Florida Theatre

Well folks, as luck would have we were the ONLY shmlisters at the
Jacksonville, Florida concert. I’ll leave my lurker status (really more
of a smirker, cause some of you just crack me up, Terry + Grantboy to
name a few) to report to everyone about the concert.
Not to leave anything out I’ll recount a little of the journey. We
started out for JAX early in the morning, road tripped for 3.5 hours and
finally reached the venue, the historical Florida Theatre in downtown
JAX. When we left we still hadn’t heard from Liza about the mng and
weren’t sure if we were going to be involved. At will call our ?’s
about the mng were met with the *scooby* look…”no scooby snack for
you, try back L8R.” So we took in some sites checked into the Hilton with
a top-floor view over looking the St. John’s river and the Florida
Theatre. Damn, it doesn’t get any better than this. Or so I
thought….

In the room we listened to the radio station ROCK 105 as they were
doing a live remote at the venue. Since we were only five minutes away
we decided to go down and hang out too. When we arrived we could hear
Sammy doing a sound check and singing my fave off M2M, BSN. Standing
there were a couple of guys with *albums* that Sam had
signed. Again, we checked on the staus of the mng with the will call
ladies.

This time there was someone named Kevin that appeared to be
connected,he was trying to hide his official badge, always a dead
giveaway. I was able to find out that the list was coming down soon.
To make what is turning out to be a very long story short, we were on
the list and received our passes. After what
seemed like an eternity we were led back to a room, not much bigger than
an average-sized bathroom, where there were two other couples. They had
talked their way into this mng because they had a RR Washburn guitar.
We were all very excited and after a short wait Sam came down and began
shaking everyone’s hand.

I was floored by just how young he looked;
must be the Waboritas, cause he looks fab. We graciously let the other
two couples maul him, some people have no courtesy. Chris had to tell
this one chick to STEP ASIDE as she was trying to get her picture taken
with sam and my husband, duh!! My hubby and Sam both yelled “PAM get
over here.” We took a couple of pics then he signed my fave cd’s:
Montrose, Danger Zone, I Never Said Goodbye, and M2M. Sammy asked if
there was anything he could do for ME!!!……. Well, as I was thinking
*hmmmm, I’ve got quite a long list honey how much time do we have*…..
😉 ….. :-0

My husband said “I know it’s not on your set list but her favorite is
Love or Money” So Sammy sang the first riff to us. DAMN, my knees went
weak and I almost passed out.

For those of you who have never heard the *zone* check it out cause LoM
kicks ass!!! Anyway, I digress.

I went on to show him the tribute I had done to commemorate the
occasion: a navel piercing complete with red bead. OUCH. If anyone
tells you it doesn’t hurt is full of shit or was so high they don’t
remember. I’m neither of those and it still hurts two days L8R!!!
Once again I digress….

Sam usually doesn’t have an opening act but a guy named Corey Stevens
was in town and Sam asked him to open. He was pretty good, if you like
your rock on the blue side ala SRV.

Finally after he finished and the
stage was cleared, the Cabo Wabo backdrop in place and the lights
dimmed, Sammy began to wail the into to M2M from behind the curtain.
I was having too much fun to have an exact set list but he played
everything he played in Fort Lauderdale, except the Hand Jive song. He
played Mockingbird instead. “Don’t let sam get bored or he starts doing
crazy shit” SH

Let me tell you this, Sam showed everyone there exactly what he’s
about. The venue only held 2,000 people but Sam told us during the show
that this was the kind of place he liked to play: The acoustics were
great and every seat was a good one. He said this tour wasn’t about
making a gazillion dollars but to have some fun, and give something back
to his fans. And boy did he!!!

He rocked his ass off. Songs like YSH
and LWL are beyond description to see and hear him do them live. THE
MAN IS HOT!!! His voice was literally flawless. The rest of the band was
VERY good that night. Victor made some EVH guitar licks his own, while
Mona drove the BadMotorScooter to new heights. She rocks!!!……

Guess I’ve rattled on enough. Just can’t wait to see you again Sammy.
Thanks Liza, for setting up the mng for such a small group. That just
goes to show you how much Sammy cares for him fans. I KNOW that that is
genuine. I am glad that Sam split from VH, notwithstanding the pain it
caused him, but because he can now express himself in ways that he
wasn’t allowed to within the confines of that group. Can you imagine
any of this happening if it were a VH tour? I know it wouldn’t. Little
Differences…:>)

Anyway, Sam we love you man. Come back soon, you know us Southern girls
love your….everything!

Thanks to Pam for this review.