Rodney Atkins 9/7/15

As I said last week, fair season in New England is going strong, which annually leads to a least a few music 'graphing opportunities. This one was a little more planned than the Swon Brothers, since I had seen at least a month ago that Rodney Atkins would be performing at a fair I go to every year in Connecticut. I also saw a post weeks ago that if you join Rodney's fan club for a small fee, that you have a chance to win a meet and greet with him at your show. I knew nearly nobody else would see that post, so it was pretty much a guarantee, (at least I thought so), that I would be meeting him.

There was a long stretch where I hadn't heard anything, but then about 4-5 days before the show I got an e-mail stating that I was in! I love Rodney's music, and he and Jason Aldean literally got me into country music years ago, so I was pretty thrilled that I was going to be meeting him.

I had bought all 5 of his CD's on Amazon/at Wal-Mart for around $5 each which was a pretty good deal, so I was well-prepared for the event.

When fair day came, I went to the merch booth where I was told my pass would be waiting, I picked it up, and inside was the meet and greet pass, along with a note that said only one autograph and one picture was allowed per person. I was a little bummed, just because I had gone through the trouble of buying his entire collection, but I didn't think they would really enforce it because it was so low key. 

After the concert I went to the meeting spot, which was at the merch booth, and after a few minutes, I along with maybe 15-20 others were led to the area where the meet and greet would be taking place. After another 10 minutes or so, Rodney came out of his bus, and the event was underway.

I was probably 6-7 people back, and I noticed that Rodney was signing multiples for people, which was awesome.

When I got up to him, I handed him the CD booklets, and he asked who to make them out to.

I told him that he was one of the guys who really got me interested in the genre, and that his song, "It's America", played at a baseball stadium near me for like 5 years, and was the song that really got me hooked. He told me that he appreciated that. He was VERY nice. Not that I wasn't expecting him to be, but he was just awesome. He really cared about what people were telling him, and he was one of the most genuine celebrities I have ever met.

Rodney signed 5 CD's for me. Here they are in order of their release:

He was also kind enough to take a photo with me after signing all of those.

New York Mets Vs. Boston 8/30/15

Last weekend I went to Citi Field for the first time on a group trip to see the Mets play the Red Sox. It is often tough for me on group trips to get autographs at the games because of timing, but this time we ended up showing up before gates opened which was pretty awesome.

This was my 5th different Major League Stadium, and as always, I was very excited to knock another one off of my list. In order, I have been to: RFK Stadium in Washington, Fenway Park, Camden Yards, Yankee Stadium, and now Citi Field.

Since it was a Sunday, I knew there wouldn't be batting practice which would limit my chances for autographs, but when I got inside, the pitchers were throwing, and I already saw someone signing. When I got closer, about halfway down the stairs, I could see that it was Clay Buchholz. I hadn't met him in about 7-8 years,  around the time when he threw his no-hitter.

When I got down to him he was nicer than I had ever seen him, which was pretty great, and he even took a photo with me!:

A few minutes later, Eduardo Rodriguez started to sign after an obnoxious woman was screaming his name for 10 minutes. He signed for her and about 4 others. I missed out which was a bummer, but no big deal I suppose.

Craig Breslow also signed for a while, but I just wasn't in position, and I didn't want to move because I had a really solid spot in the front row. I always joke around saying, I've met over 140 Red Sox players, and he is one of the nicest athletes in Boston, but I just have terrible luck with him.

After that I was able to get one more autograph. Steven Wright was coming over and I really wanted to talk to him because I had seen him play for a few years in Pawtucket and he was always one of the nicest and most fan-friendly guys. I told him about seeing him in Pawtucket for so long and how I was happy that he had really made it and has been sticking around.

I only got two autographs, but it was an awesome day, and Citi Field definitely became one of my favorite stadiums to watch a game at/enjoy the overall experience. People may call me crazy but I mighhhttt like it as much as Camden Yards.

The Swon Brothers 8/28/15

Fair season is officially underway in New England, and while that means the year is beginning to wind down, a good part of my 'graphing season is just beginning.

Every year there is a small fair near where I used to live, and I found out a few weeks ago that the Swon Brothers, who since their long stint on NBC's , "The Voice", have begun to really succeed in the country scene were going to be performing at it. The concert was on a Friday night which was pretty perfect as far as my schedule goes, so my girlfriend and I decided to head over to the show, and hoped to get an autograph or two.

When we got to the fair, the tour bus was fenced in next to the stage as usual, but there wasn't much action at all so we just decided to walk around for a while and come back closer to showtime. We went back to get a seat about 70-90 minutes before the show. While we were waiting, a sign was put up at the merchandise booth that said that the guys would be signing after their show. I had bought a CD, so I was happy to have this safety net, and it's always nice to have pretty much a guarantee that I will meet who I am trying for.

Maybe 30 minutes before showtime, I noticed a really nice SUV pulling up near the fence, and I could see that Colton Swon was in the front seat. I went over and positioned myself near where he would be walking over. He got out of the vehicle and I asked him to sign the CD. He went to grab my pen, and a cheap fair security guy told me to go away or something along those lines. Obviously I didn't think much of it because the artist was literally grabbing my CD and pen. The guy then got in front of him and tried to block me from handing off the CD. Colton looked at me and was just like, "Sorry man." I could tell he really wanted to sign it, probably because it kind of pays his salary when fans buy his music, but the guy was just being obnoxious. Eventually, and by that I mean within the next 10 seconds, he was able to finally sign the CD. After that, I saw his brother Zach getting out of the back of the SUV, and walking behind the merch table. Another security guy said, "You can't be here." Zach didn't care though, and grabbed my CD and signed it with no hesitation at all. The security guys all seemed so pissed, and nobody else had even been trying to get anything signed because it all happened so quickly.

Let's recap.

-I was literally in an open area at a SMALLLL local fair.
-Both guys wanted to sign my CD with no hesitation at all. I'm pretty confident Colton would have  had a full conversation with me if he had the chance.
-Security guys who had no affiliation with the artists were trying to control their actions.

This is becoming a more and more frequent occurrence in the hobby, and it obviously isn't good for it. "Security guys" just need to learn their place and not go above what their job calls for. I see this happen at concerts, basketball games, you name it.

Yes, I realize that I could have just gotten my CD signed after the concert, but, "I waited until the show ended and waited in line." isn't the most exciting blog entry for you guys.

With that said, they were selling photos for $5, so I did wait after the show and have them sign that, but that's besides the point :) .

I had gotten the booklet signed by them before the show, and when I went up to the line after the show, my girlfriend got the actual CD done for me.

Notice how the CD cover that I got signed before the show has much nicer autographs than during their signing: