Weekend at the Charles
"Tubes," Charles Playhouse, 01/17/04 and 01/18/04.
01/17/04
pre-show happiness
and the show begins
show highlights
yay! I love the meet and greet!
Jen is a dork.
At some point, I looked down the row of Blue Men (Michael seemed to be watching, between giving signatures and getting pictures taken), and I babbled, "you're all in a row! I can't handle this!" Haha! They all chuckled at this (although I think Kalen was perpetually smiling at Eric and I). Usually during a meet and greet, I bounce between them, going for whoever's at the moment unoccupied, making sure to see them all... but this time there was no need for that, and I had no idea what to do with myself. hehe. Eventually I got enough sense to go for a picture with them (taken by Eric)... As Eric got set up, I moved a little past Kalen to pull Michael into the picture as well. I greeted him with a "hello" and a one-armed hug, which he sweetly returned... at this point, I'd forgotten all about the picture already, but Michael must have seen the camera, because he bowled me over right into Kalen. Totally pinned me (yay, Blue Man sandwich! lol), to the point where I was a little afraid for my balance skills, haha. In the picture, I'm not doing my usual 100% giddy smile--it's because I'm making sure not to fall on my face. LOL.
Eric (Sceavis) and I had tickets for the Saturday 7:00 pm show, but we decided to head out pretty early so we could hang out around our familiar little corner of Boston for a while before the show started. And besides, in my opinion you can never leave too early for a Blue Man show. I don't care if I have to wait outside the theater for 2 hours! It's the Blue Man theatre, which equals happiness. Hehe. The relatively short trip by car and train/subway got us to Tremont St. (right next to Warrenton St., where the theatre is) around 5:30. We went straight to the Charles to pick up our tickets, and decided to hang around for the 4 o'clock meet and greet.
Standing across from the theatre near the familiar wall smudged with blue paint, where oodles of fan group pictures have been taken, we talked and laughed, spurred by the very aura that surrounds the place. He pointed out where the ushers throw out the bags of paper after each show, and I pointed out the wall from behind which (former Boston Blue Man) Bryce used to yell at people walking by (or so he said, hehe). All the while, we could faintly hear the music from the show inside, and we got all dorkily excited about whatever song they were playing. At some point I brilliantly realized that due to the 15-or-so degree weather, the Blue Men PROBably would stay inside, haha. We stuck around anyways, to watch people come out and see if we could gauge their reactions, but alas, no one particularly enthusiastic or amusing walked through the doors. Boooooo!
Anywho, Eric and I went to grab a bite to eat before the show at a nearby food court--the same one we'd been to with other Blue Man fans like hannah (damn, miss her!!) and minnie and Matt and the whole gang. Ahhh, memories. The small area around the Charles is like my little niche of Boston, ohsocomfy and familiar and rich with so many past memories of wonderful nights. It was good to be "home." =)
We ended up with seats in the back center section of the floor, on the right-side (facing the stage) aisle [thanks much, oh favored one]. I let Eric have the aisle seat and he grew suspicious of the fact that he very well may be in the right area to throw the Toblerone (which both pleased him and made him all nervous, haha). I love being on the aisle, because then you can get a great up-close look at the Blue Men when they walk by. Eric and I came to the mutual agreement that Kalen (who will be leaving us for Berlin in March) HAD to be there, he just had to. I forget whatever giddy fan gibberish we spilled, not that it would be all that exciting to read anyways, haha.
Finally the lights went down and the LEDs started up. I, as usual, had tons of fun doing the cowboy yell. One of these times I should just do the cowboy yell during the show--I'm really too much of a dweeb to do that cool "YOW!" thing, so I should just be blantanty cheesy instead, heheh. The average guy whom we all love stood up and actually said hello to everyone, which was awesome, haha. He was front and center, too, so he probably had a lot of love coming in his accessible direction.
Ahhhh one of my favorite moments: "THE SHOW IS ABOUT TO BEGIN. ALL PLEASE YELL NOW." And those vortex machines gear up and the Blue Men are waiting up on stage, and I just bounce in my seat and get all excited! Oh yay! As the silouhettes lit up, I was estatic to see both Rick (on the left) and Kalen (on the right) up there, but I couldn't figure Michael until sometime during paint/marshmallows... It was strange, because I had previously talked to all three of these guys, whereas normally there's at least one Blue Man per show who I haven't seen/met. I wonder if this is a sign that I go to entirely too many shows. hm. haha.
