JHS' date='Sep 8th 2010, 1:36 AM
First off, about vids. I was standing right up front, right up against the barricades, one person to the left of center. Libracats was to my right, Bethmeister88 was to my left, and they were both filming. I don't know what their sound will be like since we were right in front of a speaker, more or less, but their video should be fantastic. I know Bethmeister88 will try to upload Fever before she crashes for the night, and the rest will be up tomorrow night, I think. I don't know if Libracats will upload any tonight, though I believe she said she'd try.
The only thing is.... Both were stopped filming during the *encores!* Utter despair. A total bastard of a security guard who hadn't been in front of us the entire concert came and did his bastard security guard thing. I *think* Bethmeister88 got most of TCB anyway, but surreptitiously, so I don't know how good it is. We have to just hope somebody else in the crowd managed to get those encores, because they were *epic.* Libracats did get a hilarious vid of ...I think it was TCB, where she was filming without looking,a nd she mainly, and most fortunately, only got Adam's crotch! I dont' know if she'll post it or not, but she was showing us at the barricades the vid, and it was really funny.
JHS' date='Sep 8th 2010, 1:44 AM
Okay, as to why this was an especially fantastic show: I don't know! But it was clear very early that Adam started connecting to the crowd in a special way. Maybe it was because it was General Admission STanding Room ONly? Maybe because Monte, Cam, and Sascha all hail from Texas? Could be. But Adam was in outstanding voice, that's for sure, and he went for all the high notes and then exceeded them! Somebody held up a sign that said Adam Does Dallas during the acoustic part of the set, and he really liked that, really pointed it out and laughed.
During the intro to Aftermath, he joked about finding love in a bar and slurred his words: I love you. I love you, making it a joke, and then somebody in the crowd, a man's voice, yelled out: try finding it in Dallas! Adam heard him clearly, and laughed at that. Also, at the very beginning of the concert, he pointed to somebody behind and to the right of me, smiled and waved. Libracats told me that there were a bunch of young men standing there, and we all know how Adam likes that! I didn't have a good feel for the composition of the crowd, but a few people told me there were a lot of men there. Good!
Before Adam stated Music Again (or maybe IIHY? ButI think it was MA), he consulted with Monte about something, and I knew something was up. I started praying for a special encore of some sort, though I wasn't specifically hoping for WLL. But I was prepared for something epic...and we got it!
JHS' date='Sep 8th 2010, 1:52 AM
I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the Meet and Greet with Adam tonight. Though they told us to gather at 5:30, we weren't let into the venue until 6:15 or so. Neil led us through check-in. We all got laminated tags we wore around our necks then. There were 25 for the Fan Club meet and greet, and a separate M&G for fans who had won theirs from radio stations. I don't know what they did. But ours was in the venue itself. Neil had said that we would have first crack at the spots in front of the stage before they let in the rest of the crowd, and that was really important to me. One of hte main reasons I indulged in the M&G, so I wouldn't have to stand outside in line from 10 a.m.... So that was a fantastic perk.
But I digress, because the important thing was meeting Adam. (By the way, Neil is tall, lithe in his own way, and quite attractive. I often wonder what he thinks of his famous brother, how he feels basically working for Adam. He was businesslike and attentive during the M&G process, and did the picture taking.)
So we were finally led from the lobby to the venue itself, where we were told to wait some more. We were going to have our pictures taken in front of the stage, because, Neil said, he liked the "look." I didn't actually see Adam when he came in, but Bethmeister88 did, and she said, Jenna, Jenna! *then* I saw him. I was wearaing his brown leather jacket and looked amazing. Not much make-up on, no stage make-up. He was initially somewhat somber, I thought, as he stood alone in front of the stage and Neil took what must have been test photos. And then one by one, we were ushered up to Adam, and boy, did he change!
Continued in next post.
JHS' date='Sep 8th 2010, 2:02 AM
So, as soon as the first person approached Adam, it was like a switch was turned on. There wasn't anything fake about it, either. He was unbelievably gracious, smiling, and he was the one who put you at your ease. I saw it happen time after time as people got their precious moments with him. Amazing! Our BB is a class act all the way.
