Last week I finally had enough in my checking account to buy the four tickets and sat down at the computer to purchase them. It kept kicking me off the site and I finally just called Center Stage (the venue) to see what the problem was.
The problem was...They were SOLD OUT. I got a sick feeling in my stomach and waited a day or two to break the bad news to Massey and the other two girls. One was a classmate of Massey's and the other is a young woman I used to work with at the Western Sizzler. She was in a horrible car crash and spent quite a while at The Sheperd Center in Atlanta for a brain injury she sustained. Massey and I went to visit her on a regular basis (see former post.) She made a truly miraculous recovery and it was a hard road for her and her family. She was a fan of Boyce Avenue as well so we were all going together (so I thought.)
I felt terrible and kept trying the website to see if any tickets may become available as the concert date approached. I got panicky and even wrote their record label telling them I didn't want a handout but just needed tickets and could even pay more if they had some. I checked my email about five times a day hoping to hear back from them but by Friday still hadn't. Massey finally told her friend we didn't have tickets and I had her money for her.
I told Massey to still have the girl come over today and told my friend the same. We left here a little after five and I drove us all down to Center Stage to see if I could pull a rabbit out of a hat. I told them it wouldn't hurt to drive down there early and see if any tickets had opened up. We got there and there were at least a hundred people already in line with huge signs posted "BOYCE AVENUE / SOLD OUT."
I told them it didn't look good as we pulled into the parking garage but decided we had already driven to Atlanta, so it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. The attendant said it was ten dollars to park so I told him we just needed five minutes to go see if any tickets were left. He gave us ten minutes free parking so we all tromped out.
The line was growing longer by each passing minute and I told the three girls to stand on the side walk. I sauntered up to the door where a huge black security dude was holding the crowd back. I tapped him on the back and asked if I could speak with him a minute? He was checking people in who had paid thirty extra dollars for the "Meet and Greet" with the band before the show. I stood there for about a minute and he said while still checking people's ID "Go ahead, I'm listening."
I told him I was wondering if maybe a few tickets may still be available after everyone got in...standing room was fine for us, we needed four tickets...actually three and a half I was just pint size and wouldn't take up much room. He said to just stand there and wait and he would see. I stood there patiently for ten minutes and remembered my car was in a ten minute parking spot in the garage. I peeked back around the corner at the three girls and motioned for them to join me at the door where I was waiting patiently by my new huge BFF (big security dude.)
I told them I hadn't gotten a "NO" and asked them if they thought we should go ahead and pay ten bucks to park the car? We decided we had come this far so Massey and my friend Danielle went to pay and park the car. They let in all the "Meet and Greet " people and my BFF followed them all inside and shut the door. At least we were all huddled by the door and out of the wind so we decided to just stand there and see if he'd come back. Forty five minutes passed and another big security dude came to unlock the exit door we were all huddled around. I saw another opportunity and seized it.
I pushed open the exit door he had just unlocked and asked to speak with him a minute. I'm a touchy feely kind of gal and grabbed his arm and held on tightly. I told him I had spoken with the other security guard asking if tickets may still be available to purchase and he told me he would check , to wait there. I asked him to tell my friend we were still waiting and didn't care if we were the last ones to get in...just find us four tickets to buy. He said he would tell his friend and went back in. Another forty five minutes passed and my BFF came back out and said "Here's the deal, they oversold the show and there isn't enough room."
Never one to give up, I said "How about two tickets for my daughter and her friend? Danielle and I will wait outside for them." I had forgotten Massey's friend was just a freshman and her mother had only met me two hours earlier. Caleigh spoke up and said "My mom wouldn't want me going in without you." Then I pulled out my big guns and started shooting (verbally.)
I said "Here's the deal...I had no idea the show would sell out so quickly. It was pay my mortgage or buy concert tickets so I chose to keep my house. My daughter and her friend desperately want to see the show and this is my friend who I haven't seen since she got out of the Shepherd Center recovering from a brain injury sustained in a car crash. We won't take up much room...I barely even count, look how tiny I am! Please just see what you can do."
He sighed and said "Let me go see somebody else, I'll be right back. What's your name?" I told him my name.
We waited another twenty minutes and they opened up the door and started letting people in. I told the girls we still had a chance. Once everyone else got in surely they could let four more in!
Not five minutes went by when my friend Danielle said "Look! He just came out the door again on the other side and I think he's holding tickets in his hand!" He cut through the line piling through the open door and came over to where we were still standing. He held out four tickets and said "Enjoy the show." He didn't ask for any money just said "Go on in." By this time there were hundreds of people lined up waiting to get in. I asked him if he wanted us to go to the back of the line but he waved us through the crowd and we were among the first fifty people in the door after all four hugging his neck as we passed through. We got third row seats right by the stage but Massey and her friend opted to stand in front of the stage not five feet from where the band would perform. Danielle and I opted to sit in the third row, Massey and her friend weren't even ten feet from us. Second Hand Serenade was the opening act and before he came on I went out in the lobby and ran into the second security dude who grinned when he saw me. I said "Look who got in!!" I told him "You just never know what you can get til you ask...and what can it hurt to ask? Tell your buddy he made the night for two young teen age girls, they think they are in Heaven!" He smiled and said "You gotta try or you'll never know ...and I'll be sure to tell him you said thanks."
Danielle posted this pic of us on Facebook saying "Look where Kelly's big mouth just got us this time...into a concert for free!"
On the way out I spotted the guy who is Second Hand Serenade sitting at a little table in an alcove type section of the lobby. I told him he had put on a great show and he even let me take a picture of him with Massey. We got one of him with Caleigh too!
When I got up this morning I felt terrible that I had let everyone down. I didn't mean to, but you gotta have priorities and the bills have to come first. I did the right thing and paid my bills and responsibilities first and my ole friend Karma took care of the rest! The girls were still on could nine when we got home and are still talking about the night in Massey's bedroom twenty feet behind me.
Life is good. Live it right, take some chances and never give in or give up!
I never really thought I'd get them into the show, I had the hundred dollars for the tickets but thought it was too late. I went ahead and tried anyway and gave it my best shot. I ended up not only getting the girls less than five feet from the stage for absolutely free but having their picture taken with a famous recording artist and firmly establishing myself as the mom bomb.com for at least a week or two.
Feeling pretty good...
Til next time COTTON
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