Left a RockaVirgin, Came Back a Pretty Woman!
By: Jadey

Version 2.0

I decided to add amendments to my story, as some details were left out and the purpose of this was not only to help me remember the moments, but to allow the readers to be *there* with me. So here we go and I'll be more elaborate.

With my first attempt of writing this, I started the day I left for Newark, but - there's a little more to the story that I find interesting and want to talk about so I'll start here.

It all started as sort of a joke, to me at least, I don't know if Jenn was serious at the time or not. Anyways, Jenn was going to the NYC Concert on 1/6 alone. I told her I'd go with her and it went from there.

How the hell Jenn managed to find a ticket available for a sold out show, I still don't know. That was another think I failed to mention - the fact that the show was SOLD OUT when we 'joked?' about me going. We stayed up until about 9am on the morning of January 2nd waiting for the box office or ticketmaster to come through for us with no avail.

The next day I receive an email telling me to 'pack my bags cuz I’m going to NYC'! WHAT? OMG! How in the HELL did she DO that!? Well - she never told me - she just did it. So around then - I got my plane ticket and started to pack my bags, complete with Chex Mix!

Fast forward to Friday.

Like I said in my previous story - I had been up a little too late (early?) that night (morning?) so I woke up oh around 1:30pm or so. I sleepily got my act together and woke myself up with a nice cold refreshing Mt. Dew and went to the mail box *hoping* there would be a child support check in there of some sorts, nada. Ok well no big deal - I still had about 100 bucks on me so I was gunna be fine. No hotel cost, travel cost provided by Daddy, so all I had to spend my money on was food and misc. items such as travel and such along the way.

One thing though, 40 of the 100 bucks I had, all change and one dollar bills. It's not good for traveling. So I gathered it all up and hauled my cookies and my son Matt's chips to the bank for cash-age. To my defeat, the uh... sweet loving (bitch) bank teller would NOT cash in my coins! I'm not one who manages money the best - so I prefer to keep my collective ass out of jail by not maintaining a bank account.

I left the bank after saying a few choices words and headed to the grocery store. They were the ones who would usually cash my checks, so I figured they'd have no problem taking in a little extra change for the exchange of larger bills. I was right. They happily accommodated me, after the long wait for them to actually gather the time to help me, and I walked out of there with about a two hours to spare, or so the clock in my car said. Thus giving me time to get home, shower, shave, make last minute packing decisions etc.

When I got back to my house, there was a note attached to my door. - "Jade: Where are you? Came to pick you up, meet me at my house - Cherie." Oh great. Wonderful. Fantastic! - Had I mentioned the fact that I was running around this fair city of mine with uh... zero gas in my car? Ah ok that make the story a little more interesting doesn't it.

Yes, I know it's only about 3 miles from my house to my sister in laws, but 3 miles is a matter of life and death on the intersection of SC whatever the road is called and Ladys Island Drive. Did I also mention that this is about 5:30pm? Do you what 5:30pm means in Beaufort, South Carolina? Let's just say; don’t plan on getting anywhere anytime soon.

Knowing that I'm short on time, I only have about and hour and 15 minutes to make my flight, I race over to my sister in law's house. When I pull up into the drive I notice something. Her car isn't there. This of course sends Jadey into murder-istic impulses. Luckily for us all - She showed up a few short minutes later, she'd decided to get something to eat before us taking the trip to Savannah.

I hurried up and got everything OUT of my car and IN to her car, plus my kid, and Cherie, Jadey, Matthew, Tommy, Andrew, Brandi, 3 cheeseburgers, 3 small fries and a Sonic Route 66 CherryLimeade were on our way to the airport.

We stopped at a gas station to put a little gas in Cherie's car and to get me an extra pack of smokes for the trip.

So where on I-95, minding our own business. My sister in law is giving me the "don't talk to strangers, don't look anyone in the eye and if anyone tries to stab you ask them to allow you to take off my coat before they do it" talk when out of no where this ass hole in an SUV comes around us (if you know my sister, she can't drive 55 - she's going 90 - no lie) nearly hitting our front in on the way around. This sends my tempraMENTAL sister into overdrive and we embark on a death defying round of chicken. Cherie defeats the battle by covering the SUV with the icy contents of a Sonic Route 66 CherryLimeade as we pull off the interstate on the ramp leading us to the Savannah Airport.

With less than 30 minutes to spare. I rush to get to the ticket counter and check in. My family soon joins my side as we start the walk to the boarding area and I say fare thee well. Matt didn't want to let me leave. So I promised him I'd bring him something-special back from Scott. He reluctantly allowed me to leave him after that as he and his cousins and aunt walked back to the car.

