Trying to fit the Ocean in a Cup

Sounds, cool, doesn't it? Its from a song by Josh Wilson. He was the opener for Big Daddy Weave on Thursday. The song talks about trying to find words for God, to describe him is like trying to fit the ocean in a cup. I rather liked that comparison.

I started out Thursday morning by getting off work - at 1 a.m. I headed for home knowing I had much to do and needed to sleep sometime. Sleep ended up being an illusion. I managed to make it to bed between 3:30-4 a.m., which is earlier than I often get to bed, so sleeping wasn't happening real quickly. Finally I dozed off and too soon woke to my alarm set for a few minutes before 7. I needed sleep, so I set the alarm rather last minute and hoped to get out the door quickly. It almost happened -- almost. I figured I'd end up being a few minutes late, but close to 8 a.m. if traffic allowed. I had to drive about 45 minutes or so. After all, I reasoned to myself, it did snow and most likely the bus wouldn't be exactly there on time. They rarely are. We were supposed to be serving a full breakfast, which accounted for the early hour. I managed to get everything loaded into my car that I needed to take. I have a two door car with a convertible top, so I put the top down to make loading easier. The top decided not to go quite all the way down. I literally had to use all the force I could muster. 20 minutes later, I had the top up on my car, but the back window wouldn't go up. Fortunately after a couple of tries, the window finally went up and I was on the road. Now I was REALLY late, but I tried not to panic. I got on the road and made a call to let the person I was working with about my expected tardiness, and she hadn't even left yet. She lives further away from the venue than I do. I kept myself calm knowing somehow things had always worked out in the past, and that usually full breakfasts end up being brunch anyway. LOL Still, I made incredibly good time on the road and arrived a little before 8:30 which I could NOT believe. Lynn arrived shortly after with a few others. We were scrambling to get breakfast ready. There was no word from the bus yet, which meant they still weren't too close. AS it turned out we got word that the bus would be there about noon just as I was getting ready to cook up some scrambled eggs, so I decided to wait until they were closer before cooking them. We were well into fixing breakfast, so we just decided to start on lunch and serve both meals simultaneously. At noon, just as I was finishing up scrambling the eggs, the word came. They're here! :)

It was a fun and busy time of putting out food, serving, and meeting everyone. Everyone in the tour was extremely nice and polite and gracious, and thanked us lots for the food mostly with really cool southern accents. I don't think they could believe all of the food. LOL

After "brunch" we cleaned up a little and did some prep for dinner. Then I took a bit of a break and took a few snapshots with my point and shoot and found my seat for the evening, front row and just right of center. I think a few chairs were added and I was ended just a little more centered than when I started out, though.

Before long we were setting up for dinner. Dinner was at 5 p.m. and I could not believe how quickly the day was going. After we served dinner, and did a little clean up, I ditched the kitchen and went out to watch the concert. Just before the show started, one of the guys with security asked if that was my seat and I said "yes" so he said come with me. My first thought was, "uh oh, what did I do." LOL As it turned out, Josh Wilson wanted me to record his song, "Savior Pleas" on his little mini recorder. (I haven't done much video. I hope it turned out o.k. LOL I was a bit nervous about it.)

The concert itself was awesome as always. Josh demonstrated what a looping pedal can do, and sang 4 or 5 songs before Big Daddy Weave took the stage. Mike Weaver has a way of making worship fun and meaningful at the same time and that is one thing I have always appreciated about Big Daddy Weave (which isn't just Mike!) LOL I did my best to get some photos, although I was having some issues with clarity and exposure. You think by now I'd remember to check the ISO settings, but I didn't, so for most of the concert I was shooting at ISO 400. That means, basically, the shutter speeds were slower, so the pics weren't as sharp. I also had issues with my usually trustworthy 100mm lens focusing a couple of times and it even gave me an error message once (take out the battery, putting it back in worked.) Hopefully I will find some decent shots in the next day or two and add them in, so keep checking.

