The tell-tale sign of a True Gokeyholic: making another road trip just 6 days after the last one to see Danny. I couldn’t resist since Wheaton was only a two hour drive from Milgokey. And my fellow road travelers are definitely enablers, asking me ahead of time if I wanted them to get me a ticket! Michelle – you would not make a good GA (Gokeyholics anonymous) sponsor!

It was a little miserable at the fair – No cloud cover, little shade and in the 90’s temperature wise (that would be 33-35 degrees Celsius for our international fans). One person spent the time waiting in the bathroom, where at least there was shade. At least my group came later, since some of us had to work in the morning. Michelle and Christy came down in the morning (they were so sweet to come early to get tickets for some fans who decided to come at the last minute) and were fried by the time we arrived.

DuPage was a larger fair than Rockton, but smaller crowd for D. I am terrible at estimating, but maybe 2000? Rockton had 3000 tickets sold for Danny’s concert.

I am not a fan of the tank shirt look, but wow, just wow, Danny looked incredible at the meet & greet. Like Jan said, he gets better looking all the time! Tattoo on full display.

I was so flustered I stepped on his foot!!! He said it was ok, he has “tough feet”. Erika, I was happy to re-read your recap and discover that you had also stepped on his foot prior to the interview, lol.

Like Jan said he was very talkative, even though he confirmed they were exhausted, had been up since 4 am with no nap.

He told me THREE times once again how much he loves Ihearties! Not sure why all the new found love (maybe Erika coming?), but we’ll take it! At the meet & greet he said it, also said he tweeted to go to iheart (instead of specifically saying to request his single, Lizzy, Josie) because we have it laid out so well with the super fan buttons (and it tells people exactly what/how to do). He asked whose idea that was! – I said Steph and Erika as far as I knew – sorry if I missed anyone I wasn’t aware of. He said he wanted to link his Facebook page to iheart also. He hadn’t watched our interview yet – I asked.

Michelle had asked him at the meet & greet to do a snippet of Single Ladies at this concert (he had done it at Summerfest on a whim I think!) so she could record it for all the fan requests and he did! Love Mr. Daniel J <3 Michelle recorded Trouble again but it may not turn out as well as first one, because there were a bunch of VIP winners in front of the barricades getting in the way. I still haven’t had time to catch up on all the videos, but have heard that Trouble Part II is Double Trouble! Raining on Sunday was EXQUISITE. I wasn’t that fond of it the first time I heard it on videos, but wow, is it beautiful live. He is so soulful.

Smaller crowd not as responsive as Rockton/Summerfest, but still good!

Cherie, so nice to meet you finally! I think the heat addled my brain, thanks Jan for pointing her out so I could introduce myself. I was going to intro you to Michelle (the master mind behind your favorite video – TROUBLE – she was the pretty, tall dark one) but concert started and things got nuts as usual. Also met Brandon (indigo from Twitter) there, super nice, good looking guy, as well as great Danny fan.

The band was great, again, soooo glad Matt is with them, he shines. Jamie was with them again.

Danny was full of banter, think he was hyped from AI excitement in the morning. Voice seemed a little tired/hoarse at times (who wouldn’t with his morning activities) but concert was great as usual. The guy with his family we befriended (we let his little girls stand in front of us at the front, saved their place in line and gave them SHF bracelets) thought it was “superb”, saying “Now I know what all of you were talking about”.

Danny wanted security guards to remove the barricades and asked them to do it (at the front) to let all of us run up to the stage at the end! But the guards said no! I think he loves it when we are mobbing the stage and dancing with him at the end.

He signed at the end, and again when he saw me, said how much he loved his ihearties. When Jen and some others went through the line he start singsonging/chanting “Luv, luv, luv Ihearties”. He must have been a little punch drunk from exhaustion, lol! It was difficult for Mike to drag him away from people. Poor, wonderful Mike, such a terrible job (Mike is the sweetest) – maybe we should offer to sit in for him.

They were off immediately to another city. They must get so fatigued, yet all band member smile at fans, are extremely kind, and give 110% at every concert. A Danny concert is such a bargain!

Danny Gokey put on a dynamite show as the headliner for the DuPage County Fair on July 21^st!  The Wheaton, Illinois show was a high energy, full voice, 90 minute performance! It included a ton of fun, un-choreographed dance moves by Danny.  If you’ve seen the concert video of  “T.R.O.U.B.L.E”, you know what I mean!  We all loved it!  Danny seemed to be running on adrenalin from the excitement of participating in the American Idol Season 10 auditions that morning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Lucky us!

In the morning before a Danny Gokey concert, I always think, “Hey, we’ve got lots of time.  You know, we don’t have to be in the front of the line this time……”.  An hour (or more) before our planned departure time, Ed can expect me to be ready to go. And the idea of my not being there when the gates open is too hard for me to bear! Wheaton was no exception.  We headed out for our Danny concert adventure.

Waiting

Yup, we usually do a lot of that.  We arrived at the Wheaton County Fairgrounds shortly after 5PM.  The tickets say Danny is to perform at 8PM.  (Actual starting time was around 9PM.) We had no idea when the gates to the concert field were to open.  A nice security guard tries to find out for me. Sometime between 6 and 6:30.  Hmmm… we’ve got only an hour to wait in the blazing sun, on blacktop? Now that’s pretty good by my standards!  We find 10-15 or so “harder core” Gokey fans already waiting.  Some of them have been there ALL afternoon. A few looked pretty sun-baked.  But spirits are good and everyone is pretty friendly.  After we spread out our blanket, Ed and I are assured that others will hold our spots if we want to go explore.  As we walked around the very small fair, I hear a distinctive voice.  Its Danny’s voice!  I make a beeline to 98.3 FM  WCCQ’s radio stand because I hear Danny’s voice coming over their speaker!  After the interview is played, they played IWNSGB!  I stay to talk to the DJs.  They tell me that they had interviewed Danny on his tour bus about an hour earlier.  The DJ said Danny had flew in from Milwaukee to be at the concert.  He also said that Danny told them he had been up since 4:30 AM for the American Idol auditions and had not taken a nap yet.  They guessed he might be trying to do that now. As I was talking to the DJ,  Cherie came up and asked if I was Jan?  We exchanged  hellos and hugs and then head back to the concert line.  Ed, of course is missing, but in 30 plus years, I haven’t permanently lost him yet, so I’m not worried.

On the Field before the Concert

By the time gates do open (never on time) there is a line all the way back to the fairgrounds entrance.  I keep looking around. No Ed.  No answer on his cell phone.  And I have his concert ticket in my purse.  If he doesn’t get here before the gates open, do I wait outside for him?  Jeopardizing a “primo” spot, but being a good wife?  Well, we’ll never know, because he showed up just before they start to let us in.  (Please don‘t ask Ed whether I‘d be the good wife……)

The stage is set up in a grassy field with football stand style grandstands quite a way back–50 yards away? The ticket takers want to know who wants to go into the grandstands.  Nobody.  We all want to be up by the stage!  Ed causally strolls in with another guy while the crazed ladies run for the places in front of the stage.  Did I ever mention that I have a son that is a great sprinter?  I had scoped out a place in front, between Brandon’s keyboard and the center microphone.  Score!  I spread out our blanket and wait for Ed to join me.  Cherie joins us, too.  The other ihearties (Pam, Michelle, Jen, Karen, Christie, Val, Jennie and friends) had made a beeline for an area between the main microphone and Matt’s microphone.  Folding chairs, lots of blankets and a picnic atmosphere ensues.  I met some really sweet Danny fans around us (J and L) and we exchange email addresses so we can swap photos.  (Thanks, ladies!) Amazingly, its less than an hour to the Meet and Greet time.  Now, compared to the marathons I’ve had at the concerts at Turner Hall and Summerfest, this seems like a very abbreviated wait.

Meet and Greet

All of the Sophia’s Heart M&G pass holders are lined up first.  As we walk behind the stage towards the tour bus, what do we see but Danny standing in full view of us wearing a muscle shirt (sleeveless), shorts and sandals!  Yeah!!! I turn to Ed and any female around me and exclaim “We get to see Danny’s tattoo!!!”  Hopefully my fan girling wasn’t too loud, but I’m guessing I wasn’t too contained…I’m not asking Ed because I really don’t want to know the answer!

As I wait for my turn, I tell Mike that I saw him on the video with Danny and Matt this morning.  I tell him that it seems like he’s trying to keep a low profile, but its not working because of whom he’s hanging out with.  Mike laughs.  When its my time, I practically throw my other things on the ground so I’m unencumbered and I walk up to Danny and I say hello.  I get a big hug and he takes the photo from my hand to sign.  I remarked how wonderful it was to see him in Milwaukee for the AI auditions.  He asked if I was there? I said no,  but the internet had tons of videos, articles and pictures about it.  We talk a little bit more about it.  He seemed so happy and excited about it.  We pose for the picture and then its Ed’s turn.  Danny turns to Ed and says to Mike “I love seeing this guy at my shows!”  They greet each other like old friends, man hug and fist bumps.  Danny actually brings up a topic that Ed and he had discussed at the Ho Chunk concert.  Clearly my husband has made a lasting impression, LOL.  Let me tell you, this has made my gokey-holism so much easier.

As we were leaving, I asked Mike if Ed and I could have a picture together with Danny.  He assures us it would be fine and we wait for an opening.  As we stand on each side of Danny, Danny tries to put his around the back of Ed, and Ed says “Oh, no!  We have to show off that tattoo!” and he maneuvers Danny’s right shoulder to be in front view.  Ed asks him if he’s going to flex for the photo?  Danny laughs and we all beamed at the camera.  Frankly, it happened so fast, I didn’t really expect the picture of all of us to  “turn out” ok, but Mike did his magic with my little camera. It’s a photo I certainly will treasure.

Concert Notes

The unannounced opener for Danny was a local band called the “Back Roads Band”.  They performed a lot of current songs from country radio; artists like Lady A.  I especially liked the female vocalist.  I was thinking, too bad she didn’t try out for American Idol this morning in Milwaukee…..

Well, as you’ve all seen and heard, the concert was wonderful.  Danny is really perfecting the art of being a live performer.  I see the growth in every concert I have attended.  As Danny danced across the stage, he said at one point “Simon says I can’t dance, but I don’t care!  They also said man couldn’t fly!“  His interaction with the band members is really growing and the crowd participation on songs like “I Still Believe“, “What Hurts the Most” and “Back at One” in this show was superb.  All of the band members seem to be really good musicians and they have a good vibe going on.  Finally, I have to say that I think he performs most of the songs from his album better than what is recorded.  He just excels as a live performer.

At the conclusion of the concert Danny told the crowd that he would sign autographs after the show.  We stayed to congratulate him on the great show and to have another CD signed.   It was a wonderful night!

