Our Crazy Dierks Bentley "5-1-5-0" Loco Weekend!

 Dude, Inc takes their bow. Photo by Carrie Srebro

It is a well known fact that hardcore Dierks Bentley fans will follow him anywhere.  And last weekend was no exception.  Eleven DB Congress reps from five states (FL, SC, NC, IN, DE) convened in Beaufort, South Carolina Saturday, to show our support for Dierks and his new single, "5-1-5-0," that's chugging up the charts like a Chesney song!

The 'Throwdown at Fightertown' concert was in the middle of  "the woods," at the Marine Corps Air Station. According to Hannah Morris, "not only is the air station responsible for our daily and nightly Sounds of Freedom, it provides a large amount of local jobs in the area, helping our small town thrive."

LtCol Gray walked on stage to thank everyone who had a part in making the event possible, and told us he had spoken with Dierks backstage and that he knew Dierks had a special place in his heart for the men and women who keep our country safe, and that it was evident, as he quoted the lyrics from Dierks' recent number one single, Home, "This is still the place that we all call home." The mostly military crowd went wild!

"Special lighting and effects made concert goers feel like this event was larger than life; easily comparable to big city efforts," Hanna continued. "With both his father and grandfather serving in the Army, Dierks continuously mentioned the special place in his heart for Service Members and their families; making the crowd feel sincerely blessed."

Photo credit eatsleepplaybeaufort.com; lighting by Chris Reade

One military wife in the audience is also our newest member of the DB Congress! Meredith (SC) and her daughter enjoyed their first Dierks concert and her first fan club meet and greet!  She wore her new DBC T-Shirt proudly and he autographed it for her and asked her about her tattoos. Her husband is stationed in Afghanistan and will be home for two weeks in June but then has to go back until September.  What a sacrifice our military families make to be without their loved ones so we all can be safe and free! Thank you! And welcome to the Dierks family!

Meredith tweeted this pic of herself to Dierks

"@dierksbentley was great meeting you! Had a fab time! My inauguration into @dbcongress The show rocked!"

Since the show was on base, concert-goers also has an opportunity to see various military vehicles on display. Later Dierks told the crowd he had explored one of the cockpits and admitted to having his own pilot license (although he knew he didn't compare to the air force pilots).

Will Hoge opened for Dierks, and for those of you who had the honor of attending the February 2nd Ryman show, you know how powerful his voice is--and Saturday night was "blow-me-away" perfect. He told the audience as a performing artist you try to come on stage and "look cool," but being in the middle of all those military heroes it was nearly impossible. His set included many of the songs from his newest album, "Number Seven," including "When I Get My Wings." He introduced the song by telling a story of a couple who had been married 60 years and the husband had served his country, and the wife died. Heartwrenching performance. If you ever get the opportunity to hear Will live--GO! In the meantime, buy the CD on itunes! We each took photos with him afterward and he was so appreciative.

Later, a tweet from ‏@WillHoge: "just so we are clear: marines are bad ass. Semper Fi......and thank you!"

Will Hoge, Beaufort, SC, 4-28-12; Photo by Carrie Srebro

Kathy and Will

As soon as the sun went down, the temperature went up as Dierks and the guys hit the stage!  We had been waiting front row for hours, with our 'painted toes and our flip-flops' and our "5150" little white tank tops.

Notice the "Country & Cold Cans" coozie

L to R: Kathy (IN), Ronna (FL), Carrie (NC), Amy (DE), Sandra (NC)

The first song in the set was "Country and Cold Cans" followed by "Feel That Fire."  We didn't expect it so soon so we were scrambling to get our prank ready.  We each held up 8 x 10 photos of bass player, Cassady Feasby, from his "beach scene" in the Australia DBTV episode. Dierks and the guys were squinting to see what we were holding and then started laughing. Dierks grabbed Sandra's photo and set it up on Dr. Feasby's mic stand. Ryan, the camera guy, was on the other side of the rail snapping away photos of our craziness.

