Last night I finally went to a Switchfoot show! I actually went to high school with these guys in Encinitas and I am so proud of their success. Rob couldn’t attend so Melanie came with me. Side note, in 10th grade, I took theatre with Jon Foreman (the lead singer) and if memory serves me correctly, he asked me to a dance. I was such a dork in high school though and didn’t know how to interact with guys that I declined. Needless to say, it was fun to tease Rob a bit last night that I would get Jon to sign my bottom or something (really, though, I didn’t think he would ever remember me). Anyhow, we had such a great time and it’s always fun introducing Melanie to new music as she is always passing along new music to me. They played for about an hour and there were only about 250 or so people in the audience, many of those audience members were parents with their young kids (Switchfoot writes positive, Christian-type music, making them family friendly). I can’t help but not share 2 stories from last night of the cutest kids ever! The first, while we were waiting in line outside the Apple, we saw this little boy, maybe around 3 years old, wearing baggy jeans, a long-sleeve button-up shirt and flip flops! So cute! He looked like a little Heath Ledger, no joke! A heartthrob at 3! Second, once inside we were standing near the Genius Bar (if you’re an Apple fan, you know what the Genius Bar is) and we noticed the cutest family of 5. All 3 kids had red hair and gigantic brown eyes and the 2 little boys were totally rocking out to Switchfoot – they were about 2 and 3 years old. Ugh, it was too cute!
After their set, an announcement was made that the band members would be signing autographs. While I was embarrassed, I also felt like I should at least congratulate them on their success, you know as a fellow San Dieguito Mustang alumnus. All evening I resisted shouting “Come Alive with 95” (our graduating year mantra). After waiting in line for about 45 minutes, we finally made it to the front and I embarrassingly had this brief dialogue exchange with Jon:
Me: Hi, I actually went to high school with ya’ll
Jon: Really?
Me: My name is Alyssa Palmer (maiden name)
Jon: (Either actually remembering me or putting forth a really good performance) Hey Alyssa, how’ve you been? It’s good to see you.
Me: I’ve been really well! I just wanted to say congratulations on your success and I’m so proud of you guys.
Jon: Thank you so much!
Me: I was so stocked when I found out you were playing at Apple. My husband actually works for Apple and we’re huge Apple fans.
Jon: Yeah, me too. As a musician, I always work on Apple computers.
Me: (being pushed by a 9 year old kid with an electric blue guitar for the band members to sign) Well, congratualtions again. Can we take a quick picture?
Jon: Of course
And then we took a picture and said good-bye. I was so embarrassed, but I’m glad I said something. This was actually more mortifying than the time I introduced myself to Jack Johnson (gosh, my heart still pounds when I remember that moment though). They were really gracious, they sound awesome live and I’ll definitely continue to support my local hometown band!
Mel and I finished off the evening with a delicious dinner at Johnny Rockets and a bag of cookies from Famima (well, I won’t blame Mel, I actually bought the bag of cookies). Thanks, Melanie, I’m so glad you shared this full-circle experience with me. Honey, Jon used permanent market on my bottom to commemorate the moment…Just kidding, he did sign a piece of paper though.
I’m heading to Cleveland for work for a couple days, so I’ll be back on Monday. I may actually experience blogging withdrawals (unless I can figure out how to get Internet access in my hotel room, which I’ve never been good at). I have a meeting Friday morning, but I’m hoping to check out the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and also look for Drew Carey…
Until Monday…
And here's the groupie shot:
4 comments:
Well that's an awesome blog to leave us with for a couple of days. I loved the conversation with your high school Romeo, and the pictures of you and him and you and Melanie!
such a great story! It was worth the wait! you're so funny - I totally imagined you talking to him and being really shy. so cute! Mel looks great as always. :) Have a fun and safe trip. I'll miss your blogging!
yeah, that was really cute (barf)...
: )
That's really cool!
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