Rockapella 12/21/08: EPIC FAIL

Rockapella in Rancho Cucamonga

Sunday, November 21, 2008

The night before the RC show, I had a bunch of friends over to keep me company as I baked goodies for Pella.  This is an activity that I usually do with Angela, but ever since she moved to Texas, I've felt really lonely when I was baking for Pella without her, and I knew that this year would be no exception.  So I had my friends over to entertain me from my living and dining rooms as I baked up a storm, and got drunk in the process.  I can't help it if I love Cranberry Honey Wine, people.  A couple of my friends saw me in the final throes of drunkkenness, and told me that I should drink more because I'm cuter that way.  Cuter for me, or cuter because they're drunk, too?  You decide.  I went to bed at about 3:30 a.m.

I woke up and designed the bags for the guys, got dressed and did my hair, and decided I'd do my makeup and nails in my car since I would have a couple of hours to kill before the show.  I had asked Wendy if, through her theater connections, she could get me into the green room before the guys would get there, so that they would have goodies waiting for them before their arrival.  So I left early and made my way to Rancho Cucamonga, forgetting the directions at home, and needing to call Jeff to find out how to get there.  Duh.

When I got to the theater, Wendy opened the door, and immediately told me, "Don't freak out."  So I'm thinking to myself, "she doesn't want me to freak because I have no makeup on, and the guys are already here" or "they're not going to let me go to the room at all" or "Wendy saw a big stain on my outfit and now I need to shop for new clothes 3 hours before the show."  I was NOT expecting her to say, "The show has been cancelled."

Cancelled?  WHAT?!  I almost dropped my goody bags.  My beautiful, wonderful-smelling goody bags.  She and I went into the lobby and sat down to discuss and stop each other from shedding tears.

APPARENTLY, the guys were stuck in 2 different airports (JT and Fred in Denver due to the runway being on fire, and the other in Chicago due to severe weather).  The airports were so backed up that they were not going to arrive in time for the show.  Not for the 4:00, not for the 7:00.  I followed Wendy's instructions and didn't freak.  Instead, I went into Manager Mode and texted/called everyone to advise them of the cancellation, and advise them that I wasn't kidding.  I had been so excited about these shows:  I had a Virgin Rockapella Concert fan coming to the 7:00 show, we had really good seats, and I was hoping that they'd sing a rare performance of "Snowstar."  I was UP. SET.    I had flashbacks of my childhood and not being able to see Scott Baio at Knott's Berry Farm.  Thank goodness I'm not 13 anymore, no crazy adolescent hormones for me to try to control in front of my friends.  Just regular Sherry moodiness.  Wow, I was a mess at KBF that day.  Back to No Pella though.

Wendy called hubby Jeff, advised him that she wasn't kidding, and also told him that I was hungry and needed food, so we could all go out to lunch and commiserate.  When Jeff arrived, I asked him to take a picture with us by the Concert is Cancelled sign.  

California Sad-Eyed Girls

I was so sad that my hunger pangs went away for a bit.  It didn't matter anymore that I hadn't eaten anything in 12 hours.  All that mattered was that Rockapella would not be here today.  We're not supposed to be affected by weather here.  This is So Cal, dammit.

I gave some goodies to the guy who would have let us into the room, and he said that he would definitely need them to get through the day of providing bad news to eager concertgoers.  He told us later that he'd be in the theater's production of "Sweeney Todd," so I'll probably go to that show, not only to support him, but also because I really want to see that on stage.

We walked over to The Cheesecake Factory, and although it looked really crowded, we only had a 5-minute wait.  I decided that I was too depressed to eat anything healthy, so I ordered the Shrimp and Bacon Club sandwich and fries.  It was huge, and I had forgotten just how much yummy bread was on it, plus I think my big appetite had decreased quite a bit due to my emotions, so I pretty much picked at it and just made sure to eat the protein.  We looked at the view from our vantage point: there were the beautiful San Bernardino (of CSEG fame) mountains, with a beautiful powder of snow.  

Wendy had been thinking that the guys would have such a pretty view when they landed in Ontario, especially if she and I had gone up to the mountains to write "Welcome Pella" in the snow.  OK, so that last part was out there, but I liked the thought.

