xtne
Junior Member
Posts: 59
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Post by xtne on Aug 22, 2009 10:47:15 GMT -5
Holy smokes!!! The pictures are gorgeous kary!!!!
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feng
Junior Member
Anoop is our American Idol.
Posts: 71
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Post by feng on Aug 22, 2009 10:58:11 GMT -5
I'm really enjoyed watching your vids/pics of Philly Benches. Ty so much for sharing. Am happy for y'all.
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Post by daisykary on Aug 22, 2009 10:59:33 GMT -5
Holy smokes!!! The pictures are gorgeous kary!!!! Thanks! But unfortunately I can't get that camera into arenas. Hopefully I can get it into the fair in October!
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Post by yoko71 on Aug 22, 2009 12:17:03 GMT -5
August 20, 2009 Philadelphia Tailgate and Show recap by YokoChapter 1. Meeting my benches Thursday morning, after attending the American Chemical Society convention in Washington DC for four days, I drove a rental car from DC to Philly to meet my barricade benches, (hopefully) meet Anoop, and attend the American Idol concert. Along the way, two things distracted me from fully focusing on driving: the little anxiety over meeting people I’ve talked so much on line but never met in person, and the fact that I couldn’t buy Yuengling at a gas station. I had no idea where I could find 6 packs of Black & Tan near Philly. I eventually gave up. Damn northerners. You never heard of drive-through daiquiri shops? *sigh* Our meeting point was the Lobby of Holiday Inn where I would spend the night after the show. Seven barricade benches (and one sister) were supposed to come, but we soon found out that one of them could not make it. I arrived there a full hour before the meeting time which was 12 noon. I tried to check in but there was no room available yet. So I sat in the lobby with my laptop and worked a little bit. Trying to focus on something totally unrelated to the Philly Tailgate was a good way to calm my nerves. Around noon, my benches started to arrive. Sara came first with that bright smile on. I was in love with her already. Then Anjana showed up with her full party-on attitude which kept us going throughout the day. It didn’t take her too long before she uttered her first “eh---“ and of course after that her snooty Canadian guard was totally down. (J/K Anjana, I just wanted to say that because you were the furthest thing from snooty.) Diana (with her warm smile and making-you-immediately-at-ease attitude) and Kary (i.e., the top pimp) came, too, while Nene called and said she and her sister would be late. So we decided to head over to the barricade without Nene and her sister. BTW a few of the benches made PhillyTailgate Mix and burn on CD's for everyone. I FLIVE my benches. OHMIGOSH. Kary’s car was filled all the way to the top with pimp gear and other tailgating essentials. I FLIVE her. As we drove over toward the arena around 1:00 PM, we found the barricade right away. There were a small crowd of about 20-30 people at the time. We were able to stake out a nice space to spread out our tailgate implements including banners and signs, pimp gear (I FLIVE you KARY!), Anoopardy (I FLIVE you KARY!), Fanbasetini, a shitload of gifts, and such. Nene and her sister came while we were getting our spread all situated. Fanbasetini is a vodka-based concoction. For the record, we needed no vodka to get high. We were high from the heat and anticipation. So our original plan to get drunk during the tailgate was ditched right away. We would consume fanbasetini after the show, however, during our “let’s review this epic day so that we will never forget about this day benches! *grouphugs*” session.
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Post by sarabeth035 on Aug 22, 2009 12:21:11 GMT -5
omg i love your re-cap yoko! i am glad someone is writing all this down because i never wanna forget a moment of it!
