A famous guy once said, “If you are a fan of a singer, you have to see at least one of his concerts.  His career as a singer may be very long, or very short.  You never know.  It is important to see him live at least once, to see the man you love shine on the stage, while there is still a chance.”  So, since over two years ago, it has always been one of my dreams to see a live concert by Danny after I became his fan.

I was so excited when my manager told me that I had the chance to go to the U.S.!  I can finally make my dream come true!  The plan was changed back and forth, but finally it was settled that I was going!  I began to check when and where Danny was going to have a concert, tried to make plans for every one between October and December.  LOL!  Needless to say, how happy I was to find out that there was a concert in San Jose on October 29th!  The date seemed to fit in pretty well, and the Rodeo Club is only about 20 miles away from my office!  How could I not go to this one?  There couldn’t be a better choice!

When it came time to decide on the exact traveling date, I had two choices: mid-October, or early November.  Of course I chose mid-October!  I don’t want to miss Danny!  But it left very limited time for me to get my visa.  I was so worried.  To make a long story short, fortunately, everything went well.  I got my visa in time, and also booked my plane ticket to the U.S.! Nothing could stop me from seeing the man!  

Chapter 1:  Waiting

When I heard on the intercom that the plane was approaching San Francisco, I became so excited.  I’m finally in the same country with Danny Gokey!!   The plane was hovering over the Bay area for a while, and I think it was almost above San Jose.  At that point, I looked out of the window, and was thinking that Danny was right down there somewhere!  Feeling great!  I’ve never been so close to him!  

The next morning, I went to the office.  I had planned to go to San Jose from there, by Caltrain.  I had quite a few bags filled with clothes and stuff since I was going to spend two nights away from my hotel in Redwood City, and also some presents for Danny.  Just when I got to the office, I realized that I had left my passport at the hotel.   It wouldn’t matter if I was only going to San Jose, but I was also going to fly to Portland!  I was going to see Danny’s concert, interview him, and be on the same plane with him!  (Well, of course I didn’t know that!    )  So, I had to walk 40 minutes all the way back to the hotel, carrying all my bags, and then 20 minutes to the Caltrain station.  And the train came just before I got to the station!  I was so exhausted walking and running for an hour, and had no energy left to run anymore, so I was despondent to see it had left . . .   My first 17 hours in the U.S. were not so cool . . .  The next train was 40 minutes later, so at least I still had time to get there to see Danny!

Finally, I got on the next train.  Forty minutes later, at 5:30 p.m., I arrived in San Jose.  I was finally in the same city with Danny!!  Yay!!!   The San Jose Caltrain station is a thirty-minute walk from the Rodeo Club.  At least I wasn’t in a hurry this time.  I took a leisurely walk and experienced some of the city.  Hmmm . . .  actually, I had a little bit of hope that I would catch Danny somewhere.    Don’t laugh at me!  This was my first time being so close to him!  I had been looking forward to this moment for a long, long time! 

Of course it didn’t happen.  Didn’t see him anywhere.  But at least I made it to the Rodeo Club in time!  When I arrived, I saw Ellen, Darla, and Darla’s friend Susan.  And also a young couple, Mako and her husband, Dennis.  It was so nice to meet them.  We enjoyed our Danny conversation.  I’m sorry if I looked confused or seemed disconnected at times — my English was not good enough and I couldn’t follow everything.  IndianaAl also dropped by, said hello and gave every one of us a hug!

After two hours of waiting (two hours for me, longer for others!), we were finally inside.  Everyone was so nice and sweet and gave me the best position!  I was only two meters away from the middle microphone and that was where Danny would be standing!!  The real, 3-D, touchable Danny Gokey!  Excited!!!    (I know I probably didn’t look that excited . . .  I’m just not used to revealing everything on my face, no matter to whom . . .  I’m more outgoing on the Internet . . . )  There was someone teaching line dancing at the club.  I got to try it a little bit, but felt awkward.  LOL!  [Ellen:  Lulu did a fine job line-dancing!  I have photos and video to prove it, albeit the quality is bad because it was too dark.]

At about 10:00 p.m., we finally saw the opener, Brent Anderson.  I thought I heard that name somewhere, but I’m not familiar with any of his songs.  The biggest impression I have from him is that he changed his guitar between every song . . .  I think he had two guitars and he just kept changing them . . .  After three songs, just when I was feeling so anxious to see Danny, I saw Brent’s set list on the floor, and there were 10 songs on the list!  Sorry, Brent, if I didn’t look excited for you, but I was so exhausted from this afternoon . . .  I was actually a little bit worried about being able to enjoy my first Danny concert, since I was so tired, cold, and hungry.  Of course, it turned out that that wasn’t a problem at all!

Chapter 2: First meeting with Danny

(The best part of my journey happened when I was writing this chapter!  I’ll get there later.   )

About 10:30 p.m., Brent’s set was over.  Danny is coming up next!!    While I was waiting (anxiously, impatiently, excitedly), IndianaAL literally pulled me out of the crowd and dragged me into the pool room where people were dancing.  I was thinking, did he want me to dance with him??  LOL!  Then I was brought into a room — a kitchen, I think.  I saw Brandon!  And I saw a long line of people!  Danny must be here!!    I tried to look through the crowd, and got my first sight of Danny!  There was no computer screen in front of me — this was the real Danny!!     He was taking pictures with fans, and looking cute!!  He appeared exactly the same as he does in pictures and videos.  Or not — the real Danny looks cuter! 

What a surprise!!  My brain just went blank all in a sudden.  I wasn’t ready for this yet!!  I hadn’t prepared what to say!!  My brain stopped working!!  Some staff took me to the middle of the line, so that I could meet Danny sooner.  But I needed more time to think about what to say!  I had so much to say and it was so difficult to sum up in only a few words!

While I was waiting in the line, some girls in front of me asked me, “Do you love Danny?” Of course I do!  Why else would I be here?    Michelle — oh, yeah, she was there too.  I think IndianaAL brought her so that she could take a picture for me.  Sorry that everything else was quite a blur, as all my attention was on Danny!    — told them that I came all the way from China to see Danny, and they were shocked.    When it was their turn, they asked me to go first!  I wasn’t ready!!  But Danny was standing right there waiting and looking at us and smiling charmingly.  How could I resist?!!    So, I got my first ever Danny hug!! 

Danny looks smaller than I imagined.  He looks so strong in the videos with those guns, but I couldn’t really see them with him wearing a long sleeve shirt.  He’s so slim!  People do look “wider” in a video . . .  Okay, okay, I don’t care!  I love him as long as he’s Danny!    I wonder how Danny already knew who I was before I met him?  He called me by name as I was jumping and running to him.  (I felt like a little girl in a candy store!  LOL!  )  That made me even happier.  I love celebrities that care enough about their fans to be able to remember their names.  

The legendary Danny hug was really great!    I was way too excited to say anything!  My brain wasn’t functioning properly and my whole body completely lost control.  LOL!  I couldn’t even control my face when we were taking our picture.  Fortunately, it turned out not bad!  And Danny’s so cute in my picture!    Too bad I can’t even remember what he said . . .  He did talk a lot!  He was so sweet and caring and asked me if I had anything for him to sign.  But I was pulled away by surprise and I didn’t have anything in my hand!  Well, we would meet again the next day, so never mind.

Then I realized I was taking too much time, and Danny said, “We kind of stopped here…”  Oops! My bad!  Please forgive the girl who got carried away! 

Darla took an “after” picture of me when I came back into the crowd.  Hmmm . . .  I think I looked different than “before.”  Danny must have done something amazing to me! 

Chapter 3:  My First Danny Concert

Finally, after hours of waiting, it’s Danny Gokey time!  He was so passionate, as always. It feels so surreal to see a real Danny running all over the stage right in front of my eyes!  No screen between me and Danny!  He was so close I can easily touch him and drag him and . . . (well, of course I didn’t!    ).  The sound, the look, the atmosphere there — no video can show those perfectly.  I was finally able to see a complete show and see a whole Danny and see how well he controls the stage and pours all his energy out.  His voice was amazing that day, too.  All the high notes were so great and powerful and perfect!

A photographer from the radio station took some pictures of me. I was exactly like this:    LOL!

Best moment 1:  When Brandon was doing his solo (I think it was “Raining On Sunday”), Danny was sitting on the stool relaxing, and I was still looking at him.  (Sorry Brandon, but I couldn’t turn my eyes away from Danny!   I was riveted!).  Then Danny saw me, and gave me a sweet smile!  And he also squeezed his eyes shut and crinkled his nose and looked so cute!!  I melted . . .  

Best moment 2:  During “Second Hand Heart,” Danny was standing right in front of me, and he leaned down and looked me in the eyes and sang the first line!  His eyes are so beautiful . . .  I melted again . . .  How much I wish time could have stopped at that moment . . . ! 

Best moment 3:  Forgot which song it was, way too thrilled to remember, but after it ended, Danny gave me a shout-out!  I can’t remember the exact words, but he mentioned that there was a fan from China who had flown 13 hours to see him, and he felt honored.  (Aww, I love you Danny!!    ).  Then, he dedicated the next song, “I Will Not Say Goodbye,” to me!!    And said something like, “I know she will have to go back to China, but I don’t have to say goodbye to her.  We will never say goodbye.”  !!!  Michelle’s video captures the end of Danny’s dedication of that song to me.  At the beginning of Michelle’s video, you can hear Danny say, “say goodbye.”  Danny was saying that to me!!    Thank you, Michelle!!  That is my favorite song, and Danny just dedicated my favorite song to me!!  Can anything be more perfect?  (Hmmm, yes!!  But I’ll get to that part later.  )  To me, Danny sounded even better than ever, had more passion; all the notes were perfect, not to mention he took off his glasses for quite a long time!  He looks so good with or without his glasses!  That performance will definitely be my all time favorite!

Chapter 4: Airport

Just after my amazing night, I tried to write down everything at the airport while waiting with Ellen for our flight to Portland to see the next Danny concert.  I thought nothing could be better. Just at this moment!  I took a short break from staring at my computer, and saw a familiar face only a few meters from me!  Who!?  Who was that!?  Ok, that wasn’t Danny, but Brandonwas here!  Danny must be around!!  I couldn’t believe my eyes at first, since I only saw the side of his face for a second, then he turned his back on us . . .  (He was looking for something, I think.)  I never thought I would be so excited to see Brandon!  I think I was even more excited than last night!    (Aww, Brandon, I like you, but I LOVE Danny!    )

Finally, Brandon turned his face to us, and I knew I was right, that was Brandon!  He saw us too, said hello, and sit down on the chair right in front of me.  He was talking on the phone, so we didn’t get to talk.  I couldn’t help and sent a tweet. “Brandonis on the same flight to Portland with us!!  He’s waiting right in front of me!    Wonder where @dannygokey is?”  Two minutes later, Danny showed up!  Well, he showed up on twitter . . . 

