for me. But according to Wikipedia Zarma is also correct, and of course Wikipedia never lies.

I agree with you about WDTAHTM. It really is beautiful, and the Simpsons line always gets a huge laugh from the clueless multitudes who didn't buy Poodle Hat.

[algonacchick]

hehe, that's kinda funny that Steve doesn't know what the words mean. Hopefully, nothing bad, just in case someone who speaks Djerma is listening.

psst, Helen, check your PM box

[Kristine]

NIGHT TWO 7/18/07

I got to the fairgrounds at about the same time as the first day. I went through the same routine- I picked up my aftershow pass, then headed to the line of Al fans to get more signatures. While I was getting the petition signed, I saw Helen handing out Star Fund stickers. Once we got inside the arena, Helen and I talked quite a bit. I saw quite a few people inside- CindyBob, Christina, SquirrelyGirl, and many others… it’s hard to remember everyone. The concert was awesome tonight, and I had a really really good seat- front row center! Midway through the concert Vikki showed up with her two sons, and they sat next to me in the front row. During I’ll Sue Ya, I actually got a dollar! Finally! Two had fallen next to the staircase, and Jack the Security Guard handed them to me. I took one, and gave one to Vikki’s son. The other son got the Nirvana cup. I’ve been working on trying to memorize the Yoda chant, so for this night, uh… my point and shoot camera paid special attention… shhh. I wanted to be able to replay it so I can write it down and memorize it. Since I was in the front row, I had a nice lens with me (a rental from Samy’s Camera- they’re awesome). I got some great shots of Jim and Steve. I didn’t take too many of Al this night because being directly in front of him makes for some poor images- the mic or mic stand would be directly in front of him in every shot! Anyways, after the concert I went right over to the backstage entrance. This night was much faster to get in- the security guards got the routine down. Jim was already standing out in the front, so I walked over and said hi. When we went into the back area, we stood near Al’s line talking and people watching. I showed him a video clip on my camera of me riding Diamond, which he thought was pretty cool. I also played the video I recorded of Al just after he left the night before. He laughed at the “what were you thinking” part. He thought it was a really sweet idea. Just after I finished showing that, we realized we were kind of in the “exit lane” where the people who finished talking to Al were walking through. So, we moved over to the table area. We sat and basically just talked for a while. He’s a really nice guy, and very polite. Very easy to talk to. Since Jim had mentioned wanting to see pictures of me playing marching bass, I brought some to show him. I also brought the inserts for his four CDs, and he signed them for me. When he got to the Sublime one, he told me the story of how he got that job, and how at first he thought it would be impossible to turn Sublime’s music Hawaiian. He thought it was cool that I got a copy of the Eagles CD before they stopped using the first run cover art. It’s now a “collectable”. Correction- a signed collectable. I also brought my sister’s autograph shirt that night. We only had two missing- Ruben and Bermuda. I’ll post a picture of it later. I stayed a the table while Jim went to find Ruben. Turns out, he was on the tour bus hanging out with his two neighbors. So, Jim and I went on the bus. Again, Jim introduced me as the photographer. I guess I should have helped Ruben hold the shirt still, because the autograph didn’t turn out too well. But it’s what makes the story so funny and memorable. After he finished it, he showed it to the other guys and said, pointing to Al’s autograph and his, “See, look, he’s a pro… and I’m a shmoe!” So, because of that, I keep calling him Shmoe. The five of us stayed on the bus for the rest of the evening, talking about all kinds of things. One of Ruben’s guests collaborated with him on that salsa song that’s on Ruben’s myspace. We talked about photography, digital cameras, and the difference between RAW and Jpeg files. Suzanne walked on the bus, and she looked at me like “Who’s this?” so Jim introduced us. We shook hands, and she said, “Hi, I’m Suzanne” and I’m thinking to myself, “Yeah, I know.” Haha. Then later, when he was done meeting and greeting, Al came on the bus. Carrying an armful of snacks and a Cactus Cooler, he looked at me, smiling, and said, “So I see you’re getting the full tour bus treatment, now.” He went back to his room and took out his laptop. The rest of us stayed and kept talking. Since Jim had to drive himself home again, we left at about 11:30pm. Again, there was construction on the 405-S, but not too bad. I got home just a couple minutes after midnight. I took the photos off my cards and went to bed at around 1:30am.