It happened at Nissan. Backstage passes were left at Will Call for us. We went back and relaxed a bit with the munchies and drinks. Turns out one of the security ladies knew my wife, her mother and my mother. We watched as several groups were led back to meet Jimmy. We also watched as the clock kept ticking towards 8:00. Eventually most of the people back there had made their way out and to their seats. At about 7:55 Mike Ramos came, apologized and said that they had gotten backed up with corporate groups and family groups. I told him I wanted to give him the BUBBA plate and have him sign the SAMPLE plate. He said no problem and he'd take care of it.
At that point the security lady told him that my 7-year old daughter (Alyssa) had been waiting patiently and he needed to get her back there. He said he'd see what he could do and he ran back. Charleston came around from a different area and apologized as well. While were were talking to him Mike came back out, gve me the plates (already signed) and said to follow him. We went through the dining area and down a hall and ended up on the side of the stage.
Jimmy was standing in front of us talking about some songs with some other people. We could see the crowd between the side and the curtain. Then Jimmy turned around and introduced himself to me. I introduced myself, J (the designer) and then he turned to Alyssa and asked her name and introduced himself to her.
I gave him the plate and he seemed very excited to see it. He asked if they were out yet and when I told him they were all over the parking lot he looked at me and asked "How in the Hell did you make this happen?"
I told him three years of hard work. Then he got excited and was showing the plate to all the people around there. He then told me he was going to put it on his golf cart. There was some other chit chat and then Mike took the photo of us. We said our goodbyes and headed back out.
We'd just gotten to our seats when the show started. Another highlight was when he dedicated License to Chill to the Virginia Parrot Head Clubs for getting the plates out. You can hear the clip and see the full photo at
http://www.parrothead.org/.
It was a pretty good night.
"And still twenty four hours may be sixty good years; It's really not that long a stay." - Jimmy Buffett
"Republicans. That's what scares people these days. That and, uh, Democrats." - Todd Snider
but besides that...
I was just trying to impart some basic Redneck wisdom.