Here's how we got to talk to Jennie Roberts for half an hour!!!!
(Jennie = Jennie Roberts, Melanie's hairstylist and make-up artist).
(Jenn = my friend Jennifer)
Me and Jenn just exited a meeting with the Marketing Director
at Power 107 (who was explaining nicely to us why the interview
was closed to the public). As Jenn and I were leaving the station
lobby,
Jennie came to sit in the very small lobby of the radio station.
I said "Jennie?" and she turned around and was very nice/sweet and said
"yes?" and then I asked "Can we have your picture taken with you?"
She said "oh, you can have one taken with Melanie, she'll be out
shortly."
Me and Jenn then went to get Matt and Ophelia to come back upstairs
(they were waiting
in the lobby of the building, while the lobby of the radio station is on
the 19th
floor).
Jennie wasn't feeling very well and so wasn't up to taking her picture
with us,
but she was certainly up to do some talking!!
I will go over the topics we talked about, although this is certainly
not the right order, as I don't even remember the order we discussed
things.
But before I go on, I must say this: she is a very intuitive person, and
so
also comes across as very genuine. She talks very calmly, softly, and
perhaps
even a bit slowly. Her voice is very gentle. She does not talk loud.
I came away totally liking her as a person/individual.
----------------
Jennie is sitting down on a 2-seat leather sofa. There is only the
2-seat leather sofa
and 2 1-seat sofas diagonally across from it. So Jenn sits in 1 chair,
Ophelia sits
in another, Matt sits on the arm rests of both chairs (as they are
side-by-side) and
I sit beside Jenny on the 2-seater.
- Jennie said she is coming down with a cold and came out to the lobby
to rest. And that she is "coming down
with something".
- Jenn shows Jennie her pin that has Ginger crossed off on it, and
explains
to Jennie that she nearly called her cat Ginger but was happy she
didn't. Jennie laughs and says "it's because Geri left, isn't it".
- We talked a bit about Forever, and possibly about the lack of
promotion for Forever. Jenn and Matt say that
it's a very good album, and I think Jennie agrees. I also think she
agreed to my comment about how there
was no promotion for Forever (and that's why it didn't do that good).
Jennie also makes a comment about the
album cover for Forever, but I don't remember what she says. Jennie
doesn't know that the album cover
in the UK is the same one as for Canada.
- Jennie takes out some of her mint gum for herself. She then offers
it to me, and gently squirts out a gum piece.
She then does the same for Jenn, Matt, and Ophelia. Jenn and Matt joke
about how they will not eat the gum, but
will save it as it is a piece of gum from Posh's hairstylist!!!! Matt
asks her if she bought the gum here, and Jennie
says she bought it in the UK. There is some talk about the origin of
the gum and whether or not it will taste
different/better because it's from the UK. [:-)] - Jennie tells Jenn that she saw the pictures of Jenn's room. They
were lying on Melanie's bed or something like this.
- We tell Jennie about the current transit strike in Calgary. She asks
us if it's because they want more money (we say it is,
and Matt adds something else about the shuttle bus drivers).
- I am a bit nervous (about this question), but I ask Jennie if Melanie
is as "okay" with her older fans as she is with
her younger fans. I purposely asked this question in a timid way,
because I wanted to indirectly tell Jennie that it is
something that is sometimes on my mind. Jennie notices this, and very
calmly assures me that Melanie does like her older
fans just as much. She also goes on to say that Melanie has picked up
such a wide variety of fans, and that this is great,
and that she (melanie) likes it. I notice the gentle and genuine tone
with which Jennie uses, to try to convince me that
she is telling me the truth and that I shouldn't worry about it.
Honestly, she came across very genuinely and soft during
this whole time, and she definintely knew that I asked that because
somestimes I feel hurt as an older fan.
- I ask Jennie: "Excuse me for asking, but is it fun working with
Melanie?" She says "oh, it's terrific, she's such
a nice and terrific girl."
- I then ask her if sometimes it is hard to deal with Melanie's fans (I
ask her this because I am aware of what
happened in Israel with a few fans). She says that usually they are not
a problem, but that they have to be careful
with a few fans who are overzealous. I should note that she answered
this question very calmly, so it didn't evoke
any strong emotions in her, ie, she doesn't seem to be mad at any of
Mel's fans in general. Jenn later brings up
the issue of going to Melanie's actual hotel room and how it's a rude
thing to do, and Jennie very much agrees.
I tell Jennie how me and Ophelia had booked a room at the hotel they are
staying at, to which Jennie laughs.
She thinks it's crazy, but sweet. She does say that they aren't going
to be at the hotel that night because
they are leaving on the tour bus that night for Edmonton.
- I ask her if Ying is here, and Jennie says she is (because I hadn't
seen Ying yet that day).
- Jennie says something about her husband (I don't remember what, but
this certainly means she has a husband).
oh yeah: it was probably because Matt and Jenn joked that she should
decorate her house all Spice Girls, and Jennie said her husband probably
wouldn't like it, LOL!
- Jennie tells us that Melanie flew in from LA (I thought she flew in
from Texas according to her web site) and that everybody else
flew in from England. She talks about the foot-and-mouth disease
briefly, and how they had to go through the de-sensitizers
at the Calgary International Airport. She says there was a very strong
smell of vinegar during this process.
- Jenn shows Jennie the pictures she took from a birthday party she and
Matt threw on Emma's and Melanie C's birthdays.
Jenn goes "we're not crazy, BUT" and Jennie laughs as she looks through
the pictures, some of which show Melanie's and
Emma's dolls cutting their birthday cakes and blowing party blowers.
Jenn then talks about doing the same for
Victoria's birthday coming up. Jennie really enjoys the pictures, as
they are funny, and she thinks we are all
crazy, but in a good way.
