FAN STORIES: NICOLE NYC

Posted on May 30, 2010 by Laura

Hi Guys,

So for the record, I will start off by saying, I’m not a professional blogger, nor do I pretend to be, so excuse any and all grammatical errors and texts.  Ryan suggested that I write my story with my interaction with Gaga so we can all share this amazing experience together..so I did

It was Thursday, May 13th 2010. The day started out as an average day off from work at the hospital. I was on 3 hrs of sleep feeling slightly hung over from my dirty stay out the night before and I needed to be in Brooklyn at 8am for a Dr’s appointment. Being that I was in the area, I was going to pay my mother a visit. When I arrived at mymother’s house, she asked for a ride into the city for her business meeting. “Of course” I replied. As I was waiting for her to get ready, I was flipping through myphone on my Twitter account and I noticed @ryanleejohnson ‘s tweets to @gagaismylife  commenting on how he was waiting for Gaga outside Carnegie Hall. Since I was going to be in the area, I decided to pass by and catch all the excitement.

This past March, I was feeling a little down and not in a good space. I had written a partial journal entry about my past and my emotions. Feeling inspired by Gaga’s participation in charity organizations, I decided to write the letter to her; just to let her know that she has the ability to make a powerful, positive impact on people’s lives and she is appreciated for it.

I had saved the letter in my inbox so I was able to print it out that day. I told myself “I think I have a good chance in personally slipping this letter to her today”.

I dropped my mother off and I arrived at Carnegie Hall around 230pmish. I went by the barriers in the area where I saw a group of little monsters standing around, waiting for Gaga to arrive. As we were waiting for her, this one man passed by and said “Who are you waiting for, Obama?” We all busted out laughing, we all responded “Noooo Lady Gaga!” Silly man he was. He then stated “she has this much security??”. “I guess”, I replied. FYI-President Obama was in NYC that day as well, but who cares. As I glanced around to see what everyone had in their hands, I started to feel unprepared and felt like bad fan. One little monster had a Gaga T-shirt on and the Deluxe Monster Box Set in his hands ready to be autographed.  Little monsters, Doug and his best friend Mike, had made a collage of drawings for Gaga and put it in a portfolio to give to her. Another little monster, who was slightly introverted, was quietly clutching onto something. I couldn’t see what it was, but I did see a few album covers and a poster in her hand that she wanted autographed.
The only articles I had on me was my silver and white bag, shades over my tired eyes and the little letter I wrote to give Gaga.
I started talking to a few monsters, asking them how long they have been waiting there, what kind of event is going on and how they knew about it…They said they have been waiting since 10am and found out through a Gaga fan site of the charity event that was being held for the Rain forest. When I told them I found out via twitter from Ryan and @gagaismylife, they all got hyped up and we all started exchanging twitter accounts. Everyone was really friendly and talkative, except maybe for the girl who was waiting quietly and patiently for Gaga. She looked very anxious and remained introverted, engaging in as little conversation as possible.

At around 3pm, what appeared to be a black escalade had pulled up and Lady Gaga came out of it.  The little monster to my left, with his video recorder yelled out “Gaga! Gaga! Come here, Come here-she has Diamonds for YOU!”Diamonds! I said to myself, who has the diamonds?? Well, the loud voice was enough to get Gaga’s attention and she came over to our side of the barrier first. Everyone’s vocabulary, reduced to “Oh my G-d, Gaga, We love you, Can you sign this, can I get a picture??” All I kept saying undermy breath was repititivetly saying “wow”.

Gaga looked stunningly beautiful. Her light grey hair was in an updo and she had on a black dress, black shades and those black platform shoes that most people, including myself, wonder on how she walks and dances in them. Her affect looked bright. She looked very classy and elegant. She was very calm. When she approached the crowd, her calming effect radiated throughout the crowd. She had the ability to settle them down. For a few moments, there were periods of silence with an occasional “omg, we love you, you look beautiful” I was watching how she interacted with everyone and the time she spent on autographing everyone’s articles, I was so impressed.  She was so graceful and had such poise. She took her time while autographing, I was so impressed that I said “You know, that’s really nice of you to take the time out and sign everything-thank you” I’m not sure if she heard me or not. Doug was able to hand her his portfolio and Gaga reached out to sign it and Doug said “no, it’s for you”. She replied “For me?, ok”, and took the portfolio. Doug handed her a piece of paper, she asked “Sign?”. Doug replied “yeah” and then she autographed a separate piece of paper for him. Gaga handed over the portfolio to her escort to free her hands. Doug attempted to give Gaga my letter, but she was busy autographing. A few seconds later I stuck out the letter, which I think she was confused on whether or not to sign it and I said “Fan Mail, Fan Mail!” with a smirk.

She took the letter and handed it over to her escort. The young women was able to give Gaga her diamond heart necklace, she stated “your going to wear it right Gaga”. Gaga nodded her head and replied “yes”. If I had to guess, I think Gaga may have been a bit surprised that her fans came with gifts for her, as if it was a little unexpected..

I was so excited that I was able to see her in person and slip her my letter that I didn’t ask for a picture. I didn’t want to be pushy, I felt satisfied just being in the middle of all of this. I took 2 pictures of her from my camera phone to remember this day by.  I turned around to her and said “You deserve every fu*king bit of your success”, which I think she heard because she cracked a half smile while taking a picture. The other little monsters all chimed in “Yes Gaga, you do! You do!”, “Yeah Gaga you do!” She then snapped a few more pictures and asked “So how is everyone doing?” I said to myself, damn I wish I had something to be autographed! I quickly handed over my bag to her with a black sharpie in my hand asking “Can you sign my bag?” Oddly enough, she didn’t take my black sharpie, she signed it with a silver one, as if she wanted to colour coordinate the signature with the white and silver bag.

I’m not sure if that was intentional or not.  Then I heard Mike say “Gaga, can you sign myshoe?” and Gaga autographed his shoe. I felt like if I said “Gaga, can you sign myeye?” She would have, she was such a good sport. She then went over to the left side of the barrier to autograph some more.
We soon left Carnegie Hall and we were all hyper! The woman who gave her the necklace pepped up and began talking to me and we were all going nutty in the CVS where they got their pictures developed. The little monsters Doug and Mike were so happy to hand personally hand Gaga their portfolio. I asked where they lived and how they were getting home, they are almost old enough to be my sons. Being that they lived near me, I drove them both home.

After meeting my favourite artist, whose work I appreciate and enjoy, and seeing how she interacted with her fans by making the effort to return the same appreciation, is beyond amazing.  Gaga is an artist, and whether she likes it or not, she is a celebrity who makes any and all efforts to be anti-celebrity. She is also anti-snobbery, which is an admirable trait. Her lifestyle comes off to many of us as if she lives in another world with little touch to reality. She tries to remain grounded. To meet an artist of her caliber and to see the efforts she makes to connect with her fans, she hugs and kisses them, is really indescribable.

I have an all new respect for Lady Gaga and I will again say, she does deserve every bit of her f*cking success

<3 Nicole

P.S.The only regret I have is not including my contact info on the letter, I only wrotemy number, I wasn’t thinking.  So Gaga if you read this- spice_newyorkcity@yahoo.com
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