It was about boarding time, and still no sight of Danny.  Where is he!?  I wanna see him!  Even seeing him for a second would be great!  Ellen said he’s a public figure, and would not show up until last minute.  Yeah, that’s right.

A few minutes later, Ellen and Brandon stood in the line, as they were in the A section.  I was in the B section, so I was waiting outside of the line, a few steps away from Brandon.   Just as I was looking around trying to spot Danny, who was that gorgeous guy that appeared standing beside Brandonand giving me another sweet smile!?  Danny was wearing a cap, a black jacket, with his superman T-shirt underneath.  He does have great memory, recognized me immediately!  I wasn’t sure whether to go up and talk to him, since I remembered that people had said that celebrities like it better when people just smile and say hello like a friend, rather than act like a crazy fan.  Besides, Danny had his earphones on.  Well, to be polite and leave a good impression, I’d better not interrupt them.  I so wish there had been a screen between us, so that I could keep staring at this man without being impolite! It was so difficult not to do this!

A few minutes later, my line was on the plane too.  Once I walked into the door, I started looking for Danny again.  He had to be on that plane somewhere!  At the 4th or 5th row, I saw Danny and Brandon!  Danny was in the F seat trying to keep low, and Brandonwas in the D seat, with one empty seat between them.  They saw me too, and there was that sweet smile again!    Now here comes the most exciting moment! Brandon stood up and offered me the seat between him and Danny!  That was the seat right next to Danny!!!   And Danny was smiling at me too!!  Whoa!!  How sweet they are to do this for a fan when they didn’t have to, at all!

But I thought about Ellen there waiting for me, and I was super nervous and was afraid I might do something crazy or stupid . . .  I thought I’d better not sit there to bother him for almost two hours . . .  Believe me, it was so hard to turn that offer down!  I couldn’t even say a word!  Literally!  I must have look very awkward at that moment . . .   I had to write a tweet after we landed in Portland, explaining why I didn’t accept the offer . . .

Ellen and I were sitting around the 10th row. During the whole journey, I could see the back of Danny’s head.  Amazing!    While we were flying in the sky, very naturally, “Tiny Life” was playing in my head.  “Looking down out of this little round window, on silver wings, at 20,000 feet . . . ”  And seeing that the guy who sings that song was right there on the same plane with me?  Priceless!  For one second, I even had a little dark thought — (never told anyone since it didn’t sound good . . .    ) — by any chance, if there was anything wrong and something bad happened on this plane and it crashed, at least I was with Danny . . . 

When we arrived at the Portland airport, Danny and Brandon had gotten off the plane approximately 10 minutes before us.  I thought this was the end of this most amazing journey.  But I was wrong!    We took our time and finally got out beyond the gate.  Hey!  How come Danny was still there?!  I thought he should have left already!  Big hugs for Ellen, and me again!    I was still in shock and felt frozen.    Danny asked if we enjoyed the show, and who was going to the concert tonight.  Was it only us two?  We chatted a moment, then we said goodbye.

Now is that the end?  No!!   Ellen had forgotten to print out the driving directions from the airport to the hotel, so we took a few minutes to check them on my laptop.  (That was when I sent out the tweets.)  Thank you, Ellen, for forgetting this or the things that happened next would never have happened!  LOL!  By the time we were on our way again, it was another 10 minutes later, I think.  When we arrived at the exit from the airport, right outside the baggage claim area, ha!  Danny again?!  He was waiting for his checked-in luggage, and didn’t see us.  Can’t remember if Brandonwas around.  [Ellen: he was!]  Also, can’t remember when Larry — (the arm you see in my interview, that was his!   ) — joined them.  Everything else was a blur.    We didn’t want to look like stalkers, so we just left.  We would get to meet him before the concert anyway.

We walked outside of the exit.  Ellen took a short break figuring out which island we needed to walk to in order to get the shuttle to the airport parking lot.  Thank you, Ellen, again for the short break!   [Ellen:  See?  Sometimes it pays to be directionally-challenged!]  Danny and Brandon and Larry followed us out!  Danny looked so gorgeous coming out of that exit.    The first thing Danny said to me was, “Your English is good!”  I got a compliment from Danny!!    Well, I don’t believe I deserved it though, LOL!  Danny does have the magic to make people feel comfortable.  He talked to me like a friend rather than a fan, and I was finally able to calm down and talk a little bit.  He asked me some questions, like when I started to learn English, whether people speak English in China, how long I was going to stay in the U.S. — (Oops!  Now he knew I didn’t fly 13 hours only for him!    ) — etc.  Brandon asked me if there were any songs I love specifically, but didn’t get to hear last night, so that they could play those songs tonight.  I can choose songs!    But, I do love every song Danny sings!  There must be some other conversation, but that is all that I can remember.  I can’t even remember if there was one more hug at the end of the conversation . . .   [Ellen:  Sorry, Lulu.  There wasn't!   Lulu: Alright, I wish there was! LOL! ]  Things happened so fast, and it was difficult for me to keep up with everything when I was so thrilled!

In Portland, I got to hang out with Ellen, Darla, and Asics in the afternoon.  We went to the Pioneer Place shopping center downtown.  Darla found out on twitter later that Danny and Brandon went shopping there too!  [Ellen:  And at the same store!  Though obviously at the wrong time.   ]

What an awesome trip I just had!  I feel so happy and so lucky!  It was such a priceless journey, I can never forget!  Whoa!!

Chapter 5:  Interview and 2nd concert

At 6:00 p.m., Ellen, Asics and I arrived at the venue, the Portland Spirit.  (Darla wanted to arrive earlier and left before we did.)  It was getting closer to the time I was going to have my interview!  I was getting nervous again!  I met Josie and her husband Dan on the ship.  What a sweet couple!  

The interview with Danny was planned for 7:00 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.  But I waited, and waited, and was holding my phone in my hands all the time in case I missed a call.  The time crept to 7:00 p.m., and then 7:30 p.m., and the first opener was on stage performing.  Still no phone call and no one was looking for me!  I began to worry a little bit.  They can’t forget this . . . !

Finally, at around 8 p.m., I saw Larry.  The first thing he said was, “I was here earlier and couldn’t find you. ”  Err . . .  How come . . . ?  I was sitting on that chair waiting for over an hour . . . !  Anyway, I pulled Ellen out of the crowd, since she was going to take the video for me, then we followed Larry upstairs.  In a small room, the ship’s gift shop, I think, we saw Danny again!  Hmm, not as excited as this morning, though, since this meeting was expected.   Danny was sitting in a corner with his back to the door.  Brandon was sitting there too.  (I think there was another girl in the room at first?  A staff member for the ship?  A radio station person?  I can’t remember clearly . . .)  They let me sit on the chair on the other side of the room, and Brandon gave his seat to Ellen so that she could take the video.  Larry (or Ellen or Brandon?) asked Danny to sit closer to me so that we can be in the video at the same time.  [Ellen: I asked Danny to scoot his chair closer to Lulu.]  I said, “I don’t need to be in the video. ” Everyone disagreed . . . LOL!  [Ellen: Especially Danny!]  The things that happened next can be seen in the unedited video, so I’m not going to repeat them here.

After the interview was over, I got another Danny hug!    Thanks Ellen for capturing it on video!  We got to chat a little bit again.  Danny (or Larry?) asked how we buy albums/singles in China, and wished me to have a good time in the U.S.  I got a wish from Danny!!    *blush*  Larry (or Danny?) asked if there’s any difference between China and the U.S.  I thought a few seconds, and gave a fangirly answer:  “We don’t have a Danny Gokey in China. ”  !  {Steph: aww }

Danny was so nice and asked me again if I had anything for him to sign.  Thank you Danny for the reminder!  And thank you Darla, Pam, Ellen, Josie for the CDs!  I gave him a few booklets to sign, and also the question list.   While Danny was signing, Brandon showed me a piece of paper and asked if I knew the girl.  It was Zhang LiYin, a Chinese singer signed by a Korean label.  I knew he was going to ask about her!    A few months ago, I found out by accident that she had a song on her album that was written by Brandon!  Brandon wrote that song for Jamie!  And Jamie recorded a demo of it!  The song title is “Powerless.”  The song is great, and I love it.  J  I also feel so happy for Danny to be able to work with those great people.  Off-topic a little bit here, the first time I saw in an article that a “B. Fraley” had a song for Zhang LiYin, I couldn’t believe it was “our” Brandon, until I saw Jamie’s demo on YouTube with her picture on it, since they described him as a super-star producer, legendary musician . . . and my impression was, that must be an old man . . .  LOL!

Now back to Danny.  Danny (or Brandon or Larry?) asked if I want to take a picture with him?  Of course I do!  Danny even took out his cellphone and wanted to have a picture on his phone!  Sweet!   So we took two pictures.  Now I think I will like the one on Danny’s phone better . . .  I look so white in Ellen’s photo!  Even whiter than Danny!  He’s the white guy and I’m the Asian girl and I look whiter!  That is not right . . . >.<  Danny, if you’re reading this, would you please send me the picture on your phone?  

So that’s everything that I can remember during my meet and greet with Danny.  When I was downstairs in the crowd, a girl saw the booklets in my hand, and asked me who is he?  She definitely didn’t know Danny . . .  She thought the one that was performing on the stage at that moment [Ellen: Kip Moore] was Danny, and was surprised.  How can he be performing and signing at the same time . . . ?  Hope she was wowed by Danny later!

Danny went onstage not long after.  The stage was only a few inches high, and I couldn’t really see him half of the time, since there were a few very tall people in front of me.  But still, he sounded great as usual.  There were some pretty crazy fans in the front row . . .  I was worried for him a little bit, but it was great to see how much the crowd loved Danny.  

His set was pretty short this time, only about 7-8 songs, and no encore.  Seeing him leave the stage, my Danny Gokey journey came to an end.  How awesome is it!  In the past 24 hours, I had two Danny concerts, and a “flying with Danny” experience!  A great beginning for my journey in the U.S.!  Also, thanks to Danny, I didn’t have a jet lag problem.  Every time I feel exhausted, I remember and feel excited thinking of the times I met him!   I wish to have another Danny Gokey experience again! 

I wanted to check in and let you know how the “date” with Danny went last night.  I represented a group including myself, Nicole and Joyce, at the fundraiser Friday night for SHF.  I was the only one of the three of us that was able to attend so was corresponding via cell phone for my bidding directions during the auction. Never in our wildest dreams did we expect to win the dinner with Danny!

