Jack's birthday: Part 3 (or, Wrock It!)
Aug. 17th, 2007 01:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
navygreenThis trio of posts has been causing me stress. LJ's Scrapbook feature wasn't working properly for me last night, and after much tearing-out-of-the-hair, I finally just gave up and resigned myself to finishing up today. But now... now, it can be completed.
** By the way... I cannot stress highly enough that clicking behind the LJ-cut (a bit down the page) would be EXTREMELY unfriendly to dial-up users!
I mentioned back in Part 1 that, "Jack had an idea to share his birthday cake." Well, we'd been planning for a very special event for a couple of days, and it just so happened that the event was to take place on Jack's birthday. And said special event? Harry & the Potters returning for a concert here in Omaha, but also bringing Draco & the Malfoys along!
And Jack wanted to share birthday cupcakes with them!
(insert big-time *SQUEEEEs* of all sorts here)
We're not new to "wizard rock." In fact, we're such old hats at rocking wizard-style that we've joined the craze that refers to it as "wrock." In our car - at any given point in time - there are at least two wrock CDs. In our house, at least one wrock album is in the bathroom CD player during bathtime. And, frequently, iTunes can be found jamming on the computer to... you guessed it: one of a variety of wrock songs.
Harry & the Potters, Draco & the Malfoys, Katerina (of Mugglenet's U-Bend parody fame), Cousin Wizardface, Dumbledore, Stubby Boardman, The Whomping Willows, Hermione & the Grangers -- you name it, we listen to it. There are TONS more wrock bands out there, and we can't turn them away. We're not even new to the wrocking concert scene: as a family, we all attended a Harry & the Potters show last year here in the Omaha area. They were spunky, charismatic and fun then, but things were bound to even better now, when we've spent the last fourteen months living and breathing by their songs. We were PUMPED!
While the cupcakes were baking, I tried calling the Omaha Public Library. The previous concert had been in the Ralston Public Library (I type "libarry" every time, by the way), and it was a much smaller venue, as well as very family- and kid-friendly. In the larger, more "official" library (ack - again!), I wasn't sure whether they'd even allow us to set foot in the door with foodstuffs, much less allow us to ask the bands whether they'd share them. Unfortunately, however, their website was down for a major portion of the day, and the only phone number I could find yielded a friendly, yet decidedly computerized, voice - reciting the day's hours and schedule of events, but unable to answer questions.
So we took a gamble. We made the cupcakes anyway, and it we crossed everything crossable, hoping that we'd be allowed to take them inside the library (ha!). Again, Jack had picked an Orange Supreme cake, frosted in Chocolate Fudge and decorating in orange icing. I had bought two disposable pans, and we put a dozen cupcakes in each one, decorating just a few of them to be special. We spelled out his name, of course, and we made a spiffy '6' on one cupcake, and then I decorated a few for the guys in the bands.
See?
(And, in case you have trouble spotting it, there's also a pic of Jack pointing out the lightning bolt cupcake - that was his favorite. Note the "wrocking" hand!)
Once the cupcakes were ready to go, we dressed for the event. I decided not to wear the same things I'd worn to the movie and book releases this summer, only because I feared I would be too hot. Sadly, the boys each have only one HP-related shirt, and they're the same shirts they wore to the Harry concert last year (thank goodness they were big then!), but it made choosing outfits go quickly. Choosing items for possible autographing, however, was another story...
Last time, I had my copy of Book Six signed inside the cover. I decided to do the same with my copy of Book Seven. A.J. was going to take his paperback copy of Book One, but he changed his mind at the last second to his Book Seven release poster, and Jack followed suit with his own poster. It was a great idea for A.J., and I'm glad that it made Jack change his mind, as I had my doubts about how easy it would be to sign the sword of Godric Gryffindor (Jack's original choice).
So, we were dress'd, cupcake'd, and souvenir'd, and we were on our way. I had directions printed out (I live for Mapquest!), and I had Courtney on the phone. She called while I was on the interstate to see what we were up to, and then she talked me all the way through town, and - due to lots of one-way streets - I actually circled the library a few times. We hung up, and I circled some more, until someone in the VERY.FIRST.SPOT. happened to leave, and I snaked my way into PRIME parking. (And by "prime," I mean this: "I-have-the-very-closest-spot-to-the-building-and-therefore-the-maximum-number-of-people-will-be-subjected-to-my-awesome-license-plate." Heehee.)
And we were there really early. We arrived just minutes after 6pm, and the concert wasn't set to start until 8pm. I'd packed a backpack full of our things (my book, wands, buttons, HP plates and napkins, camera), and I tucked my purse into it so that I could carry both pans of cupcakes into the library. The boys bounced ahead of me up the stairs, each using their rolled posters as swords, lightsabres, wands, sticks - whatever. I walked over to the Information desk first thing to ask whether we were allowed to bring food into the library; if we weren't, I was going to take the cupcakes straight back to the car right then. The guy working there didn't have a clue, and he shrugged and looked around, as if expecting a Person with Actual Answers to magically appear. After a few minutes of noncommittal responses, I explained to him what we'd like to do with the cupcakes, and I asked him, "Do you have an event liaison here that would be willing to speak to the bands on our behalf, or do you know someone here who would *know* someone that would have these answers?" Finally, he asked someone else, and they directed me to the building director, located on the third floor. As the boys and I headed to the elevators, we passed a friendly woman who exclaimed happily, "Oooooh! Are you going to share?" over the cupcakes. We smiled and continued to the lifts.
