(JUST A FEW)
CONCERT HIGHLIGHTS
CONCERT HIGHLIGHTS
JESSE McCARTNEY - August 18, 2006
My Mom and I drove all the way out from Columbus, OH, to Danbury Connecticut to see Jesse in this show, but it was well worth the trip. We got to spend some time with my Aunt Debby (who lives in Danbury) and I got to go to the Meet-and-Greet and see Jesse. I LOVE it when he sees me come through the door and greets me by name ("Hey, Cottie! How are you doing?"). But this concert was extra special because besides seeing Jesse, I met some new friends. Before the concert started, I got to talking with some girls who were sitting near us. They were SO excited to meet someone who has met Jesse as many times as I have. They couldn't wait to hear all about our meetings and to see the picture I'd just had taken. By the end of the concert, we had exchanged names, email addresses, cell phone numbers and screennames. Since I got home, we have been talking online and on the phone all the time. It's like having my *own* fan club, and I love it! Danielle and Heather -- if you are reading this -- I love you!
JESSE McCARTNEY - Beautiful Soul Tour, May/June, 2005
I actually got to see FOUR concerts out of Jesse's two month tour promoting his "Beautiful Soul" album. It was amazing. My friend Kelly and I got to see him together, and sit together, at the Norfolk, VA, and then at the Cincinnati concert. I went to see him in Columbus and in Wilmington, Delaware with my Mom. Each time, I got to go to the meet-and-greet and got my picture taken with Jesse (you can see them on the "Friends" picture page!). In Norfolk, I even got my picture taken with Jesse's Mom! There were special pieces that happened at each concert (like getting to see Stevie Brock in Cincinnati, because he was backstage visiting with Jesse when we went back for the meet- and-greet). By the end of my OWN "Beautiful Soul" tour, I knew the playlist by heart, and I even knew when to look for all Jesse's best moves (like wiping his brow with the hem of his T-shirt and listening to the girls scream! GRIN). At each of these concerts, Ingram Hill did the warm up. Those guys are GREAT! There are four of them (Justin, Phil, Shea, and Matt) and I got to meet THEM on the last night, in Delaware, too. I have saved all the tickets, all the arm bands, and all the memories!
JESSE McCARTNEY - February 27, 2005
This concert was in a suburb of Chicago. Mom and I flew into Midway airport, where we were picked up by Kelly Mulhearne and her mom. We met them in December when they came all the way to Columbus for Jesse's concert, and we have been corresponding since. We drove out to Bloomingdale and we stayed overnight at a hotel near the Stratford Square Mall where the concert was going to be. We went over to check the place out Saturday night and look over the set up. A couple of weeks before, they had a concert in a shopping center in a suburb on the other side of Chicago (Gurnee) and it had been chaos. They were expecting about 1200 kids -- and they got 3500!!! This time, they were prepared. The security people from Stratford Square had talked to the people from Gurnee, and they had figured out all sorts of plans for handling the concert and controlling the crowd. They were prepared for 3500 people... but they got 8000!!! There were 8,000 people in the mall to watch Jesse that day. It was AMAZING (and a little overwhelming!). The first thing Jesse said when he came out on stage was, "I've never had this many people come out to hear me sing before!" My mom says I got the best seat in the house, and I am sure she was right. I was sitting right up next to the stage (my toes were touching), and we had a perfect view. I get to sit up front a lot -- but never before when I was beating out 7,999 other people for the seat!!! Kelly's Mom had gotten us shirts, jackets, and hats that said JMac on them, and she even sent a hat on to Jesse. The concert was great (Jesse always is!) but I think this one is going to be remembered as "the concert that was!" This was a record breaker.
GAVIN DEGRAW - January 18, 2005
Mom and I drove to Cincinnati for the Gavin DeGraw concert. The concert was on a Tuesday night, so we left Columbus after I got home from school in the afternoon and drove to the nightclub in downtown Cincinnati (Bogart's) for the concert. It was a sold out performance, with about 1150 people there, and everybody had to stand for the whole time except me! We were kind of at the back of the hall, but I had a clear view of the stage. Gavin DeGraw has a REALLY powerful voice and he is a really good musician, not just singer (plays the guitar and the piano). I got to meet him briefly at the Meet-and-Greet before we started home and he has the most gorgeous, clear, liquid eyes! Oh! And he is REALLY tall!
