Dixon, CA 5/11/01

by Jen and Wooby click on images to see larger version
Special thanks to: M.S., B.S., A.G. and 3eb.

Friday started off with a bit of drama. My friend, Aline, was flying in from Chicago and her flight got really messed up (never fly United). Luckily, our other friend, Van, was driving up from LA and he was able to pick up Aline so I could pick up Wooby and not be late to the Fan Gathering.

I picked up Wooby at the Oakland airport (wooby: there's a huge billboard for some show in Reno at the Oakland airport and the guy in it is some guy my friend used to date. that tripped me out) and we drove over to the boonies (Dixon). It had been in the 60's in San Francisco, but just 1.5 hours away in Dixon it was over 90 degrees. I was glad I wore shorts! (wooby: I was glad I didn't burn any skin!)

The Fan Gathering is something I started through this web site last year as a chance for 3eb internet fans to come together in mass quantities and meet one another in person (wooby: or avoid one another depending on who you talk to). Last year was the 1st fan gathering in Chicago. Dixon was home to the 2nd Annual stephanjenkins.com Fan Gathering (wooby: this was Dixon's 126th annual fair!). 73 fans rsvpd for the event this year and 64 showed up. I worked with 3eb's management to do something special for the fan gathering again this year - I'll get to that in a bit. Let me just say that 3eb and their managers are wonderful! (wooby: true dat!)

Wooby and I arrived at the front gates of the venue at 3:05pm. We were 5 minutes late and found about 20 people waiting on us. We promptly passed out name tags that I had made and our buddy Gina got started filming with my video camera. (wooby: thanks G!)

For the next hour or so, we all hung out in the blazing heat and chatted, took pictures of each other and waited on the band to get into Dixon.

Around 4pm, one of 3eb's managers came to get us all and took us inside the venue. We could hear the guys at the sound check and before we knew it we were being escorted inside for a private concert.

We all lined up along the railing of the stage for a private sound-check concert. (wooby: I chilled in the 4th row and watched the rest of yall rock out.)

We were treated to an "all request" hour of 3eb music. In addition to previewing 3 brand new songs that had never been heard in the history of the world, 3eb also played the internet fan favorites "Scattered," (wooby: SJ said this song will never be on an album. I cried a devastated river.) "Tattoo of Sun" (wooby: apparently they forgot this oldie but goodie) and "Darkness," (wooby: this song got cut from the American Beauty soundtrack. They thought it would be a stupid movie. Yeah, so that's why opted to write a brand new song for life-changing epic A Knight's Tale. It only makes sense) plus "An Ode to Maybe." One of the new songs is currently titled "Crystal Baller." One of them that I am calling "She's the One" because of the chorus and it sounds VERY Beatles. There was another one that sounded kinda Bob Marley. I loved them all! Needless to say, it was FREAKING AMAZING! Tony's little son, Joseph, joined 3eb on stage for several songs. Stephan announced him the "newest member of 3eb." What a cutie. (wooby: then the show ended abruptly and stephan and arion jumped out into the audience to schmooze. This might turn out to be a bad idea so instead people were taken behind the stage and lined up in a more organized fashion so everyone could potentially have equal face time with the band)

Oh and Stephan did NOT wear the green leather pants. YAY!!!!!

After the private concert, Stephan hopped down from the stage and gave me a quick hug and peck on the cheek, then went down the line and met several fans. We were all really burnt, sweaty and salty. I had made each of the band members a name tag, so I put Stephan's on... it said "Puck." He thought it was pretty funny.

We were then escorted backstage for a private meet and greet session. The tour director put me in charge of making sure each person got 1 thing autographed and to keep the line moving, which I was happy to do. We brought people up in groups of 4 for them to meet the band. The guys were SO sweet and happily signed and chatted with all of the gatherers. I also stuck name tags on the other band members "Uh-Rye-Un," "Toe-Knee," and "Puff Braddy" - all names Wooby had decided for them.

