First of all... Tuesday:
- slept in till 10 am... even though I woke up first at 7:30 am (!), I forced myself to relax. No WAY I'm getting up early on a day I take off.
- did some journaling... that's stuff that I wouldn't DARE to put out here in public for y'all to read :).
- 'round 1 pm met up with Byron, Olivia, and Mark for lunch in Palo Alto off of University at a little trendy cafe called "Pluto's"... random thoughts... walking down University Avenue near Stanford reminded me of walking down Shattuck or Telegraph in Berkeley... w/o trash on the ground, no poor people, and blemishless storefronts... while it was nice walking with a mid-70s Cali sun, made me kinda miss Berkeley. Food was pretty good, although I still haven't gotten used to the idea, ever since moving back from Berkeley, of paying more than $5 for lunch... now you can't get a meal for less than $6. One of the characteristics of being a working person I guess... we had a good conversation talking about the role of "self" in encouraging/affirming people... whether it's contrary to what the Bible teaches about man's depravity, and where you draw the line between encouraging someone's spirit and feeding someone's pride... I personally think that being an encouragement and a blessing to others is the role that God has for us in our relationships with people... it's His role to teach people, as they get to know Him more, that nothing good comes except from Him... and that is not a depressing fact but is actually the most freeing thing that we can hear, because God wants to do good in us if we let Him.
- after accompanying Byron to Longs Drugs where he purchased some vitamin C pills for Maria (all together now... awwwwwwwwwww) B, O, and I headed to the Macintosh store, also on University Ave, where Jars of Clay (my favorite band... someday I'll post something about the role their music has played in my life) was giving a presentation about how they used their iMacs and various software in the production of their most recent CD, The Eleventh Hour. Jars consists of: Dan Haseltine (lead vocals, percussion, drums, accordian), Stephen Mason (lead guitar), Matt Odmark (acoustic/rhythm guitar), and Charlie Lowell (keyboards, accordian, programming) as well as the rest of the support band. While I don't know a whole lot about sound stuff (George probably would have enjoyed the presentation a great deal), there were 2 neat things that came out of the presentation... one, we got to interact some with the band, and they're very funny and down-to-earth kind of people. Even though their profession has afforded them some modicum of fame, they still came across as very grounded, family people (an impression that would be heightened later that night at the concert). Also, they were very funny in a deadpan kind of way... like they'll be talking about something and then slip a little something in tongue-in-cheek... very much my kind of humor... where the funnyness comes from the context of stories they tell, their facial expressions as they express somewhat inane things... anyway. It was very cool... I even got to ask them a question ("Do you guys think you're going to produce your next record on your own again?" They said probably, b/c of the freedom they had in their workday when they had their own studio). And to top it all off, everyone who attended the presentation is gonna be sent a free copy of The Eleventh Hour! Hang out with the band and get a free CD to boot. Can this day be going any better?
- after the presentation we drove up to Castro Valley for the concert itself... on the way to Will Call Olivia ran into some old compadres from FICB, so Byron got her to ask them to save us seats (they didn't)... then headed off to Subway for dinner. Side note here... food and gas is very cheap in Castro Valley. It's like they need some kind of draw for people to go there to eat and drive. My Subway #7 value meal (southwest grilled steak sandwich, chips, drink) was like 4 bucks! In Silicon Valley that meal would run to $6 not including tax. I was pleasantly surprised. Byron was as well, even if he couldn't hold his sandwich together and it got all over the place.
- the concert. We showed up, got in line, and realized that with everyone who had been waiting in line for hours, we were probably not gonna get great seats... but I was okay with that since I had already seen both Jars and JKnapp up close and personal at the Youth Specialties event last November. We found seats in the balcony, not great but
serviceable. The evening's first unpleasant surprise was that Shaun Groves, an up-and-coming newcomer that was the opening act for the concert, was not going to be performing because apparently his 21-week pregnant wife had to have an emergency appendectomy and so he stayed back in LA. While I was disappointed at not getting to ear him perform (I enjoy his CD and I've read good reviews of his performance online) it's always good to hear that things are okay health-wise in the family.