--During the paint/marshmallows skit, Kalen was throwing marshmallows to Michael and went a bit crazy... He absolutely chucked those things in every direction! But Michael didn't miss a beat, and even made a 2-foot leap to catch one flying projectile. Craziness.
--Kalen continued to pick on poor Michael during Crunch... at the end, after spewing some crunch mush into the front few rows (causing multiple girls to squeal in terror), he turned to Michael and spit at his face! LOL... I was laughing so hard... it's too bad that was the last "crunch" though, because I would have liked to see if Michael would retaliate, hehe. I've only ever seen Kalen play Center in Boston, so to see him playing the smart-aleck was particularly entertaining. hehehe.
--At times during the show, I would pay attention to the placing of the Blue Men on stage and ponder how it would look in picture or on video... I found myself looking at the scenes onstage in a dettached, observational light, as if I wasn't really there... It was really a neat perspective, because I could come really close to fooling myself that I was simply watching from some live-feed or looking at various pictures... and then I would sigh in the bliss that I was indeed there, and that everything unfolding before my eyes was once again alive and really in front of me. I just love being in that theatre--from start to finish there is a certain peace that sits within me... There must be some sort of magic floating around in that place.
--When the Blue Men first came into the crowd, Michael took the Toblerone from someone in the audience and approached Eric, who immediately blushed knowingly. The Blue Man dropped the candies in Eric's hand, closed his fist over them, and then bounded away a few yards... he jump-turned into position as if to say "OK! I'm ready!!" All of Eric's shots were dead on, and Michael had no problem catching them. His face brightened in a tiny smile of something like approval, and eagerly walked back up to Eric for the traditional Blue Man Salute (it took Eric a second to remember to put BOTH arms up, hehe)... and spit the candies into Eric's hand. LOL. I love it. [Funnier, though, is the story of how a Blue Man spit one of his candies down the back of fellow Blue Man Tom's SHIRT when the latter visited the NYC show, hhahahahh that's so gross.] But anywho, the whole scene was so "Michael"... he's very sweet, innocent, and of course delightfully bouncy.
--The twinkie girl was really good... she was willing to be up on stage, but seemed incredibly intimidated by the Blue Men. When they stared at her in the beginning, she looked away, only glancing occasionnally to see if they were still watching her. When they were all doing the headbob thing, she did too, but looked into the side balcony instead of at the Blue Men, which resulted in a good 20 seconds of her bobbing away while the Blue Men kept completely still, waiting for her to notice that she was all alone. Heh heh.
--At the beginning of "Utne Wire Man," where the LED's are scrolling, I marveled at the way the light travels across their faces... revealing them in such a strange light, and in turn hiding them again in the blackness. I noticed one sign in the middle that said "RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and it made me giggle, haha. Another favorite phrase of mine from that segment: "HAVE YOU EVER... PUT YOUR HEAD IN A VICE AND SQUEEZED SO HARD UNTIL FLUID CAME POURING OUT OF YOUR EARS? ...YOU WILL." (that's probably not a completely accurate quote, but close enough, hehe)
--The music for “Cat Video” was more choppy, percussive, and… what’s the word, like a train? Chugging? Chugging along? No, that’s not right… but maybe you know what I mean. I dug it, yo.
--The guy selected for Human Paintbrush appeared to me slightly suspicious... He was the same proportions as the Blue Men, and moved with smooth confidence up to the stage, hardly giving the Blue Men a second glance. Even when he got the blue thumbprint on his face and had to look at the camera, he only let through the smallest of smiles, as if he knew exactly what was going on. He looked oddly familiar, but I'm probably making that part up. Anyways, his ease made me figure him to be an out-of-makeup Blue Man, or at least a fan. Hmmm...
--"White Rabbit" was really odd, because a lot a people were singing, but no one was singing LOUDly, so it was a very subdued, peaceful version of the song (huh??). Michael started to play the melody for people to follow, which was probably a good idea... Karaoke is hard (for some people)! Haha.
