Meeting Justin Bieber

  • By Patricia M. Albrecht
  • August 17, 2010
  • 266
                        
Meeting Justin Bieber By Patricia M. Albrecht With Bieber Fever taking place all over the world, scores of young girls say they would “die” for a chance to meet the pop sensation, Justin Bieber. When Cameron Henary of Uhrichsville, who will be ten in October, went to the grand opening of L.A.C.E.Y. P.A.C. (L.A. Connection Elite Youth Performing Arts Center) on Friday, August 13, she never expected to win the big raffle-tickets to see Justin Bieber in Columbus the following night with a special back stage meet and greet. Henary, who has been dancing for two years under the direction of Lacey Herbert, was at the open house registering for another year-this time at Herbert’s own studio. Anthony “Kanec” Carr, one of Beiber’s dancers, who has appeared in Fame and Hairspray, was present at the grand opening on 253 Cedar Lane N.E. in New Philadelphia. Carr, who lives in Los Angeles, taught the kids, who came to the open house, a dance to one of Justin Bieber’s songs. “I’ve known Anthony Carr for years,” said Herbert, who has been dancing for 16 years, pursued her professional dance career in California for two years, and performed in several shows. “We met through mutual friends in LA and became best friends almost instantly.” Of the huge crowd that assembled at the grand opening, only two tickets for Justin Bieber were given out. Cameron Henary would be heading to Columbus with her mom, Elisabeth Albrecht. As they arrived at 4:30 at the Schottenstein Center on Saturday, August 14, a long line had already formed outside the building. “We didn’t have to stand in line,” said Henary. “Anthony Carr told us to text him when we got there, so he found us and brought us right in. He took us backstage, and we got in a long line to meet Justin. After Anthony spoke to someone near Justin, a body guard or security person came to get us and brought us up to the front, so we were the first people to meet him.” Anthony Carr laughed and told Cameron’s mom to remind her not to scream and jump up and down when Justin came out to talk to her. “I told him you won’t have to worry about her doing that,” said Albrecht, who knows the typically shy Cameron would be very quiet. “Justin tapped me on the head,” said Cameron, “and said, ‘hello, little one.’ He asked if I liked Anthony Carr coming to the studio, and I said yes. He said, ‘isn’t Anthony a nice guy?’ and I said yes. I was a little shy.” Cameron and her mom had their picture taken with Bieber, which will be posted on his fan site. Canada born sixteen-year-old Justin Bieber was discovered on YouTube in 2008. Scooter Braun, who happened across Bieber and later became his manager, arranged for Bieber to meet American recording artist and actor Usher and was soon signed to Island Records. The concert was beginning at 7 pm, but Cameron had enough time to get a souvenir of the evening-a Justin Bieber light stick, before it was time to head to their seats. “I can’t imagine how much those seats would have cost,” said Albrecht. “We were in the fourth row, center stage.” After two new artists performed, singer/rapper and Eenie Meenie song partner Sean Kingston served as one of Bieber’s opening acts. Kingston noted to the crowd that at Justin Bieber concerts, positive music for kids is promoted. According to Cameron and her mom, Bieber’s concert was fantastic. He did various acts including singing while being harnessed and scaling a skyscraper with his dancers, flipping upside down and going down the skyscraper prop. He had home videos of him as a child playing in the background between a few songs, he sang a song in a suspended metal dome, sat in a large heart up in the air, singing only with his guitar, and read fans’ posters from the crowd. “One poster said, ‘will you marry me, Justin’,” said Cameron. “He said he would, but he’s too young. He also brought a girl from the crowd up on stage and sang, One Last Lonely Girl, and gave her flowers.” Beiber taught himself to play the piano, drums, guitar, and trumpet. During his concert, he played a white grand piano and the drums to another song. Because he was discovered on YouTube, he looked there for backup singers. He had his backup singers perform a cappella at the concert. He also had each dancer, including Anthony Carr, do a free-style dance. “About 10:00, it looked like the concert was over,” said Henary, “but there was a huge sign that asked if we wanted to hear more. The word louder popped up on the screen several times encouraging the crowd to yell out, and then Justin came out with streamers and confetti coming down, and he sang Baby. That was my favorite part.” “I thought I was actually more excited than Cameron was,” said Albrecht. “It was a really good concert.” Laughing, Albrecht added, “I guess I officially have Bieber Fever. We are very thankful to Lacey and Anthony, because we never would have had the opportunity to do something like this. Anthony was the reason we got the meet and greet and treated us so nice.” Cameron will always remember the special time she had. She was very thankful as well and said, “Mama, I think God blessed us again.”


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