It was the fall of '96 and Harry was starting his Star Turtle tour. My cousin Diana and I have both been big Harry fans for a long time. She called me up and asked if i wanted to see Harry in concert. Of course, i said yes. So we bought our tickets for the show at the Rosemont Theater in Chicago. That night we left for the theater listening to all our Harry music, getting ourselves mentally prepared for the evening. The show started and out Harry came in his black leather pants and t-shirt. This was a whole new Harry! He wasn't dressed in his suit and tie, ready to croon.
That night he brought the house down. Unfortunately, Diana ended up having a terrible earache, and couldn't stand my screaming and yelling. Later into the evening Harry invited all the people to the front of the stage. You know I high tailed my rear end towards the front, plus Diana was much more comfortable with me not screaming in her ear. There must of been a hundred people at the front of the theatre. All of a sudden, i feel someone push into me and force me aside. I look and there is this bitch all dressed up in her conservative dress and fake rhinestone jewelry, standing her big fat head in front of me. She turned around and gave me a dirty look. I asked her if she had a problem, and she yelled, "Ya,i have a problem! i paid $35 dollars for my seats and i am not going to have everyone stand in front of ME!" I yelled back at her then, "Look here, EVERYONE paid $35 in this place, and maybe if you weren't such a stuck-up bitch, you could have a good time!" One thing led to another and before you know it there we were staring each other down. I dared her to take a swing at me, but she chickened out and went back to sit down in her $35 seat. LOL. Problem was that people were expecting a nice quiet evening of Harry, and they were really surprised to hear what he was playing. Many of the people got up and walked out. If people had actually truly followed the man's career and realized that he was changing his style of music, they wouldn't of wasted their money. Oh well, too bad for them. Anyways..i didn't let that get me down, i just listened in awe to the rest of the show. I just thought...wow, now here is someone who is a REAL musician...he's diversified!!!" That night Diana and I drove home all jazzed about the concert...I just felt bad for her because she wasn't feeling that well, so we thought WHAT THE HELL LET'S DO IT AGAIN! We then planned our trip to Milwaukee, WI.......
Diana and I didn't have tickets for the show but we decided to give it a try anyways. We figured if we couldn't see the show then, we would just go get a room for the night and hit a couple of bars. We made it there, minutes before the show was about to begin, walked up the will call window, and were lucky enough to get tickets that someone never picked up. It was front balcony, just feet away from the stage! We couldn't of been any luckier! The show started and Harry came out again, doing a whole other set list! He was, excuse me, but hotter than shit! He did this thing where he played out a drum beat on the top of his piano, and did what looked like a grinding motion! Wow! At that moment Diana said, "We have to meet him!"(click here!) She mustard up enough courage to buy a rose and bring it up to him on stage while he was sitting off the edge of the stage singing. With the look that only Harry can give, he gave her a coy smile and accepted it. It wasn't even me, and i felt all jittery, and nervous! In the finale of the show, he walked around the audience playing his electric guitar, and Diana and I moved down to the floor, and watched him walk through the crowd. When he came by us, we held out our hands and touched his sweaty back through his t-shirt. I dragged my hand down his back, and I almost touched his butt, but i just missed. LOL. Oh well, i am kind of glad i didn't, because they probably would of escorted me out of the show. LOL. We were so jazzed from the show, we giggled all the way home like a couple of school girls. We then decided to do the craziest of all. See his next show 8 hours away in Cleveland, OH. What we were thinking i don't know, but not but a week later we packed up our car Ohio bound.
At this time our main objective was to meet Harry Connick, Jr. Anyway, Anyhow. It really was sort of psychotic of us, but i guess that's what happens when you get star-struck. We bought our tickets early this time, because we sure as hell didn't want to be all the way in Ohio with no tickets! We get to the show in the nick of time, and made it to our very far away seats. This was ok, though, afterall Objective:meet Harry Connick, Jr. Seats meant nothing to us this time. The show was another original set list. That is the great thing about seeing his shows, he plays a variety of music! We watched the show, but this time slipped out a few minutes early to scope out the building. We first tried to get backstage, but that was a no-go. We saw that the ONLY people that got back there was people WITH backstage passes. The others who had the same idea as us had failed. We then went to plan b: Check the outside of the building near the tour buses. We were very lucky that time, after waiting about 45 minutes, the band members game out one by one, and then finally Harry. By this time there were about a 100 people out there, waiting for the same thing we were there for. So we got in line, and waited. We were almost there, about one person in front of us when Diana turns around and says, "Well, should we start our story now?" Harry overheard us and started laughing. When we got up to him, he really was a vision. Much better looking than on stage or the movie screen. I stood there with my mouth gaped open like a fish, and Diana started the story. "You wouldn't believe what we have been gone through here. We saw you in Chicago, then Milwaukee, and now Ohio. We enjoyed your show so much, that we saw 3 shows!" His eyes sort of popped out of his head as he signed our tickets, and then he looked up at us and snickered "You girls strapped for entertainment in Chicago?" We just giggled and then took our tickets, thanked him and walked away. Diana, then said to me, "I think Harry just insulted us!" I laughed and said, "Did he? Yea, I think he did!" We both didn't care, we were just happy to meet him! LOL. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!