The next day after the Expo event ended, we were told our dinner of about an hour would be at a downtown Milwaukee restaurant called Rustico that specialized in wood-fired pizzas and pasta. This was all kept very hushed till the time we were walking out the door. We met our Expo chaperone and Danny at the restaurant.  It was still pretty early for dinner so the restaurant was about half filled which was good for being incognito. This worked well until we went to sit at a table we thought was ours but turned out it belonged to a lady standing next to it.  She looked at Danny and said “I know you!” and Danny replied he was a table stealer and that was why he was there which everyone found amusing.  Then after having drawn this attention, we waited in a more secluded hall to make everyone feel more comfortable.

Our table took awhile to get ready because we needed to change location of our seats so they weren’t so mainstream in the center of the restaurant.  The manager had not been told any details of who was dining with us. The manager was super accommodating.  After we were seated at our table on the lower level of the restaurant with Danny’s back to the diners who were there, our waitress came right away and the whole time she waited on us, her hands were shaking.  She never spoke to Danny about who we figured she knew he was but was always a little nervous which was kind of cute.  Our conversations were very relaxed and “normal.” We did not want to ask too much and just let the talk wander where it went.  Danny was starved and we ordered 2 plates of cheese garlic bread and then 2 different pizzas for our main entrée, all of which we shared.

Things we discussed that may be a bit of trivia for everyone:

• The design team that did his home makeover only did the one room in his house.  He said they did a great job but thinks he would enjoy working on the other rooms himself.
• The Day Jobs show that he will be on in October, was filmed in Nashville.  He did not have to be retrained to drive the truck even though it has been a few years since he drove one. He did tell us about a few times about when driving truck, he would have a standoff at stop signs with other drivers who would not back up at an intersection to allow him to turn so they both would sit there a long time which was okay since he was paid by the hour.  (Trucks aren’t so easy to back up.)
• He is still waiting on an artist to join him and Gary LeVox on the cruise but if the artist can’t come, he has others in mind he will contact.
• It is very important we fill the cruise to benefit Sophia’s Heart so keep spreading the word.  It has potential to be a huge moneymaker for the Foundation and we really need the ship to be at capacity.
• He misses the variety of ethnic restaurants in Milwaukee.  Nashville is not as diverse in cuisine.
• If you didn’t know already, Danny loves to eat!  He tries to work out at least 3 times a week with running not being an activity he is very fond of.
• After dinner ended, we had our chaperone take pics of our group.  Our chaperone told us after Danny left how impressed she was by Danny, everything about him being so gracious and caring and such an easy guy to talk with.  Then we all went our separate ways after the most amazing opportunity with the most amazing person.

Frontier Center, Milwaukee WI

September 24, 2011

Sophia’s Heart Foundation was the designated charity for a new Women’s Conference “All About You” to take place in Milwaukee on September 23 and 24th. What better person to speak at it than SHF co-founder, Milwaukee favorite son, RCA Recording Artist, and American Idol Finalist Danny Gokey?

Some fun events were planned such as performances by the Sophia’s Heart Choir, a bachelor auction, vendors, raffles and meet and greets.

I volunteered to work Saturday afternoon at the SHF booth. We wanted to promote the $50,000 grant competition from Intuit (vote here if you haven’t already! by text and online from each phone / email you have) , the upcoming Danny Gokey Cruise (I brought along pictures from the 2011 fantastic cruise….) , and to sell SHF t-shirts and bracelets.

My Shift

Right off the bat, someone asked me if Ed was coming….ah, this is a women’s conference……I don’t think so… But I did have one special request from Ed for Danny.

When I got there, I found out where our booth was, checked in and then discovered that no one seemed to know how to get the Meet and Greets for Danny. I was off to discover the truth. (I do like to move around….) I found a very nice woman named Julia and her sidekick selling M&G and raffle tickets. She filled me in on the details. It looked like the raffle wasn’t going too well, so I bought six tickets. Maybe I’d win a kitchen tool or a new body lotion, or at minimum show support to the event.

I love talking to familiar Danny fans, fans that are new to me (but they swore that they were Danny’s biggest fans. Hmm, do they know about their competition at iheartdannygokey.com???) and others just curious about Sophia’s Heart. And we did sell some SHF merchandise.

As the M&G was about to start, I heard my name announced over the intercom. Did I leave my carlights on? Did the State Patrol figure out who was driving that little silver bullet from Madison to Milwaukee? Did I drop my wallet? No, I had won a Meet and Greet with Danny Gokey! Never mind that I was suppose to be working, not going to a M&G…. But I figured I can’t mess with fate, right?

When Danny came over to the SHF booth, I had a chance to tell him “Danny, I have a little message for you.” He turned to look at me, I raised my fisted hand towards him, he bumped it with his, I told him “That is from Ed.” He gave me a sweet little smile and was on his way. The female event photographer just missed the shot, but gave an audible little “awwww…”

“News” from the Meet and Greet

When it was my turn to see Danny, we did chit chat about a few things. I asked if he’d been back to the studio. Danny said he had not been recently, but he was intending to get back in the studio. I told him that I wasn’t going to ask about Second Hand Heart, since I bet others had already had asked, but he said it may not be going the way they planned, but that he knew things would work out and that he was going to keep pushing forward. I told him I loved his tweet about “if Plan A doesn’t work, there’s 25 more letters in the alphabet.” I told him it was a great attitude and it helped me. I then changed the subject and asked if he had thought about putting out another Christmas single? He got really thoughtful looking. I told him it would be a great gift to his fans. He seemed to really like the idea….. Then it was time for a hug and back to my “station”.

Bits and Pieces from Danny’s SHF talk

Danny did a great job of giving the evolution of Sophia’s Heart Foundation from its beginnings (the proceeds from Sophia’s life insurance policy) to their 5 year plan and beyond! They hope to have 3 families at Compassion Nashville by January 1, a new Music and Arts Program (with multi media classes) starting in 2012 in Nashville and they are moving into a new SHF location practice and office space in Milwaukee at the Grand Avenue Mall in downtown Milwaukee!

A story Danny shared was his “first date” with Sophia. He was 17, she 16, and he asked if she’d sit with him at his church. She told him no; unless her friend could sit with them, too. So, the three of them sat together. As Ed would say, Danny was such a “player” with the women, LOL.

He also threw in a few “rabbit path” topics, like the fact that he’ll be driving a semi on the Day Jobs program on GAC in October. He said it all came back easy for him. He assures us there are no bloopers from his stint behind the steering wheel of an 18 wheeler. (To keep himself on his talk, he often referred to his notes on his laptop computer.)

Danny concluding by asking for support to Sophia’s Heart and for everyone to spread the word to those that could help carry SHF’s mission.

After his talk, Danny invited the Sophia’s Heart Choir to perform a few songs: “Tiny Life, Rolling in the Deep and My Best Days are Ahead of Me”. Prior to their performing, a representative of the choir presented Danny with a rose in thanks for his giving them the chance to be the Sophia’s Heart Choir.

Danny Gokey Appears for the 13^th time at the Grand Ole Opry!

September 10, 2011 Recap and Pictures

Jan and Toni check GOO off their concert “bucket list”.

My dear friend Toni has almost run out of vacation.  It happens. She’s been tempted by too many Danny Gokey concert opportunities to resist.  And spending time with family also burns up those precious vacation hours.  (Contrary to what some may assume, we do occasionally spend vacations without a Danny experience….)

When it was announced that Danny would have a Saturday night Grand Ole Opry concert in September, we simultaneously had the same idea:  We could go to Nashville, a pilgrimage that’s on our concert ‘bucket” list, and Toni wouldn’t have to burn vacation time.  And of course there was Darla and Lori throwing fuel on our desire to go by telling us how they were going and that we shouldn’t pass up the opportunity!

Tickets were bought—We knew we’d figure out flights and all of that other stuff later.

The Concert Night

The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee that has presented country stars since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio “barn dance” on WSM-AM.  The current theater holds 4400 people!

This was Danny’s eleventh date and 13 time to perform at GOO.  And, he was scheduled to close the show.  When congratulated on that achievement, he exclaimed “Yeah, what’s that about?” But I am getting ahead of myself….

The four of us were scattered around the theater—but near the front.  The large, floor level was completely full and the balcony’s front third was filled.  I’m guessing 3,200 to 3,500 people?  There are all kinds of country acts, for very short sets of one to three songs.  On this particular night no one did more than two songs.  Which meant that Danny only did two, also .

We learned from tweets that day that Ivan Santiago was to join Danny, Brandon, Justin and Matt on the Opry stage that night!  It was a first appearance at GOO for Ivan, and a first return since he left the band in May. How cool to see him play with the band again!

Danny burst on the stage as the last act of the night to sing “Second Hand Heart”.  Between songs he expressed his thanks for being invited back to the Grand Ole Opry and to announce that his Grandma was there that night and celebrating her birthday on Monday.  Danny launched into “I Still Believe” and then sang his way off the stage—I’m guessing to try to keep the Opry show on their tight schedule.

After the show, we gathered outside to compare our photos.  The Opry invites the audience to come forward during a song to take a photo if you can crouch near the stage But with the way Danny was moving, capturing a photo that wasn’t blurry was truly a challenge.  Don’t worry, we got a few!

Why does this story continue?  Hang on, I’m getting to that!

Then it was time to finally find dinner.  Eating before a show just never seems to work.  But, where should we go?  Four people, and no real ideas.  We even tried my GPS to locate some choices.  Ok, we have a destination.  But….why is Jan driving down a dead end road (remember the Nashville floods?  Some things are still not made right.) Oh, and isn’t that an orange warning cone stuck under her rental car? I guess that tight turn-around was a little too close. But, I am sure that night watchman was quite entertained.  We did have a few laughs in that car!  I’m beginning to think I will have to have my passengers sign liability waivers or confidentially agreements on future trips.  If they ever get in my car again!

Finally we head back to the main highway area, and we see a place on the corner called “Caney Forks”. They advertise that they have the best ribs in Nashville (never mind that none of us order ribs.) I pull into the parking lot.  This will do.

It is a very large restaurant; we are seated at the base of some stairs in the rear room.  Lori jumps up to use the ladies room, but leaves her iPhone behind.  It is of course sporting a picture of her favorite artist.  Just then our waitress comes up to take our drink orders and notices Lori’s phone.  She proclaims in a loud voice “Who is that gorgeous man?”  We tell her it’s Danny Gokey.  Who?  Danny Gokey.  Huh?  DANNY GOKEY we repeat.  The couple at the table next to us motion up the few stairs and says he’s right there.  In unison, we look to where he is pointing.

