Beach Boys Concert!

I have said many times I was born in the wrong decade. Sometimes I think I'm a 60 year old trapped in a 29** year old body. I would rather watch reruns of The Dick Van Dyke Show or Leave It To Beaver on Netflix than Modern Family or New Girl (no disrespect to either show. I've never seen them so I couldn't tell you if they are good or not). In most cases, on a movie night I would rather watch something that starred Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Gregory Peck, or Audrey Hepburn. Or just about anything else that airs on the Turner Classic Movies channel. I would rather listen to a "Best of the 50s and 60s" Pandora station than "Today's Top Hits". I know, I'm just weird. Actually, I don't think I'm weird, I think I'm unique (which is just a fancy word for weird, but I'm going with it). I've been told MANY times I have an "old soul". I agree. 

**Okay, I'm not 29, let's move on!**

If you have been following my blog for a while, you already know this. I went to see Davy Jones (may he rest in peace) and David Cassidy back in 2010. If you missed that, you can check that post out here. Then in 2013 I went to see the (remaining) Monkees in concert (you can check out that post here). Both times I went with my college roommate Mel (who also love oldies music and is always willing to check out a concert of an "oldies" group). Last night we were able to go to The Beach Boys concert (oddly enough, at the same venue where we saw the other concerts).

We got to the Verizon Theater in Grand Prairie just as the front doors had opened, so we debated if we wanted to buy anything from the merchandise table (we passed- that time) and then found a bench to sit on (the main doors weren't open yet because the band was doing a sound check). While waiting for the doors to open, we found out that the Verizon Theater has a Mazda VIP suite for Mazda drivers (and their guests). I am a Mazda driver, so we took advantage of that. It was a nice suite complete with a "refreshment" area and even had seating in the arena portion if you wanted to stay there during the concert. Our seats were a tad bit closer to the stage, so we opted not to stay.

I love going to these concerts because the age range of the fans usually varies. We saw a lot of older men walking around in Hawaiian shirts, which was cool. There were a few people who looked younger than us, or maybe some about our age, but a good amount of the crowd had obviously been Beach Boys fans since the beginning. The concert was great. There were only two members of the original Beach Boys there (Mike Love and Bruce Johnston). There is a long, messy story about a "disagreement" that has torn the surviving members apart, but I'm too lazy to type about it (and honestly, most of you probably don't care, so why waste my time). :) Mike and Bruce were two of my favorites, so I was okay that they were the only ones there (for you Full House fans, you may remember their appearance here). The rest of the "new" Beach Boys band did a fantastic job as well. For a lot of the concert, there was a beach ball being thrown around the crowd. It was just a fun atmosphere. 

Before and during the concert

During intermission, I broke down and bought a tour shirt. After the concert Mel decided she wanted to buy a souvenir program so we went back to the merchandise table. I wasn't going to get one originally since I had already spent a good amount of money on a shirt, but I decided at the last second to buy one as well.

When Mel and I go to concerts at the Verizon Theater, we usually hang around the stage door to see if anyone is signing autographs. After the Monkees concert, there was a huge crowd by the stage door (sadly none of the group signed that night). We were kinda shocked that no one else was there after this concert. We stayed there a good 30-40 minutes, making small talk with the nice security guard. We eventually saw Bruce walk out and get on the bus. A few minutes later, the bus started backing up, so we figured we were out of luck. The bus had to drive by where we were standing and it stopped right in front of us. The security guard spoke to the bus driver and he said Bruce was willing to sign for us. **Thank you to the nice bus driver who had noticed us waiting and told Bruce, and he said he would stop.** Originally we were going to hand him our programs, but he was like, "it's cold out there and you aren't wearing jackets, come on in here." (Mom: Ignore that part about me not wearing a jacket. It was 80 degrees when we went inside the theater, I didn't realize it was going to cool off so much). Mike had left earlier, but we were able to meet Bruce. He was super nice and signed our programs and took pictures with us. He wanted to make sure he knew our names, and used them when he said bye. He thanked us for coming to the concert and we thanked him for stopping. Super cool moment.

I'm so glad that I decided last minute to get a program! :)

Yes, it was another adventure in my so-called exciting life. Thank you for letting me share!

XOXO!

Weekend Recap and Blog Challenge Day 5!

For those who aren't used to me updating on the weekends, check out my weekend posts on how technology has changed here and famous people who have met me here. :)

Before I get to my blog challenge, I thought I would recap my weekend!

