Belly and Nipple Signings

Tonight we played at Marine Corps Base Quantico which is a major United States Marine Corps training base. It is a huge base that houses over 12,000 military and civilian personnel and is the home of the Marine Corps Officer Candidates School.

There is a very famous anecdote in which a U.S. Army major visited the wounded in a WWI French hospital in 1918. As the story goes, the major asked a young soldier if he was indeed an American. "No sir," he replied, "I'm a Marine."

These Marines today were loud, proud, and VERY ENTHUSIASTIC! We had one of the best shows we have had in a while. The attendance was bigger, and the encore ended up with a few hundred Marines and families screaming and chanting at the front of the stage and making us feel all awesome :)

These guys were cracking me up. One of the guys said he lost his voice singing along with us :) He was quite raspy.


I like belly and nipple signings.

And umm... here was a first... one guy asked me to sign his Parole Officer's business card. Whoa. I didn't ask why he was on parole!


Erik plays the violin!


Lauren knew ALL the words to my songs:


How many Marines does it take to take down a banner?
At least 6.


But when you hang it over 2 beds, and it still hangs over the sides... you can see WHY it took so many! They had quite a few of these plastered around the base, and I was so excited they wanted to give us one!


The Single Marine Program Members that brought us to Quantico and put this whole event together! They did an increible job. The stage was awesome, the RV they had FOR us backstage was awesome, and they really put a lot into advertising. They told us they had been showing my promo video as a preview in their theater before movies on base for weeks! How COOL!


I was their first concert!


Here's just a few more pics, but you can see them ALL on facebook!










Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

I LOVE These Coins!

Tracy Morgan is on SNL right now. And I am laughing so hard. :) I LOVE him. And 30 Rock... And SNL... and the fact that we are done with our show early enough for me to blog during SNL...

The Commanding Officer of the Base came ON stage tonight after we finished our show and got a bit emotional as she thanked us and gave us this beautiful coin. She drove all the way back from South Carolina to make it out for the show!!!



Some of the Baltimore Ravens Cheerleaders opened the show for us. :) YAY!


It was another outdoor event with tons of games, inflatables, a rock wall, face painting, a car show, and lots of vendors.
And this was one of the most awesome inflatable slides I have ever seen!


We had a HUGE RV to hang out in between sound check and the show. And it worked out REALLY well because a pretty intense thunder storm started about 10 minutes after we got off stage. I've never signed autographs so fast in my life!!! The lightening and thunder started before the rain, but it was approaching very quickly. But somehow, I made it through the whole line before the downpour. WHEW!
But I will admit... I was a little sad cause I REALLY wanted to get my face painted after the show.

I signed my first 3 hacky sacks today, though!


And I rode the jerkiest and fastest golf cart I have ever been on today to get over to the fire trucks! It was pretty awesome... felt like a rollercoaster :)








Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

HOORAH

The hotel we are staying in smells really musty. MMmmmmmm.

We are right outside our destination for this weekend - we alternate bases in MD, VA, MD, & VA!

Before we start playing again tomorrow, I better post some of my favorite pics from this last weekend! And I can't wait to get Mamma's pics from the audience perspective!

Halsey. Best model EVER for the pink tees. HOO RAH!

He was also responsible for much of the dancing, beach ball throwing and hand clapping during the show. He was the main instigator - I need him on the road with me to be my Hype-man. My very own Flava Flav :)

Don't worry - I would only sign the t-shirts! No defacing of government property!!!


There were over 200 soldiers rocking out at the front of the stage by the end of the show. It was incredible.


Postcard!


More of America's Finest.







Sunday was amazing, too. In true Gulfport Mississippi form - it was a big ole shrimp boil - complete with a watermelon eating contest. I wanted to get in on the fun... but the contest was RIGHT before show time. I don't think that would have been good for anyone involved.

Grace had to escort our butts around the whole time. We went to ihop after the show, and she even came BACK from her house to drive us back to our hotel on base. Thank goodness. The base was HUGE and we definitely would have gotten lost.


Here's some of the Seabees I met!

I love the expression of the guy on the right:







FRONT ROW!


Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Currency of Awesome

Each base has their own coins... and this would be the coins the Marines gave us in Beaufort, SC.
How Cool!!!