- We tell Jennie about meeting Melanie at the work-out room, and we all
go into a little talk about
how crazy it is for fans (us) to go to such great lengths to try to meet
a celebrity. Jennie says that "when you look
back on it, you are going to think "what was I fucking thinking"?",
Jennie says this in a thoughtful way,
as if she is reflecting on her own past (which I'm sure she was doing at
this time actually). I think she says
something about she herself doing some crazy things when she was
younger.
- Matt goes on about how amazing it is to be talking to the person who
did Posh's hair!!!! Jennie brings up the fact that
she did Posh's and David's hair for their wedding. She tells us to look
at the OK magazines of Posh's and David's
wedding to see all the pictures of them and her. She says that back
then, her (Jennie) hair was a bit bigger and that her
face was a bit plumper. She says a few things about Karen who was the make-up
artist for the wedding
I notice that Jennie must be very proud of her work on the wedding, as
she keeps on mentioning for us to take another
look at those magazines. [:-)] - She says that touring (with Mel C) is fun, but can also be quite
*tiring*.
- Jennie asks us how we found the time to do so much today (in relation
to finding MEl C). Matt and Jenn tell her that they go
to a school that allows them flexible hours. I tell Jennie that I work
full-time for a company, and that I'm the one who handles
the company's meeting times, and so I re-scheduled everything to begin
that morning, so that I could have the afternoon off!!!!
Everybody laughs at this comment. Matt and Jenn tell Jennie of how they
got downtown (that I picked them up), and Jennie
turns to me and goes "oh, so you're the chauffeur". Jenn then later
tells Jennie that I "pick up Mel C fans at random".
- I ask Jennie if she recognizes fans who camp outside Melanie's house
(hee hee, thinking of somebody from Holland).
And Jennie says no, but that she does recognize some fans who go to all
the TV studios all the time. (Jennie probably
doesn't recognize such camping fans because Jennie doesn't live with
Melanie, like how Ying does).
- Jennie tells us that she hasn't been really able to see the city
(Calgary) unfortunately, in reply to my question
about whether or not she has been enjoying it in Calgary.
- Matt and Jenn tell her about how they advertise for the SG in their
school by putting up posters all over the wall. [:-)] They also tell Jennie about going early to the autograph signing in
December at 5 IN THE MORNING. Angie then
brings up the issue of Matt and Jenn seeing a drug deal as they are
waiting for the autograph signing, and Jennie
goes "Drug deal" (as in "there was one and you saw it?"), and then
laughs at how such a situation can bring fans to see
such things.
- Jennie says that Melanie's cat, Jessie, is a girl (I don't remember
what made her say this though). I think it's
because Jenn said something about her own cats...
Oh yeah: it's because Jenn was saying her cat is also named Jessie,
but that it's spelled "Jessy" because it's a boy cat.
- We tell Jennie that at first, Melanie didn't have Calgary on her tour
agenda, but that it was later added on, and Jennie
said that as long as a city has demand for her, she will come. Jennie
repeats this about 3 times throughout our
conversation (hint hint to all fans if you want Melanie to come to your
city - make public demand for it!!)
- We ask Jennie what type of music she likes. She takes a long time to
think, and finally says that she likes
Dido and Coldplay. She kinda asks us if we know who Coldplay are. She
says that she doesn't listen to the Spice
Girls music right now, because she has heard it often already. She says
the same thing about Melanie C's music, I think.
She also says that she hasn't heard Melanie B's album yet.
- Jennie notices that Ophelia is very quiet and is not talking, and
goes to her "you're very quiet" trying to induce
Ophelia to say something. (This I found to be very nice/awesome of
Jennie as she was trying to include
all 4 of us in the conversation). I tell Jennie that Ophelia is from
Hong Kong. Jennie asks Ophelia a few questions
about where she is from. Jennie then later verifies that me, Matt, and
Jenn are from Calgary. "oh, you're all from
Calgary" is how she asks this to me, Matt, and Jenn. Matt says that he
does not like Calgary, and Jennie softly
asks "why don't you like Calgary?"
- Jennie asks us how we all met. We tell her that we met back in
December when Melanie was here. I think this is what caused us to
tell her about the drug deal, and about Matt and Jenn being at the
autograph signing at 5 am. I think Jennie thought it was cool
that we all met because we like Melanie C.
- Jenn says something about not liking Paris. Jennie agrees, and says
that she doesn't like it much either.
She says that some of the Parisiens ar mean, but that if you look at it,
it's true of some Londoners as well.
- I ask a stupid question (because I'm confused as I don't know why
Melanie's interview isn't on the radio yet): "Jennie,
is Melanie here yet?" Matt and Jenn instantly make fun of me, saying
"Oh Angie, no, Melanie isn't here, Jennie is just up
here sitting because she wants to be here (at the radio station)."
Jennie and me laugh at this comment from my friends.
- Throughout the whole conversation, Jennie honestly thinks that Melanie
is still holding the interview and that
when she comes out to the lobby, we can all take pictures with her
(Melanie). In fact, she is so polite and keeps
on saying: "you can have your picture taken with her when she comes out,
I'm sure she'll be coming out this exit"
Unfortunately, a security guy comes into the lobby, and tells Jennie
that Melanie is done her interview
and that Jennie should go back with Melanie. We say our good-byes, but
then the security guy just suddenly
kicks us all out, so we don't get our picture with Melanie. I think
Jennie honestly thought we were very nice
and could have our picture taken with Melanie, but I guess the damned
security had different ideas, and Jennie
honestly wasn't aware of this.
Anyway, that's all I remember. I wanted to post this to inform
everybody that Jennie is/can be very nice
to Mel C's fans.