After the concert was over, I took pics of a friend from church with her friend who was in a wheel chair, so they let her at the front of the line. Then I went to visit and went back to the kitchen. I told Lynn not to worry about clean up and to leave whenever she wanted and I would finish up. Then I went and took pics of several people with Josh, bought his cd, and waited a while for a pic with him and then tried to get pics with the Big Daddy Weave guys and almost succeeded. LOL As it turned out, the guy in charge of maintenance (who does an outstanding job, btw)encouraged me to just leave everything as is for the cleaning crew coming in the next day so that the building could be cleared in a timely fashion. So, I loaded my car, helped a little with loading for someone else, and headed for home with Jimmy Eat World keeping me awake. I made a quick stop to my P.O. Box to find an Ace Enders cd I didn't recall ordering (was it a preorder at a show? It seems like I might have done that, but it was a long time ago.) At any rate, I am too blessed.

The only downside to the day, really (other than the car top incident) was that I was overtired and made a few comments I shouldn't have that came out even worse than intended. My apologies if I was stupid and rude to anyone. Sometimes when I'm really tired I should just bring a zipper. LOL O.K. That just gave me an idea. If it ever comes to fruition, I'll blog about it. ;)

Hope everyone has a good and restful week.

Peace out,
Melanie

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

It snowed and it wasn't Tuesday

My husband keeps track of the weather forcasts online and the forecast has been for snow on Tuesday and then it's supposed to warm up a little. So this afternoon I awoke, looked out the door and it was snowing. My first thought was "It's snowing" (yes, I'm a rocket scientist) and the second was... "wait, it's not Tuesday." LOL

SO, it was definitely a Monday today. Focusing at work was tough so I hope I didn't do anything ridiculously stupid. I will cringe when we get our quality reviews back. Hoping for the best. The highlight of my day was realizing that May 25 was Memorial Day and I won't have to ask for the day off to see No Doubt/Paramore. It's the little things that keep ya going, huh? :)

After work, it was ridiculously cold and icy. I must usually leave after the crowd because I walked out of the building to hear a myriad of ice scrapers running across car windows. For some reason it really struck me as mildly amusing. I searched for a pair of gloves in my purse, which I thankfully found, and headed off to join the chorus. I literally had to pry my windshield wipers from the windshield with the ice scraper ever so carefully.

I made it home, had a bowl of hot oatmeal and said a prayer for those in Siberia. I'd never make it there. I can't imagine how people do. I am such a wimp. LOL

I hope everyone had a fine Monday.

We Shot the Moon and other things

Saturday was concert day! I was pretty excited that We Shot the Moon was coming to Kilby Court on a Saturday - no taking off work or worries of that nature. I just finished my first full week back to work as I only worked three days the first week back, and I was pretty tired. By Saturday, I wasn't sure I wanted to make the drive. I knew things would be different once I arrived. I did decide that I wanted to get a few things done, and that I wouldn't go as early as I often do. The last few times I arrived even before anyone from the bands or venue. I decided to leave around 4, stop and the store, get gas and head on out. I still wanted to be early so I could park close and avoid the evening traffic if there was any on a Saturday. Things went pretty much as planned. I left a few minutes before 4, stopped and bought a few things, filled up my gas tank (with a nice $.15 per gallon discount) and headed for Kilby Court.

Kilby is a rather interesting and kind of fun venue. It is basically like a very big garage towards the end of an alley. You enter through a gate next to a ticket shed, and the venue is on the left side, there is a "courtyard" of sorts with a fire pit in the center, and on the right side a long shack where merch is sold. It holds about 150-200 people, if that, and is a very intimate setting. Some great bands have passed through there. :)

At any rate, I did arrive somewhere near 5 p.m., I think. I didn't check the time. We Shot the Moon was there already. I spotted Jonathan and gave him something I bought for him, and showed him something I brought for Jason. So then I found Jason and he loved his bananas and Naked Juice. LOL (It was from a video.)

