While the New England weather was by no means warm the week of April 2, New England Soul Patrollers didn't notice once Taylor Hicks was in the area.

Taylor put on three amazing, sold-out shows, attended by purple bead wearing New England Soul Patrollers. If Taylor doesn't know about us now, he never will!

Our members went to meet and greets bearing gifts for Taylor, carrying t-shirts and photos to sign, and even asking him to sign our NESP business cards!

Two of the highlights of the week: Taylor wearing the Red Sox jersey we had made for him. Thanks to Amy for the idea and for getting it made, and to Karen for making sure he got it; and our party at the Happy Clam celebrating our first mullet toss.

A very positive result of the week, our membership has increased by 25% since Taylor's visit to New England. People met us, saw what fun we are, and liked our view on being Taylor Hicks fans. We are hoping that people continue to discover us and our numbers are even greater by the June shows.

Below is a recap of the week's events.

So, our day began with NESP members meeting at Boston BeerWorks. The BeerWorks staff was wonderful, giving us our own area at the back of the restaurant, and being very accomodating as our members wandered in and ordered throughout the afternoon.

The show at Avalon was fantastic. NESPers were scattered throughout the packed venue revelling in the experience. Taylor was on and seemed happy to be in Boston. Screams reverberated through Avalon when Taylor came out for the encore wearing the "Hicks 07" Boston Red Sox jersey. It was the perfect end to the evening!

First of all, thanks should go to Kevin at the Happy Clam for letting us take over his bar. He was the perfect host, and NESP had an amazing time.

We gathered at the Happy Clam for our pre-mullet toss party. While there, a cameraman and reporter from WMUR Channel 9 interviewed Tricia, Linda and Milt. Tricia ended up on Channel 9 news that night, and the NESP story is expected to be on NH Chronicle sometime in May. Stay tuned for details.

Wearing mullet toss t-shirts designed by Tricia, and doning purple mardi gras beads (Purple for Taylor’s purple jacket) – An NESP Original which is being adopted by Soul Patrollers everwhere – we were off to the beach for the mullet toss on a very cold, windy, New England day. Congratulations to “Mr. Duff” for winning the mullet toss.

Kudos to Linda for organizing the gigantic gift basket for Taylor’s tour bus which included New England-themed goodies such as Red Snapper Mix and gummy lobsters!

Taylor was totally hot that night. While the venue was pretty tight seating-wise, many NESPers had amazing tickets with seats right up against the stage.

Foxwoods was a little more formal than the first 2 venues with a light show, high security and no flash cameras allowed. But that didn’t stop Taylor from delivering a top-notch performance as always. Taylor seemed more playful at this concert than the first two, doing his own thing and “playing” with the audience and the band. The audience was an interesting mix – half devoted Taylor fans and half high rollers and their friends who wanted to see “the American Idol.” By the end of the concert though, the majority of the audience was converted to being true fans…..they had been Taylorized.