Okay, here it is my report from the Clark County Fair in Vancouver, Wa.  My friends and I, five of us, meet at my house and take the quick 5min drive to the fairgrounds, we arrive at about 4:00 and the concert is scheduled to begin at 7:30. I wanted to find the area where they would be having the concert, before we all went our separate ways and I thought if I was lucky I would catch the sound check. Almost immediately I meet an Anthony fan, Brittany and her Mom, they informed me that the sound check had been around noon and that they were there along with a few other fans and the idols chatted with them and signed things they had brought with them to sign. Now we have time to kill, so we decide to go to the Z100 van and see what they know about a meet and greet and of course they don't know, but the guy volunteers to send someone to find out and of course she never came back. Then we make our way to an official guy wearing a badge, he looked like he might be in the know, so we ask him about a meet and greet, nope he doesn't think so and says they aren't even at the fairgrounds and probably won't be there until about 6:30. Now we have time to kill, so I look at Brittany's pic's from earlier in the day, she got great pictures of both Anthony and Justin. I gave her Justin's website, she said she would try and post some here in the next couple of days, but she will definitely have some up at Anthony's site.

By now, we've also met a couple of Kim fans , so we just chat until it's time to take our seats. Turns out we were all sitting close together. My friends, my sister and I were in the third row back, middle section right in front of the mic stand. Perfect seats! Maybe twenty feet from the stage, perfect! The crowd was small at first , but by concert time the crowd had grown to somewhere between 2000 and 2500, if I had to guess. The weather had been nice, but about the time the concert started the wind picked up and it started to get cold.

Finally, it's concert time Anthony was first up, he has always been a favorite of mine and he was spot on his voice was strong and he played with the crowd to get the party started, I'm sorry I don't know the names of the songs, but they were both good. Next up his Kim, I'm sure she was freezing, she was wearing short shorts, a T shirt with a vest over it and very high heels. Her songs tended toward country rock, again I don't remember the songs, but she is so energetic and fun and the crowd was into her. Now it's time for Justin, Kim is so good to him, she gave him the best introduction saying what a good friend he is and how insanely talented he is and with that there he was, directly in front of me! When he was introduced the crowd showed him a whole lotta love. I have seen him from a distance, but up close he is gorgeous and I wasn't the only one saying so. Okay, so Justin is wearing dark jeans and that long sleeved white shirt he has with ruffles down the front.

The first thing Justin sings is Ain't No Sunshine which was amazing, that is a great song for him. I was barely listening, too busy taking pictures and watching the crowd's reaction. There were lots of cameras and phones being held up and Justin covered the whole stage pointing at people and a couple of times walked over to people with cameras and posed while he was singing so they could take his pic. Okay now this is where it gets a little strange Justin starts talking about war and how senseless it is and I thought maybe he would sing What's Going On, but no he goes into about a 10min comedy routine about protecting our borders with good neighbor fences and doesn't the gov. think that people now how to climb fences? Then from that he starts talking about if he was going to put an Army together it would be all women and menopausal women in particular because they can be pretty mean and he thinks they could take care of just about anything and that nobody with dare argue with them. He said he would put them on a plane to Afghanistan, give them just enough chocolate to make the trip, so by the time they got there they would be ready to go.........I'm thinking where is this going? People are laughing, really laughing, but I kept thinking SING. Anyway he goes on to say that women can find anyone anytime, kids, husbands, friends and that Al Queda should be a piece of cake and that within a week they would have the place turned into a Disneyland in the desert.......okay, now I'm starting to feel uncomfortable, still wondering how this turned into the Justin Guarini Comedy Show. My sister and I yelled almost at the same time for him to SING, he heard us and said we might have menopause and that if we said to sing he better sing. After that he sang Lady and did an excellent job. Those old Commodore songs are perfect for his voice.

I know this is long, but I know you are curious, so I'll continue. The next song Justin, Kim and Anthony all sang Joy to The World and Justin was flying, jumping around the stage and up on the speakers , the next thing we knew he was in the audience, by now they have everyone on their feet singing along and a huge crowd of people screaming for Justin were pressing toward the stage, again lots of phone and cameras and lots of screaming from teenage girls and I do mean a lot!

The next thing they did was to bring three young girls from the audience that said the could sing and had them each sing a song and sure enough they really could sing. First prize was probably 11 years old, she got $100 and the others tied for second and got $50 each and they all got hugs from Justin, Anthony and Kim.

Next, Justin said he was going to sing Let's Stay Together, but then a different track comes on and he says ooops, I guess I singing a duet with Kim and they sing I Can't Make You Love Me ( that might not be the correct name), but it sounded good and their voices complimented one another. He said Kim was beautiful and talented and how much he enjoyed working with her.

Next Justin says he's going to sing, Let's Stay Together, but this time the track for Don't Let The Sun Go Down comes on, about this time I wave at him, just as he was looking my way and I get a Justin wave with a nod and a smile. As you know the man has a lethal smile! So, back to the singing, he's about two thirds of the way through the song and Anthony comes out and they finish it as a duet. It was strong, masculine and sexy....good job guys.

Okay, now it's the last song and Kim, Justin and Anthony sing God Bless the USA or Proud to Be An American, I'm sure you know the song, I'm not sure of the title. The crowd is rockin and loud, lots of people up near the stage screaming and waving their hands. After the last song a couple of people shout out that it is their birthday, so they bring them up on stage and sing to them and they get lots of hugs and it's over. People start screaming they want autographs and stuff, so Justin points and says over there......but that's another story. and this one is already to long.

