Tyler Hilton (some of you may know him as Chris Keller from One Tree Hill) was playing a show at Los Angeles’ The Hotel Café, and I was excited to go. You see, usually all the random people that I like end up playing these small venues in places like LA or NYC, and I never got to go because I was in Missouri (and nobody plays cool little shows there). But that’s all changed! Now I can go to my cool little indie shows and be happy.
Tyler was awesome. He sounded awesome, and he definitely looked awesome. Through all the technical difficulties, Tyler stayed smooth. In true performer fashion, he just went with it. He really enjoys music and enjoys playing live for people, and that’s really evident in his performance. And I think that’s something that the industry is missing. Nowadays, people are only in for the fame, or fortune. There aren’t that many artists out there who are in it just for the joy of music.
Tyler Hilton, last song of the night- "Loaded Gun." Be sure to check out his new album out in April!
Also, last night I had my first celebrity encounter. It was great and awful all at the same time.
Here’s how it happened: I was walking down the sidewalk on my way to The Hotel Café (after it took me like 30 minutes to find it and park), and this cab is stopped on the side of the road. As I walk by none other than Chelsea Kane and Stephen Colletti get out onto the sidewalk next to me. WHAT!?
I remember Chelsea from my Jonas Brother days (when she was known as Chelsea Staub). She played Stella Malone on their short-lived Disney Channel show JONAS. (It was totally normal to hear anyone in my family randomly shout STELLLLLLA, at any mention of the Jonas Brothers during this time.) And I was also Team Chelsea when she was Mark Ballas’ partner on Dancing with the Stars. It’s the only time I’ve ever watched, or cared, about that show. (Side note: I still think she got robbed. She was clearly the best dancer. It just goes to show that even when you’re a famous celebrity, winning is still not based on skill, but a on popularity. I mean seriously, I love Kirstie Alley, but Chelsea was definitely better than her.) And now, of course she has also joined the cast of my beloved One Tree Hill as the evil Tara.
And Stephen I’ve always known as Chase Adams, bartender extraordinaire, from One Tree Hill. Yes, I know he was on Laguna Beach, but I never watched that show, so I never had a pre-Tree Hill opinion about him. And as far as I’m concerned he is Chase Adams.
Anyways, they got out of the cab and were walking right in from of me. And then, I ended up in line right behind them (yes, they waited in line to get in just like everyone else – no special treatment). They and their friend were talking amongst themselves and I didn’t want to be rude and interrupt them, so I just kind of stood there, all awkwardly. Then Chase – eh, um, Stephen – walked off to check something…and that was my opportunity. I tapped Chelsea on the shoulder and asked her if I could get a picture. She was very gracious. I tried to take the first picture, but it turned out blurry, so we had someone else take the second one. She was super nice and totally adorable. Then Stephen came back, and once again they kind of kept to themselves (which I’m not saying as a bad thing, I’m just pointing out that it made it kind of hard for me to attempt to talk to them).
That's me and the very adorable Chelsea Kane.
The whole time I’m texting people (Kendall and my friend Sam mostly because I know they will appreciate the situation most, and they are awake…plus my mom, since she’s a huge One Tree Hill fan now) and trying to figure out a way to talk to Chase/Stephen without being rude. And then, by some stroke of luck, this other group walked up, like 4 or 5 people that they knew, and then they all became a bit more open. Chelsea and Stephen stepped back towards me a little and opened up a little more, and that was my chance! I told Stephen that I didn’t want to be rude, but that I was sort of a big One Tree Hill fan (awkward!), and I asked him if we could get a picture and he said absolutely! He was very nice about the whole thing. Chelsea took the picture for us and then that was that. They were both very nice, I think we were probably friends in a past life.
That'e me and Chase – eh – Stephen Colletti.
So that was the good part. There are three bad-ish parts to this story.
#1: Sophia Bush was there and I didn’t see her. I didn’t even know she was there until I got home and she had tweeted about the show and posted a photo. And, based on her picture, she had to be standing like 3 feet away from me. So that kind of sucks. I didn’t even know she was in LA. It would have been awesome to meet her! Plus, if she was there who knows who else could have been there…if James Lafferty was there and I ever find out I missed him, I will go throw myself off a bridge. No questions asked.
#2: I know that Bryan Greenberg is in town, and he’s like my favorite! Seriously, I adore this guy. He said he was in LA, and yet, he wasn’t at the show (as far as I know. But trust me, if he had been there, I would have known). I’m sure somewhere down the road he will (hopefully) play some shows in LA and I’ll get to go, but I was just really hoping to see him play with Tyler last night. I was hoping for a recreation of Wonderwall (like last fall in NYC), but no such luck!
#3: It was one of those awkward fan encounters I never wanted to be! One night I sat for like 4 hours and watched Youtube videos of celebrity-fan encounters, and there seemed to be two extremes. The crazy fan-girl: sobbing, screaming, being pushy—no body likes that girl. And then there is the awkward fan, and that one is pretty self-explanatory, the fan is just super awkward – every one feels sorry for that girl. And I feel like that was me last night. I hope that it didn’t come across that way to them (it probably did), but I felt really awkward. I just don’t know how to function when I meet famous people (probably because I’m from Missouri and we don’t have famous people there). I never want to be rude to them or like, invade their privacy, but at the same time, I know that I would be so mad at myself when I got home if I didn’t say something. So there is the dilemma. I don’t want to be rude, but I also don’t want to hate myself either. Hopefully, with time I will to be a bit more comfortable and the awkwardness will be gone, but until then it looks like I have become my worst nightmare.
The awkward fan.
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