eddie from ohio journal July, 2005

July 2005

Greetings Edheads,



Wow, it's the end of July, and I'm leaving for vacation tomorrow! Where has the summer gone? It seems like only yesterday we were having the time of our lives at the Strawberry Festival in CA, and now, we've already done Falcon Ridge! Crazy how quickly it moves.



Speaking of Falcon Ridge - well those of you who were there know that we played as "From Ohio" - we were without our namesake, Eddie. There was a family emergency that kept him from being with us, so please everyone, keep him in your prayers and close to your heart. It was so hard to play without him. I know he was so sad that he wasn't there, and we all missed him terribly. On Sunday morning, we got him on the phone and had everyone on the hillside yell, "We love you Eddie" It was so great.



We kicked off the gospel workshop, as always, with "Great Day"...many many many thanks to Paul, from Paul and Storm fame, members of the fab Davincis Notebook. The man listened to "Quick" and picked out the part instantly. Damn him - he's so good! Pete and Maura Kennedy played "Stand" and the entire hillside was standing and swaying and singing....Eric Lowen and Dan Navvaro played "Drift Away" and eveyone was rockin out! It was unbelievable. Pete introduced all of their songs with a bit of prose - quotes, words of his own, and just nailed the spirit of the festival and what that gospel wake up call was all about....."all you need is love". And then giant doves of peace came out of nowhere. It was wonderful and inspiring and beautiful..... and heart-wrenching,all at the same time because Eddie wasn't a part of it. Lord, we missed him. Hopefully, he'll be back with us soon.



Back Stage On Stage - anyone catch these shows? Were they fun or what? We played, we talked, folks asked questions, we answered, we didn't answer, I made balloon animals - which by the way is going to be my new career - I'm working hard to become a balloon entertainer.....from singing in front of 20,000 people - to playing your bratty 3 year olds birthday party - just call me, I'll be there.



My favorite question during these shows had to do with the moments in our live when we had that famous "What am I doing with my life" or "wow, I love my job" question go through our minds. I was first to answer with a "what am I doing with my life" memory. We were playing a show in Charlotte North Carolina at the Treemont Music Hall and we arrived to soundcheck and a dog had left a big crap on the stage. No, I'm not kidding, and the worst part of it was that nobody seemed to care. It was pathetic!. I think it finally got cleaned up before we went on, but geeeeez, that really sucked!



So I'm trying to talk a little bit about the band when really I'm dying over here...just bursting at the seams and wanting to share all of my joy with you all. I was trying to wait a little bit longer into this journal, but I just can't stand it anymore - I'M PREGNANT.......AGAIN! I know you can't believe it, I haven't even told the band yet, but that's what we started this journal for, you know, to share our thoughts and surprises, and true feelings, blah blah blah....so I'm thinking that this better be a girl, or I'm going to kick Greg's you know what - I mean he does hold all the cards when it comes to that. And we did try the non-agressive approach, early on in my cycle - am I getting to graphic for anyone - so hopefully sometime in April - they'll be a new little Wells child to add to our merry clan. God help us all!



Ok Ok, just kidding! I had you going didn't I!



Actually, I'm dying over here wanting to tell all of you about the greatest concert that I attended last night - yes, AMERICAN IDOL at the MCI center in Washington DC.



PLEASE STOP READING HERE IF YOU DO NOT LIKE AMERICAN IDOL, AND SCROLL DOWN TO THE END.



