2006-07-17 - 16:37

I love it when a plan comes together

So, I was told (by females, of course) that I was lacking details in my last entry. Although almost anyone who wants more of the story has probably already heard it, I'll write, anyway.

For those who don't know the background, Laurie and I first knew of each other through a couple of posts made on a message board prior to a Dears concert in December 2001. Although we each thought we spotted the other that night, neither of us worked up the nerve to say hi. However, I did take note of her (old) Diaryland site, which I checked into now and again. That brought us to April 2003, when she posted about wanting to see the Dirty Three concert in Montreal but not having anyone to go with.

After I wrote to her about that, we agreed to go see that show together. As luck would have it, we bumped into each other the night before at another Dears concert. Unlike their usual small club shows, on this night they were the opening band for an event at the cavernous Congress Centre, so it was an amazing fluke that I saw Laurie there. The Dirty Three concert the next night still ranks as one of the best concerts that I've ever attended; Laurie and I got along great at it (obviously); and the rest is history.

Flash ahead to this month, which saw Laurie and I picking up full passes for Bluesfest. As usual, most of the interesting acts were at the smaller stages. However, on the first Sunday, we ended up seeing Ani DiFranco on the main stage, which is where we heard about the charity auction for the "best seats in the house." I later found out that in past years, winning this auction let you sit on the side of the main stage during the final act. For this year, though, they built a special section above the stage; meaning that if you won, you got a great vantage point looking down on the band, as well as a private location to see the concert.

This sounded like a cool idea and the price point didn't seem exorbitant. The winning bids for the first couple of nights was less than $300 for the pair of tickets. It's not exactly cheap; but considering that Laurie and I have gone to Montreal several times just to see a show and spent a similar amount of money on concert tickets, bus tickets, a hotel room, and such, it wasn't a crazy amount. Plus, at some point I realized that this would be a unique opportunity to have a private setting in the middle of a concert, which led to the plan. The one band that we planned on seeing together at the main stage was Wilco on Saturday night, so I decided that this was the best chance that I would have to propose. On Thursday, I bought the ring; and then it was just a matter of waiting (and enjoying the rest of Bluesfest, in the meantime).

By the time that we got to the bidding area on Saturday, the top bid was $225, with a minimum increment of 25 dollars. I put down 275, thinking that someone might see 300 as too much of a jump. There was a while to go before the auction closed, so we settled in on the lawn near the auction tent. We saw someone go up and then walk away when the lady held out a pen, so we thought that we might be okay with that first bid. We had been told to stay close for the last ten minutes of the bidding time, so we edged up in time to see a guy arrive in a suit.

This wasn't exactly the right setting or weather (the day reached about 30 degrees and was quite humid) for a normal person to be wearing a suit, so it looked like we might be up against one of those capital fat cat types. Nonetheless, when he moved to 300, I jumped to 350. It turned out that he was just coming from a wedding, hence the suit, and the girlfriend or wife who he planned on taking to the seats wasn't in close enough range for bidding advice. In fact, as he was starting to sign up for a $375 bid, he announced that he couldn't go any higher. Before he had pen to paper, I was already holding up four fingers and that ended up being the winner.

I think that Laurie was surprised that I bid that much but since the original idea to get the seats was hers, she didn't really have a reason to suspect that anything was up. (I read afterwards that one of the bids last year was $3000, which would have led to a change in plans; so I should consider myself lucky.) Right away, we got two (ceremonial) backstage passes that had been signed by the band; and two people whisked us away for the backstage tour. The guy leading the tour was really nice, explaining how everything worked, although I was mildly distracted. We could see Wilco waiting to go on stage, too. The guy explained that the area we would be sitting in had room for eight. Although we'd be the only ones up there for the whole concert, other people, like the band's manager, might come and go.

Given that explanation, I decided that I should make my move as soon as I could. (Hit it and quit it!) After they led us up the stairs, they set us up with two chairs at the far end of the platform, which kept things private. At that point I told Laurie that since we met at a concert, that I felt that this was an appropriate, if uncoventional, venue to ask her to marry me (as I got down on one knee and pulled out the ring and all that). I don't think she heard anything after the first couple of words but she said yes, so that's the main thing.

The funny part was that the lady who was helping with the backstage tour didn't notice what had happened and popped in mere seconds after Laurie said yes, asking what we wanted for drinks. No need to bask in the moment, eh? After that, the show was something of a blur but it was a great time, of course. It would have been a unique night seeing a big concert from that perspective, anyway. As it was, we added another band to the must-play list of wedding music.

I asked Laurie if she ever expected that she'd get a wedding proposal from a guy wearing a New Pornographers T-shirt, a studded leather wristband, and flaming Converse hi-tops; but she didn't seem to object.

So there, that should be enough details for even the most girly of you. And thanks for all the congratulatory wishes.

I'll get back to my regular Bluesfest updates soon, including a rave review required for last night's performance by the New Pornographers.

J.