Once on the third floor, I found a row of desks. A stern-looking woman was sitting behind them, and we approached her. Jack told her it was his birthday (in his very happiest, most excited voice!), and I asked her if she knew who we could talk to in order to find out if the bands would be willing to have cake with us later. She pursed her lips as I was talking, and I feared an authoritative, "No." However, she surprised me by pulling a cell phone from her pocket, beginning to dial someone as I was still speaking. She asked for a "Lori" to please come down to the third floor, and then she spoke to me again and said that someone would be down to hear my question in a little while.
We hung by the desk for a couple of minutes, and I looked up when the elevator opened, expecting the person named Lori to be coming. Imagine my surprise when both bands walked out of the lift! They were wearing streetclothes, and both Harrys (Joe and Paul DeGeorge) looked adorably tousled, almost as if they'd just woken from a nap, but it was definitely them! And it was our first time seeing the Dracos! I whispered excitedly to the boys, "there they are!" Jack took off in their direction, pointing his Gryffindor sword in front of him. The guys jumped back a bit, and I would have too, as it looked less like Jack was going to ask them a question, and more like he wanted to pierce right through them! About the same time he started chatting to them, the lift opened again, and the friendly woman I'd seen on the first floor burst from the elevator, grinning madly and rushing to the bands. She shook hands with them all, introduced herself as Lori, and then they began discussing the best route to get all their equipment up to the fourth floor.
When it looked like she and the guys were going to get back in the elevators, I took a step forward. The building director noticed this, and she stood up, getting Lori's attention. Lori stopped for a moment and said, "Oh, guys? These gentlemen have something they would like to ask you." I prodded Jack forward a bit (he'd become instantly shy, of course), and he walked up to them and said, "Umm... you get to have cake with me!"
The older Harry quirked his head and leaned towards me, and I clarified. "It's Jack's birthday today, and he'd love the chance to share his birthday cupcakes with you. We even decorated them especially for you." The group all started to smile, and were saying, "Ohhhh!" in a nice tone. Harry whispered to me as he clutched his belly, "We *just* ate, actually." I said, "Oh no, not right now! We really meant... afterwards, hopefully?" And then they all responded much more enthusiastically, "Oh! Yeah! Sure, buddy - that sounds great! Thanks!" I looked at the older Draco, and I spoke again to Harry. "We were hoping that you might be in costume... still? So we could take pictures, too?" And Draco responded, "Oh, yeah. Definitely - that's a much better idea!"
So, beaming with the knowledge that we were set to share cupcakes with Harry & the Potters and Draco & the Malfoys after the show, we backed up a bit and let the guys head toward the elevators. At the last second, however, the older Draco leaned forward and touched my Slytherin choker. "That's amazing!" he said, and I think I melted into a puddle of goo. DRACO LIKED MY CHOKER. THAT I MADE. AND HE TOUCHED IT!
The lifts went down, and the boys and I were on Cloud Nine. They were animatedly talking about after the show, and I realized that we needed to be quieter or else risk being thrown out of the library completely. We found a table as far away from Stern-Looking Woman as we could, and I implemented an "Only Whisper" rule. And we sat.
And sat. And sat some more. I called Heather to tell her of the good news and how awesomely nice the guys were being, and she politely listened to my enthusiasm, saying, "Nice!" even when I'm sure she really meant, "Nerd!" I called Courtney too, and she had come and was parking a million miles away and walking in. She finally arrived, and then I recounted what had just happened. We sat and waited some more, watching more people arrive and head to different levels of the library (the concert was on the fourth floor, and they weren't allowing anyone on it yet). We saw Potterites in bits of costumes and HP tees, and we started (quietly) chatting with some of them. At about 7:30, Courtney ran down to the first floor to look for an ATM.
While she was gone, the most outrageous thing happened. The third floor is where the shared computers are located, and several people were signed in and using them at the time (there was about thirty minutes left until the library's usual closing time). The bands were setting/warming up on the floor above us, but there is a clear atrium that passes through all levels of the library, meaning that you can see a bit of what's going on up there, but you can definitely hear it as well. We'd been sitting there whispering for over an hour, trying be as quiet as possible for the people there for actual "library stuff." The guys stopped after a few moments of warming up, then played a minute or two more, then stopped again. In their second pause, and older guy in a red muscle shirt and shorts took advantage of the silence to shout, "Now that's enough of that, and don't make me come up there!"
Several of us Potterheads looked around at one another, wondering if the guy was serious or not. The band struck up a few more notes, and the old dude tossed his glasses on the desk and stood up from his chair, turning to face the atrium and began shouting at them to knock it off. At this point, I heard Lori's voice call down from the floor above, "Sir, they're warming up for a concert. We are aware of it, and it's okay." Well, it obviously wasn't okay with him - he started thrashing around at his computer desk, yelling about how it was a LIBRARY and how people were THERE TO STUDY, about how WHY IS THERE A CONCERT? and if he'd known about THIS KIND OF STUFF, he would've GOTTEN A MEMBERSHIP ELSEWHERE. He continued to fuss, tossing things around on his desk and making a huge scene, and eventually two security guards came to escort him out. He made quite the spectacle of himself, and I'm sure the other computer-users were more upset over his tirade in the last twenty minutes of their library time than they were over the bands warming up on the next floor.
