The new picture I posted was taken almost a year ago at our last annual meeting in Orlando. It was the last night of the meeting and all 600 of us boarded buses for The House of Blues. It was fantastic! Great food and music, followed by lots of games and goofy stuff for us to do. You could have your fortune read, although I opted out for that one. I like surprises! Their was a Pop-Noggin booth which uses a green screen to put your head onto another body that is dancing and you sing along to the music. Several of us were singing I Love Rock 'n Roll and got a great novelty dvd out of it. But that's not really the story.
The mainstage at the HOB is sunken so that you stand and look up at the main act on stage. The curtains opened and that beautiful woman in the picture came out on stage. She was an Aretha Franklin impersonator and she was great! She sang all the classics! I made eye contact with her during Chain of Fools. I gave her the thumbs up for her performance and she gave it right back letting me know she saw me. Instant connection! She brought a barstool out on stage and said she was going to need "a little help from the audience." Of course she looked right at me and said, "Come on up here, sugar!" She asked me my name and I told her. She said "Do ya'll know Cole?" They all cheered, but it was pretty loud so they probably would not have noticed if she had yelled "Who want's a cold?" Anyway, the music started as I sat on the barstool not knowing what might happen. She put her arm around my shoulders and started singing. She would look at my eyes and then roll out to the audience and then back to me. She was singing You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman. And then came the chorus! Just as she was starting she grabbed the back of my head and thrust it forward into her chest. I was shocked! Not unhappy, but shocked! The crowd roared with laughter and to tell you the truth I was laughing so hard she probably thought I was trying to give her the old motorboat! Anyway, long story short, cause we all know how long winded I can be, Aretha put my face in her chest every time she sang the chorus to You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman. But to tell you the truth, Aretha made me feel like a natural man and quite honestly provided me with the best networking tool I may ever have. I met more new people with Barnes & Noble that same night than I have in the last year! Right after she finished singing she said, "This is Cole, my new husband!" That really was the cherry on the top of my night. Can it get much better than that? Thanks to our home office camera crew and my friend Bettina, I have the whole thing on dvd. I also have that great picture and an even better story.
This year's meeting will most likely not top last year's for me, unless of course they have a Dolly Parton impersonator. If that happens, all bets are off!
OMG, Cole, that is freaking hilarious. Why isn't the picture one of you with your head buried in her chest, though? ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks for bringing up the picture! I forget that I can post pics with my blogs. It's still a PG blog with this picture!
ReplyDeleteOMG is right!!! I just wish we could have been there!
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