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Post by yoko71 on Aug 22, 2009 12:43:58 GMT -5
Chapter 2. The Barricade SceneHave I mentioned I FLIVE Kary? Well, I do. It was about 95 degrees at the barricade. We were all baking. We would have been so miserable and grumpy, if it weren’t for Kary. She, as the top pimp that she is, brought so much pimp gear to the tailgate. She brought tons of buttons, stickers, business cards, magnets, and stuff. Once armed with the pimp gear, there was only one thing we Anoop benches were going to do. We worked the crowd. We split, and went either end of the barricade line, and started talking to people about Anoop, hand out buttons, and such. Most everyone there seemed like an Adam fan, but most everyone was glad to hear us talk about our love of Anoop. Most was cool about wearing Anoop buttons as well. Much Anoop button display over Adam T-shirts. I call that a pimpage success. While we were working the crowd, Diana met a pair of Anoop fan girls. They were the ones who hooked up Noaa’s mom and Mike McQuaid, who would then hook her up with Anoop at the Dallas show backstage. It was really awesome to meet other fans who are dedicated to Anoop in more ways than just loving his music. There is nothing wrong with just loving his music but it’s interesting when you meet people who have stories to tell. They said they went to the Atlantic City show but weren’t able to meet Anoop because none of the idols came out to meet fans. They were told by Mike McQuaid to come to the Philly show because there would be a good chance Anoop would have time to meet his fans. That made us all very hopeful about OUR chance of meeting Anoop! And there was the Anoopardy. Have I mentioned I FLIVE Kary? We got some kids to play Anoopardy with us. Kary had some tough questions. One boy’s multiple-choice test taking skill (or luck) was amazing. While we were playing Anoopardy, a nice looking and well spoken teenage girl came over. She introduced herself as an Adam and Anoop fan. But most interestingly, at least to us, was the story about her English teacher. She said her English teacher is Anoop’s best friend’s mom, and got everyone at the school to root for Anoop. How awesome is that? Turns out this best friend is Chris Melly, whom we would later meet and totally fall in love with. But we didn’t know that at this point.
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Post by yoko71 on Aug 22, 2009 13:37:19 GMT -5
Chapter 3. The idols come out.
The arena sent a concession lady (aka water girl) to sell ice cold water up and down the barricade line. They know how to make money! Props to the Wachovia Center. The water girl was quite impressed by our show of Anoop love, with all the signs, banners, UNC flags, and such. So did one of the arena security guard who was standing close to us.
The first idols to come out were Kris and Matt. It was about 3:15 PM according to my tweets. The crowd was not too big at this point. I estimated to be ~150 people. Kris went to one end of the barricade and Matt went to the other. Within approximately 10 minutes, Kris was in front of us. I gave him an Anoop Dpgg wristband which was a gift from Janice P. He said he would definitely try to wear it at some point because he was a DESAI’ple. How sweet. (Of course at this point we had no idea he was actually going to wear it on stage that evening and melt us all.) Nene said in return that we were also all KRIStian. Kris didn’t get it at first though, so Nene had to explain to him. Get it, Kris! LOL. He commented on our show of Anoop love, and spent enough time with anyone who wanted a pic or autograph. It was brief but very relaxed and chill, as you can see in Kary’s video. Someone asked him where Anoop was, and he said Anoop was doing the press. My heart sank with a worry a little bit. Please @god let Anoop have some time with his fans.
Then it was Matt. Again I gave him one of the wristbands from Janice P. He said he’d try to wear it because Anoop wore his wristband for a while (which was news to me) and so he owe Anoop. The first thing he said as soon as he came to our group was to mistake Anjana for Dazzleme18. LMAO! He likes short brown girls or WHAT? You can watch this in Kary’s video. He eventually goes on to say “Anoop better watch out I’d take her (dazz) from him.” So yeah, Anoop. If you are reading this, you better think about this carefully. If I were you, I’d try to keep her.
Michael came out. He looked good. But what’s with wearing a hoodie when it’s 95 degrees? Anoop is rubbing his Anoopness off on other idols. He was a good sport, and worked the crowd really well even though we were obviously there for Anoop. He mentioned that he is working to get more fans, because he’s got an album coming out next year.
When Michael was just about finished with our group, someone spotted Anoop walking down the path toward the barricade. At this point we just lost it, forgot what we were doing, and screamed. I am sorry Michael. I had no control over my brain at that point. It was hot, I was exhausted from the heat, and there was Lord Gorgeousness with his abundant display of the stunning hotness, dimply smiles, and perfect beauty. HOLYMONKEYS ANOOP DESAI IS GORGEOUS, Y’ALL!
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Post by daisykary on Aug 22, 2009 14:01:57 GMT -5
LMAO! Yoko - I love your recap so far! I'm re-living it all over again! And I FLIVE you so much I wanna CM you!!
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Post by Anita on Aug 22, 2009 15:12:06 GMT -5
I'm loving the recap too!