I have a really precious slide show that my granddaughter made featuring “My Best Days”.
[...]
A bit of background on the slide show: The “Mr. Phil” referred to in the dedication, is baby Kyle’s daddy who is serving our country right now in Kuwait with the Florida Army National Guard (as is my son, Richard McAlister) and he has not seen his baby in person since this past Feb. My granddaughter, Catherine McAlister (14 years old), put this together without telling anyone about it and used Danny’s song. She is a big Danny fan, as I am. – Lyne Berry

You’ve already seen the pictures but, if you want to see them again, go HERE.

Old Settlers Days, Rockton, IL – July 15, 2010

The fun started even before we got to the Old Settlers Days grounds, as Michelle took us (Jen, Pam, Val and I) on an awesome road trip to Rockton. I could travel with these superb ladies forever! So much fun! Love you all dearly! Lots of good talk, good music (Danny, of course) and plenty of laughs. We stopped at a gas station called Love’s on our way. Too memorable! We had to take pictures!

Although the show wouldn’t start till 9 PM and the doors wouldn’t open till 5:30 PM, we arrived there a bit before 4 PM, as my interview with Danny (!) was scheduled for 4:45 PM.

After some confusion about where to park, we got to the main entrance (and for the life of me, I can’t remember the name of the high school that was being used as parking lot for the festival, just remember that pronouncing it was pretty challenging). And like Summerfest, it was freakin’ hot!

Some familiar faces were already there: Laurie, Jason, as well as his family. They gave us the dress report on Danny during soundcheck, showing pics of him in a white shirt. Swoon…

Although it wasn’t 4:45 PM yet, I called Mike (Childers, road manager and drummer) as Danny’s management had instructed me to. He said that they were still at the hotel, showering and running late so he would give me a call when they got back to the venue. He said he would come and meet me to take me to the tour bus, where the interview would take place. Let me just open a fangirly parenthesis here and squeeeee! OMG, I get to enter the tour bus!!!

We hung out some more near the gates and milgokey fan and Casey25 arrived in the meantime. <3

It was sometime after 5 PM when Mike called and came to meet me and Pam at the fair’s entrance. Pam was coming to record the interview and keep me from fainting… LOL (That’s true, that’s what I wrote when I asked his management if I could bring someone with me! When they answered, the day before the interview, they said that Pam could come. It was sweet, they remembered that I said that I was staying with her. )

Mike showed his backstage pass (with Danny’s picture on it) to the security guard that was controlling the entrance and told him that he was going to take us inside to interview Danny. The guard was cool with it so we entered. Mike led the way to the bus (that was parked behind the stage) while we made small talk about the weather and I asked him if Danny had had a busy day. He said yes, that he had already given a ton of interviews. I felt sorry for Danny, thinking that he was probably exhausted.

Mike asked us to wait for a minute outside the bus while he checked if we could come in. Then, he came out and said that we could enter. There were leather lounges attached on each side of the corridor, with a table/seat on the left side (where Mike sat with his laptop) and a small coffee/tea area on the right. The rest of the bus was separated by a curtain.

Pam and I sat on the right side lounge and I was beyond nervous. Pam was fiddling with her camera so I guess she was nervous as well. Mike said he would call Danny and went through the curtain.

And then, like magic, Danny was in front of us. I didn’t know what to do. I remember that I stood up to hug him and he said something like ‘Hi Erika. How are you doing?’ I might have stepped on his foot when I was hugging him – that’s how nervous and clumsy I was! – and, if I did, sorry Danny!!! He then greeted Pam and she may recall it waaaay better than I do because I was a pile of nerves at that point!

This part is a bit of a blur. I remember Pam saying that Danny and I should sit both on the same side so she could get us both on camera. I don’t remember if she said that before or after Danny came in. So sit on the same lounge we did. Danny looked exhausted. Poor thing.

We thanked him for the interview and said that we had some off-camera questions/requests for him and asked if we could start with those. He said no problem so we did those first. I told him that off-camera was exactly that, that I wouldn’t post what he said during that time so we could have a conversation. As he mentioned some things we discussed off-camera during the recorded interview, I’ll describe what led to that.

I asked him if he could tweet his followers asking them to request ‘I Will Not Say Goodbye’ to country radio. He said something like ‘Do you want me to tweet asking people to request it on the radio?’ and I answered yes, that several other artists tweet asking followers to request. Then he nodded and said ‘Yeah, I can do that. Never thought about it but I can definitely do that.’ If you saw the recorded interview, he mentions this conversation at the end of it.

We also asked him:

- What we at iheart could do for him that we are not doing yet?

- Is there anything that we do that would be better if we didn’t do or that he doesn’t like and would like us to change?

He thought for a moment and said ‘No, nothing, I can’t think of anything!’, that all that he could think of, we did for him and that he loved the site, wouldn’t change anything. He started talking about iheart with such praise and thanked us with such warmth that I wanted to pinch myself to see if I wasn’t dreaming. I wish we had caught it on tape for our ihearties, it was so surreal, to hear him gushing about how much he appreciates the site and the ihearties and talking about the site in a way that made me think ‘OMG, he really visits us!’. He particularly loves the little boxes with tasks on it (’5 minutes for Danny’ / ‘Power Fan’ / ‘Getting Started’ at the time… now we have the ‘Special Short-term Polls’ as well). He said they were perfect. Awwww… <3

We talked about some other things and then went to the recorded part of the interview that, I’m sure, you already watched. If not, go watch it! You can ignore my stuttering and concentrate on Danny and how adorable he is! It was supposed to be 15 minutes in total but just the recorded part ended up being 20 minutes! [and well done, ihearties... I e-mailed his management thanking for the interview and they wrote back saying that we had 'really great questions for Danny'! Awwww, they are soooo sweet!]

And he tweeted what he promised he would, asking people to visit iheart to find ways to support him! Such a sweetie! <3

After we stopped recording, we talked a bit more, serious talk and small talk, he praised iheart again, I don’t remember exactly what but something he said made me mention Amy and Steph. He asked how Amy was doing and I told him that she was good, that she was on vacation with family. During this time, he signed some stuff for me and I gave him Toni’s small gift and mine. When Toni and I went to NYC, we saw magnets that reminded us of Danny so we got them for him.

When he was signing, he asked if I spelled Erika as E-R-I-K-A and I stuttered for a moment before repeating it myself and confirming. Major fail, could not remember how to spell my own name! Danny, don’t ask me to spell in English! LOL! I get confused because, in Portuguese, the sounds for each letter are different. For instance, the ‘E sound’ represents ‘I’, so I always have to think twice before spelling. Same thing with ‘push’ and ‘pull’. In Portuguese, ‘puxe’ (pronounced similar to ‘push’) means ‘pull’ so I’m always pulling doors instead of pushing…

I asked if he would mind taking a picture without his glasses. I said that I love him no matter what, with or without glasses but, as I already had beautiful pics with him from Summerfest with his glasses on, I thought we could have something different. He said he didn’t mind at all but that he wasn’t wearing contacts at that moment so he wouldn’t really know where to look. If I was ok with that, we could take it. So Pam took it and we had a quick look at the pic to see if it had come out ok. I love that pic because it was really cute how he bent down a little to be at the same level as me, since I’m so much shorter than him.

Now, let me say here that I had no intention to disrespect Danny, his contract with the awesome guys at Wisconsin Vision or the fans that think that what makes Danny what he is are his glasses.

I LOVE DANNY, glasses or no glasses, independent of what he’s wearing or which accessories he’s using. My love and support will never depend on how he looks. I loved him from audition, first for his voice and then for his heart, before even paying attention to his appearance. He knows that so I know that he wasn’t offended.

I DMed @WisconsinVision asking if my picture offended him/his contract with Danny. He answered ‘no offense what so ever!’ and said that, in fact, he had just finished spending time with Danny adjusting his glasses!

It never crossed my mind that the simple act of asking for a picture without his glasses could be interpreted as that I think less of him, that I don’t accept him the way he is or that I’d be clearly showing that he’s not good enough for me… If you’re one of the Danny fans appalled and disappointed by the picture, I apologize… not for the picture itself because I don’t see anything wrong with it – in fact, I love it -, but for not foreseeing that this interpretation could possibly happen.

I keep thinking about it, though, and wonder how was I supposed to even entertain this thought? Danny appeared without glasses on his latest music video, on his CD, on American Idol, even took a picture of himself without glasses and tweeted it… and, if you think about his Wisconsin Vision contract, they also sell contact lenses so I really can’t see what I did that was so wrong. And believe me, I’ve been giving this A LOT of thought! I wasn’t rejecting his trademark glasses, I LOVE them! I proudly wear glasses to read things in the distance, don’t have anything against them!

But, anyway, let’s move on and forget about it…

We got another hug, said thanks again, he asked if there was anything else to sign, I said no, we said our ‘goodbyes’ / ‘we love you, Danny!’ and interview time was over as Fox was outside the bus waiting to talk to him next.

He was so candid and sweet. It was such a privilege to talk to him and to feel that he loves and trusts us.

I thanked Mike for organizing the interview and he was a sweetheart saying that he was the one thanking us for doing that and for the site.

When Pam and I made our way back to the main entrance (walking on clouds, obviously), people were coming in. The staff controlling the gates was a bit disorganized, having problems checking the tickets, I guess, as we had to go back there again after getting our “buttons” (proof of admission to the fair), because they had forgot to give us the wristband access to the show grounds.

As we hung around at the front of the stage, I saw other Danny fans that had arrived while Pam and I were with Danny: Jan and Ed (with Melinda and Joe coming later on), Kristie and Yomarie. During the day, also saw Cori and her grandson, Christy, Tracy, MissMegz977 and, later on the day, Steeeeeeeeph! Finally met sweet Steph in person! I might have scared her, she’s so composed and reserved but I had to hug her! Several times! =)

[I'm not posting pictures of the other ihearties as I didn't get their permission to do so. I know that some of them don't want their pictures on the internet.]

At some moment, Laurie came and told me that I should go to the merchandise stand because there was a TV reporter there that wanted to interview me. I thought she was joking. Then, other people started telling me the same thing and, before I knew it, Pam was steering me towards the tent, saying that we were going to get something to eat afterwards (That’s Pam’s mum side speaking… promise a treat after the homework!). Only that, instead of homework, it was a guy with a microphone and another with a camera, saying that I should hang around for some minutes because we were going live. Wait. Live? What?! I don’t even remember what I said when he interviewed me live. I have a vague recollection of looking at him talking to the camera and then of him putting the mic in front of me but I have no idea whatsoever of what he asked or what I answered. I think I didn’t make a fool of myself because after it was finished, he asked if I could stay there for some more minutes because he wanted to interview me to air it on the 10 PM News.

