2004-01-14
6:57 p.m.

Bobblefest BEVR - Lila

Yet Another Bobblefest BEVR

As soon as I step off the plane in Charlotte I turn on my cell phone and it alerts me to a message from Diana Kilbridge �

DK: Where are you? I�m here and checked in at the Inn. How are you getting your Broad butt over here?

L: Huh? Broad butt!!?? Oh!

Once I arrive at the Broad Inn formerly known as Microtel, Diana and I don our Clayphernalia and head out to join the other Broads for Chinese buffet. As soon as we step out the door we see an �I �heart� CLAY AIKEN� sticker in the rear window of one of the cars in the lot. We yelp as we see the Georgia plate and go tearing back into the Inn to pound on the Atlanta Broads� door. When Erin, Robin and Amber open the door squeals, hugs, and chatter explode into the hallway as we are pulled into the room.

�Does anyone want a spritz of Space NK??� says Erin.

There is one wide-eyed moment of absolute dead silence, and then a mayhem of jockeying and insistent ME! ME! ME! ME! fills the room. We each sample a spritz and settle in with the scent of Clay surrounding us. It is what you would expect Clay to smell like.

�It smells like � HEAT� Erin and I agree.

Diana presents one leg of the purple LBFCA scarf she is wearing. �Hit me with some of that�. I want to be smelling it when I see him�.

With that we are off to our Bobblefest buffet. NSST greets us with purple shirt and open arms. In a cozy corner room we join Gini ,Brude Mr. Gini, Raleighgurrl, Dr in NC, NSST �s daughter Ashley, Cha Cha Trusty , her friend Mary, Filly Sue, neo-Brude Mr. FS, Michelle in Va, and her friend Jen. Once everyone is beaded, tagged and ceremoniously crowned as a Queen of Delusion as Michelle in Va unfurls the State Flag of Delusion (designed by Cindy) and it is time to belly up to the buffet.

Some very firm red jello, which Erin insists tastes like flowers, and the huge implications of Raleighgurrl�s cookie-ensconced fortune made a fitting end to dinner with the Bobblefest Broads (you�ll have to ask RG). I was SO excited to meet and see the Broads that it wasn�t until we were in the car en route to UNCC that I actually realized�.we�are�seeing�Clay! We park the car and strut over to the Dale F. Halton Arena, fingers itching for some bobblehead and feeling oh!so!cool! to be planting our feet where Clayton�s have trod. As quick as you can say �show-me-your-ticket-here�s-your-box� we have our Clay Bobbleheads in our hands. (**More on the bobblehead to follow).

Diana and I find NSST and Ashley and sit down to chat with them. And Diana fills me in on the art of milling��You park yourself in a seat you like and hope that no one shows up with a ticket for it. If they do, you find another seat ya like and park yourself there until someone claims it. And ya keep milling until the game or concert starts. There�s a real good chance that you�ll wind up with a good seat�. So we sit in the seats next to NSST, until they are claimed, then we move to seats in the next row, which also get claimed. Oh well.

Diana and I take leave of NSST and go off to find our separate nosebleed seats. I see Diana climb up to hers two sections away as I wait at the foot of my section. And wait. And wait. And try to screw up the courage to try a little milling on my own. The section is triangular so that the first row has only 3 seats, the second has four, and the section widens as the rows climb. I have my eye on four empty seats in the second row�I take a deep breath and go for my very first mill maneuver. I plop into the second row aisle seat and try to act Invisible. As the pre-gamecert minutes tick away, the two seats at the other end of my row get filled but the seat next to me does not. I am free and clear in my second tier second row seat as the lights dim.

With trembling hands I quick-dial Jannet on my cell phone as Star Spangled Clay is announced. And then there is nothing but the beauty of The Voice and �. Rearview Clay. He respectfully faces the flag throughout his heart-swelling rendition of the Anthem so all I could see was his back(side). I decide to make the best of it and blow him a well-aimed kiss, sending it off with a whispered �This is from Kat�.

The lights came up, Clay walks off the court, and I giggle as he hi-fives the skeery-looking 49-er mascot on his way out the door. Minutes later, Clay comes back and is seated across the arena DIRECTLY OPPOSITE my section at a courtside table with three of his friends, and Jerome parked solidly behind him on a folding chair. Miz Faye and her very (VERY!) handsome male companion are seated in the first row of the stands behind Clay�s table. I was deliriously happy that I had brought a very good pair of binoculars along. Through the lenses, Clay seems only to be two or three feet away. Eeeek!

I watch riveted for 20 minutes of glorious ever-changing Clay faces�.squints, laughs, smiles, nods, stifled yawns, twitchy mouth, restless eyebrows. He whispers into ears, he fidgets and swats a water-bottle cap around. At one point I gasp as his pink-sweatered friend smooths something that doesn�t belong there from his cheek with her hand. A little later she fluffs the back of his hair with her fingertips!!!! Aaaargh!!!! As much as that cuts a line of white-hot pain through me, I cannot pull the binoculars away from my face. And then she fluffs her fingers through the front of friend �Nick�s� hair. That doesn�t hurt at all.

Then Jerome touches Clay on the shoulder and they leave the arena to prepare for the halftime concert. This small break is essential for the Broads to be able to catch a regular breath and restore upright positions for his performance of The Way and Invisible. It also provides an opportunity for me to wave Diana over to mill into the empty seat next to me, and to figure out how to hold the binoculars steady with one hand while transmitting cellcert-part-deux with the other.

You have already read about and seen pictures of the baggy jeans, black stripey shirt, green jersey. Of the cheerleaders and the checks. How he teased and strutted and sang as only Clay can sing. I can only add that Diana and I were able to make out the brand of his black shoes. Did I mention that we had really good binoculars? So good in fact, that shortly after the mini-clutch during Invisible, while Clay was at our end of the court, he looks up into the stands and both Diana and I scream! Without budging her binoculars from her eyes she plucks at my arm and says �That was just for us gurrl! Didya feel it?�. Yes. We had been treated to what can only be described as a binoculated EF. What? Ask Kilbridge!

And then the warmth and the light and the music are gone and there is just the sound of the bouncing ball and squeaking sneakers.

After we stopped quivering and were confident that our legs were solid enough to support us, we left the arena and went over to the gracious and lovely NSST�s for a Clack marathon�. my very first group Clacking experience. Sharing the love, calling out in unison �oh, this is where he�...�, benchmarking exactly where each of us fell irretrievably in love, speaking the same language, validating each other while at the same time laughing at ourselves. We even had Broads joining in on the party via cell phone; the friendships being forged here at LBFCA have long arms. It rocked my world.

By the way, Cha Cha Trusty packs a mean cooler. That Broad can cater a party on a moment�s notice right out of her car!

Thank you Erin and Robin and Amber for sharing your beds and dreams and sacrificing your towels so that I could bobble along. I love you and I love the Broads (and Brudes) of LBFCA. And I love Clay Aiken for making these good times possible.

P.S. Let�s face it, despite the fact that I NEEDED to have a Clay Bobblehead in my possession�. Does the danged thing (exhibit A) look like Clay? Not so much! If they had just asked for some input from any one of the Broads, just think what we coulda had (exhibit B). Even the pants start looking better don�t they?

exhibit A exhibit B

-Lila

posted by Erin