A to Z Blog Challenge -- I'm blogging at The Popculturedivas

Join me at The Popculturedivas for C is for Connie.

Thursday Thirteen - 179 - 13 Things About The Night My Teenage Dream Came True

1 - This is me standing in front of my junior high school, wearing my handmade Roller gear.

This is also a picture of a dream.

My dream.

When this photo was taken, I dreamt day and night about what it would be like to meet Leslie McKeown, lead singer of the Bay City Rollers.
















2 - I bought all of their albums, which I listened to obsessively. I bought every 16 Magazine and Tiger Beat and read every article and gazed at every picture. Obsessively.

I was never a big believer in doing anything halfway.













3 - It was all crystal clear in my mind. How I would walk around a corner and discover him there. How we would smile and talk. How he would put his arm around me and give me that first kiss.













4 - It didn't matter to me that the odds of the Rollers coming to tiny, out-of-the-way Halifax, Nova Scotia were dismal to none.

It didn't matter to me that millions of other young teenage girls were having the same exact dreams about Leslie, in their bedrooms in homes all around the world.

Leslie had a way of gazing through the camera right at me. He connected with me like no one else ever had. He was my first romantic crush, the first focus for all my girlish yearnings on the cusp of womanhood.














5 - Over the years, I never lost my crush on Leslie. I've always loved his voice, and have a Bay City Rollers playlist that I sometimes write my dark, scary vampire stuff to.

And over the years, Halifax has grown and connected with the world. A-listers now play here, and our music has made itself at home around the world.

Still, I wasn't quite ready for the news that Leslie McKeown would be appearing at the Casino showroom in October.

What made it so strange was the fact that I'd just had Les McKeown Week here at A Piece of My Mind this past August.



























6 - The Big Night finally arrived. I toasted to dreams coming true with my best friend Connie, who took that picture of me in 1977. I toasted with my cousin Julianne and my sister Michelle, who spent countless hours dreaming the same dreams alongside me.



























7 - We took our seats in the Schooner Showroom, which was fully sold. The crowd was definitely psyched even before the just-about-to-walk-onstage bagpipe music started up.

Bagpipe music. Halifax. Just sayin'.














8 - And then he was there.

Leslie McKeown.

No longer in my head, but right before my eyes.

In the strange ways of the world, Les and his new band ended their North American tour with this Halifax date, never suspecting that Halifax is a party hearty city that loves nothing better than to make everyone who stops here feel like a cherished old friend.

We were rowdy, we were vocal, we rushed the stage immediately, we danced, we laughed, we screamed, we smiled, we fed off each other and made a magical night together.














9 - The current line-up for the band is:

Alex Southgate on keyboard

Michael Koch on guitar

Les McKeown on lead vocals

Alex Toff on drums

Si Mulvey on bass

These guys really cooked! The lead guitarist especially was mighty fine, both to listen to and to look at.

But the energy of the original Rollers were definitely in the room. And our shared experience of Rollermania turned the years back for all of us.




10 - Here Leslie talks about his Rollermania experiences, including what it was like to find 'room service' was actually a fan who'd made her way through security.

The proposal for a Roller reunion mentioned in the clip is not on the books anytime soon.



11 - Here's a clip of the encore number played at the Halifax show which I found on You Tube. The actual sound at the venue was fine - the sound on this clip gets blown out because the camera mic couldn't handle the volume.

You can see the joy on Les' face as the night turned out to be more than he'd quite expected. "I want to say this to the people," he said just before leaving the stage. "The best, final night of this tour I could ever have dreamed of. Thank you very much, Halifax!"

Later on Facebook he wrote: "The Final night in Halifax, what a night to remember, thanks to you, you made a great gig happen, xxx Thank you, from me and the boys, xx"














12 - My sister and cousin having an absolute blast. Leslie really had fun interacting with the crowd, making that eye contact just the way he always did, making jokes laced with saucy innuendo. Just the way we always suspected he would.