We decided that it would be sadistically interesting to go watch the theater workers turn everyone away at the door, so we went back to the Cultural Center and sat inside the lobby for awhile.  Wendy and I became more sad when the time came to 4:00.  We were supposed to be inside, waiting in our seats, and Rockapella was supposed to be backstage, eager to entertain us.  I didn't cry at all, but I was really, really sad, especially for Wendy and Jeff, because these were the only holiday shows that they'd see this year, and they had talked up the boys at their workplaces, so they had a lot of friends coming.  They had called all of their friends in time, except for one.  When we were at the restaurant, Wendy saw a friend of hers drive by, and realized that she hadn't called her to tell her not to come to the show.  Oops.  Luckily, I had reached my friends before they left their houses, too.  But there I was, all dressed up with nowhere to go, no Pella to see my pretty shoes that only cost $15.00, 

a ton of goodies with nobody to eat them, and no songs to hear live for the first time.  SIGH.

We talked to the house manager, and she said that they only found out about the flight problems at noon that day.  At first, Pella's agent thought that they could at least get the guys out in time for the 7:00 show, but then they called back a few minutes later to tell them that it wouldn't happen.  They had to call of the the theater volunteers (all of them had signed up for this one because it's such a popular show), and then had to call all of the ticket holders.  They offered a full refund to those that did not want to go to a rescheduled, non-holiday show, plus a 15% discount for any other show due to the inconvenience.  The manager said that they faxed a bunch of dates that the theater was available, so that the agent could figure out the reschedule, and said that it would most likely be a Sunday again so that they could do both shows in one day, and it would be easier that way.  She said that the agent was even willing to reschedule the shows to this Tuesday the 23rd, but that would be too short of notice to everyone, and not fair to the ticket holders because the theater would only be able to hold one of the shows on a Tuesday night.  She had suggested to the agent that they should just let Pella go home early, but he advised her that they still needed to play in Hollywood on Monday, so they could not do so.  So Pella was still going to arrive in the evening, as they did get flights out.  I was happy that I'd still see Pella, but sad for Wendy and Jeff and all of their friends that wouldn't see them at all.

We also talked to one of the box office workers, who told us about her ordeal calling all of the ticket holders.  Her very first call was to a guy who was upset because he had rented a limo and made dinner reservations and it was supposed to be a special night out for him and whomever he was taking to the show.  Awwww....her FIRST call was that sad?  She took a deep breath after that and braced herself for even worse.  It turns out that most people were understanding, although some didn't understand how a concert was delayed because of severe weather when they could see outside that it was a beautiful, clear So Cal day.  When they were told that the guys were in Indy last night, they understood.  One guy had traveled down from Nor Cal, so he was unhappy and just wanted a refund, no reschedule, nothing else.  I was grateful that at least we hadn't traveled for this show, like we do much of the time.

Since I had dressed up all cute, I messaged my other friends and asked that we go do something with our now-free evening.  I said my sad goodbyes and Merry Christmas greetings to Wendy and Jeff, hoping that I'd see them soon.  

I called Angela to share my sadness with her, and she was plastered, so that was funny.  I then felt sorry for her because she wasn't going to see any holiday shows, either.  But at least she wasn't EXPECTING to see any holiday shows, much less 3 in a row.  I went to Aloha Boba to drown some of my sorrows in Them Chew Balls before meeting up with my friends.  My only requirement was that we go somewhere that we don't normally go, and that it be a place that serves hard liquor.  Wine was just not going to do it for me.

Glenn, Cindy, Jenn, Mox, Linda and I all went to Macaroni Grill and sat at the bar for our dinner.  I got sad again when my phone showed that I had a calendar appointment to see Rockapella at 7:00 p.m.  My friends were great company, though, and I cherish them for making me laugh when I'm down.  I also cherished the 2 Cosmopolitan Cellos that I drank.  Yum.

We went back to my house to hang out. 

 Linda and I decorated Rudolph Ornament cookies. 

 Do you know that they make edible ink now?  Mox decided that it would be easier just to suck on the pens.  Cindy decided to share that fact with our twitter community.  Cindy also just plain cracked me up for much of the evening because she was tipsy from her Leaning Tower Bellini thing, and also just wacko.  Glenn and Mox collaborated on splicing this video together, upon suggestion from Jeff E.  I don't know if Scott will let me send it to him, or if I should just burn him a copy, but this is how we felt:

I look forward to HoB.  I don't want to receive a phone call from them, unless Rockapella is there, and on the phone to make sure that I'm going tonight, and bringing them goodies.