There is Danny, his grandma and the rest of their party. Just 15 feet from our table!  We couldn’t resist— We handed our waitress the phone and asked her to go up to Danny and ask him who this gorgeous man was!  She’s a live wire, so off she goes!  We then hear laughter! She must have told him who put her up to it, and in a flash Danny’s on his way to our table to say hi.  We get to congratulate him on his show (see comment above about him closing the show) he tells us he’s singing at the Oasis on Sunday, he encourages us to attend, and we get hugs all around.

But can you believe that Lori is nowhere to be found?  Danny’s party’s food is ready, so they head back to eat.  Fortunately, Danny and his party stop to chat on their way out and Lori is there this time!

Oasis

We did attend the 10:15 service on Sunday at the Oasis Church.  It was a beautiful tribute to those lost on 9-11-01. All of us were clenching wet Kleenexes by the time it was over; it was so moving.  And hearing Danny singing “God Bless The USA”? Absolutely gorgeous!

So, what is the moral of this story? That not having a plan can result in the most delightful surprises. And that “dead ends” really aren’t.

Thanks to iheart contributor Kim (RFKim75) for her photos and recap from Friday evening’s Danny Gokey concert at the Sundance Saloon!

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I will give you fair warning that I am not nearly as witty or have the detailed memory of Jan, so my recap will probably not be nearly as entertaining

I have not traveled this far to see anyone let alone Danny.  Now I know that 7 hours in a car is not very far compared to how far some of you have traveled to see Danny.  I do not have the financial resources to do so due to my husband being out of work for nearly 2 years.  But when I heard that he would be performing 30 minutes from my brother’s house in Kenosha, I just knew I had to make it happen.

My brother and sister-in-law decided to come with me since they had never seen Danny before, other than on Idol.  I told them we needed to be there when the doors opened at 5:00pm, even though he would not be performing until 9:00 or 10:00pm.  They agreed, though I know they secretly thought I was crazy.  They did joke the night of the show that I should never doubt their love for me I appreciated it more than they know.  It had been 9 months since my last Danny show and was in desperate need of a “fix”.

Those of you who are Gokey addicts know exactly what I mean.

We ended up not leaving the house until 5:00pm so I was already worried that there would be a million people there.  I was thankful when we arrived at 5:30pm that there were not many cars there.  I brought Danny and the band some of my famous chocolate cream cheese cupcakes.  I asked my brother to hold them for a second.  He asked me to please hurry so that no one thought he was a crazy fan bringing cupcakes for Danny Gokey   I did have to LOL!  My brother is a big, muscular guy, so it made it a little extra funny.

We got inside, got our tix and my m&g pass and found a table right next to the stage.  It was a great venue.  I wish I had brushed up on my line dancing skills.  I took lessons at a bar, but that was about 18 years ago.  Food was no good though.  Those who had the burgers can attest to that  Hopefully Danny and the band had better food than that!

M&G wasn’t until 9:00pm or a little after and there were a lot of people in line.  There aren’t many pictures up so not sure why that is?  His eyes lit up when he saw the cupcakes.  I didn’t hear if they enjoyed them or not. I also gave him one of the SH necklaces that I made and let him know that I was working with Michelle to possibly get them up on the website to sell.  He thought that was cool.

Knowing how big of a Rascal Flatts fan I am, he asked me if I was going on the cruise, which made me show off my sad face.  [ Steph cmt: aww Kim  ] He asked why I couldn’t go.  So I explained about my husband finally finding a job and having to catch up on bills from all the time he was off.  I let him know that him and Gary are the 2 people I’d want to be on a cruise ship with and are the only 2 people who could probably get me on one.  He thought that was funny

So we put our arms around each other for our picture (in which my eyes are closed) only to find Mike busy talking to someone.  Danny said, oh, I guess we’ll just hold each other until he’s ready ***swoon*** I said something like, yah, I can handle that.  I had him sign my My Best Days with Danny Gokey book, but forgot to ask him if he’d tried any of the recipes yet.  I also wanted to ask if him and Gary had talked about him opening for RF.  Someday I will learn to write things down before I go see him!

The show was great.  I felt bad that there were not many people there, though it was nice to have such a small crowd of people.  Even after it started I walked right up to the front on the left side of the stage.  I had never been in the front row for a Danny show so this was super exciting for me!  I felt bad leaving my brother and sis-in-law at the table, but they said they didn’t care and I knew I might never get another chance like this.  I loved the acoustic set and my live favs are always I Still Believe, Get Away, and Life is a Highway.  I also LOVED hearing SHH live for the 1^st time!  It was so fun when they came down into the crowd and danced.  Danny putting on the cowboy hat was fun also, but he looks much better without it.  I was a little worried as the crowd seemed pretty quiet and mellow in the beginning and I was worried it would be a hard sell for him.  But he won them over as he always does.  Even my sis-in-law said she is going to go to Itunes and check out his songs

He signed afterwards and I needed to get the new 8×10 pic signed (one of my fav pics).  It doesn’t get old knowing that he knows my name, even if it makes me feel like a silly schoolgirl.  I was hurried through pretty quick so not much time to chat.  I normally try to get in the end of the line, but knew my brother and sis-in-law were ready to head home so I didn’t push my luck

Forgot to mention that I had a splitting headache that started at 1:00pm.  I was hoping that food would help, but it didn’t.  Then I was hoping a drink or two would help, but it didn’t.  I even tried a third and fourth drink with no luck.  Even seeing Danny didn’t make it go away, but at least I forgot about it during my m&g and the show, so that was a plus!  When I get these headaches, if they go on for a number of hours, I also get nauseous.  I don’t get sick, just feel like I will.   So needless to say the ride home was terrible when all I wanted to do was go to bed.  Luckily when I woke up it was all better

So even with a bad headache and a crappy m&g pic…it was still worth the drive to get to see Danny perform, get my Gokey hug and visit with other ihearties.  No one else understands how much we love this guy and why we do all we do for him.  It’s nice to have the Gokey Army to chat with about all things Danny

Jan’s Sundance Saloon and Dodge County Fair Concert Recaps

A weekend with a double header!  As a Danny Gokey fan, you know I’m not talking baseball, but something WAY more exciting:  back to back DJG concerts!  Waukegan, Illinois and Beaver Dam, Wisconsin!

And, I’d have to say, considering that the set list was exactly the same—it would be hard to find too more different experiences.  So it truly was a maximum Goke-aholic experience.

Sundance Saloon

Line dancing couples, female bartenders dancing on the bar, shots being offered by wait staff, an intimate concert experience where the most die-hard of Danny fans knew EVERY word to his songs, Danny coming off of the stage and dancing among the enthusiastic fans, and a superb sound system in a deluxe country bar.

Dodge County Fair

A county fair, literally in the middle of corn fields, with fried cheese curds, a tractor pull in front of the stage the afternoon before the concert, 3000+ attendees, with folks sitting in folding chairs on a dirt track, booming bass, 6 foot high concrete stage surrounded by a chain-link fence, a grand stand that was behind the dirt track, many attendees raising  their hands admitting they didn’t own Danny’s CD, and a humongous signing line?

Lucky us.  We got them both!

First the News from Danny:

I take it seriously when ihearties ask me to try to get some news or pass some info to Danny.  I’ll be frank, I’m not exactly scared or awestruck by the “man” anymore.  For good measure, I had the now “famous Ed” with me for the entire Danny weekend.  Ed is known to be a Danny magnet.  Case in point:  we arrived early to the Sundance for another SHF event, and as we were waiting for the other participants. Ed was playing pool and I’m sitting nearby on a bar stool learning about my new camera. As I’m concentrating on it, a familiar voice grabs my attention:  “Ed, my man, I didn’t know you were a pool player!”  I look over and Danny is bear hugging my husband.  Yup. Jan is on the outside of this man sandwich. Again.

But I digressed, didn’t I?

I took the time at my  M&G to present Danny with a T-shirt that featured a picture of  a “Bubbler” –this is Wisconsin speak for a drinking fountain.  Does anyone remember the West Bend Radio Station interview where he talked about getting teased for calling them bubblers in Nashville? Yes, they are bubblers in Wisconsin.  Please note: Men’s medium is too big for Danny

I next passed on the iheartie advice that many of us don’t want Danny to talk during his more romantic songs.  I told him we thought it ruined the vibe.  He looked very serious, said it was good feedback and then proceeded to zip his lips and smiled at me. He did no talking at all during Second Hand Heart or Crazy Not To at Waukegan!

At the second concert, I asked whether he had any writing sessions coming up.  He said he did on Monday!  I said that sounded like a really busy week; what with the video shoot.  He told me that the video shoot was rescheduled to September because of the producer’s schedule.

Set List:

All the songs from My Best Days, and an acoustic set with “If You Aren’t the One”, “I Need You” and “Tiny Life”. Plus he did covers of Trouble, Too Hard to Handle, WHTM, Life is A Highway and finishing with Living on a Prayer.

Danny’s voice sounded AMAZING at both concerts–although the bass did over power even his strong voice at times at Beaver Dam. I consider this a serious crime committed by the sound system team! But in their defense, Ed said he liked the heavy bass.  Men.

It’s hard to say which concert was the best.  I’m going to guess Ed getting to play “air guitar” with Danny’s bass player when they came into the crowd at Waukegan may top it for him.  For me, because I was out of range of getting good photos with my camera, I put it away and I danced the WHOLE concert near the front of the stage with my sister in law, I’d say that Dodge County gets the nod. Plus I LOVE to see Danny get huge crowds.

Let’s keep a look out for another double header, but let me know which you thought was the BEST.