CAROLE KING – JULY 30, 2004
We went to Nashvillle, TN, to see Carole King in concert as part of her “Living Room Tour.” My friend Dillon Kondor (her grandson), made arrangements to get me backstage to meet her. We got to the theater and picked up our backstage passes and waited around with a lot of other folks (almost all grown ups), who were waiting, too. After about 20 minutes, Carole King’s assistant came out and said that Ms. King wasn’t feeling too well and that she was trying to get some rest in before the performance. She sent her regrets and said she’d see everyone the next time she was in town. THEN the assistant turned to me and said, “You must be Cottie. Would you come with me, please?” They sent everyone else away, but my mom and I got to go backstage and meet her in person. She was SO nice. In October, Carole King came to Columbus for a political rally at the local community center, and I went to see her (along with several hundred other people!). She walked in the door and took one look at me and said, “Cottie, dear, how nice to see you again!”
JESSE McCARTNEY & THE JMAC BAND – MAY 8, 2004
We went to Pittsfield, MA, for a special concert. The local high school was having a fundraiser for their Theater and Music department, and Jesse and his band agreed to play. It was a GREAT performance. Just Jesse and the Jmac band for about 90 minutes. Afterwards, they not only had a Meet-and-Greet with Jesse, but the families and the band members stuck around to mix with the crowd. I got to see all of them again, and to have a couple extra minutes with Dillon Kondor (we have been writing to each other by email). What a rush!
STEVIE BROCK – APRIL 10, 2004
This concert, in Cleveland, was an appearance by Stevie on behalf of the Cleveland Radio Disney channel (they bring him in a lot). It was held on the stage in the middle of the Expo Center, a kind of indoor amusement park. What made it extra special was that I was sitting on the side of the stage (there was too much confusion and too big a crowd right in front), and Stevie didn’t see me when he first came out because he was playing to the audience in front of him. After his first song, he looked over to the side and saw me and waved and said, into the mike, “Hi, Cottie!” There must have been 500 people in the audience that day. The only other person he mentioned by name while he was up on the stage was his grandfather, who was there in the audience to see him. I felt pretty special!
JESSE McCARTNEY AND GREG RAPOSO – MARCH 23, 2004
During my Spring break, Mom and I drove all the way to Atlantic City, NJ, to see a concert (we did some other visiting while we were out there, but we decided to go because of the concert). It was sponsored by a local affiliate of Radio Disney, and they had both Greg and Jesse there. Since it was closer to home for both of the guys than most of the other concerts I have gone to, they had their families with them, too. I had met Jesse’s mother before, but I had never seen his Dad or his little brother Timmy up close before (Leah wasn’t there that day). I had met Greg’s mom and his Aunt Laura, but at this concert I got to meet his sisters, too. At the Meet-and-Greet after the concert, the guys had a special surprise for me – they gave me a gold charm of a guitar (it is from Jesse, and Greg, AND Stevie) as a thank you for all the bags of goodies I had been bringing to them at concerts for months. I got a pretty gold chain for it and I wear it as a necklace to remind me that – it’s all about the music!!
JESSE McCARTNEY & THE JMAC BAND – AUGUST 2, 2003
This was an AMAZING day. My mom and I drove down to Louisville, KY, for this concert. It was held at the Kentucky Kingdom Amusement Park, and my Mom did a whole lot of calling around to make sure that the place where the performance was would be wheelchair accessible and that I would be able to see. She told everyone that she was bringing me down there as part of my birthday celebration (August 8).
Jesse looked terrific (I hadn’t seen him in a long time) and the band was great. During the intermission, Jesse had an autograph signing and when I got up to the table where he was sitting, he recognized me right away. He said he heard that I was coming, and that I had a birthday coming up, and he wanted to give me a little present, as a special fan. He pulled out a box with some BEAUTIFUL small gold hoop earrings. I put them on there and then, and I am still wearing them now!!!
