PART ONE: SUMMARY ==================

BAO was worth it. But only just worth it. The best part was the beautiful decorations and Helen's beautiful voice (and Ryan throwing water at the table). The worst part was when Tommy & BAO sang covers of old songs - and I'm not talking about ABBA covers.

Someone said that 'some people danced, while the true fans stood in awe and took pictures'. I resent the comment actually, and would tend to agree with Dora that the small crowd recording the entire concert was more of a hindrance and quite unpleasant (hugely annoying?) - at first. I enjoyed dancing, singing along, and being really 'present' at the concert, and didn't understand initially how fans could ignore a great concert so that they could watch it on their computer later. However, I do understand that there are some people that prefer to have the tons of pictures, and where would we be without them? So maybe the good thing is that there's both types of ABBA fans, and it works out well for the world... and you can bet I'll be asking for pictures later.

What 'did it' for myself and a few other people was Benny totally jamming out to "Why Did It Have to Be Me" and the wide-eyed excitement when we all thought he was starting to play "Does Your Mother Know". What fun!

Benny & Helen were plastered. Benny somehow forgot how to speak English. Tommy & Helen told odd jokes about hairy men. I loved talking to Graeme for the first time ever - he sounds absolutely fantastic and hot (despite that he once called me discarded semen: "spunk")!

PART 2: LONG VERSION ===================

WARNING: this e-mail contains alcohol. Do not read if you are pregnant or nursing.

Thursday morning I flew from West Palm Beach (84°F) to Newark (49°F) to arrive in Minneapolis (21°F). The conversation in the hotel van was about how this couple was so opposed to alcohol, etc. etc. - I sat quietly and smiled like Mona Lisa. I stayed in the Holiday Inn Express by the Airport and Some Big Freakin' Mall (SBFM). Note: telling the driver & hotel staff that you're "sure" that there's a bigger mall in Texas somewhere, doesn't impress them at all. It pisses them off.

As soon as I arrived at the hotel, I inquired where the hotel bar was located and was told that the nearest restaurant (..not bar..) was around the corner and only a block and a half away.. "Where is the nearest bar", I inquired again. I was on vacation, and that - as they say - is that. "That's Outback Steakhouse," responded the enigmatic, frowning concierge. WHAT a bunch of Teetotallers (sic.).

So I threw a hooded sweatshirt over my t-shirt and replaced shorts with jeans, and stepped outside. I immediately turned around and walked back to my room, wiped the ice and icicles off of my face, and found a heavy jacket, gloves, etc. that a friend lent me for this trip. I put on thermals, etc etc, then went out into the frosty, sub-arctic blast of 9°F.

Lars was at the mall and agreed to come have a drink with me at the Steakhouse and I watched Texas A&M beat the ever-living out of Syracuse. I forget whether LSU won or not. I had three large steins (I'm thinking they were 2 pints each), and marvelled at where in my body they fit - hollow leg? Lars noted that my drinkin' arm was getting stronger, since the drinks were heavy.

The next day was relaxing and while some folks were out shopping or something, I moved my stuff into Lars' room, to move it later into Jason's room. I sat down at the hotel bar that afternoon to have a glass of cabernet, a beer, and a water (for those of you who don't know what 'water' is: it's a mixer that we use with Whiskey).

Then I went to meet with Dora, et al at some restaurant and we all tried St. Pauli Girl beer (St. Vomit-Hurl, maybe). Then we got drinks at the hotel bar as people filtered in. Meeting my new roomies, Jason & Gil was a pleasure.

We saw Benny leave the practice room. Rather, everyone else saw him - I was looking at Dora wondering why she stopped in the middle of her story. All I saw was the back of him, and Kevin sighed, saying, "that's cool - we got to see Daddy" or something and we all laughed at his replacing "daddy" with "Benny".

That night was fun, and I finally got to meet a large number of people and put names to faces. I found out I was related to some people (Mumsie & Grand-ma-ma) and heard word of an ABBAMAIL-related ENGAGEMENT and promised not to tell anyone about it - so you guys will just have to wait and find out. Mum's the word.

Wayne bought a round (thanks!) and we all toasted to that unique but powerful bond that we have. Then I got plastered, but stayed kickin' with the best of them. There was a lot of laughter, and I think that the last remaining folks were Ryan, Kevin, Jason, Scott, and myself? (Forgive if I forgot) I don't think I've laughed as much in one evening.

The next morning Lars, Jason, Gil, and I went to Some Big Freakin' Mall and I tried to make people mad by saying, "Oh, please - we have bigger malls in Texas! Good Lord." but nobody at the mall noticed because they weren't from 'round there.

The concert was fantastic (read above) and everyone looked AMAZING. Kevin: "we do clean up well, don't we?". And yes, Graeme would have been very proud. The food tasted like Ass-monkey. I dragged Dora over Randy and made it look like Randy tripped her. Randy is a fellow Aggie (which some people thought we were some kind of Agnetha Cult), and we "gigged" em a couple of times. It was sooo cool to finally meet the only other Aggie on the list.

Then we went downstairs and drank a lot more. While I had no interest in bothering Benny at that bar, a small crowd swarmed him, but dammit, they pay his salary, so I say go for it, but be a little nicer. Actually, in my opinion, Benny should do what every musician has ever done anytime I've ever worked venues: Take 20 minutes out of your time, to go out back and meet the 20 people who want to shake your hand, get an autograph or a picture. Then everyone can go their separate ways, and that wasn't very painful was it? It's worked for crowds of 10,000, it should have been fine here.

The next morning was a snooze-alarm morning, and Gil and I headed to MSP via a taxi. At the airport, we sat and judged people and made fun of them. I almost died landing in windy Newark, but arriving in West Palm was perfect (weather and everything).

It's amazing how there is soooo much more to tell, but I guess those stories stay at home with us. I insisted that a lot of people come to Florida, so when BAO performs in Fort Lauderdale, we'll all have a good time here!!!

To everyone I met on this trip: Thanks for all your generous love, and thanks for all the fun,

Mikey Lynch Port Saint Lucie, Florida, USA