The Day We Held Lee MacDougall Captive

So, before you go telling me that kidnapping people and holding them hostage is frowned upon or whatever… I would like to say in our defense that Lee MacDougall willingly got into a car with and accepted candy from strangers, so we should not be held 100% responsible for our actions.

 

And I suppose I should further set the record straight by telling you that my friends and I were picking him up to sing at a private party that we were hosting and, therefore, it was not a true hostage situation. After all, I wouldn’t want you to get the mistaken impression that I routinely troll airports in search of handsome, guitar-carrying guys with British accents to abduct (an intriguing idea, nonetheless). Coincidentally, though, I did once find Donny Osmond in an airport and then spent the afternoon riding around with him in his car, so maybe this airport idea does have some merit. But I digress…

 

I’ll admit, the seven of us were quite the odd welcoming committee, but Lee proved to be extremely adaptable and took it all in stride. His quick, dry sense of humor fit right in with the gang and we had a very fun couple of days being his SoCal hosts. Looking back, I still can’t believe how much we laughed with (and at) him, but he handled it all so well that I have no doubt he could easily beat all of us in a battle of wits with one wit tied behind his back.

 

Lee and The BookClub: Twifixx, me (TwiloveSue), Twi-Daughter Nicole,

ZAnyMouse, Twi-Daughter Taylor (hiding), Twi-Daughter Megan, Twi-Boyfriend Sean

 

 

I think this picture of Lee with his Ralphs card is so funny and endearing because he brought it all the way back from England to save 20 cents on a cup of hot tea at a US grocery store. And, by the way, even though he thinks that the word “hot” should be implied when you’re ordering tea, everyone else knows it is not.

 

Because my house is a small, cluttery mess, we held the party at my neighborhood association clubhouse. Lee did actually go into my small, cluttery, messy house, so I will, of course, soon be installing a plaque above the front door to boast about that fact.

 

 

 We had a group of 20-ish people there for the party, and, believe me, everyone was impressed by Lee’s beautiful sound and charming personality. He sang a wonderful acoustic set of original songs from his two CDs, a few great covers, and even took requests from the audience. It was also so sweet of him to open with one of my favorite songs, “Ships,” and dedicate it to me.

 

 

 

 Many of my friends were hearing him sing for the first time and I know he won them over as fans that night. The room ended up being a perfect place for him to perform because it was an intimate setting, but not too small to be overwhelmed by his powerful voice. We also had plenty of food and drinks. The rum was especially popular.

 

 

 

 Afterwards, party guests posed for pictures with Lee in just about every

conceivable combination. He really humored us on this and was so patient. 

 

 

Lee and me (TwiloveSue)

 

 

Lee and ZAnyMouse 

 Lee and Twifixx

 

 

Lee and Twi-Daughter Nicole

 

I did record his performance, and at some point will share some of the songs here and on youtube. I have to tell you, though, that I’ve had my video camera a few years now and still don’t know how to transfer footage, so poor Lee may be trapped in there for a long, long time. I also interviewed him for the blog and promise to post a transcript sometime in the next decade.

 

 

 The girls picked up a Vons card to add to his grocery store club card collection

 

 

I’ll bet you’re wondering who won this arm wrestling match

 Lee’s visit to San Diego was also memorable because I feel like we got to know him as a person. When Twi-daughter Nicole and I go on long drives, we like to pass the time by asking each other random, odd questions, so naturally we subjected Lee to the random, odd question game for many an hour in the car (in other words, we interrogated him like a suspect).

I hope it doesn’t lessen your good impression of him when I tell you that he doesn’t like cheese, is a muggle, and doesn't watch Doctor Who. I think at this point I now know enough interesting stories and strange facts about Lee to write a book, but I’ll probably just hang onto those gems for future blackmailing purposes ;)

 

I’m happy to tell you that we’ll be hosting Lee for another private show when he returns to the US in April (seriously, I always want to snicker inappropriately when I say “private show”, but that’s what he calls them). His last visit was one of the highlights of my year because any day that I get to laugh with my best friends and be serenaded by one of my favorite singers is an epic win in my book. And since he’s returning after all the abuse we gave him last time, maybe that means he had a little fun too.

Awww......

 

TwiloveSue XOXO
@TwiloveSue

P.S. If you’re still not familiar with Lee’s music, please go visit his website at www.leemacdougallmusic.com or check out his youtube channel. You know I would not steer you wrong.

My Quest to Cajole and Coerce @LeeMacDougall Into Becoming Twitter Follower #293

If you’re one of my Twitter followers, I would like to offer you my sincerest appreciation and say that I love every single one of you (well, except for that dry cleaning shop in Georgia. I have no clue how or why they ended up following me. It’s kinda weird.). Anyway, you may have recently noticed my daily tweets to Mr. Lee MacDougall, a fun and not at all pathetic attempt to get him to follow me on Twitter.

