Thanks. And yea, those are definitely 5-star!

BIRMINGHAM AL

MCElphaba


IT'S MEEEEEE! ELPHIE!!!!! I'm back-sorry I haven't been very quick to post-but it's been crazy and I'm gearing up for a back-to-back Kat Fix...LOL (I'm headed to Nashville in a few hours.) Anyway, WOW What a day!!!! I'll hit the high-points, and will disclaim that the rest of the show was mostly fabulous though I was disappointed by 3 people, and I won't name names. Now, back to our Kat. heehe

So, We arrived (mom, lil sis, and I) at 1:45ish. It was 108 degrees. Literally. So, there were already a couple of buses, but my mom chatted up the security guy until he spilled the beans that those were crew buses. So, about 45 mins to an hour later, here come three busessssss. Eegads!!! The took their time backing in, as the maybe 50 fans crowded the little barely-baracade. On by one, they walked out, and into the stage door, Mandisa first, then Lisa, and Paris, Chris, Bucky, Ace and finally, I saw it-a shadow that hobbled. Hahaha Before she even rounded the bus I yelled out KATHARINNNNEEEEE! Anyway, Katharine appeared to be barefooted, and I hope my eyes were deceiving me on that one since I repeat, it was 108 degrees. *NOTE-She was not using crutches. Just hobbling along on phoot.* So, at the time, there was no Tay Tay or Kellie, but they each came in seperate cars about 45 minutes later. *Taylor had been doing local press.* Kellie did NOT wear any extensions last night, BTW. Anyway, back to Kat...She was wearing jeans and a black top-the girl is TALL and THIN-but not too thin. Just right. LOL Like you read "5'8" and you think "Okay" and you see that she's darked her hair and you think "Okay", but I kid you not when you see her in person you'll be all "Wow!" She had o her subglasses-the usuals- and had her hair in a kind of bun in back. She turned to the crowd who were all very happy to see her, and my lil sis yelled "Katharine! I'm a big McPhan!" And Kat saw Heather's orange shirt as she-get this-backed down a ramp, still watching the crowd-and Kat goes "awwwww" to Heather. Well Heather started to cry-It was adorable. So, Ace, Bucky, and Chris came out to sign autos. Others trickled out throughout the day-the guys multiple times (Except Taylor and Elliott) and Paris and Kellie came out once each, not intending to sign (they'd both forgotten items on the bus) but were nice enough to sign a few autos each. Cut to-heat exhaustion-the paramedics came, followed by Mr. Softy to save wan-fans from the Alabama Heat.

Now, onto the show. The usual-yada yada-and then all goes dark. Now our seats were way up top balcony, but we were on the side, so we could see over the curtain to the back stage area, and I'd spotted Kat while Elliott was still doing his thing. Darkness-I know what's coming, so in the quiet, I yell "WE LOVE YOU KATHARINE!"..."2,3,4..." She gets to rocking, and in the excitement I forget to press the record button on my camera until about halfway through...LOL ugh. The crowd seemed pleased to see her. There was no booing, but it was not her biggest reception by any stretch. Still, it was probably the third biggest of the night, so acceptable considering where it was. So, I got the feel during the Kat chat, that she was a bit withheld-not vocally, but you could tell she wasn't terribly sure of how the crowd felt about her, and she told about being sick and then breaking her foot. And she goes "I know you guys are anxious to get to your Idol, Taylor, so I'm just going to sing one more song...It's okay, I would have voted for him too. (giggle)." It was sweet. So, then here comes SOTR. FLAWWWWLESSSS. The crowd loved it. Though no standing O's were given to anyone except Tay last night. *NOTE-on the text messagin boards, I counted 111 Kat marriage proposals, and about 100 other Kat notes. So there were definitely some other McPhans there.

