I Met Diana Krall

I thought the title is just my hallucination but it's not. It's REAL and I still can't believe it happened. I, this small little monkey from Singapore, managed to meet the Grammy winning jazz vocalist Diana Krall. Yes! Grammy winning! It's on par with Academy Awards of the music industry. I'm in temporary heaven.

The journey in getting to know Diana Krall's music was a pure serendipity. It was 1999, I was still a student and I was walking around in a local bookstore which happened to sell CDs too. Then I went to the jazz section and discovered the following cover.


I didn't know who she was and what kind of songs she sang. I was not sure if she was famous then too. But well, I took a chance on it. The cover was nice and the box was pretty unique (for that era). And I've never regretted since. I'm a fan who collected most of her albums.

That album has accompanied most of my university time. When the hostel was empty as it was the holiday season, I blasted her voice throughout and chilled in the dark. It was so heavenly. The best album one can ever own. I then evangelized how great her album was and now vividly reminded by 2 of my friends that I was the one who introduced her works to them.

So now, 2008, 9 years later, one of my friend asked whether I'd like to watch her concert. The ticket was pricey. But heck, it's for Diana Krall so we all went ahead. The 2 friends that I happened to introduce her music too, were the ones who shared this special moment with me.

One of my friend in particular was so obsessed with the whole concert that she has made a mission for herself that was to get all her CDs signed by Diana Krall. Honestly, I was so amused by her ambition that I teased her all the time. I only brought one of my CD as I seriously didn't think it's going to be possible. (My friend brought 3 and a brand new black marker pen).


The concert was awesome even though it was really too short and the F1 racing cars' noise affected the mood a little bit, but overall, it was a splendid experience. After the concert was over, my misson-oriented-friend quickly ran off to the stage with her heels in the muddy terrain. She didn't care. She has been plotting ways to talk to the security personnels the whole day and was really ready to do whatever it took for all her CDs to be signed. Another friend and I just followed, and seriously I was still a skeptic then.

Finally, we were in front of the stage, standing with a bunch of people with VIP pass. I thought, hmm... things are looking good here, we may just have the chance to meet her in person. So, I was not at all worried. I was busy playing with the camera. But my misson-oriented-friend was still panicky as it's uncertain we're able to go through since we are not VIPs! But the bouncer was really nice enough to arrange us into one line and let us in after the VIPs were done with their businesses. (When I mentioned VIPs, one of them were a group of Canadian ambassadors!!! We were just right behind them ...)

Then, I saw her ... OMG! It's Diana Krall. She was busy catching up with the VIPs. Diana Krall was just so close to me ... I mean it! She's so so so so close that ... I started to react like a papparazzi. And yes, I'm the only un-civilized monkey doing such things. (I was so surprised but I didn't think my friends were at all)



And then she was approaching. It's our turn. Even though Mr. Bouncer said she didn't want to give any autographs but HEY! She's so friendly and she signed every single thing that we gave her! She's so down to earth and approachable even though she's not at the very best of her health, she got cold. (And as she was signing stuff ... you guess it right, I was still playing my role as papparazzi). I have some proofs of my ugly photos taken. :p


Then ... the ultimate moment ... she agreed to take photo with all of us ... let me tell you, nothing can beat that feeling. Everybody was in the moment of absolute high. I am still "high" even the event has been over 2 days ago. I'm sickly starstruck!

So she signed all the CDs... with my friend's marker (I thought it's my marker but she said mine was almost out of ink and she didn't want to risk it! Geez...)


and she sang beautifully with great song choices ...


but ultimately ... the most priceless moment of all was that my friends and I have captured the whole experience in a photo.



Ticket: $196
Dinner: $18.20
Photo with Diana Krall: Priceless
My silly grin: Erm ... no comment

Lesson learned ... I'll never laugh at my friend's silly ambition again as you seriously won't know what the universe has in store for you. I am so glad things happened the way it was and I was able to spend the special moments with my dearest friends.

Thank you everyone! It's been S'wonderful! And enjoy the S'wonderful song below. (For those of you who couldn't view the video in the email, you may click the following link: http://www.donnadaritan.com/2008/09/i-met-diana-krall.html)