Ridin' HIIIIIGGGHHH!!!!!

So, this particular post has NOTHING to do with the theme of this blog, but I have to get it out there for 2 reasons: 1) cause it's AWESOME and 2) I don't have to tell the story 90 times. Ha!

Ahhh, a night with Aerosmith. Boy, that sure sounds like I banged the band, doesn't it? Unfortunately, that is not the case. What I expected to happen and what did happen are two totally different stories.

Here's what I thought was going to go on. I knew that we were going to be backstage at a private party with food and drinks, etc and that we would have 3rd row seats by the catwalk. I also knew that we would be meeting Steven Tyler and Joe Perry and that we'd be getting picture taken and have the opportunity to have one item autographed by both of them (we both brought old record Aerosmith record albums). I figured the VIP girl in charge was going to be a little beast (my bro has met her before and said she could go either way) and just drag us to where we needed to be. I was under the impression that we'd hang out at this party for a little while with a bunch of people we didn't know and just wait for our time to meet the boys. I expected Steven Tyler to be nice, but not too animated and figured he would have an attitude like he just wanted to get it over with. Joe Perry I thought would be pretty cool, but I really didn't expect to get more than the time it took to take a pic with both of them. I guess my expectations were low so that I wouldn't get disappointed.

Here's what actually happened...hold on to your butts. We head to the concert to meet our VIP girl, Amanda, at 4:45pm (concert started at 7:30pm). She comes out and tells us that there has been a slight issues with our seats due to the size of the catwalk at this particular venue and it took out almost an entire section. Our hearts dropped to the floor and I started to panic. Amanda says "Don't panic. To try and make this fair for all of you, we're giving you guys first priority to pick where you'd like to sit. You can choose to stay in your original seat, or pick somewhere else if you don't like it." SERIOUSLY?! We're so fine with this. Joe and I start brainstorming, go in and get smart. However, we were told to move back to the bleachers because Steven had to come back out to check some things out. I see him walk out with a cigar and can NOT stop staring him down. Anyways, a few minutes later we go in to get our seats. The two of us crazies obviously know where Steven spends most of his time during the concerts, so we strategically pick seats right next to the catwalk, a little in front of where security guards are, and on the right side, so that we could be on Joe Perry's side of the stage too.



Security changes our seats and we head into the private party. As we are going in, we're told that Joey Kramer is selling his book and if we buy it then he'll sign it for us. We didn't think it'd be worth it unless he was going to physically sign it right in front of us, so we asked and we were told that he'd be coming in to sign it. We all sit down and help ourselves to this huge spread of food (as if I needed more of that after being at the fair all day) and Joe and I grab a beer immediately to loosen up. A few minutes later, we're told that Joey Kramer is going to stop in to not only sign our books, but answer any questions we have for him, take pictures with our table, and take individual pics with all of us!

HOLY so now we're meeting 3 out of 5 members of Aerosmith AND got to pick our own seats?!?! So far...GREAT deal.

Joey Kramer comes in and is super nice, very personable. Answers all of our questions very honestly, which was cool. My brother asked the first question and after his answer he goes "Anybody ever tell you that you look like Jerry Seinfeld?" Funny since people tell him that all the time.

Now it's time to meet Steven Tyler. Holy. Balls. We were supposed to meet Steven and Joe together, but Joe was running late and Steven wanted to do his meet and greet now. This actually worked out better since we got a little more time with them. My bro went in first and chatted with him for a few minutes. He snuck some blank sheet music in the record and asked Steven to fill out the first notes to "Walk This Way." Steven says "I can definitely do that for ya" and starts writing. Amanda offers to play it so that he can remember what they are but he got it HA! Then they take their pics together and Steven says "whoa, you're pretty buff!"

It's my turn and somehow I was feeling totally fine with this. I walk in as my bro is heading out and he says to Steven "and here's my sister...." FYI - Steven Tyler was SO friendly and animated...he looked me straight in the eye the entire time we were talking and he was friggin' AWESOME. And no, he did not look scary in person, he actually looked totally normal.

Steven: This is your sister?! Your brother is pretty buff...man, I sound gay.
Me: Aw, don't tell me that!
Steven: How ya doin' honey?
Me: I'm awesome right now, it's so good to finally meet you - you guys are so great. You wanna bring me up on stage to sing a little "What It Takes" together? (I had to get straight to the point here...)
Steven: Oh wow, can you sing??
Me: Yeah, I can definitely sing! (sure...)
Steven belts out the first line: "There goes my old girlfriend..." and looks right at me to sing the next and somehow I belted it out...in tune and everything.
Me: There's another diaaamond ring...
Steven: Yeah!! Where are you sitting? I'll go like this (and points at the eyes with the two fingers). You're not sitting too far up the catwalk are you?
Me: Nope, I'm right next to it on the right, right next to your speaker.

My fav security guard that loved me came in and said he'd point me out during the song (I never got on stage, but it was the thought that counted). Then Steven just whipped me to the side and drew a bleeding heart on my arm (which I'm seriously thinking of tattooing somewhere), gave me a smooch on the cheek and took his pics with me.

My legs were shaking on the way out. I don't know how I just had a conversation, let alone, sang part of his song with him. WTF just happened?!

We go back into the party and are told that Brad Whitford is going to come in and warm up and take pictures with us. Oh okay, so now we're meeting FOUR of the 5 Aerosmith members. No big deal.

Now it's time to meet Joe Perry. At this point, I just can't even get over this. Joe Perry comes out in his crazy sunglasses (I'm convinced he had eye surgery since he wore them during the whole concert, which he never does, but whatevs). He was much more quiet, which I didn't expect. It was kind of like pulling teeth to get him to talk, but he was still really nice. My bro got him talking' a bit when he asked them to play "Movin' Out," but that was pretty much it. It went like this:

Me: All I can say....is that you're awesome....you're fuckin' awesome. I don't even know what else to say.
Joe: Thanks honey, thanks.
Me: And I like those glasses...
Joe: Thanks honey...I'll be seein' you later.

This experience was completely worth it and blew my expectations out of the water!! Coolest, nicest guys ever. After the meet and greet, we make our way to the concert and are literally resting on the catwalk the entire time. They were right in our faces and I LOVED IT!

The boys may be older, but they still know how to rock the joint!!!!