Was I nervous? My palms were sweating! My throat was dry! I was afraid I would make a total fool of myself and then berate myself for the rest of the concert, ruining it for myself. But...Adam wouldn't let that happen. I approached him, he shook my hand, he smiled at me. I told him I regularly donate to Donors Choose, and he seemed especially pleased at that. Then I told him that I still needed to give him a gift. I told him that my husband had paid for half my M&G ticket, and that he had made me promise to give Adam my novel. (I'm a professionally published writer of gay romance, and Dreamspinner Press published my latest novel last November.) Now, I don't think for a second that Adam will read that book! But I somehow felt that it was a fair exchange, his gift of his art to me, and my gift of my art to him, and so I did it. I can't *believe* I did it, but I did! I wrote an inscription inside. I opened the book to the inscription and handed it to him...and you would have thought I had handed him gold. Or great jewelry! LOL! He read the inscription, and I told him I didn't expect him to read the book, just the dedication, and he assured me, quite seriously, that he *would* read the book. He said that he's been meaning to find some good reading. Really, he said, there is a *lot* of dead space in this tour, and I want to read more.
Well, can we define Cloud 9? Adam has my book? I don't think it's his kind of thing, but he skimmed the back blurb of it and said it looked interesting, and he sounded...genuine. My God, is it possible to love that man any more than I do?
More in a minute.
JHS' date='Sep 8th 2010, 2:08 AM
So more on my meet and greet.
After Adam tucked my book away on the barricade behind him, he reached around me and put his arm around my waist. I didn't complain! Obviously, time for the picture. I smiled, Neil clicked, and that might have been it, except....
I told him: I'm a Lambskank. Do you know the skanks? Ladies, his eyes lit up! He said: Oh, yes! I love the skanks!
And then I told a little white lie and I said: The skanks would like to give you a hug. May I hug you in their name?
And he said: Of course! So sweetly.
And we hugged. *Ded.*
By the way, I sniffed, but though he smelled fresh and clean, I did not smell any cologne. I asked a few others afterwards, and nobody else had smelled anything on him either.
ETA: And after Bethmeister's chance at talking to him, we asked if we could get a picture with the three of us, and they all said, sure! I can't wait to see the expression Adam pulled for that one, becuase I have a feeling he was putting on that adorable pout of his!
JHS' date='Sep 8th 2010, 2:19 AM
Isolated highlights:
During Fever, as you probably can all see from Beth's vid that just went up, it looked to me like Tommy was trying to kiss Adam three times before Adam finally swooped on him.
I'm not a confirmed Adommy person, I keep saying I'm on Level Two, whatever that means! But during.... I think it was TCB, but honestly it all is a little confusing. But anyway, there was a little exchange between Adam and Tommy where Adam definitely and distinctly thrust into Tommy's bass in an unmistakably sexual way. that is, if the bass hadn't been in the way, it definitely would have been into Tommy himself. Whatever the heck is going on between the two of them, whether fanservice or something else, it's getting more, er, explicit.
Monte...what can I say about Monte! I love him. What a musician! He is a real showman! I could spend all night watching his fingers fly, but I can hardly take my eyes off Adam. Nevertheless, he was really "on" tonight, and gave a great show.
Taylor.... Somebody needs to give that kid lessons on the proper facial expressions to wear on stage.
Terrance! oh, god, buff and beautiful!
Adam was so darn frisky tonight! I could see his interest int he crowd growing. He always has a delightful smile that peeps out at odd times during the performances, often in the middle of a song, but this time I think we saw it more often. And it was really, really clear that he liked the crowd. He played with us *way* more often than in the other three Glam Nation shows I've been to so far (also was at Fantasy Springs). Of course, even a little more would have a big impact, since I think Adam doesn't do the crowd interaction thing nearly as much as I think he might. But he was on for tonight, that was for sure.
Final isolated highlight: This was my second front row at a concert, plus I had a second row in Wichita. Let me tell you, once you've seen Adam at that close range, you will never, ever be satisfied with anything less. If it is at all possible, someday try very, very hard to treat yourself to a first row at an Adam concert. It is an unbelievable experience you will never forget.
