The bunnies that almost didn't

I first met Jesi at work about 4 years ago. We traveled in different "circles" at work and do in part to some workplace dramatics we had never really talked a whole lot. Until one day, I wondered over to the music department and we struck up a conversation about childhood cartoons and how they were finally being released to DVD. We were both disappointed that we couldn't find the Wuzzles cartoon anywhere, that wonderful Disney cartoon with animal hybrids like, Bumlelion, Eleroo (elephant/kangaroo), and my favorite Hoppopotamus (hippo/rabbit). After making a childhood cartoon connection, we discovered that we both loved Brandi Carlile and in a few months her new album The Story would be released. Deciding to stop hanging out with coworkers outside of work was one of the best decisions I have ever made. It eliminated drama from both my work life and my personal life. Jesi is the only person I made an exception for.

A few months down the road...it's Friday, Easter weekend and Jesi, myself, and my mother are driving to Tucson to stay with my mothers best friend. Jesi and I had 2 tickets to see Brandi at the Rialto Theatre on Saturday night. We were so excited that we got there 2 hours early and sat outside in line with about 5 other people who were as excited as we were. The line grew steadily and finally we were let in, we rushed inside, not sure of what the set up would be like. Brandi is a rock star, surely there will be some sort of barricade between her and us? Nope. We settled to the center left side of the stage and promptly crossed our arms and leaned on the stage, staking our territory.

We made friends with the very nice asian fellow who was standing dead center, with a camera in hand. He told us that he had been to the last 5 shows, starting in Portland, then LA, then San Francisco, the San Diego, then Phoenix, and now here. Apparently he had met Brandi a few times because she will take pictures after the shows and sign stuff. Darn it, we had left the camera in the car because of the "no photography" sign outside, but our new friend (who's name I don't remember because I am horrible with names) said that he would gladly take a picture of us and send it to me via email. I remember quietly joking with Jesi that this guy was a crazy groupie/stalker. Oh how the tables would turn.

I am not proficient enough in the english language to even begin to describe the intensity of the bands performance, other than to say it was life changing. Go youtube Brandi Carlile and see for yourself - start here http://www.youtube.com/user/snowshoe80 - the woman who shot these is a crazy woman who we finally met at a Portland show. Yes, we have crossed multiple states to see Brandi and band, but now I am getting ahead of myself....

The show was over and Jesi and I almost fell to the floor, it was an emotional high, and now we were going to meet her. I'd say about half the people in the audience had no idea who Brandi Carlile even was and were only there because it was Saturday night and they had nothing else to do. The other half were completely stoked that she would be signing autographs afterwards and ran to get in line. Finally our time had come, our new friend was waiting behind us to take our picture with Brandi, and we were completely star struck.



I couldn't even speak. I can only imagine the stupid look we must have had on our faces. Brandi looked at us, waiting for us to speak, and all we could do was hand her our ticket stubs to sign and finally one of us (I can't even remember which one of us it was) stammered,"We came from El Paso to see you" to which she replied,"well I drove from San Diego to see you," at which point one of us either motioned or possible stammered about taking a picture. We got a quick picture snapped, I think Brandi said hope you liked the show or something to that effect. Honestly, I was so in awe of her that my brain just couldn't process any thoughts or retain anything that was said. Jesi was the same way, we joke that I had to usher her away from Brandi.

We sat out in the parking lot just watching the tour bus comings and goings for an hour. We replayed the whole set list, which parts we loved, how we couldn't believe how amazing the whole experience had been. Bare in mind that Jesi is the daughter of a musician and spent the first 10 years of her life traveling with her fathers band who opened for the likes of BB King and Bonnie Raitt. Even outside of her fathers shows, Jesi has an extensive amount of live performances under her belt, and even she was having a mindgasim at what we had just witnessed.

The next morning we had Easter brunch. It was Jesi's first Easter that she had not spent with her family. We haven't done anything on Easter since I was about 10 years old, but Jesi's family still to this day dies eggs and spends the day together. My mother and I left the house while Jesi was in the shower to get plastic eggs, candy, and bunnies for a make shift basket. We surprised her with an egg hunt and for a moment I remembered what it was like to be 10 again.

It is very difficult to hide eggs in a xeroscaped lawn. In the end it's the thought that counts the most.

We named our bunnies Brandi and Carlile to commemorate the weekend. Brandi bunny is a permanent addition to my dashboard and Carlile floats around Jesi's car too.

As soon as we were home, we myspace stalked Brandi and discovered that the band had a show in Austin on Wednesday night. Austin is only an 8 to 9 hour drive. I say only because I drive across Texas at least once a year to visit family and friends, so I am use to doing 12 hour drives. We needed to go to Austin. We needed to see Brandi again and explain what her music meant to us. How it had helped both of us get through some very personal experiences. We had to redeem ourselves from the complete "Duuuh" moment that we had in front of her in Tucson.

I had to work both Wednesday and Thursday. Jesi had an exam Thursday morning at 8am. The show is in Austin at 9pm, probably won't get out until midnight, then an 8 hour drive back, we'd both be exhausted already, then Jesi's test...it just wouldn't work out. But what if.....

Itunes starts playing Brandi and I get a text message from my sister, she's just been fired from her job. Well nothing gets you out of the just-got-fired blues faster than an impromptu road trip to watch an amazing band. I made a quick phone call to work, after 5 minutes of bargaining, begging, and pleading my shifts were covered. Jesi could study in the car, Kendra and I would drive, as long as we left Austin by 1am we could get Jesi to her test on time.

It was a crazy plan, but it just might work....