I followed him to a side area by the stage. A bunch of men motioned for me to come over, and opened an area for me to walk through by a fence. "What is going on?" "Just pretend you're a senator's son and I am protecting you." Um, okay. Score! I got backstage! I was so excited, I wet my panties.

Normally, I'm not into the whole celebrity thing, but, goddamnit, today was my day to be a celebrity geek.

Juliana had just finished her set and dove into the crowd. As she walked down the stairs off the stage, I was the first person to approach her. I said, "Hi Julie (cuz, ya know, I'm on a first name basis with her), I'm T.J." She was out of breath and her mascara was running down her face, "Um, oh, hi." Some annoying fan approached her as well and ruined our stimulating conversation. She handed me a camera and asked me to take their picture. The girl put her arm around "Julie" and put on a big smile. Julie stuck her tongue out and I snapped the photo.

By then, I was over Julie. Now who else can I bug?!?

General Public were also performing, so I struck up a conversation with some of their lackeys. "Can I get you anything," one of them asked. "What do you mean?" "Would you like something to drink, like a beer?" "Oh, sure. And keep 'em comin'!"

General Public's people were keeping me nice and sauced. "Did you hear Winona Ryder is here?" "No," I tried to play it cool. THE Winona Ryder is HERE, I thought, from one of my favorite movies, Heathers! "Maybe I'll go say hi later." My panties were drenched at this point. Soul Asylum were the main attraction, and Winona was dating the lead singer at the time. My mission was confirmed.

I was now in the tunnels of RFK stadium. I spent too much time with the General Public boys that I was missing much of the show.

Courtney Love was just finishing up a surprise set, so I ran back to the stage so I could accost her. I was screaming, "Coooourtneeeeey!" Her people shielded her from me, and she got into a jeep. I kept screaming. She flashed a big smile and gave me the finger. Whatever, her loss.

Who next, who next? Oh, there's Gavin Rossdale! At the time, Bush were my favorite band. They filled my Nirvana void. I passed by Gavin several times, and he always smiled and said hello. For some reason, I was nervous to go up to him. I finally did, and asked if he would sign my T-shirt. He was more than gracious and very friendly. After he signed, I asked, "Have you seen Winona?" "Nope, sorry."

I ran into Juliana again. Since I was getting into the whole autograph thing, I asked her to sign my T-shirt as well. She looked at the Bush graphic on front of the shirt, and said, "That's kinda offensive." The image is of a man dressed as a bush. "Huh, it's just a bush," I said to her, not realizing how odd that sounded. She began to write her name. "You're pen's not working," she complained. I patted her on the back, "Don't worry about it." I pulled my shirt away. I know Juliana Hatfield is not giving me attitude, 'mmm'kay.

The Bush boys were about to hit the stage. My roommate flashed his badge again and the festival people allowed me to get onto the side of the stage to watch their performance. I was in major dork mode at this point. I gave the bass player a hug, told the guys to "go get 'em," and watched as they got into a prayer huddle right before stepping out in front of 55,000 people. I did everything in my power not to let myself run onto the middle of the stage and do a little jig for all to see. The whole thing was so surreal.

After their set, I ran back in the tunnels to find my next victim. Alison Stewart from MTV News was back there conducting interviews. I asked her if she wanted to interview me; she declined. I grabbed her microphone and did a number of Beavis & Butthead impersonations. "Allithhhon Thhhtewwwart ithhhh not very nittthhh." I then asked if she would allow me to be in the next installment of the Real World. She was a good sport and we actually spoke for awhile. "Have you seen Winona?" I asked. "Nope."

I was standing in a hallway with my roommate and some people from MTV. Joey Ramone came up to chat, and one of the festival folks introduced me to him. When people would ask who I was, I would say "I'm T.J." and my roommate would say, "I'm protecting him." Nobody seemed to really care or ask any followups. Joey Ramone did say, "Whoa, you must be pretty important." I'm like, "You have no idea."

Juliana came over again, "Do you have a cigarette?" "Nope. Smoking is offensive."

For some reason, Tony Bennett was also on the bill. The alternative crowd loves him, I guess. He came into the hallway. He spoke to a few people, but they left him just standing there. So I said, "You're that guy who really likes San Francisco." Big. Dork. Moment. He smiled and I introduced myself. I followed up with, "Didn't you just win a bunch of Grammys?" Luckily, he did in fact win Best Album earlier in the year. He was very sweet and charming.

Then everyone seemed to disappear except for Joey Ramone, Tony and me. Joey was like 7 feet tall. Tony is about 5 foot. We were all just standing there in silence, so I said, "Have you guys seen Winona?"

By this point, it was getting late with still no sign of Winona. I ran through the tunnels stopping at various dressing rooms to see if anyone knew where she was. Soul Asylum were getting ready to perform, so people assumed she was outside by the stage. I went outside to continue my search. She was nowhere to be found. *Sigh*

My roommate was showing signs of wear, and was itching to beat the traffic as the concert was coming to a close. My search for Winona had come up empty. Oh well.

I didn't meet Winona, but I did learn something about myself that day. I'm a huge dork.