Gather around, children, while I tell you the story of how I met Charlene Kaye and the Brilliant Eyes.
It was a dark and stormy nigh-… Wait-… Let me start over.
It actually started when I reblogged the post Charlene made in May (May 21, 2011 to be exact) about her tour dates. And, honestly, Charlene and the Brilliant Eyes coming to perform in San Francisco? I’m not going to say no to that.
So I asked my sister to go with me, because she is awesome and loves all different sorts of music. (This has nothing to do with me forcing her to listen to Charlene’s albums. Nope.) But she had a doctor’s appointment that day, so we weren’t able to leave until about six or seven o’clock. Since the show started at eight (although Charlene and the Brilliant Eyes wouldn’t play until ten o’clock), I was getting anxious. But I love the drive up to the city and sharing stories with my sister, so that made up for it.
By the time we arrived in SF, my sister accidentally took a wrong turn, so we had to circle back to get to the venue, The Hotel Utah Saloon. But then we couldn’t find parking, so we kept driving around and around. The second time we passed by the place, I saw a woman in a leopard print dress and yellow top through the doors and I knew it was Charlene. I was so excited and I was thinking about how I would be standing in the same room with her, but my sister was more focused on finding parking than fangirling with me. (Eventually, a car right across the street from the venue moved and we were able to park there.)
When we finally got inside, we went to find some seats and I was glancing around at what a cute little place it was before I saw Charlene and the Brilliant Eyessitting at a table in the back. I wanted to go over there and introduce myself, but thought it would be too weird, so I just sat down to watch the other bands play. Who were really great, actually. I especially liked Stringer Belle. The singer had a fantastic voice, and I really like her style… (I also noticed a girl in the audience who was the same girl who sat in front of me at the Yale Glee Club event at the Marines’ Memorial Theatre. I thought about going up to her, but figured that would be too strange.)
While the last band before Charlene was setting up for their performance, I thought it would be a terrific idea to go over to Charlene and the Brilliant Eyes to say hello. I made a total fool of myself but they were all so nice, especially Charlene! When I gave her my gift (a tin of The Republic of Tea’s Earl Greyer and a hand mirror I got while in Japan), she was nice enough to sign me an autograph for me on the picture of her in the rainbow dress.
After the last band, Charlene and the Brilliant Eyes went up to perform and they were fantastic (she even played the sexy red guitar). I was only able to record a few songs before my camera died (but I’m uploading them all to Youtube), but they played a lot of my favorites, including Different Colored Eyes (I told my sister that it’s my favorite song and Megan immediately looked over). And there was a girl who got to sing Dress & Tie with Charlene. Charlene’s mother even came to the show, but they were sitting up on the balcony, so I didn’t see her until afterward (they resemble each other a lot).
When the show ended, my sister insisted I take pictures with them. I was really nervous about it, but Charlene was so wonderful about it and thanked me again for my gift. Then I took a picture with Megan (at the keyboards and playing the violin) and introduced myself to Dave (the drummer). But he stared at me for such a long time that I got shy and started to walk away. But my sister stopped to talk to him, so I walked back over to them. She was telling him my name when I reached them and he glanced over at me, grinning. “That was really rude, Naomi,” he joked. I apologized and offered him my hand to shake. And when he took it, he had a very strong grip.
We stayed for a little while, talking with them and my sister bought me a Charlene Kaye and the Brilliant Eyes shirt (they only had a large left, so I use it for a pajama dress). As we were leaving, Dave told us to have a safe drive back.
I had so much fun that night. I’m so thankful to my sister, for going to see Charlene and the Brilliant Eyes perform with me. There are no words to describe how wonderful it was to meet Charlene in person. Also Megan and Dave. They’re all such wonderful, talented people. It was very humbling just being in the same room as them.
I can’t wait to see them perform live again.