Um, hi? Dude, there are posters and banners and even special bookmarks laid out in stacks ALL OVER THE LIBRARY. They have been promoting this for MONTHS. How have you missed the several younger folks who have slowly been trickling in, all in different forms of Pottergear - didn't you find that strange if the library was really about to close? And OH NOES! You should be COMPENSATED for losing part of your time at the FREE computer from your FREE library membership! (Seriously, he was yelling about "compensation" and "studying" when we last heard him.
Study? Old school: go read a book, if you have to. Heck, I know of seven good ones.
And Courtney missed part of that. Not to worry, we filled her in when she returned. And then we all headed over to a stairwell, where we traipsed up to the fourth floor's door and waited on the stairs for it to be unlocked. It was crazy, the energy and excitement from a large group of folks stuck together in a stairwell, but it was fun. Finally - finally! - the doors were opened, and we ran to get great spots.
And did we EVER. For the entire show, Jack was front-line. I stood directly behind him, with Courtney and A.J. side-by-side behind me (the crowd kinda pushed in around us like that, and it was easier to communicate that way than all standing stretched out in a line). She and A.J. held our spots while Jack and I meandered the crowd. We had brought a package of Harry Potter stickers, and Jack went from person-to-person, asking them if they'd like a sticker. He asked most of the younger kids first, and then he moved on to asking teens. There were a couple people who gave him a snotty, "No," when he asked to share, but most folks were really sweet about it. "Oh, it's your birthday? Well, that's so nice of you to share! Of course we want a sticker!"
Jack passes out HP stickers.
He saved the very last sticker for himself, and we dashed back up to the front of the crowd, barely able to squeeze back into our spots. While we'd been gone, they'd laid down a masking-tape border about five feet from the stage, and Jack was feet-on-the-line. The crowd was buzzing, and it was already beginning to become difficult to hear each other talking. We were STOKED.
And then? It was time to begin. I don't know what time it was by then, but I do think it was after 8pm before things got rolling. A girl from the library's staff took the stage, and there was still much talking and shushing until someone near us yelled out, "Quiet in the library!" We all chuckled and were quiet then. She thanked us all for coming, told us the concert was sponsored by the 'Friends of the Omaha Public Library' and other blah-blah-blah stuff. Truly, I am thankful that the concert was happening, but I just wanted to get on with it! She left the stage and then...
THE SLYTHERINS DESCENDED. Draco & the Malfoys hit the stage first, and they were AWESOMESAUCE. They were amazing. They were fantastic instrumentalists - truly, I was so impressed. They were clever, witty, funny and animated. The first thing they said was that, although they realized that the library staff had put down "that tape line" to keep us back, this was "an EEEEEEVIL concert," and therefore we all needed to move up. And so we scrambled for the deck. They were wild on stage, and they did the whole "jump-on-each-other's-back" thing a few times, as well as the "pretend-making-out" thing just before their last song. They had us all BOO'ing Harry & the Potters (they *are* enemies, after all), and I loved the way they'd segue into some of their songs: "Our next song is about a boy that thinks he so cool." (They used that one twice, and it garnered a hearty laugh the second time just for the fun of it.) They had some great quips, and I especially loved the exchange that went something like this:
And they went on to report that living with just their mom is a lot better because they can listen to ANY type of music. And that they've discovered they really like a lot of stuff from the 80's - say, The Sticks and stuff like that. Which led right into a rousing version of "99 Death Eaters" (A.J.'s favorite song), which is parodied to the tune of "99 Red Balloons." It was FABULOUS!
Really, they were just so, SO great on stage. I loved seeing them, and I loved knowing the songs before they would sing them (something that was missing the first time we saw Harry & the Potters perform). The crowd was insane - we were all dancing, clapping, jumping, singing, screaming and sweating. It was PERFECT.
Some photos from their set:
Draco & the Malfoys take to the stage.
Draco, Year 19.
Draco, Year 15.
One of many jump-fests.
Pointing as he sang, "with a stupid, dorky scar," in "Potions Yesterday".
Jack's proximity to the stage. Yes, we were THAT.CLOSE.
(And he spun for a smile.)
Crooning together.
Soulful singing.
Let's make out!
And A.J. was thrilled to hear their very last song (another of his faves!):
"Because hippogriffs... deserve to..."
"DIIIIIEEEE!"
And then the Dracos were done. They were finished, and we were so sad to see them leave the stage, but still equally as excited to see the Harrys come on. The same staffer girl came back on the stage between acts and they did raffle drawings, but we didn't win anything (we'd arrived too early - long before anyone started handing out raffle tickets). I cheered up the boys by telling them that even though we couldn't win anything, *WE* were the only ones that would be able to have cake with the guys afterwards. After that? Pffft. Screw raffle tickets. *wink*
If we hadn't had such phenomenal spots, I would've left during this time to buy a few bottles of water or something. We were DYING from all the singing/screaming, and they were selling drinks. But I was afraid to leave and not be able to squeeze back in by the stage, and I certainly didn't want to miss any of the Harrys!
They came onstage, and they WROCKED IT. Gah, but these guys just get better with time - they were freaking fantastic - there just aren't enough good words, it seems. They were WILD, bouncing all over the place, jumping into the crowd over and over and over again. We were sooo close, too, and it was just insane!