My weekend was great. Friday night I went to The Monkees concert in Grand Prairie with my friend Mel. It was awesome. It was a little sad seeing that Davy Jones passed away last year, BUT we actually saw Davy Jones in concert back in 2010 (see that recap here). As I've mentioned before, my favorite Monkee is Michael Nesmith, so I was very excited to see him live in person (yes, I know, I have an "old soul"). :)

Waiting on the concert to start and showing off our souvenir programs!

We found out about the concert last minute, so by the time we got tickets, the good seats up close were gone. All the seats in the middle portion were about $85 (after the convenience fees), so we opted for the cheaper side seats (which were MUCH cheaper). When we got there we realized our view was a little obstructed due to a railing, but we were going to deal with it.

View from the seats that we bought. I was actually standing when I took this so the railing was totally blocking our view when sitting down.

About ten minutes before the show was supposed to start, an usher came over to our section and asked if we would like to move. Um...yes please. He moved us over to center stage view seats (AKA, the $85 seats). MUCH BETTER!!

The concert was so great. When they sang Daydream Believer, they let this 10 year old girl come up on stage to sing it. The whole crowd was singing by the end of the song. I actually found a video of it on YouTube. Thanks to the kind stranger who posted this!

A great concert!!

For the encore, they sang Pleasant Valley Sunday, one of my favorites. Again, thanks to the kind stranger who posted the video from the concert on YouTube. I hope you don't mind me using it!

We went to the stage door to see if they were signing autographs, but sadly they did not stop (they did wave at us as they got on the bus though). While we were waiting we actually met the little girl who got to sing on stage. We also met a lady who got the Set List of the show. She was nice enough to let us take a picture of it (so we could remember what songs they sang).

On Saturday night, I went to Uptown Dallas to see my nephew James. He and his wife moved to Florida last month, but he was in town hanging out with some of his college friends (I think they were playing in some kind of golf tournament). I was glad I got to see him. I saw him briefly at his wedding and didn't get a chance to see him before they moved. I was a terrible aunt and ended up with pictures of everyone except him. Oh well, next time James! His friends thought it was funny that his aunt was so close in age to him (okay, maybe not THAT close in age, but hey, I'm still young, right?!) :)

I made some new friends!

Sunday night was my friend Laura's birthday dinner. I had a great time hanging out with friends! HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURA!! I love you even though we didn't get a picture together last night. Head on over to her blog (click here) and tell her happy birthday! :)

I love this group of friends so much! :)

Blog Challenge, Day 5: What do you love to read?
As I've mentioned before, I love to read. My favorites are mysteries or suspense books. When I was younger, my grandma had a lot of Agatha Christie books, so I started out with mysteries. I will usually read anything from the mystery or suspense section of a bookstore, regardless of who wrote it. Here are a few of my favorite authors who always have me anxiously waiting on a new book from them.

Roxanne St. Claire- She is one of my favorite authors (she actually follows me on Twitter. **giddy fan moment**. She is SUPER NICE). I LOVE her books! 

Allison Brennan- Another fantastic author! I would say she and Roxanne are tied for my all-time favorite. I was actually following her on Twitter a few years ago when she recommended her followers check out Roxanne St. Claire (thank you Allison for that!) 

Kay Hooper- I discovered her by accident. I had gone on vacation and realized I didn't bring a book (yes, I read on vacation-deal with it). I was at Target and saw a book called Haunting Rachel. Of course the name intrigued me, so I bought it. It was great and I had discovered another author!

Heather Graham (not the actress)- I think my friend Martha introduced me to her books. She normally writes books in trilogies. I'll be honest, sometimes if I'm reading one of her books at night, I freak myself out. Hers can get pretty intense with ghosts and supernatural stuff (and my over-active imagination runs with it).

Nevada Barr-Another author I discovered while on vacation. I was in a gift shop in New Mexico and wanted a book to read in the car. A lot of her books take place at national parks and one of the books happened to take place at Carlsbad Caverns (where I bought the book at). Most of her books are part of a series that follow a law enforcement ranger with the United States National Park Service named Anna Pigeon.

Hope everyone is having a fantastic Monday! Oh, and welcome anyone stopping in from Texas Women Bloggers for Sweet Tea Social! :)

XOXO!!

R.I.P. Davy Jones

I was so sad when I heard today that Davy Jones (from the Monkees) had died of a heart attack at age 66. I grew up on reruns of the Monkees (thank you Nick at Nite) and loved their music. In fact, two years ago a friend and I went to see Davy Jones in concert. Click here for that post. I felt the need to honor Davy today by posting some videos. R.I.P. Mr. Jones, you will be missed!!

XOXO!