We arrived Sunday night in Cleveland after getting lost in the Cleveland downtown area for almost 2 hours! By the time I got to the hotel I was flustered and my son was extremely bored! After getting the rental car taken care of with valet, we walk into what you would think is the lobby on the ground floor. Wrong! We still have to go to the 6th floor to get to the lobby! Who designed this place?! As we're walking over to the front desk, I hear the cutest little British accent. Looking to my right, who do I see? Phil and Viv sitting on this little couch thing, Rick A. standing by the elevator, and Sav (sigh) standing near the lounge. There was someone sitting in the chair next to him, but once I saw Sav the rest of them went blurry! I started shaking and I think I even missed a step on my way to the desk. As we were out of sight of the Leps, I leaned over and told my son, "Look over to your right and tell me who you see." My son took a quick peek and when he looked back at me his eyes were as big as saucers! He got a big goofy grin on his face that matched the one on his mom's face! I had the lady at the desk telling me, "blah, blah, blah, dinner reservations" and the bellhop saying "blah, blah, blah, fitness center" and Phil's cute little accent saying "blah, blah, blah, tour buses." I was in serious sensory overload! I was "escorted" to the elevator by the bellhop after signing my life and my life savings away at the desk. I looked over at Viv as I was getting into the elevator and he was looking right at me with a huge smile on his face. Probably because I had a huge smile on my face. In the elevator, the bellhop tells me to swipe my card to get access to the floor we're staying on. So what do I do now that I'm totally in Lep heaven? I stand there shaking my head "yes" at him! He had to take my card and swipe it for me! We get off the elevator and he says "go to your left," so what do I do? I go to my right! My son was all "mom, your other left!" Sheesh! How was I going to survive this trip? We got to our room and I thought the bellhop had left (I swear I heard the door close) so my son and I grab each other's shoulders and let out a little scream! The bellhop was still there! He was looking at us like we were insane! Ok we have the Leps down in the lobby, so what's the most obvious thing to do? Go back downstairs and try to meet them you say? Wrong! I called Lisa in Columbus to tell her to get her butt up to Cleveland ASAP! Then after getting off the phone with her, do I go down to see if they're still there? No! I call another friend to tell her they're in the lobby! She laughed and said, "So why are you on the phone with me if they're down in the lobby? LOL Hmmm, good question! Well, we talked for about 2 hrs, so by then I figured they definitely weren't still in the lobby! Oops! Missed my opportunity! That's okay, there were other opportunities still to come!
I had planned on going to the bar later that night to see if any Leps showed up, but both bars in the hotel close at 10pm! What the hell kind of hotel is this anyway?! So it's now the next day and still I haven't met the band! After little sleep the night before and getting up late on Monday, I have a $30 pot of coffee (not joking there) and call Lisa. Where the heck is she? She's on her way to Cleveland by Greyhound! Finally! The plan is to meet her in the lobby at 1:30pm so she can get up to the room.
It's 1:15pm and my son and I are waiting in the lobby for Lisa to arrive. We're sending text messages back and forth on our cell phones when lo and behold, here comes Malvin! I'm scared to death of Malvin because of stories I've heard, but I walk right over to him after he takes care of business at the desk and tell him my son adores Rick and would it be possible to talk to him for a sec when they head out for sound check? After looking me up and down (I guess there's some truth to the stories) he says, "I don't see why not." Score! He gets into the elevator and as it's about to close, he puts his hand out to stop it and tells me they'll be coming down around 3:30, but some are leaving a little earlier if I want to hang around the lobby! Duh! Yeah I'll hang around! It's now almost 2:00pm and where is Lisa? I swear that girl was trying to give me a heart attack! I send her a message that the Leps will be coming down soon (in over an hour LOL) and to hurry it up. She's now sending me messages saying "35 miles to Cleveland," "15 miles to Cleveland," etc. Finally she got there a little after 2:00.