Wow. What a night!
JHS' date='Sep 8th 2010, 2:31 AM
I've had it for the night, must regale the husband about my meet and greet and then crash. But before I go, just have got to say that I found that nasty security guard who tried to shut down Libra and Bethmeister, and I told him I thought that what he had done was, and I quote "An inappropriate use of his power." Hah! He absolutely hit the roof and started yelling at me. Threatened to throw me out twice, and each time I said: the concert's over, you can't throw me out, I'm leaving! But I just had to give him a piece of my mind even though I knew it would do no good. Some security guards are great, including the two who policed the front the entire rest of the time, and some are terrible, including him. Overbearing tin-plated wanna-be-dictators with delusions of grandeur. So there!
And finally: I know for sure that three people fainted, and I believce four did. The last one was right before Adam came out for WLL, and he made sure a bottle of water got to her. She evcentually had to be carried over the front barricade and taken away. I saw her later and she seeme dto be shaken but okay.
That's it! Good night, fellow skanks! SEe you tomorrow! I've got to see these vids too!
JHS' date='Sep 8th 2010, 10:21 AM
Thanks! I thought of about six more things to add in the middle of the night, and then promptly forgot them all when, after four hours of sleep, I woke up. Too excited to sleep, I think!
I guess I can add that for my three shows in a row (Indy, Evansville, and now Dallas), for some strange reason Adam, uh, fills out his pants obviously during Strut. I don't know why that song gets to him, but especially if you're standing right in front of him, you can definitely tell.
My husband thinks I was *nuts* to confront the big bad security guard the way I did. I sort of have a history of doing then when I perceive injustice: my little form of civil disobedience. He's afraid I could have pushed the man too far and he would have grabbed my arm and put it behind me or even worse. I am not the healthiest person in the world -- sigh -- and something like that could have really hurt me. I do think the man's reaction to me was way out of proportion to what I said to him, and actually have even considered writing to the venue to say it. But these are hard economic times, and I wouldn't want to create problems with anybody's job, so I guess I'll stay silent.
Off to watch vids!
JHS' date='Sep 8th 2010, 10:37 AM
I'm watching glitterandspice's vid of WLL and TCB, and I thought I would add that during the part when Adam is sitting down on the right side bench for WLL, that's when the security guy was really getting up in Libracat's face, so he was in front of me and a little to the right...blocking my view of Adam! I took it as long as I could, kept asking him to move, move, please move so I can see (and what the heck are you bothering her for when she's been filming the whole concert and this is an iconic encore!), and when he wouldn't move, kept blocking my view, I did something *really* stupid. I sort of, uh, pushed on his shoulder. Maybe pounded just a bit? Shhh, don't tell my husband! I kept saying, move, move, please! So I can see! It was like touching a rock, LOL! He did move then, maybe five seconds later, and I don't know if that was in response to me at all, as he never gave any indication at all that he heard or felt me.
I really wanted to see Adam perform WLL! And then when he finished, and Monte didn't throw pics into the audience but instead reached for another guitar... Oh, the feeling! Knowing we were going to get TCB (I never even considered that we'd get Mad World), that was the most amazing squeeze in my throat ever!
hmsops' date='Sep 8th 2010, 8:17 PM
Would you care to share the title of your book? A link?
JHS' date='Sep 8th 2010, 9:08 PM
Oh, that's really nice of you to ask! I write under the pen name Jenna Hilary Sinclair. I write gay romance published by Dreamspinner Press, one of many publishers of that genre. All of their publications are available as ebooks in various file formats (for Kindle, in .pdf, etc., etc.), but their novels are also available as printed books that can be purchased on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other independent booksellers. So I was able to give Adam the printed book.
My novel is called Admit One. It's received really nice reviews that I'm thrilled with. (I'm not providing a link to it because I'm not sure of the rules for such things on this forum, but you can go to
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com and do a search for it to find it, if you wanted to!)
I've also had several novellas and short stories published by them and am currently working on a four novel series that I hope will be ready to be published next year. (But let me tell you, being an Adam fan really cuts into the writing time!)