In order to understand what it meant to me, and how it felt to me, to have David Cook and his Kick-Awesome Band (apologies to Kris Allen) come to Lorain County Community College last night (and for me to be there witnessing it!), you need to first have a little background on me.

I was born in the small town of Oberlin, Ohio, a town best known for Oberlin College, a small but extremely well-reputed liberal arts college known for its exceptional music program. I grew up primarily in nearby Wellington, Ohio, a tiny village best known for… um… for sharing the name of the capital of New Zealand? That’s a joke, of course. It is also the location of the Lorain County Fair, not that anyone outside of Lorain County would find that special.

NO ONE in popular music comes to Lorain County, Ohio to put on a show. NO ONE. The Lorain County Fair has country acts. I remember seeing the Oak Ridge Boys one year, the Charlie Daniels Band another year, and even Waylon Jennings another year. But a budding rock star? No. Never happens.

What’s more, Lorain County Community College was the destination of many field trips when I was growing up. Some years a trip to LCCC to see a play or musical was a reward for being on the honor roll so many times that year. Other times there were seminars for different career paths. I remember when I was a senior in high school, I attended a journalism roundtable at LCCC, back when I had wide-eyed dreams of becoming a journalist.

So the idea of going to LCCC, of all places, to watch my very favorite musician, David Cook and his Incredible Band? Ludicrous. Impossible. And yet—I had tickets. I was going to see them in what was more or less my old stomping grounds. Of all the possible shows I could or would attend, this was the one I was most looking forward to.

Three out of the four David Cook shows (I include AI tour in this) I had attended had been with my husband Eric, who happens to be a fan of David if not quite as obsessed as I. This time around, I decided to bring someone else, someone who had never seen a David Cook show and who liked him on American Idol and liked the songs he had put out since then. This person was my sweet 14-year-old babysitter, Stevie.

Some of you may know that I am currently in the process of making a new record for myself: the most shows without meeting David. At this point I had met everyone else in the band, and even Ryan Star himself—but still, no David. Dear Stevie had a mission. She was determined to get me to meet David. This amused me greatly, and we made jokes about how she was going to wind up just throwing me into his path.

Meanwhile I had a mission of my own. Not long after I had purchased tickets to Perrysburg and Elyria, I had realized that Joey Clement’s birthday was during the month of my shows. Well, how could I call myself Joey’s number one fangirl if I didn’t get him a birthday gift? My first, feeble thoughts of a gift, I can now only call “LAME.” I was looking at bass clef-oriented gifts. I found a keychain, a pen shaped like a bass guitar, even a clock. At the time I thought these were pretty cute gift ideas.

I am fortunate to call Zillablue my friend, and I say this because she is the one who came up with the best gift idea for Joey ever. She said, “If you’re still open for suggestions… how about picks with Joey’s name on them?”

Slow as I can be, I said, “Um… Joey doesn’t use picks.”

And then it dawned on me. “… unless you mean for throwing into the audience?”

“Yes!” Zilla said.

And with that, I knew I had the perfect gift idea.

She was right. All the other band members who play stringed instruments had customized guitar picks to throw into the audience. My friend Letty and I had David Cook picks. My friend Coolie had an Andy pick. Letty had a Neal pick. But no one had Joey picks, because Joey didn’t throw (his own) picks into the audience. Maybe it was because he didn’t use picks, or maybe it was because Joey didn’t know if people would appreciate his picks. My friends and I agreed it was time he had his own.

Then I wondered, “Should I just have them printed with his name, or with his signature?” I immediately knew the answer. Of course, they had to have his signature on them. There was only one slight problem: I didn’t have his signature. (I don’t normally ask for autographs; I’m more of a photographic-evidence girl.)

That was quickly overcome, though, because fortunately my friend Tatiana—my Valparaiso concert companion—had gotten Joey’s signature after that concert. An IM sent her way resulted in her assurance that yes, she would scan his signature and e-mail it to me. This she did with admirable quickness. After a little doctoring to ensure that I had *just* Joey’s signature in a graphic block, and no one else’s, I found a company online that produced a fair number of customized picks for a very reasonable price.

Thus, within a week of talking to Zilla, I was in possession of a little baggie filled with 100 Joey Clement-signature’d picks.

So I had my mission. Stevie had hers. And we were off to Lorain County Community College, here on in known as LCCC. (You can read it as “L Triple C.”)

We arrived at the college at 6:40 for a show that would begin at 7:30, according to our tickets. It had rained anywhere from a little bit to torrentially on our way there, and it was still raining as we arrived. I had hoped fervently that they would allow us to wait inside before the show started, and I was very happy indeed to see people disappearing into the Stocker Arts Center.

