At Wednesday night's Lady Gaga concert, the singer went wild for a red, studded vest tossed on stage by a fan. That fan was Sacramento painter and makeup artist Christopher Roa, who spent a week creating an early birthday present for Gaga, who turns 25 Monday.
Roa, who works at the MAC store at Arden Fair Mall, turned 25 himself a few weeks ago, and made the birthday present for Gaga out of a 1980s vintage leather jacket. He applied the studs himself and hand-painted its design features, drawn from Gaga's "Born This Way" video (a triangle, representing the LGBT community, and a unicorn, representing the singer's favorite mythical woodland creature).
To try to get close enough to be able to toss the garment on stage, Roa and his friend, fellow makeup artist Seth Parker, "waited for hours" outside
Power Balance Pavilion, Roa said. The wait paid off when Gaga picked up his jacket and made eye contact. Though overwhelmed to see his creation in his idol's hands, Roa kept it together.
"She looked at me, and I was able to say 'happy birthday,'" he said.
Then she donned the jacket on stage, and kept making reference to it. Roa culled his own video from the show, along with YouTube videos made by other fans, in the video above.
"I want to share (the video) for the sake of the possibility it might get back to (Gaga) one day," Roa said.
-- Carla Meyer
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