| Greetings Friends, I live in New Hampshire and traveled with my sister to attend the signing. About 2:30pm on Saturday we walked past Carly’s store (to see if a line was forming). There was no line and no sign of any activity at all. The only place I had seen this advertised was on Carly’s website (and I had seen nothing about it on the Vineyard yet). So at this point we kind of felt like there weren’t going to be many people at the signing and it was best to wait until 4pm to go to it. We went back to our hotel, ate, then walked backed to Carly’s at 4pm. Oh my! How on Earth it happened I have no idea, but there was now a HUGE line down the dirt road leading to the store (I have since found out that this was advertised in the local paper and on the local radio station). I could not even believe it. We then found out that you have to go inside and purchase your CDs and DVDs first, then come back out and get in line for autographs. So we squeezed through the crowd of people and went inside. There was Carly, sitting on a coach in the middle of her store. There was the couch, a chair next to it, a table, etc. sort of like a living room in the middle of the store! At this point my mission was to make my purchases and get in the huge line, but I did stop briefly to look at Carly of course. |
| So we got in line, down the dirt road. I would guess there were 200-300 people ahead of us at least. When we first arrived we heard a huge cheer, so I assume that is when the signing began. Ok, so this line moved at a snails pace. It took me 3 hours to be exact to get to Carly. The signing was supposed to be from 4-6pm, I got to her at 7pm, and I believe she had at least another hour or so behind us. So what was taking so long? Well, word quickly spread through the line that Carly was sitting and talking with each person! Of course I was very pleased with that news, but many people weren’t (and some actually left). Good, they weren’t fans anyway! She let you take photos with her, sign anything that you brought, sit and chat, etc. Carly also had wine, cheese, water, and grapes available for people in line. Eventually we got to the door! Now, at that point I didn’t feel worried about whether Carly would stop before we got there. I had heard by this point that she was prepared to stay until the last person. Just being in the doorway made the past 3 hours seem worthwhile. I knew we’d make it. Imagine going all the way to the island and then not getting to meet her because we didn’t show up early enough! They were playing Carly’s new Greatest Hits CD inside and eventually I could see her. Oh, before we got to this point, James Taylor’s sister stopped by to visit Carly as well. Anyway, watching Carly sit and chat with each person kind of made me nervous. I mean, I had 3 hours to think about it, but never really figured out what I might say. I could see her singing along and sort of “dancing in her seat” to “You Belong To Me”. I just thought that was so cool and how I heard she was singing to children in line. We finally got to be next in line and the lady (co-owner of the store) we had met the previous night and earlier that morning greeted us. She seemed totally nice and happy to see that we made it. My sister went first and sat in the chair next to Carly. I took two photos of them. My sister had the new DVD signed for herself, the CD signed for her boss, and another CD sleeve signed for me that I had brought. Carly signed my sister’s DVD on the case (something I DID NOT want to have happen to mine). Carly said she was promised that was the best place to sign and “wouldn’t it be funny if it smudged now that she said that”. Well, no!, but seeing Carly said it would be funny, ok, ha ha. I don’t know what else my sister and she said, but my sister stood up and it was my turn. Carly had told her that it was the first “Gary” she had signed that day, so as I walked up to Carly I told her that I was Gary. “Give Me All Night” was playing while we were with Carly, and I believe “The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of” had begun by the time I got up. |
| I was determined not to sit in the chair that my sister did and go sit next to Carly on the couch, so I did, lol. Hey, it’s better for photos! I had two bags on my left arm cause I had no place else to put them, and I just remember them being in the way at first because I was sitting to Carly’s right. I was about to start talking but noticed Carly seemed to be looking up. So I did too and realized my sister was trying to take our photo. Oh duh! Carly was more on the ball than I was apparently! |
Anyone wishing to write to me about Carly and her music may do so by writing to gwd4 @ comcast.net