Akron OH Fall Tour 09

[Starman]

   Great posts, all!  I was very proud of the collective presence the forum members made at the Akron show.  The effect on the performers was palpable and energized them immeasurably!  We were able to lead many standing ovations with our numbers that the artists might not have enjoyed otherwise.  Regardless of whether the majority of the audience joins us in some of these ovations,  I always want the rest of the audience to see that this group of artists has a large and dedicated group of fans who will follow them anywhere!   

[Thomas]

I wanted to thank everyone for making Akron so successful, we had a blast, the girls had a blast, this show will go down in the record books.  We did end up with 28 forum members, plus PBS personnel, plus non-forum members which are regular CW show goers that happily joined in the fun!!!!  Believe it or not, we ran out of buttons and AlexFest signs with all of the excitement.  I apologize for those of you whom wanted buttons, but were already distributed.  Our group ROCKS, I look forward to doing this all over again with you next year.  I'll post more later when I find the time.

Thank you and take care,


Tom
PS, now I need to start working on OrlaghFest on 12/4

[Mel]

And Sharon, to see your reaction when you found out that you were going to meet Lisa was priceless.   

Thanks to all who were at the show last night.  I had a blast!

Coleen

Yes, once me and Sara were done slapping hands, I seen Sharon's reaction, cause I had forgotten she hadn't met Lisa  yet, and I thought I would need a paper bag for her to hyperventilate in . Then we teased her that we would catch her if she fainted.

but she did just fine, she and Bernie were in front of me, and she had no problem with talking to Lisa

[rick,]

And Sharon, to see your reaction when you found out that you were going to meet Lisa was priceless.   

Thanks to all who were at the show last night.  I had a blast!

Coleen

Yes, once me and Sara were done slapping hands, I seen Sharon's reaction, cause I had forgotten she hadn't met Lisa  yet, and I thought I would need a paper bag for her to hyperventilate in . Then we teased her that we would catch her if she fainted.

but she did just fine, she and Bernie were in front of me, and she had no problem with talking to Lisa

Meeting these wonderful ladies can do that to us. I felt the same way when I met Mairead.

[Thomas]

I wanted to take a moment and thank everyone whom attended AlexFest in Akron.  I would encourage you to send an email of thanks to Ella from WVIZ for all that her station has done for us at: 

ella.fong@ideastream.org

My special thanks to:

George and Shelby
Coleen and Michelle
Mel and Zo
Sharon and Bernie
Andi and Annie
Ryan and Ann
John and Dave
Ralph and Connie
Dave and Scott
Daryl and Ashley
Mike and Don
Frank and Kathleen
Dayna and Sara

Thank you again for making AlexFest in Akron 09 so successful,


Tom

[cool2it]

It sounds like all of you had a great time!!   I'm sure the girls apprreciated seeing all those familiar faces and we all know how they seem to take it up a notch when we help!! LOL  I certainly will plan on joining the fun next year if I possibly can.   Thank You all for representing the forum the way you do, and the way you did, in Akron!!! 

[Godshorsegirl]

I wanted to thank everyone for making Akron so successful, we had a blast, the girls had a blast, this show will go down in the record books.  We did end up with 28 forum members, plus PBS personnel, plus non-forum members which are regular CW show goers that happily joined in the fun!!!!  Believe it or not, we ran out of buttons and AlexFest signs with all of the excitement.  I apologize for those of you whom wanted buttons, but were already distributed.  Our group ROCKS, I look forward to doing this all over again with you next year.  I'll post more later when I find the time.

Thank you and take care,


Tom
PS, now I need to start working on OrlaghFest on 12/4

You ran out of signs? Like the ones I made?? Wow!

[Thomas]

Yes, we ran out of AlexFest signs, a very good problem to have.

Thank you GHG for your creative contribution.

Anyone interested in printing out your own AlexFest signs, there are posted over on the Mairead forum, warning, the files can become large.

Thanks again,


Tom

[dbbii]

I had a little story I told both Lisa and Lynn. 

A long time ago, I attended the University of Akron.  E J Thomas Hall is part of the University.  I was in the band while I was in school and got to perform on stage at E J Thomas.  I can now tell people my life is complete -- I performed on the same stage as Celtic Woman!!!

[Starman]

I had a little story I told both Lisa and Lynn. 

A long time ago, I attended the University of Akron.  E J Thomas Hall is part of the University.  I was in the band while I was in school and got to perform on stage at E J Thomas.  I can now tell people my life is complete -- I performed on the same stage as Celtic Woman!!!

  LOL!! Great story which I'm sure they got a kick out of!  It was an impressive campus with many architecturally interesting buildings! I stayed at the Quaker Square Inn, which was also very architecturally interesting!  I hope to visit it again! 