Damn, I've been to the last 3 concerts for American Idol, and this one the best so far. And our seats - Oh my, they were awewsome. We were basically right near the end of stage right, but only about 10 rows back. Each person came out and did 2 or 3 songs. First was Jessica Sierra, sang "The boys are back in Town" and something else....next Anwar, who just made me melt when he sang "What a Wonderful Word"...my sister Mary noted that "someone forgot to iron his jacket", next, and I'm not sure why, because I don't think he was kicked off 3rd from the end, but who cares...was my main man - CONSTANTINE, and he rocked the house. He cam out singing the song that he sang that night he got kicked off - the title is escaping me now, and then sang "My funny Valentine", yes very close to my heart, and finished up with "Bohemian Rhapsody", and he was wearing a red velvet coat and looked hot as hell!! I don't know what came over me..I found myself screaming "you're so awesome, you were robbed, you kick ass, no, I don't have a husband". I truely believe that we caught eye contact for about a second, and he smiled that award winning Constantine smile...I was in Heaven. I was sitting next to my sister and we were both just singing our hearts out and screaming our heads off. Two grown women with children, having the time of their lives. It brought me back to my very first concert - David Cassidy at Ford's Theater. My dad took Mary and I - she was 8 and I was 5, and we both wore matching dresses with MaryJane shoes and white leotards. We had a box seat and I distinctly remember David singing "Brown eyes your beautiful and you're all mine" and he looked right at my sister and I, and we both grabbed each other and yelled simultaneously, "he looked at me!!!" Well, that's what it was like with Constantine.



Ok, and then somewhere after that, my friend Susan - well I guess I should tell you who all went to this shindig - the regular group that watched A.I. at my house every Tuesday consisted of myself, Jen (Kiki), Susan, and Chrissy - so of course we were there, and then my sister Mary and her three daughters, then Susan's friends Timmy and David, and then my friend's Tom and Lauren - let it be know that Tom didn't want anyone to know that he attended the American Idol concert AND had a great time - he was dancing and singing - an "in the closet" A.I. fan. Oh yeah, and then Jen's friends' Shawn and Chris, who I do love dearly, but ended up sitting somewhere else....let's see, oh yeah, I think it was a box that had free booze and food, but for some reason didn't have enough seats? So, the rest of us were split up, 4 on the floor and the rest down stage right about 10 rows up.



Well sometime before intermission (maybe around Nadia coming out jammin on electric guitar and looking like some very fit biker chick) I looked over to my left and lo and behold it was the foursome from the floor (Jen, Susan, Timmy and David) - they had managed to sneak their way over to the side so we were all together. Hooray.



Let's see, Nikko was good - I never really was a big fan, Scotty Sable, actually I have to give props out - he was funny, sang beautifully and his duet of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" with Jessica was great.



INTERMISSION



Next, the one that I thought should have been kicked off WAY BEFORE HE ACTUALLY WAS, was none other than Anthony Federof......just what you'd expect - technically perfect and incredibly boring. David and I were arguing about him during the show - David is a huge fan of Anthony's - he said to me "well he's just as good if not better than Clay". Well that was enough to get me going...by the way, almost this same group will be seeing Clay Aiken at Wolftrap on August 8, and boy are we psyched. Anthony has a great voice, it just doesn't move me - you know like when you hear someone hit a note and there's so much emotion behind it, that it tears you up inside - you find yourself in shock..almost, tears rolling down your cheeks - do you know that feeling, it's amazing. For me, it's just not that with Fed!



So on to the end - Vonzelle was amamzing - that girl sings Whitney, BETTER than Whitney, in my book, AND her Dad with his famous "pimp" hat was sitting only 6 rows away from us. People were asking to get his autograph and picture taken with him. Bo, yeah, he rocked - played some mean electric - I was hoping that he would do that awesome accapella song that he did on Idol, but he didn't. Bummer.....but then Keri - she was just as cute as can be. She came out singing Dixie Chicks, then onto Independence Day, and then her single....something with "HeaVen", and then everyone came back out singing back up...oh my, grande finale. We thought it was over, but then Keri and Bo came back out, both with guitars, and sang that Rascal Flats song that she sang on Idol - again, titles are escaping me at 1am.....do you get the drift? It was simply fabulous.



So, I'm fading fast here. Hope to see you at LIme Kiln on Sunday the 7th. Pray for Sunny skies, no bugs, world peace, carb free cake, and lastly, my dear friend Eddie.



Love to all,



Julie