Upon *very* reliable belief and information…(from Canadia!) I can assure you fellow Buffalo fans of the LOW (2 days!) that my fantasy set list has been reviewed by *sources close to the harmonica* and has been said to be…”a bit short to me, but we’ll probably play a lot of those songs. We also have a couple of new songs to offer up on Thursday, so we’ll see how it all maps out.”

Of course. OF COURSE! Too short is what I like to hear! Although after seeing every permeation of Ron and friends over the last year, the *new* songs aren’t always so new. Tee hee! New music! I can’t wait! One of my favourite things about living in Buffalo, the Toronto music!

The one part I am not very good at is..

“Please feel encouraged to say hi.”

EVEN THOUGH I have met the members of the band before. And even without meeting the men from my favourite band, I have a *pretty* good feeling they recognize my face in (nearly) every crowd. (I’m so darn cute, who could miss it!)

A few years back, I had been known to email their manager Linda back and forth just chitchatting. At the time the Low had a few shows at the Tralf. (OLD Tralf, not new Tralf.) The band was running a food drive, and I had JUST organized a volunteer project with my kids with agency I worked for… at… The Food Bank of WNY, so I had an easy contact. Turns out they needed help, no one had made the contact, yet. So…I made the very simple arrangements. And in return, helped to collect much food (and a few dollars for all those people who forgot a canned good or three!) AND got to meet the band *backstage* before the show. The guys also handed out some swag as well, rare autographed singles, but I was most delighted that Ron and Stephen played Dogs of February for me to close out the set that night 🙂 And Mr. Stanley gave me his guitar pick. (Which I handed over to my friend Rachel who loves him the most!)

Later the next day, after meeting the band the night before, Dave came over and started talking to me at SPoT coffee, where he was busy writing out his setlists…and one by one, I ended up sitting with the Lowest of the Low (and Lawrence too, who wasn’t officially with the band at the time) and talked about J. Lo’s ass in that awful Ben Affleck Jenny From The Block video. Priceless. Although I have to say, it was one of the most UNtalkative Jen(nifer) moments I have ever lived through. I was starstruck and in awe and realized what it must feel like to be painfully shy or experience social anxiety. (ANYONE who knows me, knows this pretty much is the opposite of who I am!) I was about 1/4th of myself. Too nervous, even though, trust me, they are just a group of guys Albeit very handsome and ubertalented.

I had the men sign the back of my journal I was writing in at the time. I told them to be inspirational and say something *happy* and this is what they each wrote…

Dylan “Enjoy some sitting.”

Lawrence “Life is far too serious to be taken seriously. Be happy.”

Stephen “I can’t lie, I’m pretty happy all the time!”

David “Hitting things makes me happy.” (and he added a lovely picture of his drumset)

Ron “Watching Dave hit things, though frightening, relieves some pent up frustrations and existential quandaries and allows me to go on unburdened. My three favourite things are love…love and love.”

So why does the idea of stopping by scare me so?

“Her mother’s worst fears are confirmed, she’s taken off with some musician.”

This happened before when I blogged my love of Jackdaw and Mikey Jordan found a post I might have wrote about him along the lines of *take me now* and he emailed me. After a few emails and realizing who I was, he said “come on over and have a beer with us after the show!” Which I did NOT do, even though on stage at the Cleveland Irish Festival in between songs he pointed my direction and mouthed to me “Are you Jennifer? Oy! I am certain his fiance at the time would be glad to know that I refrained. I might not have been able to hold back otherwise. (And if you are reading this David, stop laughing! And BTW- what up with the mohawk?)

Paul Todaro did the same thing last year after I blogged about his outstanding Petruchio performance at Shakepeare in the Park. An email or two or three. An invite to come on out and meet and hear the skiffle minstrels sometime…but I was too shy (mortified would be an appropriate word, I was ooooozing love over him and his um, well, his performance, however in reality? I was just shy.) AND I AM NEVER SHY! Except when I am. (Shhhh!) Mayeb this is why I am saving my * I Heart Paul* post for Hamlet, which I plan on seeing mutliple times!

So Lawrence? Or Ron? Or Stephen? Or Dave? Or Dylan? if you are reading this, say hi to me first. Or give a wink in my direction from the stage and make everyone else swoon. I will be the one requesting “Taming of Carolyn” and now that I think about it, The Tame, Half-Born, Wild and You hasn’t been in a rotation in a while either. And Erin always loves “First Addiction” although that is not on the *All Things Ron* rotation.

“The fuse is short, the countdown’s on!”