O-Little-Town of Bethlehem
Musikfest
Bethlehem, PA
August 4, 2003
Story by Maura Murphy
Photos by Susan Muir and Heather D'Amico
Dark, threatening
skies, horrible humidity, flashes of lightening and torrential rain didn’t
keep O-Town’s fans from following their beloved stars to Musikfest in
Bethlehem to see the group perform! The guys put on a great, albeit too short,
performance at the RiverPlace venue and totally rocked! An hour before
the show began, the skies opened up and had some fans running for cover, while
others didn’t seem to mind as they walked past soaked to the bone. I
wasn’t one of the latter as I huddled up with Suzie, her daughters, Heather,
Adrienne, Jane, Von and others under a radio station tent trying to keep dry.
We must have waiting there for almost two hours. Apparently, my meet and greet
pass had gone missing and the IO girls were trying to figure out where it
was. I had never met the guys before and did a lot of praying it would work
out.
I’ll
never forget rounding the corner and seeing the group close up. It was surreal
that they were right there. Our group all went together and Suzie let me go
ahead of her so she could get a picture of me with Jacob (another one of her
goals on this trip). Dan was first and he is so sweet and friendly. I was nervous,
but his smile and his friendliness put me at ease immediately. He even managed
to shake my hand three times! Ashley smiled at me and I have to say he’s
really cute close up. Well, he’s cute anytime, but close up he’s even
cuter if that’s possible.
When Suzie’s daughter, Katie, met him, Ashley’s face just lit up in
a huge smile and he high-fived her. He’s so sweet! He didn’t say much
if anything to me, but he was very nice to look at. The same could be said for
Erik. He was quiet and let me take his picture.
Not
wanting to be late for the meet and greet, we walked the long path to the stage,
passing a considerable line of fans to get there. The line for the meet and
greet had already formed and Suzie was trying to find Mike Morin to see if I’d
be able to get in. Things were looking bleak and my hope was fading. When the
IO crew was led in, Suzie finally saw Mike and explained the situation and I
was waved through the fence as Mike wrote out a pass for me. Her determination
paid off and I was and always will be extremely grateful. I received a smile
from Mike, so I guess I didn’t look too threatening.
Don’t
put someone shy like me in these situations because I clam up. When Jacob looked
at me, I pretty much froze---except for when my hands started shaking. His eyes
really couldn’t be any bluer. He signed my picture and I found my voice
to ask him if I could take his picture, which I did with surprisingly steady
hands. Suzie then asked if she could take his picture with me. He stood up and
leaned over the table. I was a wreck, but managed to calm myself to have my
picture taken with him. I’m sure if I’d met them before, I wouldn’t
have been so nervous, but, like I said, it was surreal.