Jennifer Knapp kicked off the evening with the opening song from her new CD, "By and By" (the album's name is The Way I Am). I was all ready to get to my feet when I took a good look around and saw that everyone was still sitting down. I'm like, okay, we're at a concert, and everyone's sitting down... this was also disconcerting to O. I'm a fan of Knapp, for those of you who aren't familiar with her, she's got a chick rock sound kinda like Jewel/Sheryl Crow/Shaun Colvin, and extremely deep, poetic lyrics. However, they could have done a better job with the sound... it was rather difficult to make her out at some points. Very good performance though. She also did a beautiful a capella rendition of "Faithful to Me", a short hymn-sounding song from her first CD that I haven't heard her sing live before, probably my fave from her set. Funny moment... during one of the rocking songs she hopped up on the drums platform, stumbled and lost her balance, grabbed the mike in front of the drums, regained her balance, smiled big and curtsied, then continued singing without missing a beat. Overall, a quality performance, but the sound needed some work, and the crowd didn't seem to get into it as much as when she performed in Sacramento (last time I saw her in concert).
Jars of Clay took the stage next and brought the house down. This was the... 4th? time I've seen them live, and it was probably the best performance. Dan got the crowd into it, encouraging everyone to stand (FINALLY!) and clap, and many fans sung along to every song, which was also encouraged by the band. Steve Mason cracked people up by doing random things during songs, like throwing both hands up into the air, falling down... it was hilarious. Oh yeah, the music... they are awfully talented. They started with several songs off their newest CD, including an intro to one of my faves, "Fly". It was written for some friends of the band, a guy and a girl, who met and got engaged, then found out that the cancer that had been thought to be defeated in the woman's body had come back again, and she only had a few weeks to live. So they got married, and spent their entire marriage in the hospital, alternating between despair, sadness, and finally hope, that Jesus Christ was waiting to welcome her into the kingdom where there would be no more pain. I think the entire crowd was very moved.
They followed that up with several favorites from the first CD, like "Like a Child" (one of my favorites from them live - Matt does this AWESOME acoustic guitar riff in the bridge. I wish they did more acoustic riffs). Before the encore, Dan came out and shared with us a bit about why the band was involved with World Vision, and how AIDS orphans in Africa were receiving even less care than other poor people because of conceptions that "AIDS is a judgment". Sigh... not our place to decide... it was really awesome to see their heart for impacting the world, using their fame as a platform with which to espouse the directive of Christ to love one another. They then finished up with my favorite song of all time, "Worlds Apart," which led into a short but incredible time of worship.
All in all, an awesome day. Food, friends, music, and a real sense of God's presence... I'd say that it was a day off well spent, no? :-)
Time to write about Episode 2...
- slept in till 10 am... even though I woke up first at 7:30 am (!), I forced myself to relax. No WAY I'm getting up early on a day I take off.
- did some journaling... that's stuff that I wouldn't DARE to put out here in public for y'all to read :).
- 'round 1 pm met up with Byron, Olivia, and Mark for lunch in Palo Alto off of University at a little trendy cafe called "Pluto's"... random thoughts... walking down University Avenue near Stanford reminded me of walking down Shattuck or Telegraph in Berkeley... w/o trash on the ground, no poor people, and blemishless storefronts... while it was nice walking with a mid-70s Cali sun, made me kinda miss Berkeley. Food was pretty good, although I still haven't gotten used to the idea, ever since moving back from Berkeley, of paying more than $5 for lunch... now you can't get a meal for less than $6. One of the characteristics of being a working person I guess... we had a good conversation talking about the role of "self" in encouraging/affirming people... whether it's contrary to what the Bible teaches about man's depravity, and where you draw the line between encouraging someone's spirit and feeding someone's pride... I personally think that being an encouragement and a blessing to others is the role that God has for us in our relationships with people... it's His role to teach people, as they get to know Him more, that nothing good comes except from Him... and that is not a depressing fact but is actually the most freeing thing that we can hear, because God wants to do good in us if we let Him.
- after accompanying Byron to Longs Drugs where he purchased some vitamin C pills for Maria (all together now... awwwwwwwwwww) B, O, and I headed to the Macintosh store, also on University Ave, where Jars of Clay (my favorite band... someday I'll post something about the role their music has played in my life) was giving a presentation about how they used their iMacs and various software in the production of their most recent CD, The Eleventh Hour. Jars consists of: Dan Haseltine (lead vocals, percussion, drums, accordian), Stephen Mason (lead guitar), Matt Odmark (acoustic/rhythm guitar), and Charlie Lowell (keyboards, accordian, programming) as well as the rest of the support band. While I don't know a whole lot about sound stuff (George probably would have enjoyed the presentation a great deal), there were 2 neat things that came out of the presentation... one, we got to interact some with the band, and they're very funny and down-to-earth kind of people. Even though their profession has afforded them some modicum of fame, they still came across as very grounded, family people (an impression that would be heightened later that night at the concert). Also, they were very funny in a deadpan kind of way... like they'll be talking about something and then slip a little something in tongue-in-cheek... very much my kind of humor... where the funnyness comes from the context of stories they tell, their facial expressions as they express somewhat inane things... anyway. It was very cool... I even got to ask them a question ("Do you guys think you're going to produce your next record on your own again?" They said probably, b/c of the freedom they had in their workday when they had their own studio). And to top it all off, everyone who attended the presentation is gonna be sent a free copy of The Eleventh Hour! Hang out with the band and get a free CD to boot. Can this day be going any better?
