...No Chemistry

So. Flight of the Conchords are my favourite band/comedy duo. It's hard to define them really. I listened to them while I was in labour with the Boss. Their albums are a staple on our family road trips. My merchandise collection started, even though I'd never seen them live. Most ~~people~~ women who are fans of FOTC would fall into one of 2 categories. You either love Bret or you love Jemaine. I fall into the latter. A few months ago news broke that FOTC were bringing their stadium scale tour to Australia I was psyched. They had been here before, but played small gigs off the back of their comedy awards and BBC radio show. Their first show was the Sydney Opera House. We were lucky enough to score tickets, right up the back. Since the show sold out in minutes it was soon announced that they would do a second Sydney show at the entertainment centre the following night. So we got tickets for that too, hoping to get better seats. We got horrible seats again. We had planned to sell the crappier seats, at cost price. A couple of weeks later on the way to drop The Boss off at kindy for the day, Triple J advertised the new issue of it's magazine that was offering an opportunity to meet the band on their forthcoming tour. As soon as I dropped him off I went straight to my local ABC shop to get the mag. "If you're a Flight of the Conchords fan, you'll want to check out our comp for the chance to not only win tickets to their capital city shows but also MEET BRET and JEMAINE!" The competition was a game of skill, answering the question, "Why are you Flight of the Conchords biggest fan?", in 25 words or less. I already had an idea. My plan was to attach a photo as an accompaniment. Basically I wanted to design a t-shirt and have it printed. This was the design.

I was around 12 weeks pregnant at the time, so I knew it would be more obvious at the time of the show.

The relevance of the shirt can be heard here.

"My rhymes are so potent that in this small segment

I made all of the ladies in the area pregnant"

My 25 word entry was: Jemaine's potent lyrics got me pregnant. He won't take my calls- we need to talk.

I emailed this photo along with the entry, just in case. I took it while The Boss was asleep. using an IR remote and a tripod. Anthony wasn't all that enthused by the T-shirt design. I had planned to make him a matching shirt saying "Mutha' 'Ucker", but he wasn't keen.

After a few weeks I found a gem of an email buried between scoopons, groupons, deals and catches. It was from the editor of the Triple J Magazine, Jaymz Clements, in response to my entry.

"Hey there Emily – Jaymz from triple j magazine here. Hope you’re well…

Because you’re our Sydney winner for the triple j magazine Flight Of The Conchords comp!

That’s right – you’ve won. So you score a double pass to the show, and get to meet Bret & Jemaine.

The publicists for the tour will be in touch with all the details and everything, but for now, here’s a massive congrats from us at triple j mag!

Congrats!

Thanks for reading the mag, and enjoy your prize.

Well, judging from your entry, that shouldn’t be a problem."

I have a habit of winning things, nothing major. Just from entering things online and completing surveys. But this could not be topped.

By the time the big night arrived I was pretty excited. We picked up our tickets before the show with instructions to meet the publicist.

I had time to hit the merch stand and since we didn't have to buy the tickets I got the tour t-shirt, limited edition tour poster and their pack of button badges. I had prepared a gift bag each for the guys- each containing an Australiana tea towel, fridge magnet, clip on koalas for their kids and matching Australian Flag umbrella hats. All tongue in cheek.

The promotions girl came out to greet us and take us through a rabbit warren of corridors beneath the Entertainment Centre. I noticed a few dressing rooms as we passed. Along the way we bumped into Arj Barker who smiled and said "Welcome". Jemaine and Bret emerged unexpectedly up ahead, enticing a choice expletive from myself. We were introduced very quickly. I was first in line. Jemaine reached for a handshake, which I accepted then politely kissed him on the cheek. Come on. I was not NOT going to do it. He made a bit of a joke about it and proceeded to kiss the rest of the party as well (another couple also won a meet and greet). I did the same with Bret, it seemed to set a standard. This was all happening in the hallway, so the guys suggested we go back into their green room (I noticed trays of sandwiches and water bottles) to do the signings/picture taking. I had carried a large frame matte all the way to the city with me, to have framed with a photo, but I was a bit intimidated at the last minute and forgot about it. Instead they signed the back of the tour t-shirt. In hindsight I wish I'd had the frame done, it would have been neater and much easier to display.

The promo girl took my dslr from me and offered to take a picture for us, I asked if I could have one alone first, then one with the both of us. After we broke away from the picture taking Jemaine walked over to some of the crew, then he seemed to notice my t-shirt and I heard him comment "Did you see her t-shirt?" and laugh. The guys split up, Bret came to Anthony and I for a chat, while Jemaine went to the other couple. Bret told us about the tour, where they were headed next and the last time he was in Perth with another band (I'm guessing The Black Seeds) and one of his band mates got arrested. He had a laugh, asked us about where we were from, he was really friendly and down to earth. I asked if they had been planning a FOTC movie, to which he said not at the moment, as they didn't have a story for it.We had a couple of minutes when one of their staff members started to hurry us along. I almost forgot to give them their presents, they were very appreciative and although I told Bret it was a joke, I hope they got that I wasn't being serious. It was such a great experience, honestly not one I ever thought I'd get to encounter. It was firmly on my bucket list, to meet the guys, I'm so stoked they were nice and lived up to my expectations.