Meeting Ben and Jack

When I lived in New York I was on benharper.net boards frequently. He was on tour at the time and I was always calculating how far it would be to drive to the different places he was playing. Because I was in the Americorps and making $15 a week, buying a concert ticket was a stretch and paying for gas to drive for hours was nearly impossible. My luck changed when it was announced that Ben and Jack would be on Last Call with Carson Daily. FREE tickets!! A girl from .net offered to give me her extra ticket so we agreed to meet outside the studio. I didn't see her when I got there so I got in line anyway. I started talking to the folks behind me who were a cute little high school/college age couple from Texas. They had no idea who ben nor jack were...they were just being tourist....wanted to sit in on a tv show. They offered me their extra ticket and since the other girl was no where in site, I accepted. The luck continued on....a production assistant came up to us and pulled us from the line brought us around a corner where several other people were standing and waiting. He told us that we would be on the front row. HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?!
We went in and Carson interviewed Magic Johnson and Tom Green and that was cool but the best.....Ben and Jack played. In between the interviews with the above and the music, they swapped out stages so the people on the front row had to walk from one stage to the "band stage". We were told to leave all purses, jackets, etc behind.
Ben and Jack played Take My Hand; Well, well, well; Satisfied Mind; Wicked Man; and There Will Be a Light. I was SO close to them...I couldn't resist. So I said to him(Ben) during a break for commercial that life was a little more complete now, how he was a huge inspiration to me and he asked me where I was from and I said Alabama. Then it was back on air for another song or two. Then break again and HE asked, "Did you come all the way from Alabama for this?" And I said no, that I had been living around the local area for the past few months. Another song. The show came to an end. He came over and hugged me. It was the coolest. I asked him if he could wait a second while I went and got my camera (remember we had to leave all of our stuff on the other side of the studio). He said he would but by the time I got back they had already shoved them off stage. After the show I was out in the streets calling everyone I know telling them I had just met Ben and guess who I run into....Jack Johnson(coming out of the studio)! He took photos with me and this other random guy who had been at the show. Apparently he thought we were a couple and joked that he was in between us in the photo (see below). He said that he was originally a fan of Ben (before they started playing together) and how every time they (Jack and his wife) got their picture taken with Ben, he (Ben) would get right in between them.
I also saw Ben's wife with their baby. I waited and waited and waited but no Ben. Oh well, at least I have the one photo to remember that cool moment in life:)

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Wish I could do it over again. I wish I could have told him how inspirational his music was to me. Lyrics like "you must do the heaviest, so many shall to none...if you listen close to what you see you will hear the call (Jah Work)" and songs like Give a Man a Home and Excuse Me Mr. inspired me to do the very thing I was doing....working with street kids (listening to the call). Wish I could have told him that he helped me believe in a better world, helped me have faith that the oppressed WILL rise up and take what is theirs; encouraged me to keep trusting in God even when I would hear and see things (from those kids at the shelter) that were so horrific, so senseless that I wanted to turn and run back to my sheltered world down south; how he instilled in me the ability to put others first (alwaysalwaysalways it's not about me). For these and so many more...I wish I could go back and do it all again.