After about 10 minutes, the rain started to slow down and stop. The puddles got more shallow, and people decided to come back into the open. I looked at some little vendor stores selling rock n' roll t-shirts and such, hoping to find maybe a T.Rex or David Bowie item. No such luck. These rock n' roll type merchants always sell way too much Doors, Janice Joplin, Bob Marley, and Jimmy Hendrix stuff. A guy was selling fun glow in the dark items. I was tempted by a pair of big pink light up plastic eye glasses.
It was now nearing 2:00 pm and I wanted to see the progress at Ok Go's stage. How the festival worked is that there were three stages. At any time, two bands were performing on two stages, while one stage was turning over. The Ok Go one was being turned over. I got right up front to see what was happening. Two girls stood off to the side doing sort of the same thing. They were pretty much, though, waiting for the next band which was not Ok Go but was the one they were eager to see.
I saw Dan on stage checking things over and looking a bit nervous. He saw me and smiled as I approached. He smiled and I waved and said hi. "Hi" he said. "I hope we can still go on." The clouds were still a bit ominous and getting a bit more ominous as we spoke. "I know, you have to go on!," I said. "Ok Go brings out the sunshine, it'll happen." He laughed. "I brought you guys something. The last time I saw you guys three years ago when you were in Arizona, I brought you dental goodie bags cause I'm a dentist. I brought you some more." "Yeah?" he was surprised. There was an event volunteer wandering nearby between the stage and the barrier, I asked him to pass the goodie bags over to the stage as I nervously whipped them out of my purse. "There are five," I said and explained that one of them was for Pete (their internet man). Dan looked amazed and a big smile came over his face, "Thank you so much, darling!" he told me. "Ha, anytime. Just come do a show soon in Jackson, Missippi or Arizona soon. Mix and match the toothbrushes and gum, I wasn't too sure who should have what color." "Okay, I'll go put these away." He went backstage for a bit. The two girls nearby who were waiting for the other band wondered if Dan was a friend of mine and asked me, "Do you know him?"
I informed them that that was Ok Go's drummer. They thought that was nice, but said they were there for another band. I stepped back a few feet to call my sis and let her know I just had a chat with Dan and delivered the goodie bags. I hoped that I'd get a chance to see the other lads, but just in case, I delivered the bags right away to Dan. While I talked to sister, he came back out and checked something but then went back away again.
.....Then the rain started up again!! The sky started to get dark. I told her about the crazy rain and how it was back. Then, I told her I had to go. An announcement suddenly came on that due to the weather, there would be an hour and half delay and everyone was to leave and seek shelter in a safe place. "Attention, attention. Due to the weather, there will be a one and a half hour delay. Please evacuate the premises and seek shelter right away." Oye vey! I knew what that meant. A tornado was a coming! A tornado! Only I could bring a tornado to an Ok Go show! I think most people's first thought was to go back to the Hangout restaurant. But guess what? Nasty Gym Teacher was telling everyone they couldn't do that and would have to leave the venue. She said everyone's tickets would still be honored when they came back. There were quite a few people and I guess the Hangout might have already been filled to capacity. But I did find it ironic to send everyone out into the wild weather after telling everyone to seek shelter.
I was in a panic not because of the weather but for the good chance that the lads wouldn't go on. An hour and a half delay would mean it'd be 3:30 when the doors re-opned. Ok Go were supposed to go on at 4:45. Surely, if the weather would just cooperate, they could go on. But what if everything go too wet to perform? What if it wouldn't stop raining? At least I got to talk to a member of the band. Still, that didn't make up for the fact that I might have to miss a show of theirs. They actually weren't parked too far away from me. I could see their bus across the stree from the Alvin's Dept Store I was parked at. I went to the car, and decided to eat a lunch I had packed. Since the rain was still coming down and flash floods were a risk, I decided it'd be safer to spend an extra night at my hotel. I called my boss and she agreed. I told her to pray to the Gods of Rock n' Roll that Ok Go would still go on. She laughed but said she completely understood. I called Russian Hotel Boy's mother and booked another night's stay.
Then, all I could do was wait out this next round of storms..........
So....will Ok Go go on? Will Tempe get the chance to rock out on the beach or will she sloush and slush her way back in a fume to her hotel? Will the rain ever let up????
Tune in next time to find out in Part II of the tale which I shall post tomorrow.
