My Man, SCC

Anyone who knows me well knows that I have loved Steven Curtis Chapman since 4th grade. My Aunt Deanie introduced his music to me when our family lived with her the summer of '91, when I decided that the song "I Will Be Here" would be played at my wedding (it was). We whistled in the kitchen to "You Know Better" and I fell asleep every night to my Walkman playing "His Strength is Perfect." 

I've seen him a total of 14 times in concert now, and his is the first concert I remember attending (Sandi Patti at 2 weeks old was actually my first concert). I was on my dad's shoulders at some county fair, and Steven still had a mullet. My Uncle Ed banged on his trailer door at another county fair concert (he was working security) and insisted he come out to meet me my freshman year of high school. My mom says SCC commented about how I had my homework with me (I guess it was a school night), but I don't remember that. I saw him in the front row at DC/LA in '95. I think my friend Jordan had something to do with that one, if memory serves. I saw him at Women of Faith with Mary Lou just after he lost his daughter, Maria. These are just a few of the good shows and memories with Steven Curtis Chapman.

I had a wall of fandom dedicated to him in my Taylor University dorm room. In fact, my roomie, Melissa, and I used to write notes to each other on a white board using lots of SCC song titles. I wish I had written some of them down. They were genius. :)

So many of his songs have been the soundtrack of my life, especially ones on the albums Real Life Conversations, For the Sake of the Call, The Great Adventure, Heaven in the Real World, Signs of Life, and Speechless (my late 80s and 90s streak). Most recently, his album Beauty Will Rise (2009) has meant a lot to me.

Anyway, my 14th concert was no disappointment, and I got to see him with some of my favorite people, my parents and Nathan.

We had a little dinner at Jake's Tex Mex first. Awesome.

Yummy food is a necessity before singing one's guts out at a concert.

We got to see him and Laura Story and Jason Gray at the beautiful Fox Theater in Bakersfield. Thanks for coming to see me in my own hometown, Steven. You've still got it.

If you're not a Steven fan yet, you can start with this song, "The Great Adventure." You're welcome.

Lucky

Nathan is slaving away in libraries at Oxford, Cambridge, and London while I'm cruising with Heidi. Even though we are getting a lot of work done/having a lot of fun with friends, we are missing each other a lot right now!





It's Friday the 13th, so here's a song called "Lucky" that talks about being in love with one's best friend. The guy is an a historic European city, and the girl is on some tropical beach. Coincidence? I think not.

Dancing the Rainbow

OK Go always has the coolest videos. I don't really care for the song, but I just wanted to see what was next in the video!

If I Were a Worship Pastor

Christ the Lord is Risen Today (a little more upbeat please)



See What a Morning - Stuart Townend (a little faster please)



Before the Throne of God Above (without the superfluous interlude please)



I've Just Seen Jesus - Larnelle Harris and Sandi Patty (for special music, of course)



Jesus is Alive - Ron Kenoly (such great memories...)


Happy Easter! And thanks to Sam and Jen for taking Nathan for Easter lunch.

Can't Get This Song Out Of My Head

I'm thinking I should take up flamenco dancing.

The Tale of Two Messiahs

Saturday was a glorious autumnal day here. We had an afternoon open house party for our new church's staff to thank them for such a warm welcome (more about our new church later). We served all kinds of puddings (desserts like brownies and pies and biscuits [cookies]) and hot apple cider that I made in the Crock Pot (no big secret: just apple juice, cinnamon, cloves, and orange slices). No one had actually had hot apple cider before, so it was a complete joy for me to see people enjoying it and asking for seconds. We had great time getting to know them better, and our friend Sam even got Nathan to tell the small crowd his now legendary deer story.


Serendipitously, Sam and Emily were not able to use some tickets they were given to see Handel's Messiah at the cathedral that night (I told you about the Christmas bullet train, didn't I?), so we greedily snatched them from their hands and skipped up to the cathedral an hour after the party. 


I have to tell you, I was on the edge of tears for the first 20 minutes. It was that beautiful. There was something about being sitting up close and hearing that period's music played on period instruments in that cathedral with those amazing acoustics. The soloists were so young (the super skinny bass soloist was still in college at Durham!), but they were all just fantastic. The alto was a more porcine male (the piece was originally written to be sung by a male counter-tenor, I'm told) and reminded me of Agustus Gloop.

"Agustus, sweetheart, save some for later!"

Nathan actually took me to see Messiah for Christmas our first year of marriage, and it resulted in rather dire (now funny... but not really) circumstances.  Here's how it went: 


We both were in an especially cheery mood because I was just out of school for Christmas and had gotten an unexpected bonus from work the previous day. Every year at Whitefield, the parents get together and give the teachers a special love offering. That particular year it was $300 in cash. That's no pocket change! 


Anyway, Nathan parked my Matrix right across from the Woodruff Arts Center on 15th Street on a cold December night just before Christmas. There was a sign with a picture of a car being towed in front of us, but when I pointed it out he said, "I've lived in Atlanta my whole life. I know where to park." I, being the submissive wife I am, decided not to fight it. We had a lovely time with his four siblings seeing the show. Afterwards, we said our goodbyes and walked back out to where our car was parked, emphasis on WAS. Nathan ran down 15th Street with his hands on his head muttering, "No, no, no, no, no..." As I prophesied, the car had been towed.


By the way, I did not say, "I told you so," but I thought it.  A LOT.