The reporter was really nice. I think he was at the fair to give the weather report, not to interview anyone. Anyway, he asked me several questions and those I remember because I wasn’t as nervous as when it was live on air… When did I start being a fan of Danny? How did I end up in the US, coming to Old Settlers Days? Was it the first show I was attending? Is his show good? How was he in person, everything that I thought he would be?… and then he asked the last question, the one they aired and made me blush a chilli colour… ‘Will you marry him?’

My brain was screaming ‘What kind of question is that?! Where did that come from?!’ and my answer would be ‘No!’ because I’m not delusional to imagine that I’d have any chance and I still think of him as married and totally out of bounds. I said ‘I wish!’, though, as the girls were cheering and making me beetroot red.

The reporter didn’t know Danny and I asked him if he was going to stay for the concert. He said he wished he could because looked like Danny was a really good show but that he was working and had to go back to the station. Maybe some other time.

By the way, the interview is Val’s fault! She’s the one that saw the reporter and told him my story. She’s been wanting to do that since Summerfest, I think! When we saw “Transformers 3″ filming in downtown Milwaukee earlier that week with an old yellow car that, I imagine, would be dear Bumblebee (my favourite Transformers character), she joked: ‘Should we go there and tell them that you meeting Danny is much more interesting than Transformers?’ LOL, she’s a hoot! And “Transformers 3″ was everywhere! When I went to Chicago, the day after the Rockton concert, they were filming in downtown Chicago as well! It was much more flashy, with some destruction scenes, cars wrecked and pavement destroyed, fire and smoke… but I digress… let’s go back to Danny.

Then, we realized that we had to go try and find where the ‘Meets & Greets’ passes were being exchanged so we decided to do that before eating. Pam didn’t have a M&G but Jen and Michelle did. Jen gave me my Rockton M&G, as well as a SHF t-shirt at Summerfest. <3 THANK YOU SO MUCH, JEN!

‘Old Settlers Days’ was lacking organization so badly. They had no idea where the M&G passes were, even though Mike said that M&G had been handed to them half an hour earlier. They let us go backstage to get the M&G passes on our word only, without reading the confirmation paper. Huh?! That doesn’t make sense at all! What if we were crazy? Luckily, we are normal, got our SHF VIP stickers and instructions and left the backstage area (on our own… no one would apparently care if we stuck around!!!).

Then Jen, Michelle and I went to get a bite to eat. Jen said I should get a funnel cake as she did and that Danny loves it. I debated for a while if I should get one or not as it was pretty big and sticky and messy and a bomb of calories. Funnel cake doesn’t really look like a cake but it’s sweet and, like Danny, I don’t say no to sugar! The lady handed mine with a plastic fork. LOL. I must have voiced my concern about the stickiness a lot! It was yummy but I could only eat half of it. Jen tweeted Danny saying she was introducing me to funnel cake. LOL!

We went back to the front of the stage, hung around a bit more (I think Candy Coburn was playing at the time… sorry, lady, couldn’t concentrate on you! The fan effect on your hair was pretty cool, though!) and then it was time to go to the M&G. The day was flying. The meeting point was in front of the merchandise tent so I took the opportunity to buy another Danny t-shirt, the new pink one.

They lined up everyone in front of the tour bus, Mike was there organizing the queue, Brandon, his beautiful Jamie and the other guys were hanging around, coming in and out of the bus. I thanked Mike again for being so sweet and asked if I could take a pic with him afterwards. He’s always so sweet and smiley. Such a nice guy!

I was feeling weird, being at the M&G just hours after the interview. It felt like I was stalking Danny. All the things that I had brought with me, Danny had signed at the interview but, when I met Jan, after the interview, she gave me a picture of Danny and I that she took at Summerfest so I decided to ask him to sign that. Ivan appeared for a brief moment and I quickly met him while in line.

It was just a joy to see Danny posing for pictures with people, especially the big family that was in front of us in line. They had this adorable blonde baby with huuuuuge blue eyes (I’m guessing 2 yo) that kept leaning towards Danny during all the pictures that they took. Danny is such a kid magnet, they just love him! Ok… not only kids… LOL!

When it was my turn, I gave my camera to Mike so he could take a pic. I yelled to Danny when I was walking towards him ‘Danny, I swear, I’m not stalking you!’… He laughed and gave me that beautiful smile, stretched his arms and shook his hands as if saying ‘come here’ while saying ‘Erikaaaaaa!’… While he was hugging me, I told him that I had to see him as many times as I could that day as I was leaving the next day to Brazil. He asked me how long was the flight and I told him 10 hours from Chicago. He was surprised, thought it was really long. Then I told him that it was nothing compared to the time it took to come from Australia (going to airport + flight Brisbane-LA + connection time + flight LA-Chicago + car ride Chicago-MKE took about 24 hours). He said ‘Wow, thank you for travelling all that to come see me!’. I thanked him, told him it was my pleasure, that I was having the time of my life. Then Mike took our picture. I could stay there with my head on his shoulder for all eternity. So comfy!

And then he saw the pic in my hands. He looked at it a bit puzzled (I guess he was thinking ‘Geeez, I thought I had signed them all after the interview!’) and asked ‘Do you want me to sign it?’ while trying to find a spot in the pic where he wouldn’t write over him or me. I was hoping he would sign in the middle, over my belly – on the pic! I know where in the gutter your mind is going! – as it would help hide how fat I looked on that! He didn’t, though, signing at the bottom left corner.

And then he wanted to talk a bit more about what we had discussed off-camera before. Later on, Laurie showed me some pictures that she took and told me that it looked like we were discussing something serious…

(by Laurie)

I hugged him again after we finished talking and went to the side so he could continue the M&Gs. I hung around, taking pics of lovely ihearties during their M&Gs and had my pic taken with Mike.

When our group was finished, we waved goodbye to Danny and Mike and left.

Back to the front of the stage we went, waiting for Danny’s show to start. Near 9 PM, the place was packed, a sea of people as far as I could see. What a show! Danny was as awesome as at Summerfest, and the crowd went absolutely crazy for him! It’s incredible, doesn’t matter how tired he is or how full his day was, he goes up on that stage and just kills it! Soooo good!

There were sooo many bugs flying around the lights on the stage. At some point, Danny said that one of them flew straight into his mouth. That’s why he kept wiping his tongue. It’s so cute the way he said ‘Ewwww’.

This show was like another hometown show for him as he used to sing at Faith Builders in Beloit and used to work in the vicinity. Danny recognized one of his ex-bosses in the crowd!

The set was the same as at Summerfest, sans the ‘Single Ladies’ snippet and the SHF choir: ‘Like That’s A Bad Thing’, ‘Be Somebody’, ‘Life On Ya’, ‘I Still Believe’ (Rockton crowd was as good as Summerfest’s singing back at him, he loved it), ‘Tiny Life’, ‘It’s Only’ (he mentioned singing it with the SHF Choir at Summerfest, asked people to imagine the choir behind him), ‘My Best Days Are Ahead Of Me’, ‘I Will Not Say Goodbye’, ‘Crazy Not To’, ‘Get Away’, ‘What Hurts The Most’, ‘Hard To Handle’, ‘Raining On Sunday’, ‘TROUBLE’, ‘Back At One’ and ‘Life Is A Highway’. He nailed every single one of them and his dancing was beyond adorable!

Jamie, Brandon’s wife, was with them. She’s singing background vocals for Danny when she’s not singing for Carrie Underwood and when schedule permits. She’s stunning and seems to be so sweet. It was so awesome to see Brandon singing the beginning of ‘Raining On Sunday’ to her. They are a beautiful couple, a very talented duo.

I love Danny’s interaction with his band on stage! You can see that they are having sooo much fun, their joy is absolutely contagious! As always, Danny mentioned that he would be signing any merchandise of his that people bought and also mentioned the SHF Cruise. And then the concert was over, waaaaay too soon again!

We hung around at the front of the stage a bit more, waiting for the crowd to dissipate. Then we decided to go to the signing line, one last time for me. It was looooooong! I heard a guy saying that there was more than a thousand people in line! I don’t know if it was accurate. I’m terrible at estimating numbers. We met Jenny and her friend in line too.

I showed my t-shirt when the merchandise guy asked what I was taking to be signed. Truth is that Danny is so sweet that he’ll sign anything you ask him to. When I got to Danny, we said hi again and I told him that I had come for a ‘last stalking time’. He laughed and asked what time my flight was leaving the next day. I told him ‘9:30 PM, from Chicago.’ He wished me a good flight and thanked me for coming. It was kinda of a blur again as I was thinking ‘I don’t want it to end!’

Pam, who was right after me in line (and that spoke for me when I was in a daze… Thanks, Pam! <3), thanked Danny for making my time in the US so wonderful and he, sweetheart that he is, said something like ‘No, thank YOU! I loved it!’ as Pam vaguely recollects (he grabbed her hand so her brain obviously stopped functioning! LOL!)

I didn’t want that night to end, it was the last time I’d be seeing Danny and most of the sweet ihearties (my last day would be in Chicago with Jan, her family and Steph)! I looked back one last time, just to keep that image of him on my mind.

Our group was walking back to the high school parking lot but Steph had parked her car some blocks away so I decided to keep her company on the way to her car. I didn’t want her walking alone in the dark. It was a small town but better safe than sorry. Then Steph drove her car to the parking lot where our group was playing Danny’s CD and eating Turkey Cousins Subs – Danny’s favorite (thanks Casey25!). I heard later on that milgokey fan brought cookies as well but I didn’t have the pleasure of eating them! I’m sure they were yummy! [next time we see each other, you'll have to make them again, K! ] What a sweet party! Danny fans are sooo awesome!

It was hard saying goodbye to everyone, I really didn’t want to go… But, people, I took you all with me inside my heart, you are all here with me… I’m so silly, why am I crying? Love you all. As I read in a cute card once, I love you all from the bottom of my pancreas… it’s like the bottom of my heart, but deeper… <3

Erika

Well, I have to say this concert was a little different than most for me! I was more excited, because Erika was doing an official road trip with us, as well as Steph coming to meet a lot of ihearties,. But also more nervous- A BIG responsibility lay in my hands- immortalizing one Erika Usizima interviewing the one and only Daniel J. Gokey! If I fell down on the job, I would be considered an IHatie instead of IHeartie!

Bright and early- 7:30am-Erika came to work with me and puttered around Milwaukee with Val (shesmylittle). I worked quickly so we could leave on time- could not be late for this one!

We met Michelle and Jen Ruditys out in Oconomowoc and as usual Michelle provided the taxi services. Of course our mouths never closed the whole time; a Danny road trip is always filled with chatter and laughter. We made a pit stop at a LOVE gas station and of course had to be goofy and get our pic underneath it making the heart sign (no we hadn’t had a “cold drink” yet!).

