Deejay's Dallas Greek Festival (Constantine) Recap

In my quest to support working musicians generally and American Idol finalists specifically, I headed off to the 50th Annual Greek Food Festival in Dallas on Sunday afternoon to see Constantine perform. (Note: I actually spent several hours there Saturday night, but since none of my pictures came out, I’ve decided to pretend it didn’t happen!). The setting was the beautiful Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in North Dallas and the sun was shining! (ok, sun was beating down – 90 plus degrees – ah, Texas in the Fall…my skin is blistering as I type this!) The food smelled great!! The people sweating in the hot sun, not so much!

The stage was in the middle of the church courtyard surrounded on all 4 sides with about 4 rows of folding chairs. But in the heat of the day, lots of chairs have been dragged back into the shady areas. Still, die-hard Greek-boy fans have staked out their places on the front rows. Some I recognize from the night before and it actually makes me feel really good to know he has the same kind of dedicated fans that Taylor has. I smile. They smile back. We’re all one, baby! Plus, Greeks are really friendly! Everyone I met was so friendly! After downing 2 cups of wine, I decide to take my pale white Scot-Irish skin out into the courtyard and get a seat. It’s about 2:00 and Greek-stud is supposed to be on at 2:30. I approach a large suntanned Greek woman, dazzling in gold jewelry, and politely (meekly) ask if that seat is taken. She says, “Come! Sit! Soon will be Constantine! Opa!” Yea!! I’m on the second row of what is supposed to be the front of the stage, but with a 4-sided stage, Constantine mostly roams all around like a caged animal.

It’s hot and the sun is beating down. But all around me are happy tanned people – so I’m happy, too. Even though I know I’m gonna be sooooo sunburned in the morning! (Sidenote: The night before, the crowd was so huge that they couldn’t get everyone through the pre-paid dinner line and they held Constantine back for an hour. Sucked. Not his fault and I felt really bad for him. Some other people on my shuttle bus back to the parking lot also felt bad for him – thought he was a nice boy and it was wrong to make him late going on. One lady did say he should cut his hair. But mostly everyone thought he was a nice boy.) I kept thinking that if he was an hour late onstage this afternoon, I might actually pass out from the heat. Thank goodness that didn’t happen!

At about 3:00 p.m., CONSTANTINE!!! Wow!! Crowd cheered! He looked fabulous! I won’t pretend to know all his songs, but I really liked what I heard! He took the stage with just a guitarist – and I feel like crap that I can’t remember his name. Joe? He was an awesome guitarist and they worked really well together. I never felt like a band was missing. Between the two of them, they filled up the stage! Lots of personality. Lots of interaction with the crowd. Lots of smoldering looks and hair! I loved watching his fans singing along! They all looked mesmerized and happy, and all I could think of was how we look when we’re watching Taylor! Honestly, when you’re hooked on someone, it’s amazing. The smiles on their faces and the adoration in their eyes! I can only hope that’s what Taylor sees when he looks out at a room full of Soul Patrollers. There were also lots of little girls with Idol or Constantine t-shirts on. He was great waving at them and making contact. Fans kept trying to hand him gifts while he was singing, which he took and then set down gracefully. He only made one comment that it was hard to do that while he was singing and then never said anything else, just kept taking the gifts (one of which appeared to be a Mrs. Potato-Head doll…um…k…that was weird!).

When he wrapped up (singing “Maybe I’m Amazed” by Paul McCartneyolopoulos), he went inside to his booth in the air-conditioned Agoura to sign autographs. I left because I knew I had lots of pictures to download and needed to learn how to do it!! Plus there’s the blistering sunburn…ouch! He was just great onstage and under less than stellar conditions. The lighting Saturday night sucked and the sound system was crap the whole time, but he was a real trooper and put on a great show!!

I highly encourage everyone to support any Idols who come your way. You may not “get” them and their music may not be your type, but these kids (I’m 43, so I can say that!) are working hard and deserve our support after the shows and tours are over. Constantine took 2 days off from his paying gig on Broadway to come out and support the largest Greek festival in North Texas. He made lots of people very happy and kept his name associated with his Greek heritage. I’ll be buying his CD when it comes out next year for sure. He worked hard this weekend! Thanks, Constantine! (Oh, and I’m pretty sure he smiled at me once! It made me feel like a little girl and I felt all butterfly-ie inside! This from a Taylor Hicks fan! O.M.G.!!)

Thanks to Ash for giving me a home at the Boogie board so we can discuss all types of music, and thanks to MJ, since it was because she likes Constantine that was my main reason for going. I’ve selfishly downloaded every picture and video that MJ and others have offered up of Taylor and now I get to offer up some pictures of Constantine in partial repayment. The link to my photos follows. I’m new at the photobucket thing (as well as the digital camera thing – only bought it Friday night!), but hope it works. Please feel free to share the photos with any Constantine fans you know. FYI – The girl in the pix was videotaping Saturday night and Sunday. Maybe for a DVD? Dunno. Just in case anyone was wondering about her. She also took lots of crowd shots.

Hugs everyone! Opa! We’re all Greek today!!

http://s104.photobucket.com/albums/m193/deejaysoul/