Since getting to meet Collective Soul was the best experience of our lives, we thought we'd share it with you. YES, we took pictures, and yes, we now have a scanner. A few of the pictures are available on the interviews picture page of this site. You're welcome.

IMOK, the co-pagemaster has completed the tale of our extremely exciting adventure:

Well as you can imagine, February 26 was the longest school day in history. But as soon as the bell rang at 3:15, I knew the day was only beginning.

I met my friend at the subway station and we publicly transported ourselves to the coffee house where we changed and had a snack (kinda - we were too nervous to have chocolate!!!!) . We had to be at the studio for 5:30, so at 25 after we walked down the block to the station. We went slowly as to be sure nothing would happen to us on our 30 second walk down the street. Just my luck I’d be attacked by a savage beast who hasn’t eaten for three days....

Going up the elevator I checked my pulse several times and practiced relaxation techniques. I was also afraid that the elevator would stall (read on for the irony of this). We finally got there - in one piece might I add - and greeted the other 8 winners.

J.R. (the promo guy) brought all 10 of us blessed people into the lounge - a fancy name for a 2X4 with three chairs and a table - complete with drinks and other things to give you bad breath right before you meet the band of your dreams. I, naturally, had about 34 breath Savers before they came. We were told that the holy ones would arrive at about ten to six. At about 5:50 the door opened: we gasped and stood up, our faces looking like we were going to meet the lord himself. Lo and behold, it was the moment we had waited for since we first heard Shine (or anything prior or post that). In walked ........the janitor? Geez, I wish they wouldn’t scare us like that.

We all relaxed. A few more false alarms until the REAL big moment. Will walked in follwed by Shane and Ed. The pagemaster who was there with me swears that Dean was there too, but I don’t rememer that. Ross stood in the doorway but didn't come inside. That's okay, he's shy. We all practically bowed down to them, after which we chatted for a few minutes. As to why they were late... well, they got stuck in the elevator. Honest. Then we got autographs and then we took a big photo of us and the band!!!! We got some more stuff signed (namely my poster of Ross- ahhhh...), then went into the studio.

Something about this radio station and saving space, it was amazing no one stepped on eachother in there. The studio was pretty crowded with the winners, Ross and Ed, a camera crew from the local TV station (yes, we were on tv for a millisecond!!!) and anyone else who felt like claustrophobisizing us. After a sound check and whatnot while we chatted with THEM, the show "Rock N' Roll News" started. WE were introduced as the live studio audience.

Ed and Ross played Shine first, acoustically. We got to sing the YEAH part, which was very exciting. The announcer commented after by asking us if we ever imagined sitting 10 feet away from them and singing backup vocals. Then they played Maybe and Heaven's Already Here. The stupid TV anchor lady kept talking during Maybe, and I kept telling her (to myself) to shut up. Not only was she standing right in front of them, blocking our perfect view, but she was noisy and has one of those nasal voices.

During the commercial breaks, we used our photo opportunities and had some more stuff signed. I was so in space that I don't remember everything that they said, but I remember Ed saying that he enjoyed doing the cover song on the John Lennon tribute album "Working Class Hero". We showed Ross all of those pictures drawn of him on the Internet. He found them really funny and he did that really cute laugh...mmmm....(tried to keep the emotions out of this piece but it's not working). He said he'd probably be in our area in the summer on tour, but we pray it isn't 18+ . BTW, we mentioned that we didn't appreciate the age thing. I tried to get his guitar pick, but someone got to him before I did. FYI, he drank Everfresh orange juice on the break.

We sadly left at about 7:10 beacuse they were politely kicking us out. That was definitely THE best day of my life. I just laminated the autographed CD cover and am thinking of getting a fire-proof box to put it in. The picture of us and the band should be coming in a few weeks. I saw the negatives and all the guys look mighty fine if ya know what I mean. The photographer, being the geni-ass that he was let some dumb winner man cover Ed's chin. But girls, let me say that Dean is quite the piece of work in this pic. Don't bother e-mailing us to put it on the page, we dopn't have a scanner and have to make do with pics already on the net. Of course, I keep thinking of questions that I wish I had asked, but what can I do? I'm excited for the 2 month anniversary coming up on the 26th of this month.... I' ll happily be wearing something csoul.