Flowers Friday: When I met The Man edition

A year ago today was the start of what got dubbed Freezing for Flowers – the winter leg of Brandon Flowers Flamingo tour which involved lots of standing around (LOTS!!) in freezing cold temperatures along the Eastern Seaboard. It was a week of pure insanity but so tremendously fun and exciting and worth every minute of losing sensation in my extremities!

I was lucky enough – starting with a year ago tonight in Boston – to get to meet Brandon and since I’ve never written a post about it here I thought the first anniversary of that surreal moment was probably a good time. It will explain how my worship of him is not just about the music and the lusting!

The logistics of the meeting are basically that we were freezing – and then we got invited to meet Brandon! (yes, invited! Crazy right??) I was with Sarah and Jackie and we did not know what to expect. In retrospect we all thought that someone would meet us and ask what we wanted signed, would go get it from him, and then come back and give it to us. Not that he’d actually be standing there all nicely showered and Sharpie in hand just WAITING TO MEET US!

So we meet Brandon Flowers – and here’s the thing – that guy on stage who is so brash and in command and strutting all over the place like the Rock Star he was born to be – is nothing like that in person: he’s very quiet and shy and when you get over the shock that you’re meeting him (did I mention he was just STANDING THERE WAITING FOR US?!??) you have to adjust to the shock that he’s not That Guy on Stage.

I will say I was totally well-behaved and didn’t freak out or scream in his face or molest him or anything. He could not have been more gracious to us and I was in no way going to mess that up by going full-on Fangirl in his (pretty) face. I was lucky a few more times that week to be “granted an audience” and whether or not he ever remembered me – he was always unfailingly polite and generous with his time.

So I love him for lots of reasons that can be found all over this blog. But these experiences made me truly appreciate him beyond the talent and the looks: he is such a genuinely nice man. He gives a firm handshake and looks you right in the eye as you’re talking to him. He leans in to listen and he answers questions honestly and never makes you feel like you’re a total dope for rattling on to him about some sort of Crafty Thing you’ve gifted him with, or how much you love the album, or how great the show was.

So I love his voice and his music, I think he’s probably the most Beautiful Man I’ve Ever Seen, but beyond all that he’s a really good person – and I think that above all is what makes him so worthy of all the time and attention and adoration that I – and so many others – give him.

(dedicated with love to the whole Freezing for Flowers 2010 crew: Sarah, Jill, Jackie, Lauren, Kimberly, Martha, Nancy and JoAnne – xoxo – Amy)

 

 

Flowers Friday: Happy Killers-versary! edition

September 4th marked the 2nd Anniversary of Sarah and I going to see The Killers at the Boston Garden, and coming out total, raging, obsessed Fangirls. Life has not been the same since! We got to spend our Killers-versary together watching The Killers Live at Royal Albert Hall, and eating cake. (It was morning and it was coffee cake, but still – cake!)

That fateful concert and the start of this blog happened at about the same time so I can easily chart the rise of The Obsession here. From the first days of finding any little reason to post about Brandon Flowers (he likes U2!) to going to Las Vegas (he likes frozen custard!), from hoping he’d do a solo album, to throwing a party when he did, to the start of a weekly Flowers Friday post. It’s almost sweet to see me go from besotted to Stalker in only two short years 😉

There’s been some craziness along the way, a whole lot of money spent, a whole lot of sleep lost and miles traveled – but it has all been more than worth it. In November Sarah and I will get to see them (for only the second time!! That seems impossible!) at Orlando Calling along with many of the amazing friends I’ve made since falling in love with this band – and this man – who pretty much had me eating out of the palm of his hand the second he walked on to that stage in Boston.

 

 

Happy Branniversary!!

And the weeks fly by, and the years roll on….

This was already a year ago:

From the second that he took the stage, to the moment where he stepped on my crap, it was the first night that launched 8 more nights like it across five states and two countries; it drained my wallet, deprived me of sleep, got me sick a few times but was one of the most fun – exciting – exhilarating – insane years of my entire life spent with some amazing friends who shared in every crazy moment with me.

And it all began a one year ago tonight in Fabulous Las Vegas.

 

 

 

Flowers Friday: Little Boy Bran edition

One day I’ll do a “Favorite Brandon Flowers Pictures” post and this latest addition will absolutely be in it:

He looks like a little boy just totally pleased with himself! It reminds me of this adorableness:

 

Flowers Friday: “Camping” edition

I can’t believe I never posted these because of all the awesome things that came out of Flamingo – these videos shot on tour somewhere in the American wilderness, are some of my favorite:

It’s like they stopped the tour bus and said “hey let’s shoot some acoustic videos for YouTube!” Plus the Emo Hipster Guitarist CMU – sometimes it seems like he can’t even look RIGHT at Brandon because of all The Pretty.

