![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swingchickieso, you might remember that i said last saturday that i had a thingie going on friday, that could quite possibly have been one of the awesomest things ever for me.
okay, some background. forgive me while i dork out here for a second. back in high school, i was a massive monkees fan. *clicking sounds as everyone takes jenn off their friends lists* i know it's goofy, but dammit, i was completely obsessed with them. they were my first concert at 15 (at great adventure amusement park), and my girlfriends and i traveled all over the tri-state area to go to their other sold-out arena shows (it WAS the 20th anniversary of the show, after all)... i knew every song and every episode by heart... i practiced and practiced until i could draw their goofy guitar-shaped logo on anything. i spent all of my money on monkees memorabilia -- scripts from the show, bootleg videos of their tv special and movie, t-shirts, you name it. and of course, i was a member of their fan club... i couldn't WAIT to get my newsletter every month, to see what the guys were up to!
my favorite monkee, hands down, was peter tork. yes, he couldn't really sing, but GOD was he hot. heck, i still catch a glimpse of an old photo of him and get butterflies in my stomach. that long hair that would flop around perfectly as he played... *fans self* his goofy, dopey grin that he'd affect for the show... i was so totally in love. my first "celebrity crush dream" had him in it. and even though when i was 15 he was like 40 or 45, i could look at him on stage and see the younger guy in there and still feel smitten.
one of the highlights of my year in 1985 or 86 (i think it was '86) was going with my best friend kelly to the monkees convention at the sheraton society hill in center city. (the wacky thing, as an aside, is that i had never been back to that hotel since... until 2 weeks ago when my friend K came to town, and stayed there, and i got to stand in the lobby and have all these memories come flooding back.) the convention was a fan's dream -- a ballroom full of vendors selling monkees stuff, memorabilia everywhere, and the monkees themselves (except for mike, 'cause he's all business-y now) making an appearance! i saved all summer at my babysitting job to buy a really nice camera with a big fat zoom lens, so i could get good photos at this thing... and as the guys sat up on a platform answering fan questions, i snapped away, completely giddy... but later that night, at the concert at the mann music center, the security guard wouldn't let me bring my camera in (we'd taken a cab there from the convention, so i had all my stuff with me)... in order to bring it in, he made me take out the entire roll of film and expose it. all of my convention pictures, right in the trash. i was devastated.
20 years later, i still have a soft spot for the band. so imagine my glee when i found out that (yup, i'm sure you guessed it) PETER TORK was playing a show with james lee stanley at the tin angel in center city!!!! w00t!!!! the moment i found out, i jumped online and got myself a ticket. the chance to see him in a much smaller venue (the tin angel seats maybe 100 people) was just too good to pass up. and it seems that a lot of other people felt the same way, because i got there an hour early and there was already a line out the door. i managed to get a seat at one of the barstools along the wall, about 1/3 of the way back from the stage... which was perfect to snap a couple of photos:
the problem with the small size of the place, was that there were several absolutely freaky fanatic women there who were used to screaming at him in a much bigger venue... and they were still giddy and screaming in a room no bigger than the downstairs of my house. one woman in particular was just embarrassing -- she kept trying to have a conversation with him while he was onstage, shouting, "i still love you, peter!!! i'm [her first and last name], don't you remember me???" *cringe* peter was very gracious about it at first, but she got so disruptive that he had to start being firm with her and tell her to be quiet. and like the wackadoo she was, that made her even giddier. ugh. so i had to deal with her in front of me, screaming after every song, clapping as loud as she could off-beat (he actually told her not to clap if she couldn't do it right), and trying to have a long meaningful conversation with him as he played. sweet baby jesus.
so, after they'd played for about an hour, peter made an announcement: he and james were really humbled that people were showing up to hear their folk-y stuff, and so they were going to cut things a little short and come out and meet people and sign autographs. *brain exploding* whoa. i mean, i had figured i might be able to say "hi" to him as he passed me leaving or something... but to actually MEET him? *internal happy dance* so i stood in line with everyone else as he and james sat up on the stage, and waited my turn to say howdy. of course, wacko woman was right at the front, and peter finally had to tell her to stop talking to him and let other people in. *sigh* a few more people, and then he looked up and looked me in the eye, and it was all over. he introduced himself, we embraced... he told me he thought i was incredibly beautiful and that a 30-year age difference didn't matter, and asked me to hang around after the show... i did, and we stayed up until the wee hours drinking wine in a little cafe and gazing into each others eyes, as i told him all my fan stories and he commisserated with me over the lost convention photos...
