Shannon's New Year's Eve at the Whitaker Center and Market Square - Harrisburg, PA - Glenn Hamilton, The Julie Schreiber Band, The Badlees, Martini Bros - 12/31/00

December 31st, 2000

After a fancy dinner at McDonald's (we were running late), my parents and I headed off to the Whitaker Center to see The Badlees. We got there a little after 7 and sat down in our seats, about 5 rows back. At 7:30 after Nipsey (who wore a suit!) from 105.7 the X welcomed us, Glenn Hamilton took stage. Mike Banks accompanied him along with a keyboard player, who amused my parents and I very much. He always had the same expression on his face-the "oooo I'm in pain, I need Exlax" face (sorry for sharing that). Anyway, I thought Glenn Hamilton was pretty good, but it wasn't my type of music. I sort of thought every song sounded the same, but that was probably just me. Other people there seemed to be enjoying it - it seemed like sort of the whole sway-back-and-forth type of music.

Next came The Julie Schreiber Band at 8:15. The guitarist came out all jolly-like, wearing maroon-ish shoes that matched his guitar. Julie walked out with her big hair and silvery um - lack of a top (erm - not that there's anything wrong with that) and pleather pants. The bass player seemed pretty mellow and the drummer wore a grin on his face throughout every song. The crowd seemed to wake up a bit and stomp their feet and do little head nods. Her songs were more upbeat and she sort of acted the songs out in way that kept me entertained. The one song she did was about not changing for a man, and she got all into the part and had the attitude thing down. She reminded me of an angry Alanis Morissette combined with an innocent Jewel and even a wee mixture of Paula Cole. Anyway, she got the audience heated up for the performance they were all waiting for, The Badlees.

Around 9:00, Pete Palladino walked on stage wearing a very cool pink and black outfit. The drummer, Ron Simasek came out with his backwards hat and his usual casual outfit. Bret Alexander was wearing his "normal guy" thing, and Jeff Feltenberger and Paul Smith both had the "I make Amish people look good" outfits going on. Anyway, they played songs from way back, up to their most currently released, including my holiday favorite, Mr. Heatmiser. I was doing my little jigs in my chair, unlike practically everyone else who did the average head nod. The Badlees were very entertaining and they told little stories to go along with some songs and I looked around the oh-so-lovely theater and saw many smiling faces. At one point, the place went dark and they had these crazy flashing lights and everyone around me hid their eyes because they probably thought that they'd have a seizure if they kept looking at them. All of this time, the band could see how the audience was reacting (because the lights weren't bothering them up on stage), and Pete said that we all looked like deer with headlights shining on them, about ready to get hit by a car. That was just a small tidbit that I thought I'd share. All together, their performance was fantastic. My parents really loved them and they said they couldn't wait to see them again.

It was now 11 and there was one more hour until 2001. Of course my mom had to pee (nothing new there) so around 11:10 we headed off to go see the Martini Bros. right outside. The cold air hit us hard when we left the cozy, heated Hilton and I went ahead to go make my way towards the front of the stage to find Melanie. I cut my way through the crowd, saying my excuse-me's and I was surprised that the crowd didn't care that I was cutting my way in front of them, probably because most of them were all too drunk to care.

**see our combined conclusion for the ending**.