As always, Dierks found a way to connect with all areas of the audience--even in the back.  But all throughout the concert, the DBC got lots of love from our president--nearly every song.  Such as: "How Am I Doin'?" (I keep my friends with me...) when he gestured a circle around us; "Sideways," (I can see you came to rock in your blue jeans and white tank tops) and of course the LWTT reference in "What Was I Thinkin'."

But the highlight for us was "5-1-5-0."  We were singing at the top of our lungs and a certain pair of pink fuzzy handcuffs (5150 is police code for criminally insane) found their way on stage, along with a leopard bra, which Dierks picked up gingerly with his guitar.

There was not an inch of the stage that Dierks didn't stand, jump, sit, kneel, lay or take a bow on.

All photos by Carrie Srebro

For Settle For A Slowdown, Dierks added a verse of  "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," which fit perfectly with the song's rhythm and melody--a nice tip of the hat to Hank Williams. At one point he sang a tribute to his dad, with "Your Cheatin' Heart," featuring the talented Tim Sergent on steel guitar.  It was nice to have "Trying To Stop Your Leaving" back in the set list--yet no red guitar this time.  Instead Dierks used his trusty Martin with the hole in it to start the song. Sounded sweet!

The crowd was really into every song, but none more than Carolina stars in a purple night, during "Every Mile A Memory," and of course, "Home" got a huge roar of approval with its strong USA theme.

Once the encore (Tip It On Back, Sideways and Thinkin') was over, we stood our ground and picks were thrown and landing in the grass out of our reach over the rail.  It was funny to see marines in uniform crawling on the ground to grab all the pics and hand them to all of us hanging over the barricade.  I even ended up with a drumstick--first one ever in 8 years of DB shows!

After the show, the po-po (police) kept telling us to go to our cars, but we were told by the stage manager, Jay, to wait, so we did, and then Dierks' manager Tom came out and said, "If you're wearing a 5-1-5-0 tank top come with me, Dierks wants to see you. ONLY if you have a 5-1-5-0 tank top on." I forgot to mention not one of us got a meet and greet through the fan club, so this was a nice surprise that Dierks requested it!

We were escorted behind the stage and Dierks said hi to us, then said, "I'll be back in a few minutes." We thought he was talking to us, but he meant for us to follow him--so we did! He lead us around to Big White (his truck), which was up on a flat bed, ready for the 5-1-5-0 video shoot the next day (more on that in the next blog!). He kept saying he couldn't believe we were all there--together--from 5 different states, and couldn't thank us enough. He got the biggest kick out of our shirts and we explained we each had a different line from the lyrics on the back so he wanted Ryan to get a picture of that, too. We asked if we could take pictures with our own cameras and he said, "of course, that's the idea!" and kept making sure Ryan took picture with our lone camera (Carrie smuggled hers in) and iPhones. He also mentioned that he loved the prank on Cassady.

Kathy, Ronna, Dierks, Sandra, Amy, Carrie

After all the picture taking and hugs, Dierks told us to tweet him copies of the pics, and Tom escorted us back (referring to us as the "5-1-5-0 girls.") We saw Tim and Cassady and they said hi to us. We stopped to talk but Tom kept us moving, so Cassady came out with us and took pictures and chatted. Cassady asked Carrie for the rest of the pictures from his prank, too, which she happily turned over! He said he was sure we'd see them turn up somewhere in the future.

After that, the po-po insisted that we leave, so we reluctantly said goodbye to Cassady and headed out to grab a bite to eat. Pretty much all of Beaufort had been at the concert, and pretty much all of the concert-goers were at IHOP--there were Dierks Bentley t-shirts everywhere! The hostess and our waitress asked us all about the show, and we gave the kids at the next table DB Congress wrist bands. After an impromptu "5-1-5-0" sing-along in the parking lot at midnight, it was time to part ways. Sandra and Kathy had to head back to Charlotte so Kathy could catch her morning flight out - so sad to say goodbye to our friends!

But the comment we kept coming back to was "yeah ... that just happened." As always, every mile was truly a memory, and we made a lot of 'good remember-whens, right up to the end.'

- Ronna
DBC Chair (FL)
(with contributing photos and memories from Carrie, NC.)

