| July 9, 2003 - Hanging Out With Bret Michaels... again |
On Wednesday, July 9th, just three days after first meeting Bret Michaels in person, I headed to Reno with my friends to catch the next Poison show. I called and left his assistant, Janna, a message thanking her for the previous experience and told her I hoped I could meet up with her again. We got to the Hilton, checked into our rooms, cleaned up and then headed down to the casino. As I withdrew money from the ATM I heard a commotion. I looked over and walking right by my friend and me were C.C. Deville and one of the guys from Skid Row. We tried to be nonchalant about it but we were both giddy as school girls. Let the fun begin! After donating some money to the "bank of Reno" we headed to the show. I stopped by will call to pick up my ticket. I hadn't heard back from Janna so I was hardly expecting what was about to happen. The guy at the window pulled out an envelope with my name on it. As he opened it he said it looked like I had more than just a ticket. Sure enough, there was a backstage pass included! What a great surprise! Janna rocks! We went into the amphitheatre and after watching Vince Neil perform a few songs decided to get some drinks. Then my cell phone rang. It was Janna. "Did you get what I left for you?" I told her I had and thanked her profusely. She asked which pass I had been given and when I described it to her she said she didn't think I had the correct one. "Come by the side gate and I'll give you the right pass." With one of my friends along side, I walked over to meet Janna. I gave her a big hug and thanked her again. She smiled and looked at my pass. "Oh, that one will work, too, but let me give you this and you can share the other with your friend." My friend was in shock. She didn't expect to go backstage and was really excited. As we were getting our passes in order some girls beside us started begging to borrow them. "I know the drummer... blah, blah, blah.... I just want to run in and say hello and then I'll come back with it. I promise!" Yeah. And I'm going to win the Megabucks jackpot. Janna scooted us backstage before we could be pestered any more. I didn't realize that unlike the previous pass I had received at Great America, this one was "All Access". I didn't realize the power of the "All Access" pass right away. It finally hit me when I was watching Vince Neil perform on stage... from the side of the stage! Too cool! As Vince's set was ending, my friend and I went back out to the crowd to meet up with our other friends. They had seen us on stage and were so excited for us. Shortly after Poison began, we went backstage again. Janna had us wait for someone to escort us up. Before I knew it, John came out, grabbed my hand and lead us up to some seats on stage. Yep. Crush still intact. We watched the whole show from that spot. I got some cool pictures as well as a behind the scenes glimpse of what goes on at a concert. The band would make their wardrobe changes beneath the stage in a cramped little spot. C.C. would come over and take a breather in the seat next to us. Bobby would cruise by and say hello during a break. Security would take care of unruly audience members behind the stage. It was wild! After the show, we waited to meet Bret on his bus. I didn't plan on taking much of his time. I only wanted to get a few pictures and have him sign the cd I remembered to bring with me this time. As we waited, we got to meet Rikki Rockett and I chatted a bit more with the people on Bret's staff I had met previously. After awhile, John came out and with a serious look on his face said, "Staci, I've got some bad news. Bret won't be able to see you tonight." I was disappointed but told him I understood and thanked him for trying. He then smiled widely and said, "I'm just kidding. I wouldn't do that to you. Come on!" John grabbed my hand and led us back to the bus. We walked up the steps and Bret welcomed us aboard, giving me a hug. He took pictures with us, talked for awhile and signed my cd "Staci, thanks for all you do for me". He's thanking ME? Bret was so sweet that he even had his staff look for a security guard who had helped him out earlier so that he could personally thank him. It was obvious that it was very important to Bret that he find this man. Suffice it to say that Bret definitely DOES NOT have the typical rock star attitude! I told Bret we didn't want to take up too much of his time so we wrapped things up and left. I said goodbye to Janna and John on the way out and told them I hoped we'd meet again. Back at the Hilton, we met up with our friends and told them about everything that had happened. Every so often we'd see Vince Neil or C.C. walk by. Bobby was enjoying a game of blackjack at one of the high stakes tables. It was all very cool. We finally decided to meet in my room for an after party. As one of my friends arrived she told me she had just passed a very lost C.C. Deville in the hallway. Apparently he couldn't find his room. We talked about going back and inviting him to our after party, but realized that may not be a smart thing to do. I wasn't in any position to pay for broken lamps, mirrors, etc. That pretty much wraps it up. If you go to Chicks Photo Picks you can put faces to the names of some of the people I've mentioned and check out pictures from the concerts. Until next time, rock on! |