I wouldn't even let her up to the room. I was not missing another opportunity! So there we sit in the lobby between the two sets of elevators waiting for the Leps. After what seemed like an eternity, Rick walked out of the elevators. I look to Lisa for help, but she's there with the deer-in-the-headlights look going on. I walked over to him and told him my son thought he was the greatest thing since sliced bread and could we get a pic with him. He smiled the cutest smile and laughed the cutest laugh and said "sure." We got our pic and said thanks. My son had suddenly become mute, he was so in awe of his idol, so no words were exchanged between Jeff and Rick. He was obviously in a hurry so Lisa didn't ask for a pic and Rick left. We sat back down and a few minutes later the elevators opened and Phil walked out. Now Phil is Lisa's fave, so what does she do? Does she go over and talk to him since she's the "outgoing" one between the two of us? No! I had to go over to him and ask if we could get a pic. He said yes and Lisa went to take our pic with him and says, "I'm not good with cameras, I hope I can do this." I told her something along the lines of "just push the button!" We got our pic and Lisa just stood there mesmerized. Again, it was up to me to speak up, so I said "your turn!" Lisa got next to Phil and they put their arms around each other and I got the picture. I think Lisa was tickling Phil because she had her hand on his waist and was shaking. He probably thought she was trying to cop a feel! She said the only thought going through her head as she looked at the fuzz on his cheek was "my God, his waist is so tiny!" So we thanked Phil and he left and we sat back down to wait. Soon Ricky walked out. I looked at Lisa and mouthed "isn't that Ricky?" Lisa shook her head yes and together we called out his name. He turned around and I asked if we could get a pic with him. He looked genuinely shocked! It was like he couldn't believe someone wanted a picture with him instead of the Leps. He said of course we could take a picture with him. Lisa went first. I took the picture and then started laughing. I told them it was hard to get a picture with both of them in it because Lisa's barely 5' tall and Ricky's about 6' tall. Ricky squatted down and said, "Should I have stood like this?" I told him, "No, get on your knees!" He laughed and put his arm around me and wiggled his eyebrows and said, "Maybe later!" THUD! I wish I had thought to say "promise?" Lisa took our picture as we all laughed and my son shook his head at the embarrassment his mother was causing him! We told him thanks and see you at the show and he left. What a sweetheart of a man! He has 2 new fans for life in Lisa and myself! Okay, bear with me, we're almost to the concert! Next to come out of the elevator was Joe, followed quickly by Sav from another elevator. Both made a beeline for the front desk. Now, Sav is my fave, but he scares the living shit outta me! Joe left the desk and went across the hall from me to the lounge and just stood there staring at us! Sav came over to the elevator and I took a deep breath and meekly called out his name. He looked over at me and said "yes?" I asked if he had a second and he said, "What? Couldn't hear ya." He got within a few inches of my face! THUD! Looking into those baby blues I swear my heart was going to stop! I asked again if he had a second and he said that yeah he did. I asked for a picture with him (I know my voice was sounding like a 2 year olds by this time!) and he said, "Of course you can get a picture with me." THUD! The day before in the lobby he looked really bummed out so I was really expecting him to yell at me or something, but I figured what the hell and asked and I was in shock when he said yes! I got my pic with him (AAAHHH, I touched Sav!) and it was my turn for the deer-in-the-headlights look! He just stood there afterwards waiting! The man wanted me to speak in his presence?! Is he crazy? So, the natural thing to do was to introduce my son! Like he gave a rat's ass who my son was! LOL Lisa FINALLY spoke up and said she knew he was busy and wouldn't ask for a pic herself and that we knew he was in a hurry to get to sound check. He said, "Okay, thanks." And left after I thanked him profusely! Just as the elevator door was closing with him in it security came over and told us to leave. The bitch in me came out and I told him we were guests and weren't going anywhere! The elevator door was still open so I'm sure Sav was wondering what had happened to that shy little thing he'd just met in the lobby! Security told us we had to wait in the lounge then and no more pictures. Funny thing is, Joe was in the lounge! Okay, fine, we won't wait by the elevators for Joe to come to us, we'll go to him on the insistence of security! I walked into the lounge and walked right past Joe without even looking at him. My son waited right outside and Lisa was "two steps behind" him. Joe noticed a shirt my son was wearing that I had made with pics I took of the band at the Phoenix concert. He