Recap: This is long, a once in a lifetime thing... OMG I met David yesterday, had the entire recap done, lost it, and here is the new one, what a story! I will never recover from this, don't want to! I just need some time to rest up, knew it would all Come Back To Me....hee hee hee, just click the red title of this topic for my Broadway Bliss...omg!

x o x o This is THE STORY THUS FAR x o x o

...10am, Sunday, the four of us set up our chairs at Toad's, about 30 deep in the line, coffee, snacks, sunshine and excitement up the wazoo! We all kept looking up at the sky, very cloudy, rain threatenting, but then the sun came out and alll was well,,,,

At about 11am or so two, there were shrieks and screams suddenly in our atmosphere as the two gorgeous silver buses pulled up about 30 feet away! OMG! and David got off his bus alone, orange t-shirt and jeans, smiled at the crowd and waved, and dashed into Toad's, which was about another 30 feet to the door. Very quick, but very nice, and then all was quiet again for a bit.

Just as we settled back into our little umbrella chairs, again!, more shrieks, and screams, and we heard his name shouted out all over again. Would you believe that he came walking right by us, with Javier, (I stood up and when he was about 3 feet away as he passed us, I said," I love you, David " to his face, he smiled, returned the "I love you" to us all, looking at all of us right there..) to check out the area behind Toad's ? (see pic just below here, we are on the the left side, my friend Rachel has blonde hair and is taking a picture, and I am in pink right in front of her).

They stood out back for a minute or so, then came back by us, just walking and talking and smiling and waving and being his usual thudacious sweet self..! Love his hair, our David is a blonde for now...so so cute! That was it for the morning eye candy lol! There were only about 100, maybe less, there at 11 am.

New Haven was a zoo, it was Yales's graduation, which we did not know ahead of time, and we were very lucky to get our parking spot over on Broadway, very small lot, early in the AM. Broadway is a street that is perpendicular to York Street where Toad's is. We kept running back and forth to the car where our cooler was, changing clothes, etc...very convenient.

So, other than the weather, sun in and out, mostlly out, or overcast, it was a terrific day. One of Rachel's buddies, 2 of whom came with us from Penn.) is an artist, and she was putting the finishing touches on a beautiful watercolor of Dublin! It is about 8 x 10 and she brought a frame and gave it to someone to give to David. It was awesome!

I just could not sit for long, even tho my legs and feet were killing me from the day before, Northampton, on my feet for 12 hrs! We all took turns taking walks, saving our spaces, and just had a terrific day! Finding bathrooms is always a challenge, so I tried not to drink much of anything, which was a big mistake.

* * * * * Just an innocent little stroll down Broadway - about 2pm....O M G ! ! ! * * *

I am a Rex Sox fan, and have earrings that are round, smaller than the size of a dime, they dangle...well, I shrunk two pictures of David's face, printed them out, and pasted them on top of the Red Sox part ha ha, and I had these on for both concerts this weeked. A few people spotted them and had a laugh. So, around the corner from Toad's there are a lot of little shops and stores, since Toad's is smack in the center of Yale...so I went into a little shop, broused for about 20 minutes + got some new earrings, put them in, turned around to leave the store when what do I see going right past the store but an orange t-shirt with blonde hair, all messy and cute, and 4 legs.....David and his tour manager, about 6 feet away from me... no fans around, and all the Yalies walking back and forth had absolutely NO IDEA who was instide that orange t-shirt!

(I took this with my throw away camera hahahah, as David and the guys came to the stage...with Art and Javier...it just meant so so much to me to know that Art worked for Neil D too....wow!)

So I just watched them from behind, walking in front of me for a few steps, such nice scenery, these handsome guys, totally thudachious, and this is when my life changed forevah! I wasn't one bit nervous, guess I am too "age challenged" (being 37 yrs older than DC!) for that! I tapped David's left humungous shoulder gently with my hand, and he stopped dead in his tracks, turned, tooked at me and said "Hi!"

I had a lot to say in a short time, did not want to hold him up, and to my horror, the first thing out of my mouth was, " Hey, David, you guys are a cute pair, " or some stooopid thing like that, and they laughed, and very quickly I said "Ya know, David, we are all crazy about Javier!" (his sound tech/engineer, so cute and so friendly! ) and I don't think I even said hi, just started talking... lol! David threw back his head, laughed, that nice soft chuckle he has, Art laughed, and then I looked at Art (had never met him, did not even know his name yet) and I said to him, are you David's mgr? David said, "Yeah, this is Art!"