While the rain mizzled and fo izzled, I called our own DJRose to kvetch (complain) about what was happening. She lent a great ear and was really reassuring. Then I decided to go to the crazy souvenir shops to get my mind away and to not keep looking at the rain. I went to the store I was parked at called "Alvin's Beach Department Store." I got some nifty post-cards because I love collecting postcards and refrigerator magnets from the places I have visited. I saw some cute beachy picture frames but I was afraid if I bought one, it'd jinx any chance of Ok Go performing. (Don't you hate how your mind goes to stupid places like that?)
Ah, then I saw some dirty coffee mugs that made my jaw drop, didn't take a pic as I didn't want the Russian staff to whup my ass. Turns out the entire store was run by about 10 Russian people. Anyway, I shall describe the mugs. One mug looked like a pair of woman's breasts, nipples and all, with tan lines around the breasts. The other mug was just a breast and nipple. The handle was at the back, and you drink from the top of the breast.
I also saw dried aligator heads. Made me sorta spew. Teeth were so sharp. Who would buy such a gift? They also had key chain aligator paws.
As the bossy Russian woman rang up my purchase, I could hear the other Russians going, "Where is Zhenya?" That made me giggle as Zhenya is the name of a character in a Russian movie Olga the roomate had once shown me and my sis. I'd meet Zhenya a little later (he was the parking lot attendant).
Then, I came back outside. The rain had gotten a little better, but it was still going. I went across the narrow side street to the crazy souvenir stores I had shown in the previous pics. It got a bit windy and my umbrella flipped inside out. Twas fun entering a store with wet feet through a pirate ship! Added to the authenticness of the ship. It was a big store. I almost bought a poncho, but then I realized I actually had a raincoat in the trunk of my car, and flipped my palm at my forehead for not remember that way earlier. I loved exiting the store via the shark's mouth. Made me feel like aqua-marine vomit!
Miraculously, the rain began to slow and come to a stop! I went back to the venue. They decided they'd re-open the doors at 4 rather than 3:30. So I stood around waiting, but then decided to put my umbrella away because even though it appeared they had changed the rules, I didn't want to wait up front for a half hour and then be told to put my umbrella away by the Nasty Gym Teacher lady. They were going to honor tickets already purchased and decided to make it a free festival for anyone else who wanted to show up! That made most of us in line incredibley mad as we had to pay the ridiculously overpriced fee for admission. They acted like it was all good cause the $ was going toward Gulf Coast relief from the oil spill, but the ticket prices were set months before the oil spill. Ah well. At least the venue was going to re-open, which meant....could Ok Go finally go on?......I asked a guy working there what would happen. He just shrugged and said, "they may still go on, but have to play a shorter set to make up for lost time. I really don't know though."
The doors were reopened at 4, and everyone waiting whooped and cheered. They had to re-check everyone's bags once more. As soon as I got through, I walked as fast, and appearing to be as non-chalantly, as possible back to the Playstation Stage to see what was going to happen.
No one was there in the audience area, so I got right up front. There, I saw Ok Go's drum set sitting all shiny and pretty, nearly sparkling to my eyes that had taken three years to see those drums again in person.
^^Notice the drums are a bit water streaked. I saw several people setting up equipment and drying the stage. A middle aged woman who looked like she could be a mermaid with her long blond curly hair looked like she was in charge of the stage. The band that was supposed to go on before Ok Go that several people were looking forward to decided to cancel their set all together. People were extremely disappointed by that. She told me Ok Go would go on at 5:45, rather than 4:45, and that they would play their full set. I was about ready to jump up and down and go yipppeeee. She said I had an hour and a half. I told her, I'd just stand were I was cause my spot was so good and I didn't want to lose it later to teenyboppers. She agreed. Then I told her if she and her crew need any help clearing the stage, I'd come up and help. She smiled and went back to what she was doing. She had to plug stuff in, move stuff, and use a broom to push water off the stage.
There was a middle aged dude who was in charge of lighting. He had nothing to do with Ok Go, he and his crew were just in charge of lighting for the stage. He was very chatty and talkative, asked my name, tried to make conversation, was trying a bit too hard to get to know me. I thought in my head, "if you're not in the band, don't be chatting me up right now. I'm in Ok Go mode and I don't have time for much older men making a move."
