Amarillo Day Trip

Where can I possibly begin? Hmm, I’m still thinking… Those who know me just know that my favorite music band is Stabbing Westward. I heard “What Do I Have To Do?” on the radio in 1996 and was completely awed. Then seeing the video to that and also shortly discovering “Shame”, my 17 year old self thought, Holy crap, that band rocks, and that man is absolutely, perfectly gorgeous! I had to read any review, watch any interview, and promote when I could! I saw them perform twice in Dallas-I begged my brother to take me, and I met my love both times; I was in heaven!

Yes, I’m fully aware that they broke up at the beginning of the new millennium-I cried! Seriously, I did. Well a couple of SW’s members, including Christopher Hall, who, in my now 31 year old self knows I truly love (in a friend way, guys, we’re both married), has made the band The Dreaming.

More electronic stylings than SW but nothing short of an awesome band. If you haven’t heard them, check ‘em here on myspace. You won’t regret it. Anyway, I had to follow my lead singer.

All that back story to get to yesterday, March 14, 2010. Okay, three weeks ago, February whatever that date was, I was on myspace and saw The Dreaming had TX tour dates. I, shockingly, had never been to one of their shows. I browsed, as I always do, the cities where they were coming: Dallas, well, pretty far, but if I could make that, I could also see my sister. Nope, too far on such short notice… Tyler, Houston, San Antonio? What? Nooo *cried* Wait, Amarillo…

I called a friend. She regularly (at least semi) makes the 4 hour trip to see friends there; surely, she’ll see this a dire cause. To make a long story short, she couldn’t help, but another friend and her boyfriend could *Joey did victory dance*

So, 12:30 we were ready to go-we just had to drop Hollywood, my Shih Tzu, off at Jason’s parents’. Thanks for watching him :) The van was loaded with chips, sour candy, soda, and water. We talked and laughed the whole way there, even about words or towns we’ve never heard of, including Abernathy, TX. No offense whatsoever to anybody living there, the name just struck all 4 of us as hilarious. We arrived in Amarillo in 6 hours, but we stopped at a Furr’s Cafeteria on the way. It was awesome!

Okay not to downplay the other bands by any means, Jade Moore and The Wild Bills because they were really crazy cool, but I’m gonna get to The Dreaming; they’re why I came (déjà vu, anyone remember Joey going to Depeche Mode to see their opening band, Stabbing Westward?)

I saw Chris talking to s/one (hope I didn’t interrupt) then turning to walk away, so, me in my “now or (possibly) never” mindset, I simply called, “Chris.” He turned, and I immediately got my hug. I’m a hug person-I love hugs, so that already put me in higher spirits.

It wasn’t over. He indicated that he remembered me (IDK if it was from 12 yrs ago or simply from my facebook pic, but it doesn’t matter). If a band member remembers you out of the thousands of people he/she sees every year, than that shows that person put effort into knowing you just as you did him/her. So awesomeness #2 right there.

I introduced him to Jason, who then told Chris about how we met involving “Save Yourself”, another success of SW’s. Chris thought that rocked. Then he told me to sit up front, and they’d sing to me! I knew they did. Okay, you know when you’re concentrating, and you need a focal point, well, I was one of his, like, 3 FPs.
I’m sorry, I can’t remember every kick ass song they sung, even though I head-banged to all of them, but some were “Bullet”, “Ugly”, “Send Me an Angel”, “Make it Go Away”, “It’s No Good”, and…and last but certainly not least, Chris announced that he was touched by J and me, so they did “Save Yourself”!! OMG, can you believe it? OMG, how cool is that!

After that, despite minor sound issues in the beginning, they weren’t too tired to talk to fans. Both Chris and Carlton thanked us for making the trip. We took pics, I showed them my SW tattoo, more hugs, then goodbyes.

We will definitely have to see them again. Hopefully closer to Midland, though. Truly unforgettable! Thank you so much, Jason, Dreaming, and guys for driving us. Speaking of which, we spent the next 4 hours talking and laughing. We got in bed at five this morning, and, though I’m so tired I’m swaying while typing this and sure I forgot some detail or two (it’s 4 o’clock, and I haven’t had much sleep) it was the best.