And now the best part of all, which I'll name "The Bama Jamma-Kat Style". LIA-Here comes Kat, dancing, followed by Tay. Now of course, Tay was all kinds of excited being in his hometown and such, so he does his usual moonwalk shimmy back to Kat and then moves back to his side. They face each other and Kat giggles at him. Here TAYLOR comes over to Kat's side, and they did a nice long hip shimmy, which I thoroughly enjoyed (Ghetto video this weekend-I promise.) So, They move down the ramp, and Kat I notice, has become a lot less withheld that in her segment. She was really giving all the moves a little extra "Umph" and doing great. So, they get to the part where they spread out across the stage, and Kat passed behind Ace and gives his hiney a nice little smack...Hahaha Then, a few beats later, she hip bumps Chris so hard he flew about three feet. She was in true Kat Phorm, doing her robot meets zombie meets Best Week Ever dance...Hahaa She was absolutely hysterical. It was great.

After the show, we stalked the buses of course, and a guard brought Kat out about 45 mins after the show. She stopped for a couple of minutes and waved, though the guard was shooing her onto her bus. A few of the others came out, but they rather quickly were also shooed onto the buses to head for Nashville. Taylor, Kat, Elliott, and Kellie weren't allowed to come over to the fence at all after the show-even though Elliott literally fought with a guard to let him. I've gotta say though-how Kat's hair was still in it's usual spiral form in that humidity just once again proves that she's the right girl for the Hair product endorsements...LOL

Well that's all for now. I'm off to the Nashville show tomorrow, so I'll send reports via text again tomorrow...LOL

Phee, when you get to the site later today, can you put this in the first charlotte recap somewhere?

Also, what would be great, since many of these pictures are so high quality, is if the picture can be linked to a full size image that opens in a new window. If that's not too much trouble.

Yup! I was thinking the same thing - 5* concert pics maybe in their own section between the videos and the recaps? Yes, with links to full size.

Got this one yesterday too!

Here are a couple of Birmingham pics from Tezero on the AI boards...

NASHVILLE

efice32 of Katharinefans  Recap
                      
So I called some friends that I know in the music business, and they got me on the list for the meet and greet before the show!  I was so excited!  Anyway, so I got there around 3:30 and we didn’t go into see the Idols until about 4:15 or 4:30.  I was in the room with them for maybe 5 minutes.  It flew by, but it was definitely worth it.  Unfortunately, they don’t let you take pictures with them, but they do let you take pics of them.  here’s my picture of Kat:




All of the Idols were super nice at the meet and greet and didn’t mind posing for pictures or anything.  

So, I’ll just skip ahead to the Kat parts of the concert since this is a Kat forum and all.  She came out on the ground as usual.  “Two, three, four…” the crowd got pretty loud, but she didn’t get the loudest ovation of the night.  This version of BHATCT was certainly different and unique, as all her performances are.  She worked the crowd a little bit and let the crowd sing some of the “no”s as she has in the past.  Here’s a video of the beginning of the song: BHATCT Nashville (sorry it’s so short, my camera isn’t very good and doesn’t take good or long videos).  

After she finished that song, she did her usual chat with the audience about how she can only sing 2 songs because of her voice.  Then she mentioned that she broke her foot.  Also, she said that she had some ties to country music because she had tickets to go see Faith Hill in concert, but “ditched” the concert to go try out for American Idol.  

Next, Kat went into SOTR which was incredible as always.  It’s even better live that I could’ve imagined.  The crowd was loving it.  Here’s a video of the first minute or so: SOTR Nashville (again, sorry about the short length and bad quality).  

Then Kat said goodbye to all of the fans and left the stage.  

An interesting thing of note is that during the final group song (LIA), Kat was barefoot and not wearing her black boot on her foot.  Her foot must be feeling better.

Here's the audio from Columbia!  I made both mono and simulated stereo, plus the raw demuxed audio straight from the video.  And for both the mono and stereo, I split the entire audio into four parts (BHACT, postBHACT, Speech, OTR). Hopefully not only the project can use these but everyone else too.

mono and raw demux:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZGPZVFHY

simstereo:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FSXFCW46

I'll try to reup to other sites later. Keep an eye on this post.

thanks!
diff

Of course you are free to do what you wish with it!

I'm listening to the SOTR and it is actually pretty darn good for being an amateur recording at a live concert!

I look forward to the sim stereo!

Now just need a simple streaming mp3 player...Founda couple but the sound is lousy on them.

Nashville

Over the Rainbow

Five-Star quality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqCyJUtKUZY

Isn't it great?