There were a couple of gals there that drove down from Rexburg which is about a 4 hour drive. One of them had a new Rebel XS, so we talked about cameras for a while. Then I decided to take a few photos around the place.





At one point Jonathan was watching videos from the Rexburg show the night before,and I got to see quite a few. It looks like a cool little venue. :)

Then I just killed time as best I could until 7 p.m. chatting with whoever was up for chatting. I met a gal from Canada who was visiting her daughter who is going to school here. I also met a cat. :) He liked it when I mewed to him. I didn't really know I spoke cat.


Finally, just as I was about to turn into a giant popsicle, it was 7 p.m. and time for the doors to open.

The opening band Blackhounds was a local band that was really very good. I think they should go places. I knew one of the guys from another band called Larusso, so it was cool to see him again.



After Blackhounds, Big Surrender played. The lead singer was so animated he was fun to watch. He had the best expressions! But he was hard to take pics of sometimes because his head was always moving. I did get a few, though.



Finally it was time for We Shot the Moon to play. They played a good, long set, and afterwards the crowd yelled for one more song until Jonathan came back and played to songs before the band joined him and played the song "Julie". At one point another local artist and Big Surrender's lead singer joined WSTM on the stage impromptu. :) It was a great concert!





Afterwards everyone just hung around until they were actually locking up. I stood and sat by the fireplace and talked to Little Miss Corey and her friend Beth for a while, as well as the bands. Lots of hugs were shared (which is great - I love hugs!) I stayed to get pics with the band, and they were nice enough to stick around for it even though they were tired. I don't think the pics are very sharp, but I think one isn't too bad.

Anyway, I was happy to finally make it home, around midnight, very tired, but satisfied. Ed had fallen asleep quite early, so he was awake when I got home and we chatted a bit before he went back to sleep. Then I had to take a shower because I smelled like a campfire! By the time I hit the sack it was nearly 6 a.m. So, I not really here typing this today. I'm actually a zombie masquerading as Melanie. ;)

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

God's blessings, Melanie

Attempt at Creativity

Cravings
An aching hunger
pulling me along like an endless current
Whirlwind sucking me in
around and around
feeling dizzy 'til my bearings are all but lost
Dying but not to self
trying to fight but down for the count
one, two, three...
Struggling to get up
wanting to win -- this battle

It might need a little work. I had rather a skeleton of this and wasn't sure I
was going to do anything with it, but I decided to try something with it after all.

Trying to Stay Positive in a Negative World

Me and Flat Stanley for my daughter's nephew.

I want to apologize if I've seemed a little down lately. It probably aptly describes where I've been. Being ill can really wear you down quite easily and I have been giving some thought to the really good things that have happened as well as those less fortunate things that seem to be taking up way too much of my attention lately.

For instance, I am about to finally become a grandmother. Granted, the circumstances aren't perfect, but I am still anxious to meet my grandchild at the
end of August.

I have seen some good concerts in the last few months. Part of me thinks I shouldn't have gone to all of them, and unfortunately, I may have to cut back for
a bit, but I also think they have helped me to keep my mind from dwelling on the negative so much. In that way it has been somewhat cathartic for me. Some of the memories I will have as long as I have a memory.

I have a very close, albeit dysfunctional, family that I love.

I attend a great church. :) My pastor shares my quirky sense of humor, although I sometimes worry that other people won't get it. LOL He loves his wife and his family, and I love them all.

I have a house, as messy as it is, and it is a blessing; especially since I hate the cold with a passion. I think God has not sent me to Siberia for a reason. :) Thanks, God, I really am grateful! I do have a heart for people who go there to minister, though.

I do have a job that is somewhat flexible, although they keep trying to change that.
Right now, that is what I need, though.

I have a great husband who puts up with my foibles.

I have a Savior who loves me and died for me, and will never leave me nor forsake me even when He has had ample reason to do just that.

I have much to be thankful for, and I need to remember this always.

