08/04/07 Charlotte, NC: Carowinds

[Alinite27]

I TOUCHED HIS FINGERTIPS!!!
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Well to sum it up in three words.....I.....HATE....THEMEPARKS! Actually, it wasn't really the theme park. They weren't too bad except not allowing pictures.

The show was normal no slips, no hang-ups, and Albuqerque was the same in the donuts as Dick Clarks, and the pet names were the same except for Honey Dumplin and Sugar Tarantula. He did Bob.

I met up with people from here after the show, and we all went to the bus. We waited for around 30 minutes and everyone had great stuff for Al to autograph. He came out waved...came over, ran his fingers against the fence(not even really looking at who we were), signed a few PLAIN pieces of paper that two kids fit through the fence, and left. Not sure why. Maybe he wasn't feeling good or somethin. At least he did that, I guess. I've got to meet him tons of times before with the family and everything, too. Also, I've met the band before..so I wasn't too upset. It would have been nice if he had looked to see who we were, though. He would have known me. Anyway, I just felt sorry for the other people that hadn't met Al before, that I had brought over to the bus. Wish they had met them.

Oh well, HOT THEMEPARK, long lines, even more expensive food than Dick Clark's the previous night, a regular concert(albeit still awesome), and not a very good meeting with Al afterwards. I hope with the theatre show tomorrow night, I'll get to see them more, and talk to them longer. Shouldn't be too much of a problem, should be like Oneida was.

[algonacchick]

um, i may have been in a hurry and misquoted that word, but 'regarded' and 'considered', used like they both are here, are synonyms. 'considered' still implies opinion, not fact.

Ok, I give up.

It did not sound like they were undecided, no matter the wrong word quoted. "widely considered" sounds to me like a lot of people think that of Al, with no doubt in there.

Anyway, it was a nice article you posted.

[weirdojace]

Arg. I was so close to coming to this one, too... >_>

[TheOldDuke]

Hey all, I just wanted to say again that meeting all of you after the show was great, and thanks again for leading us to the buses! Even if we didn't get to actually meet him, it was still incredible to be that close. As a side note, though, I don't know about the other person who got his autograph, by my girlfriend was one of the two that did, and it was not on a plain piece of paper, but on an Al Buck! Lol, we're still giggling over that. It is currently residing in a little fireproof safe that I have until I can find an appropriate display case. Great show, though I really missed Wanna B Ur Lovr and especially One More Minute. In my opinion, though, Albuquerque made up for the loss, just because that is my all-time favorite song and I never thought I'd ever get to see it in person. Lol, from now on my girlfriend and I have decided to call each other Sugar Tarantula.

[Alinite27]

Oh, cool. I didn't know that anyone from here did. It looked like some people just stuffed a couple things through the gate for not much of reason. But, I'm glad that someone that appreciates it got an autograph. It was nice meeting you too, oldduke.

[Ambra]

Well, I just got back about half-an-hour ago. I would've posted as soon as I walked in the door but quite frankly, I reeked after walking around Carowinds in 95 degree heat and had to take a shower before I did anything!

The show was great, much smoother than the Glen Allen show, although he didn't do WBUL and some of the video clips had been shortened from what I remember from the May 2nd show. I also think Al might have been either feeling a bit under the weather and/or exhausted. His voice was great but I noticed a couple of songs where he didn't have the same range level and/or he sounded like he had a scratchy throat, the most notable number being "Amish Paradise". Instead of doing it in the lower register he normally does it in, he did it more in the range of "Eat It" or "Like a Surgeon". It could've just been his way of playing around with the song but if his throat is bothering him due to illness and/or overuse, going into that lower range may not have been possible. He had a great time with "Albuquerque"--who knew there was a "Halle Berry" donut--and he and I even had a brief staring contest. Right after the "I had my tray table up/And my seatback in the full upright position" chorus, instead of the laugh, he came to the edge of the stage and stared at me for about 3 seconds so I stared back! I lucked-up because the folks in front of me left after "Fat" so there was on one in between us. Normally, staring someone eye-to-eye like that would make me uncomfortable but there's just something about Al that put me at ease. I also managed to get a few Al bucks(finally!) a CI streamer, and a handful of "Albuquerque" confetti. although with the Al bucks, I did something I feel kinda guilty about--I jumped up before he was done singing to grab some from the aisle. I feel badly about that because it was kinda rude so I plan on apologizing at his MySpace page. As far not allowing pictures, I heard a security guard tell the girl in front of me that Al had requested no pictures, not them which I strongly feel is yet another example of the security BS machine since there's a permanent plaque on the wall outside the gates that says cameras aren't allowed!

