rob halford meet and greet

 dream from this morning: 

i got an early morning phone call. it was from a sweepstakes official telling me i was the grand prize winner of a judas priest prize package. it included a meet and greet with rob halford, tickets to see judas priest that night, a bunch of guitar amps and recording equipment, tshirts and related merch and even branded playing cards and casino chips. they said i had to go early because rob would need to rest most of the day for the concert later tonight.

my wife being a huge judas priest fan, i needed to let her know asap. for some reason i was unable to get her on the phone. so i went to the meet and greet by myself, assuming she would call me back soon. the meet and greet was in a conrad type of swanky hotel in a metropolitan downtown looking area, not exactly indianapolis, but not necessarily not indianapolis. the venue was a massive deer creekish amphitheater on the top of another skyscraper across the street. 

i get to the conrad and eventually i'm led by handlers to a makeshift dive bar near the top floor. like CBGBs but recreated by a hipster artist. there are probably 6 or 8 wasted metalheads talking loudly on barstools, debating metal bands and albums. i'm still checking my phone every two seconds. i call jason rich and tell him i have two extra tickets if he wants to come up. finally rob halford comes out and is cordial. i don't really have a lot to say except my wife is a lifelong fan. 

eventually my wife does show up, wearing her judas priest gear and leather jacket. i don't remember much, but it seems like fun was had. at some point later we are in a hotel room with a slew of concert goers. i'm sitting on a couch near the window and see my elderly blind cat julius hanging on the screen outside the windows, 30 stories up. i quickly get him safely inside the room. crisis averted.

fast forward to the show. now i'm at the venue in the backstage area. the opening band (five finger death punch??) is playing. people are cracking jokes about them. someone tells me i need to wash my hands before they make me sign the forms and give me all the prizes. i follow a small staircase into a tunnel, down another small staircase through a door, into a small room like a janitor's closet / laundry room. there's a woman there who cleans the facilities. i wash my hands and make small talk with her before going back upstairs. 

entering a different room, i can see the amp prizes i was supposed to win, but by the way it's staged, it looks like some of the amps are gone. i find the display with all the playing cards, casino chips and merch items and there are definitely things missing. i am asking what's going on, no one is talking. at this point there is lots and lots of waiting and milling around while a band plays in the distance. 

finally i find out there is a tall guy who looks like nicholas cage playing borat who gave a bunch of my prizes away. we have a confrontation. i call him a "giant dumbass" as he walks away. we eventually find out that he had a problem with my friend jason and randomly decided to give my prizes away to the runners up. 

now the concert is going and i'm still trying to get to the bottom of this. on one hand i'm still stoked to meet rob halford, on the other hand i can't do anything about this fiasco. the dream seems to linger in this state for a long, long time before i wake up, and write down whatever i can remember. 

 

the end?