Not long after we arrived, I happened to spot my friend Nicole (you’ll know her as last night’s cellcaster). I was so happy to see her, as I hadn’t seen her since the Jingle Ball in Columbus, and that was clear back in December. Needless to say she was extremely excited, as that concert had been the last time she had seen David & the EEB. I couldn’t wait for her to see how much better they had gotten since then.

She left to find her seats with the friends she had arrived with, and not long after that, I finally got to meet Tracie, aka Amaretto on DCO and Silver on Yes.com. I had actually purchased her tickets after the technical glitches affecting the LCCC website when tickets first went on sale had been fixed, since I knew she wanted them and she couldn’t buy them herself, as she had gone to work. I met her lovely and sporting friend Jen, and we eagerly awaited the chance to enter the theater. As it turned out, we were allowed to enter not long after.

It had been years since I had watched anything inside the Stocker Arts Center, so I couldn’t remember how exactly the theater was set up. But the moment I stepped inside, it all came rushing back to me. Our seats were incredible—but then, there were no such things as bad seats in the theater. It was true theater seating, with front-row seats at the bottom and the very back seats at the highest point in the theater. We were fairly close to the back, but seriously, it didn’t matter. No matter where you sat in the theater, you were going to have a great view. And we did, even when the entire crowd stood for David’s entrance. (More on that later.)

Shortly after 7:30, out came the lovely and amazing Ryan Star. His set was shorter than I had remembered in Akron, but it was blistering. I found, to my delight, that I could sing along with all but one of the songs in the set (the one being 11:59). In Akron I could sing along completely only with “Last Train Home.” Ryan’s set comprised “Brand New Day,” “Right Now,” “11:59,” “Psycho Suicidal Girl,” “Breathe,” “Last Train Home,” and “Back of Your Car.” It was different than Akron, as I had expected, but one thing was the same: Ryan poured every ounce of his heart, soul, and strength into every performance. He was all over the stage, incredibly intense, the consummate performer. The crowd reacted as best as they could, but it was obvious to me that the crowd here didn’t know Ryan all that well. No one stood until “Back of Your Car,” and that was because Ryan told us to!

At intermission, Stevie and I noticed Ryan slipping out a front side door. She expressed a desire to meet him, so I grabbed my wallet, made sure I had my ticket stub, and took Stevie out to the lobby to get her a CD and try to get it signed. Sadly, this mission was doomed for failure. I bought her the CD, but the crowd getting their CDs signed was ridiculous. At least, it was at the front of the “line.” Not only did people continually cut in the front of the “line” (I use quotes because it was more of a crowd than a “line,” though those of us at the back were trying to behave in a line-like fashion), but the people at the front never seemed to leave. We could only imagine they were merrily chatting up Ryan and oblivious to the throng behind them who also wanted an autograph and photo with Ryan. When we heard the announcement that David would be onstage in 10 minutes, we gave up and returned to our seats.

Tracie and I were a little concerned about the crowd reaction—Tracie called it a “lame” crowd, and I couldn’t disagree. As it turned out, when David and his band took the stage, the mood of the room turned 180 degrees. The crowd was instantly to its collective feet, and they didn’t sit down again the rest of the night.

From the beginning of David’s set, the energy of the crowd was palpable. This was a crowd that, as polite as they had been for Ryan, was completely wild for David. The cheers, screams, and applause were nearly deafening. Stevie broke out her whistle (man, that girl can whistle LOUDLY! I’m jealous! Lol) many, many times. People were clapping, singing, waving their arms. (Myself included. Or perhaps I should say, *especially* myself, for reasons that will be clear in photos. Lol)

Highlights of the set for me: Breathe Tonight, which I don’t believe I’d heard up to that point; Lie, still my favorite song; Avalanche, another of my favorite songs, which I had also not yet heard live till then; Come Back to Me, both because it was Stevie’s favorite song and because it was fun to see Joey lead us all in clapping over our heads at the beginning; and, last but not least, A Daily AntheM, which I *finally* got to witness live, in all its goosebumps-inducing glory, after I had suffered the indignity of being at the first concert in which ADAM was *not* played (good ol’ Valparaiso! Lol).

The one glaring omission, for me, was Kiss on the Neck. Not only because I love the song, but also because this is what I like to call “the JoeyJump Song.” FINALLY I could actually see Joey if he jumped (unlike at Valparaiso), and the stage was plenty big for jumping (unlike in Akron). But there was no Kiss on the Neck, and thus no JoeyJumping. If I don’t get Kiss on the Neck at the Ohio State Fair, I will NOT be a happy Joey fangirl. Lol

Aside from that, though, it was a rollicking set. David was clearly happy, healthy, and soaking in our very noisy crowdness. We got lots of banter from him, including a mysterious T-shirt handed to him, David encouraging us to yell “Happy Birthday, Joey” and him to give us a Rock Kick (not up to Joey’s usual standards, admittedly, but then it was a cold kick, so I forgive him!), and, best of all, his introduction of Bryan Jewett to us—aka, the man who gave David, Neal, and Andy a place to stay during their MWK days. The mood went quickly from adorable, as Bryan entered the stage and doled out sweet hugs to both David and Andy, to hilarious, as Bryan took Andy’s mic and announced, “For the record: these guys are SLOBS!”

