Mission: Accomplished

***Edited on November 7th, 2005, to say: There used to be photographs of the night posted where this statement is.***

Folks, to say my week has been crazy may just be the understatement of the century. I came off an insane trip to Vegas, and just when I thought things couldn't possibly get more insane, lo and behold, they did.

Wednesday night was the Leo Kotke and Mike Gordon show at the 9:30 Club. Mike and I have a bit of history with each other at this point (see previous post, "I Blame Mike Gordon") and the expectations for Wednesday nights show were at an all time high. The general Aqualounge consensus was that come hell or high water, we would get Gordo to come back to the lounge, post show, for a good old jam session. My mission began the moment I walked in to the venue. Jen and I scoured every backstage entrance known to man, in order to try and make our way backstage so we could talk to Mike and convince him to come and jam with us. Keep in mind, I was decked out to the 9's---cowboy hat, Rook shirt and sign, all a blazing. Well, after much trying (and getting to talk to Keller Williams for a bit-I swear, I am destined to never make a good impression on that man), Jen and I were closer to be kicked out than to being let backstage, and it was nearly showtime. At that point, we made the executive decision to go down to the floor and enjoy the show.

For those of you who haven't been there, the 9:30 is a pretty intimate venue to begin with, but on Wednesday night it was even more intimate than usual, with rows of chairs set up on the floor. Everyone on the floor was sitting, except for Jen and I, who were dancing our asses off on the floor. After every song, I held my sign high, waiting for some sort of recognition from Mike. Well, the show was FANTASTIC (Old Habits, Twist, Rings---I could go on forever), and after one song Mike called me out from the stage. I heard screams of "Rook" from the balcony, and at that moment in time, that was really enough for me. 1/4 of my favorite band of all time recognized me, called me out and turned all of my fantasies into a reality. I think most would assume that this is where my tale ends. But, it turns out that fate was on my side that night.

The show ended and everyone in the posse met up on the floor to talk about our next move. It seemed that the majority of the crew was ready to call it a night and head on home, but something inside of me told me not to move from where I sat. Ten minutes or so go by, and I look up to the balcony and who do I see standing there but the man himself, Mike Gordon. Well, I shouted up to him and he told me to come up to the balcony to meet him. I told him the staff would not let me upstairs, and he informed me to stay put and he would meet me on the floor. Mike came down, and the fairytale night began. We started to chat, and he asked me if anything was going on after the show-he said he remembered hearing something about the Aqualounge from all of the messages... GAME ON! After signing many autographs and taking some photos, Mike got in to the front of Monks minivan (due to limited seating, I was sitting on his lap---what a surreal drive to Virginia) and we headed to the lounge to hang.

Well, we ended up hanging at the lounge till around 3:30 am, chatting (mostly us asking him questions about Phish) and playing music. So many amazing things happened that night, but I know for sure that for all of us that experienced it, none of us will forget a moment of that night, and I feel that giving every detail would ultimately cheapen the experience.

And to think, this all started with some harmless calls to the hotline...