All and all the concert was fun, the audience was really into it and the Idols seemed to be having a good time and were getting a lot of love and energy from the crowd. You could tell they really hadn't rehearsed much and a couple of times weren't sure what they were doing next, but the crowd didn't seem to notice or just didn't care. With a little practice these three could put on a really good show.

Oh, I don't know how I forgot to mention Justin's hair, it is really long and dark and was flying everywhere in the wind and he had lots of scruff, almost a beard. It takes a few minutes to adjust to all that hair. It's just my opinion, but I like the fro more like it was the first part of Idol Chat and a little less facial hair, but he is handsome NO MATTER WHAT.

When I have a chance to collect my thoughts, I'll give you the second part of the story.

Part 2:
Okay, a couple of more thoughts about part 1, before I start part 2. Justin's story about menopausal women was told much like the way he writes his blog, so you know it was funny and people were laughing. I guess, as Justin has said before, "if this singing thing doesn't work out I could try comedy". Kim gave Justin a hard time about his digression and everyone laughed at that as well. One comment on the crowd, there were people of all ages seniors, Moms and daughters, teenagers and tweens everywhere and even quite a few teenage boys and young men, from their reactions I think they were there for the hot Miss Caldwell and she didn't disappoint them. By the time Joy to the World started the seat assignments had gone out the window, people were dancing in the isles, standing on chairs and running up to the stage. I just remembered, at one point during Joy to the World Justin did one of those famous leaps of his and at another point he jumped on the speaker. He was running across the stage and suddenly he's airborne and lands at the other side of the stage. There was a little girl in front of us, probably about 10 years old , with a sign she had made for Justin. She was standing on her chair waving her arms and screaming at the top of her ten year old girl lungs. As I looked into the audience there were other signs for Justin and he acknowledged them all.

Now for part 2, as the concert was ending and people were asking for autographs, Justin pointed and said, "over there", pointing to an area behind a fence and the race was on to see could get there first. Now, mind you it was windy and the temperature had dropped into the 60's making it cold and a lot of people were wearing Summer attire, which had been appropriate earlier in the day, but that's the weather in the Northwest. Even with the weather, there were probably 150 people or so in line for autographs. The security people came out and said not to worry everyone would get their turn. A few minutes go by and I'm chatting with Brittany and her Mom, the nice girl I met from Anthony's board, and my sister comes running up to me and grabbed my arm somehow she had managed to get much closer to the front of the line, so I moved up about 50 spots! As we get closer, I was talking to the security guard and she said there were a lot more people at the concert tonight than for the group last night, Emerson Drive, she said everyone was commenting on how much fun they had. Okay, now we are inside the fenced area, it is very informal, since I think it was a last minute thing. The Idols are all sitting on the edge of some tables chatting with people as they come up to them Justin first, then Kim and Anthony. I'm standing there watching Justin talking and taking pictures with everyone and as you know he is very nice to everyone, a couple of young girls came running out screaming after they got their picture taken with him. I think he has that effect on all of us no matter what our age, but because it wouldn't look right for mature women, or should I say "menopausal" women we must keep the joy to ourselves. For some reason I feel pretty calm, like approaching an old friend, my sister on the other hand, well lets just say Justin was amused. It's my sister's turn, Justin makes eye contact with her and she lets out a squeal like a school girl, she takes the pictures I have printed for her and asks him which one he wants to sign. He picks one signs it and says to her do you want a picture too and she of course says yes, so I take the picture and suddenly it's my turn. I hear my sister saying to Justin, "this is my sister and she is a huuuuge fan of yours". I don't know what happened, but as soon as he looked at me and I moved toward him basically I froze. I had my Stranger Things Have Happened CD and asked him to sign that and he said something about being a fan and thanked me for buying the CD. Now it's picture time for me, he held his arm out for me to slide under and then hugged me and put his head against mine for the pic. I honestly don't remember if it was a one arm or two arm hug, but it was tight! About the only thing I remember is that his hair was really soft!

I was pretty much gone from the time I looked into those beautiful mesmerizing eyes of his. My CD doesn't have my name on it, so I must have forgotten to mention that, but he did sign it Peace & Blessings Justin Guarini 2007. I'm sure I won't be pleased with my picture, I had been in the wind for six hours with my hair blowing in my face and not even time for a makeup and hair check. I wonder if Justin thinks, I'll bet those pictures I took in Vancouver are terrible because the wind was blowing and my hair was a mess.....kind of doubt it.....although you can imagine how wild his hair was in all that wind!
Justin if you happen to read this rambling of mine, I'm sure I forgot to thank you, so thank you for being the kind person that you are and taking time with each of your fans no matter how young or old they are.

This would seem like the end, but hold on. After searching a sea of cars in the parking lot, because none of us could remember where we parked, we finally find our car and head home about 10:15. One of my friends and I decide it would be a good idea to go to Beaches, a local restaurant/ bar we like, however, after looking in the mirror at our hair & make up we decide to call it a night and not go. I'm unwinding, trying to get to sleep after the excitement and about midnight my phone rings, it's my niece who relentlessly makes fun of her Mom and I and our Justinitis. She says, she and her husband are at Beaches having something to eat after a movie and yep, you guessed it, Justin and Anthony stroll in and sit at the table next to them. She said everyone in the place recognized them, some people did approach them but that most people were polite and let them alone so they could eat. Even my sassy niece had to admit that Justin is very handsome in person. I'm not sure how they managed to find the hottest spot in town, but I'm guessing they were staying at the hotel across the street. Kim wasn't with them, I'm guessing she might have taken a look at her windblown self and made the same decision we did. I will try and pry more information out of my niece, but she probably didn't pay much attention.

That is my Justin saga from the Northwest.

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