I also got to meet all the members of Jesse’s band (Dillon Kondor, Katie Spencer, Alex Russek, and Pete Chema), and Dillon’s mother, Sherry Kondor, and Jesse’s mother, Ginger McCartney. They were all so nice, they all posed for pictures with me, and they all remember me when I see them again!
CHRIS TROUSDALE & STEVIE BROCK – JULY 20, 2003
This concert in Cleveland was a special one for a couple of reasons. It was the first time I had seen any of the guys from Dream Street since that time in Evansville, 18 months earlier. It was the first time I saw Stevie Brock. And it was the beginning of a LONG string of concert going, averaging more than one a month for the last 18 months!!! The two neatest things that happened were that (1) Chris AND his manager Louie AND his choreographer Claudia all recognized me (from having met me before) and they were great about stopping to pose for some pictures and they gave me a whole bunch of free stuff, and (2) I got to meet Stevie Brock’s dad for the first time. His name is Jim Brock and he is SO nice. He goes to all Stevie’s concerts and sells posters and CD’s and things, and I like to hang out with him at the table there. Starting from that first time, he ALWAYS remembers my name and I have as many pictures of me with HIM in my “concert collection” as I have pictures of me with Stevie!
DREAM STREET - February 13, 2002
My mom and I drove to Evansville, IN, in February of 2002 to see Aaron Carter and the guys from Dream Street in concert. That afternoon, before the show, Dream Street had an autograph signing at a local music store. We had to wait in line for over an hour to get close to the table where they were sitting and signing things, but when I got close enough, Jesse and Greg looked up and waved. I think they recognized me from having seen me in Cincinnati a couple weeks earlier. Then their manager, Louie, turned around and saw me and said, “I recognize you… you sent us candy!” (I had sent a bag of that had all the guys favorite kinds of candy with specially designed labels that had my picture on them with things like, “Frankie’s Favorite Peanut Clusters, specially designed by Cottie.”) Louie said, “you come right up here – the guys are going to want to thank you in person.” He took me back behind the table where they were signing things and one by one, each of them came over, gave me a hug, and posed for a picture. I still have ‘em on my wall!
DREAM STREET – December 29, 2001
On Saturday, December 29, 2001, my Mom and I drove to Cincinnati to see Dream Street in concert. OH BOY, did we see Dream Street... and THEY SAW ME!!! The concert was terrific all by itself. Dream Street was making a movie. They were shooting the scenes that take place during a concert WITHIN the movie. The whole concert in Cincinnati was being filmed, and parts of it will be in the movie (if it ever comes out!!!).
Our seats were in Row O, just 15 rows back. We thought that was going to be a good place to get to see Dream Street up close, but as soon as the concert began, everybody stood up and I couldn't see anything! My Mom talked to one of the security guards, and they moved us up to the front. WAY up to the front. My feet were touching the front of the stage!!! It was AWESOME. I could see EVERYTHING, and they could see me. Chris looked right at me and smiled and waved during one song. Then Greg came down into the audience to sing for a few minutes during his song, “Jennifer, Goodbye.” He slid down off the stage RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, put his hands on either side of my face and sang JUST TO ME!!!
After the concert ended, about half the audience went home. They invited people to stay if they wanted to, because they were going to re-shoot some scenes for the movie. We stayed. They had some problems with the equipment during the shooting, and so Dream Street started signing autographs. It was crazy. Because I was right up at the stage, people were pushing up against me and waving things over my head and throwing things up on stage for the guys to sign. But it was really kind of neat. All five of the guys from Dream Street came over to my side of the stage at some point and signed autographs, and I got all five of their autographs on a piece of paper. But it was even better for me, because they talked to me, too. Greg sat on the stage right in front of me when he was signing stuff, and he talked to me a couple of times in-between. I was wearing five braids in my hair, and I had a button with a picture of each of the guys hanging from the end of each braid. Greg put his initials on the button with his picture, while it was still pinned in my hair. That is how close he was. THEN, when Jesse came over to my side of the stage and everyone was reaching out to him, the security guard said, "there is a young lady in a wheelchair down here who would like to meet you." Jesse slid down the front of the stage and gave me a big hug and then went back up on stage.
