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.

WHO WENT