I followed the little signs to the security part thing and was getting in a rush as I'd just heard the call for my flight, of course, as Zool would have it; I was delayed by beeping. They felt me up with the stick. It was nice. I felt rather cheap after that as the cute security guy didn't even ask for my phone number after it. Men.

I hurried along the walkway and got to my gate just in time. I was the last person boarded. When I settled into my row, I realized I would spend at least the trip up to Charlotte alone, a whole row to myself, Magic.

I pulled out my notebook to make some notes as the plane started to taxi out and couldn't find my pen. As fate would have it, Zool un-packed it. So I kicked back, opened my bag of CHEX MIX and made mental notes along the way.

Finally after driving the plane on the runway what felt like an hour or so, the pilot decided it'd be easier to fly the plane into Charlotte and lifted it up in the air. The view was breath taking.

We landed in Charlotte around 7:40pm or so, and I had a little lay over. I went over to a store to buy a pen, got a slice of pizza and Mt. Dew and wrote notes in my book. When my flight still wasn't called by 7:40pm, I walked over to the little TV things to see what was up. My flight had been delayed due to weather in Newark. We didn't get boarded until quarter after nine, and it felt like another hour until we actually got in the sky.

Again this time I had the whole row to myself, so I stretched out and took a little nap. When I would wake up, I'd look down at the clouds or the lights, whichever was visible at the time and nibble on a pretzel from my bag of CHEX MIX.

I think I got into Newark around 11:30pm. I think that's what Jenn told me, I don't remember. I got off the plane and picked up my bags. Then headed to the pay phones to let Jenn and Bob know where I was so they could pick me up. I caught the attention of everyone there as I broke into a line of Tempted "I'm at the airport, the car park, the baggage carousel. I know I'm retarded. When I hung up with her, I called my mom to let her know I'd made it to Newark and that Jenn would be there to get me directly.

I had just walked outside and decided to go ahead and smoke my 1st smoke since 6 something and they pulled up. Damn it man! Jenn met me and gave me a hug as Bob threw my bags into the back of his truck. We snuggled into Bob's ride and went to the pool haul for a bit. I didn't play, I just sat in the window and smoked smokes and drank Mt. Dew.

Around 1am or 2? We got back to Jenn's place. Jenn and I watched a Pella interview and hung out on the computer for a little while before turning in for the night for the next day was...

Saturday... ROCKAPELLA DAY!

The next day, I was well rested and energized. I still don't think it'd hit me that I was hundreds of miles from my cozy southern town, or that I was actually hours away from seeing the people I'd admired since my early teen years. Face to face with C. Scott Leonard? Naw - too good to be true. I think I was in half mind set that something would go horribly wrong and we'd miss both concerts.

I can't remember if Jenn woke me up - or if I was already awake when she came in. But regardless, I got off the futon and got ready to go. Finally we'd painted our faces, stickied our hair and was ready to leave. We made sure we had everything we needed, Jenn's boots, credit cards, money, id, our stuff to get autographed, and the Chex mix, and headed out the door.

We decided we needed to stop into Wal-Mart for last minute provisions. Gel Pens (for Jenn) and a camera (for me) (that sounds better if you sing it like glowworm... see told ya.) Wal-Mart had a sale on Gel Pens - "Buy one pack of Gel Pens and we'll pay you .26 cent to take them!" That was cool. We got our stuff and went over to BK for lunch. There we encounter some idiots (not as big of an idiot I encountered in Mickey D’s once, but that’s a different story) who didn't know how to make hamburgers for people in a hurry. But alas - we fed our faces and were ready to get on the 2:45pm train to NYC.

Ok so - we late for the 2:45pm train to NYC. Damn it man! So our next move was to waste an hour and wait for the 3:45. Fine by me - just get me to Florence Gould Hall by 6:00 and I'll be fine. We went to the dollar store and looked around before going back to the train station and waiting for the train.

Yay! The excitement hit me as those bright lights started coming towards me - That's our train! We hopped on and Jenn let me have the window so I could see all the cool stuff along the way. Talk about your tourist. Every few seconds I'd say, "Jenn is that... Jenn what's...? Jenn where's...."

It was timed perfectly, because as soon as we got off the train to Penn station, we able to hop the subway. After we got off that one, we were suppose to take the N train, but as someone told me later, N stands for Never Runs (heh Sarah!) So we said SCREW IT and decided to walk.

I dunno how far we ended up walking, but correct me if I'm wrong, I think the total blockage was around 22 or something like that. I'm not sure, that's what it felt like. How cool was it to walk the same streets as I've seen on TV a million times? Or to stand and look up at the MTV Studios (Jade: Hey Jenn? Where's the MTV studios? Jenn: Over there. Jade: Over where? Jenn: *points* That one, the one with MTV written down the side about a million times. Jade: Oh.)

