Kimberly played some other crowd favorites. She dedicated Murder Ballad to me which I felt VERY honored. I didn't cry this time during it but still enjoyed it immensely.
..little did I know that this would be the last song of the show that my face would be dry for.
So when she finished singing Murder Ballad, Kimberly said "I am going to play something new that I haven't ever played before and it's very personal to me."
and then...
Kimberly
started
to
cry.
she continued to talk through her tears and wavering voice and said something that was so beautiful: "Have you ever...(sniff, wipes tear)...loved somebody so much....that when they died...you wish they'd haunt you?" and she wiped tears from her face, shakes her head, and begins to sing in the most beautiful emotional voice...Resurrection.
Me=bawling.
The minute she started crying I felt the burning in my eyes and by the time she started singing, I mean I was CRYING FOR REAL. Almost sobbing really. I was like shaking. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever heard her sing anything. So real, So from the heart. Vulenerable. And I love that not only can she be a badd ass-tough-murderess-slapping boys-rockstar, but she can also be a lost girl, full of a sensitive, romantic heart and not afraid to show her pain onstage. A real human being in a world full of such fakes and two facedness. No, not her, she is real. And I suppose I was crying not only because of her and the sound of her voice but also because if she was crying in front of me, I guess I felt permission to cry in front of her. Seeing her play that epic guitar solo that is so amazing was one of the best things she has ever played musically and really let's you know what a REAL guitarist she is.
So after the song, she wiped her face again and then snapped back and smiled brightly and said "ok how about something happy?" Which I think she did an Encore and then went into Fight.
During the guitar solo, all of a sudden...
everything went dead quiet
and dark
darker than the blackest night
a power outage down the whole block
in New Orleans.
Now New Orleans is not a place you want to get caught in the dark and if I had been anywhere else without Kimberly there stuck in New Orleans out in the open street practically I would have been FREAKING OUT. I mean New Orleans is already kind of a dark city so when it went black everywhere I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face and I'm in a crowd of strangers and you think of the hurricane and riots and stuff.
Without missing a BEAT, Kimberly was quiet for about two seconds and in the silence and then all you hear is her say
"shhhhhhhhhhh"
And even in the dark, Kimberly controls the crowd to her whim. All of a sudden everyone is taking out their lighters and mini flashlights and shining them on her. I swear she was GLOWING.
"follow me" she says quietly and jumps of the stage and walks over to the bar where she jumps on top of and sits down.
Her face was aglow in the moonlight coming through the open window and the lighters and that's all I could see.
She begins talking about her last time in New Orleans and that what she was about to sing is a love song and that New Orleans is a truly beautiful city.
And then the moment I had been waiting for.
She sang "New Orleans", just her voice, in a power outage, in the dark, with ABSOLUTE quiet, without even the hum of electricity and you could almost hear crickets outside. Except her voice resonating in the streets which I am sure at that moment is EXACTLY what angels MUST sound like or at least I hope they do. I have never heard her sing it SO beautifully, so passionatley. So perfectly.
and me of course crying during the whole thing. Tears just streaming down my face AGAIN. I can honestly say it was the most BEAUTIFUL moment of my entire life. To even begin to explain it is impossible. But it was very VERY special. And I am so lucky to have been there to experience it like that in a power outage. Lucky for you guys, all of this is caught on film by the amazing Stephen Farias ( and many of the stories I have told during these blogs too).
And as I am writing this I am absoutley getting chills up and down my spine and almost choked up. I can tell you now that EVERYONE who was standing there listening was crying and sniffing when it was over--MEN and women. We were all totaly one right then and I will never hear that song again in the same way, I will always be thinking of that exact moment when I hear her sing it again.
So the show was over after that.
Later, we all played in the dark, entertained by a drag queen with pink hair and a light up pink motorcycle and light up fake gun. Soon Kimberly was wearing the helmet and pretending to shoot everyone with it. We all just continued to party outside in the moonlight until finally I got really tired because I had been awake for 40 hours at this point and only a two hour nap and my brain was saying "Bitch, we are shutting you down. Now."
So Stephen walked with me to the hotel and I fell asleep. The Dolls had a key and came in later but we didn't even hear them, we were exhausted. I can only imagine how THEY felt! They did all the work!
The next morning, The Dolls were going to meet someone at breakfast before they headed out and invited us to come along with us. Which I think was VERY nice of them. Kimberly fixed my hair and I assure you it was VERY rockin. I wore it like that for two days straight. If Kimberly the Queen of Cool says it is cool, then it IS. And I have never been cool, so I quite enjoyed it.
PJ complemented me on a necklace I was wearing, an owl, and I told him that owls were my chosen spirit animal (an animal you relate to that makes you feel stronger when you think of it). Kimberly said her song Flower Face was about a Celtic myth about owls and began to tell me the story. She made sure to include everyone to listen to the story. Soon everyone single one of us were leaning in to hear her tell this amazing story. I can say this without bias, Kimberly is the BEST storyteller I have EVER met. It was like all of a sudden she was onstage again but this time she was just herself and somehow she did her voodoo over us and we were all hanging on every single word. Stephen has film of it and you can see how every one of us is staring at her--mouth open--like completley enraptured. I can barely get people to listen to me for more than a sentence or two so this was very fascinating to me. She's a magnet. A magnet with perfect teeth. :)
After the climatic ending, we all went into conversation. Our table had the best conversation and dynamic and it was the most enjoyable breakfast like a little family. Kimberly went on and on about my and Cobra's talent to the girl they had met for breakfast who was a promoter or something. Kimberly tried convincing me about my abilities and was so complimentary for like 5 minutes. When your hero, the most talented female musicisan and artist you have ever met, is telling you how great you are...what can you say but blush and feel honored! It was the best compliment and honor I know I will ever get in my entire life. And that's what its like to hang out with Kimberly. When you leave her, you feel like YOU'RE the artist, YOU'RE talented, YOU'RE beautiful. YOU can do anything because she will constantly point out your good qualities and not even talk about herself unless you pull it out of her. And isn't that great she can make people feel that way? Isn't a shame that more people don't do that for each other more often, especially the people we call friends?
It was time for them to go, so we said our goodbyes and as they walked away I thought, "Surely that is the coolest girl I will ever meet in my life." And the best part of it is, is that she doesn't even know it.
When we got into our own car to leave, we let Resurrection serenade us out of New Orleans.
And I was happy.
Best birthday EVER.
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