Arrived in Rockton and parked at the High School (Native American name, cannot remember for the life of me!). Subjected ourselves to plenty of ribbing from the police officer at the parking lot- he could tell what big fans we were (even as Val flirted with him) and said how Danny only sold 1000 tickets and they gave 500 of those away. Well we knew he was putting us on because Michelle in her usual organized manner had talked to the festival organizer ahead of time- 2000 tickets were sold presale, with more to be sold at the gate!

Finally, the moment we anticipated (and dreaded a little): While waiting in the sweltering sun Mike Childers (Danny’s drummer and road manager) came up and corralled Erika and I to take us to the tour bus.

Oh, I forgot to mention a little detail – Erika had received permission for the interview a while ago as you know, but wanted some moral support as well as a photographer so she wrote Mission Management and asked if she could bring “someone” with. They didn’t reply back until the night before so we planned to just show up with my camera and self, since Toni, our expert videographer was back in New York, boo. His management wrote back to Erika and told her she could bring Pam to tape it. AHHH, I’m a grown professional business owner and mother- why should the fact his management knows my name thrill me so much, lol! Such is the nature of fandom.

I told Erika I wasn’t nervous, which was actually true- I was too focused on the task at hand and as we approached the tour bus it was too late- we were committed. Mike ushered us on the bus (we saw Ivan, Brandon and Jamie hanging around outside) and we sat down together on a front area with cushions that faced each other across the center aisle of the bus. A curtain separated the back area, and in just a couple minutes Danny walked through the curtain and hugged us both. We sat down again, and I suggested Erika go sit next to Danny so I could film both of them (she was happy to comply ).

Mike was there during the whole interview working on his computer at a table next to the seating area, but never told Danny not to answer something, except for once when Danny was talking about his headlining Fall tour and Danny asked Mike if he could give details and Mike said no. Mike is such a nice guy, he was very patient since our visit ran more like 25 min. I felt guilty when we exited the bus and saw Fox news waiting! They probably thought, WTH, who are these two ladies walking out!

I don’t really remember much of the interview because I concentrated so hard on keeping the camera steady and making sure it was still recording. It was very surreal, sitting 3 feet from Danny in his tour bus. He was his usual cute self, but seemed more like a regular guy- since he talked so long, I started viewing him as just a guy instead of THE guy! He was very candid and relaxed with us, I think; I could tell he knew he didn’t have to be on his guard! He shifted around a lot- you know the boy is always moving-lots of energy. Mike asked if we wanted to turn the AC off but either we (or Danny) said no- we didn’t want him to get hot.

If I had a professional camera, I think the background noise could be manipulated – it is quieter in the Fox clip. I did ask Erika to speak up before we started filming, but she has such a sweet, quiet voice! I will work on summarizing/transcribing the interview for hearing impaired and international fans who may not catch some of Danny’s rapid speech, but due to DuPage concert and a weekend get away (that my friends postponed because of Danny and Summerfest, lol, we usually have it on the 4th) it may be next week.

Erika did a wonderful job, she didn’t turn red, rush the interview or giggle like the fangirl we both knew we have potential to be! I won’t say more about the interview because it is posted and she will say more but I do want to say that Danny really loves our site and our efforts and said a couple times that WE are the reason behind his success. Well, he is exaggerating a little in his usual humble fashion, massive talent and charisma plays a big role here (on Danny’s part of course!!!).

One thing I do want to mention from the off camera part- I asked him if there is anything he wants us fans NOT to do. Whether it is requesting methods at country stations, discussing (criticizing) his label/management, talking about how attractive he is, talking about Danny without glasses- some topics of discussion by ihearties have been criticized/questioned by other fans/ihearties. Although he later said he was a little shocked at some “romantic” talk during the AI tour (he laughed and said something like, “it’s good, at least they like me!”) he emphatically said NO- he has not seen any iheart behavior or discussions (I have a feeling his management lurks here too) that he felt was inappropriate and he knows we only have his best interests at heart. This was not taped, so I’m paraphrasing, perhaps Erika can recall his exact words. I think he trusts us to always have his back and Amy/Erika/Steph to moderate us as they see fit. And he’s pretty happy about that.

Finally, Mike stood up so we asked if we should be done and he said yes. We received two more hugs from Danny and I took Erika and Danny’s picture in the tour bus. Success! I didn’t take any more pictures on the camera; I was afraid I would goof something up.

The concert was great- they estimated 3k there- it looked like more to me (like 4k because supposedly it holds 8k and seemed more that half full). The crowd was good, not quite as responsive as the Summerfest one, but they were loud, dancing and Danny responded accordingly! I think he turned on the sexy even a little more for TROUBLE than I had previously seen. It was great to have Jamie on stage with him too. As usual he signed for everyone who waited post concert; I’m sure there were a good thousand people in line, it wound all the way out of the fairgrounds. I told Casey25 to invite him to our tailgate party, but she forgot She did slip him a coupon for a sub!

Casey25 and Milgokey fan hosted the tailgate party as a last hurrah for Erika. Casey provided us all with delicious Cousins (local Milw. sub place and also where Danny worked for awhile when he was a teen) subs and Milgokey with cookies. We all carried on singing IWNSGB when it was time to tearfully bid adieu to Erika. I had avoided thinking about her leaving so I wouldn’t go all verklempt on her. Miss you so much this week Erika, especially as we embark on another road trip!

Summary: Danny is growing tremendously as a performer, as is the band.

Mission Management (and Mike as road management) are great, caring, nice people and appreciate Danny’s fans also.

Danny loves all his fans, and he seems very touched by all we do for him at iheart, and he made sure we knew it.

Danny fans are the best; not only did they rally to bring his faithful fan Erika here to see him, they welcome and take care of other ihearties.

Don’t miss a Danny show! Better yet, see more than one Danny show!

Pam

PS: Before the camera started rolling, I told Danny that people from several countries were sending their hello, from Finland, UK, China, Philippines, Portugal, Denmark, etc. He was surprise by Portugal and was very pleased with all the support!

Questions:
Josie: Talking about songwriting, are you writing songs? Which themes do you like to write about?
Cherie/Jan/Kathy/Cheryl/Val: Any plans for a Christmas album? / SHF choir participation? / DVD of a show/behind-the-scenes? / Movie soundtrack/voice over?
Gokeyguy: Name 5 things you can’t live without.
Josie: Does he knows how to cook?
VickieCarol: When Danny was a child, and he was singing in the car with his mom and dad and his dad first told him that he could sing, what song was he singing?
Lizzy: Winter tour or fall tour?

Cheryl: Are you into cars? What kind of car do you drive or what kind would you like to own?
milgokey fan: If you had time for a pet, what kind of pet would you get and what would you name them?
Cheryl: Did he practice writing his autograph before going on idol?
Cheryl: Everyone imagines what it would like to be a celebrity, has his experience matched up to what he imagined it would be like?
Cori: Are you usually early, late, or always on time?
Cori: What do you value most in other people?

Billie: Out of all the songs he’s performed; which one is the most technically difficult and why. Also, he chooses very “wordy” (lots of lyrics) songs; why, and what is his formula for memorizing them. And finally, what is his favorite vocal warm up exercise.
Stephfoo/Cheryl: Before, you said you found it surprising that people would call you “hot.” Is that still something you’re coming to terms with, or are you totally use to it now? Because you are constantly getting praise, is there any one person in your life who keeps you grounded and keeps your ego in check?
Cherie: Do you ever read the comments on iheart?
Cori: What would be the hardest thing for you to give up?
mine: How long he was in Puerto Rico and did he get to go to the beach?

Cori: What are some of your pet peeves?
mine: Have you ever had any experience, like a crazy fan that made you think ‘OMG, how did that happen?’ Something that shocked you?

Summerfest 2010-Danny Gokey’s Hometown Concert

Jan’s Recap and a Bonus Feature: Ed’s little Summerfest Story

What’s more fabulous?

 Meeting and renewing friendships of all the ihearties that support Danny Gokey as a new country recording artist?

 Watching Danny Gokey practically burn up the stage at Summerfest with a smokin’ hot show on a stormy 4th of July night? And in his hometown of Milwaukee?

 Getting to meet and hug Erika AND see her meet Danny Gokey for the very first time?

Lucky us; we got to do it all!

Many of you have seen the pictures of Erika at various dinners, city excursions and the concert. Having her in the USA has been great. I’m going to concentrate on what it was like for many of us ihearties on the couple of days around Danny’s homecoming to Milwaukee for his first Summerfest concert as a national recording artist!

First off, if a native of Milwaukee warns you about the traffic around the Summerfest grounds before, during and after the July 3rd fireworks, heed their warning. However, my car’s passengers said it was very cool to see the fireworks below us as we were stuck in gridlock traffic on I-794 bridge overlooking the Summerfest grounds/Lake front. I wish I had taken a couple of pictures…. But that is not the subject of this recap.

On July 3rd, Pam & Erika joined Toni & I for a short tour of Madison; Wisconsin’s capital city. It is also my birth city and the second largest city in Wisconsin. While our lakes aren’t as big as Lake Michigan, we have more of them! We took in the typical Madison sights: the Isthmus, Capitol Building, State Street and UW Madison’s Memorial Union. Additionally, Madison radio station, Q106.3, was a gracious host for the day. They played “I Will Not Say Goodbye” as Erika stepped into my house! It was the first time she had heard it on the radio, and so we squealed and jumped around my living room in honor of the event. (I had been hearing it 2+ times a day, but I was still excited for them!) Then as we jumped into our cars to head to Milwaukee to dine with the other ihearties at Mo’s Irish Pub in suburban Milgokey, Q106.3 launched into it again! Great job, Madison radio!

The dinner was fun. All of the usual Danny topics and a bit about ourselves: When did you get hooked on Danny? Has this ever happened to you with another singer (I think this is almost universally “No!”). What does your family know/think about your DG addiction? Favorite Danny outfit? Glasses, no glasses? Have you met him? Have you hugged him?

After we went to dinner, Toni, @asics, @man5ell and I headed to downtown Milwaukee to check into our lakefront/downtown hotels and to get ready for our big Gokey day on Sunday. (See traffic paragraph above….)

On Sunday, July 4th, the gates open at noon at Summerfest,. By 11:30, Toni, asics and I were at the North gate. It turns out you can bring in a backpack, a blanket, etc. for your long wait if you don’t look like a biker–or your gate attendant doesn’t care! We ran in and headed to the Briggs and Stratton Big Backyard stage. It may have looked small in Toni’s picture, but behind the bleachers are more bleachers, picnic tables, there’s side bleachers on one side and a bit of open space going all the way back to the concessions. There were 4 bands prior to Danny’s so we had a long afternoon in the sun. The opening bands were pretty good. Fortunately, the audience area is partially situated under the I-794 overpass, so we were treated with some shade, but very hot and humid conditions for the afternoon and the evening wait.