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Post by yoko71 on Aug 22, 2009 16:01:32 GMT -5
Chapter 4. Holymonkeys Anoop Desai is Gorgeous, and I totally flailed.As Anoop walked down the path toward the barricade, the water girl pointed toward our direction. I’m guessing she was telling him “hey those are your benches go make them happy.” Then he came straight to us. OHMIGOD Anoop Desai is right in front of us with his full-on gorgeousness. I totally flailed. You can see the water girl pointing to us and then he makes a bee line toward us on Kary’s video. Anoop is tall and lean. His posture is perfect, and he walks like a boss, with his head upright and no sideway wobbling of the torso. He has long limbs and perfectly proportioned head/shoulders. He can totally model clothing on a runway. At this point I decided that I am going to ditch my GF#2 Nene forever because I don’t want to get involved in any relationship troubles. Nene, can we be just friends so I am free to pursue other #2 interests? Like BF#2? Thanks and bye. And this all happened while he was still walking toward us. I knew I would become a fangurly mush of goo. But I was surprised by the degree to which I was mushed. I WAS UTTERLY COMPLETELY MUSHED. If anyone was counting on me to pimp her up to Anoop, I am sorry. I am such a failed pimp. Well at least now you know not to trust me with your pimpage. At any rate, all I managed to do, once he was in front of me, was to get a few autographs for a few friends, and one for me (on Clef Hangers’ Time Out. SQUEEEEEE). Oh I said “OMG You are so skinny” in my full-on mom mode. I WAS FLAILING SO HARD I DIDN’T EVEN INTRODUCE MYSELF. My benches told him my name on behalf of me, which you can watch on Kary’s video. LMAO. I am quite embarrassed about this. I LOVE YOU BENCHES FOR TOTALLY HAVING MY BACK. When we handed him the Fanbasetini jar, he was reluctant and told us that he’s not allowed to take any edibles as gifts. But I think he was actually scared of the look of it. IT LOOKS LIKE A JAR FULL OF PICKLED FANBASES FLOATING IN RED LIQUID. (But FTR, it is extremely DELISH.) We told him don’t worry it was for us for the tailgate. You better believe Anoop was relieved. He was with us for a long time. All of his Philly benches got everything they needed. Autographs, pics, sideway hugs, and such. An Adam fan standing next to us took some KICK ASS pics which are posted in this thread. We managed to remember to give him the shitload of gifts we had, including the one from Anita. Toward the end of Kary’s video, you can hear him saying something about the official Meet & Greet going on inside right then. My sotory is that he snuck out of the M&G to come meet his Philly benches, and I am sticking by the story no matter what! After he left our area, he made a quick run through half of the barricade, but he ran out of time before he got to do the other half. He was called back into the arena. According to my benches Danny came out, too. But guess what? I have no memory of that and I don’t care.
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Post by Anita on Aug 22, 2009 16:09:04 GMT -5
I love hearing about your experience. Sounds like you had an amazing time!
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Post by Anita on Aug 22, 2009 16:15:33 GMT -5
Source: blogs.mcall.com/lehighvalleymusic/2009/08/american-idol-contestants-in-philly-start-weighing-career-decisions-today.htmlDesai, 22, the Indian-American contestant who preferred hip-hop and finished seventh, seemed the least certain of the four concerning his career in music. He said he’s “nowhere near” where Allen, Lambert, Iraheta or Gokey are in their negotiations, but asked whether he has feelers out, said, “Yeah, yeah. I’m in contact with a lot of people.” “I’m planning on moving to L.A. and pursuing what I can there,” he said. “And it’s one of those things where I need to better define my sound. All of those people have their sounds and they showcased theirs on the show. I was less successful at doing that. So my goal now is to put some stuff down, record some stuff and go about it that way. “ I think ‘Idol’ has given us an exposure that we could never have had, so I’m looking forward to try using that to my advantage.” He said that even though his later performances, in which he crooned standards, won him better response, he still has a love for hip-hop. “I really want to try and meld those two worlds – that’s what I really see myself doing,” he said.” I’m more in the vein of Ne Yo, because he sort of straddles the line. Certainly it’s not going to T-Pain or Usher that I’m doing in the future – that’s not me.”
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Post by daisykary on Aug 22, 2009 16:25:03 GMT -5
I don't think the water lady had to point us out! LOL! It was a sea of Carolina Blue!! And you know Matt told him that his girls were in the middle and Anoop came out to specifically meet us. That's my story and I'm sticking with it!