DIERKS PROMOTES DBCONGRESS.COM ON WQYK

A few weeks ago, Dierks Bentley did a radio tour, trying to get "I Wanna Make You Close Your Eyes" to #1 (The song made it to #2). We shared with you all the audio interviews we could find!

My hometown Tampa, FL radio station - WQYK - also spoke with Dierks, after I emailed them the day before explaining all about DB Congress. I finally got the audio today and couldn't wait to share it with you below! Special thanks to Chuck at WQYK for putting up with my pestering and emailing it to me!

Enjoy!
Ronna, DB Congress Chair

M.A.R.J. GOES TEARING THROUGH THE MIDWEST CORNFIELDS OF IL AND IN

*MARJ (Mona, Alicia, Ronna, Jenny go to Tinley and Indy)

=======================================================

Here we go...buckle up...

I flew in from Florida Friday, August 7 on the 7:40 Southwest. Chicago's Midway airport was bustling. Alicia picked me up then we met Jenny and Mona at Jenny's house and headed out to start our DRT weekend with every DB CD rockin' the stereo! I was dubbed "the navigator," or the shot-gun-girl, with AAA TripTiks in hand, we were off to tear through the cornfields of Illinois and Indiana.

I had met Alicia before, and had met Jenny and Mona via email, but you would have thought we had known each other for years already--we all connected instantly. That's not hard to do when your primary commmon-thread interest is Dierks Bentley!

Alicia gave us several disclaimers up front, one being she sings along loudly to all the DB songs--by the end of the weekend she had lost her voice! I had to admit to relating everthing we see to a Dierks lyric (as you will see throughout this blog)--so the girls made up a name for that - Dierks Turet Syndrome--DTS.

We found Tinley Park around 1 pm and pulled up to the front gate where a toothless-wonder parking attendant told us the gates would not open until 5:30. We decided to go eat at TGIFriday's where we had our first Dierks reference of the weekend. We sat down and the waitress saw all our Dierks shirts and asked if we were going to the show and we said yes. She said "Awww, Dierks Bentley makes my heart melt!" And we all 4 in unison said "Us, too!"

But the next time that old sun and I meet up I'll be a thousand miles East...

Around 2:30 we went back to the gate just to see if anyone was lining up and the same attendant was there and making everyone turn around. We tried to park in the adjacent parking lot to wait and he waved his arms furiously at us and said that was private property and we could not park there. What? So we decided to head about 18 miles east to our hotel and check in. Road Dude was waiting for us and Aunt Tracie had sent him with gifts for us and Dierks!

Grandpa took it off to Europe to fight the Germans in the war...

On our way back a car came up beside us and Jenny and I started screaming. Alicia was driving and thought we saw Dierks' bus or something but it was some grandpa driving all over the road and into our lane--we had to swerve a little but we're ok.

That might make for a good story man but that don't make it easy lovin' me...

Jenny got checked for ticks. The guys from US 99 radio approached us while we were in line and asked if they could interview us. They asked Jenny if they could check her for ticks--a blatant reference to Brad Paisley's song of the same name. The filmed it so check their website! We told them that they needed to aske Dierks-related questions of us---how they missed all four of us wearing Dierks shirts I have no idea.

And there's a few more like me, who ain't afraid of fightin' for the cause...

Mona, while on the quiet side, took off like a woman on a mission every time she saw someone in the crowd with a DB Congress shirt on! She wanted to make sure she met them and let them know she was the one who sent them their shirt! She saw Mary who lives in the Chicago area and caught up with her and brought her back to meet us in line. She had a M&G, which was cool because Alicia and I had one as well and all three of us had on our DB Congress shirts.

I've been stuck for days in a lonely town when my luck ran south...
But our luck did not run south. What are the odds that all four of us DRT buddies would get a M&G between the two shows? By the time we got inside we had just enough time to find our seats and Alicia and I went to our M&G.

Brittany is Dierks' new tour assistant and she was really friendly, but really strict--which helped him stay on schedule. We had to place all our belongings on a table and could only have our one item to have signed in our hand. And she even checked one girl's magazine to make sure nothing was inside. We three with DBC shirts were together in line and when Dierks saw us he had Brittany get his personal camera and got a pic with all three of us. I emailed Brittany, but no response yet--in the meantime, thank you Dawn for taking this pic!

