Once upon a time, music was one of the most important things in my life.  I guess that has sort of fallen to the wayside now.  When you casually ask your little sister “So… what are the cool songs now?” you are officially old.  Groooan.  But not so long ago, I swear I was super hip and on top of it all.

Around the time we were all partying like it really was 1999 (in the year 2000), the list of concerts I had attended was growing, along with my massive CD collection. Each paycheck had a dedicated disc fund.  Mix tapes turned into mix CD’s and my car was full of them.  I had a soundtrack for every event, emotion and road trip you could think of.

And yet, this post is about the Dixie Chicks?

Hey, let’s be honest – they were pretty awesome in their day.  And actually, they still are kind of awesome. But in 2000, they were like everything.  To a 20-year old girl, trying to find her way, with bleached-at-home blonde hair, rocking out to Wide Open Spaces in her first little studio apartment in Van Nuys.  I mean, it’s like a scene from a feel-good coming of age movie.  Come on.

The country station to beat all other country stations back then was 93.9 KZLA. When they announced they were having a contest to find the biggest Dixie Chicks fan in all of Los Angeles…  Well duh!  To enter the contest, you had to write an essay about what made you the biggest fan.  I really wish I still had that essay.  I don’t remember a single word I wrote, but I’m sure it was a journalistic treasure!  I played it cool and submitted that essay to the radio station every. single. day. during the course of the contest. And one morning while I was at work, I got a phone call from a PA (?) asking me some questions about the essay and asking if this was the best number to reach me the following morning.

Because I HAD WON.

I won the BIGGEST DIXIE CHICKS FAN CONTEST?!! WHAAAAAAT!  Oh man, I was so excited.  This meant I got front row passes to the upcoming show, with a $100 dinner voucher and limo transportation.  Can you even imagine?

The next morning, when the DJ called my work and announced live over the radio waves that I had won, I tried to contain myself and not sound like too much of an idiot on the phone call.  And then before I knew it, Paul and I were getting picked up by a limousine in front of my dinky little apartment and being whisked off to LA for the concert.  I wore leather pants (some things never change) with chunky heels and a red feather boa (some things do) and we ate dinner at the fanciest restaurant I had ever been to: McCormick & Schmicks.  Then we sat front row center and had our minds blown by Natalie, Emily & Martie.

Now you can also have your mind blown by looking at these awesome pictures.  Taken with a disposable camera, mind you.

Ah, the good old days.