Yes, it's time... I have to tell you about last night. The Crowded House show. Oh man, how to encapsulate so that I don't ramble on for days here... ?!?!?!

Well, the show was at a casino called Foxwoods in CT. Which should be about 3 hours from our house. But it was a Friday afternoon in the summer and, well, traffic just sucked. I mean, really sucked. Traffic volume, lots of construction, it was just crawling for miles in spots. It took us 5 hours to go the distance that should have only taken 3, basically. Luckily, we left SUPER early knowing we'd hit traffic. We met a friend of mine from a Boston newspaper for dinner and the show, and it was so much fun!

But let me backtrack just a wee, tiny, little bit. After the last NYC show we went to, I emailed the band's publicist, who also happens to be a long-time industry friend of mine, and thanked him for putting us on the list. And I asked, because I figured I had nothing to lose, if he could hook us up with passes at one of the shows we were going to to say hi to the band. He knew I was a huge fan. He said he would "make it happen." So I had two weeks to contemplate this possibility AND to hope it would actually come to pass.

While we were on our VERY LONG DRIVE, my pal called my cell phone and told me he'd taken care of us. Gave me the name of the tour manager and said we were all set to meet the band after the show. Yes, I had several hours before we got to the venue to really think about the fact that I was going to get to meet my songwriting hero that very evening. At least, I hoped it would happen. Sometimes these sorts of things derail. I'd had after-show passes at a Finn Brothers show several years ago, and that meet and greet never happened.

We had a great dinner... went over to pick up our passes and there were none there. Luckily, we were able to track down a phone number with some phone calls and we left a message on the tour manager's cell phone to call us with more info after the show since there were no passes waiting for us.

I have to say, I was still hopeful, but not expecting ANYTHING at this point. We got to our seats and were able to move down about six rows because of some empty seats. Yay! My friend and I stood and danced to many of the songs and just had a super time enjoying the great music, the hysterical between-song banter among the band and with the audience, and I continued to hope for the best with the passes for after the show.

Perhaps the funniest part of the show was when the bassist said he wanted an order of fish and chips and some tequila brought to him on stage. And a bit later, a room service tray was rolled out with fish and chips and tequila on it. The bassist, Nick, ate some fish and chips, the band did a tequila shot, and Neil brought the plate of chips out to the front of the stage and invited the audience up to have some. Some people went up right away, but quite possibly the funniest part was when an older gentleman moseyed up front during a song and took one chip and walked back to his seat while eating it. It was so, so funny! Here's a photo of Nick, the bassist, getting his snack, and Neil, seated at the piano, talking to the audience:

I took a bunch of photos (big surprise... right?) on my new camera -- no flash and from pretty far back, so they're not stellar. But they are better quality than my cell phone photos of last time around. Here's a sampling:

Well, by the time the show was over, my pal had a message on her cell phone from the tour manager who told us to just hang out and wait for him for about 10 minutes and he'd come out and escort us back to the dressing room. I was strangely calm. I have wanted to meet Neil Finn for so long that it should have been surreal and almost freaking me out, right? But I was very Zen. Very excited, yes, but oh-so-calm. No freaking out actually happened.

The tour manager brought us back to the dressing room, and literally the only people in there were the band, and two significant others. Besides that, it was just us and them. (Three other people came in later, but not immediately.) Got to meet Neil right away and he couldn't have been nicer and more warm. He shook my hand and we all talked among the four of us for a good 15 minutes or so (I wasn't watching the clock at all). I was completely capable of not only coherent speech, I talked plenty and I even made Neil laugh. And I got a few minutes of time with just the two of us, sitting on a couch, talking. I mean, seriously, I never could have imagined in a million years or in my wildest dreams that it would be so easy to talk to him. I mean for me to be able to talk so easily.

I had my picture taken with him:

If I tried to imagine a better meeting, I don't think I could. All totaled, I got a good 20 minutes with Neil, and I got to meet the rest of the band too. It was beyond anything I'd even hoped for, as I truly didn't expect it and was just hopeful, really, until the tour manager was actually leading us back to the dressing room. Then it suddenly became very, very real.

At the risk of sounding remarkably dorky, I'm thrilled to have met my songwriting hero. I'll seriously never forget it. And I'm still a bit beside myself that it actually happened!!!! Exactly 24 hours ago, I was talking to Neil Finn..... so very cool!