Melissa, whom I love

Some girls have all the luck.
In my life, that girl's name is Melissa. You may have read of my adventures with her in previous posts (Star Search and My Fabulous 30th Birthday), and I don't think I was blogging when she and I ended up BACKSTAGE with her AT THE RADIO MUSIC AWARDS in 2003...

Yes. Melissa, whom I love. She's amazing. And the luckiest girl ever. She is forever winning things off the radio, getting onto game shows (she was on Wheel of Fortune and won TONS of cash & prizes... even hitting the $10,000 space!!). Well, two years ago she won a shopping spree at the Venetian with Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray... this is what subsequently led to our ending up at the RMAs, backstage, as his special guest, meeting allllllllllll sorts of fabulously famous people. It pretty much rocked.

Fast forward to September 15, 2005, when Melissa called me on the phone. She told me to keep the night of the 22nd open CAUSE SHE JUST WON TICKETS TO SEE SUGAR RAY. Yes. She won them off the radio. AGAIN. I love her. Cause not only did she *win* the tickets, she thought she should take *me* with her.

And of course, when Melissa and I get together, something FABULOUS is bound to happen.

So. Thursday night. The 22nd. We are going to the Nina's Night Out concert to see Sugar Ray and Vertical Horizon to benefit the Rape Crisis Center. SWEET. But unfortunately we found out that we did *not* get the VIP tickets, just general admission. So no pre-concert VIP party. No free food. Melissa thought of a long-shot technique at getting in the VIP event, and sent an email to Mercedes, the girl from the radio station that went shopping with Mel & Mark McGrath in 2003. The text of her email read:

Hi Mercedes! My name is Melissa, and a couple of years ago, I won the shopping spree with Mark McGrath, where you and I shopped with him at the Venetian. A couple of days ago, I won tickets on your show to the concert on Thursday night, but apparantly they are not for the VIP party ahead of time. I was really hoping to have a chance to get Mark to sign my picture from the shopping day. Is there any chance you can get a friend and I into the party--at least long enough to get his autograph on my photo? Please let me know. Thank you very much.

Mercedes emailed her right back (how cool is THAT?) and told her that she wished she could do something, but it wasn't possible and she was totally sorry. We knew it was a long shot, but I was glad Mel tried.

Mel & I decided to meet at 5 p.m. and get a bite to eat at Garduno's or another restaurant at the Palms while we waited for the doors to open at 7 p.m. for the concert. The VIP party started at 5:30, but we knew we weren't getting in there. We saw the table with info for the VIPs to check in and go up to the Ghost Bar (on the 51st floor of the Palms). We picked up a brochure and saw that they were actually doing a silent auction with some really great stuff to bid on. I thought, "we've GOT to be able to go up there to at least *try* and bid on some great stuff!" So I decided to risk it. I walked up to the bouncer and showed him our tickets and asked if there was any way we could go upstairs to bid on some of the silent auction items. AND WOULDN'T YOU KNOW IT... he looked at the two of us and said, "Sure!"

I nearly peed my pants, but had to remain calm as Mel and I went to the big fancy elevator with bouncer #2... oh jeez. But all he did was ask to see our IDs, which after much fumbling, we produced. And then we were going up the elevator. To floor number 51. To the GHOST BAR. To the VIP party where everyone but us paid $100 to get in the door. YESSSSSSSSSSSS.


Us at the Ghost Bar at the Palms

When we walked in the door, a cute girl standing with her hubby saw us and waved and said, "Hi Melissa!" And since we were not expecting to see *anyone* we knew, it was a bit of a shock. Soon we realized that it was MERCEDES! She came over and talked to us and said she was so excited that we got in anyway. She was so very sweet and said how she had tried so hard to get us up in the VIP party and even contemplated how she could get a hold of Melissa when she got here and realized there was a back way to the elevators. It was so cool! She totally remembers Melissa from the shopping spree and said that if we ever wanted any sort of hook-ups like that in the future to call her and she would see what she could do. RAD.