This was my first “close encounter” with the guys from Dream Street – but it wasn’t the last! Read on…
My Mom and I drove all the way out from Columbus, OH, to Danbury Connecticut to see Jesse in this show, but it was well worth the trip. We got to spend some time with my Aunt Debby (who lives in Danbury) and I got to go to the Meet-and-Greet and see Jesse. I LOVE it when he sees me come through the door and greets me by name ("Hey, Cottie! How are you doing?"). But this concert was extra special because besides seeing Jesse, I met some new friends. Before the concert started, I got to talking with some girls who were sitting near us. They were SO excited to meet someone who has met Jesse as many times as I have. They couldn't wait to hear all about our meetings and to see the picture I'd just had taken. By the end of the concert, we had exchanged names, email addresses, cell phone numbers and screennames. Since I got home, we have been talking online and on the phone all the time. It's like having my *own* fan club, and I love it! Danielle and Heather -- if you are reading this -- I love you!
JESSE McCARTNEY - Beautiful Soul Tour, May/June, 2005
I actually got to see FOUR concerts out of Jesse's two month tour promoting his "Beautiful Soul" album. It was amazing. My friend Kelly and I got to see him together, and sit together, at the Norfolk, VA, and then at the Cincinnati concert. I went to see him in Columbus and in Wilmington, Delaware with my Mom. Each time, I got to go to the meet-and-greet and got my picture taken with Jesse (you can see them on the "Friends" picture page!). In Norfolk, I even got my picture taken with Jesse's Mom! There were special pieces that happened at each concert (like getting to see Stevie Brock in Cincinnati, because he was backstage visiting with Jesse when we went back for the meet- and-greet). By the end of my OWN "Beautiful Soul" tour, I knew the playlist by heart, and I even knew when to look for all Jesse's best moves (like wiping his brow with the hem of his T-shirt and listening to the girls scream! GRIN). At each of these concerts, Ingram Hill did the warm up. Those guys are GREAT! There are four of them (Justin, Phil, Shea, and Matt) and I got to meet THEM on the last night, in Delaware, too. I have saved all the tickets, all the arm bands, and all the memories!
JESSE McCARTNEY - February 27, 2005
This concert was in a suburb of Chicago. Mom and I flew into Midway airport, where we were picked up by Kelly Mulhearne and her mom. We met them in December when they came all the way to Columbus for Jesse's concert, and we have been corresponding since. We drove out to Bloomingdale and we stayed overnight at a hotel near the Stratford Square Mall where the concert was going to be. We went over to check the place out Saturday night and look over the set up. A couple of weeks before, they had a concert in a shopping center in a suburb on the other side of Chicago (Gurnee) and it had been chaos. They were expecting about 1200 kids -- and they got 3500!!! This time, they were prepared. The security people from Stratford Square had talked to the people from Gurnee, and they had figured out all sorts of plans for handling the concert and controlling the crowd. They were prepared for 3500 people... but they got 8000!!! There were 8,000 people in the mall to watch Jesse that day. It was AMAZING (and a little overwhelming!). The first thing Jesse said when he came out on stage was, "I've never had this many people come out to hear me sing before!" My mom says I got the best seat in the house, and I am sure she was right. I was sitting right up next to the stage (my toes were touching), and we had a perfect view. I get to sit up front a lot -- but never before when I was beating out 7,999 other people for the seat!!! Kelly's Mom had gotten us shirts, jackets, and hats that said JMac on them, and she even sent a hat on to Jesse. The concert was great (Jesse always is!) but I think this one is going to be remembered as "the concert that was!" This was a record breaker.
GAVIN DEGRAW - January 18, 2005
Mom and I drove to Cincinnati for the Gavin DeGraw concert. The concert was on a Tuesday night, so we left Columbus after I got home from school in the afternoon and drove to the nightclub in downtown Cincinnati (Bogart's) for the concert. It was a sold out performance, with about 1150 people there, and everybody had to stand for the whole time except me! We were kind of at the back of the hall, but I had a clear view of the stage. Gavin DeGraw has a REALLY powerful voice and he is a really good musician, not just singer (plays the guitar and the piano). I got to meet him briefly at the Meet-and-Greet before we started home and he has the most gorgeous, clear, liquid eyes! Oh! And he is REALLY tall!
