Let It Be Me

As you know we've been talking loudly about "Let It Be Me" ever since Martina performed it on the PBS special back in September of 2005. I'm browsing our favorite video web site tonight looking for videos from Keith Urban's tour (and if you haven't yet seen his guitar riff intro to You Look Good in My Shirt, it's awesome!) and I ran across M's performance of "Let It Be Me". So for those of you who missed it, here's your chance!

And just because I haven't requested it for a couple of days (LOL) . . .

LET IT BE ME!

Val-entine

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to John, Martina & the girls, to Martinaville, Darren, Tracy, all the band members & crew, and anyone who had anything to do with making 2007 a spectacular year. It's always a blast to be a fan and this year has been no exception. We really enjoyed all the "Martina Moments" we had this year.

My husband Steve & I were able to make it to 3 shows and enjoyed all of them, but have to say the last show of the year at Table Mountain Casino was just the icing on the cake when Martina closed the show with "O Holy Night". Thanks again for making our holiday season extra "bright". We are looking forward to another great year and tour in 2008!

Have a fantastic holiday Martinaville!

Val Gordon (aka Val-entine)
(PS - my newest re-write "Happy Squirrel" is in the Songwriter's Workshop)

Happy Squirrel

From time to time the subject of "squirrels" tends to resurface in the re-writes of Martina's songs (and other artists too). First we had "Don't Rake The Squirrel" that Speedy wrote to the tune of Tim McGraw's "Don't Take The Girl". We've also seen "Just Another Squirrel" a re-write of Carolyn Dawn Johnson's "Just Another Girl".

But my all time favorite was "This One's For The Squirrels" to M's tune "This One's For The Girls". One of the verses was about a New York squirrel who's having a hard time stashing nuts for the winter because the bums keep stealing them! I laughed out loud when I watched Martina's new video "For These Times" because not too far into it appears that same New York Squirrel! Did you happen to notice that? So I thought it was finally time to re-write "Happy Girl" in this squirrel's honor.

Happy Squirrel
(to the tune of "Happy Girl")

I used to live in a padded tree
Goin’ to acting school
Learnin’ all the rules
Jobs were scarce, I was overdrawn
I had no career
My stash of nuts was gone
But then I got offered a primo role
In Martina’s “For These Times” video

Oh watch me go
I’m a happy squirrel
And I have no woes
‘Cuz the sweetest thing in N.Y.C.
Is a working girl
I’m a happy squirrel

It’s safe to say beyond any doubt
Martina McBride
fully helped me out
If I hadn’t landed this gig I’d be screwed
I’d be the main course
of a redneck stew

Oh watch me go
I’m a happy squirrel
And I have no woes
‘Cuz the sweetest thing in N.Y.C.
Is a working girl
I’m a happy squirrel

Now that I’m a big star
I’ll fill up my nut jar
Drive to the sushi bar
In my new car

Repeat Chorus

Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
I’m a happy squirrel

Table Mountain Casino

We thought no cameras were allowed so we left ours at home. Has anyone seen any great pics of Table Mountain Casino yet?

Anyone?

Val-entine

Table Mountain Casino Review

Well . . . . I can die & go to heaven now, I finally saw Martina perform “O Holy Night” live and it was amazing beyond my wildest dreams! Before I get into the full concert review, let me just say a big fat THANK YOU to Martina from all of us fans in the audience who have never had the pleasure of hearing that song live until last night. I felt like it was a “gift” to the fans and it was just simply perfection. There are just no words to express how much it meant to us!

Steve & I drove from Santa Clarita (just north of L.A.) to Fresno, CA on Saturday. It was just a little over 3 hours to get to our hotel. This weekend was an early birthday gift from my husband. All I wanted for my birthday was to see M at Table Mountain and hear her perform “O Holy Night”. I knew Steve could take care of the first part, but the last part . . . well, I knew it was a long shot at best. But Martina is so rarely on the west coast at Christmas time that I knew it could be my only shot to hear it, so I had to go for it!

Sunday we slept in (aaaaaaahhhhh that was nice!) Then we hit the Starbucks and I discovered my new favorite holiday drink . . . Eggnog Latte (YUM!) Then we drove out the casino & hung around for a while. I played nickel deuces wild poker and called it quits after it took $45 of my money. No luck this time! Then we drove over to “Cool Hand Lukes” and met Tim & Joni from Martinaville for dinner. We had a great time!

After dinner we headed back to the casino. We were there early & decided to just hang out by the entrance to the venue & chat with people. John walked by us twice. I said “hi” to him once. If he was coming from the gaming tables, I sure hope he had better luck than I did! We ran into some new fans from the San Francisco area who drove down just for the concert. Like me, they also had to drive home after the concert & attempt to get out of bed a few hours later & crawl into work. Isn’t it amazing what we’ll do just so see M live? She’s that fantastic! I can’t remember the names of the two girls we were talking to, but they were really nice. One girl said she discovered M by watching the CMT Crossroads show with Pat Benatar. Very cool!