--During "Endless Colum," I was just blown away by the beauty of it... Of course, when it's live there is always a certain sadness knowing the show is almost over, but still, it's so lovely. At one point I closed my eyes and just listened... at other points i would let the Blue Men and PVCs be in my peripheral vision so I could take it all in and picture it as a scene that I was an integral part of (along with each and every other audience member)... a community brought together by one amazing show. We were all there as humans, and somewhere not quite among us (at that particular moment), three Blue-headed wonders gently beat out the rhythms to one of the most soothing songs I've ever heard.
--And finally, at the end of the show, when the blue men are jumping onstage as a final hurrah, Michael did a great classic Blue Man dance, for which I unleashed a geeky "wooooooo!" of approval. Heheh. Nice!
Eric and I headed downstairs to the ground floor, where 2 of the band members were standing with their collection box. One, the zither player, was all bundled up in a hoodie, neckwarmer, and hat, since the nearby door was wide open into the cold night. It was kind of funny to see normal street clothing over the band costume, though, hehe. I recognized the drummer as Hari, who I'd seen many times before (but have never really talked to), and I later found that the zither player was Core. [The third, the stick player, might have been Victor, but I'm not sure about that.] As I dropped my dollar bill into the box, I said with a smile, "you guys are awesome!" They both gave a modest thank you, and then I asked if I could have their pictures individually. They were fine with that, so I quickly set up to take a picture of Hari... He stood there straight-faced for a second, until Core said something like "oh come on, smile!" to which Hari cracked a slight grin (which was only halfway there by the time I hit the button).
I was about to get a shot of Core when my camera decided to die on me... I guess I hadn't changed the batteries like I thought. I explained and headed next to Core (in front of the little bar window) where I proceeded to replace my batteries... While I was doing so, he mentioned, "the Blue Men should be coming down soon, too," to which I ended up babbling something about having seen the show a lot (and mentally slapping myself for probably coming across like "I'VE seen it TEN times! HAH!" gaaaaah stupid Jen). I think he said something to the effect of thanking me for coming back (that is so sweet of them to say because it's completely unneccessary! hehe)... I might have said something about posting on the message board, too, because when I finally had my camera set, Core asked, "this isn't going to end up on some weird website, is it?" This made me laugh because of course it would have if he didn't say anything, LOL. I replied, "not if you don't want it to!" Since Hari was right there when this exchange happened, I'm not posting either picture on here because I can't argue that my website isn't WEIRD. Haha. I mean, um... no, no weird websites around here!
After getting Core's (excellent) picture, Eric and I just kinda hung around in the area... I wanted so badly to say something else to the bandies, but for some reason I'm kinda nervous around them... I think it's because they are human, haha. I can walk up to a Blue Man I've never met and give him a big ol' hug, but put me next to a bandie and I'm incredibly shy to a fault. D'oh! And since I've seen Hari so many times, you'd think I could muster up the courage to talk to him (more than just saying "you rock!"), but alas, no... =( That makes me sad, because the band really does kick some serious ass. Anywho, by this time the Blue Men hadn't come down, and I asked Core if he knew if they would be out tonight at all, and he said that they might be upstairs, where they'd been hanging out for the past few nights. He then promptly asked a staffer where the Blue Men were, who confirmed this. I thanked the band guys (I hope) and said goodbye, and headed upstairs to find the Blue Men.
Trying to go upstairs while everyone is trying to go downstairs, at the Charles, is no easy task, haha. But Eric and I made it... Close to the top of the steps, were all three blue men in a row in front of the big splatter painting. Kalen was standing in the center, and I could just see his face through the crowd in front of me. Those moments were you are so close, but can't get through, are absolutely torturous, lol. Finally, a space opened up and I approached Kalen and Rick (who was on the right). I gave them both a friendly "heyyy!" and a shy smile, as they both looked at me with the same curious gaze, as if they could tell I knew them, but weren't sure who I was. I moved to Kalen for a hug, an action which seemed to jar his memory, for he opened his arms and lifted his voice to say "hey! how are you?!" as I hugged him. I said "good, how are you?" while we hugged, and then Eric jumped in with his "Hi, Kalen!" It took a brief explanation for Kalen to place Eric, but until he did, he had a bit of that classic "howdoyouknowmyname?" look...hehe. I asked Kalen how it had been adjusting to being in Boston and "Tubes" again, to which he said he was doing well, and that the transition/adjustment was really easy... I mentioned that I was really glad to see him, because we'd heard he was off to Berlin soon, and then I dorkily turned to Rick, wanting to include him, and said "and I was hoping YOU would be here too!" while giving an adamant point (almost a poke). I almost forgot to explain why, but I saved myself by saying I remembered him from the last time I was there. He was giving me this little smirk thing the whole time though, so maybe he remembered me too--who knows. I wanted to give him a hug, because I really like Rick!!, but I found myself a little intimidated by him, because I remembered the amused straight-face and near-total silence he gave me when I bounded up to him and hugged him the first time I met him, LOL. [I'd seen him out of blue before the show, and afterwards I said "Hi!! I knew you were a blue man! You were great!!" and gave him this enthusiastic hug, and he was like, ".........." LOL... I'm such a geek.]