Who is Lee MacDougall, you ask? He’s this handsome, witty, and way too tall Brit with the most beautiful voice ever, who, incidentally, doesn’t follow me on Twitter. I suggest you temporarily overlook that fact and go check him out later at www.leemacdougallmusic.com.

I suppose you may be wondering why I ever embarked on this somewhat frivolous and potentially hugely embarrassing crusade a few weeks ago. I don’t know, it seemed like a fun idea at the time (and I swear, no alcohol was involved). Actually, we hosted Lee for a private concert and some sightseeing while he was in San Diego last month, and a conversation between Lee and Twi-Daughter Megan gave me the inspiration. It’s since turned into a daily exercise in self-entertainment and your witty, confused and outraged comments have made it all the more fun.

I’ve recapped my tweets below and welcome you to submit ideas for future reasons in the comments so that I may steal and pass them off as my own. Feel free to retweet and make this a group harassment project!

Hey @LeeMacDougall , here are a few reasons to follow me on Twitter:

1. It would make Megan VERY jealous!
2. I promise not to sing along loudly and out of tune at your shows, mangling all the words
3. I’ll rename my cat after you (it’s not like Nemo answered when I called him anyway)
4. Next time you’re in San Diego, I’ll let you drive my cool car AND pick the music
5. I know where all the good Ralphs stores are

It was at this point that I received the following tweet from Lee:

@twilovesue how can i ever follow you? it will mean you stop amusing me with your listings ;)
— Lee MacDougall (@LeeMacDougall) October 29, 2012

You know what that means, right? Game on!!

6. I know that I’m not perfect, but my Mum says that I am
7. I’ll design your first tattoo. (You like Twilight, right?)
8. All the cool kids are doing it
9. I still like you even though you don’t watch Dr. Who (*shakes head in befuddlement*)
10. I hate to brag, but I can recite the entire Greek alphabet in less than 5 seconds
11. Unlimited Haribo gummy bears and hot tea next time you’re in SD (no, the “hot” is never implied)

Then I got another tweet from him:

@twilovesue you are getting close with this one..
— Lee MacDougall (@LeeMacDougall) November 4, 2012

How can he not know that it’s never a good idea to encourage me?

12. I’ll bet One Direction would follow me if I asked them to
13. I won’t tell people your middle name is Elvis
14. I know the secret to winning a toy in the Claw Game
15. I won’t discriminate against you for being a muggle
16. The Queen would want you to

That catches us up through today and I’m now left with several burning questions. Naturally, I consulted the Magic 8 Ball app on my phone for the burning answers (as I do for all important life decisions).

TwiloveSue: Is it wrong to pester or shame someone into following you on Twitter?
Magic 8 Ball: Yes
(perhaps it misunderstood my question?)

TwiloveSue: Will Lee ever become my twitter follower?
Magic 8 Ball: Cannot predict now
(what??!)

TwiloveSue: Will I be witty enough to keep Lee following once he starts?
Magic 8 Ball: Don’t count on it
(stupid Magic 8 Ball….)

So, there you have it.




 
TwiloveSue XOXO



P.S. I’m heading off tomorrow to live the hobo life in Camp Twilight “Tent City” for 5 days with 2249 other crazy people. Wish me luck!

TwiBite Prize Raffle: Win BD2 Comic-Con 2012 Swag and an Autographed Lee MacDougall CD!

We’re having our very first TwiBite prize give-a-way and this is your chance to win some limited edition Breaking Dawn Part 2 swag from Comic-Con 2012 and an autographed Lee MacDougall CD! (If you’re not familiar with Lee’s music yet, trust me… you’ll love it!!)

 

Grand prize: Three Breaking Dawn Part 2 11x17” mini posters of the cast, Edward and Jacob, light up BD2 necklace, Edward pin, Jacob pin, Breaking Dawn Part 1 5x7” “Save the Date” magnet, and autographed Lee MacDougall CD “If Walls Could Talk.”


But wait, there’s more…. we also have three runner up prizes!

 

Runner up prizes: Three Breaking Dawn Part 2 11x17” mini posters of the cast, Edward and Jacob, Edward pin, Jacob pin

True to my general philosophy of keeping things simple (ie: I’m a lazy procrastinator), I’ll make this super easy. All you have to do is follow me on Twitter. I apologize ahead of time that my tweets might not be all that interesting, but them’s the rules. If you’re already one of my Twitter followers, then please leave a comment on this post and you will be entered as well. And... if you’re feeling particularly generous today, you can also become a blog follower on the upper right sidebar. There won’t be any extra contest entries in it for you, but you’ll make a lazy procrastinator very happy.

