Sooo...we went to get in line at Tower this morning. My friend Frank and I got there at 7:30 and to our surprise [well, not really], there were already about 30 people in line. So, we stood around for a while and soon bracelets were handed out, even though they weren't supposed to be distributed till 12 [according to the sign in the window]. I met some ppl from Netphoria who I knew somewhat but most of them weren't from there. I met spaceboye [AKA Kyle] and Candy who gave me some letters to give to Billy. She came looking for me, found me, and we talked about stuff like the Edge show and how she met a ton of cool ppl up north. Then she had to leave so my friend and I just sat around in line talking about how excited we were to finally -after all these YEARS- meet the Pumpkins.
We sat around till about 3 o'clock when everyone finally stood up, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the band. It wasn't an hour till signing but everyone was still completely energized as if they were going to meet the band in 5 minutes. So my friend and I stand in line till about 3:30 when my mom comes over with one of the Pumpkins' security guards and calls me out of the line. I knew at that moment that this had something to do with my little note to Billy I had written the day before. The guard then tells me he wants to see the tape [he said he recorded it with Billy or something but his name was Tommy] and goes "Hmmm...maybe I wrote some of this." He then looks at it completely by taking the card out and the tape and goes "Well, that's it. This is real...it's Billy's writing." The guy then tells us to follow him and leads us to the line where the contest winners were. He told us to wait there and I thought he was going to let us in first or something but a few minutes later, he told us to come with him to the back of the store. My friend, mom and I then followed him and then he told us to wait outside the door until a few things cleared up and then he would let us in. He knocked on the door and it opened with none other than James talking on his cell phone! lol It was weird watching him like, talking RIGHT THERE in front of us. He held the door for the guy by leaning on it and my friend [who *loves* James] was like, "Oh. My. God." His mouth literally fell to the floor. He told me to kick him back into line whenever he did something like that so I did. hehe The guy went in and the three of us stood around for a few minutes more and then the guy opened the door and told us to come in. We all walked in and looked around. It was just the backroom of Tower Records but the Pumpkins were *somewhere* back there.
The guy then motioned me to go to this room off to the right hand side...I walked in to see none other than Jimmy, Melissa and BILLY in there! I was greeted by Billy near the door where he said "Hi, Jennifer" and then extended his hand for a handshake. I shook it and I told him "Hi, nice to meet you." I put down some stuff I had taken in to give to the band [4 drawings, a lily for Billy, a box of Twinkies, and his Marked tape] on a chair that was in front of me. I was in some shock but not enough to knock me out. There I was in this tiny, tiny room [probably no larger than my bedroom] with the ppl who meant the most to me outside of my family. It was the weirdest feeling *ever*. My mom said "Look, she brought you a box of Twinkies." He then laughed and said "Aw, I don't eat those anymore," patting his stomach. After that, Billy then started to ask about the tapes and where I got them and who had them. I told him that I bought them on e.bay and they were [I was guessing] tapes he had given to an ex.girlfriend who then gave them to a friend. He then asked if he could see the tapes and so I took one out of my pocket and gave it to him. He looked at it in awe and goes "Oh wow, this is the *original*!" He looked at it for about a minute and Jimmy goes "Hey Billy, is Spiteface on there?" and Billy told him "No." I then told him that Spiteface was on the other tape I had so I took off my backpack to look for it inside.
My mom told me to put it on the chair so it would be easier to look through and I couldn't find it. She then helped me look for it too, and took out a stack of CD's I had in my backpack. She handed them to Billy, saying "Can you hold these for a second?" and he goes "Sure." So, she gives him the CD's and I'm like "Oh no...I have some bootlegs in there...oh my God..." but I didn't tell her at the time. I got kind of freaked out that she handed all the CD's to him. Anyway, Billy then got my stack of CD's and was like, looking through them. My Tori Amos single was on the top of the stack then my Man on the Moon soundtrack and then came the bootlegs... Billy saw my 4.23.99 CD in there from Spreckels in San Diego. He looks at me laughing and goes "How's the quality on this one?" and I just must've turned SOOO red and I go laughing "Uh, it's good." I was so embarrased. Then he goes thru the rest of them and spots a show I had from December of '99 and picks it out and sees the cover I made for it. It has one of the new Machina era pictures of the band on it and also the new SP logo. He then started laughing even more and looks at Jimmy, shows him the CD and goes "Hey, check it out! She's already got some of the newer stuff!" Then Billy, Jimmy and Melissa all laughed.
