October 4, 2009

• Yesterday night; Oct 3, 2009, was a time of several firsts for me. After years of going to Glendale, CA, this was the first time I’ve actually been to “The Americana At Brand,” which is a shopping, dining, entertainment, and apartment/condominium place. It’s really nice. This was also the first time I’ve seen singer/songwriter “Marie Digby” in person, especially considering the fact that I became a fan of hers two years ago. Speaking of time passing, it’s also been years since I’ve heard about the R&B group “All-4-One,” so seeing them perform live this past night was a real treat. Days prior to this day, I was honestly pretty darn excited for this night of free performances; courtesy of “Donate Life America.”

  I got to The Americana at approximately 5:15PM, and I must have been too excited for the event that I was pretty absent minded at that moment. I had to go back to my car two different times, since I apparently forgot my parking ticket; which I needed to keep for validation purposes, and then later I realized that I was suppose to bring with me one of Marie’s albums for her to sign; which I left in my car (in this case it was her latest release; “Breathing Underwater“). By the time I actually got to where the stage for the concert was, I was still early enough to be at the very front of the rails; which means that I should have a pretty good angle for my camera. There were rows of chairs at the front, but those were reserved for invited guests.

  Within that span of almost two hours of waiting for the event to start, some things prevented me from being bored. There was this older lady who stood next to me that had quite a personality (who didn’t even know who was performing), and there was this guy next to me; Ken, who I spent most of the time conversing with. So it was a combination of me talking to Ken, and “putting up” with the old lady next to us. At one point she pointed out that Ken will get cold without a jacket, but she also pointed out that I should be fine since I “have fat” on me, and proceeded to pinch my side. I didn’t say anything. She even interrupted us at another point, asking us how to get to her text messages on her phone. I suppose she was only trying to be friendly, but she honestly came off mostly rude and annoying. Luckily she wasn’t too obnoxious, and I admitedly even found the humor of her presence there.

  

  The concert was suppose to start at 7PM, but Jamie Jones of “All-4-One” was running late due to him literally coming straight from the airport. Prior to the R&B group performing, our hosts for the evening; Manny Streetz of KIIS FM and Justina Machado of the CBS show Three Rivers, would address the crowd from time to time. “All-4-One” started about a half hour behind schedule, but it was still pretty exciting getting flashbacks to the ’90s; which was when they were pretty popular. Along with their new song “When I Needed An Angel” (proceeds of that song helps “Donate Life America”), they of course performed two of their biggest hits, “I Can Love You Like That” and “I Swear.” A lot of people seemed to remember those songs, and were at least singing along to the choruses. They only played four songs though, but they did have a good performance, sounded great, and had those “boy band” dance moves that were entertaining to watch. That was All-4-One! Woot!

  After showing the music video for Avalanche on the video screen, Marie Digby herself was finally on stage. She was accompanied by another guitarist, and they performed an acoustic set. She has such a nice personality and has a good sense of humor. Marie also had a good relationship with the crowd, and vice versa. At one point, there were two people in the audience that were competing in telling Marie that they love her. “I love you Marie!” “I love you more!” On another occasion, a guy actually had the courage to ask her if “she was available.” She humored the guy by suggesting that she would consider going out with him, and how she is “easy” because all a guy needs to do is buy her ice cream. I kinda wished I captured some of those spontaneous moments on video, like the time when she saved one of her guitars from falling off the chair by kicking it up at the last second, so that the tech guy could grab it on time. Marie only did play five songs, but it was at least the two lead singles plus the two title tracks from her two “main” albums, and she also played her most famous cover of Rihanna’s “Umbrella.”

  

  The next step for me was to finally meet her in person, and wow was the meet & greet line long. It definitely looks like I won’t be able to do the meet & greet with All-4-One at that rate. I was maybe about a hundred people away from the front of that line, but at least I was still with Ken, and we just continued conversing to past the time. There was an unexpected moment that was very surprising to me. At one point while I was standing in line, I get this tap on my shoulder, and when I turn around I see Carlo; lead guitarist for Meg & Dia (I’m a huge fan of theirs)! How cool is he for recognizing me in line and stopping by momentarily to say hi. We chatted for maybe about a minute before he had to leave, but he did notice that I was “representing” their band as I was wearing one of their shirts. lol

  Almost two hours later, I was finally up next to meet Marie. It turns out that they were actually generously passing out a free copy of her album to us in line, which means that I didn’t even have to bring my copy. So I finally got the chance to tell her the two things I’ve been meaning to tell her in person… First I wanted to clear up the message I wrote to her in Japanese in one of her Facebook webcast, because it looked like she was confused about what I said. The second thing was about how I used her cover of Umbrella on my wedding video, which she appreciated me telling her. I complimented her fashion sense, told her I will see her again in her Hotel Cafe concert, and we also took a photo. I had a big smile on my face afterward, as this really made my night complete. She is so friendly and open to her fans, which just makes her extra awesome. There was still a pretty long line behind me at that point, and it was already 10:15PM. Marie would later say online that it took her three and a half hours to get to everybody, and I believe that was only possible because the organizers at The Americana eventually cut off the line. I’m sure the line would have continued to grow if they didn’t do that.

  Thank you to Marie Digby, All-4-One, Ken, Donate Life America, The Americana At Brand, and even the odd older lady for making this past night a very memorable one.

  * click here for the PHOTOS I took from the night *
  
  * click here for the VIDEOS I took from the event *

  

  • 9:58 am
  • 1 Comment