Day one of the Ace Young Trifecta!

Friday morning, July 25th (sorry I'm a little behind) I waited in Atlanta for my dear friend Candace to pick me up to start our Ace Adventure weekend. Candace and I have been online/phone friends for about a year,but this was the first time we have met in person. As soon as she walked into the hotel, we hugged and hugged... it was great to finally meet each other in person! First job before we leave, dress up our car to advertise all over GA for Ace!

We had a long drive to Greenville, SC for our first show. It was so much fun talking and of course singing to Ace's new songs! The show wasn't starting until 8pm and we arrived at the park at 2:15. We drove around a while looking to see if Ace's tour bus was there yet. We didn't find anything, so we decided to just park for awhile and stretch our legs. When we pulled into the parking space, right ahead of us was the stage. I looked and immediately saw Ace on stage. I couldn't get out of the car fast enough... kept saying come on Candace, hurry...that's him. She wasn't sure it was him and was poking along. So finally when we got closer she realized it was Ace up on the stage and she started to move faster! There wasn't anyone there except the band. When Ace saw us, he jumped off the stage & gave us hugs. It was so sweet of him. Said we were just in time to see their sound check and watch them practice for the Saturday night show in Atlanta. {of course I'm smiling from ear to ear}. I then told Ace I had a weekend project for him. I brought with me white letters that spell ACE that I bought at Michael's. I was always going to alter them sometime for my scraproom but never did. They just sat on the shelf blank. So I told him to take all weekend, doodle on them, write random words... whatever he wanted to write, go ahead and I would get them on Sunday from him. Told him it was for me personally in my scraproom. He kinda chuckled and said, Well that is pretty cool! So I asked his permission to video the soundcheck/practice and he said sure, but if he needs me to stop, he will give me the thumbs down signal. They started the sound check and he sang a a little and looked at me and stuck out his tongue! What a goof he is! Gotta love him!

For the first 45min-1 hour it was just Candace & I there for our own little private concert. I was just in awe watching him. At the end there were about 10 people, that is it. Very cool! Here are some links to the sound check/practice if you would like to see it . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aou_wmp1ld0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbJMxSlLrDY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tI9bk854rg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3PHYHCrDjU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uoIOpdDjv0&feature=related Well that is just a taste... if you want to see more go to my youtube account, of course it's scrappinandyappin. After practice Ace came back down to meet everyone, take more pics & give lots of hugs. Candace & I call each other the MIL's because we both would love if Ace or Ryan would marry our daughters... so here is a pic with us & Ace with the MIL shirt! :) It had arrows pointing to each side but they were red and don't show up well in the picture. Our new friend Kimberly invited us back to her hotel to cool off for awhile. That was awesome to be able to chat with Kimberly, download our pics from the day and unwind. Later that evening we met up with Sandy, Candice & Simone from Virginia Beach. I talked about meeting them at the album release party. It was so great to see them again! We all went out for a quick dinner at Applebees and then off to the concert. We weren't sure how to get back, we got lost from the other two cars we were following so we just turned on the GPS and the "lost bitch" told us right where to go. {that is a name Candace's daughter has for her GPS, mine's name is Dorothy but she wasn't with us} Anyway.. we arrive back at the park and the place is packed with cars. BUT there it is... one parking space up front, the same one we had in the early afternoon! Very cool indeed!! This event was for the Big League World Series of Baseball. I had never heard of it before but I think it's like Little League but for high school kids. There were high school boys everywhere!! From all states, even Puerto Rico! The first group to perform was awful but the high schoolers liked it. I can't remember their name Dirty rotten dolls or something or other. Anyway, all of the music was the same, the kind the kids just jump up and down to. The baseball players were having a blast! Next up was supposed to be a rapper... but he flew into Greenville NC instead of Greenville SC {duh} so he was running late. BUT that was great for us because that put Ace up next! We didn't have to struggle through an hour of rap music! Of course Ace's performance was flawless and the band, OMG are they good!! Bryon on keyboards is awesome and has the most beautiful voice, Erik on drums, Sasha on bass (he also plays for Cher in Las Vegas) and of course lovable Marion on lead guitar. They all work so well with Ace and had so much fun! Ace is a true entertainer. He jumps all over the place, bends down to young girls, holds their hands and sings to them... just an awesome performance! Here are a few videos from the night that one of my friends took. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3juS6B6VNso Young Money http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REecGyclEoM Vertigo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DspHTNZCudw You Redeem Me He was on stage over an hour, then did a Q & A with the audience. One girl asked if he would come home with her? He said, " how old are you?" She said 14, he said, "My CD would LOVE to come home with you!" LOL But all of the teenies were asking him about girlfriends, could they have stuff. One girl wanted his water bottle, another asked for chain he had hanging on his jeans and another one wanted his beanie that he always has in his back pocket. He gave them all away! They were so happy!! I was surprised he gave away the chain because it was a very cool long guitar and I had asked him about it at the Release party because it was so cool. He said he bought it in Europe the last time he was there because he loved it. Then he just gave it away. Then after the concert they had him set up for a meet & greet. They were selling his CD's and pictures to get signed. I chatted a long time with the people selling the stuff, they were really nice. The line was huge so I went over to meet some of the band members. This is Byron who plays the keyboards. He's a REALLY nice guy and talked to us for a long time.

After that I went back in the line, it's still very long. When I get up there Ace's gives me a BIG smile and says, "Can you stay until the line is done and wait for me? I have my homework done!" OMG can I wait for Ace? LMAO! And I said, "of course I'll wait for you... I can't believe your homework is done already!!" I got some more hugs, more pics taken and stuff signed and it's on to the next person in line. Soooo I'm flying high right then {who needs drugs when you got Ace!} just watching him with everyone else and loving every minute. Then he is done and gives me the letters. I just couldn't believe he took so much time in the afternoon to do this for me. They are just awesome! He wrote and drew pictures on them. As I was reading them I noticed the one letter was about Denver stuff....Bronco's, etc. So I said to him, Why do I have this Bronco stuff on my letters when you know I'm a Steelers fan? He said, " These letters aren't about you, it's about ME what I was thinking" LOL... he was so right!! So I thanked him again for being so wonderful and got a few more hugs in. Ace really knows how to HUG!! Here is a picture of the letters, they look so much better in person because you can't see all of the sides and everything else he wrote on them. The bottom board as all of his songs written on it :) I just LOVE them so much and will cherish them forever!

Then the line is about done... a few more people coming over and a lady gives Ace a volunteer shirt from that days event. He thanks her and she says, I'm not giving it to you, I'm trading you something for it. He just laughs and thinks she is kidding... she isn't. He then asked her what she wanted to trade and she said she wanted his shirt he was wearing! Ok, the man just gave away his beanie and favorite guitar chain and now someone wants his shirt too! He just kept laughing and someone said that he was too chicken to do it. That was all it took... off flew his shirt... girls were screaming... cameras were going off like crazy. Me... I just stood there with my mouth hanging open! Here is a pic of him without a shirt... of course I didn't take it because I'm still in a trance. I had the front view, but my friend won't let me post her pic of him... so this one will have to do! LOL

So that was day one of the Ace Triefecta! By the time we were done at the show and drove to Candace's sister's house to spend the night it was after 1am. I felt funny going into someone's home that I never met at 1am, but it all worked out ok. After looking at the hundreds of pics we took of the day, we passed out. Next post: Day two ~ Atlanta! Visit my myspace page to see lots more pics of Ace performing!