Anywhoo, after he went back to work, two ladies about my age came by and stood around with me waiting for the show. They had bought three day passes to the festival and told me how it had been so far. They were both from Atlanta. They were lots of fun to talk to, and the time flew by. Our spots were right up front against the barricade between the audience and the stage. We sat for a bit with our backs against the barricade, chatting. Then, I got antsy, wondering how the stage set-up was going, so I got up and the girls followed.
Sure enough, I saw Damian setting up his geetar. He was looking a bit frustrated that one of their roadies couldn't get the sound just right.
The mermaid looking lady continued to mess with plugs and sweep water off the stage. They had a radio broadcast going on the entire time. Not sure were the radio announcer was stationed. He did a quick little interview with Damian.
And then.....5:45 rolls round......there's now an audience waiting......and......
I can't quite remember all the songs and in what order, but I think I posted the set list in another thread. I called my sis so that she could listen to the concert.
The next many pics are concert related. It was drizzling on and off while the crew set up, but for the entire Ok Go performance, it actually did get nice again. No more rain, the sky stayed gray, but it wasn't an angry sky anymore.
They started off AMW." I hoped Damian wasn't going to spend the entire concert in those Roy Orbison sunglasses.
Yeah, I know the suit is red. But it looks awfully orange in natural beach light.
There were a bunch of professional photographers hogging space for awhile, but I think my pics are nice too. I went crazy taking pics during the 1st song, as you can see.
Damian, the king of bantering with the audience. He usually does a lot more bantering. But I think the festival people wanted to move things along, meanwhile Ok Go wanted to get in as many songs as they could. Here's he's joking about how drunk the radio dude appeared to be who had just interviewed him. He's asking how the crowd has enjoyed the three day festival so far and whether perchance every single one of us in the audience might be drunk.
Then he picked up his microphone, stand and all, and jumped off the stage and over the barricade. He kept the stand over his head as he said, "pardon, excusin, pardon." and set down his microphone right in the center of the crowd to sing "Last Leaf."
At this point, Damian joked about the differences of doing a rock show in the day vs. the night and how he was going to make this one rock just as hard as a night time show should because he doesn't want a daytime show not to feel like a rock show.
Comments
It was now nearing 2:00 pm and I wanted to see the progress at Ok Go's stage. How the festival worked is that there were three stages. At any time, two bands were performing on two stages, while one stage was turning over. The Ok Go one was being turned over. I got right up front to see what was happening. Two girls stood off to the side doing sort of the same thing. They were pretty much, though, waiting for the next band which was not Ok Go but was the one they were eager to see.
I saw Dan on stage checking things over and looking a bit nervous. He saw me and smiled as I approached.
He smiled and I waved and said hi.
"Hi" he said. "I hope we can still go on."
The clouds were still a bit ominous and getting a bit more ominous as we spoke.
"I know, you have to go on!," I said. "Ok Go brings out the sunshine, it'll happen."
He laughed.
"I brought you guys something. The last time I saw you guys three years ago when you were in Arizona, I brought you dental goodie bags cause I'm a dentist. I brought you some more."
"Yeah?" he was surprised. There was an event volunteer wandering nearby between the stage and the barrier, I asked him to pass the goodie bags over to the stage as I nervously whipped them out of my purse. "There are five," I said and explained that one of them was for Pete (their internet man).
Dan looked amazed and a big smile came over his face, "Thank you so much, darling!" he told me.
"Ha, anytime. Just come do a show soon in Jackson, Missippi or Arizona soon. Mix and match the toothbrushes and gum, I wasn't too sure who should have what color."
"Okay, I'll go put these away." He went backstage for a bit. The two girls nearby who were waiting for the other band wondered if Dan was a friend of mine and asked me, "Do you know him?"
I informed them that that was Ok Go's drummer. They thought that was nice, but said they were there for another band. I stepped back a few feet to call my sis and let her know I just had a chat with Dan and delivered the goodie bags. I hoped that I'd get a chance to see the other lads, but just in case, I delivered the bags right away to Dan. While I talked to sister, he came back out and checked something but then went back away again.