After walking and freaking that we were NOT going to make it on time. We decided to go out for a Taxi. I hailed it. That was COOL! I felt so New York! Of course, the professional Idiot that I am - hadda pick the biggest Idiot taxi driver in all of Manhattan, so he got us lost. Took us about 5 blocks off where we were supposta be. So - He didn't get a tip. I don't think. Jenn did he get a tip?

Anyways, finally - we got to where we thought was the right track. We stopped to ask a DOORMAN *giggles* if we were going the right way. He said - get this... "Ask the concierge..." WILD! So this really New York guy comes out and well - basically spends 15 minutes telling us what should have taken 2 minutes. "Keep going this way, you'll see it in a minute." It was cool though, I liked that dude. (Hey Really New York dude from in front of that hotel... if you're ever in NC/SC and need directions to the nearest Wal-Mart... look me up :) )

Well - he was right. The man at the hotel saved my ideals of NYC Residence! He rocked - He rolled because with in minutes I looked to my left and there it was. Florence Gould Hall! Yippee!

We got out tickets at the windows and departed, Jenn was on the Right, I was on the left. Still ok though, again I had the whole row to myself! All good though, I had the WHOLE ROW TO MY SELF. So I was able to get all emotional and stuff. I swear, laugh at me if you want, but I started crying when they started up! K - stop laughing, I'm a very emotional person.

I apologized to the people in front of me. Explaining that this was my first show and the first time I’d ever been to NYC and that I'd prolly get on their nerves and If I did just to tell me and I'd stop. He said it was ok, so I took it from there.

I mean it when I say I laughed, I cried and I almost peed my pants. I swear if the guys saw me, which I think they did, they had to think I was the biggest goof ever to walk the streets on NYC.

You just don't understand the bundle of I dunno what it was that went thru me when Scott came out on the stage singing I Am Your Man. I was so full of emotions that I don't remember much about the first show. I know that Moments of You was next, then This Isn't Love was introduced by Barry, after he remarked that they do a lot of benefit concerts and that this one wasn't any exception. "All the proceeds from this concert, go towards new voting machines for Florida." He said. I giggled at that a bit... But the fact that I thought I was probably the only southerner in the audience made me really embarrassed for my home section of this great land we call the United States.

Elliott then came center-stage and told us all that his son was in the audience, and if we heard "Da-Do", that would be Eli, and then went into Lets Get Away, adding Parie in the lyrics in honor of being at the "French Institute".

Next came Use Me, which was greeted with lots of cheers, the loudest ones I think coming from me. Scott did a miraculous job on this tune, lip-syncing with Barry's low "‘Til you use me up" cracking up the entire audience. Bear then took the stage for 16 Tons, and told a little story about a radio interview he'd been on a few weeks prior and the DJ being amazed with his voice asked if it was his real voice. He replied to that that no, his real voice sounded like this and started talking in a very nerdish high voice. He then explained to the DJ that his Mic had 2 different settings, Wimpy, and Manly. That skit was hilarious. That was followed by That's The Way, Where Would We Be, and Doorman of My Heart.

Then came time for a change of pace as they went into Holiday Wake Up, and in then Don't Do It, which isn't a Doo wop song. (Memory, as Bear started his bass line for this, Scott made the most disgusted face, it was so cute, it went perfectly with the whole monologue of Rockapella not being a Doo wop group - he's such a ham!)

Long Cool Woman was next. I loved the whole "The name's Leonard, C. Scott Leonard. The 4th." bit. Priceless! Then it was time to pick the Pretty Woman of 6pm.

Kevin headed to his right, which was the side that held my beloved Jenn and a friend of ours Kathy, as well as a few other friends. Alas he was called away to my side, but a group of rowdy gurls, wanting to get their friend Louise up there. She got it. She was a little stiff at first, but soon got into it, after her dance with Scott she sashayed over to Kevin, which was a nice touch.

Scott went into People Change after that, which brought mad tears! It's such a beautiful song, and hearing live just made it that much better. He ended the song, which is Gurly Man routine, changing it a bit from the past, adding that he didn't feel so Gurly now that Barry was the one who dyed his hair. But still, in the end backed down and ran for cover off stage.

Barry then added a bit of dialogue before going into 60-Minute Man. This song gets me every time; it's one of my faves. Finally hearing live was a total trip!

Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego was started by Scott asking the fate less question "There's one more thing I want you to do, you know what it is" which was answered with a very puny, "Do It Rockapella". Then he went on to ask who remembered the show making us repeat "Do It Rockapella" 2 more times before starting the song. In the middle of that, was Jeff's Solo, which rocked. I can't say anything about his talent that hasn't already been said.

They then left the stage, and us begging for more. They came back to do an amazing off Mic medley of Up On The Roof, and Wonderful World, before asking us was it still appropriate to sing Christmas songs. Of course we didn't care what they sung, as long as they didn't leave us quite yet.

They sung Winter Wonderland, and my son's fave Pella tune Santa Claus Is Coming To Town before ending the first encore with Tempted. During Tempted I had to make eye contact with Jenn, because when I got off the plane in Newark and called her to pick me up, I sung in the middle of the airport "I'm at the airport, the car park the baggage carousel" so it was kinda cool.

They left again, and after some more deafening cheers, came back to do one last song, complete with fake eyeball. Zombie Jamboree.

It ended all to quickly for me.

After the show, I went out to the lobby to meet Jenn and she said Kathy wanted to meet me, so I went back in and meet Kathy. Unknowing to me, Sean was signing autographs so I rushed down there to get one. He signed it "Yo Jadey! Where in the world is South Carolina" (Thanks Sean! *Smooches*) Then I didn’t know they were doing a M&G and I was so caught up in the moment that I bounced down to the front of the stage where Scott was standing to get his autograph… *giggles... Love Scott...tee hee* (Thanks Scott)

Then we were shooed out of the audience and we all decided to let the people who were only getting to see the 6pm show a chance to spend sometime with the guys, so we headed up to the top of the stairs to have our own little party! We sat up there (We being Me, Jenn, Molly & Co., Shelly, and later Kathy) singing songs, at one point we got Scott’s attention by singing the chorus of Miserable Destiny (Bon shay bon shay bon bon shay bon) That was fun!

After the M&G we headed down stairs to do more pow-wowing and I said in Scott’s seat and pretended to be him *giggles* Molly brought Amy down and we all gawked at the card she made on behalf of the Yahoo club, and took some pictures of us all.

Then they announced we could sit down for the 9pm. Well I got a wild hair up my nose and decided to ask the guy if I could sit with my friends, he told me he had no problem with it as long as the seats weren’t taken. I waited for show time and grabbed the first seat in the second row, right in front of the stairs to the stage.

The set list stayed pretty true to the 6pm show, I Am Your Man, followed by Moments of You, Lets Get Away, Use Me and 16 Tons, to which Barry told the same story about the radio interview, adding "He was an idiot." So when it came time to start the song, and Barry said the first line Scott says "He was an idiot" causing Bear and everyone else to laugh. They finally made it thru the song.

This Isn't Love was replaced with That's The Way. Zool made an appearance during this song, when feedback or something came out of the speakers. When the guys asked, "What was THAT?" Jenn and I chimed on que and un-planed, "Zool" to which I think it was Scott said "Zool? Yeah" and started to crack up laughing. They finished the song with out anymore interruptions. Kevin sang A Change In My Life before they went into Doorman of My Heart, and Holiday Wake Up.

Don't Do It was next of course, and I got serenaded by Elliott. I stuck my hand out to him as he was saying "Don't Do It, Don't you leave me this way" He took my hand and ran it across his face. I couldn't do anything but sit there and grin!

Then came Long Cool Woman, with similar antics as the 6pm show.

Pretty Woman was up next. I'd promised to help Jenn get it this go around, and when he started walking to the right side of the stage again, I got too scared to say anything, so Jenn, who's sitting 2 rows behind me, yells to Kevin "Over Here" which gets his attention. Then tells him she has something for him, to which he comments "She's bribing me, and it's working" before walking over to our side. So being the faithful friend that I am, as Kevin is walking down the stairs in front of me, I lean forward and say, "Kevin, please pick her, if you don’t she’s going to make me sleep on the balcony, and it’s cold out there". He thought that was funny so kept talking to me, and then asked me if she was crazy, I told him no, and he started toward her, then came back to me and said "What's your name?" I knew then that I was in TROUBLE!!!!!!!!!!!

So I told him my name and he said the famous line "Can you help me for a moment?" So I did.

Basic dialogue: (paraphrasing cuz I can’t remember it all)

I don’t remember exactly, but somewhere along here he said something about getting me in trouble and I said yeah thanks a lot or something like that, and told Jenn I loved her. *LOL*

Kevin: Jade, This is Scott

Jade: Hi Scott:

Kevin: This is El

El: I’m married

Jade: I Know

*Laughter*

Kevin: This is Jeff

*Jeff is pouting or something, I still don’t know what he was doing*

Kevin: He’s not married

Jade: I know

*Laughter again*

Kevin: and this is Barry

Barry: Hiiiiiiiiiiii

Jade: Hi Barry!!!!!