okay, not really. it went more like this:
*peter looks up at me and i die inside*
me: uh, hi peter, i'm jennifer.
peter: hi, jennifer, nice to meet you. *i shake his hand like a dorkface*
me: um, could i get a photo with you?
peter: sure! *pats the stage next to him* sit your butt right down here.
i sit down, and he leans in to me, and i'm touching a man twice my age who i was totally in love with at 15 and i never thought i'd get to see in person let alone be sitting here leaning against him and...
*click*
look at how cute we are. you can't tell me we weren't meant to be together. *grin*
needless to say, this one photo makes up for all those lost ones from the convention.
okay, some background. forgive me while i dork out here for a second. back in high school, i was a massive monkees fan. *clicking sounds as everyone takes jenn off their friends lists* i know it's goofy, but dammit, i was completely obsessed with them. they were my first concert at 15 (at great adventure amusement park), and my girlfriends and i traveled all over the tri-state area to go to their other sold-out arena shows (it WAS the 20th anniversary of the show, after all)... i knew every song and every episode by heart... i practiced and practiced until i could draw their goofy guitar-shaped logo on anything. i spent all of my money on monkees memorabilia -- scripts from the show, bootleg videos of their tv special and movie, t-shirts, you name it. and of course, i was a member of their fan club... i couldn't WAIT to get my newsletter every month, to see what the guys were up to!
my favorite monkee, hands down, was peter tork. yes, he couldn't really sing, but GOD was he hot. heck, i still catch a glimpse of an old photo of him and get butterflies in my stomach. that long hair that would flop around perfectly as he played... *fans self* his goofy, dopey grin that he'd affect for the show... i was so totally in love. my first "celebrity crush dream" had him in it. and even though when i was 15 he was like 40 or 45, i could look at him on stage and see the younger guy in there and still feel smitten.
one of the highlights of my year in 1985 or 86 (i think it was '86) was going with my best friend kelly to the monkees convention at the sheraton society hill in center city. (the wacky thing, as an aside, is that i had never been back to that hotel since... until 2 weeks ago when my friend K came to town, and stayed there, and i got to stand in the lobby and have all these memories come flooding back.) the convention was a fan's dream -- a ballroom full of vendors selling monkees stuff, memorabilia everywhere, and the monkees themselves (except for mike, 'cause he's all business-y now) making an appearance! i saved all summer at my babysitting job to buy a really nice camera with a big fat zoom lens, so i could get good photos at this thing... and as the guys sat up on a platform answering fan questions, i snapped away, completely giddy... but later that night, at the concert at the mann music center, the security guard wouldn't let me bring my camera in (we'd taken a cab there from the convention, so i had all my stuff with me)... in order to bring it in, he made me take out the entire roll of film and expose it. all of my convention pictures, right in the trash. i was devastated.
20 years later, i still have a soft spot for the band. so imagine my glee when i found out that (yup, i'm sure you guessed it) PETER TORK was playing a show with james lee stanley at the tin angel in center city!!!! w00t!!!! the moment i found out, i jumped online and got myself a ticket. the chance to see him in a much smaller venue (the tin angel seats maybe 100 people) was just too good to pass up. and it seems that a lot of other people felt the same way, because i got there an hour early and there was already a line out the door. i managed to get a seat at one of the barstools along the wall, about 1/3 of the way back from the stage... which was perfect to snap a couple of photos:
the problem with the small size of the place, was that there were several absolutely freaky fanatic women there who were used to screaming at him in a much bigger venue... and they were still giddy and screaming in a room no bigger than the downstairs of my house. one woman in particular was just embarrassing -- she kept trying to have a conversation with him while he was onstage, shouting, "i still love you, peter!!! i'm [her first and last name], don't you remember me???" *cringe* peter was very gracious about it at first, but she got so disruptive that he had to start being firm with her and tell her to be quiet. and like the wackadoo she was, that made her even giddier. ugh. so i had to deal with her in front of me, screaming after every song, clapping as loud as she could off-beat (he actually told her not to clap if she couldn't do it right), and trying to have a long meaningful conversation with him as he played. sweet baby jesus.
