How does one talk
about the end of an era? The first
national tour of American Idiot this past 6 months has been an overwhelming
whirlwind of rage and love and Idiots.
As I sit here at work snuggled in my AI hoodie my heart is full and my
eyes are spilling over with joy. My last
real post was at the start of the tour and I had no idea what an impact this
tour cast would have on my life. As soon as the curtain dropped in Detroit I
knew I had to find a way to see it again.
Much like a crack addict looking for their next hit, I became obsessed
with getting more of it as soon as possible!
It was not only, the joy that I found in the show, but also the sense of
family that was starting to blossom with this cast and the way they related to
their fans.
Kelvin was and will
always be our favorite (Taco Club 4evz!)
but other people had begun to creep in as well. Talia, and Scott, Jake,
and Nicci all became people I wanted to see again regardless of the show. Resources were pooled and a plan was made for
North Carolina. It was to be Little
Will's first Idiot and he was bouncing with excitement! We also discovered that Kelvin's Birthday was
around the time we would be going. Guuurl, you know we went cake crazy! We made cupcakes with heart shaped hand grenades
for the cast and Kelvin got his very own taco cake. It wasn't about getting anything in return it
was just about showing a little bit of love to this wonderful cast that was
beginning to feel like family. Kelvin
LOVED his cake and ended up taking us on a tour backstage which was just so
sweet of him.
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| Why am I the only one in sunglasses in our pictures! |
Little Will is now
probably as much of an Idiot as his Mommy and talks endlessly about Nicci the
pretty angel that flies, and silly Scott who sings "the underwear
song", he makes me sing Idiot to him at nap time, screams "SUX TO BE
YOU TOO!" at me in Wal-Mart when he doesn't get his way, and has begun his
own choreo routines to the songs (watch out revival). We also got to enjoy the extra-curricular
musical styling of the bass player Dan Grennes at his band's (Uncle Pumpkin) CD
release party where a few of the cast members performed as well. It was epic and now I find myself singing
"Heeeeeey Uncle Pumpkin" at random moments! And of course the addiction kicked in again
as the cast started asking where they were going to see us next. I need to point out that we had originally
only planned to go to Detroit and San Francisco but at every stop we kept
needing to see the cast more and more (seriously we're like meth heads for this
cast).
St. Louis was
decided on based on my Shakespeare rehearsal schedule, and the need not to look
like complete stalkers by being at every stop, we TRY to keep the crazy in
control. So at this point I am
completely obsessed with Kelvin and his fabulousness, Scott and his wonderful
Tunny and super sweet stage door self, and Jilli's Too Much Too Soon that is so
awesome it makes me want to hit things!
The night we were supposed to leave for St. Louis there were awful
tornadoes in my town, one set down about a mile from my house causing us to
lose power. Once the storm had passed we
were still without power and I HAD to make Jilli her PB&J cupcakes and take
a shower, so I sent out an SOS on FB to any of my friends w/ power. We loaded up the car at 8 at night and went to
a friend's house across town that hadn't been hit like I had. We were back at the house about midnight
before we started our 6 hour drive to St. Louis at 4 a.m. We were going to rush both shows then drive
home that night, therefore negating the need for a hotel. Are you shocked that when we got there plans
changed VERY swiftly?
Jarran Muse fresh
in from an injury had taken over the role of Favorite Son, we met him at stage
door and after Hello and one hug we were hooked! He is seriously the WORLD'S BEST HUGGER! A Jarran hug will stay with you for
hours. At Stage Door we were introduced
to families and travel stories were shared then the cast started asking us how
long we were staying, when we mentioned we were leaving that night we were essentially
laughed at and told that in fact we would be staying through Sunday, Jarran
even offered us his comps (seriously, we love Jarran). So I got out my phone and found a hotel and
we got a three show weekend full of goofy ass pictures and headlocks.
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| You know you want it! |
Then began the TORTUROUS 2 month wait for
Dallas, it was terrible. I started a countdown app on my IPhone, and
lived off cast tweets like they were food and water. We finally got to Dallas on a Friday
afternoon, the rush was really weird and the seats were best available. After being so spoiled to front rows it was
odd. We didn't see the show that night,
but did head to stage door for the requisite hugs. At which point we were yelled at for not
coming to the show, we thoroughly apologized for going to get wasted instead of
coming to see them and told them we would be there for both shows on Sat and
the Sun mat. After the Sat mat we
decided to go back to the hotel pool until the night show as opposed to going
to stage door, for which were yelled at again.
So we said fine we will be at every stage door from now on and we better
not get shit for it!