Their stories and jokes were different and better than the last time. They never had a void, as they were well-prepared to fill that silence with a short story or narrative while the other was setting something up for the next song. Both of the Harrys have gotten - shall I say it? - cuter since we last saw them, and they absolutely had a crazy effect on the crowd. We belted out their songs, we were tangled in their microphone cords, we gave them high-fives (A.J.), we had our hands jumped on at the edge of the stage (Jack), and we had them sing directly to us (Courtney). You really couldn't imagine a better concert - it's just not possible.
Older Harry broke three guitar strings over the course of their set. A girl on Jack's left side snatched one of the strings up and made herself an impromptu bracelet with it, even. Younger Harry brought out a saxophone about halfway through, and he played it for a few songs. And oh - he played it WELL. He even played it with one hand while he was still playing the keyboard - how's that for amazing talent?!
Incredible. Just simply incredible.
And I have tons of pictures of them as well. Here goes:
Harry, Year 7.
(And that's A.J. right there at his elbow! Jack was still standing right near the stage.)
Things quickly heat up, and Harry, Year 4 ditches his jumper.
Older Harry belts out a song.
And his love for Ginny is quite apparent. *grin*
A.J. sways his arms with the crowd to a song.
Younger Harry tells the story of his Nimbus shoes from Mrs. Weasley.
While Harry is replacing a guitar string.
A handful of times throughout their set, they would sing a very short song to segue between other things. It was really cute, and it had simple hand movements to go with it, too.
"Just don't get caught in Hagrid's beard!"
The sax. The saaaaaxxxxxx!
(Yes, I really love the saxophone that much.)
(And there's also one post-sax pic - here.)
Too hot for glasses.
Multi-tasking.
Looking RIGHT at Courtney while singing!
And before we knew it, Harry & the Potters were done singing as well. :-( I was sad that it was over, but they sang for over an hour, too. It was around 10:40-ish by that time, and the concert was supposed to be over at 10. Still, we weren't done yet.
In true Harry fashion, they signed anything and everything that anyone wanted signed. I love that about them - they are real people. The younger Harry had NO voice left - and I mean NONE - he could barely even whisper. You can tell he really gives it his all while he's performing, and you gotta seriously admire that.
We let the crowd thin out a bit, and then the boys had their posters signed. Courtney had dashed out pretty quickly, so she'd just grabbed her sister's Book Seven cover (she didn't want it anyway), and she brought that for autographing. She was able to get all four guys to each sign their own message to her, but I was too busy taking pics of the boys to capture any of that. Oops.
But the pics:
Jack has his poster signed by Harry, Year 4.
A.J. tries to read his message while it's being written.
Both boys examine their messages on the floor.
We waited a bit longer for most of the rest of the crowd to leave, and Jack busied himself by hopping up on the stage and rocking out (there was a bit of music playing in the background). Finally - finally! - it was time to start sharing cupcakes!
Harry, Year 7, gets the very first one.
(And he was so nice about it, too. He'd been the one we'd talked to the most before the concert, and he was great with Jack. After he took his first bite of cake, someone came up and asked him something. He was busy wiping off his hands, and he stopped and was like, "Wow. Wow, that was really good! It was like lemon... or orange... or something - I wasn't expecting that!" to the other person. I was very pleased to hear that he liked it. Then he went back to eating it with Jack - yay!)
(And a closer view.)
And Courtney gets a pic, too!
One for Draco, Year 19.
The wild-n-crazy Harry, Year 4 with Jack.
And then Draco, Year 15, poses with "rock hands" with Jack.
And then we had a handful of shots of Jack with ALL of the guys. Jack wanted to hold the lightning bolt cupcake, and so he did. He got the foil wrapper peeled back at one point, but he never got a chance to actually *eat* the thing. A couple different photographers (both the library's staffer, plus the Omaha World Herald) wanted pictures of the cupcake-sharing, so they had to stand around and pose for a while.
Jack with Draco & the Malfoys and Harry & the Potters.
So they were talking amongst themselves while pictures were taken. After a minute or so, the older Harry burped really loud, and he said to Jack, "Good one, buddy!" which caused EVERYONE to laugh heartily.
And then, as the staff photogs were taking their last pics, I snapped this one:
(And it's here in color, in case you'd like to see.)
We told the guys thank you over and over again, and we shared the leftover cupcakes with some of the press and a lot of the library staff - anyone we could get to take one (I didn't want to bring them all back home!). When I was saying goodbye to the older Draco, he surprised me by giving me a huge bear hug - *SQUEEEEEEE!*
The whole night was just so unbelievable. Someone with the bands gave us free Cokes on our way out, and we were the last non-staff, non-band people left in the entire library. We dropped Courtney off at her car, and then I proceeded to get lost in downtown Omaha for the next 15 minutes before finding my way to the interstate (I suck at driving places I don't know). Despite it being ridiculously late, the boys stayed awake all the way home, and we pulled into the garage at 11:42pm. They changed into jammies, and then Jack asked for his first taste of birthday cupcake. At 11:49pm, A.J. and I sang "Happy Birthday" to him and he blew out a candle. He wolfed the cake down, had a glass of milk, and then he and A.J. wanted to check out their autographed posters one last time before bed.
Jack shows off his special message.
And that was Jack's birthday. :-)
Finite.
** By the way... I cannot stress highly enough that clicking behind the LJ-cut (a bit down the page) would be EXTREMELY unfriendly to dial-up users!
I mentioned back in Part 1 that, "Jack had an idea to share his birthday cake." Well, we'd been planning for a very special event for a couple of days, and it just so happened that the event was to take place on Jack's birthday. And said special event? Harry & the Potters returning for a concert here in Omaha, but also bringing Draco & the Malfoys along!
