Monday, September 29, 2008

Hottest night of my life (The first time I met Kyle Riabko)

Jul. 24, 2006

Jul. 24, 2006 is the hottest night of my life because I saw Kyle Riabko in concert at Capital Ex, took pictures with him, touched him and got him to sign my cd sleeve and an 8 by 10 pic of him. Oh my god, this is the best experience of my life. I bought the pic of him for $5 at the merchandise booth and a $25 light blue t-shirt with his pic on it. I also have his pop can that he drank from. Seriously!

Well prior to this, I went inside the agricom and bumped into Shane Goden from Ottewell/ McNally. It was so cool to see him and we started talking about all our old classmates. Turns out S is working with machines and he says he now works at West 49 and saw Leslie Simpson by Millwoods once. I tell him that I know that he is related to Angela Kercher and he tells me that Kim Czuy is pregnant or already had the baby. The father's name is Chris and S says he's like a drug dealer.

So then I walked to Ed fest and sat by this sign that gave me shade. There was this guy and girl sitting by there too and we started talking. Their names are Sarah (18)and Kenny (20) and they're brother and sister. The gates opened around 6:10pm and it was to open at 6pm, so I was anxious. Then I ran to right at the gate so I get as close to the stage as possible. Then Sarah, Kenny and I waited for an hour because KR was to perform at 7pm. K checked out the merchandise booth and told me about the 8 by 10 pic so I went over there as they watched my stuff. There were some cool KR shirts like a red and white one that said, "I heart Kyle Riabko", a brown shirt with "Chemistry" on it which is a song of his, a pink shirt with KR's pic on it. I opted for the light blue one with KR's pic because it has his pic and I like the color. Afterwards when I came home I showed it to my mom and she was happy that I bought a shirt that wasn't black like nearly my entire wardrobe is.

K, S and I sat by the gate and talked while we waited. Then Bill Welychka from Citytv came on stage and introduced KR. I was kind of surprised that KR was dressed in a dark purple button down shirt, white tie, white dress shoes, black pants and vest with white vertical stripes on it. I was like, "It's way too hot to be wearing that. Where are his tshirt and jeans like he always wears?" So he performed 2 new songs of his, which you can check out at myspace.com/kyleriabko. He performed "Teach Me", "Paranoid", "Do you right" from his album. When I was waiting outside the gate I heard him do the soundcheck to "Paranoid." I kind of expected him to perform "Miss Behavin" because I love that song and it's fast like the other 3. He sang for 30 min.

As he was performing, KR said about the merchandise and that he'll be by there. After the show, I went to the woman security guard and asked, "Will KR be signing autographs?" She said yes and I waited. I was the first one there and the only one there until Sarah came by and said she wanted him to sign her ticket. She changed her mind and wanted him to sign her camera.

Then I see KR wearing a green tshirt and jeans and drinking Coca- Cola.
Me: Oh my god, he's coming here! (In my mind, I was thinking, "KR drinks Coca-Cola. From now on, that's the only pop I shall drink.")
I had my 8 by 10 pic and cd sleeve and my pen.
KR: Hi, I saw you guys in the front row.
Me: Could you sign this? (Hold out my pen).
KR: I have a Sharpie. (Pulls it out of his pocket.) What's your name?
Me: Tracy. T- r- a- c- y.
He writes "To Tracy Kyle Riabko" on the 8 by 10 pic and "For Tracy Kyle Riabko" on my cd sleeve.
Sarah: Sign my camera.
KR: Are you sure?
S: Yes.
So he did and we left the line.

There weren't that many people there to get his autograph (like 20 and less). After a few min., S and I decided to take pics with him. We went back to the line and KR was like, "Ah, it's you again." Kenny took a solo pic with me and KR. He has his right arm around my shoulders and I have my left arm around his waist. As K was trying to take the pic, I was thinking, "Wait, how long was I touching KR?" Because when I met Lee Ryan from the British boy band Blue, I counted and hugged him for 10 secs.

Anyway, I got the pic with him. S got the pic with him and then we got a group shot together. S will send the pics to me through email and I'll show it to you. Then we walked away. We were standing some metres away and I was watching him. Then S and I walked and stood closer to him as he was taking the pics with fans and talking to them.

KR: Well I have to go help my band pack up. See ya!
He waves to the group of people. I notice his pop can by the fence and I thought, "Hey, I think that's his. Well if he forgets it, I'm going to take it and keep it." He notices his pop can and picks it up. He waves to the people and I wave to him as a form of goodbye, but he misinterpreted it and walked towards me. I walked towards him.

KR: Is there something that you want?
Me: Yeah, can I have you pop can?
Woman security guard laughed out loud.
KR: Yeah.
KR gulps it down and gives it to me.
Me: Thanks.

There's still pop in it so later I drank it while watching Wil on stage. Now I can say, "I shared pop with Kyle Riabko!" Well today I washed the can and I'm going to keep it. I got home and taped up his autographed 8by10 pic on my wall by the door, this piece of paper with his pic advertising his album and his podcast sticker. I'm so happy!

Then after Wil performed, it was 9pm and I went home. I then listened to KR's "Before I Speak" cd and his EP album. I have to say, KR is really boy next door and down to earth. He intros himself as a guy from Saskatoon and he was like, "I'm glad to be back in Canada." He jokes around by saying, "This isn't really a concert. Just imagine that this a backyard barbacue. Is anyone excited for Wil?" 2 girls cheer.
KR: What? Just 2 girls? C'mon!
Everybody cheers.

Prior to going to this concert, I was planning on passing out my resumes, but I wanted to conserve my energy for the concert. So I stayed at home, washed my hair, took a shower. Prior to that, like I was listening to KR's cd for awhile, but then stopped so I wouldn't "overdose" on it and get sick of him. I was also watching Blue on youtube, since I met them before, I get this kind of feel of meeting celebrities. Also on the day of the concert, I watched a bit of Tyra Banks where she goes undercover as an overweight woman named Lynn Collins on a blind date. After a few min, she reveals who she is. The 2 guys were pretty cool with it. I expected them to yell out, "Oh my god! I'm a on date with Tyra Banks!" Since TB was honest about who she was, the guys were honest to her that they were not likely to go out with someone who was overweight.

Back to KR. Sarah says he kind of reminds her of the country star from Edmonton Adam Gregory. S says she will put the 2 pics together and compare. Well KR totally made a new fan today after his performance because S has never saw or heard of him before. Kind of like how I never heard of the main act Creedence Clearwater Revisted. But I guess I should check it out.

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