Today Maartje tells us about her meeting with the Starkid Space Actors, Darren Criss, Dylan Saunders, Meredith Stepien, Brian Holden, Lauren Lopez and Joe Walker.
"So, that was lucky. I went to the US (I'm from the Netherlands) in November 2011 and met Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Bartha (and Justin Long was there, too) in New York. I really didn’t think that I could get any luckier than getting two of my paintings signed on this trip. But apparently, I can.
I remember looking into Starkid Space Tour dates before I went there and then thinking it would be sold out. Funnily enough I got tickets on Thanksgiving Day, for the next day’s evening show in Boston at the House of Blues.
So I went to the show, which was awesome even though I might have lost my hearing because of all the screaming fangirls. I get it, but it was really hard for me to hear what they were saying on stage sometimes. And my poor eardrums. :P It was like being at a Beatles concert or something.
After the show there was a big security thing going on near the tour bus where the Starkids were supposed to come outside. I guess it was all kinds of crazy partly because Darren was there. Policemen were trying to keep people off the street away from the bus (there were cars driving through so I guess they were right in doing that). There were fences near the bus too. Eventually, they closed the gates to the back door and the somewhat moody policemen sort of told everyone to go home. They weren’t coming out there. I had my art book out on my lap because I’d been talking to some of the fans and street team members there, but everyone sort of just left because there was no chance of seeing them.
I hung around next door at the outside of a club for a while, getting eyed by policemen but because I just hung back they didn’t mind me being there and they couldn’t really kick me out because I wasn’t in the House of Blues parameter. Most people left, and eventually so did the police, and my friend Mary and I edged back to the tour bus where we saw the Tourbus driver Don who’d sung a song on stage. We talked to him and showed him my art. He said be right back to us and then later called us in and said: "you’re my cousins", as a joke and let us back into the venue. Apparently the police didn’t want any of the Starkids to go outside and sign anything.
That’s when Dylan walked up to us. He was the sweetest. I have to say, all of the Starkids are fantastic. So humble and generous. We talked for a bit and he said the others were all showering so we waited in the lobby for a bit and then Dylan came back, being intensely cute: “Come on back, there’s someone you should meet.”
Anyway, went backstage, and Darren was there, first, so he came up and hugged me, aww. I asked him to sign my art and he said he’d seen it (it’s impossible not to as I’ve spammed it everywhere) and he signed my two paintings of him.
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| Darren Criss and me |
Meredith came over too and boy, she’s lovely. I kind of wish I’d had a chance to draw all of them! Soonnnn. Brian came out to see what the fuss was about and they all seemed genuinely impressed. That’s the thing that gets to me most. Everyone I admire is so impressed with me.
I think Darren texted Joey at that point because I’d done a painting of him, too, and I think maybe Dylan went to get him because not much later he literally came running. He was so exuberant and excited. And in awe. It was like being in Wonderland for me because you don’t expect people who are clearly so talented to be impressed with what you’ve done. I got hugged and kissed on the cheek quite a lot by Joey and he wrote the sweetest thing in my art book. Then luckily my friend reminded me of my camera and I took a picture with Joey and his picture, haha. Then Darren said he wanted one too. It’s so easy being a Starkid fan. They made me feel very special.
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| Starkid Space and me |
By this point Lauren had gotten over to us, too, and once again gave me the “You DREW this?” response that I’ve been hearing so much it just makes me blush. We took some more pics and then some with Joe who’d also come out. And he’s a true Bostonian. Haha. Lovely. I cracked some jokes with all of them. Darren said something that went completely over my head. He said he'd love to be in Holland. When I asked him what the hell for (can you tell I'm really fond of my own country?) he replied that clearly, that is where the awesome people are. I regarded him oddly. Ok, so I was tired. That's when they all had to leave because they had to be in New York the next day for the last show of the tour. So we said good night. It was lovely."
Thank you Maartje,
