This is going to be the longest recap in history, but it is more than one recap. It is Why I Am a Fan and you should be too plus two concert recaps. so... bear with me.

Introduction:

Although I picked Dave as my idol on first sight (with red fauxhawk, argyle sweater, angelic face, soul piercing voice and gentle, eloquent presence), I had not seen him live yet. I had gratefully watched videos, read recaps, downloaded MP3s and embraced an internet community as my cyberspace home and family, but yet had to see him in the flesh, with my own eyes.
I had loved him for a year and a half, quietly and alone at first, but loud and clear and with the company of all his other fans online later on.

To understand my love for David, it is important to briefly mention that 2008 was a year of turmoil and transformation for me. I had spent 30 some years being a nurse, wife, mother, volunteer, homemaker, caregiver.... but also martyr and victim. I had ignored myself for others, and the time was ripe for me 'to greet myself arriving at my own door, in my own mirror...and love again the stranger who was me' (paraphrase from Love After Love by Derek Walcott). I was ready, but maybe I needed a gentle push and God sent me David Cook. He is part of my awakening, he is part of my standing firm on my feet and reclaiming my spirit. He is forever part of my life, he is family whether he likes it or not.

So now it was time to see him for myself.

Chapter I: Lansing
Hot, humid day. Crazy4you and I headed to Common Grounds.

**a note here about crazy4you: The RL friend who was to go with me to this concert cancelled for health reasons. I did not want to go alone so I PMed this stranger who I had noticed lives close to me, and asked her if she wanted to go with me, half expecting her to say "go to hell, I don't even know you". But she didn't. We met for lunch to make sure no one was an axe murderer and clicked right away. Over the last two days we bonded even more. We shared about our lives more than we ever have. Maybe because we have similar ethnic backgrounds, or we're the same age, we both raised our children well and love our families and mostly because we understand our mutual (drink!) love for David. Thank you David for giving me this wonderful new friend. I love you, K.**

We gave up our terrible reserved seats to be close to Dave. We stood there, in the dirt, for hours, reserving our spots, we sat on the dirt and wondered how we got to be there. Who was this 26 year old that we were willing to do this for? I was hungry, had not eaten anything since the cheese stick at noon, but I had an apple with me and water and I did not want to move. C4Y assured me that it was all going to be worth it the minute I saw his beautiful face just a few feet away. And it was.

[The first band was OK. Can't remember the name from Boston. Pretty young girl lead singer who was trying too hard and maybe does not eat at all.
Need To Breathe was very good. I liked them a lot. Great geetar skillz. I did not understand why they needed to change guitars after almost every song. Very easy on the eyes, talented, tighter jeans than even our own guys. Brother Bo is the ham in the group and he can show Dave some real good sweet a$$ moves.]

And then... "He" was there. The face, the smile, the jaunty little hat, his best plaid shirt, not tight enough jeans, the man himself! I was transported somewhere else. He motioned for the beach ball to be thrown to him, positioned himself and with a kick opened his set. It went by so fast. Although I had seen all the videos, it was a totally different experience live. His voice just enveloped me and I got lost in it. I have no idea how he can sing like that day after day. I thought each song was my favorite. Loved Mr. Sensitive, Souvenir and Lie even more than I did before, if that's even possible. He gave us the gift of Straight Ahead which was not on the set list, just to stay with us longer. YoArms has to be experienced live, the band shined throughout this. I couldn't see Neal very well when he was all the way to the right but fortunately he moved around enough. At one point, he and Joey went up on each side of Kyle and jumped down together. There was coordinated headbanging, and a beautiful 3 way snap and bend. Joey gave us a rock kick and several incredible kangaroo jumps, plus a beach ball kick. Dave did not tease the band much but the one time he did was hilarious. He was talking to us while the three of them were huddled in front of kyle talking amongst themselves. He said, "give it up for the band will you?" and they ignored him. So he said they're just waiting for me to stop talking, turned to us and asked if we wanted him to keep talking and of course we went wild. He turned to them and shrugged his shoulders and gave them a funny face as if saying they'd rather hear me talk then hear you play. (It is a little unclear in my memory which night this happened, could have been at Chesaning, still a little blurry for me, but hey, I'm mentioning it here.

