Simply stunning!!

This Providence and The Academy Is sing Jimmy Eat World acoustic. They performed this in Boise and it was even better than this. It gave me goosebumps. I love great
harmonies.

Fun Times and Exciting News

Should I post the exciting news first, or the fun times...
Fun times or exciting news? ;)

O.K. I have to spill the beans. Relient K is coming to Salt Lake City!! I was so excited that it took me hours to calm down and get some sleep. But it was a good thing, really. It's just that I saw Thiessen's blog about tour dates, and was preparing myself for disappointment. Instead, I saw June 4, Salt Lake City and did a happy dance (well, in my mind I did a happy dance, anyway.) Murray Theater is not a terribly huge venue. I have only been there one time before to see Secondhand Serenade, My American Dream, Play Radio Play and Rookie of the year show. It is an old theater made into a concert venue, and it's actually kind of a fun place. Tickets go on sale Saturday, and now I just have to figure out for certain which promoter so I know where to get them. LOL

As for the fun times, Saturday was fun - really fun. I started off the day on the right foot, by getting a whopping 2 hours of sleep before heading for Boise. I am quite sure I was barely coherent most of the day. We did have a nice drive and arrived in Boise at 2:30 p.m.

I had hoped for a wee bit of early check in and hoped to be to the venue by 3 p.m., but instead we had to wait until 3:20 for the room to be ready. I probably arrived at the venue around 3:30 p.m., so you know I didn't waste a lot of time at the hotel. It was a nice room, though, at a pretty reasonable price and only .9 of a mile from the venue.


Even with the short distance, I saw a tour bus outside a nearby hotel and a sign that said, Joan Baez, 8 p.m. SOLD OUT! I didn't even know she was touring. I would have loved that show!! LOL Down the street, David Archuleta was playing. I heard there was a long line.

When I arrived at the venue, my husband pulled into the lot and I saw the tour bus, and a red car with two young ladies, so I asked them if they knew anything about the venue. As it turned out, they were from Utah. They said I could hang out with them for the evening. They were pretty big TAI fans. They said they had talked to one of the This Providence guys earlier and I gathered from the description that they had talked to Gavin. They told me the tour manager's name so I could ask him about my camera. He said it had to go through the publicist, so I said I just wanted to take pics of This Providence, and he said he'd put something together for me. So my husband left me with cameras. As it turned out the venue pretty much nixed any hope of getting my dslr in and didn't even want to let in ANY cameras, but I mentioned to the security guard what the tour manager had said. Anyway, he finally went in and checked and I was able to bring my point and shoot in. Phew!! I would have been heartbroken otherwise. My new concert friends let me leave my dslr in their trunk and told me where they were staying in case anything happened and we lost track of each other.

After a long wait, lots of conversations, and having a few buckets of rain pouring down on us, it was almost time for the doors to open. The venue staff came out and wrist banded people before the doors opened which made my day since I had will call. I managed to get to the stage, barely on the right. The stage wasn't really huge. It was a small place, but lots of fun.

First to play was Evan Taubenfeld. Apparently he used to be a lead guitarist/back up vocalist for Avril Lavigne. He was a lot of fun and had an amazing voice. I was able to meet him and talk a bit after the concert was over, and he really was nice. I couldn't bring myself to buy his "Cheater of the Year" tee (name of his song.) I just felt funny wearing it. He said I could put an "X" over "Cheater of the Year." I seriously considered it. LOL

This Providence followed Evan, with a great acoustic set. The concert was acoustic, so both TAI and This Providence only played with two of their band members. Dan and Gavin sounded incredible. The very first song, "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" is not what I would expect to hear as an acoustic song, but they did an amazing job of it. They played "Letdown" acoustic and it was great. I'd been singing that one all day. My favorite though, is the "sappy love song" (Dan's words, not mine) "Sand in Your Shoes." It's just beautiful. The gals behind me knew every word to all of the songs. I could hear them well. I'm sure they have some video of me singing badly (I could not hear myself at all) along with Dan and Gavin. The only bad thing, as usual, is that it had to come to an end.



After a bit of time for a stage set up, it was time for The Academy Is. All of the vocals were a pleasure to hear. William has an great voice. He also takes good care of it (at least before the show. lol) I could hear him warming up during sound check earlier in the day. I've seen TAI about 3 or 4 times, but I still don't have one of their cd's. I will remedy that soon. I would have bought one there, but they didn't have any available.




Afterwards, all of the artists hung out with us concertgoers, signed autographs, took photos, etc. I talked to Gavin a while, talked to Dan some, talked to Evan, and had a photo taken, and had a photo taken with Adam Siska. I waited for things to die down so I could get a pic with Dan and Gavin. Then I waited for the line to die down for William. Finally I got in line and the venue wanted to kick everyone out. So, William said we could just go outside and finish. Oh, and I did meet up with my concert friends who were in the lot with me. The three of us, and a few others stayed outside in the lot and talked to William for quite a long while. He was very gracious.





