Tuesday, June 2, 2009

You Are The Perfect Hug

It's kinda hard to know where to put this, but since this was like the best 5 seconds of. my. life. I think it deserves its own mini-posting. So as Maise said in her review, we were separated for the onstage group photo and, really, I had no idea where I was going, so I was a little shocked when I stopped filming and realized I was standing right next to Ilan and Justin. I actually didn't even see Trent until after Rob had snapped a few shots. Immediately after that, there was this stage manager chick who was trying to quickly wrangle everyone offstage so she could bring up the next group. I let her tug at my sleeve for about two steps before I overheard some girls behind me say, "Trent, you said the donation thing included a hug so..."

That was all it took for me to shake the stage manager, but she didn't give up without a fight. I faked right, I faked left, then I sacrificed another fan by pushing him into her and running to the left again. Even so, I only narrowly escaped her grasp. In a second, she was hot on my heels as I rounded behind Ilan's drum kit. Just as she was reaching for me again, I took a daring dive over the bass drum and straight into Trent's muscly, awaiting arms, where he held me tight and stroked my hair while whispering sweet nothings into my ear. -le sigh-

Okay, so maybe that's not totally how it went down, but a girl can daydream, can't she? I did manage to ditch the stage manager, so I walked up to Trent and asked "So can I get a hug too?" He looked at me for a second (he was either totally checking out my boobs or was reading the L'orangerie Stank shirt. Both possibilities make me giggle). Then he tilted his head to the side and nodded while motioning with his hand, "okay, come on." I went in for a criss-cross hug (one arm over his shoulder, one arm under the other shoulder with him vice-versa), and this is where things speed up and slow down. It was only about 5 seconds, but in my head it was "OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG," and out loud I think I said "thank you, thank you, thank you." It gets slightly fuzzy at that point.

As a side note, I wish I could say that I maintained the slightest bit of composure when talking to the band as Maise did while we got our autographs, but I can't. No, instead I went off about the most inane shit ever and at a "Gilmore Girls" quipping-session pace to boot. It was some serious *face palm* going on. I still had the same rapid-fire pace when saying my multiple "thank you" in Trent's ear, which I'm sure wasn't weird at. all. But I squeezed him, he squeezed back, my head nearly exploded, and I floated off the stage with Mr. Iris, completely elated.

Regarding the next part, even then I was thinking "this is kinda gross," but this is what happens when you go hugging rock stars. As Mr. Iris and I were walking down the offstage ramp, the breeze picked up, and I noticed my cheek was wet. I know you all probably think I was crying at this point, but that's not the case. It was Trent's sweat, which means there was like cheek-to-cheek or cheek-to-ear contact going on while I was latched on to him. So that part was awesome, but at the same time "Eww." Before you ask, I didn't go all fangirl and save the "precious fluid" in a glass vial to use later in some weird cloning experiment. I just kind of wiped it off and later, because I'm the epitome of grace, I managed to splash my own beer on my face while trying to shuffle through my purse, hold a camera, hold a beer, and not lose my place in line at the merch table. D'oh!

So, yeah, that's my tale of hugging the seemingly unhuggable. I grabbed Maise and Ro after their group photo and hugged them both to try and share the experience. Then we staked out a spot to watch the rest of the show. Stay tuned for Part II of our review--coming at you "soon."

12 comments:

maise said...

You had better just be glad Mr. Iris wasn't around to snap a picture and command, "Say Places Parallel!" during your Trent-hugging moment.

maise said...

Wow, just checked out Robin Finck's Twitter. He writes like some wacked-out opium-smoking Romantic poet. I think it's awesome; therefore, my tentative crush must be increasing.

Iris said...

I would have been thrilled to have a picture of the moment but probably would have DIED if hubby had said that. He was already threatening to tell Trent "I'm only her because of her" just before we went through the autograph line.

Have you checked out Tom Morello's twitter? I started following him just after our show the other night. He's online now answering fan questions. Click Here

Iris said...

BAH! YouTube has been a total cunt all night with their intermittent maintenance and the last of the videos I'm trying to upload keep error-ing out. I'll set them to go again and hopefully they'll be done in the morning. Fingers crossed.

Isabel said...

This sounds totally exciting, and I think I may have to get my persuasive head on to convince the people I'm going with to get the $300 thing - you know £94 isn't really that much and it is in a good cause.

Iris said...

You should SO go for it Isabel! Even without the hug (although that was a pretty big highlight of the night for me) I think what Trent and Co. are doing here is totally worth the donation price. Just watch out for that stage manager if you get within hugging distance of the man. ;)

maise said...

Yes, I heartily recommend the experience. I think even more than the awkward conversations at the meet-and-greet table, I enjoyed the soundcheck. Trent was so funny and chatty and friendly, and it totally felt like an informal, private concert.

Anonymous said...

Maise, as totally awesome as it would have been if Mr. Iris had said that during The Hug, I have a sneaking suspicion that it was due to his _reading (read: recognition of the LOS tshirt) that Iris got her hug...

Liosliath said...

According to the videos I've seen, your friends are full of pretentious shit. Or have been smoking plastic. Either way, you need new friends with better taste.

Anonymous said...

I got to hug Trent too (in Indy the next day). Trust me you weren't the most awkward...I stepped on his foot during the hug. So, the only thing I said in his ear was "sorry about your foot"!

Isabel said...

now that is a sweet anonymous person - why anonymous?

Iris said...

Aww, that is sweet. We need more nice Anonymi to come around.

Considering all that could have gone wrong, saying "thank you" at warp speed is probably pretty low on the list of tragically uncool things I could have done. For instance, I could have latched onto Trent and then held on for that extra 10 seconds that makes a hug go from nice to awkward. My Grandma does this all the time with hugging extended family and my friends. Maise and Mr. Maise both got a hug from her, I believe, when they came down to visit a few weeks ago. Not that I'm really trying to compare Trent to my Grandma. Grandma is far superior to El Rez in coolness. He may know his way around Pro Tools but watch out because Grandma still knows her way around power tools.