Then we each had our individual time with him. He asked me how the site was doing and I said great, but still waiting for him to post a comment! I handed him a card and he started to read it--but I told him it was too long and wait until later. I asked him about posting a message on dbcongress.com and told him I wrote the website address in the card. He said he would do that tomorrow. And he is a man of his word! Here is what he posted the next day:

8 Aug 2009, 15:32 p.m.
dierks: ronna...im here!!! love the site. amazing work. im totally blown away....

8 Aug 2009, 15:34 p.m.
dierks: we are in indy today...great weather. had a blast in chicago last night too

During Alicia's time with Dierks, well, I'll let her tell you:

"When Dierks came in he immediately saw us sporting our Congress shirts and we got a huge smile. As we got closer to the front of the line, he asked Brittany to get his personal camera so she could take a picture of him with Ronna, myself, Mary (another IL Rep) and Road Dude! I thought that was so cool of him! It just makes me realize even more how much we (the DB Congress) really do mean to him.

Then it was my turn! So he says Hi and gives me a hug and they take our picture. I gave him this cool luggage tag Tracie made him with a pic of Road Dude 8 mile style...WUP on one side and a pic of Evie "hitchhiking" with him on the other, he loved it. I had brought some of the new decals with me and told him Tracie was nice enough to give them to him in Detroit for me! He's said "Yeah, I have those on the bus, I love them." I told him how Nid (in England) and I designed them together and that I ordered them and am now mailing them across the country to everyone who wants one. He said "Thanks so much, I've been seeing them everywhere." That made me feel good. So I knew I could only get one thing signed so I asked him to sign a decal for Nid. Nid misses out on way too much living "across the pond" so I really wanted him to have this. Dierks signed and put..."Nid, Thanks Mate." I thought that was so cute. I had handed him a small stack of them under the one he was signing for Nid, thinking I could give him the rest but he right away started signing one to me!

Here's where it gets strange and exciting people...he knew my name!?!? He started writing it before I said anything, he had ALI already written and I go, Oh Alicia..CIA..He says "I know you." I swear I could have danced a jig right there but seriously no one wants to see that, least of all Dierks. LOL. I said to Ronna "You told him didn't you" and she said "No, I told you he would know you." Well I don't know if he knows me because of the decals or he saw the back of my Congress shirt or what but I can tell you it made my year!!! Even if he never remembers it again, I'll have the memories. Ahhhhh!!!

Then on top of all that he even signed the rest of my stack and told me to hand them out, since he had his on the bus. Sorry Brittany, I got WAY more than 1 thing signed, but it was his idea! I mean seriously, he just blows me away! He is the BEST!!! People ask me all the time why I would spend my own money on decals to promote him, I say to them "If you have to ask that question you just don't know Dierks at all!" He is so appreciative of everything we do! So then we had a short Q&A session and then it was big hugs all around and off we go to the show! There's just nothing better than spending a Dierks filled weekend with the most amazing man, music and friends! I am truly blessed."

During the M&G group Q&A someone commented on President Obama quoting him and he said "yeah, that was wierd." I said, no, that was awesome! He commented how the Presiden't people must have had to teach him how to pronounce "DIERKS." As always, the M&G was over way too soon!

We got back to our seat and about a minute later they were introducing Jimmy Wayne. I have always been so impressed with his voice. I was extra impressed when he started signing autographs from the stage DURING his performance--singing and signing simultaneously! Now that takes talent! He never missed a lyric! Kerosene Kid, Do You Believe Me Now, and Stay Gone were a few of the 5 or 6 songs he did, but Sara Smile just blew me away.

Dierks exploded on stage after a quick video introducing him with Sideways. The set included (in no particular order) Feel That Fire, How Am I Doin'(...with every single "Chicago" girl in sight), What Was I Thinkin', Come A Little Closer, Lot of Leavin' Left To Do, Trying To Stop Your Leaving, and an acoustic My Last Name. He was just getting started and his time was up! Fifty minutes is just NOT long enough for Dierks! DB and TLB came back out for one more - Free and Easy. WUP! You could tell he didn't want to leave the stage.

