would if I could (7 of 7)

15Jun09

The next morning I got up at 4:30.  It was Carrie Underwood day.

My peeps and I arrived at the Grand Ole Opry House at 6:30.  There were nearly 100 people there when we arrived.  I had no idea what I was getting into.

My counterpart and I ran into this very nice gentleman and Nashville native who told us all about life in Nashville and the big happenings of the week.  We were having a nice conversation until we were interrupted at about 7am by a hovering helicopter.  He explained that the local news station was covering the overnight campers that arrived so ridiculously early for Carrie’s thing.

I had thought 6:30 had been ridiculously early.  Apparently the 100 people ahead of us did not necessarily think so.

At 7:30 things started to get a little out of hand when the teenage groupies started to scream for Carrie.  Basically the entirety of my Carrie Underwood experience only made me realize that Carrie is a real person and some people just want a piece of celebrity and they don’t necessarily care about valuing talent or privacy or normalcy for someone they just want to say they got close to.  It was an interesting revelation.

In short, we got out of and then back into line about 3 or 4 times in response to these screaming groupies, one of whom apparently had some kind of authority at the event.  After about 30 minutes someone from the Opry came out and explained to us that this person was just on a power trip and we could go back to where we had been lining up.

We did.  However, unfortunately, we lost our fancy chair set up and had to stand in 90 degree weather for the rest of the time.  Fortunately we got to meet these two nice Canadian girls and a lovely father and daughter from Nebraska, along with a few others who chimed in along our side of the line.  Carrie fans, for the most part, are good people.

All the screaming craziness pretty much went on for the rest of the day.  Meanwhile, I was enjoying a lovely sixth-ish row seat watching Carrie sing some of my favorite songs in the whole world, including, “How Great Thou Art.”  It was a great time.  I could have just sat and listened for most of the day.  We all got lovely goodie bags, treats and an autograph.

All in all it was a terrific experience and I could not be more happy that this was the reason I went to Nashville.  I could have done without the crazy throngs of people, but the ones I actually got to talk to were spectacular.  My little prayer was answered when I met Nolan because he made my Nashville experience quite unforgettable.  I will be sure to go back and visit Tootsie’s and much, much more.  I still think it would be so cool to be Carrie Underwood’s friend, I am beginning to realize that perhaps she would rather have friends that knew the real her before she was so very popular.  I can’t really imagine her kind of life.  It must be wonderful and insanely difficult.  Nevertheless, for the people reading this blog, I will probably remain the biggest Carrie Underwood fan you know.  I know for a fact that the day will not come when I am a crazy screaming groupie.

You have my word on that.

Filed under: an adventure, what i did last night   |  3 Comments