On 7/15/2011, we went to the ACC (me, and my mom) and went to the will call window to pick up our meet and greet passes at 5pm, and waited until 6:15 for the actual meet and greet. We weren’t exactly sure where to go, but none of the guards knew either, except for one, so he finally showed us where to go. By about 6:00 we were sitting waiting for Mike, since we didn’t want to be late. Mike came at 6:15 to come get us, and apparently there was suppose to be one more person at the meet and greet, (at this point there was just me and my mom), so we waited a few more minutes to see if the person would come, but they never did, so Mike walked us over to a hallway and went into a little room to get Danny. There was a security guard waiting outside, which Mike introduced to us before he left. We were talking to her about Danny, ‘cuz she didn’t seem to know too much haha. I told her that I hoped Dan would sing SHH that night. About five minutes after Mike left (which prolly wasn’t actually five minutes but it felt like FOREVER), Mike came back out, and Dan walked out. He right away came over to me, and gave me a hug, and was like “KAT!” hahaha. To my surprise he actually knew who I was without me introducing myself We then starting talking about the show, and how he only had a short set, and that we wished it would be a full Danny concert, instead and he asked if we lived in Toronto or somewhere else, and we told him yeah in TO, really close to where we were at that time. I gave him my gift that I put together, (for those of you that don’t know, the gift included; Canadian gloves, a penguin toy for Fozzy Bear, a rearview mirror Canadian punching glove accessory thing, a notebook personally designed for Danny to write songs in, a letter from me and Aaisha (@AaishaSalman), a list of stuff for him to do while he’s in TO, a purple shirt that says “I <3 TO”, and a $100 SHF donation), he then put the gift on the chair in the hallway, thanked me, and laughed at my shirt, that said “Gokey Hugs Needed” and he was like “Aww, Gokey hugs!” and gave me another hug. Then my mom asked him to open his gift, he loved all the CA stuff and the notebook especially and I told him that the last bit was a SHF donation, seeing as I didn’t want my mom to see, ‘cuz she didn’t know I was giving it to him. He thanked me again, and was talking to my mom, and asked if she was my mom or aunt, haha. Mike then asked if we had anything that we wanted him to sign, so I said yes, and took out my Danny tat drawing and the 8/14/2009 meet and greet picture (the picture of when I first met him), and he signed that first, and wrote “To: Kat” on the top right corner, and I handed him my drawing and he was like “Wow! Did you draw that free hand??” haha. He wrote “This Rocks!” before signing it We then starting talking about Hamilton, which was where I first met him and hes like “where’s that?” so we told him, hahaha… xD  and then I asked if I could get a video shoutout for @westlifesrose and @aaishasalman and he credited me in the video haha. (If you’d like to see the clip, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsQyymZlE-k&feature=share ) Mike then told us that we could use our camera for the meet and greet pictures since there was only the two of us, and I set it up for him, and went to stand beside Dan. Mike took two pictures and Dan made sure they were perfect, which they weren’t ‘cuz it had a shadow, and told me and Mike to put the flash on, so I did, and Mike took two more. Then mom went to go take a picture, and Mike handed me back the camera to take the picture but I asked him to take it and said ‘cuz I was shaking… hahaha. Dan and Mike laughed, and Mike asked if I was coming back to tomorrow’s meet and greet, and I said “yes ofcourse” and Mike’s like “Really?” and turned to Dan; “She’s gunna be all chill tomorrow, like this is whatever” hahaha. Mom asked then if both of us could take a picture with Dan, and I told my mom to move to the right side cuz my bangs didn’t work otherwise, and Danny laughed and said something like; “every women’s gotta perfect side” or something, I forgot… hahah. We then got two more pictures. After that was finished Dan said he hoped he can come back before two years again, ahahaha, and gave me one final hug, and had to go. Me and mom starting walking out of the hallway, and Mike soon came back and was walking somewhere, and saw me shaking and was like; “Aww” and asked if that made my day, and I’m like; “YES. It’s perfect now!” hahaha.  (Btw, I LOVE Mike’s accent ;D Haha!) I could still smell Dan’s cologne on my shirt all night. Hahaha. [HUG COUNT: 3 one arm hugs and 3 full hugs]

As for the concert, Danny went first, so his set was 20 minutes, the venue wasn’t even filled yet though. And my voice was still shaky from the meet and greet but I was screaming like mad. Brandon introduced him as “RCA recording artist, Danny Gokey!” and he ran on stage… Hahah. Danny opened with “My Best Days Are Ahead Of Me”, went to “Be Somebody”, then “Crazy Not to”, and finally finished with his new single, “Second Hand Heart”. I was ecstatic that he sang SHH, ‘cuz I absolutely LOVE it (though OF COURSE I love all of his songs… Hahaha). His band consisted of Matt, Mike and Brandon. The crowd was showing Danny some love, which I was happy about And when Taylor mentioned Danny in her set the crowd screamed so much! I loved it xD

That’s basically it, for the Danny moments all night, but it was pretty awesome

Now, for 7/16/2011 haha. The meet and greet was the same time and location as the previous night, so we basically did the same thing. Earlier in the day we went to go get my picture of me and Dan printed out for him to sign (8 by 10), but more bout that later hahaha. So we headed over to where Mike was gonna come get us at about 6:00, and waited for him. At 6:15 he came, and waved at us, and we were talking to him as we waited, (we were waiting to see if the other three people would show up), we talked to him about the next few shows, and his and our family. Mike asked me if I was any more calm then the night before, and I said nooo haha. I was really shaking again. A few minutes later Mike went off to see if he could find the missing people, and came back with nobody. We didn’t know where they were so we had to get going to the meet and greet area, since the show was going to start soon. So we head over, and we talked to the same security guard that was there yesterday, and soon Mike brought Danny out. He laughed, and said heey, and gave us hugs, it was once again only us at the meet and greet haha. We were talking bout the concert the previous night, and about his set, that it was too short, but amazing, and how the crowd was singing every song with Taylor, he seemed really amazed by it. =D He then asked what we did today, and told him we went to the mall and got the picture printed out, both Dan and Mike laughed that we ALREADY had the picture printed haha. We then got him to sign it, he wrote: “To: KAT YOU ARE WONDERFUL!!” then signed it. Haha. I handed him the next thing for him to sign which was the quote that he said before singing “My Wish” on 8/14/2009, that quote has gotten me through  a lot, so I wanted it signed , we told him what it was before getting him to sign it, and he was like reading it to try and remember… hahah xD after that, the last thing we got him to sign (I really like his autograph… need multiple copies ;D hahah) was my art culminating, for those of you that don’t know, it is of Copps Coliseum’s street corner, which is where I first met him, and on the board in the drawing I wrote “August 14^th American Idol Live Tour 2009”. I told him I had another piece of art work inspired by him, unfolded it, (its on huge graph paper) and He said the art was amazing, and once again said “Wow!” and he asked if it was some type of paper, and I didn’t know what he meant… and he’s like “I don’t know, its been a long time since I’ve been in school” hahahha xD and was looking it over some more and saw the “August 14^th” and laughed ;D ahahaa. He signed it right above where I signed my name, and drew a smiley face under my name. Haha. Mike then told us we could use our own camera since nobody else was there (he told us when we were talking outside that he’d be using his camera since other people were gunna be there, but nobody showed ), so I handed him the camera after I set it up, and he took a really awesome picture, and once again Dan made sure it looked perfect ;D we got it on the first try this time haha! Then I asked Mike if I could get a picture with the two of them, and Dan’s like “come in the middle” hahaha. xD mom took the picture, which actually turned out good, and we made sure it was perfect again hahha xD then the security guard offered to take a group shot of the 4 of us, and Dan’s like “yeah!! Group shot! Kat you come in the middle of us” as in the two guys. Hahaha. I love this man. I really do. Just saying ;D haha. So we took that, and it turned out pretty good we then said goodbyes and Dan said he hoped to be back in Canada really soon, and he gave me a hug, and said I was awesome, or something. Hahah. I said he was amazing. And he went to my mom, and said “Bye mom!” and gave her a hug too hahaha.=D Mike then walked with us back out of the hallway again, and he said that I was calmer this night, and that it was good that we came again, and acted surprised I didn’t faint haha. I said; “yeah, I told my friend, I think i’m gunna faint I think i’m gunna faint!” hahah. He laughhhed xD and we said goodbyes again when we headed back upstairs [HUG COUNT:  3 one arm hugs and 2 full hugs]

We then got went to our seats which were actually pretty good, Brandon introduced him, and Dan came out, Matt and Mike were there as well. Dan sang amazingly!! The crowd seemed really excited to see him too, which I was SOO happy about!! And the venue was more filled this night at this time then the last night which was awesome so more people could hear him sing (Sorry, again, for the length of the recap )

For those of you wondering what happened with the remaining three people who missed the original meet and greet, Dan’s account on Flickr has pictures of him with other people, so I’m guessing Mike found the people after he walked out with us, and we headed to our seats. Their meet and greet was probably really short though cuz by the time we got to our seats the concert was going to start in 20 minutes.

So yeah, that’s basically the concert days, and what a few people might know already, when I got home on the 16^th, I checked my DM’s as I always do, to make sure my Danny dm’s remained safe yet another day, (haha) and to my surprise Danny DM’ed me a response to my letter I gave him the previous day. The DM means so much to me, and only those of you who fully know what he means will understand that. but anyway, here’s the link to the DM picture if you’d like to see it; http://twitpic.com/5rddse and also if you’d like to see the rest of my pictures from the concert and of the day, add me on FB since I’ll only be posting them all there; http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=864210272&sk=wall (I’ll make it so you don’t have to add me if you don’t wanna, so just go to view my pictures, the album titles are: Speak Now World Tour <3 7/15/11 & Speak Now World Tour <3 7/16/11) also, I posted a few more pictures from Danny’s set, and the meet and greets on Flickr, so here’s the link if you cant access the ones of fb: http://t.co/GHa2BwZ

Summerfest 2011

For the second year since Danny Gokey “graduated” from American Idol, he returned home to Milwaukee to headline the Briggs and Stratton Big Backyard stage at Summerfest—the world’s largest live music festival. This year he performed on July 6^th for a show that included more than 20 songs and that ran close to 2 hours long!

So, what does the wise DJG fan do now that Summerfest is over?  You pull out your calendars, block off the last half week of June and the first week of July in 2012. Do it right now!  Why? Because you really don’t want to miss the 3^rd annual Danny Gokey events at Summerfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, do you?  Now if we knew WHEN Danny would be performing in 2012, we wouldn’t have to block off the entire Summerfest schedule! But it is better to be safe than sorry, right? And then we can start the planning of our next iheartdannygokey.com “convention”!

If you haven’t made it to Summerfest, here are the reasons to correct that error in judgement and make it to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 2012!

1. The night before the concert you have the wonderful opportunity to feel completely “normal” for being a Goke-aholic!  See what happens when you can spend time with others who are also huge Danny’s fans.  You can swap stories on how crazy your family thinks you are, how you have “hidden” your addiction, and the fact that you’ve jumped on an airplane to meet and spontaneously hug complete strangers….
2. The concert! OMG.  The experience of seeing Danny perform in front of his hometown crowd is like no other concert experience.  And this is after the poor man has been run ragged with radio/TV/newspaper interviews!  Not to mention nearly a hundred people lined up for the one on one Meet and Greets that support Sophia’s Heart.
3. Other bonuses—whether it’s the gathering of ihearties to “ohh and ahhh” over concert photos in the hotels after the concert or even a lucky break that a few of us had to attend a listener event at Milwaukee’s WMIL 106.1 FM.  Stay open and just experience the Gokey Glow as it comes at you!

Tuesday Night —Dinner at Trocodero

Our Milgokey hostess, Pam, (never mind that she lives north of Milwaukee) started things out by organizing a dinner for over 20 confessed Goke-aholics.  We had ladies from OR, WA, IA, TX, PA and of course WI!  And one guy: Ed.  (Anybody surprised by this?) Uncooperative job schedules kept some very diehard fans (from NY & MA, to mention just a couple) from attending the dinner and/or the concert.  Don’t worry ladies, we understand. You got to keep those jobs so you can buy those tickets….

The dinner is a wonderful opportunity to share the Glow.  There’s stories being told, iPod pictures being shared, rumors being circulated and anticipation for the next day’s event is running high.  How early should you be at the Summerfest gates for a show that starts at 10 PM?  Some would answer that 12 hours is about right (you will get to hear Danny doing the sound check…) I opted for 11 hours before.  But don’t do what I did.  Enter the wrong gate and mistake the Miller Stage for the Briggs and Stratton Stage.  No harm.  I sprinted to the right stage after Toni politely pointed out that I had staked spaces (among a lot of teenagers) AT THE WRONG stage!  Note to Jan for 2012:  enter at the South Gate…..

Day of the Concert — July 6^th!

See note above about heading to the correct stage….

Seriously, there is lots of room (especially on a Wednesday) to stake out places by 4 or 5:00 PM.  But being in good seats really isn’t sufficient for some of us….Besides, I really enjoy taking a break and walking the Summerfest grounds with an iheartie or two, catching a new act, or spending a little time gazing out at beautiful Lake Michigan and enjoying the lake breezes after my blanket has been spread out and duct taped in place in front of the stage. Danny fans are generally very polite and accommodating and will take turns watching each other’s seats.

The Meet and Greet was way cooler (figuratively and literally) this year.  Mike didn’t warn us that Danny couldn’t talk (in order to save his voice for the contest), we weren’t being held under a smothering tent, and they seemed to have the timing and route to the location worked out very well.  A Summerfest Meet and Greet is a very quick event—you know that Danny has so many fans to greet, it just doesn’t feel right to linger. But Danny and Mike work hard at making the experience memorable.  Danny confessed that he hates getting people’s names wrong—but he gets so many correct, it’s understandable that a name will get mixed up. I thanked him for getting my name right.  He said he wouldn’t get Ed and my name wrong (Yes, we are a DJG fan version of a “frequent flyer”.) This year they hired a professional photographer to snap the photos—and many of us got two pictures taken.

Brett Eldredge does a good job as a performer.  But we were more excited to see what the Sophia’s Heart Choir and Dance Team would be doing.  The crowd loved them.  And the joy on those kids faces to be performing at such a big event?  Priceless.  Even better than seeing them perform before Danny, was seeing them perform WITH Danny.  I truly hope that Danny has a youth choir perform with him on his next CD.  As a former praise and worship leader, he just shines in performing with a choir.  They sang “It’s Only and “I Still Believe” with Danny.  New this year were modern dancers that wove across the stage as Danny sang. Just beautiful!

I won’t spend any more time talking about Danny’s songs, because the many videos do a better job of capturing the night than anything I can say, other than the new songs with Jamie and Brandon:  “I Need You”  and “If You are Not the One” were great and I loved the gospelly version of “Jesus Take the Wheel.”   Well, I actually loved all of the songs, but I have to highlight those three songs.

Listener Event on Thursday

The previous weekend we learned that WMIL (106.1 FM) was sponsoring an appearance of Danny in their US Cellular Lounge.  We are on the outer range of the Milwaukee station, but with the assistance of my faithful Bose Wave, I can catch the morning show on WMIL.  Ed and I figured, why not use up all of our reward points to see if we could score a pair of passes?  I and 19 other contest winners were chosen.  I never expected to win.  This is great news, right?  Well, yes, but I had a little problem.  I was supposed to be leaving for a “girl’s trip” that morning with my daughter, my best friend and her daughters… Yup, I got in a bit of trouble, but I’m sure they knew the likelihood of my not attending was beyond remote.

While this wasn’t a concert, it did give us the opportunity to participate in an interview session with Mitch Morgan, WMIL Music Director, listen to “Second Hand Heart,” and hear a new song (You Don’t Have to ) “Win Me Over”!  We were asked to give our impressions of the new song.  Danny asked us to give constructive feedback—not just say we love it because it’s him singing it!  Well, constructively, we do love it.  And I’m sure he makes it a better song because it is him singing it…

Here’s some of Danny’s answers that came out of the interview session:

1. Fozzy is doing well. Danny thinks once he’s more ‘settled” he’ll get another dog. He likes mastiffs –but not their drool. He still likes rottweilers—but most of his fans at this event were wary of that breed of dog.
2. When he was saving up for Sophia and his wedding ($20,000, with 485 guests) he rented an actual walk in closet as his room for $125 in a house on 49th and Center in Milwaukee.
3. I believe he said that Mark Bright has produced both recorded songs. He’s exploring the sounds of different producers. They may mix it up for the next album, or stay with Mark.
4. He doesn’t know when the designer’s episode of HG-TV will air. He was promised it would air, but it is a pilot.
5. He’s been offered a chance at some other acting opportunities, but none that fit/worked for him. He thinks other offers will come in.
6. Choosing the right music for the next album is very painstaking. They are “developing” his sound. But it has to be gradual. He says his distinct voice can be a detriment, but generally a good thing.
7. The Program and Music Directors of the radio station really liked the sound of the second recorded song –they thought it would fit on radio very well.
8. Danny was very tired. He said he went to bed at 2, woke up at 6AM. And he couldn’t get back to sleep–it sounds like that is rare for him to be up so early. He was heading to Madison to meet with our two monitored country radio stations this afternoon/night. (No listener event involved.)

That’s a wrap for Summerfest 2011!  But don’t miss out on Summerfest 2012!

Cori shared some video, photos, and comments from Summerfest – thanks Cori!

For iheart:

I have to admit I believe this was the BEST Danny concert I’ve been to. Both he and Sophia’s Heart Choir were so entertaining. Loved it! Included were many songs I hadn’t heard before. In fact Danny came back and gave the fans a wonderful extensive encore. Not complaining here folks….but I almost missed my bus home!! =) =)

Thanks to Danny’s excellent aim, I caught the SH tee shirt he threw out. I included that in the pictures. Love the new design.

One of the best aspects about a Danny concert is hooking up with my Danny friends…….and of course Danny only draws the best in my opinion. I love the time we’re able to spend together. You all brighten my life in many ways!!

Here are some videos and pictures from the concert.

Cori =)

View Cori’s photo gallery here

Second Hand Heart via weiler618

Gimme a Kiss via weiler618

It’s Only with the Sophia’s Heart Choir - via weiler618

Earlier this year, Amy, Erika and I sponsored an IHeartDannyGokey.com fund-raising page for the Sophia’s Heart Compassion Nashville drive through FirstGiving. Thanks to the contributions of many generous iheart contributors (both public commenters and loyal lurkers alike) — our fundraising page was the top overall page and top team in raising funds for Sophia’s Heart!

It was our honor merely to participate. But under Sophia’s Heart guidelines, a number of cool prizes were offered for this fundraising drive. Amy, Erika, and I had all agreed at the beginning that if we were fortunate enough to qualify, any prizes we won in this effort would be given away to participating members of the iheart community. Amy recently conducted a random drawing from the names of iheart FirstGiving donors, and four lucky people were selected for the first prize — a chance to have dinner with Danny Gokey as ambassadors for all of us!

See pictures from this fun evening below, with Carianne, CindyMenn, Josie (Robin), Marjie, Danny, Ivan, and SH staff member Dallas. Danny passed on to our participating comrades his great appreciation for everyone at iheart and what they do for him and for Sophia’s Heart

If you’d like to support Sophia’s Heart this month, one great option is to contribute to the Sophia L. Gokey scholarship fund. Site contributor and Sophia’s Heart supporter Jan is coordinating an effort to raise funds for at least three scholarships this year. Learn more and consider contributing here.

Stay tuned for additional giveaways of the remaining prizes to be held later this year.

Danny performs his new single “Secondhand Heart” for the first time!

How does the opportunity to open for Taylor Swift in her home state at Heinz Stadium (90% female at that….) sound to Danny Gokey?  Well, it was irresistible for some diehard iheartdannygokey fans, too!

First off, I just want to say, I had nothing to do with making these plans.  I declined the invitation to go.  I needed to get a grip on my home life.  Seriously.  In May I had attended the Chinook Winds AND the Bowler Casino concerts.  I was proud of myself for showing restraint this time.  I was going to focus on getting caught up in my gardens, maybe catch up on some sleep, do normal things.

You and I both know where this is going.  I couldn’t resist the lure of the ihearties seeing Danny after spending two weeks of normalcy.   Ed knows I’m always going to find a way to justify my trips, so here’s how it went this time:   I had an airline credit that was going to expire about the time Danny finished his tour dates with Taylor Swift. When I mentioned that Danny’s first show was on June 18^th, Ed asked me how long I would be gone…..

A few more things fell into place, including an extra show ticket!  This had to be fate, right?  And I was rounding out a five-some of ihearties headed to the BIG opening show of Danny Gokey/Randy Montana/NEEDTOBREATH and Taylor Swift in the Pittsburgh Steeler’s home stadium –Heinz Field.

How big is this show?  The radio station advertised that over 52,000 tickets were sold for this event.  It’s not just a concert, it’s a dramatic event with aerial artists, all kinds of vignettes being acting out, dancers –even ballet, a sailing balcony (really), fireworks, huge screens and 9 costume changes for Taylor.

But I’m sure what you really want to know is “How awesome was Danny and the band?”!

The Meet and Greet.

A needle in a haystack.  That’s one way of describing our trying to pick up our Meet and Greet passes and finding WHERE to meet up with Mike and Danny!  Having 52,000 people going to a football stadium makes things complicated.  Add the fact that NONE of us had ever stepped foot in this venue was a definite disadvantage.  At least I was familiar with Lambeau Field in Wisconsin.

Unrelated Trivia Question:  Who did the WI Green Bay Packers beat in last year’s Super Bowl?  Yes! It was the Pittsburgh Steelers!  Avid Packer fan, Danny Gokey, was playing in their stadium…

And of course, the end of the stadium we needed to get to was blocked off because that’s where Taylor’s trailers were set up at the rear of the stage.  So, as this has happened before, the sweaty (sorry ladies, but Danny said it was a hot night, too)  group of ihearties found the right place, but only after sprinting completely around the stadium when we discovered we couldn’t get from A to B without returning to Z first.