I have it up now. I've had to enhance the system to do youtube as well as gofish We'll probably have it on gofish eventually but we need this service in youtube (or anything else that might come up) for cases like this where our converter (czarina) is away.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/k0pe6n

The 113 MB mpeg from the original source. Should give you better results than the youtube capture?

Are you back home and available all the time now?

I can import to movie maker phine, that's strange. I think we had this conversation before. If you like I can do that and get a wmv out of it for you?

get well czarina!

Here's the Nashville OTR audio, from the mmmeverclear mpg (md5: 823aaf521bb35dee408ff8e23cc1f4d9)

As I posted in twisted's Nashville OTR thread:

Thanks phee for getting mmmeverclear to upload the original video. excellent!

I took the audio from the mmmeverclear mpg and split it into the intro (01) and the song (02), and also left it intact (all).  I also made a simple simulated stereo version. I didn't apply any graphic equalizer processing since the audio was quite good.

mono, 3 MP3 files zipped, VBR encoded
*  http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6D1O9T2Y

simstereo, 3 MP3 files zipped, VBR encoded
*  http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QBA6WHVL


*  Note the streaming mp3 player doesn't handle these properly, but local programs handle them ok. I'll reupload newly encoded CBR files to try with the streaming player, but for personal use, the VBR versions are better.

Thanks different! We'll have to get your BHATCT next.

Any idea why last ones would play at "alvin and the chipmunk" speed on an mp3? More tomorrow.

Minnie, we probably need to do a better job of offering a voice to direct people to which videos are worth watching, but I think we have to stay away from comments, as that's more KMF's domain.

OK, I just thought that this 5 star video deserved extra recognition!

Yea, we should probably just put the five-star videos on a seperate page.

Columbus OH*

First first-person account of a fan getting a a Kat kiss in Kat Pack history (someone tell me if i am wrong)



Columbus, OH Recap by xMeGaRoNi at IDF

Well...we didn't get there until like 5:30 because we ended up at the ohio state fair (because once again...my mom sucks with directions) lmao so then when we finally got there I bought Kat stuff yeah and then I went to my seats which were on the side RIGHT by the stage and see they were row d but apperantly they don't believe in the letters a-c there so it was the front row. They were like even better than the front row on the floor so um I was happy. grin.gif

During intermission this backstage guy came and gave like signed autographed pictures that he just got them to sign and he gave me onee. It had Kat's, Lisa, Paris, Kellie and Ace's autographs so I was HAPPY cuz i got kats.

And then KAT ahhhsijdas (yeah cuz that was pretty much what I was like) um I was the ONLY one in my section standing and this stupid lady behind me told me to sit down and I didnt ( innocent.gif ) so she told the security guy I wouldnt (ooh scary) and he told her to deal with it. heart.gif Kay so i'm standing there right with my kat shirt on during BHATCT cuz i'm cool and she comes over to my side, kneels down, grabs my hand and kisses me on the cheek. So like i basically freakin DIED and almost dropped my camera but my mom caught it haha but omgg like it was so random. But...I really didnt mind. Um DUH. So I really got only about 2 pictures of her and theyre not even good cuz I couldnt like...steady my hands.

But oh man she is freaking gorgeous, like it's not even cool. Even prettier in person..if thats possible. She's just amazing. And i love her. She was talking about how happy she was to be in Ohio [no one is ever happy to be in ohio...don't lie] and how she missed the first time coming here but she forgot what city so we had to yell CLEVELAND and she was like oh yeah cleeeeeveland heart.gif and then she was talking about her foot and how she was ready to do 3 songs and then that happened and she just said it in the most adorable voice. I dont even know how to describe it.

I felt so bad during Living In America cuz she was limping really bad...but she was really trying to do everything. But she touched my hand again.

SO later i'll post my whole couple crappy pictures and maybe the little bit of video that I got during Living In America if you want cuz im not gonna upload it if no one wants it. Its not the whole thing but...some good parts. But it WAS the most best night of my whole life and hopefully when she goes on tour by herself I wont die so easily. Though that is ok.