CAROLE KING – JULY 30, 2004
We went to Nashvillle, TN, to see Carole King in concert as part of her “Living Room Tour.” My friend Dillon Kondor (her grandson), made arrangements to get me backstage to meet her. We got to the theater and picked up our backstage passes and waited around with a lot of other folks (almost all grown ups), who were waiting, too. After about 20 minutes, Carole King’s assistant came out and said that Ms. King wasn’t feeling too well and that she was trying to get some rest in before the performance. She sent her regrets and said she’d see everyone the next time she was in town. THEN the assistant turned to me and said, “You must be Cottie. Would you come with me, please?” They sent everyone else away, but my mom and I got to go backstage and meet her in person. She was SO nice. In October, Carole King came to Columbus for a political rally at the local community center, and I went to see her (along with several hundred other people!). She walked in the door and took one look at me and said, “Cottie, dear, how nice to see you again!”
JESSE McCARTNEY & THE JMAC BAND – MAY 8, 2004
We went to Pittsfield, MA, for a special concert. The local high school was having a fundraiser for their Theater and Music department, and Jesse and his band agreed to play. It was a GREAT performance. Just Jesse and the Jmac band for about 90 minutes. Afterwards, they not only had a Meet-and-Greet with Jesse, but the families and the band members stuck around to mix with the crowd. I got to see all of them again, and to have a couple extra minutes with Dillon Kondor (we have been writing to each other by email). What a rush!
STEVIE BROCK – APRIL 10, 2004
This concert, in Cleveland, was an appearance by Stevie on behalf of the Cleveland Radio Disney channel (they bring him in a lot). It was held on the stage in the middle of the Expo Center, a kind of indoor amusement park. What made it extra special was that I was sitting on the side of the stage (there was too much confusion and too big a crowd right in front), and Stevie didn’t see me when he first came out because he was playing to the audience in front of him. After his first song, he looked over to the side and saw me and waved and said, into the mike, “Hi, Cottie!” There must have been 500 people in the audience that day. The only other person he mentioned by name while he was up on the stage was his grandfather, who was there in the audience to see him. I felt pretty special!
JESSE McCARTNEY AND GREG RAPOSO – MARCH 23, 2004
During my Spring break, Mom and I drove all the way to Atlantic City, NJ, to see a concert (we did some other visiting while we were out there, but we decided to go because of the concert). It was sponsored by a local affiliate of Radio Disney, and they had both Greg and Jesse there. Since it was closer to home for both of the guys than most of the other concerts I have gone to, they had their families with them, too. I had met Jesse’s mother before, but I had never seen his Dad or his little brother Timmy up close before (Leah wasn’t there that day). I had met Greg’s mom and his Aunt Laura, but at this concert I got to meet his sisters, too. At the Meet-and-Greet after the concert, the guys had a special surprise for me – they gave me a gold charm of a guitar (it is from Jesse, and Greg, AND Stevie) as a thank you for all the bags of goodies I had been bringing to them at concerts for months. I got a pretty gold chain for it and I wear it as a necklace to remind me that – it’s all about the music!!
JESSE McCARTNEY & THE JMAC BAND – AUGUST 2, 2003
This was an AMAZING day. My mom and I drove down to Louisville, KY, for this concert. It was held at the Kentucky Kingdom Amusement Park, and my Mom did a whole lot of calling around to make sure that the place where the performance was would be wheelchair accessible and that I would be able to see. She told everyone that she was bringing me down there as part of my birthday celebration (August 8).
Jesse looked terrific (I hadn’t seen him in a long time) and the band was great. During the intermission, Jesse had an autograph signing and when I got up to the table where he was sitting, he recognized me right away. He said he heard that I was coming, and that I had a birthday coming up, and he wanted to give me a little present, as a special fan. He pulled out a box with some BEAUTIFUL small gold hoop earrings. I put them on there and then, and I am still wearing them now!!!