The Meet and Greet was to start at 7PM and the SHF choir at 9PM. Fortunately, the breezes were still pretty good, and we were past the hottest part of the day. Unfortunately a predicted storm for 10PM was keeping things very humid. Some of us tried to “pretty up” a little before joining the line of 90+ Danny fans for the M&G. Things were looking good until they snaked us all the way around the back of the stage to a smallish white tent. No breeze reached that tent and all of us were crowded into or around it for Mike’s introduction to the M&G process. Because Danny had already had 2 hours of interviews and press, he was going to be saving his voice for the concert and would only be posing for a picture, signing one item but not talking. Well, how could we not want Danny to have a voice for the concert?

His grandmother and mom were the first ones to greet him. Big hugs, a few more (apparent) friends or family and then the rest of us. Many of us had lost all chance of looking nice with the 100% humidity and the heat under the big tent. Should we hug Danny if given the chance –even though we felt clammy and or down right sweaty? Most of us couldn’t resist!

When it was Erika’s turn to go, there was cheering and a lot of cameras turned on the duo. They looked so cute together. Danny truly looked very happy to meet Erika and we all know how speechless but thrilled Erika was to meet Danny. Mission Management also was very generous (and so was Pam in donating her allotted turn to Erika) in allowing a bit more time for the photos and meeting.

When it was my turn for the M&G, I asked Danny how he was doing (so I could look into those beautiful eyes) gave him a hug, poised for the picture (thanks again, Mike!) and then asked Danny to sign the picture of Danny and Melinda (my future DIL) from the SHF Community Event. He looked at the picture and wished them well on their engagement. As he was signing it, I asked if he knew that Madison radio was leading the country in playing IWNSGB? He turned to me and said “Q106.3?“ I said “Yes!“. It took me by complete surprise that he actually knew the call letters for the station. Obviously, we “ihearties” aren’t the only ones pouring over the radio mediabase reports!

After the M&G we went back to our area in the front of the stands (which were being held by our blankets, coats and ihearties without M&G passes!) to wait the remaining time for the SHF Choir and Danny.

By the now, I was unsure whether Ed was in fact going to make it to the concert. My calls had gone unanswered. Eureka! A missed cell all from Ed! But trying to actually connect with each other resulted in repeated missed calls.

Ed’s little Summerfest Story: Ed found the free motorcycling parking at Summerfest to be the final enticement to breakaway from obligations and to zip over to Milwaukee to catch the homecoming show of Danny. Ed being a Harley rider, he got the full “welcome” from security, while I breezed in earlier with a full backpack and nary a glance from security!

Having grown up near Danny (although a couple of decades earlier…) Ed feels the Milwaukee connection with Danny, but in general just loves Danny’s heart and that great big voice. As many of you have know, Ed has always been confident of Danny’s upcoming stardom.

Trying to join us ihearties in the front of the stage turned out to be quite challenge for Ed. A young woman asked him where he thought he was going? Fortunately, at that moment Christy came out of our area and I had just stood on my bleacher trying to spy Ed in this swarm of people. With a welcome from Christy, Ed made his way to our 3rd row “seats”. (Of course, we didn’t sit during Danny’s concert!) It was great that Ed made in time to see SHF and Danny’s amazing performance!

As you all know, Danny and the band were on FIRE for the hometown show. He sounded great, was energetic and the crowd loved his dancing to the music. (Take that Simon Cowell!) As things were getting started, a youngish woman wandered into the space next to us. She told Ed that she was looking for her family. She apologized for taking up some of our space, but Ed assured her we had space. He added that since she was not real tall, and there were children in front of us, she had a better chance of seeing the concert near us. During the Back to One introduction, she turned to Ed and told him that she had been at the church when Danny proposed to Sophia. She said when she knew Danny from church and that he was an interesting contrast–high energy, yet very sweet and considerate. And then she pointed out the bass player and said he was married to Sophia’s sister. And Ed said, “Ivan”. She looked at him and said, you know a lot about Danny don’t you? And he told her that he was married to an “iheartie”. They both laughed.

*Jan’s Recap Resumes: The videos that have been coming in from Danny’s concert really don’t do justice to how excited and appreciative the crowd was for Danny. We sang along on all of his songs, we danced –while standing on the bleachers-, jumped with Danny, waved our arms, cheered wildly, and applauded loudly following every song. However, I do believe that “My Best Days Are Ahead of Me” received the loudest sing-along, cheers and applause. Danny sang it with the creative license he loves to use.

As others said, the concert was over way too soon. But, man, we had fun. And it sure looked like Danny and the band did too!

PS. Thanks to Erika and Christy for allowing me to post each of your pictures of Ed!

(click photos for larger view)

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Special thanks to Pam, who is one of the most incredible people that I’ve ever met, and to her beautiful family; to Jan, that showed us what a great city Madison is; to Toni, that took me to an awesome adventure in NY (wish you were still here!); to Milgokey fan, for a fun and relaxed day at the zoo and for the ‘Danny Gokey Day’-a-thon! =); to Val, for the great days in Milwaukee and for encouraging me to ride a bike; to Angie, for the fun day at the Harley-Davidson museum and downtown Milwaukee; to Dani, for setting up the conference calls and to all the ihearties that called; and to all the sweethearts that I met at the Cheesecake Factory and at Mo’s Irish Pub! Also to Amy and Steph, who share with me the pleasure of running this site. Oh, to Danny, of course, for being every bit of awesomeness that I imagined he would be and a bit more; and to Mike, Tracy and Rendy for being so kind and taking such good care of him!

Summerfest – Milwaukee, WI – July 4, 2010

Pam and I got to the Summerfest grounds around 12:20 and to the Big Backyard Briggs and Stratton stage at around 12:30. The day was sunny and windy. And HOT. Very hot. There were already some ihearties/twitter peeps there, scattered on the left and right sides of the stage on the front row, and in the center on the 2nd and 3rd rows. We saw Toni right away and she told us that  we could choose where to sit as they had saved several spots on the center of the 2nd/3rd row and that Darla had saved 2 spots on the front row at the right side of the stage. So sweet of them to do that! We decided to sit at the front with Darla. I’m short (5′3″/1.61 m) so front row it was. And what a pleasure! Darla is a sweetheart, extremely polite and I looooved her accent! So cute!

During the day, I met or saw again several ihearties/twitter peeps. All sweethearts! Danny fans are the best! I wanted to talk to everybody but the way we were scattered around didn’t help. Also, the interval between acts was so short that didn’t give us much time to talk and I feel guilty talking while acts are performing. I’m afraid I’m forgetting to mention someone on the recap and, if that’s the case, please forgive me! So many people to meet in person and so overwhelming! My recollections of Summerfest are a bit blurry in some parts, especially meeting Danny. We’ll get to that soon.

Pam, Toni, Jan, husband Ed, Tracy and friend, Darla, Lori, Laurie (Luv2Teach05), Laurie (GokeyGirls), Jenny, Milgokey fan, Kathy (Milw), Paula, New Cindy and family, Cori, Val, Yomarie, Karen (karenmary17), Cheryl and husband Ron, Amy (amyrebo), Cherie, Jason and family, Casey25, Megan (and Whitney), Christy, Kathy (bigbrown_eyez), Asics, Jen, Kristie and Patti, what a HUGE pleasure to see and talk to you all! Michelle, I’m sorry we didn’t get to talk to you and see you waving from backstage! You’re a busy lady! But all the work you and Jen put into SHF was rewarded, the kids were wonderful!

We sat through most of the opening acts during the day. Some were entertaining, others not so much, but they all had something in common: it felt like they lasted an eternity. Every time I thought they were done, they weren’t. Don’t take me wrong, they were good… they just weren’t Danny. I was sorry for the ones that wore suits or long sleeves… Why would they do it?! It was scorching hot, and I felt uncomfortable just watching them.

Pam, Kathy (Milw) and I went to get some lunch and I had my first Milwaukee brat (it was good) and some fried eggplant (very greasy, but tasty). Never thought I would see eggplant being sold as if they were fries…

Anyway, we were sitting there (I don’t remember the time… maybe 4 pm?), patiently waiting for the time to pass and, suddenly, I hear loud excitement and shrieks in the crowd. I looked to the right and, sure enough, Danny was walking beside the stage, going to the first round of “Meets & Greets”… maybe radio station M&G? I don’t know… He was wearing black and he waved and smiled that beautiful smile to the crowd. My first glimpse of Danny… I was so speechless that I just poked Darla and Pam. Took me a while to be able to put words together to say that Danny was there. By the time I was able to do it, he had disappeared inside the M&G tent. He’s as gorgeous as I thought he would be in person. The show that was happening at the time went on but I couldn’t really pay attention to it anymore.

After a while, we got our SHF M&G at the Marcus Amphitheater box office and headed back to our seats. The instructions inside the envelope were saying that we should line up at the left side of the stage, near the restrooms, at 6:45 pm. The M&G would start at 7 pm and only 1 picture and 1 autograph would be allowed per person. Also inside the envelope were a sticker saying VIP with the SHF logo and the date (that we should wear to be able to be admitted backstage for the M&G) and a SHF bracelet.

We had talked to the lady that was sitting behind us earlier in the day and she was a sweetie (she was wearing a t-shirt with a picture of her and Danny… I think it was from the AI Tour… Pam told her about iheart and that I had come from Australia to see Danny). I don’t remember exactly when she asked about the M&Gs but I remember Pam explaining to her how they worked and how she could buy them online. When Pam got her SHF envelope, she gave her bracelet to the lady. She was so excited and happy, started wearing it straight away.

The folks to our left were Country fans. I didn’t get to talk to the lady (that was obviously a Danny fan, as she had several SHF bracelets on her wrist) but I talked to the guy that was with her. Poor thing looked a bit out of the water, not knowing what to do in the midst of all those female Danny fans. He said she was fan of several Country artists (he named them but I forgot) and had been to the CMA Fest. He said he liked Danny but I had the impression he was kinda tagging along that day. He had already seen Kellie Pickler at one of the side stages at Summerfest and showed me his pictures. Kellie was scheduled to open for Brooks & Dunn on the Marcus Amphitheater with Gary Allan but played one of the side stages instead when Brooks & Dunn cancelled the Summerfest date due to health problems.

The girls to our right were definitely Danny fans as well, as they had ‘Go Go Gokey’ written on their upper arms with a kind of blue glittery glue. They said that there was a tent painting kids and ‘tattooing’ the ‘Go Go Gokey’ for 5 dollars. There was one design for Carrie Underwood as well.

When the time came to go to the M&G, the lady behind us kindly agreed in saving our spots. So to the queue we went. And what a queue! 100 people for M&G on Summerfest! By this time I was getting really nervous. A guy came and asked if that was the queue for the ladies! LOL!

