Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Bash!

Last Sunday Jamie, Amy, Yee Ning, Aftin and I rocked out with thousands of teeny boppers at KISS 106.1's Jingle Bell Bash.

Thanks to some very hospitable folks who I work with, we were given "Artist All Access" passes that let us wander about the Tacoma Dome like the rockstars we truly are. These passes guaranteed us entry backstage, side stage, to the dressing rooms, VIP area and the broadcast room.

Needless to say, we meandered backstage every chance we had, even saying hi to the Pussycat Dolls while passing them in the hall and checking out the food Jojo grabbed in the dinner line. (The best part of the "Artist All Access" passes was being able to pee backstage rather than wait in line with all the "normal" folks!) ;)

Enjoy the pics from our row 10 seats as well as the video of some of the great performances we saw.

Included in the REAL rocker line-up were Natasha Bedingfield, Jojo, Nelly Furtado, Danity Kane, Pussycat Dolls, and Fall Out Boy.

(In the middle of her set Natasha broke out into Bob Marley's One Love. The five of us started skanking and singing along so loudly that our voices rang out with Natasha's while the entire teeny bopper crowd around us stood silent in consternation, trying to identify the "oldie" that Natasha was belting out.)

A big fan of Saturday afternoon Making the Band marathons, I was most excited to see Danity Kane's performance. I felt like I've seen them grow and thrive, but when they stepped on stage in their too-tiny outfits and their cheap, trashy hair-extensions, I thought "Ugh, what whores!"

Nelly Furtado was definitely more underground and indie than I had anticipated. She had back-up dancers who danced like horny little elves. Very modern. Reminds me of my days dancing as an electron.

The Pussycat Dolls were by far the hottest and most talented group we saw. Actually, Nicole stole the show. Their performance really should have been titled "The Nicole Show." The other Pussycat Dolls were just really good dancers.

In between performances, I spotted a teeny bopper wearing a black T-shirt with the word "FOB" on the back. I couldn't figure out if the little girl was Asian and proud, or if she was racist and mean. Throughout the night, I continued to notice the blatent misuse of the semi-derogatory acronym. FOB was everywhere -- on T-shirts, on hats, on the jumbotron, on clothing, even tattooed on faces.

"What a weird place, this Tacoma," I thought to myself, as I shook my head in disbelief.

I wondered aloud why people were so proud (or mean) when Aftin told me that FOB stood for Fall Out Boy, NOT Fresh Off the Boat. DOH!

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1568490761