Winners will be chosen by a random computer randomizing program and I promise that all results will be strictly random. Contest runs now through Monday, November 5th at 12pm PST and winners will be notified via Twitter direct message and announced on this blog.

I’ll mail prizes out to you right away or can bring them to Breaking Dawn 2 Tent City if you’d like to use the posters for autographs. Good luck and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter to win!

TwiloveSue XOXO

@TwiloveSue

P.S. Be sure to go check out Lee MacDougall at www.leemacdougallmusic.com or download his music on iTunes!

What’s a Nice Guy Like Lee MacDougall Doing in the Secret Upstairs Room of a Hollywood Hookah Bar?

You know, I just can’t say the words Hollywood Hookah Bar without smiling. To be precise, it was a Lebanese hookah bar and restaurant in West Hollywood (as my friend Twifixx says, you just can’t make this stuff up) that hosted Lee last month for some fabulous acoustic music in their upstairs loft as part of a free program featuring up and coming singer/songwriters.

This is Pi on Sunset, the aforementioned Hollywood Hookah Bar
(yep, saying that still makes me smile).

Before telling you about the show, I must confess that I’ve finally come to the realization that I may be listening to Lee’s CDs just a bit too much. This was confirmed by my smug children the other day in the car when they kept singing the first few lines of each song right before it started playing and then asked if I could please put on something else. I know those kids aren’t clairvoyant (nor in possession of good musical taste), so it is entirely possible I may have a minor addiction. Since then, I’ve been more covert about listening to Lee's music, kind of like he’s my secret drug stash or a bag of chocolate covered Oreos.

Also, you’re not going to believe this, but…
LEE MACDOUGALL READ THE BLOG POST I WROTE ABOUT HIM!
I know this to be true because I heard it directly from the man himself and he totally made my day with his sweet comments. My first inclinations were to either do cartwheels across the room (which, trust me, would scar your retinas forever if you had to witness it) or hide behind a rock in utter embarrassment. After a few brief moments of self reflection, I made the only logical decision: write about him some more.

If you missed my post last month, “I Just Can’t Resist a Cute, Witty Brit with a Fabulous Voice and Killer Smirk,” just scroll down a ways or click HERE.

Just in case you still don’t know who I’m talking about, here’s a picture of the wonderful Lee MacDougall.

The Hollywood Hookah Bar program featured Lee and three other performers in the restaurant’s upstairs room, which was decorated like a funky version of the inside of I Dream of Jeannie’s bottle. They took turns performing a song each and then repeated the rotation for about 2 hours. In my wholly unbiased opinion, Lee sounded phenomenal and was totally in his element. He truly is an undiscovered talent. Two of the other performers were quite good and generously gave us free copies of their CDs. Everyone there was very friendly and it was a fun night of terrific music.

This memorable evening felt especially intimate because there were only 15 people total in attendance, including the performers and their guests. There were only two other “fan- types” in the room besides Twifixx, ZAnyMouse and me. How crazy is that? It was like we were just sitting in someone’s oddly decorated living room for a private concert.

It would have been too distracting and weird to take pictures during the performances, but Twifixx snuck in a couple with her phone while nobody was looking. She’s always got our backs like that.

Lee sang beautiful versions of a few songs from his CDs, plus my favorite song “Ships” and a fabulous, slow rendition of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.” I can't even say how surprised I was when Lee did a little “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” rap medley in his British Homeboy accent, but it was all kind of tongue in cheek and totally worked. It was so cute that he ended with a quiet little "yo."

 

Here’s our post show BookClub picture: TwiloveSue, ZAnyMouse, Lee, and Twifixx

(as you know, we refer to ourselves as a BookClub because it sounds so much more legitimate than admitting that we became friends because of Twilight and now run around at all hours of the day and night having fun)

I know you want to know, so I’ll just go ahead and tell...
Yes, Lee smelled very good when we hugged goodbye!

Lee, I hope you come back to California again soon!!

TwiloveSue XOXO

P.S. Thank you to everyone who has been reading and reblogging my photos and posts! I truly appreciate all of your wonderful comments and tweets. There are lots more pictures and adventures coming soon!

I Just Can’t Resist a Cute, Witty Brit with a Fabulous Voice and Killer Smirk!

To quote Tink over at Robsessed:
“It’s common knowledge around here that Rob is our Oprah. When he reads something, we wanna check it out. Talks about a movie, we rent it. Mentions musicians, we add them to our playlist.”

And as an unapologetic Robert Pattinson minion… when I heard that his friend Lee MacDougall was headed my way on tour, I knew I needed to check him out. If you don’t recognize the name, Lee is another member of Rob’s epic circle of friends travelling around out there making great music along with Bobby Long, Sam Bradley and Marcus Foster.

