Concerting …

I’m kinda a music guy. At any given point there is music playing in the background, even if everyone else can’t hear it, and I have really really cool background music. I don’t quite have enough money to hire a band to walk behind me and play ‘walking music’ but I can imagine.

Anywho Summer is normally the time for going to concerts since I have free time. I say normally as this year I missed my annual trip to the world of Spirit West Coast - Think Woodstock but all Christian artists. I just got a phone call from my normal partner in crime and got a report from this year’s trip and I must say that I am very angry that I was taking class, and I might just have to take 8 units next summer. I don’t want to discuss specific bands that I missed, as even in going I miss bands that I want to see only because there are three stages going on at the same time.

The Joust (As told by ‘the champ,’ exaggerated by me):
It is a long standing tradition that junior and senior high school students like beating up on their youth leaders. So the bet has become this: If one of them can beat up my buddy they are entitled to a free ‘vendor food’ of their choice, if they loose they become errand boy for the leader for one meal (leader pays). My buddy is about 5’ 10” and about 220 lbs, I am 5’10” just under 200. I am the gatekeeper, and they have to get past me to get to him, and I am undefeated. I have made more of my students look stupid than I care to admit, and I enjoyed it very much.

The joust is not our medieval joust in the sense of horses and lances; it is basically a wooden pole with really soft pillows wrapped around the end so no one gets hurt. Well except for one’s ego, but that already got hurt during the preflight trash talk.

This year I was not there, so my buddy replaced my with a very energetic 5’5”ish 120ish lbs (this is mostly from the last time I saw her a year ago) angel of a girl who graduated from high school a couple of years ago. Nice girl, no real Joust experience. So the champ is called to do battle (he is only the champ because the High schoolers want a piece of him more than they want a piece of me.) On the podium is the high school kid who really wants a piece of my buddy. I think this kid is 5’7” ish 130-140lbs and just a scrappy fighter. The kid is all set and joust in hand standing waiting to do battle. My buddy puts on his headgear, climbs up, and reaches down for the joust. At this moment the kid takes a swing while the champ is off balance…

The champ’s nickname when he is not jousting is “The Bear.” And the general rule is that “Don’t poke the bear or he will maul you.”

… and it was called the poke heard round the ring, as the crowd knew the result of the fight. The bear decided to ‘play with his food’ before putting it down, but the Kid did get his chance.

My Dad the rock star:
Audio Adrenaline is on it’s farewell tour and will not be a band at the end of this year. This is mostly due to the lead singer Mark Stuart’s voice basically being spent to the point there is scar tissue (I think). So the group made some “Adios” T-Shirts to wish the band goodbye and they all wore them to the concert. (They have obviously not watched PCU.) Their big hit “Big House” they normally do in concert and then at the end they have someone from the audience sing the last word.

My dad is a self-proclaimed geezer, he has made T-shirts and hats (I have a hat,) and SWC has a ‘good seats’ option where you can pay extra cash to be right up next to the stage. He and ‘his’ partner in crime purchased two of said seats. At the point in the song when the last line was to be sung, Mark hops down into the crowd and PULLS MY DAD UP ON STAGE. If I was younger than I am today, I think I would be embarrassed. So on stage, my dad gets to sing the last note of “Big House” I can only imagine it will be coming soon to a sermon example near you. I have been told there are pictures to record this event, and I just hope they are not cell phone pictures.

Casting Crowns:
I did make a road trip up to see Casting Crowns in concert with two friends and aside from the crazy drive (till 2am) we had a good time. I enjoyed a good time of touring the Mid-state fair and just getting away from school and out of LA. It was a nice change of scenery and in general a very worshipful evening that gave me a nice spiritual recharge after my vacation week of physical recharge. (More on vacation when I think about it)

Minor Things:
Newsboys: Rumor has it that with their new ‘non-worship’ album the greatest gift to a drummer is making a comeback to their set. Describing it would not do it justice. It must be seen to be believed. I’m getting giddy just thinking about it.