Bowling with Brian. 2008 HHC Bowl-a-thon.

This time my throw back Thursday blog edition is from Brian's HHC bowling event June 14, 2008 in Norcross, GA.

This was one of my favorite events because there wasn't too many fans there and it was a lot of fun. (It was supposed to be a walk-a-thon then got canceled because there wasn't enough interest because Brian wasn't going to be there then something came up (Howie's dad got sick & they canceled their Africa trip) so Brian was able to be there but they changed it to a bowling event.) 

I'm not a good bowler add a Backstreet Boy into the mix and that's even worse. Every time I bowled I made sure to check that Brian wasn't looking in my direction for some reason. I thought I did pretty good but later you'll learn that wasn't the case. ;) Oops?

Someone was obviously excited about seeing Brian. ;) LOL

First game you just went a found a group of 5 or 6 and bowled. 1 fan came from Australia(I think) so she got to bowl on Brian's team. Then they had raffles to win to be on his team as well as Leighanne's team. After the first game they played another game but this time it was in neon lights and they called it "Cosmic bowling.) This time for the raffle I won to be on Brian's team. I was kind of scared though because I know how competitive he can be and like I said before I am not so good at bowling. LOL

Brian was too cool to wear bowling shoes. I even asked him where his bowling shoes were. He said "Shh!! Don't tell anyone I have them over there but I just haven't had time to put them on but I will." Fast forward to a little bit later and Brian walks past me still without bowling shoes on and he says "I hope you didn't tell anyone because I'm still not wearing any." (The moral of the story: He never wore the bowling shoes. LOL)

So in between Brian bowling he would mingle with fans, take pictures, sign autographs,ect. He even was super cute helping Baylee bowl. It was his first time bowling...HE LOVED IT!  At one point Brian was playing with some stress reliever balls and we asked him if he could juggle and he was excited about it.

Before he juggled though a fan came over and asked him if he would sign her shirt. So he did. But before he did he didn't know where to put the balls he was about to juggle with. So me being the helpful girl I am I said "Brian, I'll hold your balls..." and it was at that moment that I realized how WRONG that comment sounded. And I NEVER meant it THAT way. I think by the look on my face Brian knew I didn't mean it THAT way either. He cracked up laughing and then said "I'm not even gonna say anything I'm just gonna put them down right here." He then proceeded to sign the girls shirt.

The girl even wanted Baylee's autograph. I thought that was weird but it was cute. Brian called him over he said "Come here Baylee boy." And as Baylee signed the shirt I said "awww that is so cute." And Brian said "Thank you." And I said "I'm talking about Baylee." And he replied with "Well I did help make him." (Oh B-rok. LOL)

A little while later when Brian didn't seem busy me and my friend Melissa went up to him and asked him to talk to our friend Chy on the phone since she couldn't be at the bowling event. He was his ever sweet self and said yes of course. :)

Later I found out I did not do a good job of making sure Brian(or Leighanne) did not ever see me bowl because someone captured this photo. LOL

At least I didn't fall or anything while they were watching. That was a plus. ;)

During cosmic bowling if you bowled a strike you had to find whoever had the beach ball and take it from them. Whoever had the beach ball at the end of the game won a prize. Well Brian bowled a few strikes and he would get excited and say "Where's the beach ball? I need the beach ball?" and a fan would be so quick to go find it for him. Easy work for him huh? LOL

One of the times Brian got a strike he was really excited and I happened to be standing right next to him so he turned to me and gave me a high five. My friend Melissa was there as well she tried to snap a picture of the moment only she didn't catch it in time. Brian seemed a little sad. He said "You missed it didn't you?" And she said "Yes" so he said "Let's do it again!" So we reenacted our high five. Brian even made sure everyone was ready. He said "Ready? 1...2....3....Go!" This time it turned out great. :)

So shortly after they shut down everyone's game. This happened while Brian was talking to my friend on the phone. He looked over at me and said "Hey! What happened to our game?" And I said "I dunno. I think its over?" And he looked all sad and was like "Can you fix it?" LOL We then found out it was past the time and it was time for the raffle prizes and then the meet-n-greet afterwards.

They had a "Bucket of summer fun" as one of the door prizes. I won that. Brian was pretty excited about it. Telling me how I can bring it to the beach and stuff. LOL

Brian had fun with the raffle. He would pick the numbers. He bought a lot of raffle tickets too. If his number ended up being picked he just gave his prize away to a fan.

Brian was looking at all the Wylee stuff like he had NEVER seen it before. This amused me so much. He's crazy. LOL

But his favorite thing I think was the flameless candles. He was so fascinated by them it was hilarious.

He seemed to really enjoy playing with all the prizes and stuff. Even Baylee came and helped pick a few of the numbers.

After the raffle was over with they did a meet-n-greet. You got to talk to Brian(and Leighanne) for a couple minutes and get your picture taken with them. They seriously are the sweetest couple ever.

