Emory and Henry College Sadie Hawkins Dance

We played our first Sadie Hawkins dance tonight at Emory and Henry College. :)

It was a BLAST! There was a DJ to get the kids dancing for a while before we took the stage. When David took the stage to open the show.... we were all a tad nervous about the fact that these kids came to DANCE. It's a completely different mindset to play a show as an artist rather than as a "provider of dance music". But we went with it.

Turns out... the students? Couldn't have asked for a better group! When David started, they all left the dance floor... grabbed chairs from the tables, and set the chairs on the dance floor to sit and listen!!! SO COOL! And then when I came out, they all started moving the chairs back and started dancing to the full band. We had so much fun. And I even got out on the dance floor with them during "This Time". There was a couple in front doing an awesome dance to my song. I hopped down... started doing the step with them, and within seconds the ENTIRE dance floor was all doing the same step! It was just like a movie!!!!

Emory and Henry College has a beautiful campus. And we were playing on a lawn, under a giant white tent... again.... just like a movie. I have always thought parties under tents looked so classy and fun. :) And now I've gotten to play in one.

Some of my fellow dancers:








After the show, we were excited because we heard that a Huddle House shared the parking lot with our hotel. That made dinner a really easy choice. Ummm.. that is until we walked into the Huddle House and they said - sorry!!! Grill just closed. Midnight -2am only thing available is biscuits, gravy, and waffles. Well... on to iHop 20 minutes away...

Turns out, it was well worth it. David got pancakes filled with nuggets of cheescake. Panther got a country fried steak, eggs, and pancakes.... And by the end the guys were making the syrups talk to each other. What does that mean? I have no idea, and I was there....
LOOK AT THAT MEAL!


Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Pied 3 guys, Played 2 Shows, 1 Day of Awesome

We played 2 shows in Virginia today and they were BOTH at beautiful campuses on a beautiful day, lots of awesome bands, and we worked with WONDERFUL students at both!!!

Some of the awesome things that happened today.


It was the first time anyone ever came up to me in the middle of a show and said "Hey, I love you guys! Will you pie me in the face?"

Yeah...

I pied not 1, not 2, but 3 guys in the face. :)




As a result, I spent the beginning of soundcheck at the second show cleaning pie off my fiddle. :) There was some left on my fingers when I started playing "Devil Went Down To Georgia" oops...

A professor at Lynchburg College gave EXTRA CREDIT to any of his students that came to the show tonight.

Seriously. That happened.

At first I assumed we was a music teacher or something since he was so supportive. But nope. Business of Law. He told me he had been playing videos of mine from Youtube at the first 5 minutes of class for weeks now to promote the show. He saw posters, looked up the music and became a fan.

And to add to Professor Kelbaugh's awesomeness... he's retired from the CIA, and he gave me a CIA pin at the end of the show!!! What an honor. He said that the show touched him and that he wanted to show his appreciation.


Lynchburg College had the most amazing group of hula hoopers I have ever seen. If a "hula hoop" team existed... these girls would ALL be on it. They were doing tricks and flips with hula hoops that I have never seen before. It was quite impressive. I'm pretty decent at hula hooping... but the normal, stale way. I was too intimidated to get out there today!

We had a capella groups open for us at BOTH shows today! Not something that has ever happened before and then it coincidentally happened at BOTH shows. At Longwood.... it was an excellent student group from the school. And then tonight at Lynchburg it was Ball in the House - HANDS DOWN the best a capella group I have ever heard!

We FINALLY met Llyod Dobler Effect (as well as Ball in the House) tonight! They both played the show with us at Lynchburg. It was ARI-FEST 2010! :) We are all 3 with the same agent. And I feel like I know Llyod Dobler Effect because our posters are always hanging next to each other's in venues. And finally today we got to play a show together!!!

Plus, Ohio Avenue, Saving Jane, and Sister Hazel were some of the other bands at Longwood earlier today at the first show! We met Ohio Avenue 2 days ago at NGCSU. :) So cool to see them again. :) We have met such cool people lately! I wish we could spend more time with them, but it's awesome to just continue crossing paths.

Dangit! I don't know what is up with my internet not letting me upload pics lately... :( I keep trying and apparently 3 is my limit tonight. But yet again... as soon as the internet starts working, I'll have pics up on facebook!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

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 Rock The Pink Socks

We just got back from bowling again on base! :) So fun. We had the whole place to ourselves. After some good ole Mean Gene's Chicken fingers and garlic cheesy bread (and of course cookies)... the guys filled up their pitchers and we hit the lanes. I didn't win any games this time... but I think I took the award for best outfit.

PINK SOCKS!


We played TWO shows today. One from 2:30-4 and again from 6-7:30. I was told that two of the commanding officers took the red-eye flights back to get back in time to see us play. How COOL is that?!?! They had some of the most fun inflatable games and water slides at the event. And all the guys were hilarious. I can't repeat some of the things said to me. Well... I guess I could but I don't want to.

The whole band signed a tailgate today!!! I have some awesome video of that.... have to put that up VERY soon.

I also signed my first golf ball. Whole band wouldn't fit on the golf ball!! But it's from Jamaica :)



This sweet boy, Chris, says he's gonna be the next Nashville Star! :) I believe him, too. Look at how awesome he is! Every time I looked at him from stage, he would get the sweetest and biggest smile on his face. Priceless.


And we had a princess ballerina at the show, today, too! She was bustin out all kinds of beautiful pleas and arabesques :)


Krystle took care of my merch table for me all day!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!


Neva took care of us and helped us out ALL day. You're the best!


We met and hung out with so many awesome people today!















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