My Meet and Greet with Taylor Hicks

I am a proud member of the Soul Patrol. I am not a psycho fan, but one that is crazy about Taylor Hicks' talent and just musical ability. I am a member of his fan club, and the perks with that are the opportunity to buy pre-sale tickets, pretty much guaranteeing you great seats, and then the opportunity to win meet & greets before the concert.

When I got the email that I had won a meet & greet, I nearly fainted. For weeks, I couldn't decide what I'd say, what I'd do, heck, what would I wear???

The day finally drew near. We had a three hour drive from where we live near Peoria, IL to the Waukegan, IL area. The entire time, I was worried about getting there on time. When we finally arrive, I had about 45 minutes to spare. I ran inside to the box office to get my wrist band. When I gave them my name, they said, "You're not on the list." I nearly had a heart attack. They had sent the email to me and said it wasn't needed to print it off, just bring your ID with you to the box office. I told the lady I had the email and if they had Internet on their computer, I would gladly show her. She got the manager and she came out and talked to me. We later figured out that because I used my friend's credit card, the meet and greet had shown up in her name when it should have shown up in my name. With a sigh of relief, I got my wrist band and was on my way.

What I brought along for him to sign was his book and a picture of my obsessed three year old son by his bus. I got him a card that played "Sweet Home Alabama" and inside I wrote how he was my "Ray Charles" and was my inspiration and idol. I gave it to him because how do you tell your musical idol what they mean to you in the few minutes you have with them? I just wrote him a short paragraph in the card and that was that.

So, the meet and greet. All of the winners were all gathered in the box office lobby, and some of the people there were interesting. Now, I adore the man, but some of these ladies were dressed very provocatively and had some interesting gifts for him. I felt a little more normal and not "stalker-like". You went into the meet and greet three-at-a-time to meet him. I was the first person of the three to go in. The man ushered us into this hallway of the theater, so I thought we were going to a room. There were 3 steps down into this hall, and being the first person to go in, so I was really nervous. I didn't wanna fall down the steps so I was really careful. As I'm going down the steps, I hear his voice, so I thought we were near the room. I was totally wrong! I turned my head to look in the direction of his voice and he was right there in the hall waiting for us. I nearly vomited! I was so excited! I exclaimed, "Oh my gosh!" and immediately started shaking like a leaf! I know, I'm a dork! I kept telling myself, "Amy, he's just a person....stop shaking like a fool!" but I couldn't stop! I walked right up to him and I heard him say, "Oh cool! They have books!" Taylor's autobiography came out on the Tuesday before this concert, and this was the first concert since it's release date. The book is actually really good. He's been through a ROUGH life! Anyway, it must be the first meet & greet he's had since it came out, b/c he was really excited to see the books.

He was sitting at a table, so I walked up to him when he said, "Hey you guys, how ya doin'?" The other girls were standing there frozen like stone, so I went to him, and shook his hand.

As we shook hands, he said, "Hi, I'm Taylor."

I replied in a truly elegant fashion that must have impressed him, "Well, duh, I know that!" Man, I truly am a dork!

He laughed it off and said, "Have a seat, whatcha got there?" I sat next to him and showed him what I brought him to autograph. I had a picture of my son, Gavin, standing next to his bus. When he asked me to tell him about it. I said, "This is my son, Gavin, and he is totally obsessed with your bus. Every time he sees an RV, he's screams 'Taylor's Bus!!!!!!!!!!!'"

He looked at it and said, "Man, that's so cool. He likes the bus, huh? Is he musical at all?"

I said, "Oh yes! He knows all your songs and he LOVES music!"

He whipped out his sharpie and asked for his name and autographed Gavin's bus picture (Gavin's thrilled to see that Taylor signed it!). Next I handed him his book to sign. He asked for my name and signed it quick. I told him it was so good and he thanked me. I lamely told him that my first car, too, was a white ford probe and he got a kick outta that. I gave him a copy of my son's picture by the bus and on the back I wrote, "You know you've hit the big time when every time a three year old sees an RV he screams "Taylor's bus!!!!" Then I also handed him his card. I kept saying, "I don't know if you'll want this, but...." and he always replied, "No, thank you!"

His tour manager, Bill, then took our picture together. I later told Bill that he had the best job in the world and he told me that he thought he did, too.

Then the next girls had their turns and like fools, they didn't know what to say to him. I was like, "Uh, TALK TO HIM!" in my head, but they were quiet, so I just stood there and we all just kinda chit-chatted. One of the girls in my meet and greet group had a press packet from his "Under the Radar" CD and he seemed amazed by that. He asked her all about it and wrote down the address of where she got it from. He obviously didn't keep a press packet for himself. He was truly excited to see it.

He was super nice. It's cool to see him as a real person and not just that hot man dancing and singing the heck outta soul music on stage!

I didn't compliment his elbows and cuticles or sniff him to see what he smelled like, as some suggested! I didn't want to be escorted out by security! HA! He was cool, down to earth, and friendly to us.

My meet and greet was probably one of the coolest moments of my life. How many people get to say that they got to sit down next to their musical idol and chit chat for a few minutes? It was totally cool. I hope it's an experience that I get to repeat again in the future. I'll be following Taylor Hicks forever. He has brought my love of music back to the surface again, and for that, I will be eternally thankful.

Lastly, thank you to Taylor for giving his devoted fans this opportunity. I'm sure it's not always fun for him to have to sit down and meet his fans, but we are grateful to have the opportunity to sit next to greatness.