Dan hanging out with Cat Country 98.1, narrowly misses Dierks Bentley

Well yesterday was an interesting day for myself and the Banner, as I spent most the afternoon hanging outside Showcase Live in Foxboro with hopes of running into Dierks Bentley, who was playing a show there.
After a couple of hours, some nice conversations with Dierks fans, and a lot of patience...it didn't pay off. Without a ticket to the show, I had to head home, a little dejected. I did make a last ditch effort on my way out, stopping by Dierks' tour bus and asking the crew member there if there were any way I could snag a pic with Dierks. Well come to find out, both he and the girl - Brit - he directed me to (who I believe was Dierks' assistant) were certainly willing to help me out, but it was too close to show time and Dierks had interviews etc to do, and so I couldn't get a picture then. I even thing my charm worked enough that Brit was going to hook me up with a meet & greet pass if I found her inside later! One problem, I didn't have a ticket to the sold out show. And come to find out (because she told me), had I asked her earlier in the day and not so close to doors opening she probably would have been able to help me out and I would have gotten my picture. So as I patiently waited all afternoon in the hopes of a glimpse of Dierks and watched her walk back and forth from the bus 4 or 5 times, if I had just asked I would have gotten my meeting. Quite frustrating, but you live and learn, next time I'll ask A LOT sooner.
The day would look up though. I had a lovely little chat with the team on site from Cat Country 98.1, they were super nice, and my charm must have worked again because one of them gave me a free ticket to the show - thanks again!!! And they were nice enough to take a picture with Danny in front of their display and with their mascot, Jake.The show was awesome, I even got a Dierks guitar pick! While I didn't get the pic I wanted with Dierks, I did get a great pic with the Cat Country people, and I feel pretty good that if sometime down the road Dierks rolls back into town, I'll finally be able to get my pic.

Eric Church meet Dan the Banner

Add another country singer up to Dan the Banner, and once again Patriot Place is the place to be with Dan. On a day that included witnessing a 54-0 shellacking the BC football team laid on Northeastern, the highlight of the day had to be the Meet & Greet with Eric Church I was lucky enough to win through Cat Country. Of course, I had Danny in tow, and though it took a little bit of convincing to let me get Danny by security into the venue - I just happened to leave out having metal support pipes for the banner in the bag - it was about time for my cousin and I to meet Eric. To be quite frank, the whole ordeal wasn't exactly handled efficiently, but in the end alls well that ends well, so can't complain too much.
In line waiting for my turn, I was a little rushed trying to but Danny's stand together, but along the way I actually ran into a guy with the venue running the meet & greet who I had chatted with when Chuck Wicks was in town, so he knew the story of the banner and made it a little less rushed trying to get Danny together. I ended up being last in line to meet Eric - and had to wait a little bit of time for my turn as two completely trashed 20-something yr old girls were busy hanging on Mr. Church in a groupie-esque flirt while his subtle attempts to finish the conversation and shoo them off were in vain.
Time finally came and I got to meet Eric Church! He was really cool, seemed really laid back, was happy to take a picture with Danny mouthed a big - yet inaudible "WOW" - when I explained the shortened version of the banner. He took a pic, which wasn't the best ever because the lighting was a little tough, and nicely signed the back. It was pretty funny during our short convo that the first question he asked about Danny was how tall he really was, and laughed when I informed him he was only about 5'9", as opposed to the 7 ft banner. All in all it was a great encounter, always happy to add to the Danny collection. And of course, big thanks to Cat Country 98.1 for hooking up the meet & greet!!

The show was great, the crowd was CRAZY!!! Everyone was really really into the show, mostly a young 20-ish crowd, and the enthusiasm definitely made Eric get really into the show. I didn't actually know most of his stuff going in, and to be quite honest a lot of it sounded pretty similar, but it was a really good show. And he stayed up there for a while!
Stay tuned for upcoming adventures for the banner, Billy Ray Cyrus is coming in town in about a week, and I can't promise I won't scope out the venue to see if there's a banner-pic opportunity.

- The Banner Keeper

Mission: Accomplished!!

I did it! Got the picture of Danny with Chuck Wicks that I was hoping I'd be able to get while he was in town to perform at Showcase Live tonight. How nice it is to accomplish a goal! haha. It definitely was a lot easier than I thought it would be, the tour bus pulled right up in front of the venue with the equipment trailer and Chuck eventually came out and mingled with me and the couple other people that were there. I got to chat for a minute with one of the guys helping haul equipment, really nice guy. He came over to ask about Danny - I guess 7 foot banners draw attention -and said it was really cool what I was doing. The one thing that was kinda strange was that neither the equipment man or the girl I chatted with a little also waiting to get a picture with Chuck seemed too impressed when I said I got a picture with Tom Brady. Come on people...TOM BRADY!!! Anyway, Chuck was great, very willing to take a picture with Danny and it came out great. Plus, he has the privilege of being the first person to take a picture of Danny's banner post-getting wings. Great pic, great accomplishment, and looks like Patriot Place has once again come through for me in my Danny endeavors!