I made a turtle build-a-bear and asked Brian to sign it and Leighanne did as well. I dressed him up in Atlanta Braves gear. Brian was even nice enough to record a message in it for me. He asked me the turtles name and I told him it was "Thomas the turtle." That didn't matter to Brian though. The message he recorded said: "Hi I'm Freddy the turtle and I like to sing songs real loud." LOL

Then it was over. So another amazing event came to an end. So much fun. And a lot of money was raised for an amazing cause.

Horizon '07 Windsor, Ontario Cananda. September 14, 2007.

Another installment of an old blog for Throwback Thursday. This time from Brian's solo show in Windsor, Ontario September 14, 2007.

Before the show:
The drive was about 4 and a 1/2 hours from Buffalo. I got there at about 11am there were about 15 people already in line, some were there since 4pm the day before...crazy. I was there with my 2 friends but I knew other people in line as well. At about 4 I was supposed to meet Nathan(the promoter) because he promised me a backstage pass. So I went to find him and said "its been pushed back to about 6:45 so come find me at 6:30." So we hung out a little waited til 6:30 went to find Nathan and he said "Now its not going to happen until 8:15" I was like "Dude seriously? is this actually going to happen?" And he said "I promise go down that hall at 8 and I'll be there and so will Brian." So I go inside buy some merchandise and wait until 8. Its finally 8, I go down the hall & wait and run into Guy Walker(Brian's guitar player) We chatted with him for a little bit while we waited. There was only supposed to be 30 people at the meet-n-greet, 3 girls snuck in so they had to be kicked out. One of the girls were FREAKING out and wouldn't leave. It took like 3 security guards to escort her out finally. Then Brian finally came.

Brian looked at the line & saw me and my friends and said "Hey, it's the die-hards." So when it was my turn I went up to Briand and the first thing I said was "Brian! I'm mad at you!" He grabbed me and gave me the biggest hug and while he was hugging me said "You are mad at me why?" I showed him the picture I had of him from seeing him 2 weeks before with the shirt I gave him & said "you totally left this on stage two weeks ago!" And he said "aww I did? I'm sorry."

Then we took a picture. I told him to make a funny face. While we took the picture everyone was laughing so I was kind of scared to see the outcome but I love it.

Then I left and went to find a spot for the show. I could have been front row but gave that up to go backstage and meet Brian.

The show:
My friends manage to save me a spot and I was about 3rd row. The people were insane and pushing and stuff. You would have swore they never saw a Backstreet Boy before.

 

 

He did his usual Welcome Home set.(Except "Grace of my life," "In Christ alone" and "Jesus Loves you." He even did "Don't take the girl." He sang a little bit of "Inconsolable."

 

He mimicked Nick and AJ and even salsa danced like Howie. Someone threw up a doll dressed like Donald Duck so he played with it and talked like Donald and stuff.

 

 

And one point he saw me and waved and was like "What's up? Haven't seen you in a while." Then laughed. (I'm guessing because I just saw him backstage. He's a dork.)

One of the stories Brian told us was when he had to go through customs and the lady told him he looked familiar and Brian said "really?" And the lady said "You look like a Backstreet Boy but I can't remember his name." And Brian said "oh yeah I get that all the time." And he was like "Here's my drivers license." And the lady was like "Oh it is you!" and Brian just laughed.

 

He ended it with Over my head. Its my favorite song and I love how he performs it.

 

He plays the guitar so beautiful as his band exits the stage.

 

After the show Brian came back and signed autographs from the stage. He even signed the uniform of the one security guard because she asked him. It was funny.

Then the show was over. Another amazing performance from Brian, as usual.

Revelation Generation: Frenchtown, NJ. September 1, 2007.

And another installment of "throwback Thursday" of an old blog.

September 1, 2007 Brian performed at Revelation Generation in Frenchtown, NJ. It was nice to be able to see him perform there since the year before most of it(including Brian) got canceled because of Hurricane Ernesto. LOL

I was front row right in the middle pretty much(except for the little cat walk thing for the Newsboys.) Brian came out at about 4pm. He did his sound check(if you can call it a SC lol) from the side of the stage(he was having a "Diva" moment or something all the other artists came out onto the stage to do it. LOL) They asked him to do sound check and he was like "can I do it in house?" and stayed off to the side and did "My answer is you." Then once he came out he seemed to be having fun and stuff so his diva moment didn't last long. LOL

He did his usual thing of saying he sees familiar faces and pointing some of us out. Then he said the audience was like a Brian Littrell or Backstreet Boys fan club reunion. LOL

He didn't sing all the songs he normally sings because it was a festival and there were other artists there. He sang:
1. My answer is you
2. Wish
3. Angels and Heroes
4. Gone without goodbye
5. I want it that way/As long as you love me
6. We lift you up
7. Welcome Home
*He also sang a bit of the chorus of "Inconsolable."

During "I want it that way" he saw me recording and sang to me during Kevin's part and was making silly faces. It was really funny.

He talked about Leighanne before "Gone without Goodbye." He also said he was sorry if his eyes looked a little red because he was just on the red eye from California the night before. He was like "That's why I'm a little crazy."