aftermath
Then my finger spazzed out on my camera because my hands twitch when I'm around Blue Men, or something, and I got a lovely close-up shot of my program, haha.
01/17/04
to go, or not to go?
The next day, Eric and I juggled the idea of going back to the Charles after the Patriots game (to determine if they would go on to the Superbowl) was over… but early in the day, we didn’t order tickets, because it was possible the game would go into overtime (in which case we’d either not make it to Boston on time, or have to miss the end of the game, which I wasn’t about to make Eric do—he’s a HUGE Patriots nut). So it wasn’t until 6:20 or so that we went about actually deciding whether we would go to the 8:00 show. The online sale was over, the phone sale was over. An hour and a half before showtime, we were on the road, ticketless, praying we’d get there on time. We didn’t care if we ended up with obstructed-view balcony seats—we just wanted to see the old-style show one last time.
All the way there, we were excited but anxious… It would’ve really sucked if we didn’t end up with tickets after all. But we made good time driving, and the trains were aligned perfectly for us (we just barely caught the second one, and if we’d missed it, it would have set us back 10 minutes, which would have cost us the show). By the time we walked up to the Charles, we had assured ourselves that yes, we were crazy.
There was a staffer hanging out right outside the doors, asking people if they had their tickets, which scared me because I thought this must mean they’re sold out… But he didn’t turn us away, so we went up to the box office. The moment of truth. …and, beautiful. Not only were there tickets, but there were center/floor seats (a couple rows closer than we’d been the night before, even)! Eric and I just couldn’t stop laughing at how damn lucky we were. The risk definitely paid off.
we love you, Charles!
We settled into our seats (on the left aisle this time), after kicking out a couple who’d taken them (their seats were in our row, but not on the aisle)… hehe… We still couldn’t get over the fact that we were there, joking embarrassingly about what the Blue Men would think if the same guys were there (especially Kalen, since he is most familiar with us). I found myself more relaxed this time around, since I hadn’t brought a bag or camera or anything to keep track of—we’d rushed out the door too fast for any of that nonsense! I was ready to really soak it all in again, and savor all the little nuances and auras of the show… mmmm mehron in the air.
I made a twisted crepe necklace out of my paper, as usual spending way too much time on such a silly thing… It wasn’t long before a staffer walked by who I recognized from previous shows, and we said hi to her next time she came by our row. She wasn’t working the night before, so it was good to see her again. =) A few minutes later, she came by again and asked us, “do you guys want poncho seats?” We looked at each other in amused disbelief, and quickly accepted (of course), and followed her down to 4th row center (still on the left aisle). I felt kinda bad for asking that couple to move in the first place, haha... This was pretty weird because just earlier that day Eric had mentioned how he wanted to sit in the poncho section someday, haha. My poncho was either ripped, so I couldn’t make sense of it, or I was flaky, so I couldn’t make sense of it, and I ended up just holding it in my lap like a brave soldier. Or something.
show highlights
--When the silouhettes lit up in the beginning, center was obviously Kalen (and Eric and I cracked up)… the light on the left wasn’t working, but the light on the right came on and there was Rick (and Eric and I continued to crack up). People probably wondered why we were laughing (don’t worry, we weren’t too loud) at drumming silouhettes… I was happy to see Kalen in Center because that’s really how I know him best, and he pulls it off beautifully.
