A few things to know about me...

1.    I love concerts. If I love you as a musical artist, I want to see you live. In my mind, concerts are an interactive experience. I love singing along with the artist because I’m part of the band. (Don’t question the crazy, people). Plus, being around thousands of other people who share the same enthusiasm is such a rush.

Wanna know how much I love concerts? I’m cheap and am always on the lookout for a better deal. But not when it comes to concert tickets. They cost what they cost and I’m good with that.

2.    My family loves music videos, so BET and Video Soul were constants in my household. Therefore, it shouldn’t come as a shock that I grew up loving Michael and Janet Jackson.

My mom’s maiden name is Jackson, so we would always make jokes about how we were related to those Jacksons. I’ll never forget the time my cousin recorded Janet’s performance on an awards show on the VCR (lol) and memorized the choreography only to be devastated when my mom accidentally erased it. Oops.

These were major reasons I wanted to see Janet. Michael also played a role. When he died, I was happy to say that I’d seen him in concert. For no real reason that I can come up with it, I’d never seen Janet before, but I was determined to rectify that. Thanks to my amazing boss, I was able to secure tickets on the floor.

And I saw her Saturday night!

It was fantastic! The show wasn’t elaborate - just Janet, her backup dancer, singers and band. But that’s all we needed. The woman has had a TON of hits over her 25+ year career. One hit led to another to another to another. The whole audience (including me) sang and danced the entire time.  The rush of energy from the audience when the opening notes for a song like “Control” or “Rhythm Nation” were played was amazing.

And she’s still got it at 44. I would’ve collapsed on the stage after the first verse of the first song, but she kept going for almost two hours.

Funny moments: During a break, she showed clips from her acting gigs from Good Times to For Colored Girls. As soon as the Good Times clip came on, I started yelling, “Not the iron. Run, Penny.” I haven’t seen that episode in Lord only knows how long, but I still remember.

In a quest to make sure I remembered all the song lyrics, I looked up the words to several songs, including “If.” Now I know why she mumbles the verses of that song.  The second verse is all kinds of dirty. I called my BFF and was like, “They played that on the radio!”

The guy behind me kept yelling, “I love you, Janet” the entire time. He looked so crushed when she invited a girl sitting in the front row backstage after the concert.

Bonus: I actually managed to get a few decent photos. :)

So yeah, two thumbs up, five stars, three snaps in a circle and all that jazz for me.

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Who's ready for funny story time?

Discussion points
1.    I love Shannon McKenna.
2.    I am cheap.

Please keep these points in mind as you read especially number 2.

Ms. McKenna has a series about the McCloud brothers. I love them. Her heroes always make me giggle because they’re sooo intense. They’re intense about whatever mission they’re on, and they’re about ten times more intense about their love interest.

The last McCloud brother is Kevin. I won’t spoil anything, but I’ve been waiting to read Kevin’s story for five or six years. When I found out his story was coming, the squees could be heard all over Dallas.

And then I found out the book would be published as a hardcover. Slam on the brakes time. Really?

Here’s the thing. Kensington always publishes Ms. McKenna’s books in trade size at a cost of $14. Sigh. Let’s remember our talking points. Because I could never figure out Kensington’s mass market printing schedule (mainly because there never seemed to be any rhyme or reason to it), I’ve always just sucked it up and bought the trade edition because I love Shannon McKenna. Granted, I wait until I have a lovely Borders coupon in hand before doing so, but even with the coupon, I still spend $8-$10 on a book. Which I NEVER do.

I must really love Shannon McKenna.

As you can imagine, I was not a happy camper when I found out about the hardcover plans. When the book came out a few months ago, I went to Borders and stared at it. I think I mentioned that I’ve been waiting for this book for years. Still, I couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger. I would wait for the trade or mass market edition. Yeah, this scene played itself out several times in the past few months.

Until Monday night.

Recently, I started a new job, which means I don’t have to be quite so tight-fisted with the cash. I also happened to have a 40% off coupon from Borders. I hopped in my car knowing just the book I wanted to buy, but then the little devil (angel?) on my shoulder whispered in my ear, “Why don’t you buy Shannon McKenna’s book instead? You know you want it.”

I thought about it and decided what the heck? I have a little extra cash and a great coupon. Let’s go for it.

Now, usually, when I have a coupon ready to spend on a specific item, I work out in advance how much the item will be before I ever get to the store. However, because this was a spur of the moment decision, I didn’t have time for calculations.

I got to Borders, picked up the book, flipped it over, and glared at the price. $20.95. Yikes. I debated for a second about putting it back, but NO. I wanted this book, and I was gonna have it.

I marched downstairs to the checkout line and hand the cashier my coupon and Borders reward card. She rang up the purchase and said $15.xx. In my mind, I was thinking, “Excuse me?! I don’t think so! That’s not 40% off.” But I didn’t have to say a word because my facial expression did all the talking. Oh, how I wish I’d had a camera to take a picture of my face.  A slightly panicked look flashed across her face before she dropped her head to reread the coupon and stared at the computer screen.

I said, “Is the 40% not good on hardcovers?” Because if it wasn’t, I was going to take it as a sign from the money and book gods that I wasn’t supposed to have this book and put it back.

Luckily, she said no. She’d screwed up typing the code. She called the manager who fixed it. The total was $13.xx. Still bad, but more in line with what I expected.  

So now I have Fade to Midnight. I’ve only read the first few pages, but I’m loving it.

I must love Shannon McKenna.

How do you feel about hardcovers? Will you follow your favorite authors wherever they happen to take you even if it’s to the Land of Expensive?

xoxo,
Jamie 

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