I had a great meeting with Greg and Govind today. Greg, in addition to being hot, is really appreciative of my work, and what I like about him is that he lets you know. He told me on his way out, and later copied Mel on a note to me again saying how much he appreciated the work I had done for his team. Quality people.
The traffic was horrendous getting home — it took me a good 45 minutes. We were supposed to be at Van’s at 6, but I didn’t get home until about 6:05. Robert had run to Wendy’s and had a burger and fries for me. While eating, we decided to not go to Van’s but just to meet them at the RBC center. We called Van, but the phone just rang and rang, eventually being picked up by his answering machine.
We arrived at the RBC center at about 6:20. The warm-up band, the Grascots, started up at 7:00. They are a bluegrass band, but are also the musicians who play back-up for Dolly. I have never cared for bluegrass, and their songs didn’t do anything to change that. They played only about 20 minutes, and then an announcement was made that Dolly would be out in about 30 minutes.
The gang still hadn’t arrived, and Robert went up to look for them. They ended up getting there right before Dolly came out. Steve called on the cell phone, and insisted on finding us sitting almost directly across from him.
Dolly Parton is such a beautiful human being. She is so friendly, warm, and one of the most genuine people I have ever been in the presence of. I cried listening to her sing, “I Will Always Love You.” She just deeply touched me throughout the night — in her songs, in her bigger-than-life looks, love-of-life attitude, and heart-felt storytelling. Her appreciation of her fans and her honesty about her feelings make you feel like you’re her friend. Loved it. Loved it. Loved it. And wonderful to share with Robert, who has always wanted to see her in concert.
One of my favorite lines of hers was, “People have no idea how expensive it is to look this cheap!”
We started looking for our car on the wrong side of the arena, but quickly realized it, and headed over to the right side, where we found it pretty quickly. We got out of there fairly quickly, too.
We drove through the drive-thru at A&W, hoping for a root beer float, but it was 10:08, and they had closed at 10:00.