And Jeremy, I'm not disappointed with my brief Al encounter. The quick fingertip touch was more than I've ever gotten before and as someone in our group said, he's human; he can't be "on" 24/7. We have no idea what may be happening with him on a personal level and I don't think he meant it as a slight. I'm actually somewhat glad I didn't get to meet him this time because as I said, I was a sweaty, sticky, smelly mess. I don't want the first thing to pop into his head when I meet him to be "And you smell repulsive too" from YP! I also think that God, fate, the universe, or whatever's out there is having me work up to actually meeting him because it knows if it was too much too soon, I'd get vapor locked and say nothing or say something idiotic. So so far I've had: Al walking up the aisle about 5 feet from me during OMM in 2000, the "big finish" of WBUL sung to me at Glenn Allen, and now actually getting to physically touch him. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the fourth time will be the charm!

[Kristine]

They probably didn't have time for a mag... they needed to get on the road to get to the next stop.

[Ambra]

The next stop is Raleigh, NC which is less than four hours away so time was probably not a factor. To me, he looked really tired and I don't blame him for wanting to get some rest. Sure, I would've loved to have met him, but hopefully, there will be other opportunities for that.

I forgot to mention that while we were waiting for the concert to start and listening to the music that was supposed to keep us occupied until then, the song "This How Life Should Be" came on. Call it pre-concert excitement or AIH but for the first two choruses, I thought they were singing, "This is Al's Live CD" as in this was his own personal "mix" CD that he has played before his shows start!

And I really enjoyed meeting my fellow WOWAYers too! I think it was ElRoboDiablo that got a pic of all of us together. I hope I get to see you guys at other shows along with even more WOWAYers!

[Alinite27]

Yeah, time wasn't any problem and there werne't very many of us waiting. It only took a little less than three hours to get to Raleigh today. Oh well, I'm going to try tonight. It'd be nice to get backstage sometime, too. Maybe Wildwood with Dave. Or, I'd really like to be able to at my 27th show on this tour on August 18th. I mean, they know who I am and I've met them all many times, so I wouldn't see why not. Hopefully tonight will be different.

And I didn't mean to sound like it was a slight or anything. Al can do what he wants to do. If he wants to meet with other fans than pass people after the show, he would. So, it's understandable...

[ElRoboDiablo]

first of all-

THANKS to alinite27 for coming through, as he promised months ago, and leading myself and a gaggle of fellow WoWAY'ers to the buses after the show. classy guy, that guy. the fact that al didn't feel up to more than a cursory 'hi, thanks for coming, sorry i don't wanna hang out tonight' was kind of a drag but hey, whuddyagunnado (as ambra overheard me saying, he can't be 'on' 24/7). fact is, he came out after only 20-25 minutes, so my friends and i still made it to the beer store before midnight (dang southern blue laws!!), and i was really just happy to get to spend a few minutes getting to know some of the nice folks from this cool forum.

old duke- your girlfriend got an al buck signed? i guess she was the one who al said 'okay, one more autograph, but only if you're the last one. hear that everybody? this lady said she's the last one so yell at her!' LOL. well you both seemed very nice anyway!

ambra- i would have knocked over a ten-year-old girl in a wheelchair for an al buck, i was about three rows too far back to get one. so don't beat yourself up about a little aisle-harvesting. but, if you really feel the need to atone, i'd love to send you a self-addressed stamped envelope, and take one of them off your hands. you'll be sleepin' like a baby, guilt-free and guarenteed...

alinite- thanks again bud. have fun at the rest of the dates you're going to on the tour, who knows maybe we'll run into each other again if al adds more dates to the thing haha...

all in all, another great show, and fun times.

oh, and yeah, that was me with the camera after the show (certainly not DURING it, though; i didn't want it confiscated by the stern-looking security), and i'll post those couple of group shots we took in the next few days...