COLUMBUS, OH (uploaded)

Pictures by kellyaddict02, IDF

"I think I start a new thread for this... if not it can be moved but I wanted to make sure I shared these pictures I took last night with everyone. We had F9 which was clear in the back of the arena.. and I called the box office that day and they said they had 3rd row center and just out of instinct I said I'd take them.. I mean come on 3rd row! So then I had my others to sell..which I didnt get but not even the price of one ticket for both but it was so worth it. I even got a wave from Katharine  I  thought ok if  I die  from my mom  when  I get home, I'll die happy ..ha ha "

 wave from
--



Are you going to write a review?
"umm probably not... just one word I think sums it up best...amazing.. seriously lol I was just in aw
she only did two songs (which Im uploading the videos for now) plus the encore.. she showed us
her boot lol. She said she missed the first part of the tour.. and that included one of the ohio cities
she couldnt remember which one..everyone was screaming cleveland..she's like thats right cleveland.
and she just got this huge smile and started giggling and said Im so excited to be here u dont understand!

Nashville --- Laurie's Novel

I think maybe we give this a seperate page. there should be a bunch of pics coming along. We don't want it as a button on the concert directory, but we can give the first few paragraphs and then
do a "... (read more)" hyperlink.



LAURIE:
Hey guys! Ok, so I’m finally going to do my Nashville review. First off, we got to Nashville on Tuesday. The Idols had off on the Wednesday and were in town. We did not see any of them out and about, except Ace, who was out eating with his brother. We did meet him later on in the evening. He is such a cute guy!

The next day, which was Thursday, the concert day, we got up early and got ready. We got to the arena about 1:45. I had met Elphie right when we arrived at the arena. She caught me attempting to parallel park. That did not work well.

So after we all met up, we headed to the back where we knew the busses were going to go into. Yes, just our luck, they do go underground. A little after 2, the busses arrived at the arena. The crew bus was first, then the girls bus, and then the guys bus.

Paris was the only one that came up to the front of the bus, when they were pulling in backwards to go and park underground. However, we did swear to ourselves that, that was Katharine sitting in the back of the bus, so we just screamed her name at the window for the heck of it, as we said to ourselves ’I hope she doesn’t remember this later on.’

It was so hot out there. I think they said it was like 104 degrees. About 15 minutes after the busses were settled, Bucky had come out down the ramp, and was yelling at the fans up above. I had yelled down to him to tell Katharine hello for me, and he told me he would if he saw her..’hehe’..I’m so bad. After that happened, we could not stand the heat anymore, so we left. We heard later on though, that Ace made his way up the ramp, and signed some autographs for the fans.

To kill some time before the show, we had gone out to eat. We ate at this little BBQ type place across the street. It was more like a bar, if anything. I had one drink there, cause I knew what was to come later on in the evening, and I wanted to be able to talk. Ha, it doesn’t work, by the way. ;)
So while we are sitting there, wasting time, we get word that these baskets/hampers for the girls, will have to come inside with us. Elphie was really not liking this, as this place we were out, smelled like smoke. She did not want it to overtake the giant baskets/hampers. I think they came out of there, pretty well.

Those suckers were so heavy, and filled with so much stuff for the girls. I’d be surprised if the girls did not love The Kat Pack, after that project. Anyway, after sitting there for almost two hours, we realized that the sky was becoming real black. So in fear of the baskets/hampers getting wet, along with the fear of thinking we might not be able to take them in, we grabbed them and took off for the arena, across the street.

Now, there is already a huge line forming outside, and the weather is getting much worse. We fight our way, to get to the front as fast as possible, so that these baskets/hampers do not get ruined. During that process, this radio tent, flew up, and almost came into the line, surely to kill us all.

Thank goodness the awning on the arena, caught hold of it first. Otherwise, we would have been hit by it. So, it starts to drizzle, and at that point, we all took off. Right when we got under the shelter, the rain just poured, and I mean poured, down. We had made it, just in time.

Our next goal once inside, was to make sure these baskets/hampers can come in with us, so that we could give them to the girls. The guard tried to mess around with Elphie, telling her he would have to take them, but in the end, he was just joking with her. So, getting the baskets/hampers inside, was a complete success!