You can find photos of the concert here: http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a91/NLeighH/Elyria%20Concert/

Here’s a sample:

Finally, the show was over! Stevie wanted us to leave ASAP so we could hit the buses. Remember, she was still on a mission! I tried texting Nicole to find out which direction she had headed, but when she didn’t text back (I didn’t know at the time that she was talking to Manders on the phone, duh!), I said, “You know what, let’s just start walking around the building and see what happens.” This decision was rewarded when, after several minutes of walking, we were greeted with the sight of the two buses and a very small crowd of people. There may have been about 30 people.

I found Nicole, and not long after I also found Tracie. While we waited for the guys, we amused ourselves by taking photos together.

Nicole and me:

Stevie and me:

Tracie and me:

Nicole and I also amused ourselves by tweeting Ryan and encouraging him to come out, and bring David and the guys with him. LOL! I didn’t honestly expect Ryan to do so, but it was fun trying.

Meanwhile I tried to remain calm *and* remain as close to the buses as possible. Stevie may have had her mission, but I was still on mine—give Joey his gift. I knew that if I could stay at the “front” of the throng—yes, it didn’t take long for the group of 30-something to swell into a crowd of probably at least 100—I had a better shot.

Then Nicole said the words that made my heart stop: “Look, there they are, they’re coming!”

As it turned out, we could see all the guys coming toward the exit through a set of windows behind the buses. Nicole was excitedly rattling off all their names, and my heart remembered how to work again and began hammering harder and harder. Crazy! I had met everyone in David’s band except David at least once already, and yet I felt as if I was going to faint.

When the guys left the building and went into the bus, I was fine as long as the bus door remained open. But then it closed, and I felt my heart drop to my feet. All the while Nicole kept reassuring me: “They’re going to come out. They’re going to come out. See, there’s Andy’s face, can you see it?” I peered into the front windshield and discovered, yes indeed, I could see Andy’s face. I tried to remember how to breathe.

And then the door opened again, and out came David and Joey! It’s entirely possible that other band members came out then too, but all I could do was stare at David and Joey. And I began to shake. Like never before. Stevie said “Aww!” and Nicole tried to calm me down as I clung helplessly to her. I honestly don’t know what happened to me. I had never reacted like that on seeing David and/or Joey before.

An excited cry went up through the crowd, and David immediately motioned for quiet. He explained to all of us that he hadn’t eaten yet, so he was going to sign for as many people as he could until their food arrived. Then David began walking towards us, but he went to our right, at the “beginning” of the throng. Meanwhile, Joey began to walk right in our direction.

I knew this was my chance, and I immediately called out, “Joey! I have a gift for you!” He met my eyes and was clearly planning to come to me first, but he was intercepted by someone just to Nicole’s and my left. That was okay with me, though. I knew he had heard me, I knew he had seen me, and I knew just as soon as he was done with the lady to our left, he would come right to me.

Sure enough, he did.

“This is your birthday gift,” I told him when he approached me. He took the gift bag I held up and said “Thank you!” I knew he was going to just take it and be done with it, but no. I hadn’t waited this long to give him this gift without seeing a reaction! Lol I said, “Hold on,” and I pulled the plastic baggie of picks out of the gift bag.

Then came the hard part, at least for me. Trying to explain what the picks were for. I didn’t want Joey to think that some idiot had just given him a bag of picks when he didn’t even use picks! LOL This was hard for me because I suddenly forgot how to talk. I started talking, but I couldn’t seem to get a word out without stammering and stuttering. I’m sure I must have sounded like Porky Pig. I stopped myself, took a deep breath, apologized for my incoherency, and tried again. This time I managed to get it out: I explained that they were picks with his signature so that he could throw them into the audience. “I didn’t think it was right that you were the only one without picks to throw,” I told him.

I don’t really remember what Joey said to this. I know he said “Thank you” at least once. I’m pretty sure he said something like “sweet!” or “Cool!” That he was appreciative, excited, and enthusiastic, was obvious. I gave him a hug as he gushed over the picks, and he hugged me back just as warmly. It was very sweet. I melted.

Then I said, “Can I ask just one thing? Could you please give me the first pick?”

Joey said, “Absolutely. In fact—let me initial it for you, so you’ll know it’s the first one.”

I melted, again.

