Lonestar held their fan club party at the Doubletree Hotel downtown. Perfect location for me, as that was where I was staying. It was a breakfast party, starting at 8:00 am.
I arrived a bit before 8:00 and there was a large group of fans waiting to be let into the ballroom. They had a merchandise table set up for fans that wanted to make some purchases, as well.
Right around 8:00 the doors opened and we went in. I was assigned to table 10, which was on the left side, 2nd row from the stage. Not the closest, but not the furthest either. The set up was large round tables seating 10 people, and the centerpiece was a pineapple with fruit on skewers sticking inside. Plus, each placesetting had a small plate of sweet rolls and muffins and the table had butter pads, cream for the coffee and a gravy boat which we decided must be gravy for the biscuits. Of course, it would be long cold by the time our food arrived. There were also two decanters of juice, apple and orange. After a while the waiters came and served us our meal, which consisted of eggs, bacon, sausage, and home fries. I tried one of the skewers, which had pineapple, strawberry and melon. Yum.
Along the rear of the room were several tables containing items that were up for silent auction. You'd write your bid and name on the list and the high bid won. There were many personal items from the guys.. clothing, shoes, signed sheet music, etc. Plus a pair of boxer shorts signed by Richie McDonald that were getting a lot of bids.
At 9:00 am the bidding was closed on the silent auction items and the items were taken out to the merchandise tables where the winners could pay for their items.
Soon after this Lonestar came out and took the stage to start the live auction. The guys were hilarious while doing this. Dean, I guess can do an auction, talking really fast, and he was saying "Let me hear 30, do I hear thirty, how about thirty-five.. make it forty.." etc. really fast.
They talked about the Bowling event that was held on Monday, prior to my arrival. They bowled in teams along with many other country artists, and raised money for St. Jude's Research Hospital. Richie said, "I think we need to make that an annual event," which drew loud cheers.
Richie said Dean is a great bowler, and Dean teased that he majored in bowling at college.
On with the bidding... first up was Keech, who auctioned off a plaid shirt he had wore on the CMA's and one which Country Weekly named him "worst dressed" in their magazine. Richie said, "Yeah, that's cuz he tucked it in." The shirt went for $75.00.
Dean was next, auctioning off a short black jacket with rhinestones on it. He said he wore the jacket during an Opry appearance as a solo artist. He said the announcer announced him as Dean Saoms. This was a fun bid as a mother and daughter were bidding against each other. It eventually sold for $325.00.
Richie was next with a gray suit jacket and pants that he had worn on a Country Weekly photo shoot. He said "It wasn't a cover shoot, unfortunately. Hey, by the way, how come Lonestar has never been on the cover of Country Weekly? I think you guys should all write in and say 'Put Lonestar on the Cover, or we'll cancel our subscriptions.'" The suit went for $350.00.
Michael was next, with a t-shirt he had worn on the back cover of one of their albums. It went for $85.00.
All this time, Dean had made a rule where you have to stand up to place a bid. You can't call it out from your seat. If you don't stand, it's $5.00 more. He enforced this several times, too. :D
Keech was next, auctioning a drum kit that he had used. There were three sizes, and he said you can hang them on your wall, or whatever. They went for $110.00.
Dean had another jacket. This one was more fancy, and he said he wore it when the band won their very first CMA Award. The mother and daughter got into another bidding war, and the jacket ended up selling for $300.00.