Our seats inside, were so awesome. They were right next to the stage. 3 rows up from the floor, even with the 7th row on the floor. We were sitting around a lot of Mandisa’s friends. The baskets/hampers had seats of their own. They had to change seats about 3 different times, before we found a place where they would be able to stay for good.

The whole show, was pretty entertaining. I think out of all of them, Lisa impressed me the most. The girl can sing, so good. She is so great live. Of course, Pickler entertained the crowd. She was a trip.

As for Katharine, she was just..amazing. Before she had even came out, when the lights went dark, both me and Elphie had screamed “We love you Katharine!” She then emerged from the platform in a black dress, and sang Black Horse and a Cherry Tree. Let me just tell you, if you had not known that her foot was broken, you would of never known. She kind of made a really hip walk out of walking with the boot. It was hard to tell that she was even injured. I was impressed. Of course, she had a lot of fun singing the song.

After she finished singing that, she stopped to talk for a bit. She, of course, talked about how she was out of the tour for three weeks due to being sick, and then told of how she then broke her foot the first week of the tour, and lifted up her dress to show the boot.

She shared a story about how she has some ties to Nashville, cause she was supposed to go and see her first country concert, which was Faith Hill, but her and her boyfriend, who was her friend at the time, ended up ditching it to go to the American Idol auditions instead. She then finished that up, and started Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Which was just simply, amazing.

Right before she started, some girls had screamed “We love you Katharine!”..and she said..”I love you too!”..it was really cute. So, she did her thing on that song. That end note..just..wow. She got a good almost full standing ovation for that one. The applause for her, for her set, was pretty good, but could have been better. Can’t complain though. ;)

She came back out, later on, for the finale number, Livin’ In America. She came out with the same shirt she had on in Richmond, and some cute jeans, and she was barefoot. She did not have the boot on. She was moving around fairly good. There were a few times where Mandisa and Paris helped her move around a bit. Her and Tay did their usual “getting down” moves.

There were a few moves in Ace’s direction. She was basically just having a real good time up there. She did sing one note, and twirled her finger around when she did it, it was cute. She laughed a lot on the stage..just moving here and there and everywhere. She was the last one off the stage..as she was leaving she kept singing..”the band..” over and over again. All in all, the concert was good, and Katharine was just amazing. I think once the show ended, it finally hit us, as to what was about to happen.

So, here we are, just sitting here, waiting to go on backstage. Just sitting there waiting, of course, made us nervous. We had tried to plan what we were going to say to Katharine as soon as we got to her. We wanted to have it planned out and ready. So, we had decided we would put down both baskets/hampers, then hand her the scrapbook, then hand her the letters, and then go..guess who?

So, that was our whole idea. We kept saying it over and over again, as to not forget it. Finally, we made our way up to the top floor, where the after party was. We stepped into an elevator, it brought us to like the 3rd floor, we got out, and had to walk down this long hall, until we finally reached the room all of the way at the end.

We stepped into the room, and Katharine was immediately to our left., Lisa and Paris were directly in front of us, and I think Bucky was off to the right. Katharine’s line already had a good amount of people in it. So, out of fear of having them take her away quickly, we jumped in her line right away. So we are sitting there, in her line, going over and over to each other, what we are going to say.

So we are moving closer, and when we are like 3rd from her, she spots these baskets/hampers that we have with us. She has the most confused look on her face. She has no idea what is about to happen. So finally, it is our turn. She finishes up with the people in front of us, she then turns to us and goes..”Hey!!”..and does the double handed wave. Let me just tell you folks first. The girl, is so gorgeous, its unreal.

So we walk up to her..drop the baskets down..Elphie tells her..’whatever you do, do not carry these yourself’..so then..at the same time mind you..over each others voice..fumbling words galore..me and Elphie attempt to explain to her..what these baskets/hampers are for. Let me just say, her head was basically spinning, we had her so confused. After we finished, she kind of just looked at us and was like..”so wait, this is alllll for me?” and had the biggest smile/shock on her face.

