As most of y’all know, well your reading this page aren’t ya? I run a fan site for Mark McGuinn. A little hobby soon had 8,000 plus coming to see this creation. Among these people were a few people with close ties to Mark McGuinn. They contacted me and thus began a friendship that has continued to grow enough so that they promised to try and help me get passes to meet Mark whenever he came my way. Being as I’m in the northwest, he had’t been here to Seattle for a show until yesterday, August 20, 2002. My friend secured me passes AND tickets even though I had already bought tix before. I didn’t mind the money being squandered because the whole concert event, featuring Lonestar, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Chely Wright, Michael Peterson, the comedy of Bill Engvall and Mark McGuinn, was all for charity. The tickets ranged from 10 bucks to 100 bucks for floor seats at the new Seahawks Stadium. I got an extra pass for my cousin who’d never even been backstage before, I had for Diamond Rio and John Berry in addition to meeting other acts most recently Carolyn Dawn Johnson. When we arrived, at the brand spankin’ new 400 million dollar Seahawks Stadium, we found the will call window and were handed an envelope which contained not any tickets but something better, an all access pass. Now these passes weren’t for anyone, they were reserved for the artists and their families. Mark’s manager, his brother Scott, had secured them for me and my cousin. While my pass allowed significant freedom that even I hadn’t experienced before, we weren’t allowed to have free reign to wander on the stage OR sit in the $100 seats (nor should we have). The passes didn’t include a seat but with it we were allowed to stand in the huge section just to the side of the floor seats which thus created great viewing for the concert. At about 4 pm we found the backstage area and thus found Mark’s dressing room. We talked to him and his band for about a half hour before they got ready for the show the whole band were cool as was Mark’s brother and management rep. While in the dressing room a surprise visit occurred. It was Michael Peterson. He’s as genuine as Mark is and I hope for nothing but the best for him. Remember how I said we weren’t granted access to the stage? Well, Scott took us with him and showed us the stage. That was a cool thing and it was a little weird to look at all the people who were just like me, the average everyday fan. Each act that we saw after meeting Mark and seeing his show was pure gravy. The fact that we got to see them in an area which saw many people dancing and having a good time was a bonus as well. For those who are wondering, in addition to seeing Mark’s high energy show, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band clearly were happy to be there and enjoying the moment. Lonestar was good too and their live version of “Unusually Unusual” was funky. © 2002 Matt Bjorke. “In With The Band” © 2002 CMT/Viacom. |
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