From here ahead, my memories are really jumbled. It’s like a dream, surreal…

Toni kept telling me on the line that I should introduce myself to Mike (Childers, Danny’s drummer and tour manager), that was organizing the access to the backstage. I’m five-shades-of-pink-shy and dread being on people’s way so I didn’t really want to do it but I think Toni introduced me to Mike. And you know what was going through my mind while I was shaking Mike’s hand? All I could think was ‘OMG, I’m holding up the queue!’…  Lame, I know…

We were taken to this plastic tent with several plastic tables and chairs. People outnumbered the chairs by far so we remained standing. I met some other people there but I can’t remember names. Sorry! My brain wasn’t working anymore at this point.

Mike came and asked for everybody’s attention. He said that Danny had already had another M&G earlier in the day and that he couldn’t talk during this one, had to save his voice, otherwise we wouldn’t have a show. Also, that the M&G would have to be quick as they were running late. I recognized Danny’s mom and grandma there. Beautiful ladies.

And then Danny came. And I was mesmerized. He was wearing jeans, a gray shirt and a leather vest now. He gestured that he couldn’t talk, pointing to his throat. People kept telling me during the week that he was tiny, that I’d be surprised at how small he was but, from where I was standing, he didn’t look small to me. He was just perfect.

I saw him taking pictures and signing for fans, keeping that bright smile all the time. And I wanted to stay there, just looking at him… but time was flying. When it was our turn to go, Pam went first and told Mike (who was controlling the queue) that she was donating her time to me. I remember Mike saying ‘Oh, okay, alright’, turning to me and saying something like ‘You are from Australia, right?!’, and then I started explaining that I’m Brazilian but I was in Australia studying and of course we were running late and in my head I’m thinking ‘what the heck are you doing narrating the story of your life to Mike?’ so I stopped talking, he took me to Danny and introduced me to him.

From this moment on, it’s really a blur. I remember hugging Danny and thinking he’s not small, he’s almost a head taller than me… ok, that’s not being tall because I’m short but you get what I mean… and kinda remember what he said to me but I don’t remember what I said to him. He said something like ‘thank you for all that you do’ and ‘I really appreciate it’ but I couldn’t really concentrate ’cause I had to look up to talk to him while posing for several pictures (not complaining!) and his face was too close to mine to permit any coherent thought on my part. I was so dazed that I was walking away without having him sign anything. Then several people pointed it out and I handed my CD for him to sign. He saw the picture I was holding on my hands (that Casey25 gave to me ) and asked me if I wanted that signed as well. In a real ‘Doh!’ moment that would make Homer Simpson proud, I said ‘no, you don’t need to sign that’. He was like ‘Are you sure?’ and I said ‘Yeah, I’m sure.’ I had in my head that it was just one autograph per person and didn’t want to abuse. I know… what was I thinking to say no to Danny’s beautiful autograph, right?! Well, the reality was that I wasn’t thinking…

I got one last hug (ahhhh, the Danny hug…) and off I went, still dazed, still not knowing where to go or what to do. I hugged some sweethearts that were as thrilled as I was and then I was approached by a beautiful lady. She introduced herself as Tracy McGlocklin, Danny’s manager, and she was so sweet! She asked how my trip was going and wanted to thank iheart for all that we do for Danny, said they love the site, that they really appreciate us and how we support Danny. She said that they are there for us and anything that we need, anything at all, that we could contact them and they would be happy to help. I was so shocked that all that I could manage to say was thank you and that it was our pleasure to do anything for Danny. I think I hugged her and I hope I didn’t scare her!

Then Pam noticed that I was still holding the gift bag that I was going to give to Danny. I obviously forgot all about it when I saw Danny – I was close to forgetting my own name, for God’s sake! I was going to hand it to Tracy so she could give it to Danny afterwards but she said I could go back there and give it to him in person. So I went back, apologized to Danny for forgetting to give it to him before and handed the bag. And got another hug! Forgetting things sometimes have advantages! I wanted to give him food/chocolate but I thought it would be confiscated upon entering Summerfest grounds so I just bought him a book and some iTunes gift cards. I thanked Tracy again and the M&G time was over.

Pam and I were walking the Summerfest grounds back to our seats and she saw grandma Dottie. Pam knew her from meeting her at SHF events so she went up to her table and introduced me. She said she heard about the site and seemed pleased to know that I came from far away to see her grandson!  I couldn’t contain myself and hugged her. Poor thing, I hope I didn’t scare her too!

Then we went back to our seats and waited for the SHF choir and dance group show. They were great, so adorable! They sang only a couple of songs (’Baby’, ‘Need You Now’ and ‘Hey Soul Sister’) and then left the stage.

And then it was time for Danny’s show. I have probably seen almost every single video out there but nothing prepared me for the experience of seeing Danny performing live. He was perfect, seriously pitch-perfect! And endless energy on stage! He moves around so much that it’s difficult to take pictures! By the end of the show, he was totally drenched in sweat! He sang (not particularly on this order ’cause I don’t remember the exact order):

‘Like That’s A Bad Thing’, ‘Be Somebody’, ‘Life On Ya’, ‘I Still Believe’, ‘Tiny Life’, ‘It’s Only’ (with the SHF choir), ‘My Best Days Are Ahead Of Me’, ‘I Will Not Say Goodbye’, ‘Crazy Not To’, ‘Get Away’, ‘What Hurts The Most’, ‘Hard To Handle’, ‘Raining On Sunday’, ‘TROUBLE’, ‘Back At One’, Life Is A Highway’ and a tiny bit of ‘Single Ladies’ just for fun, when he asked where were the single ladies on the crowd. His dancing was just adorable!

It was so cool to see everyone singing along with him and how excited he was being back in Milwaukee. He’s so full of joy! He praised Milwaukee several times! I couldn’t help but grin when he sang ‘Tiny Life’ – one of my favourite songs – and pointed to the crowd at the part where the song talks about being back in his hometown. I couldn’t believe I was getting to be at such an awesome show! On ‘I Still Believe’, when he interacts with the crowd, asking us to sing after him, he said that we were the first crowd to get all the singing back to him right. =)

I turned into a pile of goo when, on the last verse of ‘What Hurts The Most’, Danny stopped right in front of me and pointed at me while singing ‘Not seeing that loving you is what I was trying to do’. The lady on my left side was astonished. She was like ‘He was pointing at you! He was singing to you! Did you see that?!’… I just beamed at her and said ‘Yep!’, trying to appear composed. – Oh, heart, stay still! And it was really cool when he waved to Darla too, I think it was during ‘Life Is A Highway’!

The concert felt waaaaay too short! One and a half hour went by as if it was just five minutes! I was left wondering how come the opening acts played for an eternity and Danny played such a short set… And then I realized that he had performed sixteen songs, we just hadn’t felt the time passing! I could have listened to him all night long! When I heard the first notes of ‘My Best Days Are Ahead Of Me’, I knew that the show was coming to an end and that there would be just one more song, ‘Life Is A Highway’. Danny sang the living bejesus out of every single song!

I overheard the folks on my left talking to one of the security guards that were there. The security guard was saying that he had never seen such an enthusiastic response from the crowd to an act during the time he had been doing that job. He was amazed.

We chanted ‘Danny! Danny! Danny!’, hoping for an encore, but I guess he was already changing clothes to go to the ‘after show signing’ and that Summerfest had to close the grounds at a specific time. The queue to the signing was unbelievably long but Danny had said that he would sign any merchandise of his that people wanted signed, even if it took him all night. He also talked about the cruise to benefit SHF and invited people to come and hang out with him. So adorable!

I bought two t-shirts (the white v-neck and the blue with his picture on it) and took one of them to be signed. Val took the other one so she could see him again. Although the line looked endless, we got to Danny pretty quickly. He was sitting behind a table, wearing a plaid blue shirt now, signing and talking to Mike. When he looked at Darla and Pam, that were in front of me, he said ‘Hi you guys!’ and opened that beautiful smile. I couldn’t hear what he said after that to them. Then he looked at me, smiled again and said ‘Hi! Did you like the show?’, while signing the shirt. Somehow I made my brain function enough to say ‘Yeah, it was amazing!’ and he and Mike grinned. Then they started saying that I was ‘the girl from the site’ to this gigantic guy that was on our side of the table and looked like security. He said ‘I know who she is’ and turned to me. I was shocked again, of course, looking up and staring at this really tall dude. And then he introduced himself, said he was Rendy Lovelady, Danny’s manager, that he wanted to thank us and that he really appreciated the site and what we do. I told him that it was a pleasure and that we thanked them! Then I said ‘I’m sorry, I have to hug you!’ and we hugged. Everyone on Danny’s management is so sweet!

Then it was time to leave Summerfest. I had a headache because we were starving and all the food stands were closed as it was almost midnight! Pam took Darla to her hotel and we went looking for an open place to eat or at least buy some food. No luck! I had cereal and Pam had ice-cream when we got to her house!

Danny at Summerfest was definitely the best show that I’ve ever attended in my entire life. It was incredible, magical!

Click HERE to see my pictures from the concert on Photobucket.

PS: I’m not posting any ihearties/twitter peeps pictures on my recap as some asked me not to, as they don’t want their pictures on the internet… so it’s basically pictures of Danny (I know that you’re not complaining!… and the odd one of me). I’m also keeping to myself the convos that I had with all these wonderful people that I met in person. Sure, there was a lot of squeeeeee and praise for Danny but also personal stuff that I’d like to keep private. I hope you all understand.

I’m having the time of my life here. I love Milwaukee! It’s beautiful and the people that I met here are truly awesome!

We already have lots of questions that ihearties posted on the discussion thread comments but if you want to submit yours as well, feel free to do so commenting on this post!

I won’t be able to ask them all because it’s a limited time interview but we’ll try to select some that we never heard him answering before!

Thank you all for making it possible and thank you Mission Management for being so kind! – Erika

World Arena, Colorado Springs, CO

May 8, 2010

Introduction:

Seeing Danny Gokey perform at two different large arenas on two consecutive days?  How does that happen?  It helps if you’re a little crazy and a Gokey-holic…..

Toni suggested we see Danny perform on her birthday ( May 8 ) in Colorado Springs (COS) –it sounded great to me, but I really wanted to tour the area, too.  The idea to see Danny perform at Salt Lake City (SLC) came later, but you already know about that.

We flew into Denver the morning of the show, we grabbed our rental car and drove the 80 minutes to COS.

Meeting up with Ihearties

Toni and I arrived at our gathering point, a hotel near the World Arena, and desperately needed a nap!  Soon Pam, Michelle joined us and we all went over to the arena to get our Meet and Greet passes.  We met up with Lori at the arena.  With our passes in hand, and knowing we didn’t need to be back until 6:30, we headed out for dinner before the concert.  We were excited to meet Steph who also joined us for dinner. One thing you should realize when getting to meet an iheartie in person is that there is going to be a lot of hugs and squeals of delight.  We are not a quiet group…..

