Wednesday, March 07, 2007

It's a Beautiful Day

There is not really fancy way to say this, so why try? I had a wonderful day - not perfect, but very good. I have lots of good moments, but not quite as many amazing days.

You may notice that I have a link to wikipedia's entry for the band, It's a Beautiful Day. Really, the band is not the topic of my ramblings, but hopefully I can tie it together somehow.

First of all, I work nights - swingshift to be exact. So I am not really in the habit of going to bed early, unless one counts early in the morning. I am customarily used to getting to sleep between 4 and 5 a.m., but lately it's been closer to 6-7 a.m. Last night I must have be extra excited or something because I didn't get to sleep until about 7:45 a.m. I had high expectations for the day - Jars of Clay in concert, and Relient K in my car (their new cd came out 03-06-07.) So, where do I begin this tale...

I had been looking for something for Dan, the lead singer for Jars of Clay for a bit and not having much luck. I even called the manufacturer and was treated to an automated system - one of those if you want a, push one; if you want b push two sort of systems. They had a listing for stores that sell their product. It was heavily garbled in spots, and not particularly reliable. I came to the realization at 7:30 a.m. that Albertson's was probably open already, so I called the one closest to my house and they had what I was looking for. It wasn't on the semi-garbled list, but obviously I was too elated to care about that much. ;) Not only did I find it, but it was on sale!!! God's timing is so perfect! And, they agreed to hold it for me until after 2:30 so I could get some rest. By that time I was starting to panic and think maybe I should sleep or I might end up falling asleep during the show. That was my start to the day. I finally nodded off to sleep. I woke up at 12:30 p.m. to the sounds of Daisy wanting out of her crate. I waited until she quieted and then let the dogs out, and went back to sleep for a little bit longer. I woke about 2:10 p.m. because some pesky alarm that I'd set figured it was about time that I got the day going. I showered, got dressed, and did all the usual things one has to do to leave the house and called the promoter about the camera policy. That was the one part of the day that was disappointing. I wasn't able to take the SLR. I have a high zoom point and shoot I liked, but it wasn't working, so I asked my husband if I could have an early birthday present and get the one I'd been looking for. He agreed, so I headed over to Best Buy, and it was on sale! God is good!!
Now I just have to pay for it!!

To make a short story longer, I made it to the concert venue, finally found a parking place, hiked all the way to the venue with 12 soda bottles, a camera, a jacket and scarf (my workout for the day) and asked someone about getting my gifts to Dan. "Dan, who?" was the reply. "Dan, the lead singer of Jars of Clay." After having this conversation basically twice, I was told I could go into a door in the building and ask there. "Dan, who?" LOL Actually, the guy at the desk was really quite nice and helpful, and I believe Dan did get the items in question.

By that time, the doors were open, so I went in the front and found my seat and proceeded to chat my neighbors ear clean off. He'll probably vouch for that! He was a huge Petra fan and Jars of Clay was his no. 2 band. He has good taste in music. Anyway, the concert eventually did start. The first band was really two guys and they had an interesting sound and were very full for only two guys. Needtobreathe was up next, and they were really, really good. I would go to see them again most definitely!! They said they were the warm up band and I think they warmed us up pretty good! :) I had looked them up on myspace, so I had heard a few songs before, but I thought their sound was even better live.

Finally, it was time for Jars of Clay. I think they pretty much performed the whole Good Monsters cd and then some. They also did The Flood, and Walker, Texas Ranger and a couple of other older songs. They told a story about the guy in the hotel who recognized them and then said the first cd was good, but not really the others. They dedicated the Flood to him. They did a song and Steve made a comment about remembering the 70's and then he said, "You weren't even around then," and I said, "I was." Funny thing was I didn't really think he'd hear me, but he did. LOL There weren't a lot of lapses in the music and it kept moving very well. In other words, JOC completely rocked!!

I do have one rant. ;) I was told SLR's and video weren't allowed, so I stopped at Best Buy on the way and bought the high zoom point and shoot I'd been wanting for a back up camera. I just wish the ISO went higher than 800. Still, I had one usher tell me I couldn't video tape, when I wasn't. She said, what are you doing then, and I said taking still photos. Really, I take a photo, then I would put the camera down, clap, etc. If I was videoing, I have to be the worst videographer of all times. LOL But later, another gal told me I couldn't video. I said I wasn't. Then she said I couldn't use video or flash, so I told her I don't video tape and I'm not using flash. She said as long as this (pointing to flash) and this don't come out (she pointed to the lens) so I was thinking to myself, "how do you take a pic without the lens opening when you turn the camera on?" I just said I wasn't using flash, and that was one reason I was using that camera. So, we talked about flash and she said they had someone leave already or something like that. But it made it harder to take pics because I was afraid if I left the camera on the band too long they wouldn't believe I wasn't taping, even though I wasn't. Someday I'm going to give ushers a class on how to tell if someone is videoing or not. LOL Seriously, I think I have a target on me somedays. LOL Anyway, the shots are mostly dark and there is lots of noise, but I may have a few good photos. At least some are good enough to scrapbook, so that makes it worthwhile. Oh, and I waited and asked for the set list and got it. I love set lists! Best scrapbook page item there is. :)

I offered to give someone a ride home, and I felt bad that I made him wait, but I went and had a pic taken with Needtobreathe and bought their cd after the show. Then I went to see if I could find the Jars bus driver, David, because I said I'd try to meet him there. When I was there, I met Matt briefly, but didn't get a chance to really get a photo or anything, and I didn't want to bug him for an autograph right then. Then I turned around and saw, Dan. I asked him if he got the tea (I left him some throat coat tea, etc.) and he said he did. He autographed the set list and posed for a pic with me. Then I said something about David, and I think he was going to look for him. Then someone told me to come over to where he was and he said, "Hi, I'm David" so, I didn't miss him!!! He was so very nice, too. Dan took a pic of us and I think it's the best pic of the night. ;) There was a group of teens and "mom" of some of them there so we had a nice chat on the way back to the cars. I think we were pretty close to the last ones left in the lot.

I drove the guy who had been sitting next to me home. Then I stopped to get gas, got back on the freeway and made the long trek back to my own domicile. I took a slight detour to the post office and my Relient K cd was there just as I had hoped. So, I had my Jars concert and RK cd on the same day to make it even more memorable after all. I arrived home at 1:17 a.m. I guess it was late. ;)

So, I started thinking about how things did fall together and everything worked. How fortunate I was to be there and to hear the concert, and how blessed I am here even on the bad days. It was a Beautiful day, so I started thinking about Steve's comment regarding the 70's, and just remembered, It's a Beautiful Day - wasn't that a band name in the 70's? I remember White Bird. I loved that song. So, it does tie together after all.

I'm sitting here typing this blog at 5:28 a.m. The dogs were eating and chewing on their rawhide. It's time for us all to get some sleep.

Peace out,
Melanie

P.S. I will put some pics up tomorrow.

2 comments:

Lindsay said...

hope the Stewart's got to him... you're such a doll.

Anonymous said...

Melanie, I remember Its A Beautiful Day. I saw them many yrs ago in NYC and they sang White Bird!! I saw them with the Flock and John Mayall. What a concert!
Thanks for the memory! I love your comments on the Salt Lake Concert.
Carol, fellow Jark from Denver
3/27/07