Joey pulled a pick out of the bag and remarked on what a great gauge it was. I have no idea why it was a good gauge—better for grasping and throwing, maybe? I don’t know! Then he did something that shocked me: he pulled out a Sharpie! Remember, I had seen him at 2 previous concerts where he didn’t have a Sharpie. I couldn’t resist saying, “Joey! You finally have a Sharpie! I’m so proud of you!” He laughed and said, “Yeah.”

It seemed to take a while for him to initial it, but finally he finished and handed it to me. I thanked him profusely, then got close to him for my photo.

I didn’t find out till later, back in my car, why it had taken Joey so long to initial my pick. He hadn’t just initialed it… as you’ll see below.

Joey made sure I melted even back in my car. Lol

My mission was complete!

Now Stevie and Nicole had their mission: getting me to meet David. Nicole began dragging me toward David, who had now made his way to the opposite side of the crowd, to the left, close to the bus entrance. It seemed that the closer I tried to get to David, the further he drifted away. I felt caught in a crowd of people, just as I had in Columbus at the Jingle Ball.

Somehow, just as I had had felt very sure that I was going to get to fulfill my mission, I felt equally sure that meeting David was once again going to slip from my grasp. In fact, I actually got closer to David than I ever had before. I was close enough to touch him. If I had reached my hand toward him, I could have touched nearly any body part I wanted. Somehow, though, I wasn’t even tempted. I didn’t want him to have some disembodied hand touching him without his permission. He wasn’t even looking in my direction.

At one point, when it was obvious that he wasn’t able to stop to pose for photos, I thought, “If he just looks my way, I’ll ask for a handshake.” I didn’t have anything for him to sign, so it would have to do.

He didn’t look my way.

I thought about shrieking, “David! Can I touch your hand?” but somehow that struck me as creepy. I didn’t want to be one of “those” fans. So I stayed quiet, somehow content in the knowledge that my “perfect record” for not meeting David would remain intact. I don’t know why I was so content about this. I just felt at peace about it.

When David said “Bye guys, I gotta go!” I cheerfully yelled “Bye David!” and returned to Nicole and Stevie’s side. Both of them wore sad faces. I just laughed.

“It’s okay!” I insisted. “I got so close to him, did you see?”

If you would like to see, check out the photos below.

This last photo is the one that best shows how close I got. (Look for the shock of copper hair! Lol) You can probably tell that if I’d just stretched my arm and hand toward David, I could have touched him.

So, with the David mission foiled, I suggested we see if there were any other band members out. As it turned out, Joey was still out, and so was Kyle—I’d never even seen Kyle come out. (I found out later, thanks to the photo below taken by Stevie, that Andy had also come out. Unfortunately I had never seen him thanks to my ultimately futile attempt to meet David!! Fail.)

Kyle had hardly anyone around him, probably because no one realized he was there amidst the David fervor. Nicole, Stevie, and I made a beeline for him.

I asked Stevie if she wanted me to take a photo of her and Kyle. She said, “Ohhh, I don’t know, what would I say?” “You don’t have to say anything,” I told her. “I’ll just ask if I can take a photo of you and him.”

That’s just what I did, and Kyle of course said “sure.” Stevie—who, I should add, is an aspiring actress who wants to work for the Disney Channel someday—immediately lost her shyness and said to Kyle, “Can we make police faces?” After they worked out exactly what “police faces” entailed, they struck the following pose.

This is my favorite non-Joey shot of the night.

Then I went up to Kyle. I wanted a photo with him, of course, but I decided to strike up a conversation first. Since there had been so many people around Joey earlier, I didn’t get a chance to ask him how the Philippines was, though I had really wanted to. So instead, I asked Kyle. His first answer: “Hot.” Lol

I asked him how the show was, and he elaborated that it was “incredible.” I asked him if he had ever played for that large a crowd before, and he kind of rolled his eyes and said “No way, never. It was amazing—there were like over 100,000 people.” I told him I had heard and that it sounded fantastic.

(This conversation led Tracie to later say to our friends at Yes, “NLeigh talks to the guys so easily.” I just laughed and said “You must not have heard my conversation with Joey, then!”)

Then, Tracie and I both got our photos with Kyle.

Now I told Stevie that I wanted to see if I could talk to Joey again, since he was still out. I thought I’d see if I could get close enough to ask him about the Philippines. But he was still surrounded by quite a few people, so I just kind of circled around to the left and watched him chat, sign, and pose with other fans. I tried to take photos, but I never really got a good shot.

After about 5 minutes or so, Joey told us he had to go and began climbing the stairs to the bus, shouting “bye!” to us.

I shouted, “Bye, Joey! Happy birthday!”

Joey turned toward me, caught my eye, mouthed “Thank you,” and waved.

Then he went back into the bus and closed the door.

It was the perfect cap to the perfect night.