so, after they'd played for about an hour, peter made an announcement: he and james were really humbled that people were showing up to hear their folk-y stuff, and so they were going to cut things a little short and come out and meet people and sign autographs. *brain exploding* whoa. i mean, i had figured i might be able to say "hi" to him as he passed me leaving or something... but to actually MEET him? *internal happy dance* so i stood in line with everyone else as he and james sat up on the stage, and waited my turn to say howdy. of course, wacko woman was right at the front, and peter finally had to tell her to stop talking to him and let other people in. *sigh* a few more people, and then he looked up and looked me in the eye, and it was all over. he introduced himself, we embraced... he told me he thought i was incredibly beautiful and that a 30-year age difference didn't matter, and asked me to hang around after the show... i did, and we stayed up until the wee hours drinking wine in a little cafe and gazing into each others eyes, as i told him all my fan stories and he commisserated with me over the lost convention photos...
okay, not really. it went more like this:
*peter looks up at me and i die inside*
me: uh, hi peter, i'm jennifer.
peter: hi, jennifer, nice to meet you. *i shake his hand like a dorkface*
me: um, could i get a photo with you?
peter: sure! *pats the stage next to him* sit your butt right down here.
i sit down, and he leans in to me, and i'm touching a man twice my age who i was totally in love with at 15 and i never thought i'd get to see in person let alone be sitting here leaning against him and...
*click*
look at how cute we are. you can't tell me we weren't meant to be together. *grin*
needless to say, this one photo makes up for all those lost ones from the convention.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-09-09 02:28 pm (UTC)That IS a cute picture, too. :)
no subject
Date: 2006-09-09 02:41 pm (UTC)actually, i just thought of a funny story from than mann music center concert (yes, i became quite the herman's hermits and gary pucket fan too)... my dad was supposed to pick all of us up after the concert, and we couldn't find each other... and this was before cell phones, so we had no way to reach each other and my mom is at home completely panicking...
what does she do? she calls the society hill hotel and insists on them connecting her to the monkees' suite, because she is SURE that the monkees will know where i am.
no, they didn't connect her... yes, my dad found us... and i still crack up that she did that.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-09 03:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-09 02:30 pm (UTC)That is the cutest thing of the ever.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-09 08:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-09 10:42 pm (UTC)"I'd like a glass of cold gravy with a hair in it, please."
Date: 2006-09-09 08:54 pm (UTC)Your story here made my wittle heart sing. I agree-- you guys do look like you deserve together. Right after our divorce, you can have him. (Oh! SMACK!) :-P
Sorry for the 76 posts/deletes of this comment. I just woke up.
Re: "I'd like a glass of cold gravy with a hair in it, please."
Date: 2006-09-09 10:44 pm (UTC)i can't believe you were at the convention back then! too funny!!!! i think i have a few photos tucked away somewhere (kelly snuck her camera in 'cause it was small, mine was a big honkin' thing)...
Re: "I'd like a glass of cold gravy with a hair in it, please."
Date: 2006-09-10 05:35 pm (UTC)I really enjoyed the Monkees while I was growing up, but Rob still has every single legal and illegal recording of them ever. And their bubblegum.
Random 80's Thoughts
Date: 2006-09-10 01:47 am (UTC)Speaking of 80's. I created a list of 80's albums that I love and posted. Enjoy.
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-iJO7OgchcbVJ7QwSLmq.IGY-?cq=1&p=22
Re: Random 80's Thoughts
Date: 2006-09-10 04:58 am (UTC)good top 10 list... there are a couple i'd swap out, but i can see why you chose them...
Re: Random 80's Thoughts
Date: 2006-09-10 01:05 pm (UTC)