Scott goes to get the stool and I sat down on it, and Kevin starts again

Kevin: So Jade, Where are you from?

Jade: South Carolina

Kevin: I thought so, I could hear your accent, I’m from Florida

Jade: I know

Kevin: So what do you do?

Jade: I’m a stay at home single mom of a 4-year-old

*Applause*

Kevin: Boy or Girl

Jade: Boy, Matthew, he’s mad at me cos I didn’t bring him, he loves Scott

Jeff: All the boys love Scott

*Everyone laughs*

Kevin: So what’d you do for New Years Eve

Jade: I sat at home with my mom and sister and Matt

Kevin: I’m sorry to hear that

*Laughs*

Kevin: So Jade we have a song for you

Jade: *mockingly surprised* Really?

Kevin: Yes! You know what it’s called? It’s called Jade

Jade: Really?

Kevin: Yeah!

Then he starts singing * he has some trouble getting down on one knee Cuz of his pants LOL*

Oh Jade… I’m so sorry bout new years eve, oh Jade… jade… jade...jade

Then started into Pretty Woman.

I had a blast goofing with the guys, I remember hugging on Kevin, petting Scott’s head, rubbing El and Barry’s face, swaying with Barry and picking and choosing between Scott with his muscle man and Kevin being sweet.

It was great.

Then it was over just like that. I picked up my obligatory copy of R2 and slouched back to my seat and sunk down just incase Jenn had decided to throw a boot or something at me.

Then instead of People Change, Scott started Don't Tell Me You Do, which is the song that basically brought be full circle back to Rockapella. The song was amazing complete with the 3-part harmony in the middle. That was followed by Scott's Gurly man theme and the same basic dialogue as before, except this time Barry got into his role a little more. Adding, yes he dyed his hair, he makes his own cologne and he LIKES it then took off his top shirt and threw it to the ground. Funny, yet it took my breath right out my chest, that man is HUGE!

He went into 60 Minute Man which for some reason rocked more this time then at 6pm, before it was time for Scott to bellow "There's one more thing I want you to do you know what it is." After another stirring solo by Jeff, the guys left the stage.

They came back out to do Up On The Roof/Wonderful World off mic, then grabbed the mics and caused me to piss all over myself when Scott started singing "I got a hole in my pocket and nothing comin' down my leg thinkin about my home" INDIANA!! I couldn't believe it. That song was a total surprise and I loved every minute. Scott seemed to really get into it to.

Then they sang Winter Wonderland, and Scott crushed us all by adding to "He'll say are you married we'll say 'Yea' and holding up his ring finger" before going into Santa Claus is Coming To Town and Tempted, then left again.

2nd Encore was Zombie Jamboree and since this was the song that ended the 6pm show, I got depressed, I wanted to hear Keep On Smilin', well I got my wish because that was the 3rd Encore!

The show was over, we headed outside to the M&G I got my pretty woman CD signed and a poster for my son signed, then Jenn, Amy, Sarah and I went back upstairs to hang out again.

They wouldn’t let us go down for pictures, so we left outside and there was a group of guys out side singing a Capella and we joined them.

Barry came out, we told him good night,

And kept singing,

Then I decided it was time for a smoke, so I lit one up and here goes that conversation: (the new abridge version that AMY reminded me of)

Jade: Ah, I guess now that I’m outta the presence of the guys I can light up a smoke *takes out pack of smokes and lights one*
Amy: Hi Scott!
Jade: Stop Playin'
Amy: I'm not playin... Hi Scott.
Jade: *looks behind her, throws down the smoke, stomps it with her foot and hides it, crosses her arms and starts humming*
Jenn: What'd u do that for?
Jade: I dun't want them to know I smoke!
Jenn: I don't think they'd care
Jade: I CARE!

They came out of the door and looked at us kinda like, wow, ya'll are still here? And Kevin stopped to talk to us. Amy's friend Sarah and I stood off to the side by ourselves and just sort of watched from afar. They talked briefly about Amy's Card (WTG AMY!) and sum other stuff, Kevin got me by telling me he knew who I was online, which sent me running in the opposite direction LOL! Scott was really quiet and I tried my damnedest not to act like I gave a two shits that he was there, I dunno if it worked or not. *Sigh* then they left, and we left, we had a blast walking to the subway, singing random songs and doing impressions of South Park characters. As well as bantering back and forth about certain parts of the show, and how awesome it was that we all met. You would have thought we'd know each other for years.

I may remember more later, and I'll put it up. :o)

Jadey

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