Art*Music*Justice Tour

This past Friday, I had the opportunity to attend an event with my friend and neighbor (affectionately known as "neighbs"), Susie. We are both long-time fans of musician Sara Groves, so when we heard she was coming to town, we eagerly looked into getting tickets. Only to discover this was a large ticket of five artists, also including one of my favorite songwriters, Derek Webb.

When Susie and I arrived early to get the best possible seats for the price we paid (center seats of 4th row!), our biggest question was the order the artists would play in. However, as the show began with all artists on stage and they took turns playing one or two songs of their own at a time, we were moved from engaging with the individual artists into engaging with the Tour. We were shown videos and told stories in such a way that compelled us to engage with the cause, consider ways we can further the causes with our own action, and then consider ways we can financially help the cause. No buckets were passed, but they were readily available. The whole mood of the room shifted from beginning to end. We could sense the urgency in what they were saying without being burdened by it. They took time to pray in the middle of the show. They led the way by telling their own stories, by displaying in words and emotions on stage, by showing us - whether intentionally or not - how very much this campaign meant to them.

The Art *Music *Justice Tour is a music tour - a series of concerts -of five artists who are seeking to do something more with their stage. They are using the opportunity of these 22 shows (September 19- October 26) to raise money and awareness for worth causes: Food for the Hungry and International Justice Mission.

In a very small way, I felt a connect between Sara and this tour, and Sara and her role in the Ride:Well Tour. It reminded me of Tyler, Texas. It reminded me that even the smallest community can make unimaginable differences.

This tour is going to achieve great things and provide a great show to those present while at it. If at all possible, I highly recommend you go out for it.

The disastrous Chicago Blood:Water

Yesterday was one of the craziest days I have had in a very, very long time - and instead of stressing out about it, I am pleased to say we were able to laugh about our misfortunes and the fact that nearly everything went wrong all day.

I cannot even begin to describe the great number of little things that made this day go so terribly. I do know that by 1:30pm, when I saw and was greeted by some familiar friendly faces (Kellie and Jars guys), all I could respond with was, "I hate this day!!!" (or something like that) - and then laugh because I was in such disbelief that it had actually gone as it did. They offered supportive hugs and laughed with me, haha.

What went down, you ask? Here are some of the big things that made it rough:
I borrowed a car to run the many errands necessary for the event to function smoothly. As I pulled into the airport to pick up Kellie (first 'errand') - it died. Not to start again. Not being a mechanic, I would put all I know on it being the alternator (awesome!!!). The tow truck company said it would take an hour to get there; I'll let you imagine how excited airport personnel were about that. Then imagine how well it went over when I was there nearly 3 hours!!!

Poor Kellie had rented a car and got lost a couple times. I tried to get to the Blood:Water event from the train with an obscure address and no other directions, and ended up needing to walk through the projects to get there... so I had to take a cab. I was late. And "flustered." So I got drinks, etc ready for the guests and skipped the presentation. Did I mention that the first bag of popcorn I popped ended up on the floor? because it did. (I have to say here that I though I didn't see the presentation and there are certainly jokes to tell about it, I think it mostly went ok, and most of the guests probably did not know anything was wrong, which is good.)

Then Jeremy (Kellie's husband, also the drummer for Jars of Clay) left with the rest of the band before the movie started... and accidentally took the rental car keys with him. The runner took a couple of hours to bring us the keys, so we were late to the show (which we wanted to be on time to, as Jeremy designed the lights and Jars was playing first).

Our bad luck carried over to the guys... Jeremy cut open his knee on the "steel horse" metal risers when moving from one drum set to another during the set... and could hardly walk/finish the set. He even bled through his white pants (another story entirely). Then we tried to clean it up... and discovered the Jars tour bus does not have a first aid kit on it. AWESOME. (we did eventually find some band-aids elsewhere, for the record) In the interim, Jeremy is walking (limping) like a gangster and is in great need of an awesome cane.

Did I mention that throughout the day of mishaps and things going wrong (I'm not filling in all of the details and mishaps, but lets just say it seemed like NOTHING went right!!!!), we didn't have any opportunities to eat? So I had breakfast around 7am, and we FINALLY got dinner around 9:30pm. SWEET.

ahhhh - what a long day!!! Fortunately for me, it stopped there. I did have an interesting train ride home and a lovely chat with a man named Maurice... but that's a story for another day. It was a positive, lovely conversation. Not like Kellie and Jeremy's night... they returned to the venue only to discover the rental car could be parked no where on the premises overnight (not even next to the tour bus with the VIP pass in it) or it would be towed. So they got to return it in the middle of the night and take a cab back to the venue at 1am. LOVELY.

I'm glad its over, but laughing at it - it is seriously hilarious already. I guess above all, I'm glad I got to spend the day with Kellie (well, the 2nd half, anyway!), and I guess I had some new experiences that weren't all bad, too. Like discovering Rober Randolph is amazing (he played after Jars) and hearing a few of Switchfoot's songs live for the first time... and I'd never been on a tour bus (it isn't that special and it makes my bathroom seem like a master suite!).

I'm chalking this one up to more ridiculous memories that I can laugh at for some time to come.

An Amazing Weekend on Tour

The past few days have been the most amazing days of the trip for a number of reasons.

First, it was great to see Aaron and the Blood:Water folks. We were treated like royalty in Red Oak (I actually stayed in Cedar Hill) by the folks of Oaks Fellowship. I am not exaggerating. They were absolutely amazing. We were blessed beyond ways we could even have imagined or anticipated, and it was like heaven to have a sabbath day and the opportunity to rest in Paul's home with friends that have become family. It was sad to leave there... and we definitely still wish Paul and Candice could have joined us...

As if Dallas wasn't already too much, Tyler was astounding as well. We had riders join us for the day, a HUGE event including a Sara Groves concert, and raised $86,000 (and counting)! It was awesome to meet Sara and her husband Troy afterwards... I've been a fan of her music for some time, and it was a strange turn of events for her to come to where we were staying after the show because she wanted to meet us. I was later forwarded an email from Troy that concluded with, "Everyones gifts coming together for a greater purpose. The most satisfying night in our 10 year career." Absolutely incredible.

I look forward to the journeys ahead with great anticipation...

Andy and the Andys

I'm in Nashville, and all is great. Really. Its been great getting to chat with Lynn a bit more- and finally for the first time in person!

We went to a show at the Rutledge tonight- and it was fantastic. It seemed like Lynn knew everyone there. Seriously. Leslie Dudney opened... I guess Lynn didn't know her, haha. But she did know the rest of the performers, and I met most of them. Then Christopher Williams played, followed by "Andy and the Andys." GREAT show. The Andys were hilarious, mostly because they kept cracking themselves up with jokes about Andy, lol.

Stage intro of the Andys was great: they all came on wearing zip-up sweatshirts. Facing away from crowd, sweatshirts came off. All in white T's, they turned around together for us to see that together, their 4 shirts wrote A-N-D-Y. Priceless. Only regret- the Andys didn't play many songs, and I would have loved to have heard more of their solo stuff. mmm and meet Andy Gullahorn too. That would have been fantastic. But Andrew Peterson was FANTASTIC, both in person (before) and performing (to close night) and I can't wait to check out some of his CDs. VERY good stuff!

One final random tidbit of info: I know that a lot of "important" folks will be at this event tomorrow night- the purpose of me coming to this wonderful city. Among others, I discovered tonight that the guest list includes Hanson. No joke. Try not to be too jealous, though ;).