- after the presentation we drove up to Castro Valley for the concert itself... on the way to Will Call Olivia ran into some old compadres from FICB, so Byron got her to ask them to save us seats (they didn't)... then headed off to Subway for dinner. Side note here... food and gas is very cheap in Castro Valley. It's like they need some kind of draw for people to go there to eat and drive. My Subway #7 value meal (southwest grilled steak sandwich, chips, drink) was like 4 bucks! In Silicon Valley that meal would run to $6 not including tax. I was pleasantly surprised. Byron was as well, even if he couldn't hold his sandwich together and it got all over the place.
- the concert. We showed up, got in line, and realized that with everyone who had been waiting in line for hours, we were probably not gonna get great seats... but I was okay with that since I had already seen both Jars and JKnapp up close and personal at the Youth Specialties event last November. We found seats in the balcony, not great but
serviceable. The evening's first unpleasant surprise was that Shaun Groves, an up-and-coming newcomer that was the opening act for the concert, was not going to be performing because apparently his 21-week pregnant wife had to have an emergency appendectomy and so he stayed back in LA. While I was disappointed at not getting to ear him perform (I enjoy his CD and I've read good reviews of his performance online) it's always good to hear that things are okay health-wise in the family.
Jennifer Knapp kicked off the evening with the opening song from her new CD, "By and By" (the album's name is The Way I Am). I was all ready to get to my feet when I took a good look around and saw that everyone was still sitting down. I'm like, okay, we're at a concert, and everyone's sitting down... this was also disconcerting to O. I'm a fan of Knapp, for those of you who aren't familiar with her, she's got a chick rock sound kinda like Jewel/Sheryl Crow/Shaun Colvin, and extremely deep, poetic lyrics. However, they could have done a better job with the sound... it was rather difficult to make her out at some points. Very good performance though. She also did a beautiful a capella rendition of "Faithful to Me", a short hymn-sounding song from her first CD that I haven't heard her sing live before, probably my fave from her set. Funny moment... during one of the rocking songs she hopped up on the drums platform, stumbled and lost her balance, grabbed the mike in front of the drums, regained her balance, smiled big and curtsied, then continued singing without missing a beat. Overall, a quality performance, but the sound needed some work, and the crowd didn't seem to get into it as much as when she performed in Sacramento (last time I saw her in concert).
Jars of Clay took the stage next and brought the house down. This was the... 4th? time I've seen them live, and it was probably the best performance. Dan got the crowd into it, encouraging everyone to stand (FINALLY!) and clap, and many fans sung along to every song, which was also encouraged by the band. Steve Mason cracked people up by doing random things during songs, like throwing both hands up into the air, falling down... it was hilarious. Oh yeah, the music... they are awfully talented. They started with several songs off their newest CD, including an intro to one of my faves, "Fly". It was written for some friends of the band, a guy and a girl, who met and got engaged, then found out that the cancer that had been thought to be defeated in the woman's body had come back again, and she only had a few weeks to live. So they got married, and spent their entire marriage in the hospital, alternating between despair, sadness, and finally hope, that Jesus Christ was waiting to welcome her into the kingdom where there would be no more pain. I think the entire crowd was very moved.
They followed that up with several favorites from the first CD, like "Like a Child" (one of my favorites from them live - Matt does this AWESOME acoustic guitar riff in the bridge. I wish they did more acoustic riffs). Before the encore, Dan came out and shared with us a bit about why the band was involved with World Vision, and how AIDS orphans in Africa were receiving even less care than other poor people because of conceptions that "AIDS is a judgment". Sigh... not our place to decide... it was really awesome to see their heart for impacting the world, using their fame as a platform with which to espouse the directive of Christ to love one another. They then finished up with my favorite song of all time, "Worlds Apart," which led into a short but incredible time of worship.
All in all, an awesome day. Food, friends, music, and a real sense of God's presence... I'd say that it was a day off well spent, no? :-)
Time to write about Episode 2...
posted by Bob at
12:02 AM
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