My turn came to meet Casey James!

It was a cold and windy gray afternoon. The Casey fans had exchanged info on who would be there so we could meet ahead of the doors opening. We had fun meeting each other; for me everyone was new to meet in person. We stayed in our cars until it was time to stand in line. We could hear soundcheck coming through the building. Finally I heard Casey's music intro and got happy! I heard his voice and knew he had made it there! He had been in LA watching Sugarland tape the American Idol performance the day before. We were admitted and milling around with taped music. It was not very full of people at this point. I heard that Casey was playing pool and went to the back of the football field shaped bulding.
There Casey was playing pool before he went on stage! He was talking to LaDonna a long time! She posed for a photo with him and I toook a photo of her then too. He asked hismanager wasn't it about time for the show to start? He replied to see these two more, and I was next! I showed him two photo/cards which I had brought along from the Casey James fan club Christmas card exchange. He looked at them a few seconds while I told him I was a member of the fan club, then I asked him to initial them. He said Sure! and turned to the pool table and wrote Thank You and his initials on them. I said I watched everything that was posted on youtube and kept up with his family and dogs. Then LaDonna took this photo of us where I looked up at the side of his face. Then I gave him a hug. He had on a blue and red plaid shirt. Tall thin Texan!  No necklace that I could see. Blue jeans and brown cowboy boots. His 3 rings.
After that he played his songs which were rockin' and the band was so good too. I took several photos. A couple were of my new friends getting videos with their phones. I was by the stage edge as he walked off and called out "Do you have a guitar pick to throw?" "What?" he stopped and I asked again. (I had seen him throw picks out at summer tour concerts) He said, "I just have one for the whole night" then he thought a second, dug in his pocket and handed down to me an orange pick. I guess he figured he was done playing for now. He made this fan girl happy! I said thank you sir and he walked offstage.  As I was looking at the pick at the end of Casey's music, I saw the little blue bag in my hand and I thought I'd lost my chance to give it when Casey left the stage. So I asked David to take it to him! He took it!
I thought that might be the end, but happily I was so wrong. He appeared in the crowd and got a LOT of attention. He looked real good. His hair was loose and his eyes were shining. People were flocking to him. A female near me said "WHO is HE?' I simply said Casey James! It was real noisy with music and people talking. Cameras were flashing. There were no lines, no structure of meet and greet. It was fluid and natural. People moved toward him then made way for others.
I also got more time to talk to him while he was playing pool later. I approached him and talked a little, but I hung back around the wall and watched him relax playing pool mostly. I told him I had never gone to a bar before, that was how far I crossed my boundaries to come hear him. He said something about the audience needing to hear the message. I was not drinking. Casey wasn't either. I said I appreciate that you drink water. He said "Always! Where IS my water" and looked around. Quite a few times fans came to meet him and get a photo. I was taking pictures of people I didn't know who were getting pictures with him! Just wanted more shots! One woman hooked her leg up into his left arm to pose! Oh, and he was winning the  pool games too.
 I met David his bandmate and talked to him about the video Sugarland put up. He wanted to know how it had come out as he had not seen it.  Also said a few words to the drummer while he was eating and asked him his name. Someone had brought boxed food to them and they sat in the back corner and ate. Casey threw the trash away. Casey walked around again in the crowd. I could see his bus out the backdoor which was open about a foot. There was a man stationed there to watch the door. Casey was near the door. He had his jacket on because the temperature had gotten cold and windy. He had put his hair in a ponytail by then too.  He greeted some more people, then saw me lingering around and put out his arm to give me a hug. That was neat cuz he initiated it. I asked him when was he going back to Nashville and he said tomorrow. He looked like that was a happy thought. I told him I would come to see him again. It was loud. I don't think he could hear me as I am a  foot shorter than him. Mostly you had to talk to someone's ear! It seemed to me that Casey paid no attention to the other music that was onstage. He walked away into the people and I lost sight of him. I found out he had gone to see Karen and Linda at their reserved table.  Karen had a hurt foot and had to sit all evening so he went to her. Linda took some great photos and helped make the audio feed from her phone. Later he played more pool with a fan. He left the pool area ablout 11:15 and my 2 twitter friends and I left the Whiskey Tango for the night. Casey had not left according to the man at the back door.
So I got 2 hugs, 2 autographs, 3 times to talk, a bunch of photos and then at the end I talked to Todd his manager. Todd is really nice! I told him I had put a DVD of Casey's set from the Charlotte concert in the gift bag I did up for Casey. So Todd said Casey hadn't brought his computer to Kansas City but they would watch it when they got back. I sent a facebook message to Sue who had taken the video in Charlotte and sent me the DVD that I gave to him; she thought that was cool.
  There were 8 women there from twitter/fan club, +2 of their friends.  LaDonna was the one who found out about the event and spread the word. The others of us drove many hours or flew in. my family lives 30 miles from the bar so I got a home visit, but I drove 11.5 hours each way. "I just Like to Drive" There is a strong connection between the fans of Casey James. The number of his twitter followers has been increasing dramatically recently. He has a youtube channel and a website too, all in early develpoment stages. You can go to the Casey James page on facebook too. Look for the photo of the blue plaid shirt and the blue guitar. It is  his official Sony picture.