.....Then the rain started up again!! The sky started to get dark. I told her about the crazy rain and how it was back. Then, I told her I had to go. An announcement suddenly came on that due to the weather, there would be an hour and half delay and everyone was to leave and seek shelter in a safe place. "Attention, attention. Due to the weather, there will be a one and a half hour delay. Please evacuate the premises and seek shelter right away." Oye vey! I knew what that meant. A tornado was a coming! A tornado! Only I could bring a tornado to an Ok Go show! I think most people's first thought was to go back to the Hangout restaurant. But guess what? Nasty Gym Teacher was telling everyone they couldn't do that and would have to leave the venue. She said everyone's tickets would still be honored when they came back. There were quite a few people and I guess the Hangout might have already been filled to capacity. But I did find it ironic to send everyone out into the wild weather after telling everyone to seek shelter.
I was in a panic not because of the weather but for the good chance that the lads wouldn't go on. An hour and a half delay would mean it'd be 3:30 when the doors re-opned. Ok Go were supposed to go on at 4:45. Surely, if the weather would just cooperate, they could go on. But what if everything go too wet to perform? What if it wouldn't stop raining? At least I got to talk to a member of the band. Still, that didn't make up for the fact that I might have to miss a show of theirs. They actually weren't parked too far away from me. I could see their bus across the stree from the Alvin's Dept Store I was parked at. I went to the car, and decided to eat a lunch I had packed. Since the rain was still coming down and flash floods were a risk, I decided it'd be safer to spend an extra night at my hotel. I called my boss and she agreed. I told her to pray to the Gods of Rock n' Roll that Ok Go would still go on. She laughed but said she completely understood. I called Russian Hotel Boy's mother and booked another night's stay.
Then, all I could do was wait out this next round of storms..........
So....will Ok Go go on? Will Tempe get the chance to rock out on the beach or will she sloush and slush her way back in a fume to her hotel? Will the rain ever let up????
Tune in next time to find out in Part II of the tale which I shall post tomorrow.
In the meantime, a little intermission:
Awww Tempe, you're a tease!
I'm enjoying the virtual trip though.
The beach is so pretty with all the white sand. Those beach houses are awesome!
And I thought that I'd seen a lot of tacky souvenier shops in Florida but I'm pretty sure that Gulf Shores has us beat.
Looking forward to part 2!
Yey, glad you're enjoying the trip.
The tacky sovenier shops is crazy! Why would anyone buy an alligator head??
While the rain mizzled and fo izzled, I called our own DJRose to kvetch (complain) about what was happening. She lent a great ear and was really reassuring. Then I decided to go to the crazy souvenir shops to get my mind away and to not keep looking at the rain. I went to the store I was parked at called "Alvin's Beach Department Store." I got some nifty post-cards because I love collecting postcards and refrigerator magnets from the places I have visited. I saw some cute beachy picture frames but I was afraid if I bought one, it'd jinx any chance of Ok Go performing. (Don't you hate how your mind goes to stupid places like that?)
Ah, then I saw some dirty coffee mugs that made my jaw drop, didn't take a pic as I didn't want the Russian staff to whup my ass. Turns out the entire store was run by about 10 Russian people. Anyway, I shall describe the mugs. One mug looked like a pair of woman's breasts, nipples and all, with tan lines around the breasts. The other mug was just a breast and nipple. The handle was at the back, and you drink from the top of the breast.
I also saw dried aligator heads. Made me sorta spew. Teeth were so sharp. Who would buy such a gift? They also had key chain aligator paws.
As the bossy Russian woman rang up my purchase, I could hear the other Russians going, "Where is Zhenya?" That made me giggle as Zhenya is the name of a character in a Russian movie Olga the roomate had once shown me and my sis. I'd meet Zhenya a little later (he was the parking lot attendant).
Then, I came back outside. The rain had gotten a little better, but it was still going. I went across the narrow side street to the crazy souvenir stores I had shown in the previous pics. It got a bit windy and my umbrella flipped inside out. Twas fun entering a store with wet feet through a pirate ship! Added to the authenticness of the ship. It was a big store. I almost bought a poncho, but then I realized I actually had a raincoat in the trunk of my car, and flipped my palm at my forehead for not remember that way earlier. I loved exiting the store via the shark's mouth. Made me feel like aqua-marine vomit!
The doors were reopened at 4, and everyone waiting whooped and cheered. They had to re-check everyone's bags once more. As soon as I got through, I walked as fast, and appearing to be as non-chalantly, as possible back to the Playstation Stage to see what was going to happen.