Then I turned to Mr. Orange Shirt and said, "David, for my entire adult life, Neil Diamond has been my favorite singer/songwriter..but not anymore, YOU are, and will be forever. Then David said that Art used to work for Neil D!! Holy Cow! First Neil D, then David, and Art...the connection?

Then I said to him that as much as I loved Neil Diamond, I'd never get on a plane to go see him sing, but you, David, you are the only one I'd do that for, already have , Wilmington NC, and will see you in San Diego, and will in the future, just you! Said that he did the Beatles Eleanor Rigby http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFB6X_z6aC8 better than Sir Paul, and Neil D's All I Realy Need Is You http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFB6X_z6aC8 better than Neil D, and he said "whoa!" eyebrows went up, very surprised, and said thank you, of course, you all know how humble he is.....

Finally, I said to him, looking right at his face, that I wonder if you have any idea just how much you, and your music, (my index finger touching his left chest) impacts all of us so deeply, changes lives, heals.....and lots more...we all love you so so much!.." or something like that.

He sorta choked up just for a sec and immediately said, "I just have to give you a hug," and it was a lefty hug, his massive arms around me, my arms around him, hands on my back, real tight, and his head was on my right shoulder, pressing against my right ear, and my hearing aid started squealing loudly ha ha ha! cuz his head was just pressed against my head so tight! I never in my life had such a fantastic hug, chest to chest, head to head...omg..the hug was probably at least 15 seconds.....

This wonderful, miraculous meeting lasted about 10 minutes... three of us, people all around, but we were not interruped, and nobody around had any clue as to who was in the orange t-shirt. There were no other fans around apparently, because we just had a very nice chat like normal people, no nerves, no stress, he was so so realxed and happy.....so nice to see after what he had been through the past few months...

Before we went our separate ways, he patted his heart with his right hand and said, " Bless you.." and smiled. A few seconds later I said to him, before he got 2 steps away, I asked him to say hello
to his Mom for us, we all love her too and, + that I had talked to Andrew at the radio station a few times.... He said, "I will see her next week! !" ...it was just a very, very relaxed, my Broadway Bliss, and he didn't say much, cuz I did all the talking, just had to get what was in my heart out quickly, knowing that I would only have a couple of minutes...but it turned out to be about 10 whole minutes at least!
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* * * * * * * I had NO desire for a pic or autograph, just wanted to GIVE to him.....

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FINALLY! The doors opened at about 7:30p, we all swarmed into Toads, and I had a place with my friends about 4 people deep away from the center microphone. I stood there for about 15 min., but knew it would not work, I was just way too tired, my legs and feet hurt, so I told Rachel that I would go over on the side of the stage, by the railing, so I could lean!

RYAN STAR: I really needed him, to wake me up, so so so tired! This guy is nuts, so fantastic, I just love his opening song, starts out slow, then he explodes, gyrates, the band is so so animated! OMG! The girl with the flying blonde hair on the keyboards, terrific! Then he ends doing chin-ups up above the mic where the lites are hanging, all the while, singing! Awesome!

DAVID and the EEB * * * * *
Started again with Heroes, one of my two favorites, and ended with A Daily AntheM, my very favorite song.....I could barely stand up, even leaning on the railing, but did it...I was just so happy about meeting David, and met some really nice people in that little corner..I think I was about 20 feet from Andy........it was a great place to be, I had a side view of Andy and David! I am totally infatuated with David's right leg, watching him tapping the pedal board gizmos, ha ha! Nice leg! But first, where I was standing is where David and the EEB came down the stairs to the floor and up the steps to the stage so I saw him again about 3 feet away!

I was in the midst of several couples, some of the guys were fans, some were not, but by the end of the show, they were all smiling. One guy came just to see Ryan, and he absolutely LOVED David. His wife is lucky! Then after the show, David came off the stage, went up the steps about 5 feet away, looked around, then his eyebrows went up and he looked me right in the face, saw my pink Had Me At Hello t-shirt (my pic on Myspace) and he made a huge smile and waved right at me! At least it seemed that way!

I don't think I forgot anything, sorry for such a long post, but this was the best weekend of my life.....save for my poor feet, so swollen, which took an entire week to return to normal size!

karen