Vanessa (Part 2)

So, we go to the radio station. Running a BIT late, but nothing too bad. Not so bad that I'm worried we're going to miss something. Turns out that Vanessa Carlton is running late herself and we're waiting on her. No big deal. Mom & I head downstairs to go to the restroom and find a vending machine, so we hang out a bit downstairs and get ourselves something to drink. Well, it's almost time to head back upstairs. I'm a bit impatient. I don't want to miss out on something. I'm sure I won't, but I want to be sure I don't miss something.

We're waiting some more. We start chit chatting with the other people who are there for the show. There's a lady and her 11 year old son, a 9^th grader and her dad, my mom and myself. I think we're all excited about it but restraining our excitement. Well, with the exception of the 11 year old.

Then finally, after waiting about 45 minutes, she's there. She's tiny! Like, I knew she would be. All artists/actresses are always thinner than what you think they're going to be. But she really is tiny.

We go back to the freeeeezing studio room where they're going to have the show. It's really quite a small room. Smaller than I would have thought they'd use. But it isn't my show and it isn't my thing to run.

Vanessa is really nice. The DJs are asking her questions and she's answering them as best she can and in-between questions, she's singing songs. I can't quite remember what all she sang. I know she sang Heroes & Thieves, A Thousand Miles, and Home, but I can't remember what else. The show is a lot shorter than I thought it would be, but it was fun.

They're doing some other stuff. Stuff for the station and we're getting our autographs and pictures and stuff. There's something they're waiting on, so they do the drawing for the dinner with Vanessa, and I WON!!!! I can't believe I won. Yes, I have some absurd luck. I always seem to win stuff.

Mom decides that she wants to get a CD for Vanessa to sign for the guy she takes care of (?). Okay. Whatever. I don't care because I realize that I want to get one of her other CDs and have her sign it/them. So, we get our CDs and head to bricktown where we're meeting the radio station people and Ms. Carlton. At first, I can't find the table where we're supposed to be. I'm starting to feel embarrassed because I start thinking "What if I get there after her? What if they think I just left and didn't come back for dinner? Is she there already? Man I hate being late for stuff like this!"

Well, we get there and the only people there are the radio station people and their wives & children. Not so exciting, but whatever. We talk a bit. Nothing worth mentioning. They were nice enough.

Then there she is. The PR guy, Frank, goes to get her and comes back with Vanessa and her Tour manager, Ziggy. I'm wondering how this is going to go. And I'm kind of annoyed because Frank (the PR guy) and Cisco (the DJ from the radio station) are hogging the conversation and talking about stuff I have no idea about what they're talking about. I can't remember how the subject changed, but I think Vanessa changed the subject herself after seeing that I was feeling uncomfortable.

I can't remember what all we talked about. I know she asked me what I thought about the show. What my favorite part was and what I do for a living. Um… we talked a bit about me and what I do. I told her I really became a fan when I realized she played the guitar and piano both. I really do like artists who play their own instruments are TRUE musicians and not entertainers. I told her I liked that she was a singer/songwriter because I am a bit of a writer. I can't remember what all I got asked. I know somehow we got started talking about finishing college. She asked me what I was going to major in and I told her I wasn't sure (again) because I have a lot of interests.

We had a nice chat. I think we got to talk for about an hour or so. She's very sweet. Very intelligent and well spoken. She's exactly as I would have expected. Very cordial and respective. She's very down to earth and easy to talk to. I could have talked to her for hours. I don't know exactly how to describe the dinner. Actually, she didn't even eat. LOL And I just kind of picked at my food. Not only did the people from the station make me nervous, but as Ms. Carlton got there, I had just started really eating my food. I didn't want to be rude and eat in front of her when she wasn't eating.

In the end, it was a very nice experience. It was quite, quite, quite fun. I'd do it again all over again. It went much smoother than I thought that it would. I managed NOT to get food on the front of me. I didn't manage to put my foot in my mouth. At least not that I remember.

I got my nerdy fan things out of the way. I had a little stuffed buffalo that I got for her that had an Oklahoma bandana around his neck for her, got a few individual pictures with her and asked her to listen to the voicemail greeting for Jason's phone. It was the one thing that he asked me to do for him. It's so cheesy. I felt so… MTV doing that. It's the kind of thing you see kids on MTV asking artists to do. I told her that she didn't have to leave a message if she didn't want to, but apparently she did because I got a message from him a bit later that said "I owe you big!" Heh. I'll have to figure out what he means by that one. But I'm sure I can find some way for him to pay me back. *laughs maniacally*

Anyway, that was my recap of the Vanessa experience. I'm sure there's stuff I'm leaving out and there are details I'm missing because I'm sleepy and my adrenaline rush is gone now, but it was fun. A once in a lifetime experience. Vanessa is a lovely, lovely woman. The kind of person I'd want to be friends with and the kind of person I want to have in my corner. She's very kind and considerate.

There wasn't any bad part to the experience. Not that I can remember…. Well, except for the radio people's wives making me feel a bit uncomfortable. They were snobby and had that "I'm better than you" attitude. They were nice enough, but you could tell from the way that they talked to me & mom and the way they carried on that they thought they were better than other people. *shrug*

In the end, Mom and I were the ones that Vanessa and her manager talked to the most. I could care less about how much the radio personalities or their wives got to talk to her. It was supposed to be for me –the fan. Not for those with connections to the music industry. Once again, I wouldn't trade it for the world. It was a lot of fun and I hope that somehow, someway, I can meet and talk with Ms. Carlton once again.