At the hotel:
...I'm not sure about my girls, but I slept pretty quickly and soundly, after arriving at our hotel and having a late and quick dinner at the I-Hop nearby! The big bed was very inviting and comfy and I think I zoned out right away! I don't remember anything I read but I went through the motions, as it's part of my nightly routine!
Not sure about my girls because Alli was pretty wound up with all the excitement...winning the contest... the phone interview with the writer from the paper... and- of course-the anticipation of what was in store the next day!
~~~
The next day:
The next morning was when Alli heard from a friend that the article was in the paper in Ocala! :) Right away it was decided that we needed to find a computer to check out Ocala Star Banner. (the hotel folks were kind enough to let Alli use their office computer!) Alli wanted to see if the guy had written a favorable piece - or not! He had! :)
Getting ready:
The activities of the day were not to start until early afternoon when our escorts would come to take us to the concert venue! There would be a meeting at the hotel with the people in charge, to let Alli know exactly what was expected of her...what kind of questions would be asked and so forth...
Here we are in our room - all ready to go!
( Click on any Picture to enlarge )
At Nokia Theatre:
This is where we were!
The backstage areas were fascinating to me! I had no idea of how much was involved in these concert places and the organizing of these shows which we all like to see! There are numerous dressing rooms and conference rooms, lining meandering hallways. The walls were covered with posters of 'Stars!'
Here are a few that I saw:
And here is Alli's dressing room - and next to it was Plain White T's room! :)
I enjoyed the private meet and greet with the band members (as one of the contest winner's guests) They are all very friendly, polite and interesting young men- and I was to see later- very entertaining performers onstage! It was a COOL experience for me!
(and I can only imagine how the day was for Alli!)
It turned out to be a much bigger deal than I had thought it would be. There were people involved from NC and NY,
as well as the 2 people from California, and a local camera crew.
Everyone was very nice and worked well with each other and with Alli.
The hours spent at the concert place were non-stop...from about 3:30 until after 7:30 -when Alli joined Plain White T's onstage for the song.
There were interviews with Alli about the contest-how she did the video- etc- Everyone seemed impressed with the quality of the video!
This contest was a Milk Rocks endeavor, so of course it's for promoting milk as a healthy food. Alli- and the band members were doing this as a commercial for Milk!
I never realized how much time and filming would go into something like this but certain parts were gone over and filmed over, several times, until it pleased the man in charge! This part was taking place in Alli's little dressing room with the 5 band members, the camera crew, the man in charge from NY-...all of the others, too-and Tina and me! A room full of people... complete chaos- but Alli seemed to thrive in that situation! :)
( I truly hope I will not be in this film- but I might be! )
During that time also was a consultation between Alli and the band members to decide how the song would be performed and then a little later they had a sound check and run through, onstage!
At some point there was a buffet meal served for all. Tom Higgenson ended up at our table-which pleased Alli a lot!
While talking to Tom on the way into the buffet, this guy passed by and Alli got an introduction from Tom. This is the singer from the other band performing this night- Chris Carrabba, of Dashboard Confessional!
Getting ready:
Alli had brought stage clothes and make-up for the performing onstage. The filming and interviewing continued, even as she was putting on her make-up! :) She remained very cool, throughout the whole thing!
lol - Alli is an amazing girl!
These are some pics of the day-up to the time of getting ready to go on stage with the band.
Note:
Tomorrow I will conclude with some photos from the performance of the show!
Junie
Way to go Alli! Sound like you had a fantastic time and I can't wait to see the performance pictures :)
ReplyDeleteAND... I just saw that Noah put your spider pic up on Skull-a-day :)
ReplyDeleteI love it! Gosh, Alli was really Star-For-A-Day, wasn't she?! Dressing room and everything!! I can only imagine how thrilling that must all have been. Please let us know when/where these interviews, etc, will be available to watch!! And yes, Junie, I am hoping to see YOU in those videos too! :)
ReplyDeleteB13,
ReplyDeleteYes-Alli had a great time- and did a terrific job of it! lol- she made the song BETTER! (OR- is that just a Granny's way of seeing it? )
Cool about my spider skull!! :) I went to have a look!
Junie
Skye,
ReplyDeleteYep-Alli was a star!! :) She had a great time-so did I!!
PS-Thanks for the email- I will get back with you (with an email) as soon as I can.
Junie
Dearest Junie,
ReplyDeleteI think I'm finally going to have a quiet couple of days this week...Ross is coming out of the hospital tomorrow so I won't have to keep bringing mom to the hospital and staying there for hours on end! lol Today I also brought her grocery shopping so she's all set for the week:-) I've really missed being able to visit all my blogging friends but now I should be back on track!!
Omigosh, I've so enjoyed reading all about your trip and how very exciting for Alli to have won the contest and get to sing on stage with the band!! Woohoo!!! And look at you with all those cool dudes! hehe It's an experience I'm sure none of you will every forget. I loved enlarging every picture and looking at every detail...Alli looked beautiful and so cool...I would have been a nervous wreck! lol Such a wonderful time in her life:-) xoxo
Can hardly wait for the rest of the story - this is so exciting!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to Allison and to Granny for accompanying her on the trip.
ReplyDeletePeter,
ReplyDeleteThanks!! We had a lot of fun!
Pea
ReplyDeleteand
Carletta,
Thanks! :) I'm happy you've enjoyed reading about our adventures!
Junie