And Jack wanted to share birthday cupcakes with them!
(insert big-time *SQUEEEEs* of all sorts here)
We're not new to "wizard rock." In fact, we're such old hats at rocking wizard-style that we've joined the craze that refers to it as "wrock." In our car - at any given point in time - there are at least two wrock CDs. In our house, at least one wrock album is in the bathroom CD player during bathtime. And, frequently, iTunes can be found jamming on the computer to... you guessed it: one of a variety of wrock songs.
Harry & the Potters, Draco & the Malfoys, Katerina (of Mugglenet's U-Bend parody fame), Cousin Wizardface, Dumbledore, Stubby Boardman, The Whomping Willows, Hermione & the Grangers -- you name it, we listen to it. There are TONS more wrock bands out there, and we can't turn them away. We're not even new to the wrocking concert scene: as a family, we all attended a Harry & the Potters show last year here in the Omaha area. They were spunky, charismatic and fun then, but things were bound to even better now, when we've spent the last fourteen months living and breathing by their songs. We were PUMPED!
While the cupcakes were baking, I tried calling the Omaha Public Library. The previous concert had been in the Ralston Public Library (I type "libarry" every time, by the way), and it was a much smaller venue, as well as very family- and kid-friendly. In the larger, more "official" library (ack - again!), I wasn't sure whether they'd even allow us to set foot in the door with foodstuffs, much less allow us to ask the bands whether they'd share them. Unfortunately, however, their website was down for a major portion of the day, and the only phone number I could find yielded a friendly, yet decidedly computerized, voice - reciting the day's hours and schedule of events, but unable to answer questions.
So we took a gamble. We made the cupcakes anyway, and it we crossed everything crossable, hoping that we'd be allowed to take them inside the library (ha!). Again, Jack had picked an Orange Supreme cake, frosted in Chocolate Fudge and decorating in orange icing. I had bought two disposable pans, and we put a dozen cupcakes in each one, decorating just a few of them to be special. We spelled out his name, of course, and we made a spiffy '6' on one cupcake, and then I decorated a few for the guys in the bands.
See?
(And, in case you have trouble spotting it, there's also a pic of Jack pointing out the lightning bolt cupcake - that was his favorite. Note the "wrocking" hand!)
Once the cupcakes were ready to go, we dressed for the event. I decided not to wear the same things I'd worn to the movie and book releases this summer, only because I feared I would be too hot. Sadly, the boys each have only one HP-related shirt, and they're the same shirts they wore to the Harry concert last year (thank goodness they were big then!), but it made choosing outfits go quickly. Choosing items for possible autographing, however, was another story...
Last time, I had my copy of Book Six signed inside the cover. I decided to do the same with my copy of Book Seven. A.J. was going to take his paperback copy of Book One, but he changed his mind at the last second to his Book Seven release poster, and Jack followed suit with his own poster. It was a great idea for A.J., and I'm glad that it made Jack change his mind, as I had my doubts about how easy it would be to sign the sword of Godric Gryffindor (Jack's original choice).
So, we were dress'd, cupcake'd, and souvenir'd, and we were on our way. I had directions printed out (I live for Mapquest!), and I had Courtney on the phone. She called while I was on the interstate to see what we were up to, and then she talked me all the way through town, and - due to lots of one-way streets - I actually circled the library a few times. We hung up, and I circled some more, until someone in the VERY.FIRST.SPOT. happened to leave, and I snaked my way into PRIME parking. (And by "prime," I mean this: "I-have-the-very-closest-spot-to-the-building-and-therefore-the-maximum-number-of-people-will-be-subjected-to-my-awesome-license-plate." Heehee.)
And we were there really early. We arrived just minutes after 6pm, and the concert wasn't set to start until 8pm. I'd packed a backpack full of our things (my book, wands, buttons, HP plates and napkins, camera), and I tucked my purse into it so that I could carry both pans of cupcakes into the library. The boys bounced ahead of me up the stairs, each using their rolled posters as swords, lightsabres, wands, sticks - whatever. I walked over to the Information desk first thing to ask whether we were allowed to bring food into the library; if we weren't, I was going to take the cupcakes straight back to the car right then. The guy working there didn't have a clue, and he shrugged and looked around, as if expecting a Person with Actual Answers to magically appear. After a few minutes of noncommittal responses, I explained to him what we'd like to do with the cupcakes, and I asked him, "Do you have an event liaison here that would be willing to speak to the bands on our behalf, or do you know someone here who would *know* someone that would have these answers?" Finally, he asked someone else, and they directed me to the building director, located on the third floor. As the boys and I headed to the elevators, we passed a friendly woman who exclaimed happily, "Oooooh! Are you going to share?" over the cupcakes. We smiled and continued to the lifts.
Once on the third floor, I found a row of desks. A stern-looking woman was sitting behind them, and we approached her. Jack told her it was his birthday (in his very happiest, most excited voice!), and I asked her if she knew who we could talk to in order to find out if the bands would be willing to have cake with us later. She pursed her lips as I was talking, and I feared an authoritative, "No." However, she surprised me by pulling a cell phone from her pocket, beginning to dial someone as I was still speaking. She asked for a "Lori" to please come down to the third floor, and then she spoke to me again and said that someone would be down to hear my question in a little while.