We got a ride back to our house with all of his siblings (that would be six of us total) and tons of dirty laundry and computer parts in Andrew's nasty car. Yes, Andrew. Nasty. We stumbled home, completely dejected and very worried. My car was not yet registered in the state of Georgia, and I didn't remember off hand where the title was. We told the story to a family friend in the military who was staying with us for the night.  He was stationed at a nearby base and was due to fly home to Bakersfield the next morning. Thankfully, he said we could use his car, which was to be parked at our place for a couple of weeks, for as long as we needed.


Nathan and I lay in bed that night, scared because we couldn't find the title to prove that we owned the car. I was particularly irked because my purse, hairbrush, and makeup were inside the vehicle. In the darkness I said, "I'll sleep peacefully knowing that you'll take care of everything." Nathan didn't sleep, thinking, "We're screwed!"


The next morning, a Sunday, Nathan dropped me off at church for music practice and went to the towing yard but couldn't convince anyone to just hand over the car without the title. Fortunately, he was able to convince someone to let him get my purse out. Unfortunately, his truck wouldn't start. Fortunately, the big guys in the towing yard gave him a push start down the hill and it managed to sputter to life.


Nathan spent the next several days on the phone with just about everyone he could think of to try to get it back. He tried every line in the book from "I'm a pastor and she's a teacher!" to "We're leaving for California in three days, and we can't afford to rack up $100 per day charges for it to sit in the towing yard for two weeks!" to "But it's Christmas!" Some saint from somewhere pulled a few strings and said we could come down to the police station to pick it up. I burst into tears and immediately sent her flowers.


We went down to the property recovery unit in a very scary looking warehouse downtown. Among other interesting characters, the gentleman in front of us asked the woman at the reception window (complete with iron bars) for his gas mask and bullet proof vest back. If there ever was one of those "I don't belong here!" moments, that was one for me. After getting the appropriate paperwork, we went down to the towing yard. We got the keys and a bill for three days at $100 each day... that's $300. Oh, and they only took cash.


Bye bye, Whitefield bonus. It was nice knowing you.


You can only imagine my irritation, but it was a good lesson for both of us. Nathan doesn't park on 15th Street anymore, and I don't tell Nathan when I've come into any money anymore.


The End

What Up J?

The first thing I  think of when I see this picture of June Bug is the opening song from the classic movie, Office Space...  "D$@! It Feels Good to Be a Gangsta."  I love that you can see all the paparazzi in the reflection of her glasses.  Someone ate her Wheaties today!


Along that same vein, I have to share a quote passed along to me by my friend Katy, who works with teen moms in Florida:

"Why does that man always wanna be up in my business? I don't need no more baby daddies in my life. I don't need him dancing up on me and trying to get in on my drama."

Ray LaMontagne at the Fox

Last night Nathan and I saw Ray LaMontagne at the Fox here in Atlanta. Upon entering the beautiful and historic theatre in Midtown, Nathan said, "I've never seen so many yuppies in all my life." It's true... we saw the full spread of the latest Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters catalogs - lots of organic cotton, ethnic scarves, and riding boots.

Ray LaMontagne is quite a character. I think he used to spend a lot of time in the forests of Maine, writing songs. He's got such a unique voice, and his music is just beautiful, but he didn't talk much. When he did, he mumbled and fumbled over his words. If I close my eyes when he sings, I hear a 300 pound black man singing the blues. When they're open, I see a lanky bearded hippie with a giant cowboy hat on to block the stage lights from his eyes. Interesting...

Anyway, we had a great romantic time up in the nosebleed section of the theatre.

Here's a sample.

Here's another one.

Happy Easter Everyone!

I just can't get over this cute little June Bug.

And... if you're in the Atlanta area and don't have Easter plans, come to Christ Church Presbyterian! Our services will be at 9:00 and 11:15. I'm singing in the choir. :)

Christ Church Christmas Program

If you're in the Atlanta area, come check out our church's Christmas program this Sunday night, the 14th, at 5 and/or 7:30. It's going to be a very worshipful service.

http://christchurchatlanta.org/www/index.php

My trip to Cali

Grandma, Mom, and I went out to lunch in a cute new place in Taft (the only cute place?) called Cali's. Tasty sandwiches! We drove in my grandma's hot new Mazda.


Here's Dad and his Wicked playbill. What an amazing show!
Yes, that's an unknown team member, John Legend, and my mother at LAX at 2:30 in the morning. John is showing signs of fatigue while Mumers is looking quite chipper. John was totally without a posse and caught the shuttle to parking lot C just like the rest of us!

My dad and I went to see Wicked at the Pantages theatre in LA. My friend and neighbor Becky (the new bride a few blog entries down) lended me the CD so I could be familiar with the music before the show. Thanks Becky!


Dad and I went to an Italian restaurant called Spumoni before hitting traffic. We also went dress shopping at Steinmart and got a few treats at Ralph's to sneak into the theatre. We enjoyed munching on Red Vines and Vitamin Water.

Me and Kelee... sunless, makeup-less. We're still cute though, right?

Amy Erickson, the best hugger around. She looks gorgeous! She and I exposed my dad to Arrested Development for the first time. He fell asleep at the funniest parts, which was very sad to me, but Amy and I had a good time nonetheless.

The Symphony

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._3_(Górecki)

Nathan and I went to see the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra perform Gorecki's Symphony No. 3 (also known as "Smyphony of Sorrowful Songs"). GO, GO, GO to the Wikipedia site and listen to a sample. It's amazing. It was the first piece of classical music Nathan and I listened to together. We laid on the couch in the glass room in silence, looking at all the bare trees in the dead of winter, and we were totally moved by this piece of music.