No one was there in the audience area, so I got right up front. There, I saw Ok Go's drum set sitting all shiny and pretty, nearly sparkling to my eyes that had taken three years to see those drums again in person.
^^Notice the drums are a bit water streaked. I saw several people setting up equipment and drying the stage. A middle aged woman who looked like she could be a mermaid with her long blond curly hair looked like she was in charge of the stage. The band that was supposed to go on before Ok Go that several people were looking forward to decided to cancel their set all together. People were extremely disappointed by that. She told me Ok Go would go on at 5:45, rather than 4:45, and that they would play their full set. I was about ready to jump up and down and go yipppeeee. She said I had an hour and a half. I told her, I'd just stand were I was cause my spot was so good and I didn't want to lose it later to teenyboppers. She agreed. Then I told her if she and her crew need any help clearing the stage, I'd come up and help. She smiled and went back to what she was doing. She had to plug stuff in, move stuff, and use a broom to push water off the stage.
There was a middle aged dude who was in charge of lighting. He had nothing to do with Ok Go, he and his crew were just in charge of lighting for the stage. He was very chatty and talkative, asked my name, tried to make conversation, was trying a bit too hard to get to know me. I thought in my head, "if you're not in the band, don't be chatting me up right now. I'm in Ok Go mode and I don't have time for much older men making a move."
Anywhoo, after he went back to work, two ladies about my age came by and stood around with me waiting for the show. They had bought three day passes to the festival and told me how it had been so far. They were both from Atlanta. They were lots of fun to talk to, and the time flew by. Our spots were right up front against the barricade between the audience and the stage. We sat for a bit with our backs against the barricade, chatting. Then, I got antsy, wondering how the stage set-up was going, so I got up and the girls followed.
Sure enough, I saw Damian setting up his geetar. He was looking a bit frustrated that one of their roadies couldn't get the sound just right.
And then.....5:45 rolls round......there's now an audience waiting......and......
OK GO hits the stage!!!!!!!!!
Here they come......
The next many pics are concert related. It was drizzling on and off while the crew set up, but for the entire Ok Go performance, it actually did get nice again. No more rain, the sky stayed gray, but it wasn't an angry sky anymore.
They started off AMW." I hoped Damian wasn't going to spend the entire concert in those Roy Orbison sunglasses.
D-D-D-Dan, deep in concentration
"Oh, darling. You're a million ways to be cruel."
Yeah, I know the suit is red. But it looks awfully orange in natural beach light.
There were a bunch of professional photographers hogging space for awhile, but I think my pics are nice too. I went crazy taking pics during the 1st song, as you can see.
Some more Andy love.
Dan da Man
Love this little shot as I was able to get all four in one pic.
Power stance!
Some more lovin' on Dan. Why has he got his pants folded up? Maybe he's been trecking through the puddles too.
Jumpin around during "Get Over It." Damian bops around so quickly, it can be real hard to get a good shot of him.
Belt it out, Tim.
No, Damian did not just drop something. He's just a crazed bopping machine.
It can be hard to get good Dan shots since he's all the way in the back, so any shot I could get, I took.
The two DK's of the group: Damian Kulash and Dan Konopka
Getting the audience to clap along
Major league Power Stance going on
Damian, the king of bantering with the audience. He usually does a lot more bantering. But I think the festival people wanted to move things along, meanwhile Ok Go wanted to get in as many songs as they could. Here's he's joking about how drunk the radio dude appeared to be who had just interviewed him. He's asking how the crowd has enjoyed the three day festival so far and whether perchance every single one of us in the audience might be drunk.
Then he picked up his microphone, stand and all, and jumped off the stage and over the barricade. He kept the stand over his head as he said, "pardon, excusin, pardon." and set down his microphone right in the center of the crowd to sing "Last Leaf."
Damian always looks like he's eating the microphone in this song.
Haha, Andy looks like he's spitting.
Cowbell time during the song, "Back from Katmandu."
Love this shot, have no idea why. I just love it.
Keyboard brought out for Mr. Tim to play.
Find the right place on the guitar, now.
Belt it out from deep down.
Ready for the cue to start playing boards.
And Andy waiting for his cue.
Damian trying to explain things and getting himself confused.
Damian testing the audience's participation. He then had Tim judge how well the audience did.