We hung by the desk for a couple of minutes, and I looked up when the elevator opened, expecting the person named Lori to be coming. Imagine my surprise when both bands walked out of the lift! They were wearing streetclothes, and both Harrys (Joe and Paul DeGeorge) looked adorably tousled, almost as if they'd just woken from a nap, but it was definitely them! And it was our first time seeing the Dracos! I whispered excitedly to the boys, "there they are!" Jack took off in their direction, pointing his Gryffindor sword in front of him. The guys jumped back a bit, and I would have too, as it looked less like Jack was going to ask them a question, and more like he wanted to pierce right through them! About the same time he started chatting to them, the lift opened again, and the friendly woman I'd seen on the first floor burst from the elevator, grinning madly and rushing to the bands. She shook hands with them all, introduced herself as Lori, and then they began discussing the best route to get all their equipment up to the fourth floor.
When it looked like she and the guys were going to get back in the elevators, I took a step forward. The building director noticed this, and she stood up, getting Lori's attention. Lori stopped for a moment and said, "Oh, guys? These gentlemen have something they would like to ask you." I prodded Jack forward a bit (he'd become instantly shy, of course), and he walked up to them and said, "Umm... you get to have cake with me!"
The older Harry quirked his head and leaned towards me, and I clarified. "It's Jack's birthday today, and he'd love the chance to share his birthday cupcakes with you. We even decorated them especially for you." The group all started to smile, and were saying, "Ohhhh!" in a nice tone. Harry whispered to me as he clutched his belly, "We *just* ate, actually." I said, "Oh no, not right now! We really meant... afterwards, hopefully?" And then they all responded much more enthusiastically, "Oh! Yeah! Sure, buddy - that sounds great! Thanks!" I looked at the older Draco, and I spoke again to Harry. "We were hoping that you might be in costume... still? So we could take pictures, too?" And Draco responded, "Oh, yeah. Definitely - that's a much better idea!"
So, beaming with the knowledge that we were set to share cupcakes with Harry & the Potters and Draco & the Malfoys after the show, we backed up a bit and let the guys head toward the elevators. At the last second, however, the older Draco leaned forward and touched my Slytherin choker. "That's amazing!" he said, and I think I melted into a puddle of goo. DRACO LIKED MY CHOKER. THAT I MADE. AND HE TOUCHED IT!
The lifts went down, and the boys and I were on Cloud Nine. They were animatedly talking about after the show, and I realized that we needed to be quieter or else risk being thrown out of the library completely. We found a table as far away from Stern-Looking Woman as we could, and I implemented an "Only Whisper" rule. And we sat.
And sat. And sat some more. I called Heather to tell her of the good news and how awesomely nice the guys were being, and she politely listened to my enthusiasm, saying, "Nice!" even when I'm sure she really meant, "Nerd!" I called Courtney too, and she had come and was parking a million miles away and walking in. She finally arrived, and then I recounted what had just happened. We sat and waited some more, watching more people arrive and head to different levels of the library (the concert was on the fourth floor, and they weren't allowing anyone on it yet). We saw Potterites in bits of costumes and HP tees, and we started (quietly) chatting with some of them. At about 7:30, Courtney ran down to the first floor to look for an ATM.
While she was gone, the most outrageous thing happened. The third floor is where the shared computers are located, and several people were signed in and using them at the time (there was about thirty minutes left until the library's usual closing time). The bands were setting/warming up on the floor above us, but there is a clear atrium that passes through all levels of the library, meaning that you can see a bit of what's going on up there, but you can definitely hear it as well. We'd been sitting there whispering for over an hour, trying be as quiet as possible for the people there for actual "library stuff." The guys stopped after a few moments of warming up, then played a minute or two more, then stopped again. In their second pause, and older guy in a red muscle shirt and shorts took advantage of the silence to shout, "Now that's enough of that, and don't make me come up there!"
Several of us Potterheads looked around at one another, wondering if the guy was serious or not. The band struck up a few more notes, and the old dude tossed his glasses on the desk and stood up from his chair, turning to face the atrium and began shouting at them to knock it off. At this point, I heard Lori's voice call down from the floor above, "Sir, they're warming up for a concert. We are aware of it, and it's okay." Well, it obviously wasn't okay with him - he started thrashing around at his computer desk, yelling about how it was a LIBRARY and how people were THERE TO STUDY, about how WHY IS THERE A CONCERT? and if he'd known about THIS KIND OF STUFF, he would've GOTTEN A MEMBERSHIP ELSEWHERE. He continued to fuss, tossing things around on his desk and making a huge scene, and eventually two security guards came to escort him out. He made quite the spectacle of himself, and I'm sure the other computer-users were more upset over his tirade in the last twenty minutes of their library time than they were over the bands warming up on the next floor.
Um, hi? Dude, there are posters and banners and even special bookmarks laid out in stacks ALL OVER THE LIBRARY. They have been promoting this for MONTHS. How have you missed the several younger folks who have slowly been trickling in, all in different forms of Pottergear - didn't you find that strange if the library was really about to close? And OH NOES! You should be COMPENSATED for losing part of your time at the FREE computer from your FREE library membership! (Seriously, he was yelling about "compensation" and "studying" when we last heard him.
Study? Old school: go read a book, if you have to. Heck, I know of seven good ones.
And Courtney missed part of that. Not to worry, we filled her in when she returned. And then we all headed over to a stairwell, where we traipsed up to the fourth floor's door and waited on the stairs for it to be unlocked. It was crazy, the energy and excitement from a large group of folks stuck together in a stairwell, but it was fun. Finally - finally! - the doors were opened, and we ran to get great spots.
