Orange County Fair
Costa Mesa, CA
July 19, 2007
I woke up at 8:00 because someone was outside Melissa's complex landscaping with loud machinery. Cid had arranged a trip to the beach for out-of-towners, and I thought it would be fun to do as I didn't get to go with Jay and Kathy, and it would give me some time to spend with some of the others who came out for the concerts.
Melissa and I got to Huntington Beach at about 11:00. At first we couldn't find the beach, so we stopped at a gas station and asked someone in a work truck where it was. He said it was just down the street and happened to be holding a map, so he showed us on the map too. We weren't far from it at all, but when we got there, we realized the beach stretched on for quite a bit. We called Cid and got no answer, so we parked and looked around for a while.
I called Cid again, and she said they were near the pier, so we drove down there and found them easily. Along with Cid, Elizabeth, Rachael, Jeannine, and Cindy were there too. The water wasn't cold, but it was a little rough, however nothing I wasn't used to in Jersey. We stayed at the beach for about two hours. I went swimming and played in the waves for a while, then came out and covered myself in wet sand. The lifeguard kept telling people to get out of the water, but she wasn't very assertive, and not many people were listening to her.
After the beach, we went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch. I ordered menu item #27, which was beef tacos. They gave a lot of food, and it was very good. After lunch, we went back to Melissa's place and got ready for the fair.
We had front row center tickets for this show, so we made sure to leave early enough to get there with plenty of time to spare, especially after the traffic nightmare of the previous night. While we were wandering around the fair, we found a huge sand sculpture. Apparently the fair hired some guy to work on it during the fair and he was adding new things every day.
We also found a place that sold deep fried Twinkies. Melissa and I tried one, and we couldn't finish it. It really tasted bad. After that, Melissa hung around near the entrance to Al's stage, while I wandered around the fair a bit more. I went to the see the live animals and spent some time feeding some sheep. I also saw some sheep wearing Hawaiian shirts.
I ran into Stephanie and Cindy by the merchandise stand, and before I made it to my seat, I met Ryan, Sarah, and Natasha hanging out near the front. My seat was front row direct center, as center as you could get. The only thing in front of me was the steps to the stage. I was worried "Weird Al" Yankovic would trip down the stairs during "Wanna B Ur Lovr" and land on me. Al was so close, I could actually see his spit in the lights.
During "Polkarama!" I took my eyes off Al to watch the sign language interpreter. I was curious how some of the lyrics translated, and "Don't you wish your boyfriend was hot like me?" and "lick my lollipop" were absolutely hilarious, because apparently the sign language translation for those, like a lot of the lyrics were, is to act them out. I'm seriously going to have to learn sign language.
According to Al, "Bob" was the song we all came there to see. During "It's All About The Pentiums" he stopped and posed several times for me so I could take pictures. I was close enough that I noticed for the first time that the skeletal rib cage shirt for "You're Pitiful" has a yellow canary sitting on a perch in it.
Al didn't trip down the stairs for "Wanna B Ur Lovr," but headed directly to Melissa who was sitting next to me. He put his left leg on the top of my chair and sang to her. I couldn't see what happened because Al's leg was literally right in my face, but according to Melissa, he had his forehead pressed up against hers while he sang to her. He sang to Vikki and her aunt Claudia too, who were sitting next to Melissa. He also pressed his forehead up against Kristine's forehead. She was sitting in the front row too, on the aisle.
Steve Jay wandered from his usual spot during "Trapped In The Drive-Thru." He ended up standing next to Rubén Valtierra behind the keyboards. I'm pretty sure he actually was playing the keyboards at one time. At the very least, he was pretending to play.
Next was one the highlights of the trip for me. I was enjoying "I'll Sue Ya" as usual, when Al caught me by total surprise and gave me a shout-out in the middle of the song. Right after he sang the lines "I sued Delta Airlines 'cause they sold me a ticket to New Jersey. I went there, and it sucked," he stopped, pointed at me, waved his hands and mouthed "I'm sorry, Dave." I remember putting my head down into my lap and trying to figure out if what just happened was real! It took me quite a while to recover, and I don't remember much about the rest of the performance. It's funny to think about because there had to be thousands of people in the audience who were probably wondering what just went on. Thanks Al!
You'd think the rest of the show would be uneventful after that, but there were some more notable moments. Darth Vader and the stormtroopers were back again for "The Saga Begins" and this time, in addition to dancing, they linked arms and swayed back and forth.
During "Smells Like Nirvana," Al didn't throw the water at me like he did in Hershey Park, but I did somehow get drenched. Melissa got the Nirvana cup. During "Fat" the feather boa fell off of the ho, so Al picked it up and draped it around Jim West's neck.
Instead of "Cell Phones," Al surprised me by doing a straight cover of The Carpenters song "(They Long to Be) Close to You." It was the first time I've seen him stray from the script for a straight cover that wasn't as a result of a technical difficulty. I wish I had been ready for it. It was great to see and hear, and would like to see and hear it happen again sometime.
He did close the show with "Albuquerque" after that. The best addition to the song was the Halle Berry doughnuts. As Al was walking off the stage, he looked at me and pointed towards me. I pointed back to say thank you for everything. Sitting in the front row was awesome! I'm not trying to brag, but I've sat there several times, and there's really no way to describe it. Those who've sat in the front row before know what I'm talking about. The whole concert is a totally different experience from the first row. And I've had the fortunate luck of something special and memorable happening to me every time I've been sitting there.
More Pictures!!!
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