BANG!

Figured I should end the month with one.

Tonight? Fiction Family concert. 

AKA my first Jon Foreman adventure of the year.

First of all, I got to go with my amazing friend Kara and her brother Josh, which was great. We nabbed front row seats to the show at the historic Belcourt theatre, which is a really awesome, 

intimate kind of venue. But after the first few songs, Jon decided that rugs on stage really made the place it feel like a living room... so he invited the people in the front to jump up on stage and chill in the "living room" for the second 1/2 of the show.

I was on my feet before he finished his sentence.

I spent the second half of the show on stage, sitting at Sean Watkins' feet, feeling very much a part of Fiction Family. :) Not only did they play a song (that's not on any of the albums) that I requested them to play via a blog comment, but they did a few really good covers too, including Radiohead's "Idioteque", Arcade Fire's "Keep The Car Runnin" and a bluegrass version of Weezer's "Pink Triangle" which was hilarious.

The show ended, and I was delighted-- but not done. And without Tyler there to hold me back ;) I decided to wait around and see if anyone would venture from backstage. Josh and Kara ran across the street to grab something to eat and I... dawdled. I texted, I listened to messages, I made small talk with some girl who liked my headband...

...until a flash of white shirt and long blonde hair caught my eye.

Beeline.

Wait for it... wait for it... breathe... stop shaking... stop staring!... wait for him to finish talking to his extended family... girl at my right better not even THINK about stepping in front of me... breathe... breathe some more... no, dark-haired girl, don't tell him that Dave's pulling the car around! I need to do this! Wait for it... let him put his iPhone away... one more second...

"Jon?"

Eye contact.

"Hey!"

Stop shaking! Stop grinning like a fool!

"Hi! I'm Juliette."

Shakes my hand. 

"Nice to meet you, Juliette."

"Youtoo!Ijustwantedtosaythanksforplayingthecowboysongbecauseiwassooooohopingyouwouldplayitandirequesteditonyourblogtheotherdayandsothatwasawesomeandtheshowwassogoodandyouaremyfavoritelyricistofalltimeandijustappreciateeverythingyoudosomucheverythingyouwritejustspeakstomysoulblahblahblahandifyouevergettiredofjustwritingamazingmusicandplayingshowsandyouwanttowritethelibrettoforastagemusicalyoushouldcallmeandwewilltotallycollaborate!

"You write musicals?"

"I'm working on it. I'm going to write one."

"That's great! Musicals are awesome. Well hey, I gotta run but thanks for coming out tonight, and for sitting on the stage! It was so great having you guys up there. Etc, etc, farewell pleasantries."

Still grinning. Like a fool.

It's gonna be a good year. :)

p.s. somewhere in there, there was also a "Could I get a picture?" Fortunately, I'm pretty good at the one-armed thing, but then I realized I might be shaking and it might come out all trembly, and then he put his hand on my shoulder and I went to put mine around his waist but he's married and I have way too big a crush on him to do that without feeling awkward. So... I don't remember whether I did or not. But this happened.

:)  :)  :)

"Standing In The Shadows Of Motown"

Okay so... it's really hard for me to remember to watch things. Or be motivated to watch things.

And a lot of times, when I do get around to watching things, they still aren't worth recommending.

This is an exception. :)

I just finished this fantastic documentary. It's about a group of musicians, hand-selected by Berry Gordy (the founder of Motown Records) who became The Funk Brothers-- aka the driving force behind every major hit during the golden age of Motown.

These guys were so together, so en pointe from having played in a group for so many years, that when you listen to their tracks, you barely notice them. It's easy to take their artistry for granted because they were SO good at what they did-- being the accompaniment. They're like a machine. And they were, really. A hit machine, utilized by every major Motown artist.

Together, these 16 men are the heartbeat behind such classics as:

Do You Love Me

Heard It Through The Grapevine

Heatwave

Please, Mr. Postman

You've Really Got A Hold On Me

Ain't No Mountain High Enough

Stop (In the Name of Love)

My Girl

The Way You Do The Things You Do

What's Goin On

How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)

Ain't Too Proud To Beg

Uptight

Dancin In The Street

Shop Around

Shotgun

What Becomes of the Brokenhearted

My Guy

Jimmy Mack

Tears of A Clown

Come See About Me

Baby I Need Your Lovin

Ain't Nothin Like The Real Thing, Baby

Ain't That Peculiar

Reach Out, I'll Be There

Just My Imagination

Get Ready

Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours

And many others. A lot of these hits were written in one or two hours and recorded in ONE TAKE by these incredible musicians in a studio nicknamed the Snake Pit. And you know the craziest thing???

The Funk Brothers played on more number one hits than The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys and Elvis Presley-- COMBINED.

Yet most people have never even heard of them.

Get your name OFF that list.