asked him about it and said "cool shirt." Jeff told him thanks, his mom had made it. Joe looked over at Lisa and she shook her head no and pointed to me. He looked at me, turned away, looked back (what was up with that?) and said, "You made that?" I told him I had with pics from Phoenix. Again he said cool shirt. He kept hesitating to leave. Lisa spoke up and asked about his arm to which he responded that he had acute tendonitis. Lisa also told him that Joe and her son were twins because his arm was in a sling too because he had broken it. Joe still kept hesitating to leave. I think he was waiting for us to ask for a picture since he saw us ask Sav, but we were afraid of security so we didn't even bother. Viv came out of the elevator and saw me grinning like a fool at him and he smiled real big and made a beeline for us, but security grabbed him by the shoulder and shoved him into the elevator! We never did get to meet him. That's our new goal for future shows! Joe then said something about needing to go to sound check and I said that yeah he better git or he'd be late. We said goodbyes and he left. Finally I let Lisa up to the room to put her luggage away! Oh yeah, Mal came out at some point carrying a guitar and a suitcase and we just said, "Hi Mal!" in unison. He said hi back.
Finally, the concert portion! Thanks for your patience! After calling Gund for the third time we left for the arena, sure that cameras would be allowed! When the doors opened and people started filing in we noticed they were checking purses, wanding everyone, and turning people away with cameras! We told them the box office said cameras were okay as long as they weren't digitals. The security guy spouted off something like 'how is the box office supposed to know?" We ran back to the hotel to leave our cameras and then ran back to Gund. After meeting Ricky and realizing what a sweetie pie is he, we were determined to see his whole set. We made it back literally seconds before he started playing! Ricky's set was awesome! The only problem we had with it is that Ricky never opens his eyes! After his set there was the usual break and finally the Leps hit the stage!
We were in the second row in front of "The Voice" himself, but of course behind Jabba The Hut! Very early on Phil looked down and saw us. His eyes got wide when he recognized us and he gave us a big wave. How cool is that? We're not going to include a set list because in truth they could have done 2 hours of Jingle Bells and we would have never noticed! A couple of song highlights were when Joe went into Cleveland Rocks with the crowd singing along and Lisa's personal favorite, just as they were going into Photograph, Phil looked down and mouthed, "This is for you." I thought she was going to die! As Lisa said, she hit all the high points in her life, the birth of her son, meeting most of the Leps, got a pic with Phil, then he "dedicates" a song to her! It's a good thing she didn't die! I was way too busy drooling to do CPR on her! My son stared at Rick all night and never would have even noticed if Lisa had been lying on the floor! At different points during the show, each of the guys, including Viv, saw us and smiled or waved! Again, how cool is that? Phil's shirt didn't come off until late in the show, which was a bummer, but hey at least it did come off at some point! We seriously kept waiting for Sav's drawers to drop because every time he moved they slid lower and lower! It was a great show from the band, but the audience was dead! The band noticed too! Joe kept trying to rile the crowd, but finally just rolled his eyes! When they went into Rock of Ages we all wanted to cry because we knew the show was almost over! At the end, Rick gave my son the thumbs up! He's still in heaven over that!
After the show we went to the room, freshened up, then headed for the nearest bar hoping the guys would be there. As we were passing by, I recognized Lors and we went over to say hi. Lors and Debs looked at us like we were psycho until I introduced us! Okay I can see Lisa being shy about talking to the Leps, but she wouldn't speak around Lors and Debs either! We agreed to exchange phone numbers and give each other a call if the band showed up. They stayed at the hotel bar and we went to one nearby. There was another Lauri there, but I didn't know who she was until after the fact. Nothing happened at the bar except the Lakers or someone showed up. BIG DEAL! So we head back to the hotel and see 2 tour buses sitting right out front! We got pics of the buses and headed up to the room. We ran into Lors and Debs in the lobby. Apparently the guys had gone into the hotel bar, but were turned away because they had already given last call! Can we say "unemployment line!" Anyway, as it turned out, Joe was in the lounge with a bunch of people. Lors and Debs asked us if we wanted to go in the lounge with them, but after a little huddle by the menu we decided it'd be best not to get into it with security again, plus we were exhausted, so we passed and went up to our room.
