Blues Traveler, led by vocalist John Popper, went straight to the top of the pop charts thanks to their massively successful singles "Run-around" and "Hook" off of their 'Four' album. Blues Traveler's subsequent releases were not able to live up to the quintuple platinum sales of Four, but they have maintained a loyal fanbase since the beginning of their career.

       It just so happened that they were coming to town for our State Fair, which was slightly bad news. Of course it was awesome that they were coming to town, but unfortunately it is next to impossible to collect autographs at the venue they were playing. Obviously this discouraged us and we basically gave up hope on trying to meet them.

       The day of the show, I was simply driving home from a long day at college and noticed a tour bus outside of a nearby hotel. Blues Traveler was the only band in town that would have a tour bus like that, so I quickly tried to get stuff together. Luckily I had a newspaper clipping of them in my backseat and headed towards the closest Kinko's. From there I enlarged the picture to an 8x10 and headed back to the hotel, hoping that my efforts wouldn't go to waste.

       After a brief wait, the tour bus moved up to the front entrance in order to pick up the band. I waited next to the bus until keyboardist Ben Wilson exited and I quickly asked for an autograph. He stopped and signed my picture and jumped on the bus. Soon after bassist Tad Kinchla ran out of the hotel and was simply too quick for me to ask for an autograph. Thankfully he came back out and I had a second chance to ask him.

       He said, "Yeah sure, but I forgot something in my room and will be right back". True to his word he came back out and apologized. Evidently he lost his watch and unfortunately couldn't find it in his room either, which I was sorry to hear. I thanked him and the bus soon took off down the street after he jumped on the bus.

       It was a great day for autographs because the sun was shining bright and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. This was hopefully going to be a successful day because John Popper and Co. were coming back to town, this time at a much more autograph friendly venue. Our wait began near their tour bus outside of the venue.

        While we were waiting there, a nice couple came over to us and also wanted to get autographs. They began to talk about previous shows they had attended and were really great people to talk to. All of us realized we were standing next to the wrong bus when another nicer bus pulled up closer to the backstage entrance. Of course all of us walked up to it and we hoped they would be down soon.

        It wasn't long before we saw bassist Tad Kinchla get off and head towards us. All of us asked for an autograph and he was more than happy to sign away, like last time. He was a really down to earth kind of guy and it was obvious that he enjoys meeting his fans. The next member to step off was keyboardist Ben Wilson and he once again proved to be a great signer.

       He shook hands with everybody and really seemed to enjoy everyone's company. It was funny because Earl had met Tad and Ben last time they came, so hopefully this wouldn't be the only members we saw on this day. We thanked Ben for stopping to sign and he waved back as he headed into the venue.

       Chan Kinchla, the guitarist, was the next member to come off of the bus and didn't think twice about signing. He cracked a few jokes and was just an all around great guy. After taking care of all of our requests we thanked him and he joined Tad and Ben inside the venue. The nice couple we were collecting with left us to get in line, but they would return every now and then to see if they missed anybody.

       Chan eventually came back and asked if we had any requests for the band to play, because they were a song short. We informed Chan that we knew of someone who was dying to hear a song this night (the guy from the couple). Chan told us to find out what song it was and to keep it a surprise. Both of us came back and told Chan that "Spinning Spiral Machine" is the song he wanted to add, but the surprise was ruined because he followed us.

       It was sure nice of Chan to actually add a song to the set list for a die-hard fan. The man was so excited and thanked Chan for agreeing to play the song. The next member we came across was Brendan Hill, the drummer. Mr. Hill signed for the both of us and took a couple of pictures before he quickly headed into the bus. Just like the other guys, he was really down to earth and friendly.

        We began to worry because we hadn't seen our favorite member (and most famous) of the group, lead singer John Popper. Some of the band members and tour crew said he wasn't there yet, but was on the way. It was quite a wait and stressful because we had prior engagements. A small white car pulled up behind the tour bus, so Sterling jokingly said that John Popper had just arrived (not the type of cars celebrities usually travel in).

       The joke was on Sterling because John Popper actually got out of the car. We couldn't believe it, but quickly got our stuff ready and walked over to him. John knew what we wanted and signed our things right away, as well as a couple other fans who ran up. John was caught up in the action and took notice of a kid walking by with his grandparents. Popper ended up giving the boy a Harmonica from his bag, which is funny because the family was just walking by and didn't even know what was going on.

       The Popper stayed and signed a few autographs and only posed for pictures with a few of us before heading into the bus. We were lucky because we got everything we wanted signed and also got a picture with him. It was quite an experience that we will never forget.