I finally saw David in concert! Live, up close Let the adventure begin: Laura picked me up at work, and we got to Harrah's (casino) around 3:00. The concert was being held outside the parking garage. The street had been blocked off, with the stage at one end, and the audience standing in the street the length of the block. First come, first stand We were pretty much alone, save for a few security people. At about 4ish, David(!) came out with the band to do the sound check. We couldn't really see from where we were at the other end of the block (We weren;t allowed 'in' -- past the barricades, till 6:00), but there was no mistaking that voice! He did 2 or 3 songs--Lying to myself & No bridge I wouldn't cross (which he didn't do in the show) *acappella*. with only the 2 of us to hear. Way cool! We chatted with the security guard and were interviewed by Chris Rose, local celebrity spotting columnist, who saw us standing by ourselves several hours early and came to investigate. We wound up talking Monkees for some reason....Doubt there'll be an article out of it. 6:00 comes and we staked out our spot: right up aagainst the barricade. We could touch the stage. 6:45 saw a local band as the opening act. Since the advertising had not mentioned an opening act or 6:45, they played to maybe 20 people to start with, though by the time they finished it was pretty crowded. I wasn't too impressed with them, actually. My friend Penny from work joined us just as they were finishing up, though we didn't see Susan till after the show. But she made it! 8:00: A rep from Harrah's comes out and introduced Fire Chief McDaniels, who thanks Harrah's for donaating, I think, $1 million to the Neew York Fireman's 911 fund. They were also collecting donations at the gate, and David said all proceeds from both nights would also be donated. He talked aa lot about the attack, seemed a bit out of it. He admitted the next night that he'd been a bit brain-dead (his words) and that, for the first time in his career, almost didn't go on. Then he realized that if he didn't go on, then the bastards have won. There was a lot of flaag waving and applause. He started with I can feel your heartbeat, followed by Summer days--two of my favorites He did Cherish, a funked up version of C'mon get happy (which sort of surprised me, once I figured it out--it was halfway through before I recognized it) Rock me baby, Lyin' to myself, Someething from 'at the copa', I think I love you (duh!) and I'm sure others that I can't call to mind. He finished by singing the Star Spangled Banner. I tell ya, I never before thought of that as a *sexy* song! I don't think I'll ever hear it the same way again Altogether, a very enjoyable evening 8-) Had a big smile on my face the whole night. He was only on for about aan hour and a half, including the encore. Got home tired and happy. Saturday: Laura picked me up, and we got to the casino about 1:00 The wait was much the same--no sound check this time 8-( Talked to a Harrah's employee who said he was going to be driving David from his hotel. He took our names and saaid he would tell David about these two crazy girls who'd waited 5 hours yesterday and almost 8 hours today for him Not that anything came of it, but stil.... We thought to bring sandwiches this time, and kept chasing the shadow line, trying to keep out of the sun. The last thing I wanted was a splitting headache! This time, we had company by about 5:00--maybe 8 other people. The security guard we'd been chatting with was great about making sure they knew who was there before them When the 'gate' opened at 6, the opening band (same one) was doing a sound check, and saaw this crowd of 15 or so people rush the stage. They got a kick out of it. Staked out our spots--front and center, again right up against the barricade. Though by the end of the night, I had been squeezed out of my spot a few times. During their set, a little girl, part of a wedding party at the hotel across the street, behind the stage, I suppose trying to see, got her head stuck in the railing on the second floor balcony. The audience was waatching her, rather than the band. When they got her out, everyone of us applauded and the lead singer tried to look aroundd the back of the stage to see what was going on. It was rather a sweet moment. David was much more 'up' than he had been the previous night--interacting a bit more with the audience and seemed more energetic. I manaaged to shake his hand twice during the course of the evening Laura should have gotten some terrific shots! She's an amazing photographer; we were really close, and he was gorgeous! The songs were pretty much the same. I danced as best I could squished up against people The only downer was this drunk lady (I know she was drunk, 'cause I got a good whiff of her breath) who, first off, tried to get to David to give him something, pushing and shoving the whole way. When she got his attention, he said someething to the effect of 'what? you want me to interupt the show to talk with you? I can't carry on more than one conversation at a time, love.' But he took the pin she offered, and when he saw that it was a red white & blue ribbon (we never did see what was on the pin itself, but he seemed rather touched by it) thanked her and pinned it to his lapel. Ok, so it turned out to be a good thing. However, as the evening wore on, this b*tch managed to push, shove, scream in my ear, push shove, at one point alomost climbing over me, *shrieking* 'David!' in my ear, almost knocking Laura's camera out of her hands, probably stepped on a few toes, kicked people in the shins, and generally seemed to think she was the only David Cassidy fan in a crowd of about 1,000 people. There's one in every crowd I guess Laura's friend Jamie joined us about halfway through the show. I'm still amazed she made her way up front through that crowd! I went home happy. he was wonderful! I'll still treasure my first meeting him (2 years ago?) as my special moment but I'm glad I finally got to see him perform. Can you say 'happy camper'? 8-) Peace! Jan --My penguin was not Peter Tork