Three of us made it to the location first, and we assured Mike that three more were on the way!  I’ll not steal the thunder of the other ihearties—so here’s my part.  Mike’s baby’s due date has been moved up a couple of weeks!  It is now mid July—in the middle of the Taylor Swift tour dates!  This is going to add complexities to a musician’s life, but Mike said his wife was doing well.  I managed to come up with one question for Danny: “ Is there were any plans for a video of Second Hand Heart?” He said he thought it would be in the works after the song had progressed on radio.

The Concert

While many of us are spoiled with Danny’s long, solo concerts, this is an opportunity to showcase his music to a whole new audience.

Brandon, Mike and Matt came on stage to a stadium still being filled, but even if it was “only” 1/3 full when they started, that’s exposing Danny’s music to 17,000 people!  Danny made his entrance to the first bars of My Best Days Are Ahead of Me.  He performed midway down the catwalk of Taylor’s stage, among the most expensive seats (actually this area was for standing only) of the event.  The fact that no spots were reservable, insured that fans were right up front when the openers performed—instead of some situations where the reserved front row seats don’t fill up until the headliner appears!  We had seats just outside of this special area.  Danny did a great job of capturing the attention of these hard core Taylor fans. He got them to “give me a scream”,  move to the music and slap some hands as he moved to the different sides of the catwalk.  I was very happy that he was getting such a good reception from Taylor’s fans.  Sure, it wasn’t the rapt attention that Taylor got later in this show, (That truly was AMAZING!) But people seemed happy to hear him and enjoyed his performance.

And Danny’s voice really did sound GOOD.  Strong, with a good tone, and with his distinct soulfulness.  Next up was “Be Somebody”, then “Crazy Not To” and he closed by telling the crowd that his next single would be coming to radio on August 1^st—“Secondhand Heart”.  Since my camera only has 5 times zoom, I decided it would be a better investment to enjoy Danny’s performance and take in the audience reaction to his and the following performers sets.  So I have only a couple of photos that are worth sharing. No offense to Randy Montana, but in Danny’s set I saw a lot of crowd attentiveness.  Danny had chosen to perform lively songs and it helped to keep their attention as he moved around the stage. His amount of time was too short (duhhh…) but this was a really big show and they had the unusual occurrence of having both Danny and Randy open the concert.  Now, all of the signs at the stadium and from Froggy Radio were listing Randy Montana performing first and Danny second.  But that is not how it happened.  Why?  We’ll never know. But I would have to say that Danny did a very good job of opening the concert and getting the party started.

And Taylor Swift?  She puts on what heck of a live show!

Chinook Winds Casino in Lincoln City, Oregon on May 6 and 7^th, 2011

Cameras, and someone that can focus a camera (and not shake) within relatively close proximity to Danny Gokey, (believe me, its harder than it sounds.)  You may be wise to bring a non-fan along for this duty.  But be warned, in most cases they will turn into a Goke-aholic before the concert is over and leave you to your own devices. Also, please note common sense has been known to flee….batteries will not be charged, memory cards will be full. Bring extras!  Recommendation: Bring Darla, everyone will be happier with the results of this.  In the absence, many ihearties have produced a handful of good photos out of 100+ taken.  Lincoln City:  We had Darla and a lot of other ihearties there!  We were awash in great Danny photos! In fact 8 of us gathered around our computers at Ellen B’s rented condo ohhhhhing …and ahhhhing…over various pictures we had snapped of Danny!  Drinking wine, eating pizza and telling our “how I got to be a Goke-aholic” stories.  An iheartie pre or post concert event makes it even sweeter!

Video Cameras! These cameras tend to be more forgiving then still shots, but once again, bring someone used to video graphing Danny.  I recommend Toni, Lori, or Michelle.  They have lots of experience in keeping it together and remembering to turn the camera “On”.  We were in luck!  Toni and Lori on the job!  And Lori was uploading her videos to YouTube before the night was done!

Meet and Greets I’ve seen perfectly capable, mature women forget everything they thought they wanted to say or ask Danny. Write it down! Or tell your friend, next to you in line.  She may not remember her own question but she may help you with yours!  Pay attention to the little dramas playing out around you, these make some of the best stories to provide color to your recap! More than once, our level headed Toni, has turned to me with that deer (Danny) in the headlights look—What did I want to ask???  In Lincoln City, Asics was still suffering the brutality of the WSB voting marathon and sporting a wrist splint.  She walked away from Danny without asking him to sign it (something she mentioned earlier that she’d love for him to do) As she was walking away, I asked her “didn’t you want Danny to sign your wrist guard???”  Danny happily complied and listened to her story.  That very story became part of Danny’s thank you video to Waterstone Bank!

The Set List.  Other than mentally checking every song from the album off in your head, along with the cover songs, and order—stay after the show and ask one of those nice roadies (or the band members themselves) to give you a copy of the set list that is taped to the floor in front of every musician.  It’s very handy–and a great thing to have the band autograph.  See signed set list–score!

Checking back in with the ones left at home at Iheartdannygokey.com

Do you have smart phones?  Or a phone that can at least take a picture and send it to Twitpic.com?  Or a twitter account?  If so, send a picture or comment on the concert via twitter!  The picture may be blurry, but the ihearties are prowling the internet, looking for signs of  Danny and you will provide a valuable service!  It will get posted to the discussion page!  http://twitpic.com/4ugg4a

Tell us about the audience

1. We want to know the estimated size.  Don’t know?  Go find a employee and ask the capacity of the venue or the number of tickets sold.  Chinook Winds Casino hall had a capacity of about 1300. Danny was booked for two consecutive nights and we guessed he entertained more than 2000 fans that weekend.
2. How was it set up, standing only, tables, theatre style?  This venue had chairs set in the front and then tiered  levels with tables and chairs.
3. Age and make up of the crowd?  Families, couples, general age spread?  Because this was a casino, this was an adult crowd.  Lots of couples, but with many groups of women.
4. Favorite song of the crowd? General reaction to Danny in comparison to other artists performing?  Danny had a very enthusiastic crowd for his solo, headlining performances.  He received a standing ovation for “I Will Not Say Goodbye”, lots of dancing (isn’t’ that right Milgokey?), but also a few X Rated offers from the inebriated ladies near the front of the stage…Danny handled it all with good grace.
5. Talk to the people around you, find out why they are at the concert, do they have any Danny stories?  I spoke with two different couples. The first turned out to be the manager of the Casino’s hotel, this was their first Danny concert. His wife was a fan of Danny’s from American Idol—they had the biggest smiles on their faces during the concert–they told me they had great fun.  The second couple, the wife loved photography and this was her third Danny concert.  She had brought along three framed 8×10’s she had taken of Danny that she wanted to show him and have him sign the most recent one (the rest were autographed.) They were avid American Idol fans.

Attend the Autograph Line

We know you have lots of signed items from Danny and do you really need another CD of My Best Days.  Yes, you do.  Keep the love going, you really don’t want to get in your car yet, do you?  This is a wonderful time to talk about the concert with others while in line, and you may even make new friends.  Plus, the band is usually around and it’s a great place to get the little tour tidbits/news that the ihearties are waiting to hear!  In Lincoln City, Toni and I got to meet Shadow! I hope I didn’t scare her away since she hasn’t posted in awhile…..  Ok, this is where I’m inviting Toni, Milgokey, Robin and the other ihearties to share the info they learned from the band mates.  I mostly got the band members asking “Where is Ed?”

Write up your experience to share  I really didn’t need to do a recap of Lincoln City because Franktastic http://iheartdannygokey.com/index.php/2011/05/11/recap-franktastics-recap-of-danny-gokey-in-concert-lincoln-city-or-may-6-7/ did such a great job on his, but I do find them to be a neat journal for my time in Dannyland.  And the comments from the ihearties help to make the recaps special.  I have printed them out and saved them with my photos as special mementos of the concert.  I’m a little behind in my scrapbook, but when I’m too old to follow Danny across the country, maybe my grand kids will humor me and help me get caught up….

And I’m sure they will turn to me say “Grandma, tell us what it was like knowing Danny Gokey before he was a super star!”

Post script from Lori, but echoing all of our thoughts:

“We all are so lucky to have all these memories of our Danny knowing that one day “soon”, we will have to share him with the whole world. But in my heart of hearts, I hope that we have left even a fraction of an indelible imprint on his heart as he has on ours.”

How about a free Danny Gokey t-shirt??

This t-shirt is similar to the one I made and wore to Danny’s Idol show in Charlotte.  However, this one was screen-printed professionally.  Size M on 100% Preshrunk Cotton.  If you want to win it, just leave a comment here.  I’ll pick a winner on Tuesday night at 9pm.

Good luck!!!

~amy

Danny Gokey Headlines the North Star Casino in Bowler, WI―May 14th, 2011

Want to get noticed at a Danny Gokey concert?  It’s all about the company you keep….

Where is Bowler, Wisconsin?  It is so far off the beaten trail, my GPS couldn’t find the North Star Casino! But that didn’t keep the North Star show from selling out the day the tickets went on sale!  They would have sold out in an hour if they would have had internet sales! In fact the Casino had such a response to the show, they added standing room only tickets to accomodate a few more Goke-aholics!

I managed to “twist” Ed’s arm to travel with me the 3+ hours to the show.  As we neared the concert venue in the Casino, we encountered many sweet ihearties:  Cori and Dave, Karen and Rich, Cindy, Pam, Michelle, Jen, Jenny, Nicole, Joyce, Marcia, Kathy, Kristie and several other familiar faces―all big fans we’ve seen at multiple shows.  We decided to join the line to get in.  As we stood about 75 people back from the doors, Mike Childers spots Ed in the line and greets him with a heartily “Hey, Ed!  How are you?” And proceeds to give him a big man hug.  Being overlooked, but NOT stupid, I protest that Mike’s not being fair, and Mike turns to me and gives me a very nice hug!  Hey, I’m willing to use my husband’s bromance with Danny and his band to get a good hug…..

The Meet and Greet

They open the doors for the general admission just before the Meet and Greet and we score center row seats, 8 rows back.  Not bad.  Not front row, but hey, how greedy can I get?

Ed and I line up with the ihearties for the M&G.  When it’s our turn, we enter the curtained area to the right of the stage and Mike says to Danny, “Here’s some folks you’ll recognize.”  Danny says “Brother, Ed! Good to see you!”  and I get the pleasure of being in the middle of the two men as Mike snaps the photo.  I had brought along the last two “County Weekly”s to ask Danny what he thought of the Sophia’s Heart article and the #4 placing  as Hottest Bachelor poll. Danny looks at them both and says to me “You guys got me to number 4.”  I said yes, we had each made sure our entire households voted to push him up from last year’s fifth place finishing.  He looks at me and says with a big smile “Let’s go for #1 next year!”  We laughed and I expressed surprise that Gary Allen managed to get ahead of Danny…..

The Concert

The concert venue was full –and everyone was seated well before the start of the show.  In fact, the venue was having trouble finding seats for some of the patrons, since they had also sold standing room tickets.  This was a very enthusiastic crowd for Danny.  Lots of singing along to his music, cheers and clapping.  In fact, when Danny introduced “What Hurts the Most” as his most popular song from American Idol, someone from the crowd yelled out “You should have won!”  and a huge cheer and applause followed.  Danny responded that he didn’t win, but he’s still winning in that he’s doing what he loves, singing for a living.  He said it was something that he wanted to do since he was a little boy.

Somewhere around the telling of his engagement to Sophia, Danny commented on some changes in his life.  Before Idol, he was Daniel Gokey.  Not really noticed.  He said, “I go on a TV show, become “Danny Gokey” and women are now saying “He’s cutee……”

When he introduced “Gimme a Kiss” he said it was a song that he and Brandon had written and that it would be used in his “new project”.  He didn’t say his CD. His CD could be the new project, but it seemed significant that he emphasized project twice when talking about GAK….

Towards the end of the concert, he thanked all of us for voting for him, supporting him, and buying his music.  He said its been awhile since he’s had new music out, but that his new single would be released on July 25th.  He asked us to follow him on twitter, facebook or Dannygokey.com to find out the name of the single and to learn more.

When Danny left after Living on a Prayer, the crowd started chanting his name and didn’t leave the front of the stage (where we were invited to dance for the last few songs.) He and the band came back and performed “Ain’t too Proud to Beg”, “Signed, Sealed Delivered” and “I heard it on the Grapevine”—this one especially got great crowd response, seeing it was his audition song on Idol, and he finished with “Boot Scoot Boogie”.

The End

I joined a good part of the crowd in the autograph line, and when it was my turn (Ed wasn’t in the line yet, he likes to be last….) Danny looks up to me and says “It was good to see Ed here, tonight!”

So ladies, grab your man, or draft one for the night, when you head to Danny’s concert.  It will get you more noticed by Danny Gokey and the band.  Especially if he stands out in a crowd, like my Ed….

I had been wanting to go on this trip/concerts from the day I found out Danny was going to have concerts in Oregon as it would fall around my birthday/mother’s day weekend it would be CRAZY NOT TO go.  I love to travel to new places I have never been to and see America The Beautiful and when you can also combine it with a Danny Gokey concert, it doesn‘t get any better than that.  I save money every pay period towards my trips and at times if I am traveling and I am not in a hurry if the plane is overbooked I get bumped to a later flight and there is usually a substantial reward/future travel savings when this happens (this does not happen all the time).  IT’S ONLY been since I started to follow Danny’s career that I have been traveling more often.  I love to travel and I am blessed to finally be able to do some, long ago my career choice was to become a travel agent but it didn’t quite go that way and it’s a good thing as these days we are all pretty much self sufficient when it comes to travel arrangements and booking reservations and etc.

I didn’t have to twist Jan’s arm so much as we both really wanted to experience these two Danny concerts with some special ihearties that were also going to be there either from the area and some others traveling out of state,  and we knew the concerts  would be a blast as all ihearties gatherings are.  OK lets move on to the day of departure  to Oregon.

Day #1- Wednesday 5/4/11 – Multnomah Falls

I had booked a really early morning flight as Jan and I wanted to get as much sightseeing done as possible before the concerts.  I arrived in Portland, OR late morning and met up with Jan and off we went with GPS and also a map in hand so there was no chance we would get lost. I did all the driving on this trip and we started by driving to Multnomah Falls and pretty much spent the day there which was absolutely beautiful (see photos) we walked all the 11 switchbacks up to the top of the falls which was breathtaking we later had dinner at the lodge and then headed over to Salem overnight and checked in to the hotel and watched American Idol and by the time we went to sleep Jan and I had both been awake for 22 hours straight considering the time zone change. This first day it was great catching up with Jan and I don’t mean just the talking part, it is really hard to  keep up with her as she is a fast walker.

Day #2 – Thursday 5/5/11- Salem/Newport

As Jan can tell you, I have a programmed brain alarm clock that wakes me up between 6AM and 6:30AM every morning and she is a light sleeper so needless to say during our trips together its always go to sleep late wake up early. We spent the morning in Salem visiting with Happyhexer from twitter, she took us on a tour of where she works and we had lunch together.  It is indeed a small world the security guard in her building is from my area of NYS.  Must add that while we were waiting for Happyhexer to come greet us, he did not allow us to move from in front of him and he was watching us closely especially Jan, she tried to walk past him and he called her back maybe we looked like we were TROUBLE. Visited the State Capitol (see photos) as that is a must see stop for Jan.  After lunch we drove to Newport to the coast. It was a very scenic drive along the way we stopped at 2 covered bridges, went to a lighthouse, saw some beautiful ocean views,  Cape Perpetua The Devil’s Churn (see photos)

Day #3 – Friday 5/6/11 – Concert #1 – Chinook Winds Casino – LC

Early morning drive to Chinook Winds Casino.  On our drive we stopped to see the Devil’s Punch Bowl (see photos) and drove by some more breathtaking ocean views. I bet in the summer this area is spectacular.

Arrived in LC around noon and we stayed at the casino hotel and we had a great view of the ocean as all rooms faced the ocean. We laid low for the rest of the day and then around 6:30pm all the ihearties that were there met at the casino we picked up our M&G passes and it was scheduled for 7:15pm.  I was part of the last group of ihearties that were there and the setting where Danny was meeting fans was to the side of the stage,  a very small area.  I overheard Danny say that he no longer has the dog he rescued on the freeway;  also that the single is finished and its up to his label to decide when to release it but he thought sometime in June.  Jan asked Mike if Danny could be filmed with my camera to send a message to his fans and he said Yes and most of you have already seen the Thank You video.  He was so happy that his fans voted their faces off and won the contest for Sophia’s Heart, he also mentioned that he was voting right along with us.  I was still able to spend a minute or so talking to him we just made some small talk and I congratulated him on winning the contest and then as we went to hug there was a bit of an awkward moment as he was coming towards me almost to the point of reaching me I backed away and he looked surprised then I explained to him I did that because I wanted to let him know that the hug was from all the ihearties that couldn’t be there at the concert and then we hugged for real and it was a great hug I must say.  My seat for this night’s concert was on the right of the stage first row and in front of Matt and the stage was literally 2 steps away from me. I knew I could take excellent videos but also knew that the sound would be distorted some of you might have already seen the  videos. Based on where I was sitting I ended up taking a few pictures of Danny‘s back side unintentionally, LIKE THAT’S A BAD THING!  Danny had such high energy and there is not much else I can say as you can see for yourself in the videos he was having a blast on stage dancing and his voice was absolutely amazing. I have never been at a Danny concert where the front row and the stage are that close where he is just inches away.  Loved every minute of this concert and that is why I like to record the concerts as I can go back and watch them over and over. A lot of fans stayed to get his autograph and by the time I got to the autograph table it looked like they only had a couple of cds left on the table and I bought one of them to gift to a coworker who also voted during the WSB contest and I got it autographed for her. We stayed until the very end of the line and watched Danny leave the theatre with two guards, I don’t know what Danny did afterwards and it wouldn’t surprise me if he went dancing but I can tell you that all the ihearties went to an after concert get together at the condo where some ihearties were staying and we had an awesome time until the wee hours of the morning.

Day #4 Saturday 5/7/11- Concert #2 Chinook Winds Casino, LC

This was a very relaxing morning some went walking on the beach, some went shopping and then later most of us headed for the condo again and it was perfect timing as the sun came out and we spent some time outdoors looking at the beautiful ocean waves. Second concert and M&G same time same place.  The M&G line was much longer than the previous night (at least that is what it seemed like to me).  When my turn came up I told Danny how amazing his performance was the night before and finally brought along my copy of the Our Best Days With Danny Gokey book to have it autographed.  Note to self from now on write down questions or things you want to talk to him about as I still continue to forget all I want to say once I am in front of him.  On this night my seat was to left of the stage and there was a bulky keyboard stand in front of us but we got a great view of Brandon (both nights I was not able to view Mike at all and wasn’t able to get any pictures of him).  Danny’s voice sounded a bit tired in the beginning,  he improved as he sang more and his performance was outstanding.  The audience although a bit more low key they appeared to be having a great time.  I was planning on not taking any videos or pictures at all at this concert and sure enough I couldn’t resist myself and I still took some videos but a lot less than usual.  Although Jan and I both had early flights Sunday morning we had decided that we would stay to the very end so we also did the autograph line and it was very long. Danny and Mike walked right by us as he was going to the autograph table passing by acknowledging us with his beautiful smile and his very friendly attitude. Got talking to a couple behind me in the auto line and they had nothing but praises about Danny and the performance he had just put on and the wife told me she cried during IWNSG and that it was her favorite song (I did see them buy his cd)  It was a good 45 minutes to an hour by the time we got to the table. I briefly spoke with Brandon at this time and he mentioned that Jamie will be joining them this weekend in WI. Once in front of Danny I asked him if there was any place online I could hear him sing Gospel songs and he said that he sings for Oasis Church from time to time.  Once again we waited until the very end and apparently ihearties had asked Mike for Danny to take one more picture  with me as the next day was my birthday and as tired as he said he was before he left he stopped to have the picture taken with me and another one with Jan and I and on his way he went holding on to a plush stuffed animal that a fan gave him could not tell what animal it was either a bear or a dog.   Its just not Danny’s performances and voice that are addictive it is also the kindness of his heart and soul.

Jan and I said our “so long until next concert” with all the ihearties as WE WILL NEVER SAY GOODBYE as I feel our friendships will last forever and we drove back to Portland, checked in a hotel at about 2:00 AM as it was a must to not sleep in the car even if it was for just 2 hours.  We were already at the airport checking in and saying “so long until Summerfest” at 4:30AM.

I arrived at my mom’s house to give her a  hug and tell her how much I love her at about 7pm eastern time.  This was a fantastic birthday/mother’s day long weekend  GET AWAY and although I didn’t get to see my own son on Mother’s Day he kept me company on the phone during my time waiting at the airports, it was the next best thing.

- Toni -