So, Monday night was the highly anticipated Johnny Cupcakes Suitcase Tour stop in Houston, Texas. The Blot got to Crave Cupcakes a few hours early to scope out a place in line and ended up hanging out with some really cool people from around Houston as we all waited for the arrival of Johnny Cupcake and Co.
Can you spot The Blot!?!
Hint: I make a lot of background appearances in the video!
Hint: I make a lot of background appearances in the video!
To be honest, I had no idea what to expect. While JC's tour stops have consistently been drawing huge crowds, you just never know. There wasn’t a huge crowd when I first arrived (I was probably one of the first 30 people in line), by the start of the event there were easily 300-400 people all screaming Johnny’s name. Being in the front, I was able to see JC interact with his fans from the moment he arrived, and to be honest, it was pretty inspiring. Johnny’s such a nice and humble guy, and he really went out of his way to speak with each and every one of his fans.
The Johnny Cupcakes 2010 Suitcase Tour was created so Johnny could have personal meet-ups with fans from around the country and celebrate the humble buildings of his brand, and that was definitely accomplished here in Houston on Monday night. Johnny prides himself on building a community through his brand and that was never more apparent than the hours he spent sitting on a bench outside of Crave talking with fans, sharing stories, signing autographs and performing magic tricks for the youngsters in attendance. In many ways, the pop-up store inside Crave was secondary to Johnny’s primary goal of bringing his extended family together to celebrate their love for the "Cupcake and Crossbones."
But don’t let me fool you, everyone was hoping to get their hands on the limited edition gear Johnny was selling inside Crave. Luckily, Aly and I got inside early and had our pick of the merchandise. There were six tour exclusive t-shirts, and other tour exclusives like buttons, hats, ties and posters. We got tees and a couple buttons, and quickly headed outside to chat and take pictures with Johnny.
Besides meeting a lot of cool fellow JC fans, there were two main highlights of the night. The first was meeting Houston's own Bun B, one half of the legendary hip hop group UGK, who came out to take part in the event. But the real highlight of the event came when I introduced myself to Johnny, only to find out he reads The Blot Says…! How cool is that!?! I totally geeked out after he said that, but I tried my best to keep myself composed. If I wasn’t already, that news would have definitely made me a Johnny Cupcakes fan for life.
There are still a ton of tour stops left on the Johnny Cupcakes Suitcase Tour, and I highly recommend everyone attend one if Johnny's coming to your city (even if you’re not a diehard Johnny Cupcakes fan). You can find a listing of JC’s remaining tour stops here.