Right before(or after- I forget) "Gone without Goodbye" I threw a shirt I got Brian on stage. It said "I do what the voices in my wife's head tell me to." he picked it up and read it and laughed, then everyone asked what the shirt said and he said "Sorry I can't say in public." Then he laughed again and more people yelled "What does it say?" and he was like "Sorry I can't say it's a family show." LOL

My friends had a dry erase board and we kept writing different messages on it. One time she wrote "Happy Anniversary" since the next day was his anniversary and he saw it and was like "how many years?" and held up 7 fingers and acted like he was confused and not sure. LOL Then he told her "Thank you!"

Then right before "Welcome Home" he was talking about the time keeper and how she was holding up a sign that said "2 minutes" because that's how much longer he had to perform. Then he took the cards from her and imitated her.

He was like "We're gonna do one more song and if I go over the time sorry, forgive me."

Then I threw up a card for him and he saw it and was like "Is that yours?" and I shook my head yes and he said "I'll get it after." Then he pretended to play his guitar but didn't have it and said "I don't have my guitar."

Then he was leaving he went over to pick up my card and looked at me and said "This is yours for me right?" And I said "Yep." And he said "Thank you" Then left. Then the host guy called him back on stage and took the time cards and held up a 10 and said he gave his performance a 10. :)

Then I was sad because that little punk left the shirt I gave him on stage. I don't think he did it on purpose. But that's okay, it was more of a joke anyways. LOL

Some guy was giving away Frisbee's and footballs and shirts and throwing them into the audience. Brian kicked one of the footballs in the crowd, it was funny.

He talked about how he made the trip there last year and he couldn't perform because the roof blew off the stage because of the weather and how he was glad he was there this year and he was glad they had beautiful sunshine.

And then it was over. Another amazing concert by Brian Littrell, as usual. :)

Welcome Home Tour: Spiedie Balloon Festival. Binghamton, NY 8/4/07

Another installment of a throwback Thursday blog.

On August 4th, 2007 Brian performed in Binghamton, NY at their Spiedie Balloon Festival. It was about 5 hours away. I got there at about 12:30 and Brian performed at about 1pm. I should have gotten there a lot earlier but had some car issues to deal with first. LOL I was basically in the 2nd row. I had a fabulous view. (the pics are tagged because someone tried to jack my pictures and claim them as their own and at the time I was annoyed so a friend tagged them & then I lost most of the originals. lol)

He sang all the songs from his Welcome Home CD except "Jesus loves you" and "Grace of my life." He also DID NOT perform "Don't take the girl" or "In Christ Alone" like he normally does. Maybe because of the type of festival it was, it seemed a bit rushed. He did the BSB medley of "As long as you love me" and "I want it that way."

During "I'm alive" his music stopped but he kept on going and singing. I don't even know if he realized it. But I guess that's one way to tell if an artist sings live. ;)

He told us the new single would be on Monday(August 6th) He seemed pretty excited about it.
He said he'd be seeing Nick the next day, I think he meant all the boys because they were in NYC to do some press and promo for the new single that was coming out.

At the beginning of the show he said "I see a lot of familiar faces." And he looked right at me and my 2 friends. (That seems to be a common theme these days at Brian's concerts. LOL Oops?)

He saw my Kentucky Wildcats basketball jersey and was "I just wanna say that jersey is fabulous....Go Big Blue!" Then he pumped his fist. LOL At one point he started singing part of JT's "Cry me a river" and I yelled out "Brian! Stop! Don't do it!" And he looked at me and was like "I'm just playing!" And then started mimicking the faces I was making. He was like "She's over here like no, don't it, stop it." LOL

He talked like Elmo(so cute)because some little girl was trying to get his attention and she finally did and she was like "Brian I love you!" and he said it back and started singing like Elmo. Then he was like "sorry I have a lot of practice I have a 4 year old at home."

He mimicked Brian Spears it was hilarious. He plugged his nose and like "oh baby, baby..." Then he was imitating other people and he was like "I dunno what it is I just turn into other people."

Before the one song he looked at me and was like "Sing! I know you know the words." But I forget now which song it was. I told him I didn't know the words but he didn't believe me. LOL

Some other funny things he said during the concert:
*He pretended to kick the water bottle into the crowd.

*He was talking about the Mom fans are the craziest. He was like "they send their kid out *pretends to kick* and they are like you go meet them right now!"

*He was talking about the movie "Music and Lyrics" and he was like "I don't wanna be 40 and washed up singing at fairs." Then he started cracking up because he was singing at a fair. Then fans yelled he would never be washed up.

*Before he did "We lift you up" he asked "how many singers are the audience?" and then was like "I sound great in the shower myself." Then he screamed like he was singing.

After the show there was supposed to be a meet-n-greet but that never happened. There were signs for it but most people didn't know what was going on. Brian left like literally RIGHT after he got off stage. I saw him like a month later and asked him about it and he said he didn't know anything about a meet-n-greet and if he did he would have stayed and done one. So who knows.

Overall the show was amazing(like every other show Brian has ever done) So much fun. Here's a video of him doing the BSB medley. Always one of my favorite parts of the show. :)