And speaking of that – who looks that hot just rolling off a bus and standing in the woods??

I have a particular fondness for these videos because they came out when I was in England, and Kathryn and I huddled around her iPhone one night inside a loud pub to get our Fangirl On 😉

The long national nightmare is over – my Flamingo Tote returns!!

Remember when I was moaning and whining about losing my Flamingo Tour tote bag? Finally yesterday after abandoning all hope that my bag was still in my possession somewhere, I went to Brandon Flowers site and ordered a new one.

Guess what happened today?

I FOUND IT!!!

The damn thing was under a cushion on my couch!! That’s it there – released from its five month captivity right above the spot where it’s been this whole time.

I was talking to my mom on the phone when I noticed a little loop peeking out. I thought it was the board thingy that is supposed to keep my cushions from sinking so I went to tug it in place and the damn bag was right there – all wadded up – along with 50 cents 😉

So all is well again – other than having to call tomorrow morning and see if I can cancel the order on Tote 2.0. Now I’m wishing I had lost a damn lottery ticket around here somewhere…

Sleep, not included

They should call Vegas “The City That Never Sleeps” because from my arrival on Thursday until my departure several days later – sleep will be hard to find. There’s The Wedding! And Sam’s Town! Frozen Custard! Mojave!  La Reve! As well as other exciting activities like English Sunday Dinners with Real English People and Limo rides down the Strip 😉

I’m excited, but kind of already exhausted! In many ways I think I’m STILL recovering from The Flamingo Tour 2010. But it will all be worth it to be with dear friends in a city that I love, despite the fact it keeps me up 24/7 whenever I’m there – eh – I’ll sleep when I’m dead!

I see London, I see SAM'S TOWN!

Mmmmmm Luv-It Frozen Custard!

Burning down the highway skyline...

Flowers Friday: Keep working boy! edition

So Brandon’s Flamingo Tour was supposed to be over with the Las Vegas show I went to in December. But now he’s got an April “Mini West Coast Tour” with two stops in Mexico and one each in San Diego and Vegas. Oh and he’s performing solo at Coachella. And he’s spending the first part of the summer doing festival dates in Europe and thereabouts.

In addition, he’s got two shows with the actual Killers but since Ronnie and now Mark are both doing solo stuff (huh??) it seems like The Killers are still on a hiatus. Which is kinda sad because at least three of the four members seem pretty ready to be writing and performing music. (AHEM.)

This is no surprise from a man who never takes much time off because “my dad never got two months off in a year”

Oh and he won NME’s “Most Stylish” Award this week. Of course.

Flowers Friday: Spending it with The Man edition

Best. Flowers. Friday. EVER. Why? Well because I get to spend it with him:

And if I survive that, then Saturday I get to watch him:

And if I make it out alive from that, then Sunday I get to see him:

Aaaaand if after crossing my own state, through another four states, staying in a cheap motel, sleeping on an air mattress and getting my wallet drained at the gas station for four days – I live to tell the tale, it will be back to your semi-regularly scheduled posting. But I can’t promise this weekend won’t kill me dead 🙂

I’ll meet ya in the usual place, you don’t need a thing except your pretty face

(not sure where I nabbed the pictures, but I bet you it was from here. Hey if YOU were that handsome you’d have your own photographer too!)

Flowers Friday: Flamingo Frenzy Edition

Last weekend I hosted a party to celebrate the release of Brandon Flowers’ Flamingo. What was involved?

Well, a bar of course:

We even had a drink called “Flamingo” which was gooooodd!

BFlow themed cookies, like these:

“Jilted Lovers and BROKEN HEARTS” cookies ;-P

Some kick-ass free-hand from the Awesome Jill:

You don’t wanna KNOW what happened to this wax paper!

A buffet named after this one at The Flamingo in Las Vegas:

All You Can Eat!

And there may have been some temporary tattoos, some outdoor activities that involved loud drunkenness and lawn flamingos, my VictiMom with a shot glass of Bailey’s around her neck, and another one of Jill’s Epically Amazing Obsessive Confections (Brandon and Vegas themed and DELICIOUS!!) Oh – and some medical drama! Yo we know how to party it UP! 😉

I’d say this pic kinda sums a lot of it up:

This was a total “Hangover” pic! “Huh? I don’t remember that!”

Oh, and the next day I made Nectarine Crepes:

Our Crepes of Choice!

I think we would have made Brandon proud. Or horrified.