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Post by meljq21 on Aug 22, 2009 16:42:02 GMT -5
WOW!!! Talk about a vicarious experience for me! I LIVED your story YOKO! The video+your story=total win for everyone!
I LIVED that you turned into a 13 yr. fan girl! hehe You deserved to finally meet him! I hope you can come to the fair because I want to meet YOU and everyone else!!
Thanks again =D
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Post by yoko71 on Aug 22, 2009 18:07:24 GMT -5
Chapter 5. Anjana is a TV star
We wanted to meet Aaron and the rest of the MFB, but the security was telling us that it was over. The crowd quickly dispersed, and we decided to go back to the hotel, shower, and have a power dinner at Benny the Bun’s.
We had so much shit to haul back to the vehicles so we were taking our time. Then the crew from local FOX etation grabbed us and wanted to interview us on TV. Of course me, with the goopy brain, had no idea what was going on. I was picking up stuff off the ground. But the “always-on-top” pimpage experts in our group Diana, Kary, Anjana, and Sara were totally aware of the situation and got to talk on camera. Can I say I was absolutely impressed by their pimpage skills? Anoop, if you are reading this, you have your public relations officers right here. HIRE THEM. A portion of the interview feat. Anjana made it to the evening news. But honestly, the other benches did equally great. I guess the FOX station featured Anjana because she was ALL THE WAY FROM THE GREAT WHITE NORTH. Canadians represent! Oh and Sara's poster made it on camera, too!
Somehow we managed to stuff all the shit and people into two vehicles and drove back to the hotel. But there was so much stuff I lost track of my thongs and our gifts for Chris Melly. It was so hot and I was still so goopy I wasn’t able to look for them. I just wanted to cool off and regroup.
After a bit of chill time in the hotel room, we went down to Benny the Bum’s. We were having beers, cocktails, food, and such. We were such a happy bunch discussing how gorgeous Anoop was at the barricade, and strategizing the future pimpage plans.
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Post by daisykary on Aug 22, 2009 18:29:27 GMT -5
LOL! "strategizing the future pimpage plans" We are organized and strategic after all!
Anjana did so well on tv!!! I want to CM her so hard! I think we were all high at that point. (No drugs, just high an Noopy love!)
We didn't even get all the stuff OUT of my car!! BUT then we would have had more crap to carry back later.
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Post by yoko71 on Aug 22, 2009 19:46:01 GMT -5
Chapter 6. Twitter TagsAnd at around 6:00 PM, another episode of madness started. Anjana was checking her twitter, and saw Chris Melly tweeting. That started this whole tweet-tag madness, trying to hook up with him. I tweeted that we were in Benny the Bums, that got RT’d multiple times, and there were a few more tweet tags that went nowhere. It finally took Sara’s gutsy move to tweet him her phone number (bc you can’t dm someone who does not follow you) to him to get us in touch with Chris. Squeeeeeee!!! Did I say I FLIVE Sara? We were so freaking excited about meeting the live, real life Chris Melly we practically ran to the cars. I’m thinking that Sara and Nene actually tripped on their own toes running! By then, it was almost 7:00 PM, the show time. But we had our priorities. Haha. So we met up with Chris and his friend who were drinking beer in the parking lot. It was sooooooo nice to meet him finally in person after the months of me bugging him online for various crazy fangurl stuff. Actually the stuff wasn’t crazy. It’s just that *I* and *MY APPROACHES* were crazy because I was always in a hurry for the last-minute gift organizations and stuff. Oh the good old days. Thank you so much for putting up with us for all these months. Chris, I am sorry I was such a fail on Thursday and could not find the thank you gift that I lost in Nene’s car. I will send it to Kary. She’s going to the reading show in September, so please tell Anoop to come out to the barricade and get our thank you gift to you from her. At any rate, I got his autograph on my copy of Clef’s Time Out. Squeeeeee. Now that I’m looking at it. I have no idea which is Anoop’s and which is Chris’autograph. LOL. But I have both. That’s what counts, right? Chris was an extremely good looking young man. He is well-spoken with this very cool, laid-back attitude. He struck me as a very intelligent, genuine, and self-aware individual with no weird chip on his shoulder. I hope my son grows up to be like that. Just an all around cool guy. We have all been Chris Melly fans from watching him perform on YouTube. But with meeting the actual Chris Melly in its full, big gunz glory, we have renewed obsession in Chris Melly. Let’s just say that a few of us *cough*sara_and_nene*cough* are now Chrismelly Stans. Haha. Anjana gave him a wristband. He wore it and posed for the gun show. Haha. The consensus was that he easily won over Anoop.