[Thomas]

Nice story Don,

It was my pleasure to meet you,

Thanks for attending,


Tom

I had a little story I told both Lisa and Lynn. 

A long time ago, I attended the University of Akron.  E J Thomas Hall is part of the University.  I was in the band while I was in school and got to perform on stage at E J Thomas.  I can now tell people my life is complete -- I performed on the same stage as Celtic Woman!!!

[Thomas]

Hello gang,

Sorry for the delay in my AlexFest Akron CW show report, 50 work hours and four states later, here it is.

From the beginning, due to our strong relationships with various PBS stations, they contacted several of us forum members with the advanced notice that CW was coming back to town and their stations were sponsoring shows and they would like to work with us.  Like most people in our current economic recession, money is tight, so I decided to dedicate my efforts for the “Friends of Thomas” group to only one CW Fall tour show.  Akron was selected because I really enjoy working with WVIZ and EJ Thomas Hall is a favorite of mine.  For those of you whom attended the recent CW show in Cleveland, you know how well WVIZ treated our group, they were FANTASTIC!

Fast forward several months: 

With the recent forum successes with LisaFests in Chicago and Nashville and MaireadFest in Wilkes-Barre, several of us forum fans decided that remaining girls also deserved a show dedicated to them as well.  Akron was an obvious choice for Alex with the “Akron Loves Alex” slogan and we felt she deserved a large forum fan welcome which Akron would provide.

With the great talents and my many thanks to:  Oldfatguy, Moscapoet, Celtic Fiddle Chick, Godshorsegirl, and Bluefire the forum buttons and AlexFest Signs were ready to go.

A day or so before the show I learn through the grapevine that Sara is secretly going to attend AlexFest and this will be a great BIG surprise present for Mel.  Plans go into motion to make this happen and I’ll let Sara share her story with you.  Let’s just say that it worked out far better than anyone could have hoped.

Day of the show: 

With now 28 forum fans attending AlexFest many of us meet for dinner at The Barley House just a couple of blocks from the Venue.  I want to thank:  Dave, Mike, Annie, Andi, Ann, Sara, BigDave, Ella (from WVIZ) Ryan, Scott, Don, and John for attending a great pre-show get together.  It was great to catch up with Scott and BigDave with their recent Powerscourt adventures.

Now nearing 7PM it’s time to head off to the show and meet up with dear friends:  Coleen, Michelle, Sharon, Bernie, Zo, Mel, Ashley, and Daryl.  Once we found our seats which for the most part were the first three rows, I met up with new friends:  George, Shelby, Ralph, Connie, and Dayna.  In all of the preshow prep I believe that I met Frank and Kathleen as I was becoming overwhelmed with catching up with other familiar show attendees whom are not forum members.  So I was busy passing out all of the forum buttons and AlexFest sign which I actually ran out of, not planned for and a good problem to have.  Almost everyone in the first three rows wanted to be involved and we are now ready to start the show.

I will let the other members fill in the show details, but I will add that the girls knew that Akron was going to be well attended by forum members and this show will go down in the history books as one of the best, everyone was on FIRE!!!  I don’t remember Máiréad ever shredding a bow as badly as she did that night.  Alex was beaming as she must have figured out what was going on with all of our AlexFest signs respectfully displayed throughout the show.  Besides, we gave multiple standing ovations to most of the songs that night, but to all of Alex’s songs which was a nice tribute to her talent and performance.  Chloe as always steals the show with her thanks to Akron and how special that show was and what more can I say about Lisa that has not already been said.  Lynn was a joy to watch and I’m fully appreciating her performance as she blossoms on the stage.

Now off to the meet and greet where we have Lisa and Lynn, fantastic I get to speak with my Louisville girls again.  I met Mitch from Madstone and this was a fairly large M&G and all had a great time. 

I’ll let the other share their fond memories of this evening.  I just wanted to thank everyone for making Akron’s AlexFest a HUGE success and for making that evening so very special.

Thanks,


Tom

[dbbii]

There was an interesting comment made by Beachclubber1952 in an earlier post in this thread.  She said she noticed that Chloe seemed to get the largest applause at the curtain call. 

As I think back on the shows I have been to, I tend to agree.  While everyone gets a lot of applause, it seems to speed up/get louder when Chloe comes out.

Anyone else notice?

[MrPeabody]

While everyone gets a lot of applause, it seems to speed up/get louder when Chloe comes out.  Anyone else notice?

Yep, it's been that way at every show I've been to.

[Zo]

She said she noticed that Chloe seemed to get the largest applause at the curtain call. 
As I think back on the shows I have been to, I tend to agree.  While everyone gets a lot of applause, it seems to speed up/get louder when Chloe comes out.

I have to agreed too. Everyone at Akron gave all the girls a great reception at the end of the show but Chloe was just outstanding as always and I believe she did get the loudest ovation.