A to Z Challenge - 2020 - VIP

While we are in the Loyalty Club at the Mountain Winery and can get advanced tickets which leads to closer seats, we've never actually paid extra to get VIP seating until Lindsey Buckingham came to the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.  Fleetwood Mac is one of our favorite groups and we've seen them several times over the years.  We've seen Stevie Nicks (my muse and the letter "N" in 2017's A to Z) in solo performances but my husband's favorite is Lindsey and up until now we've never seen him perform alone.  We also had never been to any kind of show at the Palace of Fine Arts so when the opportunity came, we splurged a bit to get VIP seating.  It was not a meet and greet experience but we were seated in the 5th row.  There was also some pretty neat swag given away and we got to enter the venue before the commoners - LOL.

I decided to go with a set of papers called Handmade Memories.  It is from my favorite Paper Wishes and had a free download of tags and embellishments to match it.

We got some great pictures in front of the Palace of Fine Arts.  Turns out we parked at the back of the building so we had to walk all the way around.  I took shots from all different angles.  When we got to the front entrance we were able to go in and waited in a short line for our VIP goodies.  I had some salmon hors d'oeuvres that were delish.

I took the VIP badge they gave us, added some ribbon and attached it to a frame.

I loved the look of the buttons so I added some real ones on top.  

I think this butterfly matches pretty well, don't you?  

The bad news is that once we were at our really great seats, we were told there was NO PICTURE TAKING!  I was so disappointed and almost got in trouble trying to sneak a few.  Really, the usher was standing close to where we were and kept a watchful eye over the audience.  I was not the only one trying to take a shot.  We got our selfie in but even that's not a great one.  We were trying to get the stage behind us.  Frustrating to be so close and not be able to sneak good pictures!

We may not have had a meet and greet but we did get Lindsey's autograph and a really neat journal.  

Even at the end of the show when I wasn't so worried about getting kicked out I still couldn't get a good shot of the band taking their bow. 

He is a really talented guitar player and it is amazing that he does all that finger work with no pick.  

There was a pretty decent write up in the paper and so I cut that out to add to the event.  It talks about the breakup between Lindsey and Fleetwood Mac that had happened earlier in the year.  Interestingly, a few months after we saw him, Lindsey had a heart attack and during the surgery his vocal cords were damaged.  They did not know if he would be able to sing again but he announced earlier this year that he would tour again.  Hopefully he will be able to.  

Here's how it looks in the book.  

My husband's favorite song is "Big Love."  While he did perform this when we saw him at the Palace of Fine Arts, this version is from when he was still with Fleetwood Mac from their tour in 2013. 

Okay!  Tomorrow is a break day and then we have four more letters.  Can she do it?  Side note, Blogger seems to be having some technical difficulties at the moment so if you can't see some of the pictures, you can always check out my blog on Wordpress.    Have a great rest of your weekend. 

A to Z Challenge - 2020 - Up Where We Belong

Very short post today because I only have one set of pictures that were taken a long time ago. 

"U" is for "Up Where We Belong" sung by Joe Cocker.  Joe was the opening act for Tom Petty the first time we saw him in 2010.  Ten years ago and sadly both of them have passed away.  Makes these pictures, terrible as they are, even more meaningful. 

It was a really good show.  Joe was a little less "twitchie" and dressed very nicely as opposed to the way he was in his earlier years but he didn't disappoint. 

That's it for "U."  I'll have a little better story for you tomorrow with "V."  See you then.

A to Z Challenge - 2020 - Toto

Toto was the first band we saw at the Mountain Winery!  We went to see them and Three Dog Night, who were actually the headliners, in June 2007.  My best friend, Margie, and her husband met us there and we had drinks and sandwiches before we went in.  The venue looked very different than it does now and we had seats that were pretty far back but it was still a great show.  I didn't realize all the songs that Three Dog Night actually had.  We didn't take any pictures that night but I found some promo stuff online and used that to make the layouts for the album.

