Nevertheless in New Providence, NJ

Last night was ahmasing. There is no way to describe it other than ahmasing. I mean, we drove three stinkin long hours into New Providence last night. It was all completely worth it though...oh so worth it.

Ok, so me and my friend get there at like, 8.30. That's a half hour past when we were supposed to be there. But it was cool, cos we skipped through the middle man and just got there with a few minutes to spare. Nevertheless was going on in, like, fifteen minutes. I think this was a total God thing, cos then we met this one dude, Jason, and he asked us what was going on, since I had my dear Lola in hand. He wanted to know if I was another performer. I kindly informed him of "no" and told him that I knew AJ Cheek and that AJ Cheek said to come see him in two months so I could show him my skills. So I followed the directions, and here I am, two months later. Jason told me he'd go to find Joshua, but no promises.

Soon thereafter, Jason returned with the most brilliant news ever. "They said they remember you real well...Gillian, right?" I lit up and nodded my head enthusiastically. My friend just laughed really hard. "See? And I never told them your name. I just found out what it was. They said that they'd see you later." I was so happy. Me and my friend just proceeded inside and I set Lola down by the stage. Article A was still playing (they're alright, I guess), so me and my friend just stood around for a minute. Then we walked over to the merch table, cos I really wanted a Nevertheless shirt. I got it, but then Adam just walked right past us. It was hilarious, cos I nearly passed out. I quickly stuffed my shirts in my bag and we hurried back over to find a decent spot. Lo and behold, there was Adam Wann, with his complete awesomeness, getting gear together on the stage. So I yelled, "Yo Adam!" and he just looked up and smiled and waved hello. That would be classic humble shy Adam Wann for ya.

Bryant caught up with us before Nevertheless went on. He was so sweet. He gave us a big hug and said, "Hey, nice to see you again." I told him that it was a three hour drive that was well worth. He told us that we was glad that we could come all this way to see the guys. We talked some more, but he was all extra nice, like usual. How I do love Brian all very much.

Me and my friend sat around and talked some more. We then noticed two girls standing by the stage, just oggling poor Adam. I told them to just go up to him. He's a normal person...still pretty rad. Anyhow, they were like, no way! So I went over to Adam and tapped him on the back. It was like we were old friends or something. I told him I still had his pick and he said that he still had mine. Which was pretty awesome. Then I introduced the girls and they were freaking out. They asked about Brad Jones, and Adam told them that he was no longer with the band, but they had Zach now. So I made a small sad face, but went on to say he wanted to be home with wifey, I'm sure. Adam just laughed. The rest of the band went to finish setting up their gear and I saw Bryant with the mics. I yelled out, "Hey! Bryant! Are they playing 'O' Child' tonight?" Hey looked over at me, smiled a soft smile, and then shook his head no. He chuckled a bit, knowing that that was MY song. That was the song I loved the most on all of their sets.

Nevertheless took the stage. It was awesome. (I think that's my new favorite word...awesome.) I knew all the lyrics and was jumping around like a maniac. They actually set up to play Topics on this occasion. When I heard that they were gonna play Topics, I nearly cried, but instead, I screamed beyond loud. Joshua looked over at me and was like, "Whoa! Hey." Topics was...let's just say they did a phenomenal job, as usual. They finished off strong with "Sleeping In", "Live Like We're Alive", and "The Real." Made me chuckle a bit, cos those songs everyone actually knew. The new stuff was very selective.

After their set, my friend, the girls, and I all went to the back to the signing line. The line wrapped all the way around and was ridiculous. I wanted to get a chance to play "O' Child" for the guys again, since I knew the right finger picking, and I fer sure knew "Rest" now. Which made me really enthused. I dragged everyone to go see Brian first to figure out what my status was. He said that it would be like ten or fifteen minutes until he could get the guys for me. I wanted to go really bad, but I knew that the signing line was insane, so me and my friend hopped to the front to find AJ and Zach. I wanted to meet this new guitarist. He was playing an SE Singlecut with a sunburst top. It was gorgeous...my dream guitar. So I wanted to be sure that I met him. I had him sign with the rest of my Nevertheless signatures. It was like he was completely honored. Me and AJ played catch up. We were high-fiving and pounding fists and such over learning new material and my recording. He told me that he saw my comments and read my messages all the time and that it meant a lot to them. I just about nearly dropped my jaw at that line. So me and my friend went to the back to hang with Brian for a minute, waiting for the line to die down, only to have my mother to call me and tell me that we had to go soon. So, I just went and asked Bryant to take care of my friend's other signatures that she wanted and then I gave Bryant a hug and told him I had to be peacin out. He was like, alright. Just told me to MySpace him when I got a chance so that they could check out my music and keep in touch and stuff.

Me and my friend got down stairs and I was a little sad that I didn't get a chance to get another picture with the guys or play for them, but it's all cool. I was like, ok, there are other chances in the world. Just as I closed the trunk, I saw a figure running down the stairs toward us in a gray shirt with light hair, only to realise that it was Joshua Pearson...I mean THE Joshua Pearson. He was running to US.
"Hey!" he said breathlessly.
"Josh!" I yelled, half laughing, half surprised. "What are you doing down here?"
"I was talking to Bryant and then I saw you guys leave. I asked Bryant if you all were leaving. He told me you were, so I had to come down here before you left," he told us.
At this point I was smiling so hard, I couldn't stop. I couldn't believe that this was happening to us.
"I heard you guys drove three hours," he said, in a bundle of happiness and pleasure.
"Yeah, so we gotta get back to Delaware. I told Bryant that you guys gotta play out that way since these three hour drives are killing us," I replied.
"Oh wow. That means so much to us. At least you came tonight instead of tomorrow in Connecticut," he said jokingly. "It's going to be more insane than tonight was."
I just looked at him, and then at my momma. We knew that the drive was like, ten hours up that way from our house. It was an impossible feat to do that. I asked Joshua for a picture and he was like, "Sure, of course." Me and my buddy got one each. It was so nice that he came all the way down just to see US. He didn't even stop for the other kids at the table sitting outside. He wanted to say goodbye to US. That was important. Almost a big mark in my life to know that we are more friends to these guys than family.