More banter:
- it was a mistake to throw that ball up here, cause we can occupy ourselves with it at least for 5 minutes.
- someone on the right side motioned to him to go over there, he did and asked her what she wanted to talk about, what was going on. She said, "nothing". He said- you bring me all the way over here and you have nothing to say? You just wanted to see "this" up close. I understand.
-Someone held up a David C rocks sign. He said I'm glad you distinguished which David with that C. There are a lot of Davids, how many Davids here? Several hands went up including women. He said - your name isn't David now, is it? That's a lie, let's not start this relationship with a lie. And on that note this next song is called Lie, what a segue - then he cracked himself up with that, couldn't start right away from laughing so hard.
- he tried elephant ears, loved them and wants to have a franchise now.
- he will sing Declaration on Monday.

All in all, it was a fantastic first concert for me, I got much more than my money's worth but I was not satiated yet.

*a note about the crowd. we met many nice people, DCO friends and others. Unfortunately, there was some shoving and pushing, and an incident where some guys were removed by security during NTB's set. I had one difficult moment, where 3 teenagers pushed themselves next to me. The two who seemed to be a couple were too involved with each other, but their friend kept pushing her way to get up front. Her elbows in my ribs, her hair in my face, in my mouth! her feet crushing my toes. I asked her gently (that's what Dave would do, I thought) to move a step back, she ignored me. So after 10 minutes, I said to myself, this little girl is a squirrel at heart, what would kaydeecee do? I told her in my best pissed voice - stop pushing me, she denied pushing. I said again, stop pushing me, I want to enjoy this as much as you do. She denied it again. I said stop pushing me or I'm calling that nice man there in the red shirt, aka security. She stopped pushing. Thank you kaydeecee. I decided to breathe then and get myself out of negative zone in preparation for David. At one point during the concert, I turned around and the expression on this teenager's face was priceless. She was totally shocked at my intense fangirliness, singing, dancing, arms in the air... she had realized I meant it when I said I wanted to enjoy it as much as she did.

A great crowd moment: there were two beautiful girls right behind me. They were "different" for lack of a better word, very polite, gentle, beautiful smiles, obviously very excited to be there, but calm and almost "regal" attitude. At one point I realized they were twins and talked to them about it, they were happy and warm. Then I noticed their banter with each other, blah blah, some foreign word I understood, blah, word I understood.... so I asked them if they were talking twin language or a foreign language. It turned out they were from Jordan and had come all the way just to see David Cook. They were thrilled to hear me speak in their own language to them and hugged me, maybe they were missing their mom. They knew all the songs and sang along.

Chapter II: Chesaning

If Lansing was epic, Chesaning was Fepic!

We explored the town some. Met a nice lady selling jewelry in front of her house, who became our town hospitality guide. We walked by Dave's Bar. The town was kind of closed which was surprising to me since they knew crowds would be in for the show. I bought a shirt for the husband (very diplomatic move) from the one store that was open and we chatted with the owner who gave us a mini history of haberdashery in Detroit.

We heard Dave soundchecking and made complete fools of ourselves in front of the locals running back to hear him better and maybe see him. (good exercise though) I was in heaven when he did TIB, although I did not get it in concert. I saw Dublin and Dave waved at us.

We had a lovely lunch with a group of people from DCO and WNH.

The concert was amazing. I was further away, row 17, but could see the entire stage, unobstructed view. We chatted with everyone around us. After NTB, I stood in line for the restroom. The guys were making fun of the women because our line was like 90X9 times longer than theirs, but we had the last laugh. The men's bathroom doors were kept open for some reason and as the line moved closer, we had a good view of them lined up at the urinals. Comediennes in the group did a great job of imitating male urinal behavior. Silly laughter coupled with some adult beverages had everyone high before Dave came out.

They played My Hero at one point before he came on and I don't remember what song it was when they were taking the stage but he did a little dance to it as he walked on, a little booty shaking. He was punctual again like the night before, but he was even happier. No hat, grey t-shirt, tight jeans...more appropriate for ...ahem, let's say for making it to the fanbase thread.