He also made lots of jokes about the years that had passed, affectionately and without apology. When he sang The Bump, my cousin and sister ran up and danced it together. He pointed them out and said, "Bet you that hurts now, doesn't it?"

And he was cheeky enough to sing Yesterday's Hero, as well.














13 - After the show, Julianne, Michelle and I stood at the meeting point arranged before the show with the promotions director. Julianne had contacted her several weeks earlier to request a meet and greet.

To our astonishment and delight, she got back to us with news that she would indeed get us backstage to meet Leslie in person after the show.

So while half the sold-out audience got into well-organized line-ups for autographs, we waited nervously for the all-clear.

And then there she was. And we were walking through a door that led to a long corridor, which took us towards the green room. My mouth went dry. Another door opened. And then Leslie turned towards us.

And my dream came true.

We smiled and talked. He put his arm around me as we all posed for a picture. He gave each of us a kiss as though we were old friends saying goodbye until next time.

There was a time when I was younger that I believed dreams might come true. I set about making some of them happen.

Then there was a dark period for me, when I resented the phrase Follow your dreams, as I'd discovered the hard way that many of the most cherished dreams will never come true, no matter how hard you work for it, no matter how hard you fight for it.

But I can say now, that in the moment I stepped through that door and saw Leslie turn towards us, all the pain, the profound despair, the bitterness and crushed future I experienced during that dark period were all swept away.

You can't get more specific than my Leslie McKeown dream. You can't get much darker than the self-destructive path he'd been on until he rose to the surface, clean and sober a few years ago. The audience I was a part of gave him a joyous night. His meet and greet with the three of us gave me a new lease on life.

Dreams do come true. They really do come true.

So don't stop dreaming. Never stop dreaming.

5 on Friday - Set 11 - by Guest Blogger Connie, My BFF

Welcome to my second single-artist showcase for 5 on Friday. For this post, I had to enlist the help of my lifelong Best Friend Forever, Connie.

I wanted to bring you five songs by Bruce Springsteen, and Bruce is to Connie what ballet is to me. In fact, over the years she has flown to Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Boston, Orlando, Dallas, Houston and London, England to see Bruce in concert.

To find out what other tunes bloggers have gathered up for us, drop by 5 on Friday Central and say hi to Travis at Trav's Thoughts.

And now - over to you, Con!

TOP 5 SPRINGSTEEN:

This was a little more difficult than I had anticipated. The first 4 were easy, but it was tough to decide on the last one. There are just too many to choose from:

1 - Land of Hope and Dreams (Live version) - gives me goosebumps and makes me cry every time I hear it.

-I will provide for you
And I'll stand by your side
You'll need a good companion for
This part of the ride

This Train
Dreams will not be thwarted
This Train
Faith will be rewarded-

- Bruce Springsteen



2 - Born to Run - not really my favourite song, but it is iconic Springsteen. This song catapulted him to stardom and has become the unofficial New Jersey state anthem.

-Let me in I wanna be your friend
I want to guard your dreams and visions

Someday girl I don't know when
we're gonna get to that place
Where we really want to go
and we'll walk in the sun-

- Bruce Springsteen



3 - Thunder Road - Driving in a convertible with the top down and Thunder Road blasting from the speakers. Life does not get any better than this!
CLICK HERE to watch the video

-Well now I'm no hero
That's understood

Well I got this guitar
And I learned how to make it talk
And my car's out back
If you're ready to take that long walk

It's a town full of losers
And I'm pulling out of here to win-

- Bruce Springsteen














4 - The Rising - Gospel sound, uplifting and inspirational!

CLICK HERE to watch the video

-Can't see nothin' in front of me
Can't see nothin' coming up behind
I make my way through this darkness
I can't feel nothing but this chain that binds me
Lost track of how far I've gone
How far I've gone, how high I've climbed
On my back's a sixty pound stone
On my shoulder a half mile line

Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine-

- Bruce Springsteen














5 - Dancing in the Dark - FUN, FUN, FUN, FUN! I first fell in love with Bruce Springsteen 30 years ago while watching the video of this song on Much Music at my best friend, Julia's house (a love that continues to this day!)