Let me just say, Lee is ridiculously talented and his music blew me away. His voice is sort of a cross between Rod Stewart and the Beatles, and he describes himself in his Twitter profile as a “singer of short stories/guitar strumming wandering minstrel.” He truly has a gift for telling a musical story with melody, heart, and humor. It may also have won me over that you can hear his lovely accent while he sings... Lee’s CDs have pretty much become the soundtrack to my life over the past few months and even my kids are unconsciously singing along. And bonus for us that he’s a handsome guy with an adorable and humble personality.

***Private note to Lee in the off-chance that he ever sees this: I’m sitting in my little fangirl bubble right now trying very hard not to think about you reading this post and then running away from America screaming in terror, never to return again. Please don’t think I’m the scary kind of stalker (cause having a benevolent stalker is so much better… right?)***

Here’s where you can find him!
http://www.leemacdougallmusic.com/
@LeeMacDougall

Earlier this month, I saw Lee perform three times over the course of a week (please refer to the earlier declaration that I am benevolent and not scary. Don’t judge) and wish I could have gone to even more. In keeping with my unofficial tradition of non-timely and out of order posts, I’ll tell you about the second show now and save my reports on the private Lee MacDougall/Sam Bradley/Marcus Foster gig at Lake Arrowhead and Lee’s performance in the Secret Upstairs Room at the Lebanese Hookah bar for another day.

If you’ve never been to the Hotel Café, you absolutely must go if you have the chance. It’s one of those dark, classic Hollywood clubs with a back alley entrance, intimate performance area and great vibe - the perfect place to showcase an acoustic performance.

I brought ZAnyMouse along with me and we were super late getting there because I hit total Carmageddon on the way to LA. When we finally arrived, the first performer had already finished and Lee was on stage doing his soundcheck (aaagh!!). As we worked our way towards the stage in hope of finding a close place to stand on the side, a girl walked right over and asked if we wanted her seats… at the front center table about 3 feet from the stage. Then the waitress magically walked over to take our drink orders and Lee started performing. Seriously, I know that was my Fairy Godmother looking out for me again (in case you missed the last time she took care of me, you can read HERE about how she gave me a wristband to the Rob, Kristen and Taylor Meet & Greet at Comic-Con).

Lee sounded so great, performing songs from his CDs and accompanying himself on guitar. He always sings with great joy and it was no surprise to me it only took ZAnyMouse approximately 2.5 seconds to fall in love with him (er…um… I mean his music) like I had. It seemed a good part of the crowd was there to see the bands performing later that night, but there was an enthusiastic group there just for Lee and I think he really appreciated it. He even dedicated his last song to the "woo girls" down in front.

At one point when he came down from the stage to walk through the audience while singing "My Story," the whole room went dead silent because it was just so powerful. And in keeping with his humble/witty personality, he apologized afterwards for interrupting people’s conversations. He also told a funny story onstage about how he’d hiked up to the Hollywood sign the day before with his tour manager and friends to take pictures in front of the sign while doing the YMCA arm motions.

After the show, Z and I went out to the lobby to say hello to Lee before leaving. I started to introduce myself and I don't know what else I was about to say, but he interrupted me and said, "I remember you." I got all Bella-stuttery and said, "You do? No you don't.... Really?!" and then he smiled at me kind of indulgently and said, "It's only been a few days." I suppose it doesn’t take a long time to identify your stalkers, no matter how benevolent they may be. My picture is probably posted inside the merchandise booth with a warning sign.

Yes, this one... TwiloveSue. Be wary of her.

And don’t trust her shifty sidekick ZAnyMouse either.

We talked to Lee for a bit and, of course, got a little gushy telling him how wonderful the show was and how much we love his music. I believe Z even confessed that she hears his music while she’s dreaming. He was just so nice and never made me feel out of place despite my age (*cringe*) and utter lack of coolness. You can tell he genuinely enjoys being on tour and meeting his fans.

And to further prove what an awesome guy he is, he even replied to my thank you tweet later that week:

@TwiloveSue Great to see you again Sue! thanks for all your support. Hope to see you again v soon! xoxo

— Lee MacDougall (@LeeMacDougall) April 8, 2012

So, to sum up, your assignment is to find Lee on Youtube, buy a CD on his website and go see one of his shows ASAP because:

1. He’s an undiscovered talent and I promise you will love what you hear
2. He’s the nicest guy ever
3. Rob would want you to

TwiloveSue XOXO
aka The Benevolent Stalker

P.S. Thank you to Socalmom2four for performing her Tumblr magic on this picture I took at the Breaking Dawn Convention:
More original photos coming soon!