California, Part 2

We were tired after our early morning plane ride and then rehearsal.  The Rowberry's hadn't checked into their hotel yet, so we made that our next destination.  We were there for the better part of an hour, chilling in the lobby because the hotel had lost our reservation.  However, once things were sorted out we headed up to the rooms, dropped of a trunk-load of suitcases and proceeded to the famous Trader Joe's for some healthy groceries.  We were hungry yet again.

The first thing that greeted us was this spooky guy.  While I'm sure he had something valuable to offer the people of California, I was a little startled by his sunscreen and sunglasses combo.  He had the appearance of an undead pirate.  I wondered if everyone in Trader Joe's would be this odd.

They weren't.  Just a few steps ahead of this guy the management placed this lovely sign.  Good ol' Joe's.

To say it was crowded would be an understatement, and adding a pack of Rowberry's probably only increased the congestion.  But to deny us the experience would have been sinful, so we filed inside and ohhed and ahhed over the goodies presented to us.

We packed up our fleet with the groceries and headed back to Linda's apartment where a mass chaos of cooking, eating, and overall friendly conversation ensued.  It felt so wonderful to be there, basking in the love of that family.  After dinner we retreated to the office to begin a second round of rehearsing.  It was very late when we decided to call it a day.  Our voices were tired, but we had definitely made a lot of progress.

The Rowberry's picked up there personal belongings and headed back to their hotel.  Paul and I stayed at the apartment, thanks to Linda and Justin's generosity, who gave us their bed for those two nights.  Even the excitement of the following day couldn't keep us awake for long; mere moments after our heads touched those pillows we were deeply asleep.

I felt rather calm the next morning.  I got up early, took a hot shower, played with Fat Larry, and aired out my clothes for the show.

Linda was sweet and made enough scrabbled eggs, veggies, and toast for all ELEVEN of us.  It was so wonderfully buttery and delicious.  With food it our tummies any nerves seemed to settle, and the mood was light and exciting.

When every one was ready to go we loaded up the fleet and headed down to NBC Studio 11 where The Tonight Show is filmed.  We were instantly taken to our dressing rooms.  Wanting to capture the moment every soul with a camera began video taping the dressing room.

Silliness lasted for a minute or two before we were whisked away to the set for our sound and lighting checks.

That was where that I captured my illegal video of the Tonight show set.  I would post it here for an exclusive look, but I have a fear of NBC discovering it and suing me for all I'm worth, which isn't really a lot, but enough to feel devastated if taken from me.  Toward the end of my illegal video a set worker came over to inform us that there was no photography on set.  I was unable to get any pictures.  But it was bigger than it looks on TV, that I can say.

After sound check we had lunch at the NBC food court where I spilled orange juice on my white skirt.  Thankfully, there were no close ups of my skirt.  Camera rehearsals followed, and we were encouraged to take a little walk down to Hair & Make-up to get our own little star treatment.  I'd never had a professional "updo" in my hair before and it was quite an exciting experience.  I felt like a princess. (Ignore the possessed look on my face. . .)

 

 Here's a better picture of my hair taken later that night.

Kit got her hair pulled up and was looking very regal.  I'd only ever seen her with her hair down.

Liahna had some star treatment and a full face of make-up.  Because she usually doesn't wear make-up we all gawked at her beautiful face and perfectly smooth complexion.

While waiting for our call to go on stage we sat in our dressing room and sang our parts over and over.  We blended and harmonized and felt confident about our sound.  A lady came to our room and told us it was time.  We crammed ear plugs in our ears and filled out.  Standing beside the bass speakers with earplugs in makes it difficult to hear the people around you.  We were told not to worry because we each had individual mics and could be blended by adjusting each individuals volume.

So we sang our hearts out.  We really did.

And it was a rap.  Jay Leno came over and shook each of our hands and told us we did well, and we were whisked away once again to gather our things and head out for dinner.  Billy was taking us some place special.