This pic was on the US99 radio station website:

Brad Paisley played for two hours. My favorites were Then, She's Everything, When I Get Where I'm Going, Letter To Me, and Waitin' on a Woman. Brad's show is, well, "showy" to say the least. There is sooooo much going on besides the singing and the music. Don't get me wrong, there were a lot of cool affects, but I would have been perfectly happy if he had NOT played "Play (I think that's the instrumental song with the super hero animation in the background)" or Catch All The Fish or The Pants ... and given that 15 minutes to Dierks!

After the show we were waiting in our cars for the traffic to clear a little, and the radio stations were blastin' Dierks' How Am I Doin'. A guy in the car next to us was singing every word at the top of his lungs, so we started to sing with him at the top of our lungs. It was kind of a dueling Dierks moment.

We ate at Around the Clock which was a block from our Best Western in Shereville, slept for 4-5 hours then off to Indy!

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Three hours later...Our Best Western in Noblesville was on Craig Street. Ironic, since Jenny's last name is Craig. We checked in, freshened up and headed for the venue.

Seven really is the luckiest number!
Unlike Tinley Park, the girl at the Noblesville gate was very friendly. Gates opened at 4:30 so we had a few hours to eat and relax. We found a really nice outdoor mall/township--very quaint. We decided on Red Robin and David and Heather joined us after a bit. The waitress asked us if we were all family and we said yes--the Dierks Bentley fan club family! The 6 of us are from 6 different states - Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois. Indiana Purdue Cutie, Kristin joined us after lunch to follow us through the gate so we could all be next to each other for tailgating -- 7th state! Dierks' lucky number is 7--his hockey jersey is #7, and Sideways just became his seventh #1 single, in the 7th month of the year.

From Left to Right: David-KY, Ronna-FL, Alicia-WI, Mona-IA, Jenny-IL, Kristin-IN and Heather (TN)


When we walked out of the restaurant about 4:30, Alicia was catching us up on Twitter and found this post from Dierks:

jc penny rocks...clean socks, clean underwear...and a new pearl snap shirt for the stage tonight...no need for a shower i guess.3:28 PM Aug 8th from web.

So we're walking to our cars and look to the right, and there is JC Penney--right there! He was right there while we were inside! Agh! So close and yet so far. We had to wonder if he saw Alicia's car (Jeep) where we had written his name all over it! Throughout the weekend we got a few honks and one car pulled up beside us and started hollering at us--it took us a minute to realize they liked Dierks, too!

Also, several times in two days people would see our Dierks shirts and ask, "Is Dierks a good guy?" Even the merch guy at Tinley. Strange to hear them ask the question that way but they got an earful from us!

So we tailgate about an hour and then head up to the gates. Once in, Jenny and Mona head off to their M&G. We were in row T under the cover, but I looked back and the place all the way up the lawn to the back fence was packed! If I had to guess I would say there were close to 10,000 people there.

When the girls came back from the M&G, Dierks had signed Mona's DB Congress shirt:

They said Dierks told them he was planning to headline next fall and to take January and February off the road. They also told me Dierks said to tell me he posted on DBC.com! Made my whole year! Of course I did not get to actually see it until we got back to the hotel but I was elated to say the least. They also met Sharon who also had a DBC shirt on!

A few of the highlights from the show:

*We could see he came to rock with his blue jeans and red pearl snaps from JC Penney. Dierks could so be a spokesperson for them, telling everybody to go the men's dept. and get that same shirt--size small--for just $19.95! (haha)

*During Trying To Stop Your Leaving, Dierks sang the lyric: "You don't love me, you don't love me anymore" and in between all 4 of us yelled YES WE DO! Everybody stared at us but we didn't care. Dierks kind of chuckled but got the next line out--he is such a professional!

*After My Last Name (Dierks had told everyone to sit down), Alicia and I stood up and started cheering--nobody else stood up--and Dierks was looking at us and shrugging his shoulders at the rest of the audience like "aren't you gonna stand up again?"

*I had made a sign, "DB CONGRESS in the House" - with all our 7 states. It was a small sign, and I only held it up for 5 seconds at a time and I think Dierks saw it before security made me put it away.


