I
went to Opryland Hotel with a friend of mine and her roommate. Wegot there around and eight and immediately went and found the
convention hall, it was wide open to the public, the only thing roped
off was the actual ballroom. Tanya's merch booth was set up and Virginia
and Jim were there. Security was pretty tight, no chance of getting in
unless you were 50+ and swathed in purple and red.
Tanya went on around 9:30ish. You could hear the concert through the
wall, but not very good. Three other fans were there, but everyone
else appeared to be part of the convention. After a little while the three of us
got smart and went over to the main entrance to the ballroom. The door
was wide open and you could see Tanya projected on the screen. We
probably caught two or three songs this way. Not the best "seats" in
the house, but better than I expected. Presley came out and sang a
song, Tanya came out behind her, prancing about with a red hat on her
head. At some point a pink hat was also modeled. Tanya did "Amazing
Grace/Delta Dawn" for the grand finale, near the end of that we were
able to get inside and stand by the stage as she finished up. LaCosta
and Juanita were both there, in the front.
We proceeded out to where the buses were parked and waited for about
thirty minutes before Tanya came walking out. She was really cheerful
and came right on up to us. One of the ladies we had met had a bunch
of
photos from 1979 (TNT tour), she gave them to Tanya. Tanya flippedthrough them and began commenting on old band members and little
snippets of memories, she laughed a lot and seemed to be enjoying
herself. One of the ladies (there were 5 of us total) asked her to
sing a snippet of "Dancing The Night Away", so we huddled around as
Tanya burst into song in the middle of the parking lot. That was
fantastic.
She's getting thinner and thinner. Someone made the comment that if
she lost any more weight that she was going to blow away. She said she
still has twenty pounds to go!
Anyway, she posed for a couple photos and was very genuine and sweet
and funny. It was all very casual, not rushed at all. She gave us all
hugs then we thanked her and told her goodnight.
I'm really glad that I decided to go. I had no expectations at all, I
honestly didn't think I'd get to see her, but I didn't want to kick
myself for not going (since it was local). It ended up being an
incredible night. I've always loved Tanya, but I have even more love
and respect for her now.