shall i go into my background story first? sure. skip the three paragraphs after this if you've heard this one before, though you can't stop me.

as a kid, i was told i could go see concerts when i was 12. the last time the police toured i was about 11 and a half. i begged and pleaded my case (which went something like... but mom, they're breaking up after this and will never tour again and it's no fair i don't get to go... but all in one breath). but no go.

and of course my older sister got to go... i figured i could at least get a t-shirt out of the deal. i gave her what i had, $23, and she would not get me one since they were $25. grrr.

so yeah, i've been bitter about not seeing the police for about 24 years now. they were the last band left on my 'must see in this lifetime' list, and i had long said i would pay any reasonable amount of money to see them (including travel).

as a member of the 'reward zone' at best buy, i was able to not only purchase advance tickets for the police show at the x on the 3rd of july (2007, for those of you into specifics) show, at a not quite reasonable per-ticket price, but hey, i did anyway, after i got the tickets, i saw where best buy was sponsoring a contest where 45 people (and their guests) could win VIP passes for each show.

the VIP passes got you into a soundcheck for the police, a meet and greet with the opening band, fiction plane (featuring buzz... er... joe, sting's son), and have some 'delicious moroccan appetizers' (not quite as billed, but still quite decent on the whole, but hey, this ain't where i ramble on about food and tangents, it's fame and tangents, and no one was quite sure why the moroccan theme for that matter, but yeah, anyway) in a backstage area.

it didn't quite sound like we got to meet the police, but it wasn't ruled out. soundcheck and such sounded cool enough. it's not something you get to do every day.

my friend (jill) and i get to the venue to check in a 4:30 pm, as instructed. by 5 pm or so, everyone was finally checked in, and we headed into the soundcheck. we ended up in the front row, as timing is everything). the band came out... and sting asked if anyone was a singer. some people raised their hands, and got up on stage to do a song... with the police... and very few people did. i mean, i know this is minnesota, but hey... the police! singing with them... onstage. and you did it in a group of two or three others. safety in numbers.

i had my hand half-raised on the first pass, then lost my nerve a bit on the second, but i figured... hell, it's the police. i can't miss a shot to go on stage, and meet the police. that's something i would regret for a very long time. my singing voice isn't the worst ever, and some people who had gone onstage weren't the best vocalists in the world... why not, i figured. when do you get the chance? never. and i do have a history of doing such things completely sober.

so on the third go-round, i did raise my hand.

and got chosen.

so my group was, as someone mentioned as we headed onstage, the 'freaks' of the crowd (let's just say they ran mostly to older, staider folks than my bunch). someone asked if we were going the right way, i'm like... sure. this way... (because i always look like i know where i'm going, apparently... no matter where i am).

so we go onstage, introduce ourselves to sting (!) and then chat with him about what song to do. we ended up with 'can't stand losing you.' i was relieved to see that the lyrics were on a touchscreen in front of us.

someone asked, who's first? and i replied... you are. i took the second verse ("i see you've sent my letters back, and my LP records and they're all scratched, i can't see the point in another day when nobody listens to a word i say, you can call it lack of confidence, but to carry on living doesnt make no sense") and we all did the choruses with sting (!) on the stage at the xcel.

which is quite possibly my coolest moment ever.

and hey, sting is now the most famous person i've met (more so than alex trebek or michael stipe)

i managed to play to the camera a bit during the song (stewart's son jordan is filming tour bits for a documentary), because hey, i could.

what's funny is that without those little earpieces, you can't hear yourself sing. i have no idea what i sounded like at all.

after the song was over, i shook sting's handi walked over to the drumkit and shook stewart's hand, and then went over to andy and shook his hand and said thanks.

i have pictures of the event, and best buy will be sending more (and better, i hope) shots. i think i have my holiday card... heh. anyway, if you want to see them (or more, if i sent you some already), e-mail me (if you know me, that is).

after the soundcheck was over, i had what felt like my 15 minutes of fame in the moroccan-decorated room (with the aforementioned appetizers)... people were interested to see what it was like, and i got complements on my voice, which i took with a grain of salt (i didn't embarass myself and was ok... that's probably be more accurate, but again, i couldn't hear myself).

those of us who went onstage were asked to do some film blurbs for another camera... not sure if this was part of the documentary, too, but if i heard correctly, stuff shot may end up on the thepolice.com site, maybe, in snippets or on a best buy site. it was very hard to hear the person doing the filming, so i am not quite sure.

during filming i tossed in some hopefully quippy in a good way things that i hope will be taken in the sarcastic style i intended them if they see the light of day (such as... 'they make a great backing band'). but we'll see. some things were hard to answer (like 'do you do this sort of thing a lot?' um, sure, i end up onstage all the time at soundchecks!). cutting room floor, here i come!

we also met fiction plane backstage, but i don't quite think they merit their own 'fame' bit, even though we have lovely signed postcards of them, and they seemed nice enough.

also worth noting... after i got offstage (and was saying 'that was so (effing) cool' for about an hour after), my friend and i had some weird personality switch, in that i was social chatty person, and she was quiet mellow person.

 

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