1. The fans: Even before I arrived, I had all sorts of warm fuzzies about ABBA fans, since I would not have been able to make the trip if David hadn't generously offered to let me stay with him for free. I'm grateful he did, because the trip was well worth it. It was great to finally meet many of the fans I read on ABBAMAIL. However, I often confused things people wrote with the missives of others with the same first name. So I have a hard time not thinking of Kevin Fletcher when I met Kevin Evans, etc. Weren't there two Fionas way back when? I always assumed the person I used to chat with on IRC in the 1990s was the same as the Fiona writing to the list, but apparently I was mistaken. I have a hard time with names and faces at the best of times, so I often found myself saying nothing instead of taking the risk of confusing one person with another. As I get to more fan events, I suspect this problem will disappear.

As I said, I'm awful at remembering names and faces, so I made an effort to ask everyone's name two or three times over the course of the weekend. I hope people weren't too put off by this; I figure that a bit of awkwardness is the price to pay for getting to know everyone. Even now, I can remember what some people sound like, the things they said, and the stuff they liked -- but not their names. The Rogues Gallery is a real lifesaver for me. Of course, when you attend one of these things for the first time, it seems as if everyone else knows one another and you feel like a bit of an outsider. The only solution is to talk to people anyway and try to get to know them. I found the ABBA fans to be really open and inviting; I expected a much more clique-y atmosphere but everyone seemed willing to chat with new faces just as much as the old ones.

I'm not going to list off everyone I was glad to meet because I'd surely omit someone and because I didn't have enough one-on-one interaction with most people to get a sense of who they really are (yep, that's the introverted mousey in me talking). But I'm really glad I got to meet everyone, talk to them, and watch them interact with each other. In short, meeting and talking to the fans was as important a part of the weekend as the actual concert. Which brings me to #2:

2. The concert: Well I was impressed. The concert itself lasted from around 8:30 AM to around 12:30 AM, with a 15-minute break in the middle. Others have commented on the set; I have no basis for comparison. They pretty much played everything I wanted to hear, with one exception.

TOMMY: I wasn't terribly impressed by Tommy Körberg; he performed like a Las Vegas lounge singer. It didn't mesh well with the rest of the material, varied as it was, and I kept waiting for him to sing some Benny/Björn material. (Anthem, anyone?)

HELEN: I got to meet Helen in the lobby earlier in the day. She graciously signed Kristina and BAO! for me and posed for a picture. She was quite attractive. Once I saw her perform in that sailor outfit, I thought to myself, "Benny who?" Seriously, I was blown away by her performance. Her face has an almost Jim Carrey-ish Silly Putty quality to it; she has an incredible range of expression and seems to do both zany and sad with equal ease. I have a video clip that captures some of her facial expressions that I'll be posting. Her singing, her choice of material, her ever-changing wardrobe, and her "above and beyond the call of duty" dedication to the fans really impressed me. After the show, she stuck around for perhaps 20 or 30 minutes to greet fans and sign their various mementos. When I saw her solo album available at a table of CDs offered for sale, I snatched it up right away. I definitely need to hear and see more of this woman. If Randy or someone else does post the video of her singing the English version of Hemma, this is a must-see.

BENNY: Benny was in his element. He really seemed to be enjoying himself on stage, and was more or less content to let Helen and Tommy duke it out for audience applause while he played the piano. Or the accordion. Or the ukulele. He was just beaming as he watched the largely Swedish-American crowd enjoy his accordion. He's clearly quite proud of this show. Alone among the band, he did not stay around for autographs or photos after the concert. However, he did provide a few after he finished eating (I have a photo with him taken at around 2 or 2:30 AM, and he looks like he was about to keel over from exhaustion). The photo is on Flickr with the others; I already posted the link. In a stunning display of poor fan behaviour, a few fans went over to the table while he and the cast were eating and harassed the performers for autographs, attention, etc. I don't think there were any ABBAMAILERs in that bunch; the rest of us wanted to scream at them: "Just let the poor man eat, for heaven's sake!"

3. The rest: The food was OK. There were too many beets and too much cabbage for my taste, but then again every meal has too many veggies for my taste. I like fruits, meats, grains, and cheeses but I loathe almost all veggies. The goat cheese and flatbread were tasty treats indeed. The pork was stuffed with apricots and plums, and would have been a but better without all the cabbage juice soaked into it. The dessert had berries, vanilla, whipped cream -- pretty much everything one could ask for except chocolate, and I don't really care for chocolate anyway. The auction felt a bit tacky to me, but then again this whole event was a fundraiser and it seems the Institute was basically just breaking even on its costs. By contrast, I liked the table of CDs for sale, since it was outside the banquet hall and entirely optional. I grabbed a replacement copy of November 1999 (which had been stolen from me along with most of my ABBA collection back in 1999 or so) and Helen's solo album (which has her wonderful voice set to so-so "classic" compositions).

4. The future: I spent a lot of money (for me) on this trip, but it was worth it. Now that I have a long-term job in an area where Katharine should also be able to find work, I expect I'll be able to do this again every other year or so. I will definitely find a way to make it to the US premiere of Kristina (alas, whoever plays Kristina won't be able to measure up to Helen in my eyes). And perhaps I can get to more of the "smaller" (and cheaper) get-togethers that ABBA fans have from time to time. Rural Texas isn't the best place to find ABBA fans (yeah I know we have some, but Texas is a REALLY big state), but hopefully I can find something within driving range. For now, it's time to focus on work so that when these opportunities arise, I'll have the time and money to take advantage of them.

Jeff Dixon, aka abbamouse ( )_( ) Sugar Land, Texas, USA

Link to my photos from the weekend:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/abbamouse/sets/72057594087064122/