Finally, my new concert friends, drove me back to my hotel (which was pretty cool as I had planned to walk as I didn't want to wake Ed up.)

As it turned out, Ed was awake. Neither of us had dinner, so he ate some brownies he bought earlier at a stop, and I ate the banana I bought. Great meals. LOL Then at around 12:30 a.m. I crashed as I was completely exhausted. At 5 a.m. I had to get up, take a quick shower, and check out. I wanted to be back in time for church at 10 a.m. Things went well, but there was a hang up at the desk and it took 20 minutes to check out. Ed was less than happy that we were rushing back, so that made me feel a little bad, but I made it to church at 10:30. It was late, but they were still in the middle of the worship part of the service, so things went well overall.

Needless to say, it was an exhausting weekend, but a fun one! I can't wait for the next big adventure. I think that will be this Thursday for Big Daddy Weave. I am working, starting at 8 a.m. Who needs sleep? ;)

Peace out,
Melanie

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, to Boise I Go (with a little hlep from my friend.)

In about 4 hours I will be headed for Boise to see This Providence.

My husband did not want to go along for the ride, but he had a change of heart. So, I got home about 1:30 a.m. and made a hotel reservation .9 of a mile from the venue.
I'm pretty excited that he is driving as I don't have to worry so much about how sleep deprived I really am. LOL

It's been gorgeous the last two days, and should be tomorrow. On the way to work today, I drove by one of the temperature signs flashing a beautiful 69 deg. (F) Ed says it will be colder on Monday, but then warms up again. I'm liking the sound of that word -- warm!!! Yes!!!

I am not a winter girl, what can I say!!

Sometimes My Own Worst Enemy, and Sometimes I Love It. LOL

Tuesday I woke up bright and early which would have been o.k., if I had gone to sleep immediately after arriving home from work at 1:30 a.m. I didn't. So after about 3-1/2 hrs. of sleep, I tried to rub the sleep from my eyes and get out of bed. The destination was "Ultrasound Specialists" who do ultrasounds and fetal photos. When we arrived, my daughter filled out a form, and received was handed a binder with instructions. The binder was just kind of a silly thing. How to hold and not hold and feed a baby the right way, and the purely ridiculous. It was mildly amusing. Then we went into a room and she got up on the table. There was a huge console and small screen. Just to the side of the table was a large tv screen and a soft, comfy couch and Bethany's friend Christine and I had a seat and prepared for the "show." As a result, I now know that I am going to be the proud grandmother of a baby girl alien. LOL Most of the video of my granddaughter was the standard black and white 2D, but there is also some 3D color video. Since Bethany is only 16 weeks, a little early for the 3D we were informed, she still looks somewhat "skeletal" and that makes her look a bit like an alien in 3D ultrasonograpy.
Still, it was apparent that she is an alien with her mother's nose. :) At least it is the same shape. She was a busy little thing. :) I had intended to put up some of the video, edited of course, but right now my computer doesn't think it should recognize my dvd player. But hopefully soon!

Afterwards, we had lunch/brunch or something of that nature at IHOP. Trying to find low fat at restaurants is definitely a challenge. I had to bring a salad for a potluck at work, so I came home, headed to Smith's for some salad shopping, came home, made a salad, and got ready for work. At about 11 p.m. I was seriously falling asleep. I finally woke a little after a brisk walk around the building twice. After work I went into one of the batches I was entering data on and double-checked. It was a wise move. Some of the errors were somewhat humorous, but only because I caught them.

Anyway, while I was online I noticed that This Providence was opening for The Academy Is in Boise on March 21st. Then I realized that March 21st is a Saturday, so I mulled over the idea of making the 5 hour drive to see them. Ed said he was o.k. with it so I bought a ticket. I fully intend to be back for church at 10 a.m. on Sunday (give or take a few minutes.) I will definitely need prayers on that one! LOL Who needs sleep?

Last time I saw This Providence was in September. I'm looking forward to seeing them again.

Miles to go, but I'd better catch a few zzzzzzzzzzzz's.

God's blessings to all and to all a good ... night.. day... whatever it is, wherever you are.