He was on fire and his funniest self from the start. The set list was incredible. He did not have to ask us to say bye bye to our seats because we were all standing all the time. Mr. Sensitive has become one of my favorites (maybe a lie- because they all are) and is a great opener. I will give up my entire nest egg to hear him sing it acoustic for me one day. It can be at KDC's place or not. IDIFY was as beautiful as Avalanche. He did a beautiful dance to demonstrate how cool the synchronized swaying to Avalanche by a group in the center was. He showed us his neck during KOTN and whispered to us. Before Make Me, he talked about knowing Andy and Neal from MWK days and having realized that time has passed since he started introducing them, he said he's known them for 7 years, I screamed not 6? I don't know what was said up front then, he corrected himself to 61/2 years. Did I mention I lub Dabid Cook? He told us about the places he's been, Philippines and Middle East for the troops, and many tattooed men in the crowd cheered extra hard for that. Before Declaration he said if we watch ESPN around 7-ish on Monday, we might see his mug and the band's mug singing this song. YoArms was fepic, better than ever. ADAM was a religious experience, the whoas were a sea of arms. He thanked us right before it, said something about how incredible it was that he was doing what he always dreamed of doing. Got choked up a bit, hung his head over his arm on the mike, then thumped his chest. I think he was overwhelmed by how much we loved him.

The banter was one of the funniest ever. Highlights for me:
VIP Party:
There was some kind of high box on Neal's side with a sign that said VIP Party. A few people, maybe 20? were sitting there while we were going nuts on our feet. Dave said hello VIP people, I guess the question is are you really having a party there. He pointed to us and said I know these people here are... a woman in the box stood up and raised her drink to Dave to show that she was indeed partying. Dave said what is that you're drinking, it looks "limey" to me. You don't fruit your beer. Then he said, all the guys just went yay, tell her how it is, and all the women are thinking (in his best girlie voice) what a jerk, you're such a meanie.

River People: There was a small river right by the side of the stage and there were homes on the other side. People were siting on the opposite bank, watching the show. A woman was sitting in a tree out there. He said, Hi river people, I see you out there, you did not even pay and you're getting a free concert. Then he said that guy over there just turned around and showed me his behind (or some such words) and I'm OK with that.

Yellow shirt guy: He asked how many had the record and we raised our hands and screamed. He called out a guy all the way in the back who had not raised his hand. Then after his song, he was called to the side by someone and came back to the mike laughing and told us the gentleman had told him the guy in the yellow shirt had just bought his record, so don't make a liar out of him, it's not fair to him, and now you need to go buy a t-shirt too.

Mosquito-gate:
At the end of one of the songs he kept swatting at something by his face and I thought, oh no, bugs. (there were lightning bugs around)
When he came back to the mic, he said, is anyone from PITA here, cause if this mosquito does not move away form the mike....I'm doing a show, dude. ha ha ha. Later on he said I'm either going to have to kill it or name it. I did mention I love Dabid Cook, right?

There was more and I'm sure they'll come up in the videos.
Best concert ever. Happy, happy Dave. Happy, happy Swanny.

Conclusion:

Incredible two days for me. I met so many nice people:
Melissa, Julie(Jules), Jenna, Kristen, Jeanie, Eve? Tracy, Nicole, Mitziblum, all the others at lunch whose names I either didn't catch or forgot. All the fans at both shows. The very nice lady in front of me helping me out (with her butt) to restrain teenager at Common Grounds, the twin young princesses from Jordan, the nice jewelry lady, her neighbors in Chesaning and he dog Dobo, the haberdasher, ( the butcher and the candlestick maker, no, just kidding), and everyone my fried brainz is forgetting. Kristen, Tracy, bobsessive and everyone else who videotaped and took photos, thank you for helping me save those memories.

Very special mention of JoannieB and her sister. ((((Joanie))), I luvz you. And of course I mentioned crazy4you already.

Need To Breathe, special mention of brother Bo.

And David Cook, Neal Joey, Andy and Kyle, very special, talented young men who are going far with their music, who are the hottest band who ever band-ed, and who are going to be huuuugeee. They're on their way already.

Dave, I love you, my midwest goober.