The next morning (after being up until 3am talking about the days events) we had another $30 pot of coffee and got ready to leave! Lisa told me she wasn't going to do her makeup because since the buses were outside the night before and a bunch of luggage was brought down after the Leps left for sound check, they had probably checked out in the middle of the night anyway. I told her, "Makes sense to me" as I meticulously applied my own makeup. Hey, I'm no fool! We headed down to the lobby to check out and Lisa and my son waited by the elevators. Ricky came out of the elevators and my son ran over to tell me! Lisa, at this point with no makeup on, was hoping the earth would open up and swallow her! She said hi to Ricky thinking that would be the end of it. Wrong! He recognized her from the day before and went over to chat! She told him we really enjoyed his show and we were checking out and going to Dayton in a bit. He was genuinely please that we enjoyed his show! She also told him that we figured they'd checked out in the middle of the night, but he said, "No, we're leaving at noon." That was just 30 min away! I guess the Leps still haven't taught him to keep schedules to himself. If we had wanted to we could have waited and followed them! Lisa then told Ricky we'd be in the second row, Phil's side, in Dayton and he said cool, he'd look for us. Yeah right! How can the man look for us if he doesn't open his eyes?! Okay, off to Dayton!
side note: your webmaster is Lors
We got to Dayton and met up with Lisa's hubby and son. By now it was pouring rain! We got to the arena and the first thing I did was go up to ten security guys standing out front and ask about cameras. They assured us, even went so far as to show us the orders they received from Mal, that cameras were allowed. Security didn't check anything as we were let in to the arena. I wish now I had taken my digital camera and my recorder. We went to get some T-shirts since there hadn't been time in Cleveland and were heading to our seats when I spotted Lors again. We talked for a little while to her and headed to our seats.
There was a security guy in front that took a liking to me. He kept calling me over to talk with him. That was fine, but once the show started there was no way I was leaving my seat! He even gave me the Lep's schedule for Dayton for my scrapbook. He was really nice, but not my type! My type, of course, being 5'11"ish with wavy, blond hair and his butt hanging out of his pants! Sound familiar?
Ricky's set was again awesome. We kept screaming his name and waving our arms like crazy people, but he never opened his eyes or looked our way! Got some pics of him though. The Leps came on and we were both slightly disappointed because Phil looked our way several times and never recognized us. Until about the end of the second or third song, then he made eye contact with Lisa, got a surprised look on his face, and waved! THUD! As the night before, each of them at different points during the show, except Viv, recognized us and gave us either a smile or wave, or in Rick's case, a big thumbs up! Some saggy boobed lady flashed the band, right in front of my son no less, and the band just smiled. Joe said something like, "Thank you. Does your mother know what your doing? It's nice to know things like that still happen."
There was a pole dancer with 50 ZZZ in front of me that did not impress Phil or Joe! I think Viv may have been a little impressed though! There was also a lady (I use the term loosely) next to her with her shirt all the way open in the front, no bra, with her itty bittys hanging out. Again Phil and Joe were not impressed! Joe tried to get the crowd riled by doing Cleveland Rocks, but was met with boos and hisses instead. He looked a little confused, then said screw it, and went into Two Steps Behind. The band sounded great! You would never know Joe's arm is injured the way he was waving them around at the show! After twenty some odd years, the guys still got what it takes to bring the house down! At the end of the show, Sav made eye contact with me and I tried to tell him to turn around, so I could get a pic of his butt, but he either didn't understand me or chose to defy me, and instead made his eyes real big, smiled, and waved enthusiastically. I just laughed and said, "No, turn around!!!!" What a great week! Lisa can't wait for the Columbus gig and I can't wait for the Colorado gig. Hopefully Lisa will be in Colorado with me! Actually, hopefully I can make it to Columbus to see the show with her!