While we were standing there, waiting to be let into the venue, we saw Jennifer walk by, and we saw Wayne also but didn’t have the opportunity to say “hi”. However, when I saw Greg coming I said “Hi Greg” and he stopped to talk to us. I told him we were from the fan club. He was really nice. We said how much we were looking forward to the show, and since he was right there in front of me, I couldn’t resist asking him if there happened to be any Christmas songs on the set list (LOL). He said that Martina didn’t have them practice any Christmas songs. Awwww! We explained to him that there were so many of us there who had never heard “O Holy Night” live and we were really hoping she would do it for us. His response was “well, Martina doesn’t need us (the band) for that!" And then he described to us what it was like to actually hear her do that song live. He said it was just simply amazing. I thought that was so sweet. I started teasing him, saying that he should tell M for us that we want to hear OHN. His reply was something like “well I don’t know . . I kinda wanna keep my job!” (LOL) Then he suggested that if I really want to hear that song, that I should holler it out during the show. I said “really? you think?” and he said “of course”! So Greg if you’re reading this, thanks for stopping to talk to us, and I hope you still have a job after Martina finds out that I blurted out “O Holy Night” on your suggestion! But in your defense, I was really thinking about doing it anyway, I just needed that final “nudge” to be brave enough. So thanks! It was really nice to meet you!

The venue was only 1,200 seats. It’s the smallest place Steve & I have ever seen her in and I must say WE LOVED IT! There’s just something about those small intimate casino venues. We were in the center section, 8th row, on the isle. Great seats! When Martina took the stage she began with “Wild Angels” & then broke into “My Baby Loves Me”. When she stopped to talk to the audience, one of the first things she said was “Is anybody out there having a bad hair day besides me?” LOL and then added “oh well, I don’t care!” To tell you the truth, her hair didn’t look bad to me at all! She looked as beautiful as ever!

The concert was simply amazing! She explained that this was the final show of the year and they were excited to be closing at Table Mountain. The band looked happy and they were goofing off a little, having fun! She did many of the songs that she did on tour last summer but in a little different order. From the WUL album she did “Cry Cry”, “Tryin’ To Find A Reason”, “For These Times”, and “Anyway”. They were all fantastic! When she introduced FTT she mentioned that when she was looking for songs for this album she found a lot of songs that talked about how messed up the world is, but that wasn’t really what she was looking for. And then she found this song about how we should all treat each other with a little more grace and compassion. FTT was absolutely spectacular live, and I like the way they’ve changed it up with the acappella section on “arms full of loving kindness”. Awesome! The more I hear that song live, the more I love it! “Anyway” was in the middle of the set and there was no speaking intro, just the piano. Loved that! She got a huge standing “O” after that and was very touched by it.

Her “Timeless” section of the show began with “Rose Garden”. After that she said that song was on her Timeless album and when she paused for just a second, a few of us in the audience clapped & yelled. She looked up & said “Thank you! All four of you . . . thank you!” (LOL) She’s so funny! She then did the Loretta Lynn story & “You Ain’t Woman Enough”. After that she turned to take a drink of water and the crowd was becoming quiet after the applause and I thought to myself . . . “now or never girl. You may not get another chance.” So I blurted out loudly “O HOLY NIGHT”! She turned & looked and said “O Holy Night???? Hmmm. . well we might be able to get to that later . . . but right now we’re going to do a Merle Haggard song!” (more laughs) So there I sat in my seat . . . fingers crossed for the rest of the show.

The entire show was simply flawless, amazing, nothing less than spectacular. I swear when I watch her perform it’s almost like being spell-bound & captivated. You just know you’re in the presence of greatness. And I’m not just talking about Martina. The band was amazing, and the sound was also (kudos to John!). Every single note of every instrument was crystal clear. The crew, everyone who lifted a finger to put on this show, you guys all rock!

Huge huge applause for “WGFWGTB”, standing “O’s” on “Concrete Angel” and of course “A Broken Wing” and “Independence Day”. The encore was rockin’ with “Don’t Stop Believin’” and “Heartaches By The Number”. The show was almost over . . .

and then . . .

the band left the stage . . .

and Martina walked up to the microphone . . .

Steve gave me a look that said . . . could this be???

and Martina says “Well, the only way to follow a Pat Benatar number is with a Christmas song right? Everybody knows that!” (LOL)

and then she said that she had a special request to do “this song” tonight and it was kind of a tradition to close the last night of the tour with this song so she was going to do it for us . . .

my hands flew over my mouth to cover up my jaw dropping to the floor . . . .

and then the first notes of the acapella “O Holy Night” began. I heard a few gasps in the air . . . and an “oh my”. . .

There’s just no words, guys. For those who have heard this . . you know what I’m talking about. Simple beautiful. So much emotion, especially on “when Christ was born”. She took her time with the song and it was very moving. I’m tearing up just writing this. The audience was mesmerized. The first time she sang “divine” she hit the note hard and the backed way off like no other singer does quite like her. It faded into nothing and then there was a second of silence. You could have heard a pin drop. The audience didn’t move, didn’t make a sound. I think I was holding my breath. It was amazing. Then when she hit the big “divine” note at the end, the audience broke into applause, then fell silent again until the last note, and then a spontaneous eruption of screaming (me of course) and thunderous applause. She then wished us a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year and simply waived & walked off the stage. Oh . . . so amazing. I’m still stunned.

Martina thank you again for singing this song for us. This is only one of a million reasons why you are my favorite singer. It’s not just because of your big talent, but because of your big heart. And “YES” you made us all very happy last night. I don’t know when or if we’ll ever be able to see your “Joy of Christmas” show, unless we either win the lottery or you bring the show to California or put it out on DVD for us to buy, however we really appreciate that you didn’t make us wait any longer for “O Holy Night”. Thanks again for making my millennium!

Have a very Merry Christmas with your family. You’ve worked so hard this year and you deserve a nice quiet holiday. Enjoy!

With much admiration,
Valerie Gordon (aka Val-entine)
Valencia, CA