"Standing In The Shadows of Motown" is the documentary that tells their story. If you've ever bobbed your head to any of the songs listed above, you should check it out. It's not just a really entertaining history lesson-- the film also features are some excellent live covers performed by artists like Ben Harper, Joan Osborne, Bootsy Collins & Chaka Chan, accompanied by the Funk Bros.

So... find it and  watch it! You really should. 

It's better than most of the crap that's at Blockbuster right now.

"I shook Hoss's hand! He had his gun on and everything!""

Not really.

But I did hold hands with Jon Foreman last night for like three seconds. :)

Right in the middle of switchfoot's set when he decided to mingle with the crowd during their performance of

 "Awakening". He ran out and stood on a table and then rode back up to the stage on some really tall dude's shoulders, passing by me on his way.

Their set was phenomenal. They play so well together, I just-- love them! I could have watched them for hours. They played everything amazingly and I was just utterly delighted.

(p.s. Third Day really did great too. They were great with the audience,

 lots of energy. And Mac is just-- completely charming. Not to mention he plays guitar left handed. :) I think he looks like Jesus. Maybe Jesus and Clark Kent (minus the specs) and Aragorn rolled into one person. 

(p.p.s. And Jon? His hair is almost as long as mine and it's a mess (that below is an older picture)... and I think it's fabulous.

He reminds me of shorter version of Aragorn smashed into Adam Stoner. And while you may not know either of them-- this is a good thing. :)

From Left: Mickey, Matt, Jesse, Adam & James

Okay, so I was totally kidding yesterday.

Except that I guess I wasn't. I guess.

Maroon 5 ate at my restaurant tonight. Well, Maroon 3.5.

*Matt Flynn (drums) & James Valentine (guitar) did for sure.

The third party is technically still in question. I personally, am of the belief that it was NOT Adam Levine, because he had grayish blue eyes and a rattail haircut. He was also way more geeky than sexy and was actually terribly polite instead of being a cocky jerk-- which is what I expected. I was reassured by countless others who talked to them and looked at them that it was in fact Adam, but as much as I wanted them to be right-- I really just don't buy it. I'm like 96% positive it was Jesse Carmichael, the keyboard player.

Here's what happened... first of all, I would have waited on them myself, but our hostess sort of freaked out when they walked in and forgot what she was doing and shifted to autopilot. She apologized later.

Anyway, there were originally 4 guys at the table. The 4th guy, who could have been Adam, incognito, (He had the look, and the height and the dark hair and eyes-- but he was wearing this hideous fuzzy sweaterjacket and black glasses... like he was trying to be Clark Kent about it.), left before dinner and we didn't see him again. But the other three ordered and then talked to each other and to their stage crew who was eating at another table. I wasn't even sure it was them at this point, but curious, I took advantage of the fact that their food was sitting in the window and their waiter was nowhere in sight. I dropped off their salads and they seemed to be delighted and even happier that I asked if they wanted cracked pepper on said salads. I checked on them one other time, even though they were not in my section, and on their way out, while I was talking to another table across the restaurant, they walked past me and Jesse/fakeAdam caught my eye and said thank you again. I said "You're welcome, have a great show.", all cool-like. And he said thanks again and they left.

So there's no WAY it was Adam. Adam is a jerk. He looks like a jerk. I'm convinced you can't write songs like "Kiwi" and "If I Never See Your Face Again" and "Harder To Breathe" and "Wake-up Call" if you're not at least sort of an egotistical smart-ass. This dude was way too nice. And really, way too geeky to front a band with an image as sexy as Maroon 5.

So... Jesse Carmichael. Responsible for those great 80's sounding keyboard blasts in "If I Never See Your Face Again" & those staccato power notes in the bridge of "Makes Me Wonder".

Sweet guy.

Needs a new haircut.

And sometimes, I love my job. :)

* I'd just like to point out that while I do really like Maroon 5, I am NOT some crazy fan, and subsequently, had to google each band member's name and picture except Adam's in order to write this blog.

C'mon, c'mon...

Found this from ages ago. Just wanted to do it using my favorite band.

Choose a single band/artist and answer the questions using titles from any of their songs. This is harder than it looks! Only the song TITLES are supposed to answer the questions, not neccessarily the lyrics...

My artist choice: switchfoot

Are you male or female: Concrete Girl

Describe yourself: Learning To Breathe

How do some people feel about you: Living Is Simple

How do you feel about yourself: Awakening

Describe your ex girlfriend/boyfriend: Amateur Lovers

Describe your current gf/bf/crush: Golden

Describe where you want to be: Edge Of My Seat

Describe what you want to be: Something More

Describe how you live: Dare You To Move

Describe how you love: On Fire

Share a few words of wisdom: This one's really hit me lately...

You've been living life like it's a sequel,
And you're already bored with the plot--
As if the cast and the score
Are more money than before,
But the script and the backdrops are stock.

