THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 27, 1994 TAG: 9411240266
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 32 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
Last weekend at Scope, dressing rooms were assigned to country music stars Mark Chesnutt, Aaron Tippin, James House and 6-year-old Randy Sarver Jr.
Matter-of-fact, the room assigned the Virginia Beach youngster was larger than the one given House.
Randy's royal treatment at the Chesnutt-Tippin-House concert was the result of his mom's name being drawn from more than a thousand entries in the WCMS ``Star For a Day'' competition.
When Jodie Sarver's name was announced on the station, listeners heard a lengthy, happy scream.
``I taped the scream,'' said Jodie Sarver, who works at the NV Spring Co., a fish and tackle warehouse in Virginia Beach.
The winner got the usual front-row seats and backstage passes with some added attractions: the private dressing room, a high-class meal with the stars and crews, the backstage run of Scope for four hours before the concert, sitting in on sound checks, and a Takamine guitar autographed by the three BC Blazin' Country Tour stars.
The youngster's dad, a maintenance engineer at Indian Lakes Apartments where the family lives, plays the instrument ``but,'' Jodie Sarver said, ``he doesn't like country music.''
The guitar, however, was a different story.
When he first saw the guitar backstage at Scope, Randy grinned and said, ``Dad's gonna be as happy as I am.''
Randy's happiness was contagious.
His day at Scope is sure to be the subject of a future show-and-tell for the other first-graders at Corporate Landing Elementary School. A major part of the show will be his Mark Chesnutt T-shirt, autographed by the star and Tippin.
For balance, Mom came to the concert wearing a Tippin ``T''.
``That was my main purpose in wanting to win,'' she said. ``I wanted to meet Aaron Tippin.''
She met all three singing stars, hugged them and had her picture taken with them, Randy being an equal opportunity recipient.
Mother and son spent a lot of time roaming the hallowed halls of Scope, dancing out of the way as equipment was moved swiftly toward the stage, and listening to sound checks.
Randy loved it all, but his favorite was the dressing room, which he and Mom had to themselves - drinks and potato chips provided.
Parked behind that room were the buses - home-away-from home for the stars.
Randy ventured over to a Tippin bus since some of his people were standing by.
Somebody mentioned rules and regulations about peeking inside, then another offered, ``What the heck?''
The Tippin man took Randy by the hand and gave him the grand tour, another addition to an already unforgettable evening for a 6-year-old.
Finally, it was concert time - a concert that stretched to four hours because Chesnutt was in a good singin' mood.
When he told the Scope guards to remove the barriers between audience and stage, Randy surged forward from his front-row seat and joined the crush, ya-hoo-ing with the best of them, raising his hands country style to salute the artists, his body keeping time with the rhythm.
While he was in front of the crowd that surged to the stage, Mom did some hand-wringing, but her son's hands were reaching onto the stage, waiting for a handshake as Chesnutt moved toward his fans.
The handshake came - so did guitar picks tossed by members of two of the bands.
Randy picked up a House pick; Chesnutt's lead guitar player tossed a pick directly at the blond-haired youngster.
The music didn't end until midnight, but Randy never tired.
``I'm so glad I won this competition. I love country music,'' Randy's mom said, ``but this day was for him.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by FRANK ROBERTS
While Jodie Sarver holds her autographed guitar, her son, Randy,
gets Mark Chesnutt to autograph his T-shirt.
by CNB