Finally I say to Billy "I think I forgot your other tape. I'm sorry." He then tells me it's ok and that he'll send a FedEx guy out to my house tomorrow to pick it up. He then asked me how much I paid for the tapes and I can't remember if I told him or not but he then said "Whatever you paid, I'll pay you double the amount." He then said "Here, take this" and took out $200 from his pocket. I told him I didn't really want the money, I just wanted my guitar signed. My mom was then saying that it was okay if we just got $100 because I was only giving him one tape at the time and we wanted him to make sure that we weren't going to rip him off. He then said that he trusted me but I told him I don't want that much so he gave me $100 [not like I'm going to spend it anyway ;)]. My mom then [sort of jokingly] told him "Aren't you going to give her a kiss? That's what she really wants" and he goes "Oh yeah, sure, definitely." Then Billy told Jimmy "This is it!" and like, raised the tape in the air and then stuffed it into his pocket.
Billy then told me "Thanks, angel" and kissed me on the right cheek and gave me a hug! :) He then said "Wow, she is like, in the Pumpkins Gold Club. I swear, this is like...I'm bowing down to you" and he did that little bow down thing to me about 3 times. hehe Afterwards he said "You don't know how much this means to me...this is the highlight of my entire day." I then told Billy I brought him a lily and he said "Wow, thank you" and smelled it. My mom jokingly told him that he better not give it to Yelena. Billy then laughed and said "Oh no, I won't. This is mine." After that, Jimmy noticed the drawings that were on the chair because his was on top. They were all framed and Jimmy says something like "Hey, is that for me?" and I told him "Yeah, I made this for you" and I handed it to him. He said "Ah, that's cool. Thanks a lot. I like it." I told him he was very welcome. I then got the other drawing I did of Melissa and told her I drew this for her. She was like, "Wow, thank you. This looks nice" and my mom explained to her the fact that I didn't have many new pictures of her so it was hard to find one. However, Melissa went "Oh, this is great, it's that one really cool picture from that Rolling Stone review." She was like, "Thanks a lot" and I shook her hand. She was REALLY, REALLY super nice. I then got Billy's drawing [http://www.angelfire.com/bc/billycorgan17/billycollage2000.JPG] and told him "I drew this for you, I want you to have it." I then took the drawing out of the protective covering it was in and showed it to him. He said "Thank you, I like it a lot. That's really good," and looked at it for about a minute. I then gave him back the covering ["good idea"].
James wasn't in the room at the time but I wanted to give him his drawing and they told us he was on the phone at the moment but he should be back soon. hehe Anyway, Billy then said that his security guy was going to take my name, address, phone # and e.mail address. Billy said "You have no idea how much this means to me" and then gave me another hug but this time I really hugged him back for about 10 seconds. I then went into the other room to write my info down for the guy and gave it to him and he told me that a FedEx guy would come by to pick up Billy's other Marked tape tomorrow. After I gave him the address and he told me what was going to happen, James finished talking on the phone and my mom goes "Hey James, my daughter wants to give you something she did for you." He then walked over to us and was like "Hey" and so I told him "I drew this for you and I want you to have it." He then looks at the drawing and then goes "Ah, that's great. Thanks." I then told him it was nice to meet him and I put my hand out to shake his hand. His handshake was not too firm and his hand seemed kinda small and frail for some reason. He had his head down a lot and wouldn't look at us too much but he then goes "So, you guys wanna take pictures?" and my friend [who I repeat *loves* James] said "Okay!" and they both stood next to each other while my mom snapped 2 pictures of them. I then traded places with Frank and she took a picture with me and James. Then my mom was saying something about how my friend is such a big fan of his, just as I am with Billy. My friend then made a comment [he was too shocked to really say anything] about how our love for the both of them levels each other out so he could let James know how special he was to him. lol I don't know, it was something like that but it made James laugh and that made Frank's day.
