Christmas in May. Well, why not. It is a beautiful day here in Arizona although it is starting to peak over 100 degrees and it's almost time to get outta Dodge.

Thought I'd share a couple of pictures and a video from the Joyful Noise Tour. Because I was house hunting, I took the opportunity to visit Raleigh, Charlotte in NC and Columbia in SC during December of 2005. My son is being transferred, probably at this point to Charlotte, and I wanted to take a look at the areas so I could have a better idea where I might want to move to be close enough to be able to see the family frequently.

I arrived in Raleigh, spent a couple of days looking at neighborhoods and then drove down to Charlotte and did the same thing there. Well, low and behold, it's December and there are three Joyful Noise Tour concerts - Columbia, Charlotte and then Raleigh. So I drove down to Columbia for the first concert. Funny how there happened to be concerts that fit into my travel schedule. Not.

It was cold. Checked into the Marriott, I hadn't signed up for any preparties so this was one of the first times I really felt like I was "on my own". The Marriott provided transportation to the concert, which was only a few blocks away. I could have walked, but did I say, it was cold.

Arriving at the concert I found myself sitting next to someone I knew from a Clay Aiken message board, on the other side was a very nice young lady who says she met me in Greenville the year before. Two seats ahead of us were the two gals who were doing a cell cert. A cell cert is when you share a concert via your cell phone with many other people, or just one. The quality is usually pretty poor, but it's great fun!! A gal in front of me swore she had met somewhere before....so much for being alone. The concert was beautiful, as usual.
This is one of the concerts where the young man playing the role of Tommy was ill and we had a stand-in, who did an excellent job with very little time to prepare.

I loved this venue, it reminded me of the millions of old auditoriums we have all been in - at school, church, small community theatre. The floors squeeked, the chairs rattled but the music was, as usual, supurb. Everyone in my section had a marvelous time, it was sublime. In fact, I was on such a high, I forgot it was cold and walked back to the hotel.

Here is video from the Columbia concert for your entertainment- turn off the jukebox in the sidebar on the right before you play the video.



One final endorsement before we move on to Charlotte - the Marriott has the most comfortable beds and linen I have ever run into in a hotel. And, I've been in quite a few, I travelled a lot for the company I worked for and stayed in lots of hotels of the Mariott class....this one was the best!!!

Next morning I had to crawl out of that magnificant bed and head up to Charlotte where I did have plans to meet up with some internet friends. I stayed at the Holiday Inn and, at the counter checking in, ran into a gal I had definately met at the Greenville concert the year before and five of us ended up looking for a place to eat. We wandered by this soul food place and ended up deciding to give it a try. We were in the South, after all. I was a little disappointed in my collard greens, they were a little bitter. Years ago I had a friend, who now that I think of it, was born in NC somewhere, who used to make collard greens and they were never bitter. The place was Merts, Heart and Soul and is a well know soul food restaurant. There were Clay fans all around us, including some of the people from the night before in Columbia.

The Charlotte Bobcat Arena had just been completed in October and was behind our hotel - right in downtown Charlotte. Downtown Charlotte has changed dramatically since I was last here right after Andrew came lashing through. If I was still working I think it would be a great downtown to work in, lots of restaurants, shops, just a lot of ambiance.

After our soul food experience we walked over to the arena and got settled in our seats for another wonderful concert. I had locals all around me this time and it is always fun to watch the faces and see the reactions of Clay's more casual fans. Everyone seemed to be having a great time.





A Couple of Pictures from the Charlotte Concert.




















Next morning I headed up to Raleigh, where there was a huge preparty planned. I got there just in time. The ONLY person I knew this time was my seat mate from Columbia. I was supposed to meet up with someone at the preparty who had a front row ticket for sale, but we never connected although it seems people knew we were looking for each other, LOL. Clay's mom, Faye Parker was at the preparty and there was some entertainment and an excellent luncheon.






Pictures are Clickable

After the preparty I hightailed it over to the motel, which was right across the street from the venue. Now, I hadn't hooked up with my gal with the ticket, so I thought I was going to have to use my original ticket, which was fine, first row of the risers - but they changed the configuration after I purchased the ticket so I was further back in the arena then I had originally thought. I figured, if I could get on the floor, I could find her....of course security said no, but whoops - sorry, gotta keep your eye on a Clay fan with hopes of a better seat. LOL. Long story short, I did find her, she is an amazingly nice person and was afraid I wouldn't like the seat because it was all the way to the right. Duh, in the first row!! I did have some restricted view of the cookie making scene as far as Beverly and Tommy, but I could see Clay ok.

What an amazing concert. If you scroll down to earlier blogs, you will find a video of "Star of Bethlehem" and more about the concert.

Here is a video I took of Don't Save it all for Christmas Day. My angle was bad, but most of it is pretty good, except for the few seconds when the girl beside me stood in front of me for a second. I love when he pulls "Beverly" over at the end and sings the last few notes to her.

Turn off the jukebox in the sidebar on the right before you play the video.





Hope you enjoyed the Christmas concert in May.

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