The Meet and Greet

If you are going to a M&G, don’t worry too much, it will seem unclear, but you will find your right place to stand and a group of anxious fans to join!  We milled around until we were taken in an elevator to see Danny.  All 30 of us were lined up to see Danny.  For a bunch of confident women, it was amusing to see how suddenly how discombobulated we all become.  Even those of us that may met Danny 2 or 4 or x times before….everything you thought you were going to say floats out of your head.  Danny was looking fabulous:  black leather jacket, form fitting black t-shirt and jeans, black boots, two chains around his neck and the scruff on his face growing back in from being shaved a couple of days before.  Did I tell you he looked awesome?  And then there’s those eyes that connect with you…..

M&G World Arena COS:  Toni

So our plans were set to attend a Danny concert on my birthday at the World Arena in Colorado Springs and the day finally came. My sweet dear friend and traveling buddy, Jan, that I have met because of our common interest in supporting Danny, she surprised me with a gift for my birthday. And what a beautiful thoughtful gift it is, a photo album with all of our Danny concert adventures together including lots of Danny pictures. I was really touched by the dedication in putting this together and how perfect it is for me. Plus I would also have the opportunity to show it to Danny and have it autographed.  THANK YOU, Jan!

The day we arrived in COS we were so tired from the night before we literally had only had 3 hours of sleep.  By the time we arrived at the hotel we told Pam and Michelle that no matter what, Jan and I had to take a power nap. So we did, and then met up with Pam and Michelle in their room to plan out the rest of the afternoon. At the M&G promptly at 6:45pm a group of fans were taken by elevator to the area where Danny was greeting fans and when our group turn came I was the first one in the group to go meet him and I believe if my memory is correct we briefly touched based on the night before concert and he remembered Jan and I being there.  So just as I was telling him about the photo album the group yells out “it’s her birthday today!“ Danny turned to me and says “Happy Birthday”.  I wanted him to see some of the pictures in the album but there wasn’t any time.  I asked him to autograph the photo album and you will see from the photo what he wrote in the book.  What a sweetie he is!  I wished him to have a great performance (please note that my memory is fuzzy from the M&G and I am almost 99.9% sure we hugged at this time). He told all of us during our time to please send his thank you to all of the iheartdg fans for their support.

Meet and Greet –Jan

Once again Mike Childers (drummer) graciously took photos of us with Danny.  Who would imagine I’d get two decent photos with Danny?  So rare…..  I know it must seem “usual” for Danny to see fans at two consecutive meet and greets/shows, so I told Danny that I wouldn’t be at any other Sugarland concerts, but that I would be at others.  I told him he sounded fantastic last night.  He thanked me. I turned to stand next to Danny for the photo, I thanked Mike for taking the photo.  As I turned to leave Danny told me to say Hi to my son for him.  Frankly that personal comment (Danny had autographed the photo of Joe and he together from the Chicago show last night) was just so cool.  I responded that I would let Joe know he said hi and I floated off in a daze.

The Concert

As you all have seen from the awesome photos, Danny was looking really great at the COS show!
The set list was the same as the previous concert with the fundraiser for flood victims in Nashville.  I also think his confidence, while really good at SLC, was greater.  He sounded just as great and this seemed like a more enthusiastic crowd.  When he asked if anyone had watched American Idol, he received loud applause and cheers.  Before he started his 2^nd song (or was it his 3^rd?)  Danny took his jacket off; there was a definite cheer that when out from the crowd.  The Ihearties in the audience looked at each other and cheered knowing that Danny was going to attract even more “appreciation” when singing in that tight black T-shirt!  We all wanted Danny to keep on singing, but Danny had sounded great and I believe he impressed a lot of people new to his music.

Toni and I talked to a usher for a while between performers and she showed me her original instructions.  In it, it showed Julianne Hough as being the opener and Danny going on second.  She didn’t know why the order of performers had been changed.  She was also able to tell us exactly where to go (and which way out) to get to Danny’s autographing table.

Autograph Line

We all got in line to either get something autographs or to tell Danny that we enjoyed the show.  It was so cool to watch Danny with his “newer” fans.  One little girl had taken off her pink shoe and she wanted Danny to sign it.  He leaned over the table to talk to her and said “Are you sure you want me to sign this?  I’m going to ruin it!”  She nodded, Danny signed it and he talked to her mom for a few minutes.  I also saw people flash a camera right in his face, temporarily blinding him, but he laughed about it and had such good humor through the whole experience.  He is so good with all of his fans.

The End–Toni

Jan and I have had a wonderful few days in Colorado Springs and have visited many sights and took many pictures. Once I get home I will establish a photobucket account if anyone is interested in viewing them.  I am on my way to Cincinnati to see my son perform in an opera “Of Mice and Man” at his University which he does have a solo hopefully another star in the making (I am so proud).

Toni sent her other pictures some days ago. Check them out HERE.

Danny Gokey Opens for Sugarland

Salt Lake City,   May 7, 2010

Intro from Toni:

Months ago I had decided that if Danny was having a concert on my birthday,  I would be there in the audience!  Low and behold!  The Sugarland/Gokey concert landed on my birthday in Colorado Springs, CO!  But this review is about Salt Lake City, so let me go back a little.

It was around February that a decision was made to come to the Colorado Springs concert on May 8^th.  I called Jan one night and suggested that since we were going all the way to Colorado, why not make it even more exciting and attend the Salt Lake City concert one night earlier?  Jan, told me I was crazy.  But, I did not have to twist her arm very much since a few days later she called me to tell me she was already looking into the flights from Salt Lake City to Colorado!   We decided to do both concerts and then tour Utah and Colorado for a few extra days. These are states I’ve always wanted to see, so I was very happy that I was also able to combine it with 2 Danny concerts!

Jan will be writing the remainder of this SLC recap, but I will add my M&G portion to it.   Toni

Arrival in SLC–Jan:

I landed in Salt Lake City the day before Danny was to take the stage at the E Center to open for Sugarland.  Toni would be flying in from NY to join me that evening.  My airport/hotel shuttle driver had his car radio tuned to the local country music station when I got in the van.  By coincidence, it was playing a Sugarland song!  I mentioned that I was going to the Sugarland concert Friday night.  He looks at me in the rear view mirror, and says “You aren’t here to see Danny Gokey?”

Now, seriously, I gave no indication (other than a SHF bracelet on my wrist) for my driver (also named Danny) to guess that!  Is Gokey fever spreading wider than we thought? It turns out my driver is a huge American Idol fan.  He talked about how great Danny was to the fans at the AI live concert last year.  He was told that Danny signed autographs for hours outside the venue.  I hardly got to say a word!   He went on to say that Danny’s going to win new best artist next year!  Well, I’m not going to argue with that!  What a warm welcome to Utah!

Toni and I did get to explore downtown Salt Lake City prior to Danny’s concert.  If you get a chance, Temple Square is beautiful.  It has beautiful landscaping, flowers everywhere and interesting buildings to see.

Pre- concert

We had Meet and Greet Passes–but since this was only Danny’s second Sugarland concert, and not much info was coming out from Idaho (the 1st show), we didn’t know what to expect.  Our hotel was only a couple of blocks from the E Center, so we “dropped in” at 3PM to check things out.  The box office had no information.  They told us to come back at 5 or 5:30.  So, we walked around a little.  As we were walking by the VIP entrance, a person stuck her head out and asked if we were here for the sound check.  Before I could  clamp my hand over her mouth, Toni said “No”.  She claims she was just protecting me from being thrown out for impersonating a VIP.  It sounded  like a chance worth taking to me, LOL! In nearly circling the arena, we discovered that the days of Danny’s bus being in clear view is probably over.  It and three other tour buses were safely locked behind a big gate at the rear of the arena.  Its good to know they are protecting him…..

The Meet and Greet–General

We arrived  by 5:30, signed for our M&G and learned that it wasn’t starting until 6:40 (at the VIP entrance) along with the Julianne Hough’s M&G.  Meanwhile, three radio stations were vying for the attention of the arriving fans.  There was a T-shirt cannon (radio station shirts flying through the air) cell phone races, wheels of fortunes, and other competitions to win prizes –including front row seats.  We chatted with  some fans with the blue  M&G Danny passes and/or SHF bracelets.  (We received a bracelet in thanks for our donation to SHF.)  While we were waiting a couple joined us.  The guy was really excited and the woman was smiling broadly.  We heard him tell someone on his cell phone that “I just won backstage passes to meet Danny Gokey!  Yeah, that guy from American Idol!” Then it was time to go in and we nervously waited for a chance to see Danny. They lined us up and let us in two groups of 15.  While you think you know what you are going to say or ask Danny, its been my experience that cognizant thought leaves as soon as you are in a room with him!  I wanted Toni to go before me and she went up to talk to Danny.

Meeting Danny–Toni:

A few days before I had been thinking of different things I wanted to say or ask, but sure enough, I failed. When my turn came up and Danny was standing right in front of me with that famous smile that makes you melt,  I just lost all thoughts of what I was going to say. I sort of recovered and I had not even noticed that he had shaved. As I was going to greet him I started to put my hand out to shake his hand but then I said to myself “What are you doing?” and then all I remember is that we hugged. I told him that this concert was my fourth time seeing him perform and told him that I had been with Jan at other concerts, too, and he looked towards Jan and said something like “I remember you!“ and he turned back to me and said “Thank you for your support!.”  I told him to have a great show and  that I was happy to finally be able to buy concert tickets to my local area concert on June 11th.  I do remember hugging him one more time before I left his side.

Meeting Danny–Jan

Before I knew what was happening Danny points at me and says I remember you!  I handed my camera to Mike (the drummer) and I asked Danny if I can have a hug.  He said of course.  I dropped everything I was carrying to the floor–in order to have both arms free!  And I got one of those great hugs.  Then Mike took our picture. I told Danny that my son and I loved his concert at Joe’s Bar in Chicago.  I told Danny that Joe is now a big fan.  In fact we now had four fans in the family, but I was going for 5 for 5 by working on my daughter!  He gave me a big smile and a high 5.  I walked away in a daze.  Toni and I left the area and went to look for our seats, since the concert was to start in half an hour.

The Concert

Danny sounded GREAT–his voice is in fine shape.  The stage was small (it had Julianne’s weird set already in place–a curtained area under some stairs so that she could change as well as a overhead bar for her dance moves/swing) but D still worked it great. Danny seemed like he was having a good time.  It must be an amazing experience for him.  I just can’t get over how “rich” his voice sounded.