With Mercedes, our new best friend ;)

Soooooo we browsed the floor, checked out the auctions (some of them were really great, but all of them too rich for our blood!), ate some horse doovers, and looked around for famous people.

Oh and we saw some!
The guys from Vertical Horizon were there... Matt and Keith. We walked up to them and said hi, shook hands, and talked to them for a bit. They were so very cool. I asked a girl nearby to take a photo of all of us together. I think she was scared of my huge camera cause this is the pic she took of us:



Notice, Keith is not in there. Keith is just to the left of Melissa. Did she not see him, I wonder?? I was so sad, cause I showed them the pic and Matt laughted RIGHT OUT LOUD about Keith being missing, and then they had to go warm up and I wanted to get another pic but it ended up being too late... and they were gone. I didn't get a pic with Keith. Sigh.

So we walked around a bit more and found Nina Radetich, the host of the event, and thanked her for a great party. She reminded us to drink up while the alcohol is free.

*WHAT DID SHE JUST SAY????*

Okay we are dorks. HOW did we miss out on THAT one?? Well, we weren't gonna miss out on an opportunity for free champagne!!!



So we had one... or two... each... ;)

At about 7:30 the party was winding down so we headed to the concert. As we got to the elevator, we got our VIP goodie bags with T-shirts, info on the Rape Crisis Center, and free movie, drink, and popcorn tickets!!! YESSSSSSS!!! AWESOME!!! Being a VIP rocks.

When we got into the concert venue (at the RAIN nightclub in the Palms), lots of people were already there and had staked out all the available seats int he joint (which were very few). It was a standing room only concert, which was fine with me. And oh... look. There's a spot for us. RIGHT AT THE STAGE. RIGHT THERE. Sweet!!!



Did I mention cameras weren't allowed in there? Thank GOD for 1600 ISO. Since my big ole camera didn't need a flash, I got away with taking quite a few photos. And since we were VIPs, my purse was never searched so no one knew I had it. ;)

Here's a few of Vertical Horizon:




Matt, the lead singer


Keith! I just thought he was adorably cute. I swear he kept looking at me ;)


Mel and I both decided we need to buy these guys' CDs. They were that good!

And then it was time for Sugar Ray. WOOOOOHOOOOO! Here are a few photos from their set, which was just awesome-spaz-tastic. Mark McGrath is a complete spaz - but seriously so entertaining!!








mmmm. ;)


loved this dude's pants. ;) (Melinda - remember my overalls like this?)


CAN YOU SEE HOW CLOSE HE WAS TO US??? He was seriously sitting INCHES from us.


Melissa was *so happy*...
(I need to add that she posed for this photo... although there were plenty other moments when she was not posing and they mostly looked like this... lol)


I think this shot is cool...

So as you can see the concert was completely great.
Afterward we were trying our hardest to figure out how to see Mark again. We knew he was staying on the 20th floor... but we couldn't get to the room elevators without a key - and by this time the bouncer population had multiplied tenfold... they were everywhere. We were kind of out of luck. Oh yeah - and starving. We hung out around the area where people were lined up to get into the clubs, cause the Palms is famous for its celebrity sightings. And of course Mel and I were pretty good at that. ;)

And that was when we saw Keith! We walked up to him and he TOTALLY REMEMBERED US and laughed about being cut out of the first pic. I asked if we could try another photo again and he was completely cool and let us take one (and even stuck around to be sure it was a good one!)...



and then he spent several minutes talking to us about the show! We told him how much we enjoyed it and he talked about the venue and how he wasn't sure if it would work and it was so cool and like he was our friend and not a celebrity. We didn't want to take up his time, so we thanked him and left and that is my only regret of the night. WE *SO* MISSED OUR CHANCE. All I needed to do was say, "Hey, are you going into the club? Mind if we join you?" He would have totally let us. But I wasn't quick enough on my feet. Sigh. So I had to just settle for the fabulous night we had.

And it was fabulous. Culminated by a lovely burger and shake dinner at In-n-Out Burger. I love Melissa.