Jam of the Week: My Birthday Edition

Today is my birthday. Woot, woot! Anyway, last night as a birthday present to myself I saw Kelly Clarkson in concert. She was amazing! Say what you want about her, but the girl can sing her butt off.

But it almost didn't happen.

When the tickets went on sale, I had no clue. I'm usually pretty good about keeping track of that stuff. All I know is a few days after they went on sale, a DJ mentioned it on the radio. I was like, "Say what, now?"

I immediately hightailed it to my computer and went to ticketmaster.com, but of course all the good seats were long gone. Here's something you should know about me. I'm hella spoiled when it comes to concert seating. I don't do nosebleeds. I like to be as close as possible.

I decided to wait to buy tickets. I've played this game more than once. It's not uncommon for (good) seats to be released the closer the concert date approaches. So I checked Ticketmaster every few days. Nothing.

Yesterday morning, I woke up early just to check Ticketmaster. Nothing but nosebleeds. At some point during the day, a lone seat close to the floor popped up, but someone was faster than me and snatched it up. Boo!

For the rest of the day, I went back and forth about just getting a nosebleed seat, but I couldn't pull the trigger. Spoiled, remember?

But I really wanted to see Kelly. But I didn't want to watch a speck on stage. Oh, the quandary.

So yeah, at 3:30, the concert was taken off Ticketmaster's page. No!! I called Ticketmaster and got a recording that tickets could now only be be bought at the venue. I hunted down the venue's box office number on their website. I called and asked if they had any tickets. Nope. Sold out. This was around 4:00.

I decided to wait until 5:00 to try again. I called and got a recording. The box office opens 2 hours before the show. The concert started at 7:30. Fine. I finished up some actual  job-related work, programmed the box office number in my phone, gathered all my stuff and headed to my car. By the time I got to my car, it was about 5:25.

I called. Got the recording. Waited 5 minutes. Called. Someone answered! Do you have 1 ticket? "We have one ticket available, but we don't sell tickets over the phone."

I told her it wouldn't be a problem. I'd be there shortly. It just so happens that I work close to the venue, my one saving grace. I gunned it, arrived, ran up to the box office and asked if they had a ticket. They still had it. I bought it and the rest is history.

Yeah, kinda ridiculous. But worth it.

I haven't done a Jam of the Week in a while (ya know because I haven't been blogging, but whatever). Still I couldn't let my birthday pass without putting one up.

So yeah, this song was written and recorded before I was born, but we can't let facts stand in the way of a good story, can we? They're obviously singing about me, right? :)

So I present to you... Jamie by the Jackson 5.

Jam Of The Week

Sade's By Your Side

Sunday I had the privilege of attending a Sade concert. A friend invited me and I jumped at the opportunity.

I'm not going to front like I'm a huge Sade fan and have all her CDs. I know who she is and have a few of her songs on the old iPod, but that's about it. I went because I love concerts, and I was curious to see what Sade, who's been around a long time doing her thing of mellow R&B, would do. I also relished the chance to become more exposed to her music. She doesn't do the loud banging hip hop music (which I like by the way - sometimes) so she doesn't get played on the radio much or at least not the stations playing the latest hits.

With that said, I immensely enjoyed the concert. I knew it wasn't going to be a raucous affair, and it wasn't. Instead, she sang her butt off and the band played their butts off.

In addition to becoming more exposed to her music, I wanted to find a few songs to download to add to my Sade collection. I am the nerdiest, so I took notes during the show, of course. Then, I had to choose which one would be the Jam of the Week. After a ton of back and forth, I went with By Your Side. It's a gorgeous song with a very sweet, uplifting message. When I need to chill, I could totally put this on repeat.

But really you can't go wrong with any of her songs. Hope you enjoy.