After every fan gatherer had met the band and been sent back into the venue, Wooby, Aline, Van and I stayed under the tent backstage and chatted with the guys. Arion (wooby: duly armed with a clear alcoholic refreshment) had on some pants that had zippers along his butt cheeks, which were just BEGGING for someone to ask "can you see your butt if you unzip those" so I asked. He was quick to explain that they were just pockets. haha Wooby and I love Arion to death. Who doesn't? (wooby: he also told us to go eat something called Pink Popcorn. I'm a city girl, I don't know what that is.)

Wooby and I both had a chance to talk for a while with Stephan. I introduced SJ to Wooby and he was very happy to meet her. (wooby: we've met before. apparently each time is new for him.) He told her how it was his favorite column and he liked her smart ass remarks (wooby: he also knows how my lack of seriousness can tend to irk some. yes). I told him how Wooby gets hate mail and so he devised a plan... get all the Ask Wooby (wooby: I had a really hard time suppressing my laughter each time he would say "wooby" *snort*) hate mail and have it put on a t-shirt. Then, on the t-shirt have it say "Ask Wooby is a Mean Spirited Bitch!" (wooby: that's an understatement) He then authorized her to sell it on stephanjenkins.com and keep all profits. haha Wooby's thinking about it. (wooby: I'm done thinking.)

I also expressed unhappiness about 3eb being off the road until next spring, but Stephan explained that they really want to focus on making a record that will be the best they have ever made. We debated on if it was a good idea for them to be gone off the road for so long.

Next, I asked Stephan about the song "Eye Conqueror" and told him how I first thought the lyrics were "I beg your pardon, now that I farted, no one's gonna get around me" and he laughed and said "you know I'd never write lyrics like that!" umm I do? haha He explained that the whole song was written just for fun and was dumb just like the movie. (wooby: I can't decide if he really disliked the song or if he was just showing off) I DISAGREE! I love that song. Anyhoo, he confirmed that the lyrics are "I beg your pardon, now that I've hardened, no one's gonna get around me." OK so he's singing about hard ons and not farts - not much of a difference, eh? haha I told him that my favorite part of the song was during the break when the jungle beat starts up and then he sings "Byzantine mosaic in the heat" because (after looking up what Byzantine was) it provided so much imagery of what he was singing about.

Stephan talked about how they really want to test 45 new songs on a small crowd this fall at a venue in SF like Hotel Utah (I love this bar) every night for a week. Wooby and I are so there! (Wooby: I still think they should come to the cactus club in SJ. ... south bay pride!)

After we had talked with all the guys, we decided to go find our seats out front. We were harassed by a security guard that wouldn't let us out from backstage. How often does THAT happen? haha (wooby: only in Podunk, BFE) Usually they try to keep people OUT of backstage, not in. We got to our seats and found that they were 2nd row on Arion's side. Sweet!

3eb came on and rocked the house. I think the band was expecting a lame crowd, but they were GREAT! A little drunk and out of control, but great! (wooby: the funniest part was when stephan asked "where ARE we?" and everyone's all "Dixon!". yeah we know, that's not the point.) My friend Karen had brought a lei (just like the ones the natives give out in Hawaii when you step off the plane) for Stephan and he put it on for a little while.

When 3eb sang "Eye Conqueror" Stephan accented the word "hardened" as not to confuse people to think he was singing about farts. :) It was really great to hear "God of Wine" outdoors with the moon and the stars on a warm summer night. I felt like I was back at the Bonfire Tour in 1998.

After the show, we hopped backstage to see if the guys were going to hang out for a bit, but they had just left to head up to Kelseyville. We knew we'd be seeing them the next night so we called it a day and the 4 of us headed to my house in San Francisco. Once we got home, Wooby and Aline met MISTER, my dog. Van had met him a couple of weeks ago when he and I went to see Sigur Ros at the Fillmore. We stuck Van on the couch with Mister and let the salty ocean air pull us all into a deep slumber. Amazing day.