This month we had an amazing mini vacation right here in Tennessee. Yeah, I realize that is probably the only time in my life I have uttered such words, but it is 100% true! It all started with a Facebook event notification.
Months ago I had a notification pop up that one of my Facebook friends was interested in an upcoming show in Nashville. There was Kevin Smith’s face staring at me saying “Buy the tickets!” With Bryan having to take state boards in Nashville in May and me actually being healthy enough to travel without pumping myself full of medicine ahead of time… I started looking into it.
The venue was a popular Comedy club in Nashville called Zanies. We couldn’t really get tickets until close to the show since we had to make sure Bryan’s graduation would be over and that he could schedule his test for a day during the trip too. We finally got all the information and it was all going to line up! Time to get tickets.
I went to Zanie’s website and almost every show was sold out! There were tickets to “An Evening with Kevin Smith” on Wednesday night but this was a smaller looking club and I was really worried about wheelchair seating. Most places have limited availability of wheelchair friendly seating so we called expecting for it to be sold out. The extremely nice guy working the ticket line asked how many people, if it was a manual chair, etc. He then assured us that handicapped seating was no problem!
The day of the show Zanie’s called us. They double checked to make sure we were still coming and told us to call them when we arrived since I would need to enter a side door. Uh oh, I have heard that phrase before. It generally means the same as “alternative path” which takes you to some pretty icky places. I’m looking at you Medieval Times! Thankfully, Zanie’s is far more classy.
We arrived and pulled into the attached parking area. We had never been here so we pulled up to an employee working the parking lot. He let us know that it was the right parking area and we asked about handicapped parking. Then something happened I have never experienced before. The employee directed us to a parking spot and put cones in the next space to ensure the spot stayed empty so we could let the lift down. I have parked in an insane number of parking places that were “Handicapped Parking” where a lift couldn’t be let down but Zanie’s ensured this wouldn’t happen on their watch.
The same employee let the right people know I had arrived and we waited to go in the side door. Guess what? No weird, dark smelly paths here! The side door is just that, a door to the side of the seating area instead of the front. They had a table waiting for me and there I was about 3 rows from the stage. Three rows from Kevin Smith!
The show was perfect. Lots of great stories about the great George Carlin, Johnny Depp, and of course the family. It was a Q&A and my only regret is not getting to ask a question. With my disability I just can’t yell loudly or raise my arm. I wanted to know if he had any advice on this new growing media. The internet. I do YouTube and while I am over 600 strong, I would love to hear his advice about growing or Podcasting. Maybe someday I will get to go to another one and put a big sign above my head saying PICK ME. It didn’t put a negative on the night at all though, don’t get me wrong! There are no negatives when you see Kevin Smith marry a couple on stage. I kid you not, that happened!
You NEVER know what to expect during @WildWestCF. @ThatKevinSmith just married a couple on stage! Congrats! #WWCF pic.twitter.com/an4CBhzIkV
— Zanies Nashville (@zaniesnashville) May 19, 2016
All and all it was a better experience than I could ever imagine. Getting to be that close to a guy I have used the advice of so many times (be a media ho), getting an AMAZING accessibility experience from Zanie’s Nashville, and just finally being healthy enough to be there live after years of watching “An Evening with Kevin Smith” DVD’s while sick in bed was something I’ll never forget. If you ever find yourself questioning a show at Zanie’s… don’t question, just go!