--By the end of the paint/marshmallows I figured the “mystery blue man” to be Mike, from Chicago, who I’d seen in pictures. His manner reminded me a lot of Michael's, except Mike had a permanently calm and pleasant face (not quite so frantic like Michael’s)… actually, that part of him reminded me of Matthew, who’s been coined by some as the “Zen Blue Man.” So I immediately took a liking to Mike, who just appeared to be very sweet from the start. And he was so cute! He was noticeably a bit shorter than the other 2 (I later found out that he’s under height requirement… but of course, you wouldn’t notice so much without Kalen towering nearby)… Anywho, when he made his spinart, something about the way he “painted” created this huge cloud of mist to surround him (I remember the yellow fizzle best), which just looked so neat. I think he must have spun the canvas harder than any other Blue Man I’ve seen—there was enough force to cause some of the paint to go flying off the canvas across the stage!
--Rick was throwing marshmallows to Kalen… For the 2nd round (after the single one pressed onto the canvas), he chucked the thing at Kalen, who caught it. But apparently Kalen was too busy looking at the audience around him for approval, and as he was turning back for the 2nd one, it was already coming at him, and ended up bouncing off the side of his face. He gave Rick the most hilarious “?! what was that for?!” face, eyes wide and adamant. He caught the rest without incident, though, as Rick lobbed them to him. I was thoroughly grossed out by how deep in his throat those things must have been (by looking at his “sculpture”), haha.
--I just want to say that I absolutely love the part where the Blue Men touch each others faces and smooth their paint… There’s just something so innocent and warm and open about it… *warm fuzzies*
--When the Blue Men came into the audience, Mike started climbing over people… Eric and I both watched him in amusement and wonder, and Mike noticed Eric looking at him. His whole face lit up, as if to say, “oh! Hello!” and he made a beeline for us, not taking his eyes off Eric. After a few seconds, Mike turned and looked at me, and I smiled back at him like a big goober. I used to be pretty squirmish when they did that… but now I just kinda gaze at them in sheer bliss (LOL, I’m such a dork). Mike stared for a few seconds, and then he looked over at Kalen (who was climbing over people nearby), and back at us. Kalen looked over towards Mike and craned his neck a bit to get a look at Eric and I. I daresay his eyes shifted a bit in steady surprise… Mike headed right towards me and planted his hand on my head, and made to go over Eric and I. We had to move a little to let him step on the arm between us, and as he was walking over, his foot kicked my shoulder… He immediately patted my head in silent apology before moving on (awwww… I like Mike!).
--The person who threw the Toblerlone definitely had some accuracy issues. I didn’t see the first throw, but Eric told me that it bounced right off Kalen’s head, LOL… The second one was good, but the third went really high, and Kalen didn’t even attempt it—he just followed it with his gaze in as if to say “yeah, right!”
--When all three Blue Men came over to pick out the twinkie girl, they stopped right next to our row and stared at me… It was such a fun moment, because Kalen and Rick had a friendly look of recognition in their eyes, whereas Mike probably remembered me from a few minutes before. I looked back at them in turn, blushing at the fact that they singled me out, and slowly my smiley stare-back turned into shy glances, since ALL THREE were looking… I can’t handle all three at once! LOL.
--In the part of the twinkie skit where the center Blue Man destroys the painting on the wall… It still holds true that Rick does the most hilarious spaztic quadruple-take EVER about that. He’s so funny, like “whathappenedwhathappenedwhathappened?!?!?”… haha, he cracks me up. Anywho, this twinkie girl seemed more on top of things that the one last night, which made for a slightly less interesting skit, but I’ll never get tired of the looks the Blue Men get whenever the audience goes “awwww!” Heheh.
--House completely kicked. I loved seeing Rick on bass again, because he nails those things like there’s no tomorrow, and brings the part out like no one else. I watched Mike a lot, too, because during the quieter parts he put down the rhythms with something like loving care… it was very sweet to see.
--When Kalen did “Shadows,” he totally wiggled around and danced with the statues at the end, to my utter delight. It was wicked cute. lol.
--“Drumbone” was slightly longer than it has been before, and all three Blue Men got into it this time… Kalen especially, doing some crazy headbobbing. Nice.
--During White Rabbit, hardly anyone sang… I started to, but quickly became far too distracted with Eric’s hyper jumping-the-gun on every lyric (he was like two lines ahead of everyone, lol), which messed up my timing! haha… I tried to read the sign on the left to compensate, but there was just no remedy for my amusement by Eric, and I just giggled my little head off.