--Melanie

A Wild, Crazy, Wonderful Week

This has been one of the busiest, craziest weeks ever - and it was a mostly self-induced sort of insanity. LOL

Wednesday, I had a ticket to see This Providence in Sandy. It had been more than a hear since I had seen them, and last time I promised Sean that I would cook dinner for the band the next time they came. I couldn't recall if anyone else was involved in the conversation or not, so I sent a message to ask if it was still on (since Sean left the band) and they said to bring food. LOL So, Lauralee and I set about to do just that. We fixed pot roast, salad, drop biscuits, brownies and fast fudge and made enough for a small army. Oh, and I brought grapes from my yard, too. We got there and set up inside at a round table, and the food was big hit (Phew!) We really didn't know how the timing would come together, but it all came together quite well. We did have to move the food outside for a short bit just before the show, but it went very well. Dan was in a fun mood, and the show was absolutely the best! :) I usually try to photograph without flash, but it was so dark I used flash, and felt kinda bad because I probably blinded everyone. I need an attachable flash that doesn't send out that horrible strobe and so it can be bounced anyway. This Providence went off tour and headlined at Solid Ground, and the openers were all pretty good. The main opener, Everybody Else, was pretty amazing as well. After the show, I took Lauralee home, and headed out myself. I got home quite late, and still had to unload the car and put things away. But it was all worth it!





The next day, I had a ticket to see This Providence on the Why So Serious tour in Pocatello, ID. I got to the venue about an hour before the ticket time, and there were guys putting up signs for a venue change. So I found the new venue, the Booth Barn, parked and looked for the entrance. Someone said they thought it was around the side, but the bands were unloading. I was bold and went back there, visited with This Providence, and a few others, and took some pics while I waited. Then the show started, and I didn't realize it, so I headed around as quickly as I could and got as close as I could to the stage. A few people did let me in front to take pics, which I thought was really nice. The first band to play was Mury. I had seen them twice before and they were pretty good. Hey Monday was next, and I really liked them quite a lot. Most of the people I talked with after the show loved them as well. Then A Rocket to the Moon played. I really loved their set. I felt kind of badly as I heard about their trailer being ripped off of about $5,000 (cash/posessions) including some camera equipment and lenses. So, you should check them out and support them if you can.
Then This Providence played and were, once again, awesome. :) The power cut out during a number of the sets, and it also happened during This Providence's set. Shane (who does merch) came up on stage and pretended to be a rock star. It was great! LOL Finally things got to working again, and they finished their set. Then set up started for The Cab. I was pretty sure I'd like them, and they were quite good. Trying to photograph the lead singer was a lot like trying to take a photo of a bullet. LOL They have a good stage presence.




I was able to get a copy of the set list for three of the bands, including This Providence, and I decided to get TP to autograph their set list. Then I visited for quite a long while before heading home. I think I arrived home around 2:25 a.m.

For concert no. 3, I had a ticket to see The Rocket Summer and Phantom Planet the next day. Normally I go around 1-2 on weekday concerts at In the Venue, and am often the first one there, but usually for TRS, there is a big group that shows up around 10. So, my original plan was to go at 10 a.m. I was just to exhausted, so I waited. I acutually got to the venue around 1 p.m. and was the first one there. It's funny, I had prayed about timing and resigned myself to possible staying in the back (don't think I'd survive the middle) and I should always remember that God works out the timing regardless of what I want. Things will be as they should be. It was a pretty amazing show, and I ended up on the barricade, dead center. I knew I was going to get killed. LOL Once again, the opening bands were good. Phantom Planet was absolutely incredible. I didn't see how Bryce could top that, but he set about to do his best. In fact, it was probably the best I'd seen Bryce. He was engaged with the audience, he sounded great, played a very good set (new and old.) At one point he left the stage, went into the middle of the crowd and sang two acoustic songs. At another point in the show, Bryce used the looping machine, or whatever the tech term is for that thing, and played drums, then keyboards, then guitar in a loop and sang. It really sounded good. Another highlight was my friend Lauralee telling Bryce that it was her birthday, and him telling her happy birthday from the stage. We set about to get her a set list, and someone was nice enough to give it to her.

Afterwards we bought merch, had photos taken with Bobby of The Morning Light (first opening band) and then went outside. I was walking back towards the bus as Bryce usually comes out after the show, and sometimes Phantom Planet plays an acoustic set afterwards. On the way out, I heard Bobby talking about God, and said something back and we ended up in this huge discussion for about 1/2 hour. Then I went back to where the buses were, and waited. Bryce finally came out and I waited until almost last, had photos taken with Bryce (our tradition) and talked for quite a long while. Then I said my goodbyes and headed for home.





The next morning I was leaving for Phoenix (Saturday) via Kanab, UT, and didn't even wake up until 11 a.m. We left around 4 p.m. Today we left Kanab and took our time getting to our final destination. I am now at my daughter's on my hubby's laptop.

Like I said, a long crazy, wonderful week. I wouldn't change much about it. I am grateful.

God is good. :)

Peace out,
Melanie

Another round of concert photos