I swear Bill Gates is trying to tempt me to the dark side... and he couldn't have chosen a better bait:
MUSIC. And not just any music, he's actually been able to bring in a few big names to promote Microsoft's new retail stores.
Last year, he called up Dave Matthews while as Dave describes, "I was laying in the bathtub the other day and ol' Billy Gates gave me a call" and asked him to go on down to Bellevue Square for the opening of the Microsoft Flagship store, and just play a few songs for the kind shoppers. Now, I don't care what all ya'll haters think- I grew up with this mans music and there are no words to describe what happens to me when I hear it. For me, memories have the strongest bond to music and I'm a nostalgic little lady. Finding out only 2 hours before he was to hit the stage in the mall (thanks to a very nice Facebook Event that popped up in our news feed), Rachel and I FREAKED out when we were still sitting at work. Within an hour of hearing this news, Ra hopped in the car, cruised to the store, grabbed some brews (Dave would be proud), but for for this occasion, we were enjoying "Starbucks Coffee". We made it inside, to snag a spot just 15 feet from the stage. BLISS.
Here's nice little video Ra and I captured of this amazing experience.
(And if you notice, at :56 seconds in, and 2:27 minutes in, Dave takes a few peeks over at us- sure you might think he's looking behind, to the right or at no one at all- but my memory holds the moment of eye contact and the most satisfying feeling, haha!)
One of the best days ever.
This year, Bill Gates stepped it up and asked the Akron, Ohio natives- The Black Keys- to promote the newest store in the Univesity Village, conveniently located directly across from the Apple Store. Finding out two months prior to the event, I about freaked out! I marked the date in my calendar and began the countdown. The whole deal was, the morning of the store opening, the first 200 customers received two premier viewing passes of either seeing The Black Keys (duh!) on Friday the 21st or One Republic (.....?......) on the 22nd and a meet-and-greet with OR. The next 800, were are able to get just the two passes to their choice show. Mind you, all you had to do was stand in line and make it into the store and you'd be handed free passes. FREE!
With the store opening at 9am, I had made plans with myself to get up early- and I was thinking EARLY- somewhere around 4, 5, 6am to make sure I was getting one of those wristbands. Well, what do I do that morning? Wake up late at 9:30, instantly mad at myself and figured I lost my chance to see my boys. But should I still try? I decided to make a phone call to the only other person who had the same love for TBK that I did- Ol' Joey Luzzi. He basically told me, in a kinder way of course, to get my shit together and just give it a shot- there still might be some passes. Within ten minutes, still half asleep and without a single drop of coffee in my system, I ran out the door, down to my car and cruised on over to U Village. And I'm sure as hell glad I did because there were plenty of passes to go around! And really- you didn't even need the passes, the stage was planted right between the Microsoft and Apple store, with plenty of viewing room all around the barrier. Those of us with the "Premiere Pass" were able to enjoy complimentary food and coffee. I may have felt like I was stepping into the zombie-consumer sellout world but I can't pass up some SEXY, amazing free music- that just so happens to be one of my faves. Check out some of the photos I snapped while rockin out to these bad boys.
Ra Ra and I!
Good Ol' Joey
Oh, and before I forget to mention- I was lucky enough to meet Patrick Carney.
Walking over to the stage, I noticed this tall figure who resembled the drummer of TBK, only to realize it indeed was him. I casually told Rachel who he was, and she started to walk towards him, knowing I'd want to say hi or snag a photo. I instantly grew shy and said "No, no no.. what am I even gonna say, he's got to hate being bothered". But she kept pushing it, knowing I'd regret it. Walking up behind him, I tried to spit out "Hey Patrick!" and thats when I blacked out. Words of some sort came out of my mouth, I can only hope it wasn't nonsense. As I started to ask for a photo, Dudeman who was escorting Pat to the bus quickly said there was no time. As my head fell low and we turned around to leave, Patrick, like the fine man that he is, said "Naw, it's cool- we got time". Thank you Rachel for pushing me to say hi to this badass dude :)
This was another one of those "best day ever" moments.