Saturday night we
got BLITZED in the theatre bar before the show and the show became this whole
new experience (we had lucked out with 1st row seats and the cast was tweeted
about our #drunkfirstrow status prior to curtain). I am pretty sure we annoyed at least 10
people around us while Kelvin flashed us boob and Jen and Gabe ate each other's
faces. Afterwards (when we were a bit
more sober) we had the pleasure of seeing Stark Sands (OBC) at stage door as
well as meeting more fabulous family members.
Sometimes I think they introduce us to their families so they can be all
"See I told you there were crazy people following us around the
country!". We went out to a bar
called The Spread Eagle that night (which made the 12 year old boy who lives in
my head ECSTATIC!) and had a great chat with Dan (Grennes) and watched Oke get
his drank on, once he found out we were the "Kelvin screamers who bring treats"
he hug attacked us. Getting a hug from
Oke is like getting a hug from a massive tree (which is saying a lot as I am
6'2" and "not delicate") it’s amazing!
We went to sun
matinee (I was drunk again, $1 mimosas are the devil) and got to see Tommy in
Larkin's track from the second row. Holy
Hell! That boy is astounding!! I was in love immediately! There were shoes flying, nipples pinched, and
shit lost and when it was over made our final stage door appearance for 6
weeks. There were so many fabulous hugs
and for the first time, no winter coats in the pictures.
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| Oh Tommy McDowell how do I love thee, let me count the ways~ |
It was finally here
the weekend we had been anticipating and dreading for 6 months, San
Francisco. We had discovered that a
twitter friend of ours was going to be in the city so we made plans to meet up
with her and her group of friends. It
was the best decision we could have made.
We met the coolest group of Idiots on the planet and had a complete
blast the whole weekend.
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| Idiot family love |
Due to insane rush
lines most of our time in San Francisco was spent sitting on the sidewalk with
them relishing our season of rage and love.
The weather was perfect and, aside from the crazy ass aggressive
homeless people and the bird shitting on me, rush line was something I'll remember
with fondness forever. I always thought
I would be an absolute mess for the final show, little did I know it would be
the Saturday night show that destroyed me.
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| Tenderloin Rush Line Realness |
I sat there
consumed with wracking sobs covered in tears and snot from about 10 minutes in
through curtain call. It was the only
curtain call I didn't stand for, because I physically couldn't. By the time Good Riddance started I had
myself together enough to scream for Kelvin but I looked at Scott J. Campbell
and he mouthed "Are you OK?" and I lost it again. I realized this was
the end of this magical thing that had grown for the past 6 months. I saw my Little Will in Johnny and I was
Johnny's Mom and all I wanted was for my little boy to be ok. All I wanted was for Johnny to find his
hope. I cried for the emptiness of Will,
for the desperation of Tunny, for the waste of Johnny. I cried for the actors that I had grown to
love that would never be all together again, I cried for the family I had
gained through this entire beautiful experience.
With my heart still
in my eyes I met them outside the hugs that night were long and lingering. The connection that had grown over the past
months was such that we didn't even have to talk just being there was
enough. I am always amazed at the power
of touch, the comfort it gives, the unspoken communication that binds two
people even closer together.
Closing was
wonderful, we were all together with our new Idiot family and we bought flowers
for our cast and while I teared up and welled over I felt I had passed through
the pain the night before and could enjoy the beauty of the cast and show that
I loved. My heart would hurt when a cast
member would sing to me or stare at me while playing a song or make a special
dance move up or practically jump into our lap off the stage, but it was always
followed by a secret little smile of joy and contentment.
Stage door was hard;
it was overrun for the first time with rude people who were aggressively
shoving people out of the way. I don't
do well in crowds and didn't want the craziness to interfere with my goodbye to
these people who had changed my life for the past six months. I retreated about halfway down the sidewalk
and waited, hopeful they would stop on their way out. They goodbyes were tearful and joyful, funny
and sad. So many #feelingz at one time
it is difficult to describe. There is
nothing I could ever do that would be enough to show this cast how much I
simply adore them and how much of an impact they had on my life. I will treasure my memories of my Idiot cast
and family and hope that someday they smile remembering the freaks that
followed them around the country and ugly cried from the front row.
For this tour and cast alone,
10,000 miles traveled
53 hours spent driving
6 airports
3 Natural Disasters
And yes I had the time of my life.
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| Scott J Campbell you truly are the sweetest. |
P.S. I was wrong about being done with crying. I alienated some elderly people next to me on
the flight from San Jose to Las Vegas the next day, when I overheard someone
make an Idiot reference and sobbed for the entire 1 hr. and 9 min. of the plane
ride. Still too many #feelingz