And did we EVER. For the entire show, Jack was front-line. I stood directly behind him, with Courtney and A.J. side-by-side behind me (the crowd kinda pushed in around us like that, and it was easier to communicate that way than all standing stretched out in a line). She and A.J. held our spots while Jack and I meandered the crowd. We had brought a package of Harry Potter stickers, and Jack went from person-to-person, asking them if they'd like a sticker. He asked most of the younger kids first, and then he moved on to asking teens. There were a couple people who gave him a snotty, "No," when he asked to share, but most folks were really sweet about it. "Oh, it's your birthday? Well, that's so nice of you to share! Of course we want a sticker!"
Jack passes out HP stickers.
He saved the very last sticker for himself, and we dashed back up to the front of the crowd, barely able to squeeze back into our spots. While we'd been gone, they'd laid down a masking-tape border about five feet from the stage, and Jack was feet-on-the-line. The crowd was buzzing, and it was already beginning to become difficult to hear each other talking. We were STOKED.
And then? It was time to begin. I don't know what time it was by then, but I do think it was after 8pm before things got rolling. A girl from the library's staff took the stage, and there was still much talking and shushing until someone near us yelled out, "Quiet in the library!" We all chuckled and were quiet then. She thanked us all for coming, told us the concert was sponsored by the 'Friends of the Omaha Public Library' and other blah-blah-blah stuff. Truly, I am thankful that the concert was happening, but I just wanted to get on with it! She left the stage and then...
THE SLYTHERINS DESCENDED. Draco & the Malfoys hit the stage first, and they were AWESOMESAUCE. They were amazing. They were fantastic instrumentalists - truly, I was so impressed. They were clever, witty, funny and animated. The first thing they said was that, although they realized that the library staff had put down "that tape line" to keep us back, this was "an EEEEEEVIL concert," and therefore we all needed to move up. And so we scrambled for the deck. They were wild on stage, and they did the whole "jump-on-each-other's-back" thing a few times, as well as the "pretend-making-out" thing just before their last song. They had us all BOO'ing Harry & the Potters (they *are* enemies, after all), and I loved the way they'd segue into some of their songs: "Our next song is about a boy that thinks he so cool." (They used that one twice, and it garnered a hearty laugh the second time just for the fun of it.) They had some great quips, and I especially loved the exchange that went something like this:
Draco, Year 15: Alright, who here has a dad in prison?
Audience: (few random welps and claps)
Draco: Ah, okay. Yeah, so a few of you. Yeah, we should get together... later... or something. You know, we could... talk? It'd be great! No, no seriously. I miss my dad, you know. He's gone, and... and he gave the best hugs--
Aud: (collective "Awwwww!" across the room)
D: Yeah, he was really good at giving hugs, and I miss that stuff. But you know what I don't miss? What I don't miss is having to listen to only *his* music. And my dad only listens to things that are on the 'Voldemort-Approved List for Listening,' and it can get boring after a while. I mean, you can only listen to so much Creed, or... or Toby Keith--
A: (explodes with laughter)
D: Alright! Alright, Nebraska *gets* our jokes, man! We love it here - you guys *get* it!
Draco, Year 19: Yeah, we told that joke in Texas and NO ONE laughed.
And they went on to report that living with just their mom is a lot better because they can listen to ANY type of music. And that they've discovered they really like a lot of stuff from the 80's - say, The Sticks and stuff like that. Which led right into a rousing version of "99 Death Eaters" (A.J.'s favorite song), which is parodied to the tune of "99 Red Balloons." It was FABULOUS!
Really, they were just so, SO great on stage. I loved seeing them, and I loved knowing the songs before they would sing them (something that was missing the first time we saw Harry & the Potters perform). The crowd was insane - we were all dancing, clapping, jumping, singing, screaming and sweating. It was PERFECT.
Some photos from their set:
Draco & the Malfoys take to the stage.
Draco, Year 19.
Draco, Year 15.
One of many jump-fests.
Pointing as he sang, "with a stupid, dorky scar," in "Potions Yesterday".
Jack's proximity to the stage. Yes, we were THAT.CLOSE.
(And he spun for a smile.)
Crooning together.
Soulful singing.
Let's make out!
And A.J. was thrilled to hear their very last song (another of his faves!):
"Because hippogriffs... deserve to..."
"DIIIIIEEEE!"
And then the Dracos were done. They were finished, and we were so sad to see them leave the stage, but still equally as excited to see the Harrys come on. The same staffer girl came back on the stage between acts and they did raffle drawings, but we didn't win anything (we'd arrived too early - long before anyone started handing out raffle tickets). I cheered up the boys by telling them that even though we couldn't win anything, *WE* were the only ones that would be able to have cake with the guys afterwards. After that? Pffft. Screw raffle tickets. *wink*
If we hadn't had such phenomenal spots, I would've left during this time to buy a few bottles of water or something. We were DYING from all the singing/screaming, and they were selling drinks. But I was afraid to leave and not be able to squeeze back in by the stage, and I certainly didn't want to miss any of the Harrys!
They came onstage, and they WROCKED IT. Gah, but these guys just get better with time - they were freaking fantastic - there just aren't enough good words, it seems. They were WILD, bouncing all over the place, jumping into the crowd over and over and over again. We were sooo close, too, and it was just insane!