-Man I ain't getting nowhere
I'm just living in a dump like this
There's something happening somewhere
I just know that there is

You sit around getting older
There's a joke here somewhere and it's on me
I'll shake this world off my shoulders
Come on this laugh's on me

You can't start a fire sitting 'round crying over a broken heart
You can't start a fire worrying about your little world falling apart-

- Bruce Springsteen



Travis says I remember getting caught up in how good the Born in the USA album was.

Jamie says The variety of Springsteen always surprises me. One of my favorites, "The Rising". Thank you.

Anne MacFarlane says That was the best 5 on Friday. Ever!! He's the only singer I would camp outside overnight to get tickets for. In the rain. With a broken foot. By myself.

Thursday Thirteen - 109 - 13 Things I've Been Doing While My Computer's in The Shop

My computer has needed an overhaul for quite some time. So I had to surrender it into the care of my best friend's husband, who is an IT guy. He already performed heroics on a previous computer when my current WIP was trapped on the hard drive of a tower whose battery went dead.

So what have I been doing in the meantime?

1 - Well, I did try to stay on schedule with my book review for Stella MacLean's Baby in Her Arms. However, that will have to be pushed back to next week. My day job work schedule has been very grinding of late. Over the years, I've gradually learned to put balls down when my juggling act gets too ridiculous. That has been a lifetime lesson, I assure you.

2 - After work, once I've finished my daily visit with my mom upstairs, I generally head downstairs and hop onto the computer. But every evening this week I've headed into the garden instead. Sigh. That's been nice.

3 - I've had way more Pack Time on the couch. Because we are two humans and a dog, we are a Pack. Pack Time is my favorite time of day. We all pile onto the couch, where my dog and I fall asleep curled up together and my husband watches TV. Bliss.

4 - I've headed over for Pack Time much earlier than I do when I'm writing. So I've gotten way more sleep. This morning I woke up at 4:00 because my body is used to waking up with only 5 hours of sleep. But I realized I could go back for two more hours. Mmm.













5 - I watched the hockey game. Stanley Cup play-offs on Tuesday night, game 3. Lots of woo-hooing in our Cole Harbour house for Sidney Crosby!

Normally I would be at the computer with the game on TV to my left, which I would glance at in between writing. What luxury to simply sit down and watch the whole thing.

Photo by Peter Diana

6 - Listening to a whole bunch of CDs that we haven't heard in awhile. We usually use the CD player in the computer to listen to music. With that gone, my husband pulled out the big ghetto blaster and stacks of CDs that have been collecting dust and we've been enjoying some favorites. Like this one:



7 - As often happens, when I'm in the middle of one WIP, I start getting ideas and scenes for another WIP. So instead of thinking about my early Victorian gardener, Robbie (who resembles Ewan McGregor,) I've been doing some heavy-duty thinking about my dark fantasy and the Chamberlain of the Keep, Scorpius (a dead-ringer for Richard Armitage.)

8 - Doing some pre-planning for the mega collage event at my writers' group Book in a Day all-day workshop on June 13th.

9 - Tending to my husband's erupting cyst on his neck. Good times. Three bandage changes a day. Yay.

10 - Mowing my enormous lawn. I actually find it relaxing, in a sweaty sort of way.

11 - Visiting over at my best friend's house when we dropped the computer tower off. Such luxury!

12 - Doing overtime at work to try to get caught up on a huge backlog of scanning. This actually makes me feel like I'm getting somewhere instead of digging a hole in mud, just to watch it immediately fill in again. Added bonus - no one to interrupt.

13 - Taking a tiny chip off the clutter mountain that is our apartment. Yay me!

Janet says You've sure got a lot going on!

Alice Audrey says Even if I'm supposed to be working on one WIP, another keeps cropping up.

Anthony North says I always keep a cheap back-up, so this doesn't happen to me.