I used to be better at making lists. Sometimes I find it helpful to make lists of the positive when the negative seems overwhelming. I am long overdue.

And soon, it will be springtime. :)

Hope you can see much positive in your life now. I'm getting there. :)

O.K. I have to say something...

I often enjoy Bill O'Reilly's show, often agreeing with him, sometimes not. He does have the potential to go off the deep end on occasion. However, I think this time he has gone way too far!!

I am referring to the story surrounding Nadya Suleman and her 14 children. From the very beginning (even without all of the facts) O'Reilly has been railing about how these children would be neglected (I am from a large family, and by his reckoning one might think the Duggar children were neglected as well.) It seems like nearly everyone has missed the point that she didn't expect all of the embryos to implant, so I don't think her plan was to have 14 children. Like Nadya, I'd be unlikely to want to undergo selective reduction (of course, for the same reason I'd be reluctant to consider in vitro, period.)

I do think Nadya will need help. I'm also a firm believer that unless the kids are really and seriously endangered the state should stay out of the family. O'Reilly showed the home and said that based on that the state should step in. It was not neat and tidy and somewhat bare in a lot of ways, but hardly unhealthy looking. I suspect that O'Reilly has never seen photos of homes that have had children taken away due to the environment. I have. We were asked to look at the conditions of those homes in some of my early childhood education classes. There was open trash and waste on the floor, animal feces intermingled with bedding and clothes. Unlike Suleman's place, which had lots of open floor space and looked relatively clean - not spotless, not perfect, but hardly worth state intervention.

I might agree that Nadya is not totally living in reality here, but that alone does not mean her children will be abused. I think there is a right to feel that our taxes shouldn't be supporting this, but the children are here now. I have a hard time believing that the children's grandparents want these children released to the state.

Maybe someone should pay her for her story if they are so blasted worried about paying via taxes. But from what I am seeing now, people are suggesting she shouldn't be able to get financial help from anyone? Make up your mind, people.
Criminals have been paid for their story, is Nadya worse?

I suggest before O'Reilly makes such a radical suggestion, he should do a little research on the children's protective services in California. Why would anyone want to recommend that those children be placed in that system sans any real abuse?
Maybe if one of those 14 gets a bad foster care home, O'Reilly will be willing to take responsibility? Not holding my breath on that one.

I have rarely seen such judgmental hatred of someone as I have of Nadya. She has the children now. I think she needs support and help now more than condemnation.

Everyone of those precious children is a miracle. I hope they do well. Carting them all off to the state, is not a way to ensure that outcome.

--Melanie

P.S. I know there are many wonderful foster homes. However, I also have a friend who's kids were molested in foster care. Her kids were taken out of her home because of a medical condition and she had to fight hard to get them back. IT did permanent damage. You don't take kids away from their parents lightly, period!!

Wake me when it's over

Dec 26 I am diagnosed with gallstones. Jan. 12 I have my gallbladder removed. Monday I came down with the flu and my head wants to explode. Today the dog took off while I was holding the leash and either bruised a tendon and/or nerve and
i am wearing a brace for about a week and icing 3-4 times a day. Seriously, knock me ou t and wake me when it's over. This took forever to type. At least my arn isn't broken.

I am doing a bit better since my last blog. Saturday I drove 2 hours to see a local band by the name of Mury, Between the Trees, Madina Lake and Anberlin. It was a good concert and a long day.

I've been exceedingly sore (especially my neck) for two days. Today I have a sore throat, stuffy sinuses, and am definitely sick. I was hoping it wouldn't happen.

Anyway, this is my rambling recap of Saturday's show (as posted on the Switchfoot boards):

I got to the venue (The Icon) a little before 11 a.m. At about 11:11 a.m., a group of 4 arrived from Oregon and they had driven 15 hours. One of the guys didn't have a ticket. I'm not sure what happened with him. I hope he got in. I know I called the promoter because they usually hold a few tickets at the door at the Avalon even when they are sold out, so I asked them and I was told they probably would maybe 20-40 people. Then sometime in the morning one of the guys said they might do a few cash sales. However, if someone came up who was in a group or not in line already, they just said they were sold out. Even though I was the first one there, 2 guys thought they had rights to the front of the line because the rest of us stood a few feet back to get some sunshine since we'd been there all morning. That kind of annoyed a few of us.