Their stories and jokes were different and better than the last time. They never had a void, as they were well-prepared to fill that silence with a short story or narrative while the other was setting something up for the next song. Both of the Harrys have gotten - shall I say it? - cuter since we last saw them, and they absolutely had a crazy effect on the crowd. We belted out their songs, we were tangled in their microphone cords, we gave them high-fives (A.J.), we had our hands jumped on at the edge of the stage (Jack), and we had them sing directly to us (Courtney). You really couldn't imagine a better concert - it's just not possible.
Older Harry broke three guitar strings over the course of their set. A girl on Jack's left side snatched one of the strings up and made herself an impromptu bracelet with it, even. Younger Harry brought out a saxophone about halfway through, and he played it for a few songs. And oh - he played it WELL. He even played it with one hand while he was still playing the keyboard - how's that for amazing talent?!
Incredible. Just simply incredible.
And I have tons of pictures of them as well. Here goes:
Harry, Year 7.
(And that's A.J. right there at his elbow! Jack was still standing right near the stage.)
Things quickly heat up, and Harry, Year 4 ditches his jumper.
Older Harry belts out a song.
And his love for Ginny is quite apparent. *grin*
A.J. sways his arms with the crowd to a song.
Younger Harry tells the story of his Nimbus shoes from Mrs. Weasley.
While Harry is replacing a guitar string.
A handful of times throughout their set, they would sing a very short song to segue between other things. It was really cute, and it had simple hand movements to go with it, too.
Hagrid... is fun to hug! (cross arms over chest in an 'X')
Hagrid... is full of love! (make heart shape over head with arms)
Just don't get caught in Hagrid's beard! (scream a'la Home Alone)
"Just don't get caught in Hagrid's beard!"
The sax. The saaaaaxxxxxx!
(Yes, I really love the saxophone that much.)
(And there's also one post-sax pic - here.)
Too hot for glasses.
Multi-tasking.
Looking RIGHT at Courtney while singing!
And before we knew it, Harry & the Potters were done singing as well. :-( I was sad that it was over, but they sang for over an hour, too. It was around 10:40-ish by that time, and the concert was supposed to be over at 10. Still, we weren't done yet.
In true Harry fashion, they signed anything and everything that anyone wanted signed. I love that about them - they are real people. The younger Harry had NO voice left - and I mean NONE - he could barely even whisper. You can tell he really gives it his all while he's performing, and you gotta seriously admire that.
We let the crowd thin out a bit, and then the boys had their posters signed. Courtney had dashed out pretty quickly, so she'd just grabbed her sister's Book Seven cover (she didn't want it anyway), and she brought that for autographing. She was able to get all four guys to each sign their own message to her, but I was too busy taking pics of the boys to capture any of that. Oops.
But the pics:
Jack has his poster signed by Harry, Year 4.
A.J. tries to read his message while it's being written.
Both boys examine their messages on the floor.
We waited a bit longer for most of the rest of the crowd to leave, and Jack busied himself by hopping up on the stage and rocking out (there was a bit of music playing in the background). Finally - finally! - it was time to start sharing cupcakes!
Harry, Year 7, gets the very first one.
(And he was so nice about it, too. He'd been the one we'd talked to the most before the concert, and he was great with Jack. After he took his first bite of cake, someone came up and asked him something. He was busy wiping off his hands, and he stopped and was like, "Wow. Wow, that was really good! It was like lemon... or orange... or something - I wasn't expecting that!" to the other person. I was very pleased to hear that he liked it. Then he went back to eating it with Jack - yay!)
(And a closer view.)
And Courtney gets a pic, too!
One for Draco, Year 19.
The wild-n-crazy Harry, Year 4 with Jack.
And then Draco, Year 15, poses with "rock hands" with Jack.
And then we had a handful of shots of Jack with ALL of the guys. Jack wanted to hold the lightning bolt cupcake, and so he did. He got the foil wrapper peeled back at one point, but he never got a chance to actually *eat* the thing. A couple different photographers (both the library's staffer, plus the Omaha World Herald) wanted pictures of the cupcake-sharing, so they had to stand around and pose for a while.
Jack with Draco & the Malfoys and Harry & the Potters.
So they were talking amongst themselves while pictures were taken. After a minute or so, the older Harry burped really loud, and he said to Jack, "Good one, buddy!" which caused EVERYONE to laugh heartily.
And then, as the staff photogs were taking their last pics, I snapped this one:
(And it's here in color, in case you'd like to see.)
We told the guys thank you over and over again, and we shared the leftover cupcakes with some of the press and a lot of the library staff - anyone we could get to take one (I didn't want to bring them all back home!). When I was saying goodbye to the older Draco, he surprised me by giving me a huge bear hug - *SQUEEEEEEE!*
The whole night was just so unbelievable. Someone with the bands gave us free Cokes on our way out, and we were the last non-staff, non-band people left in the entire library. We dropped Courtney off at her car, and then I proceeded to get lost in downtown Omaha for the next 15 minutes before finding my way to the interstate (I suck at driving places I don't know). Despite it being ridiculously late, the boys stayed awake all the way home, and we pulled into the garage at 11:42pm. They changed into jammies, and then Jack asked for his first taste of birthday cupcake. At 11:49pm, A.J. and I sang "Happy Birthday" to him and he blew out a candle. He wolfed the cake down, had a glass of milk, and then he and A.J. wanted to check out their autographed posters one last time before bed.
Jack shows off his special message.
And that was Jack's birthday. :-)
Finite.