--After the Blue Men finished playing their PVC’s for “Endless Column,” Mike walked down our aisle and paused, looking at people along the way. Then he gave a forlorn still-wave to the stage, and I looked to see who he was waving at… but it was the PVC instrument, being pulling back underneath its curtain. I thought that was cute, hehe.
--Eric and I got comPLETEly buried in paper… There was one point where I totally couldn’t see a thing, and I was just laughing from the absurdity of it. Every chance I got, I looked up at the band guys in their loft, doing those dorky cliché dance moves, which I admire so much. At one point, I checked out the section behind me—“phew, no paper, now I can watch the band!” I thought. But ohhhhh no. A few seconds later, a pile of it landed right on me and I was covered again. When I surfaced, I saw Mike up by the stage, so I’m a bit suspicious that that might have been his doing… LOL. If so, that’s awesome, haha.
--When the band came out for the bows, I recognized Ramsey (a drummer I’ve seen a few times before), Victor (Chapman Stick player), and possibly the zither player who’d asked about a “weird website” the night before (who I later found out was Core). YAY BAND!! =D I didn’t get to see them after the show, so I didn’t get to try and be more chatty with them… d’oh… maybe next time! They rule.
--When the Blue Men were jumping around onstage at the end of KLF, Mike started doing the pelvic exercise from the Complex Tour, which cracked me up... it's just so weird-looking and funny! Mike rules.
--When the Blue Men were giving their farewell salutes, at one point Kalen glanced at Rick and then quickly moved his hand under Rick's arm, slipping his fingers under Rick's sleeve to hold the cuff up close to his hand. I imagine his glove or something was somewhat undone, and on could see his bare arm (oh my!). It was interesting to see, though, because you could totally see Kalen and Rick "talking" to each other in that moment. That's just so neat.
--As the Blue Men stood with the DNA strain at the end of the show, as silouhettes, they were completely still until the very last note, where Rick broke out a beautiful last-laugh spaz. Heheh, yay!
we’re back!
As Eric and I walked out of the theater, the Blue Men were already outside the doors… Kalen was standing smack dab in front of our door, and he looked up at us as we came through. I immediately gave him a big hug (a full one, this time! yay!), and not a short one, either, during which I explained our coming to the show had been a last-minute decision (and that we just barely made it!). He seemed glad to see us again, regardless, haha, and even allowed a smile to creep through. I told him it had been yet another great show, but then stopped talking, so that everyone walking by would see him in character… I slipped into an empty space next to him (and Eric fell in beside me) to wait for the crowd to thin a bit so I could cross over to Mike and Rick. It was a lot of fun to watch people’s reactions as they saw Kalen… some would just walk right by, others would shake his hand and tell him it had been an awesome show, still others would give cool “word, yo” hand gestures, to which Kalen would give a mini one-handed Blue Man salute and nod. Again, it was just so neat to see him flip back into complete character, after greeting us. Blue Men are soooooooo cooooooooooooooooool. lol.
Finally there was an opening in the stream of people, and I darted through over to Mike. Not wanting to be all obvious and go, “HI MIKE!”, I sidled up close to him and said really quietly (actually, I’m surprised he heard me), “hi, are you Mike Brown?” He nodded and said yes, and waited for whatever was coming next—he didn’t seem to be weirded out though, the way Kalen always was, hehe. I introduced myself as Jen, and explained that I posted on the message board and had seen pictures of him. He asked if I meant the blueman.com board, and said he’d been there a few times. (yay!)