The  songs:  He started with Life on Ya, then What Hurts the Most, Be Somebody, IWNSGB and he finished with MBDAAM.  The crowd seemed to love his single the best.  He had great applause.  Being an opener is not the same as the star.  People are coming in, no fancy set, short number of songs.  BUT Danny did a great job.  Danny was the only performer that asked for text donations for the Nashville flood relief. The ladies that I was sitting with (Toni and I both had aisle seats, two rows apart) thought he did great. In fact they asked me some questions about Danny during the intermission.  Neither had ever seen him perform live. Sugarland’s performance and stage set were awesome.  Jennifer Nettles is an amazing performer.  Its high energy and high tech with a large circular video screen and a very interesting set.

The concession stands were selling lots of Sugarland merchandise, but also Julianne and Danny items.  Danny’s items were two white shirts:  black and white version of the armchair picture (oh, yeah…) and a cool ladies v-neck with the words Danny Gokey and chains hanging form the neckline. They were also selling his CD with a picture for autographing.

Post Concert Signing

By the time we found the front of the arena where Danny would be signing, there was a good, long line, and lots of people holding the picture and CD for signing.  (Yeah!  CD sales!)  When we looked at his merchandise at the intermission on the second floor, they had sold out of the CDs. But they were replenished by show end.  Since neither Toni nor I had anything signed at the Meet and Greet (the hug, pic and chance  to talk were all we could manage) we decided to get in line for the autographs.  Danny moves quickly in signing things.  You can take a picture of Danny before or after you step up to the autograph table but you are not suppose to take a picture with Danny  (he occasionally made an exception–especially if it involved a child.) After the concert Toni stood in line primarily to tell him in personally how awesome he sang and she brought from home a CD cover for him to sign.   When it was my turn, I thanked Mike for taking the picture earlier and I asked Danny to autograph the pictures I had taken of Danny with my family members at previous events. (Don’t tell them, but I’m going to mat the pictures as gifts!) We left already thinking about the concert we would go to the next day in Colorado Springs!

The End

We had a wonderful time.  While would have loved to listen to Danny sing all night, this tour is a wonderful opportunity for new fans to capture the Gokey fever!  I think  its becoming very contagious!   Next up:  Colorado Springs and an Iheart gathering!

Toni had previously sent her other pictures from Salt Lake City. Check them out HERE.

Nashville is such a gorgeous city. I saw the pictures of the flooding and kept thinking that, even after being hit by this disaster, it still looks beautiful. Made me cry.

If you can, donate for the disaster relief fund.

I know how huge the iheartie’s hearts are. You came through for me and are giving me a chance to meet Danny and I’m not even deserving of all your generosity. For this and for everything else, I truly thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Erika <3

By: Matt Bjorke

The home of country music, Nashville, Tennessee, survived the “Great Flood of 2010” but it’s going to be a slow recovery for some in the area as many suburbs, including Green Hills, Franklin and Bellevue all experienced massive flooding during the weekend.  These areas, many of which have never been flooded before, are also home to many of the stars and industry staff members.  The Grand Ole Opry, which is situated near the Cumberland River in South East NashvilleRoughstock’s Nashville offices weren’t in a flood zone and we’re grateful for that but we thought we would share with you some of the pictures of well-known areas, like Lower Broadway.  Also, it is our hope that you will join us and contribute (if you can) to the disaster relief fund set up by the Red Cross.

Click here to donate.

For more pictures: http://www.roughstock.com/blog/the-great-nashville-flood-of-2010-hits-well-known-landmarks

Read more about the flooding on CMT.

Update June 6th:  (Steph)

Many thanks to all of those who participated in the gift pool to bring Erika, our long-time iheart site admin and huge Danny Gokey fan, over from Australia to see Danny Gokey in concert for the very first time.

We met all of our goals with your collective help, and are very appreciate for the contributions made

Update May 28th:  (Steph)

Due to the unexpected site disruptions this week, we will extend the Erika gift fund post through June 6th.

Update May 22nd:  (Steph)

We wanted to update everyone on our campaign to gather a gift fund to bring Erika (aka owlki), our long-time iheart site manager, iheartie friend, and huge Danny Gokey fan, to see Danny in concert this summer and finally meet him in person.

We have been able to arrange for Erika to come to the United States for an extended visit in late June/early July, and see Danny with meet & greet passes for at least two of his concerts. She will also be able to meet many of the other ihearties / twitter fans in person, and see a little of the greater Milwaukee / Chicago areas.

Thanks to all those who have generously responded thus far, we have almost reached our financial goal to cover Erika’s airfare from Australia and some other lesser expenses for her trip. For any who would still like to participate, we welcome your interest and will be leaving the fund open through the end of May (see update posted 5/28).  (If anyone would like to assist with this gift but needs to do it after that timeframe, just let Steph (@steph6449) or Pam (@pjgvet) know, or leave your question in the comment thread and we will contact you by email or twitter DM.)

To participate, you can use your Paypal account or credit / bank card through the link below. To use credit or bank card, see the lower left of the first Paypal screen. If you prefer to gift by check, just let one of us know and we can provide instructions.

Amy’s original call to action:

OK, folks, this is off-topic.  No Danny news here.  But I need you to stick with me because we have a job to do!  As you know, Erika works super hard on this site.  She really has taken so much ownership and she’s always doing things to make this site better for Danny’s fans.  And I know it’s all because of a deep love and respect for Danny and his music.

As many of you also know, Erika is in Australia for school.  Several of us have been pestering her to find a way to the States so she could see Danny at a concert.  She never thought it could work out but a few of us promised we’d find a way financially if she’d work out the details of the paperwork.  She has gone through A LOT of work to get permission to leave but she’s done it.  And now she needs us to help her get to the States so she can experience a Danny Gokey concert for herself.  For those of you that have met and heard him live, you know just how big of a deal this is, especially for someone that puts SO MUCH time into promoting him.

So help us help Erika.

The tickets have already been purchased and as you can imagine, it’s not cheap to fly from Australia to the US.  We need all of you to dig deep!  Steph has created a PayPal account where several of us have access so there is accountability.  100% is going to pay for her purchased plane ticket.  We’ve talked to Danny about this and he’s encouraged her to make the trip so let’s make this happen!! 

A group of 6 of us (another fan, Christy Stoffel; a member of Faith Builders had also won tickets) met up downtown Milgokey and piled into Jen’s SUV to head to Chi- town. As things go, we were about 45 min. late, so ran into rush hour traffic in Chicago (which is always brutal). Jen, Karen, Val, Christy and I drove down to meet Michelle (already in Chicago for work shmoozing clients) who held a place in the hot sun for us. We were really worried about arriving late, but it turns out Chicago people don’t stand in line for 10 hours like Milwaukee people; even on a beautiful spring day with temps in the 80’s!. The place really didn’t fill up until Danny came on. I have to admit, we were a little worried it would be a poor showing because so few came early. It was packed (1000 capacity; but they had the upper level blocked off) by the time he played. Luckily, all the ihearties were right up in front.

Not too sure about the Chicago country radio people .
They had no idea how many people would be there when we asked. We also asked them when they would put Danny on their playlist (they have added him but he’s not on the playlist) and they said “We’ll see how he does tonight”. What the heck??

The organ donor promotion had a table; if you showed your driver’s license you received a free signed CD if you had an organ donation sticker . We also received bracelets; they supposedly picked people by the bracelets to meet and greet before; but none of us were.

The bar played more modern country music. There were a few Cowboy hats, but not many. The crowd was quite mixed, as you can see from the Chicago Now pics. Mostly women of course, but plenty of guys, and all different ages. I would say it was a younger crowd than Turner Hall because there were no kids and parents there. It was fun to have a little testosterone in our group: Jan’s young son and Cheryl’s husband Ron, who is such a sweetheart- he was clearly there for his wife; he hung out at the sports bar area most of the time, but did bring us a round of “cold drinks” ,lol. It was great to meet Cheryl (upsnodowns) too, who was just as friendly, sweet and cute as I thought she would be. Tracy recognized Jan and found our group, and got a great spot up front in the process- really fun to meet her!

We had dinner before entering, and saw Brandon fly by on his cell phone, but he ignored our pleas for attention .
He had a hair cut and looked very cute.

Gina Glocksen came on first for about 30-40 minutes; sang a couple of her own songs and a few covers, including U2 (my favorite of hers). She was definitely more rock than country. She was very sweet and also said Danny was “not bad to look at” so she gets brownie points.

Danny burst on to the stage with Like That’s A Bad Thing. I think his set was identical to the Orlando HOB. He sang his album plus WHTM, Back at One, Trouble, PYT/Life Is a Highway medley to end. He pulled a girl up as usual who had a sign saying “I want a Danny Gokey kiss for my 25th birthday”. He said he didn’t give kisses, but she could kiss him, which she did, on the cheek! She was a bold “subject” and when he passed her around to Brandon and Greg to sing to her she kept trying to come back to Danny, and also tried to sit on his lap, lol, and get off the stool and follow him around. He is so good at this; he gently directed her back to the stool each time and avoided the lap sitting with much charm and grace.

Like the HOB, his stage presence was fantastic; I think he has better stage presence and audience rapport than so many established stars. And he was in fine voice- he hit all the difficult notes and sounded absolutely stunning on his little reprise of “Aint No Mountain Higher” after Gregg sang it (Greg is great, but when Danny sang it, wow).

And Danny many have not enjoyed the heat (he had a towel in his hands for most of the performance to mop his brow), but I gotta say the view from the front now that it is T shirt weather was fantastic As photogenic as he his, he just looks even hotter in person.

The audience was a good one; but Danny told us after that the HOB one was his favorite so far; they were “very hyper” according to him! That explains Danny- he has boundless energy; all over the stage and still cheerful at the signing after.

He introduced IWNSGB as the next single (quelling any speculation about Crazy Not To we were voicing).

As already noted; there was an additional band member who played fiddle, mandolin, steel guitar. Another new development was that Joanna Coton; one of the writers of Be Somebody came on stage and sang with Danny for that number. That was Joe’s favorite (Jan’s son), and he was also able to grab Danny’s hand during it .

They did a signing after. No photos with Danny, although Joe managed his bromance pic, thanks to his mother’s intervention (Awww). I had to get a couple hugs from Joe, hoping for some Gokey aura to rub off, lol, and also just cuz he was so dang sweet (My son is Joe also and reminded me of him). I bought a CD for him to sign and the security beef was rushing us through the line . I couldn’t get it open so I just told Danny to forget it because I didn’t want to hold up the line. Such a sweetheart, he took it from me, saying “I’ll open it for you”, which he did, they signed the inner CD.
We talked briefly, I got my push in for Erika (he said to say Hi to her from him <3) then we were out of there.

Four hours of sleep before a 10 hour Friday work day; but always worth it when Danny is involved

Pam (@PJGvet)

Owlki note: “Hi” received and appreciated, love. Thanks!