*During Come A Little Closer, Dierks saw a couple in the audience making out and he pointed to then and said, "Hey, that's what parking lots are for!"

After the show we tried to meander down by the busses but they were gated. So we stopped to talk by a fence with party lights but it was covered although we could hear voices and though we heard D's. Then security sent us on our way. The traffic getting out was all backed up for miles, so while waiting, Alicia opened the sun roof and I got a bad case of DTS again...Indiana stars in a purple night...

We ate at Perkins and as the 7 of us from 7 states stood in the parking lot talking, and not wanting to call it a night, all of a sudden the cops were nippin at our heals....well, not ours, but all around us. We guessed they were looking for some bad boy somewhere.

So there you have it...I am slowly chipping away at my goal of meeting one DB Congress rep from every state--21 down, 29 to go!

I have a few more pics I wanted to add to this blog but they are not cooperating. Check back in a few days and hopefully I will have added them.

A VIDEO MESSAGE FROM OUR PRESIDENT...

Dierks Bentley has a natural ability to "wing it" - no script - just says what's on his mind. Me on the other hand - I could only utter the words "Hi" and "Bye." Here's hoping this inaugural presidential video message becomes an annual event! CHECK OUT THE TOP SIDE PANEL and "click to play."

I had asked Dierks earlier that day if he could post a comment on here sometime, and he said he thought he could do that. This is the one, dude! Please leave a comment!

LAST CALL BALL V - MY MEET & GREET

If you're following these blogs starting at the bottom with the Country Music Hall of Fame Dierks autograph signing session, you might remember Dierks agreed to let me video him giving a message to the DB Congress. So I made sure to go last in the M&G line at LCB so I didn't hold anybody up.

Going last has pros and cons. Pro--I don't feel like I am taking too much time from anyone behind me. Con--he's reeeeeeally tired after meeting 349 people before me. But that's ok--he trys so hard not so show it. Still has that great smile!

I gave him a thick envelope--this is for you for later - he knew right away there were photos inside and said thanks and he and the guys would look at them on the bus. We took the photo first and although it was tough, I stopped talking to get the shot with me smiling instead of my mouth open.

I asked him to sign a few magazines (Country Weekly cover, American Songwriter cover, CW featuring the DBC website and the AAA Going Places mag with his pic in it). I tried to get him to go to the table to have a hard surface but he said he could sign better holding them. I told him everybody at work thought I had something to do with getting him in the AAA mag, but I didn't--and he commented, 'So they just put me in there at random?' Yep.

I mentioned how that was a hard-won campaign for the CW cover and he said yeah it's hard to get that. I asked him if he heard the trivia game while it was going on, and told him I made them up and he said 'you got them all right?' I said, 'No, I made up all the questions! And I made the name tags, too.' He just looked at me - really? - and then kept on signing. When I looked later, he wrote this on the CW cover: "Thanks for all the help with our Last Call Ball!"

When he was signing the CW DBC website page he started to sign, then stopped, read the actual article for a few seconds, and said 'this is so great', then finished signing.

Finally, I gave him a small gift bag and told him you don't get a gift this year--this is for your girls - DB Congress shirts - a black tshirt for Cassidy and a small baby pink one for Evie. On the back it says "Dude's Wubba Nub Girl Evie."

Now he's getting ansy--ready to go hang out with Randy Rogers and the gang I think-- so he put the bag aside to look at later. But he did say 'thank ya'll' for the dbc shirts for his girls. Hugs!

Now it's time to do the video message, so I asked if he was ready to do that - 'yeah let's do it' - I started to walk over and get my camera to shoot it, but he kept his arm around me and made me be in the video!

Next blog...the video message from our president!

Happy Birthday!!!

Hey everyone! We have a birthday girl today!! I just wanted to drop by and say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ronna on her special day! I know she's going to see Dierks in Atlanta, GA tomorrow and I hope she has a great time because I'm sure she'll still be celebrating her birthday with Dierks and friends!

Ronna,
On behalf of everyone in the Congress...Have a blessed birthday!!



-Amanda Morris
DBC Secretary
Mississippi Rep.