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Post by yoko71 on Aug 22, 2009 20:41:59 GMT -5
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Post by yoko71 on Aug 22, 2009 20:55:51 GMT -5
This is Kris Allen playing Ain't no sunshine. You can see him wearing AnoopDogg wristband at 0:21. How sweet is he? It is the one I gave to Kris on behalf of Janice P. as I wrote in Chapter 3 of my recap.
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Post by Andiee :) on Aug 22, 2009 21:07:39 GMT -5
Rofl Yoko, your recaps are so detailed and fangirly. Exactly how I would react if I met him. And you are so adorable, hahah, you couldn't introduce yourself lol! ;D[/b]
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Post by thasha on Aug 22, 2009 21:27:47 GMT -5
Thanks for the recaps, pics and videos! Makes me love him even more if that's even possible lol
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Post by brooklyn on Aug 22, 2009 22:58:27 GMT -5
More of my pics.... Kary I live all your pictures of him! I want to print all of it!!! I wonder if you would give/send me a larger copies so I could have better prints.. If you don't mind? =)
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Post by brooklyn on Aug 22, 2009 23:02:21 GMT -5
THE POWER OF ANOOP'S VOICE BROUGHT US TOGETHER AND MADE US A FAMILY.....
This is so true!!! *cries* I don't have a sister and now I have more than just one because of him! aww...
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Post by brooklyn on Aug 22, 2009 23:09:42 GMT -5
GLUE! what a recap! I love it! you really had an EPIC TIME with Anoop and with the rest of the Phillybenches that's worth remembering! You deserved it! you really do! "Aishiteru ne!"
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Post by yoko71 on Aug 22, 2009 23:13:29 GMT -5
GLUE! what a recap! I love it! you really had an EPIC TIME with Anoop and with the rest of the Phillybenches that's worth remembering! You deserved it! you really do! "Aishiteru ne!" Brooklyn! I LOVE YOU TOO.
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Post by yoko71 on Aug 22, 2009 23:30:18 GMT -5
Chapter 7. The Forgotten Crevices Inside My Soul
Thanks to Rickey’s cellcast and troopers on Twitter, we were able to get the update on what was happening inside the arena. Megan’s 2nd song was the cue for us to stop hanging there and go inside. We said good-by to Chris and his friend. We also said good-bye to Kary. She was there just for the tailgate. This won’t be the last time I see you, though, obviously, Kary!
I had to go use the bathroom, so by the time I found my dance floor aka seat next to Diana, Lil was singing. She looked really pretty in her curly ‘do.
While Lil was singing and dancing Single Ladies, my head kept playing the chorus from Chrisette Michelle’s Playin’ Our Songs: “My heart wants to jump out of my chest doin’ such a rush.” I could practically hear my heart beating over the loud music. It was insane. I am going to hear Anoop Desai’s voice LIVE for the first time in my life. OHMIGOD.
For a brief moment, a little anxiety overtook me. What if it was a letdown. What if I don’t love his performance. What if it was not quite epic. But I shook that off, just in time for Anoop to be elevated onto the big stage.
My heart stopped and I died just for a very brief moment when I heard the first verse of Always On My Mind. It was beautiful. I have written many times about how his voice would reach deep, forgotten crevices inside my soul. His live voice allowed me to discover and fill so many more forgotten crevices that had never been felt before.
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Post by brooklyn on Aug 23, 2009 0:09:22 GMT -5
Glue, aww... I wish I could hear him live too.. I wanna die too.. I bet it was beautiful indeed. *happy sigh*
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sj1
Full Member
Posts: 132
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Post by sj1 on Aug 23, 2009 0:22:25 GMT -5
AMAZING recap Yoko, thanks for sharing! got goosebumps while reading it over and over again.. all the Anoop love is really best part of it all!
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