nick jonas smells good (apparently)

so last week, i mentioned that we'd lucked out and won a golden ticket - a pass to the pre-concert meet & greet with nick jonas. there's always a drawing for members of the fan club who are attending shows - you just send an e-mail with the date of your show and names of attendees to enter, and then they typically contact you about a week prior. as with every other concert we've attended, as soon as i bought the tickets, i sent the e-mail in and promptly forgot all about it.

finding out in itself was totally awesome, because the notification popped up just as i was picking up a call from the teen. the conversation went kind of like this:

me: hi, babe, what's u - OHMYGODYOU'RENOTGONNABELIEVEWHATIJUST GOT.

teen: huh? what are you talking about?

me: i just now got an e-mail and we're going to the meet & greet before the concert.

teen: OHMYGODAREYOUSERIOUS?? (panting and heaving) i'm totally crying right now.

of course, this inadvertently created another dilemma: what to wear? what to say when faced with the boy of her dreams for the first time? i was actually pretty glad that there wasn't too much time to contemplate the myriad of possible answers to those questions. i might have gone out of my damn mind if that had gone on for weeks.

the guidelines detailed in the e-mail were simple: envelopes would be ready for pick-up 1.5 hours before the show started, bring I.D. and a camera, no autographs, only one photo with nick per person, any gifts for nick would be collected at the door and put in his dressing room "for him to enjoy later." okay, fine.

the teen is just like her mama - a total procrastinator. the night before the show, i found this in the bathroom:

ha! and, because i'm such a sucker for my kid, i stayed up till past midnight searching for and uploading pictures from the past, oh, ten concerts/appearances. i uploaded them to my online album and then ordered prints - 50 of 'em. heh. she was quite appreciative when i presented her with the packet of prints and an album that i'd carefully chosen that afternoon, and spent the entire drive down to the wiltern theater cutting, gluing, and captioning the photos.

we hit just a little traffic once we arrived downtown, but still managed to make it there with lots of time to spare.

the teen put the finishing touches on her art project, added a ribbon around it, and voila! i just hope he actually looks at it and doesn't just toss it to the side. from pictures he's tweeted, though, it seems that he does spend some time checking out every fan gift he receives.

we joined the blessedly short line for meet & greet passes (the line to get into the theater/pick up will call tickets was wrapped around the freaking block out in the rain) and killed time smirking over the chatter that surrounded us.

these guys came out quietly, but once the video camera they carried was spotted by a fan, there was much screaming and cheering and "i love nick!" chanting. as they panned over the line, i, of course, totally mugged for the camera while the teen shrank into a little pile of embarrassment at my side.

but the joke was on me, because when the dude finally showed up to hand out the envelopes containing the passes, the teen opened hers to find only one wristband. wah waaaaah. i couldn't believe that i was going to miss what would likely be the most fantastic 30 seconds of my daughter's life (so far) - i desperately wanted to see her face, feel the excitement radiating from her core, hear her stammer out a greeting to this boy she's loved for so long. okay, that's kind of dramatic, but it's true. and i wanted to cry, but i plastered a smile on my face, helped her put on the wristband, and continued to chatter cheerfully as i waited in the line with her at the rear of the building.

and yes, i asked them to check and re-check the stack of envelopes. i tried to sweet-talk the dude into going back to see if they'd misread my e-mail entry that had listed both of our names. and as a last-ditch effort, i smiled sweetly at the guy who was ushering everyone into the building and chirped "i'm her mom!" as i tried to sashay through. none of it worked, and i found myself blowing her a goodbye kiss as i handed her the camera and watched her walk on clouds into the theater.

i must've looked like such a loser, kicking rocks and pouting as i waited out in front of the theater. i'd made sure to get my ticket out of her bag, since she was going to go to her seat after she'd met her man.

the line was still freakishly long, even though they'd finally started letting people into the theater.

my phone rang about half an hour later, and it was the teen - breathless and ecstatic from her long-awaited encounter with the man of the evening.

me: so, was it wonnnnnnnnnderful? was he just beautiful and fantastic?
the teen: OMG, yes. i was totally shaking the whole time and now i'm crying. i love him.
me: i want to hear everything! do you like your picture?
the teen: okay, so they didn't let us take in our cameras. we had to leave our bags on a table inside the door. they took the pictures and they'll put it on the website on that paper in the envelope.
me: awww, really? boo! did you get to give him your present?
the teen: yeah, i gave it to the guy and he put it in the pile on another table. there weren't that many gifts. and oh! i got to high-five big rob (the jonas brothers' bodyguard)! and then when it was my turn, i was shaking so hard and i had to calm myself down, so i walked kinda slowly to him. mom, he totally opened his arms to give me a hug before i even got there! [swooning audibly]
me: did he smell good (i know, i know, so wrong of me)?
the teen: YES. he smelled really good. he said "hi, how are you?" and i said "good, you?" then he said "great, hey, thanks for coming out to the show tonight!" and i said "oh, sure!" and then we stopped and posed for our picture, and he said "well, have a great time tonight." i said "i will, thanks. i love you!" and he said "i love you, too." [more swooning] huh, i wonder if i can smell him on my shirt.

oy vey.

after i realized that the line wasn't getting any shorter (and i was kind of freezing my ass off), i gave in, walked down the street and around the corner, and got in. i totally rolled my eyes and muttered "are you freaking kidding me?" as i got a gander at the chick in front of me:

i was inside the theater in less than ten minutes and checked out the merchandise for sale.

after deciding against spending the cash on a tee for myself (shut up, i like concert tees too), i trudged up the stairs and made my way to the mezzanine, where the teen was waiting for me.

later on, as i glanced through my pictures, this one caught my eye as i finally saw what everyone always comments on - we really do look a lot alike, don't we? wow. color me lucky!

the stage was set for the opening act (and i already forgot her name, oops). i sat there and caught up on e-mails and twitter while we waited.

well, and i took a few more pictures too.

this show was refreshingly low-key and somewhat mellower than all the other jonas brothers concerts we've been to before. no huge multi-million dollar sets, no crazy grand entrance, no pyrotechnics. when it was time, nick and his band simply strolled out onto the stage, the lights came up, and they started playing.

since his CD doesn't come out until next week, the majority of the audience didn't really know the songs that they were playing. anticipating this (and realizing that his fans love to sing along), he threw in covers of some of his favorite songs by other artists as well as a few jonas brothers songs with different arrangements and changes in tempo. i know you guys are going to give me shit for it, but i gotta say it: this boy is really talented. he plays several instruments (tonight he stuck to guitars and piano), writes most of the songs, and has a great vocal range. he's got a pretty fantastic falsetto that's fun to listen to. the teen and i discussed it at length and decided that his sound is nothing like the pop-y jonas brothers style. it's more mature, kind of like john mayer-ish with a little bit of jazz and a twist of rock thrown in. i wonder if his current fans will support it.

he did a great job carrying the entire show without benefit of his two brothers to share in the adoration and attention from the squealing audience. not to mention, he'd been sick last week and had had to cancel a show under doctor's orders. roughly an hour and a half later, it was all over.

the teen and i squeezed through the crowds and headed across the street to the coffee bean, which i'd been eyeing since the moment we got there. i was happy to see that they were still open - and why not? the place was packed. they probably make a killing on show nights. before we left, i thought i'd pose with my stupid face - rather a tradition by now.

with no word of a new CD in the works and only a halfhearted reference to a possible tour later this year, i don't really know if or when we'll get to another jonas-related concert. the teen is super bummed. and because their shows have been a great bonding experience for us (okay, and their music has totally grown on me, i admit it), i'm kind of sad, too.

i'm sure you are, too.