Tales of a Gokey fan

When I was a teenager, I had no problem standing outside for hours just to catch a glimpse of my favorite star or pushing my way to the front of a crowd in an attempt to get an autograph.

Oh how things have changed. Call it age or call it maturity, but whatever it is, I no longer have any desire to do that. So that’s why I had to laugh Tuesday night at the things I did just to meet Danny Gokey. (Note: it did not involve pushing others or standing outside for hours.)

When I found out Danny would be doing a homecoming celebration on Tuesday, May 26, I knew I had to be there. The first event was a “Dine with Danny” dinner with all proceeds going toward his organization, Sophia’s Heart Foundation. For $25, you got a meal, free parking and the opportunity to meet Danny. The second was a question and answer session at the Riverside Theater.

My mom and I left Beloit Tuesday afternoon to travel up to Milwaukee. Since I had an address and a GPS, I figured we’d have no trouble finding the place. Wrong. Since there’s been so much construction near downtown Milwaukee, my GPS couldn’t figure out where we were. To make a long story short, we got lost and ended up parking in the wrong parking garage. Then we went into the wrong building and had to walk a block to the right one.

Thankfully, my friends at Faith Builders saved us seats at their table, so we were finally able to sit down and catch our breaths. The idea of the dinner was that Danny would walk around to each table and talk to everyone. Well, that didn’t work out as planned because it was taking too much time. So, they set up the meet and greet like a wedding receiving line, where each table walked up and got to meet Danny. At first, they were still allowing people to take photos with him. But then they banned that because it was still chewing up too much time. Unfortunately, that meant we wouldn’t get any photos.

When our time to meet Danny came, my mom stood behind me so she could snap a photo of him hugging me. I barely had any time to say anything so all I got out was “Hi Danny, it’s so nice to meet you.” He told me it was nice to meet me too and thanked me for coming. My mom got a great photo of him hugging me. Thanks, mom.

Right after that, the crew and I decided to leave for the Riverside Theater, where seats were being saved for us. Since parking was pretty much nil near the theater, we walked four blocks. It was freezing, and I had on 4.5-inch heels. For the record, I had brought flip-flops with me for the theater, but we didn’t have time to walk back to our car.

With my extremities numb and my feet blistered, I made it to the theater. While a long line stretched out along the sidewalk waiting to get in, we were able to get right in. It was pretty cool getting the VIP treatment, and we were even able to sit up in the box seats. Unfortunately, on one of my trips downstairs, I missed a step and tumbled down, twisting my ankle. It’s OK, I think, but it’s still a little sore.

Under the American Idol contract Danny isn’t allowed to sing in public until after the tour, so the event kicked off with the Faith Builders Praise & Worship Team. They were PHENOMENAL. Then Danny’s friend and another Idol hopeful Jamar Rogers sang a few songs. He was also incredible. After that, Danny was presented with some checks for his foundation and then he spoke about his wife and the foundation he set up in her honor. Then he answered a bunch of questions from fans. It was so great just listening to Danny speak about his foundation, his music, himself and American Idol. He’s a very charismatic person and actually much more outgoing than he appeared to be on Idol.

After the event we walked outside to find it pouring rain. We walked four blocks (still in my heels) while getting pelted with rain. Then my mom and I had to walk up four steep ramps to get to our car. Just when we finally settle into the car, I see a parking ticket on the windshield. We why got a parking ticket we may never know, but we did.

So, we suffered a few mishaps along the way, but I don’t regret one second of it. It was more than worth it to get a hug from Danny and the opportunity to hear him speak. I can’t wait to see where Danny takes his foundation and his music. He’s got such a bright future ahead of him, and I’m excited to follow it. Now we just have to work on getting him to come back to Beloit!

I owe a huge THANK YOU to my friends at Faith Builders for everything you did Tuesday night. I really appreciate it – you guys are awesome!

Now I want to know – what’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done to try and meet your favorite celebrity? Don’t be embarrassed to tell – many of us are guilty!

Me getting a hug from Danny Gokey

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 28th, 2009 at 12:35 pm and is filed under My Kind of Town. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.