Afterglow 2006

We had known that the casino was hosting a little weekend music festival, but we would have never guessed in a million years that they would be able to get an internationally renowned act like Smash Mouth to rock this small town in Upper Michigan. If that wasn't cool enough, we actually met Steve Harwell, the band's lead singer. He took time before getting on the bus to be in a picture with the kids.

We got the pictures with Steve from Smash Mouth right before we went into the casino because we saw a small group of young adults gathered near a couple of tour buses. When we found out who it was, we knew a picture was necessary or else those back home wouldn't believe what happened on our vacation. With that awesome moment behind us, we spent the next 2 1/2 hours in the casino spending/winning/losing money before we decided that it was time to go back to Afterglow. Jenny spent most of that time passed out in the back of Tim's car. After meeting Steve from Smash Mouth, nothing else that night would be good enough for her, so she felt the best thing to do was turn in early. She made the right decision by not giving her hard earned money to the casino.

The rain finally stopped and we made our way outside. By now it was easily 11:30 pm - 12:00 midnight, so there was nothing to do but hang out down by the fire pit and try and start a fire. The wood is kept underneath a covered structure, but everything else in the area was soaking wet. I'm not sure if we got a fire going, but if we did it wasn't very warm or memorable. Jenny looks pissed in the picture on the right, but in reality she was just bored out of her mind. Something needed to happen fast, or else this vacation would end on a down note.

I was walking back towards the cabin and bumped into Susie and Matt, who were also looking for something to do. A led to B and the conversation turned to going to the casino. I'm always up for a little gambling, so we decided to drive up to Watersmeet. Little did we know that an incredibly uneventful night would soon culminate into one of the most shocking and surprising moments of the week.

I was taking the picture, and Jenny shouted at me to take a picture with her camera too. Steve got upset because I wasn't in the picture, then yelled for me to get in the picture with him. When Jenny tried to jump in, he chastised her for her actions and specifically stated that he only wanted Scotty in the picture. We rock stars have to stick together; we are a dying breed after all. Not too many 90's pop/rock groups can have as much continued success as this guy. He's playing a tiny casino in Northern Michigan on a July Friday night for crying out loud! He should have been anywhere else in the world, but he's here belting out "All Star" and "Walking on the Sun" for the 20-30 fans in the area who actually showed up to see him rock like it's 1999. All that he asks is that you give him $$ by buying his albums.