DEC 20 CHICAGO CHICAGO THEATER FAN REVIEWS

Better late than never. I spent Christmas in St. Louis with my daughters. I flew from St. Louis on Dec 20 and my friend Claudeah picked me up at Midway Airport on the other side of the world from Juls party. I have no idea what route we took to get there as we used so many different expressways. Julie was so nice in having us and it was a lovely get together. It was great meeting Gramma of 6, Wisconsinmaniac, Juls, LBJ, Invisible Touch, and Paulette. It was good to see Sjlogge and Claydevotee again. Did I miss anyone?

I spent the night with my friend and she dropped me off at my hotel the next morning around 7 am. I checked in and hustled off to the book signing. Claudeah had driven us by Borders around 10 pm the night before and there were about 10 people camped out. It was 8 degrees at 10. I ran into so many fans that I had met at other concerts and even one from the Dallas area that was at the Texas Clay Fans Birthday, CD release party in November. As was stated earlier, they started playing MCWL at Borders about the time Clay was to arrive. He was late. Everyone on the third floor was singing to the cd. We could see the elevator from where we were standing and everytime the door opened the anticipation would build. And then Mr. Wonderful arrived and everyone was screaming. He looked fantastic. The hair was not all spikey but rather flat in front. I had my arms full when it was my turn. I said Merry Christmas and he said "Hi, howareya?" He ask my name and I replied with my first name. I then proceeded to tell him we had Christmas in Texas also. He told me we didn't sell enough tickets in Texas. We were both being snarky. The girl in front of me tripped over his poster that Borders had set up just at the front of the table and I think I stepped on it. I said something about stepping Clay and retrieved it. I had her coat, my long coat and a Borders bag so I missed getting a handshake. Then I had to move along. By the way as it was my turn, my cell phone rang, it was a Clay fan from KC. I looked at the front of my phone and said something like shut up Elaine and put the phone in my pocket. I have wondered what would have happened if I had answered it and told Clay it was for him.

Borders had decided to sell the posters for charity and had passed around sheets for bids. Unfortunately I was in the 45 minute restroom line and did not bid. I wasn't too upset as I had no idea how I would get a poster back to Dallas anyway. Bob and Linda were about 15 people behind me in line. How do they do that??????

LBJ had set us up to go to Petterino's for a pre concert dinner. The food was good, the company was great. I met Fantasy and her mother at Petterinos along with seeing Clandy again. Claybuf came in and said hi and then was off to her hotel. I saw her again later at Bennigans. Thank you LBJ for setting this up for us. My friend Claudeah came in too late to eat so we ran down to McDonald's and then off to the concert.

I thought I had died and gone to heaven. The concert was so beautiful. Everyone before me explained it so well. At intermision I whipped out my new camera phone just to see if I could get just one picture. Well, the camera police evidently saw me and he stayed at the end of our aisle watching Fantasy and I for the whole second half of the concert . Needless to say I didn't think I could get a picture so didn't even try but Fantasy had these neat new binoculars with a built in camera so she tried on the last song. Claysjoy posted one of them.

Claudeah and I started for Bennigans. My friend Elaine, from the KC area and one of the cochairpersons of the KC CLAY Fans, had arranged with Bennigans to host us for an after concert get together. I had told the Claymaniacs at Juls party about it and most were there. Claybuff joined us as I told her about it also. There were also, at least one, fans from Minnisota there also. When it came time to pay I handed the waitress my debit card. When she brought it back the part of the bill I was to sign was for $196.00. She had me paying for that end of the table. I had a fit, a nice fit though. I told her I loved these folks but just not that much. Finally the manager had her break the bill down to individuals.

Thea hailed me a cab and I was off to my hotel where I just died. I hadn't had much sleep in two nights so the bed was looking pretty good.
Claudeah picked me up at the hotel the next morning and we went to the top of the Hancock building for lunch. For someone who had a fear of heights I did just great. I sat at a floor to ceiling window table and enjoyed every minute.

By the way, Claudeah didn't really know who Clay is. I managed to get her a ticket to the concert from someone at the booksigning. On the way to the airport she remarked that she thought she would get his Chrismas CD and if he ever came back to Chicago we would have to go. In a heartbeat.

This was the best concert ever. I never want to go back to one of those screaming affairs ever again. I loved being able to hear his beautiful voice - every blessed note of every song.

Many thanks to all who made my Chicago experience so wonderful and special thanks to Mama Dev who got me the best ticket ever, to Juls for the great prepreparty, and to LBJ for the preparty at Petterinos. And to the Claymaniacs that I saw again, and the ones that I met for the first time. Woodstock, you were just too far away, I wanted to give you a hug BUT..........

Gramma thanks for posting your pictures. Mine are still in the camera and on the cell phone.

Carol