Meanwhile, Eric had been standing with Kalen and talking to him between people approaching Kalen… He relayed the conversation to me later, which went something like this: Kalen asked how long Eric had been seeing the show, and when Eric told him, Kalen’s eyes widened and he said “whoa. and you don’t work here? How many times have you seen it?” And to that response (11 times in Boston, I think), Kalen remarked, “Did you pay for all of those?” Haha! Eric told Kalen that he’d ushered a few times, and Kalen asked, “was I there?” LOL, Kalen, so many questions! Hehe… that’s one funny thing about him, is that when you talk with him, he ends up asking you questions instead of the other way around… Oh, and one other thing from this convo… Eric said, “I bet you are really looking forward to going to Berlin!” and Kalen said, “You have no idea.” =) I’m so happy for Kalen, even though I’ll miss him terribly…
Still standing by Mike, I noticed a tall guy walk up to Kalen and ask in a thick German accent, “Hello, I have a question to ask of you! I am from Germany, and I was wondering if you could sign this CD with your head?” Kalen instead kissed the CD, and apparently informed the guy that Blue Man Group was in fact going to Germany, because the guy said, “OH, GREAT!” Hehe, that was pretty cool. I pointed that out to Mike, who looked on… Then I mentioned Eric, and that Mike had walked over us during the show. He said, “I know! Are you the only two [fans/message board people] here?” I said yes, and at that point Eric came up and introduced himself. As they starting talking, I made my way over to Rick…
There wasn’t any hesitation for me this time, and I gladly stepped forward and gave him a big hug. He has this everpresent little amused smirk, but I’d gotten used to that after seeing him a few times, and felt he deserved a big ol’ hug. ;) I explained to him about coming last minute, and he kinda chuckled at it… I told him it had been another great show, and that I loved his spaz at the very end. He said something like, “oh yeah, well it was a quiet crowd tonight…” and I said “yeah, I know! White Rabbit was, um, interesting, heheh…” The whole time he was grinning and pretty talkative… If he hadn’t recognized me the night before, he’d probably asked Kalen who I was (since I was so obvious about knowing HIM), haha.
fond farewells
It wasn’t too long before Kalen came over to me (after already saying something to Eric) and said, “I’m afraid we have to cut it short tonight… I’m really sorry about this!” I of course told him that was quite all right (heck, I could spend all night hanging around them, but I’m not too greedy about it, lol), and he gave me a big hug goodbye. I did the whole “good luck in Berlin!” thing again, and he stepped away to wait for the other two Blue Men. Somewhere in here, Eric gave him a hug too, and this time Kalen was ready for it… I was endlessly amused by the huge grin on his face over Eric’s shoulder. Aww. Then I made sure to give Rick a goodbye hug, and Eric followed suit, hehe. Rick got some blue paint on Eric’s leather Patriots jacket, and had the sweetest reaction of “oh no! I’m so sorry!” while trying to wipe it off apologetically. Eric said it was nothing, and I chimed in with, “yeah, we’re seasoned!” (DORK ALERT!) Rick smiled and waved and backed off…
Then Kalen came by again (this was a couple minutes after his first goodbye), and I gave a smile and wave in final farewell. But instead of just accepting that, he moved towards me and put his arm around me, so I did the same, and we ended up with a little half-hug. As he pulled away, my hair went with him for a bit (lol), and he looked at me and gave a small smirk, saying “oops, I got your hair, hehehe”—by now he knows I don’t really care, so he didn’t bother apologizing. ;) I looked back at him sadly and said “I’ll miss you!!” as he backed away. *sniff, sniff*
Then Mike walked over, and I stepped up to him for a hug too, which he was very good-natured about receiving (ahah). He’s a little shorter than the others, though, so it was instinct to put my arms OVER his shoulders instead of under (like I usually do with them)… He must have held away his gooey head, but my hand brushed his neck as we split, and I got a huge spot of blue on my palm—which startled me! lol… I don’t ask for blue kisses or anything, I’m only used to small spots getting in my hair or on my shirt, so that sudden blue on me almost weirded me out. Actually, I was just surprised that I touched him, because I never touch their faces! Hahaha… I think I was too distracted by this to say a proper goodbye, but at least he got a hug, hehe. Speaking of which, as Eric and I headed down the stairs, I heard a comment from one of the other people around, “how come SHE gets a hug?” which made me giggle… but it’s really because I don’t give them much choice. What are they going to do, run away? Hehehhe. ;) No, but seriously, I love that they let me hug them. *warm fuzzies*
*sigh*...
…and again I was wonderfully satisfied… A final goodbye for our Kalen… Got to see lovely Rick again, got to see/meet the adorable Mike Brown… All with many both-armed hugs. =D And voila, Jen was in heaven. ;) Man, I love that show so incredibly much… Just thinking about it, writing about it, reading about it, brings me back—and of course I get the urge to go back and experience it all live again once more. I’ll admit I’m an addict, haha.
Then we went home and watched the Complex Tour DVD. hahahah… Yes, addicts.