Anyway, Anberlin's bus arrived around noonish. When they finally started filtering out of the bus, I saw Stephen and gave him a few things I had for him, which he seemed to appreciate. I asked him if I could get my SLR in so he had me check with the road manager, and I did. He said he would look into it and get back to me. (I checked back once later, but he never did get back to me, and I didn't want to keep bugging him. I'm sure it wasn't his top priority. LOL) There was a pawn shop across the street and at one time or another, all or most of them checked it out. I thought about it, but not while they were there. One of the guys from Oregon checked it out for me a little later and said they didn't have all that much. So, people kind of came and went for a few hours. I talked to Joey once to see if he had seen a photo I had of him. He hadn't seen it yet. (Note, it was a photo of Joey and Hoopes in 2003.)

Sometime between about 2:30-3 Between the Trees bus arrived. It was a while before they all came in, but the first place Ryan, et al. went wasn't to the venue, it was the pawn shop, which made me laugh. I said "hi" to Ryan when he went in the venue, and told him a friend said "hello", and then they were loading in for a bit. Diane & Tuyen got there a little bit after BTT, I think. I have forgotten the time sequence there.

I kept asking and telling the venue people about Nicole ALL day, and was told she'd probably be able to get in by several people. Finally this big guy came out and I asked him what to expect and then I told him about Nicole. He said they weren't selling any tickets (apparently the radio station said otherwise earlier in the day, also) and I told him that I called them and what I was told and that Nicole drove 4 hours, and he took her aside, but then I didn't see her. I was a bit freaked, because I was going to let her use mine if she didn't get in, and he implied he was going to get her in, but we were separated, and I didn't know for certain.

I did end up in the front. The good thing is I could see. The bad thing is that Stephen's vocals weren't very loud at the front. I could only hear them about half the time. But when he sang The Unwinding Cable Car with Ryan, it was clear as could be and they both sounded amazing. I talked to Ryan later, and he said that they had wanted to do that for a while, but had only done it at the last two shows. Since The UCC is probably my favorite Anberlin song, it made the whole thing almost worth it just for that one song alone.


I liked the local opening band (Mury), but I've seen them a few times before. The language can be a bit rough on occasion with them, but the music is good.


Between the Trees was awesome, although I wish I was on the other side of the stage so Ryan's back wasn't to me when he was on the piano. LOL




Madina Lake was interesting. I didn't think their music was horrible, actually, although the vocals weren't real easy to discern at times from the front. They were definitely high energy and got the crowd acting rather crazy. They had people getting up on stage, and security put a stop to that because there was no surfing, and I think people were surfing up there. (Really, there was a short stage, no barricade, so surfing didn't seem very feasible.) I couldn't figure out why Madina Lake was the main opener rather than BTT, but I'm guessing it was their energy onstage.



After the show, I was able to get the set list - yea for set lists!!! The encore isn't on it. I'm not 100% sure they totally followed it, though. I'll have to try and remember.

I did get some pics, not outstanding (lots of hot spots on some of them) and it was hard to get anything with the crowd. The guy next to me kept leaning way forward, so I had a time getting pics around him. The downside of me being so short. LOL





At least the crowd wasn't quite as bad as at Salt Air and though I'm really very sore (I probably shouldn't have been at the front 3 weeks after surgery), at least I wasn't really hurt. It was pretty stinking hot in there, though!!!

Anyway, rather rambly, but it was a good show. I mosly wish a few things would have been handled more fairly and that I could have heard the vocals a bit better. Just curious if they were heard better in the back.

This is a pic of some of us from the Switchfoot boards:


Photo of me and Ryan (of Between the Trees):