I also got to meet all the members of Jesse’s band (Dillon Kondor, Katie Spencer, Alex Russek, and Pete Chema), and Dillon’s mother, Sherry Kondor, and Jesse’s mother, Ginger McCartney. They were all so nice, they all posed for pictures with me, and they all remember me when I see them again!
CHRIS TROUSDALE & STEVIE BROCK – JULY 20, 2003
This concert in Cleveland was a special one for a couple of reasons. It was the first time I had seen any of the guys from Dream Street since that time in Evansville, 18 months earlier. It was the first time I saw Stevie Brock. And it was the beginning of a LONG string of concert going, averaging more than one a month for the last 18 months!!! The two neatest things that happened were that (1) Chris AND his manager Louie AND his choreographer Claudia all recognized me (from having met me before) and they were great about stopping to pose for some pictures and they gave me a whole bunch of free stuff, and (2) I got to meet Stevie Brock’s dad for the first time. His name is Jim Brock and he is SO nice. He goes to all Stevie’s concerts and sells posters and CD’s and things, and I like to hang out with him at the table there. Starting from that first time, he ALWAYS remembers my name and I have as many pictures of me with HIM in my “concert collection” as I have pictures of me with Stevie!
DREAM STREET - February 13, 2002
My mom and I drove to Evansville, IN, in February of 2002 to see Aaron Carter and the guys from Dream Street in concert. That afternoon, before the show, Dream Street had an autograph signing at a local music store. We had to wait in line for over an hour to get close to the table where they were sitting and signing things, but when I got close enough, Jesse and Greg looked up and waved. I think they recognized me from having seen me in Cincinnati a couple weeks earlier. Then their manager, Louie, turned around and saw me and said, “I recognize you… you sent us candy!” (I had sent a bag of that had all the guys favorite kinds of candy with specially designed labels that had my picture on them with things like, “Frankie’s Favorite Peanut Clusters, specially designed by Cottie.”) Louie said, “you come right up here – the guys are going to want to thank you in person.” He took me back behind the table where they were signing things and one by one, each of them came over, gave me a hug, and posed for a picture. I still have ‘em on my wall!
DREAM STREET – December 29, 2001
On Saturday, December 29, 2001, my Mom and I drove to Cincinnati to see Dream Street in concert. OH BOY, did we see Dream Street... and THEY SAW ME!!! The concert was terrific all by itself. Dream Street was making a movie. They were shooting the scenes that take place during a concert WITHIN the movie. The whole concert in Cincinnati was being filmed, and parts of it will be in the movie (if it ever comes out!!!).
Our seats were in Row O, just 15 rows back. We thought that was going to be a good place to get to see Dream Street up close, but as soon as the concert began, everybody stood up and I couldn't see anything! My Mom talked to one of the security guards, and they moved us up to the front. WAY up to the front. My feet were touching the front of the stage!!! It was AWESOME. I could see EVERYTHING, and they could see me. Chris looked right at me and smiled and waved during one song. Then Greg came down into the audience to sing for a few minutes during his song, “Jennifer, Goodbye.” He slid down off the stage RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, put his hands on either side of my face and sang JUST TO ME!!!
After the concert ended, about half the audience went home. They invited people to stay if they wanted to, because they were going to re-shoot some scenes for the movie. We stayed. They had some problems with the equipment during the shooting, and so Dream Street started signing autographs. It was crazy. Because I was right up at the stage, people were pushing up against me and waving things over my head and throwing things up on stage for the guys to sign. But it was really kind of neat. All five of the guys from Dream Street came over to my side of the stage at some point and signed autographs, and I got all five of their autographs on a piece of paper. But it was even better for me, because they talked to me, too. Greg sat on the stage right in front of me when he was signing stuff, and he talked to me a couple of times in-between. I was wearing five braids in my hair, and I had a button with a picture of each of the guys hanging from the end of each braid. Greg put his initials on the button with his picture, while it was still pinned in my hair. That is how close he was. THEN, when Jesse came over to my side of the stage and everyone was reaching out to him, the security guard said, "there is a young lady in a wheelchair down here who would like to meet you." Jesse slid down the front of the stage and gave me a big hug and then went back up on stage.
This was my first “close encounter” with the guys from Dream Street – but it wasn’t the last! Read on…
