i did meet matt chamberlain and there's the squiggly to 'prove' it.

videos dye hair stamp + taxes call off interview read sundiata print out bday wishes meet gene 3:15 pm return videos get gone a day later i look down at those directions in faded black marker covering the back of my left hand and find them all checked off. missions accomplished. impressive. --- as we drove towards charlotte, shoes off (too hot) and with coca cola spilling onto our clothes at various road imperfections the skye let out some rain and lightning while nothing worth-while could be found on the radio. we passed a truck loaded with hundreds, if not throusands, of live chickens all boxed in with their little heads and beaks pushed against the plastic container walls and feathers moving from the wind created. i surpressed an urge to burst down crying at the sight and reiterated my decision to be a vegetarian. we found independence (blvd) and parked 30 feet from the tour buses. with some stale warm water i brushed my teeth in the parking lot and made sure i had the birthday wishes for matt chamberlain (fiona [and tori etc etc]'s drummer) and tickets. as i got to the backstage area i located a man in charge and asked him to deliver the wishes for me - i wasn't sure i'd be able to get close enough to matt after the show to deliver them personally, and thought it might be more fun to get it right before the show - the man agreed and me and gene proceeded into the concert venue where i first saw tori in 1998. all in all, it was a great concert. the opening act consisted of the frontman from Eels (novocain for the soul... "before i sputter out" .. yeah) who performed a set alternately on piano and accoustic guitar. he even conducted a little q&a session in the middle of it.. very cool guy. of course i nearly ripped the throats out of the teenage girls around us. they all thought it perfectly fine to talk loudly throughout his set, and to laugh loudly, and act like asses in general. i know, i know, it's not illegal or anything, but it bothers me when people don't give respect to opening acts or the surrounding people. grr. the fiona set was the same as the entire tour: On the Bound, To Your Love, Criminal, Limp, Sullen Girl, Paper Bag, Get Gone, Love Ridden, Sleep To Dream, Carrion, The Way Things Are, I Know, A Mistake, Fast As You Can. encores: Just One of Those Things (written by Cole Porter), Kissing My Love (written byBill Withers) i took a few pictures... i'm sure none will come out as in the case with kristin (well, 2 our of 10 wasn't that bad..) there was very little stage-banter (expected) but a high-energy group of people on the stage including a top-notch voiced fiona who can raise her voice surprisingly loud. most fun: fiona's dancing, the high quality of the perfomance, the intensity of To Your Love, Criminal, Limp and Fast As You Can, the tenderness of Sullen Girl and I know, played by fiona on a piano covered in christmas lights that looked spectacular. sucked ass: the fans. i've been at concerts with screaming fans (ghod knows 3 tori shows gives you that) before, but this was all stupid screaming just to hear your own voice kind'a screaming. on top of that, the bitch behind us was obsessed with being the last scream - somebody would scream, she'd follow. it got so bad that at one point instead of letting out a scream it was a dog-yelp. i skipped the last encore and left for backstage to make sure that matt got his birthday wishes - i made it a bigger deal than it needed to, but i'd promised the girl who runs his website and it was 4 pages of wishes so i felt very obligated to fullfill my mission. i was -amazed- at the lack of security. the eels guy walked right by me. i waited most of the time -right by fionas bus-. i talked to the band mates. by the time matt came out, it had changed from me being the only one out there to a mob. i did get matt's attention and he came over and told me he got the wishes.. i got him to sign my tori tour book (see image above) which was met with a "hey it's the wrong tour!" and then hounded him around for a picture (not b/c he didn't want it taken but rather because he wasn't able to stay still long enough for one to be taken. as everyone shrieked and ran for fiona he kind'a looked at me and rolled his eyes and mock ran towards fiona yelling "eeeeeee!!" which was fun. it turned into a circus pretty fast. a girl who had a bday as well got him to sign her baby-tee, but then she disappeared and we were like 'um... your shirt?" and stuck it on some chicks shoulder. later the real chick showed up and was all 'where is my shirt?" so we looked around and found the fake chick and got it back.. and i finally got a picture of him posing so it might turn out (but with my luck it won't...) and then i was stuck around fiona by the bus and i was amazed at how crazy ppl can be in a mob. as the security tried to herd us off (i wasn't actively trying to see fiona but the security herded me towards her) and then i saw fiona by the bus-door with a million hands all stretched out with things at her. she was -very- tiny - no, i no longer think she looks terribly unhealthy - she's a head shorter though and very small. fiona looked very tired and at the end freaked by all grubby hands sticking things to her face to sign.. i snapped a pic or two when she would look up and then i managed to finally get out of there and to gene's car. all and all it was pretty crazy, good, but crazy. we drove home in intense rain and lightning that covered the span of the sky. and here i am typing millions of words as usual. it's funny - i always attempt to be brief and yet it never works. if anybody made it down here - wow. anyhow. bye.