I had to be like..’no!..these are for all five of you girls!” By like the 3rd time of explaining it to her, she finally got it. She really appreciated it though. She said that she had the greatest fans, and that it was so sweet of us to do that. I believe right there, is when she kind of half hugged Elphie and said something about how she hears about and from all of her fans, but she never gets to see all of them. So it was at that point, that I took out the scrapbook, and handed it to her.

We told her that might help her a bit with that. She smiled real big, she opened it up, flipped through it a bit, then set it down and said she would have to look at it fully a bit later on. It was at that point, that I had finally decided to tell her who I was.

So basically, just out of the blue, I went..”I’m Laurie!” She kind of just stopped, she turned to me, and then went ‘ohh, your laurie!!” and then grabbed my hand to shake it, then pulled me in for a good hug, and said “its nice to meet you!” Mind you, her hair smelt, really good..lol. I replied, “its finally nice to meet you too!” I think she kind of mumbled..’yea, I know’..but you know..was such a blur.

So then Elphie took out the letters for her..and explained those to her. I had asked her if Kellie had given her the other ones from when she was gone from the tour, and she told me that she had, but that she was not able to read them yet, she was too busy. We told her we completely understand. She then signed a few things for Elphie. They did exchange some words, but I was too busy getting my own stuff ready, that I was not paying attention to what was being said. Elphie will have to explain that part for you guys.

So after she finishes with Elphie, we have the most embarrassing part of the night. She turns to me, to begin to sign my stuff, and all of my stuff, falls to the floor. Not only was that embarrassing, but Katharine herself, with a broken foot mind you, decides to bend down and pick it all up for me, and does anyone have any idea, what was down there? A freaken Carrie Underwood CD in Katharine’s CD case. I was so embarrassed. She was trying to read the CD too, but someone helped her by screaming..”ohhhh..uh oh..a Carrie Underwood CD!!”..uh.

I was so freaken embarrassed. I couldn’t even get an apology out of me. I kind of just made this face towards Kat and just like pointed back and forth between me and her, to let her know, that I was sorry. My goodness, it was just..bad. But Katharine had kept saying..’oh no no..its ok!!” Uh. I did not even explain myself. I was supposed to say..that I had taken Carrie’s CD out of my CD player in my car..put Katharine’s in..and then just stuck Carrie’s CD in Katharine’s CD case…but uh..I couldn’t get that out..so embarrassing.

So then she finally signs my single. While signing it, she had asked me if she had ever sent me a letter in the mail. I tried to explain to her, that I had gotten the picture of her and the blanket, that was signed..but I don’t think she understood what I was saying. I just couldn’t function normally after the Carrie CD moment. I think got her to sign a single for someone else..as I sat there for a good minute..trying to figure out what the name of the person was..that it was for..cause Katharine had asked.

I just kept going..’uhh..omg..what is her name..wow..you just met her the other day..you know..little girl..and I made the little height symbol..and I finally just ended up telling her the little girls nickname..cause it was all I could remember. Wow, I’m pretty sure Katharine thought I was nuts.

After all of the signing, she then asked if we wanted a picture with her. We all said sure. So, we take a picture..and mind you..the whole time..she is like rubbing my back. I was like..how sweet..the whole time. So we are taking the picture..and Kat notices that the sharpie is in the way..so she goes..”You might want to move that pen there” and she laughs..and so we all laugh with her..so the pen gets moved..and she then goes..”there we go”..and chuckles again..so we all laugh again..and then the picture is taken. She then says she is sorry she cant talk to us longer. We told her not a problem, we understand.

So we gather up all of our stuff. As I begin to walk away, she stops me, and suddenly goes..”Rumor is..” and then physically turns me around herself, to read the back of my shirt that did say, “I’m An Adopted McPhee”..and then kind of looks puzzled..she kind of chuckles..just doesn’t get it at all..I’m embarrassed again..so I’m like..omg, joke..and she just kind of turns away..so I then walked back up to her..and so stupidly said..’ill just tell you what it means later’..omg..as if there is a later!..the best part though..was when she said..’ok’..and that was it.

The meeting with Katharine, has concluded.

COLUMBUS, OH Five Star Pictures

Holy crapola. Includes some of the ones from above post and a lot more.

http://www.katharinefans.com/Forums...aspx#48888

thanks, minnie. it's been great having you on the team.