The opening night of the Triple Threat Tour was an event like no other. The Toyota Center in Houston was a compete sellout as Beyonce', Rhianna & Tigress rocked the house. Chris and I were furnished with special badges and uniforms that clearly made us standout from everyone else on the staff. Chuck was in all his glory.
The tour now made its way to Dallas, and Rhianna was as sexy as ever. She had a new band that gave her a much tougher sound, and she had thrown several classic rock songs into her show like Free's "All Right Now" the Rolling Stones "If You Can't Rock Me" and "Street Fighting Man", cleverly changing the words to "..'cause in sleepy Dallas town there's just no place for a street fighting man." getting a rousing response from the crowd. I was snapping my pictures as usual but really enjoying the show. I couldn't help but think of all the shows I'd been to long ago where I wished I'd had a camera and carte' blanche' photo privileges like we did now. Especially when Rhianna shot several glances at me during the show when she sang "All Right Now" and changed the words to "baby, he's alright now" looking directly at me with the requisite smile she was famous for. Or in "If You Can't Rock Me" saying that "he's got a hard-on and it hurts like hell, if HE can't rock me, somebody else will." The crowd thought she was smiling at them, and in a way, she was. But I knew who those smiles were really for!
Backstage was like an exclusive club. There were more celebs there than we'd ever seen. Not just from the music world, but the sports world as well. Members of the Dallas Cowboys showed up, among them Tony Romo and his girlfriend, Jessica Simpson. Jessica was stunningly beautiful, I'd obviously seen her photos elsewhere but they really didn't do her justice. She had thick cascading blonde hair that was accented by her dark eyes and curves both top and bottom. That night she had on a tan suede jacket, tight jeans and cowboy boots. She looked fabulous. Tony, on the other hand looked like he wanted to be anywhere but this show. He had a generally grumpy attitude the whole time, and Jess was clearly aggravated by it. I could see her pulling him aside and trying to get him to lighten up. But he wanted none of it. He gravitated toward his teammates who seemed eager to go party on their own. Finally, she looked around and he was gone.
"That son of a bitch! He left! He fuckin' left me here!" she screamed.
Jessica didn't seem to have any assistants with her. It seemed like she and I were the only ones in the room.
She whipped out her cellphone and immediately started dialing numbers, but none seemed to work given the reception.
"You! Do you work here?" she angrily said to me.
"Uh, I'm with the tour staff, but I.." I started.
"Fine! I need a ride home, that sonofabitch left me here!"
"Uh, I'm not sure how I can help, I don't have a car here...uh, wait a minute. Wait right here." I quickly said.
I ran out of the backstage reception room and desperately looked for Chuck. Luckily he was popping champagne with Amy Adamson, Rhianna's record company contact. With them was a well dressed man I didn't recognize.
"Chuck! I need a huge favor right now!" I said breathlessly.
"Hey, hey, chill, dude. What's up?" he asked.
"I need a car to drive someone home. Didn't you say Mercedes keeps some on call at events like this?" I said.
"We do. Why? Do you need one?" said the well dressed man in a clipped accent that clearly showed he wasn't from Texas.
"Yes, um, would you believe me if I said Jessica Simpson needs a ride home?" I asked sheepishly, I knew I was setting myself up for failure here.
"Yes, I would. Considering the fact she's standing right beside you." Said the well dressed man.