After that, Billy walked over and said "You wanna take a picture, right?" and I was like, "Yes." My mom told him how much I really liked his hat and I'm always wondering where he got it from...he then took the hat off and placed it on my head! He then put his arm around me and took 2 pictures with me wearing it. He told me I couldn't have it though. :) After that, he asked me where my guitar was so he could sign it but I told him it was in my parents' car. I told him I would run over and get it but he said he would sign it afterwards [go to the back of the store again] because they had to get into the store to go sign right away. So he was starting to walk off and he turns around again and tells me "Thank you, angel," shakes/grabs my hand, and winks at me. He then walked off towards the store entrance from the back and Melissa comes by me and goes "I'm sorry I only have one but I suppose you and Frank can share it" and she hands me one of her guitar picks! It's white with the new SP logo on the front and her initials " x Madm x " on the back [you can see scans here: http://www.angelfire.com/bc/billycorgan17/pickfront.JPG + http://www.angelfire.com/bc/billycorgan17/pickback.JPG].
I don't know where James and Jimmy were but I didn't see them when they left for the entrance. My friend, mom and I then walked thru the store on one end while the Pumpkins entered thru the aisle on the other end. Some ppl were yelling at them from the front door while they strolled along thru the aisle to the front of the store. On their way over, they were looking at magazine covers and stuff. Anyway, the three of us then exited thru the front door and went to the back of the store to wait for an hour while they signed autographs. People were gradually coming out of the store after getting their stuff signed and soon came to the back where the band would leave in their vans. After the hour was up, I was wondering if they would call me into the back or just sign my guitar outside. I then stood there right by the door and one by one, they all came out. James was first and he did a little wave to all the ppl who were there and then got in the van. Jimmy came out next wearing sunglasses [and a hat I think] and he waved at everyone too. Then Melissa came out with a camera in hand to take a picture of everyone outside. She saw my friend and I standing right there and she said "Oh, hey! Thanks! I'll see you guys later!" to us and waved bye. Then Billy came out of the door and did this little "Rocky"-type thing where he put his hands in the air and put his right foot forward. Everyone cheered for him and took his picture like that. He then saw me and gave me another hug and I gave him a kiss. He then asked where the marker was so he could sign my guitar but ppl were pushing forward so his bodyguard told him to get into the van. Billy then told me to follow him so he could sign it in the van where the ppl couldn't "attack" him [hehe] and he sat down on the seat and asked for the marker. He said it was going to be kind of hard to get the others to autograph it and asked if it was okay if he just autographed it and I told him that would be fine. He uncapped my silver marked and signed in big letters on my guitar: "Billy Corgan [circle with a 2 or a Z in it] Rock On." He then said "Thank you so much, sweetheart" and shook my hand again and I gave him an envelope Candy told me to give to him. He said "Thanks" and I asked what brand his hat was. He didn't hear me at first so I asked again and he goes "I don't know" and they closed the door to the van. After that, everyone was all over the van, knocking on windows and stuff and security literally had to push some ppl away because they were blocking the van.
Contrary to popular belief, I did not go with them to Phoenix. lol I don't know where *that* theory came from but anyway, that was my complete adventure. Well, not completely complete but I think those were the main highlights and this is long enough as it is. :) I hope Billy enjoys his tapes and I am glad I gave them back to him. My friend had asked him how long it's been since he's seen his tapes and he told him that it had been 2 years.