We next saw Toto in 2017 when they opened at the Winery for Pat Benatar.  This show was even better than the first one.  We had MUCH closer seats this time, in the front section, five rows back.  Of course I took lots of pictures.  

For this set I chose a collection called "Main Street" from Quick Quotes Scrapbooking.  It was a pack I got at one of the Scrapbook Expos I've been to.  I love it. 

Here's what I came up with for the first page.  I'm not thrilled with my printing of the date and I may try and change that but I didn't have number stickers that matched.

Took a chance again and stamped the sentiment after I had put all the pictures down on this sheet.  Thank goodness it came out okay.  

Naturally I got some really good pictures but sadly, I don't have time to scrap them all right now so here are just a few.  

Steve Lukather is a terrific guitarist and he was also very engaging with the crowd.  He even caught my husband playing his air guitar along with him and gave him a nod.  That interaction made this show special for my hubby so when I got an email about the book "The Gospel According To Luke" and saw that it was a signed edition, I had to get it for him for Christmas a couple of years ago.  It looks pretty interesting so I am going to read it too.  

Here's "Africa" as we saw it.  

"T" is done!  U is already prepped.  V may be an easy one.  I'm crossing my fingers for the rest! Thank goodness for Sunday!

A to Z Challenge - 2020 - Santana

San Francisco Fest in September 2016 was supposed to be like the old Day on the Green concerts they used to do in Oakland back when Bill Graham was alive.  It was almost an all day affair, starting at three in the afternoon.  Tower of Power opened, followed by the Doobie Brothers, then by Steve Miller, Santana next and finally Journey.  I suppose I could use San Francisco Fest as my "S" but I'm going to stick to just Santana.

I used a set of papers called Happy Days from Paper Wishes.  

I thought the bright chevron paper really matched the Santana picture.

This collection has the free download tags and embellishments and also a sheet of 3-D labels. 

I put the first two pages together.  The Happy Day emblem is from the 3-D cutouts.

Carlos Santana's wife is one of the drummers and she really got into it.  There was an exhausting drum solo (looked exhausting for her anyway and actually I thought it went on just a little too long).  I had a red guitar which kind of matches Carlos'.

I have a lot of extras to go with this show.  There was a pamphlet that they gave out telling the times of the shows and a history of the Day on the Green Festivals

I even have a review from the paper the next day and some confetti that they shot out at the end of the show.

Here's the setlist:

Here is Maria Maria:

There's "S."  One week left to go!  Thanks for coming along with me!

A to Z Challenge - 2020 - Richie

Lionel Richie has been one of my favorites for a long time.  As he says in his act, he's got a song for just about every emotion you can have.  I've listened to him when I was happy and when I was sad.  I've danced to his songs and cried to his songs.  This is from the time we saw him in 2013.  We saw him again in 2017 and Mariah Carey was his opening act.  I wasn't impressed with her, but Lionel was great again. 

For the 2013 pictures I went with a set of papers called "Rugged" from Creative Memories with a couple of extras thrown in.  I liked the rough edges and the colors went well with the pictures.     

                                                                                       Driving in to the SAP Center we saw the moon.  You know how I am about that thing!  We had seats 10 rows back from the stage.  Almost the closest we've ever had at that venue.  We got some pretty decent chicken strips to share for dinner before the show.  Also, if you look closely you can see the blue gum in my mouth.  I should at least remember to chew white mint if I'm gonna open my mouth with that smile! 

I used the Rose Window stencil again.

I used some of the leftover pieces to fill in the blanks.  

I'm not sure if I'm finished with this page for good but it came out okay so far.

Here's the set list.  26 songs and he could have gone on longer!  He mixed in some Commodore songs with his own.

How about some "Dancing on the Ceiling?"

Well that's the letter "R."  Do you like Lionel?  Have a favorite song?  Mine is "Lady" which he actually sang with the Commodores.  Hopefully I'll see you tomorrow!