We've got the rest of our lives to regret
All the words that were said here tonight, but I bet
That the morning, in the morning
You'll find us in bloom...

So c'mon, c'mon, c'mon--
Let's not be our parents...
Oh c'mon, c'mon, c'mon--
Let's follow this through...
Oh c'mon, c'mon, c'mon--
Everything's waiting...
We will rise with the wings of the dawn
When everything's new... when everything's new.

Let us rise up like the summer sun,
Let these songs awaken the dawn ,
Let us breathe every breath,
Like a gift to be kept,
Let us breathe it all in till it's gone

We've got the rest of our lives to live out
All these dreams we stayed up tonight talking about--
In the morning,
We'll start hoping,
But nothing to soon...

So c'mon, c'mon, c'mon--
Let's abandon this darkness!
Oh c'mon, c'mon, c'mon--
Let's follow this through!
So c'mon, c'mon, c'mon--
Everything's waiting...
Well be lit up like fire and gold,
When everything's new...
When everything's new.

BTW, in case I've not mentioned it in awhile...

I LOVE switchfoot.

I want to hang out with switchfoot.

I want to be friends with switchfoot.

Switchfoot is what I want for my birthday. And Christmas. And my ringtone.

If anybody has connections to a job where I can legitimately be paid to follow switchfoot around—please let me know.

Immediately.

I'll move and everything.

Will work for switchfoot.

Switchfoot is also one of those words that gets really weird when you write it too many times.

And I Didn't Put On Makeup All Day.

Eventful couple of days...

Following my double shift, I partied with, not like, a rockstar... or two. Cary Barlowe's 25th birthday extravaganza was also the perfect excuse for me to try to rock a mohawk, similar to one I'd seen on Shear Genius. I wore a casual/semi-formal black & white dress with black plastic earrings and Chucks. And my hair in a pretendalmost mohawk. It was really fun. :)

Today? I ate cereal. And I mowed the lawn. Sure did. It looked a hot mess. Not to mention we were finally forced to do something about it because-- well, wait, let me back up.

To Clint. Clint (my next door neighbor who I prayed with in the flowerbed) is doing well, all things considered. Remember how I wasn't sure he'd even remember our exchange? Well, he did, and he wrote me a letter from jail, thanking me for encouraging him. It was wonderful. He asked if I'd write to him, so of course, I have. If you want to know more about this, talk to me. But whatever you do, don't worry. I'm not crazy and I know how and when to be careful. :)

But basically through the course of our correspondence, I told him about the epic disaster that was our front lawn, and joked that the Homeowners Assoc. was going to evict us if we didn't get it under control soon.

Thursday morning, the Homeowners Assoc telephoned Holly to tell her that we had till Thursday to get that under control-- or get fined. Yikes. Calling of several lawn companies ensued (some for the second or third time!), but no one could get here as quickly as we needed them. So Kish & I decided that tomorrow, since we're off most of the day, we'd go ask our neighbor Leah (Clint's grandma) to borrow her mower.

Lo and behold, an hour after Kish left for work, Leah shows up at our front door. She thanks me for writing/encouraging Clint and said that if we ever needed to borrow her mower, it was all ours. She also mentioned that it was Clint who told her we were gonna get kicked out if we didn't mow soon, and also he who suggested that she volunteer her mower.

God is so cool. :)

So we (Heather & I, at the time) borrow this pretty incredible "push" mower that turns on with a key and rolls itself. I mowed the front and the back and we chopped up all kinds of weeds and hedges. Our yard is no longer a sordid and unkempt. It actually looks rather fabulous now, if i do say so myself. :)

Not to mention, we got to hang out and talk with Leah for the hour and a half or so that we worked outside. Leah is 65 and beautiful, standing in her yard, watering her grass in her shorts while drinking her glass of white wine. :) Love it. She helped us pull weeds and when we were done, she let me take Mojo for a walk! He was a very good boy, and Leah said I could walk him anytime I wanted. Leah's a sweet woman, very strong too. So interesting, the way God is weaving these various stories together.

Also just wanted to mention that I have not one, but three very fabulous roommates. I just adore them all so much. They're wonderful.

It was a very nice day. :)

That Song's Annoying, But Oh, So True.

It blows my mind how small this town is. The whole LOST/Seven Degrees of Separation thing is entirely possible. Especially here.

Let me tell you a very windy story. Bear with me.

The very first time I toyed with the idea of moving to Nashville was after the first time I worked the merch table at a Jeremy Camp concert in Abilene, TX. I made friends with Danny L., the merch guy, and ended up helping him with several shows over the next few years.

Danny L. was my first show, Dayna was my fourth. She was the WorldVision rep at a Nichole Nordeman show. Very sweet girl, passionate about Africa, and at the time, she was about to begin managing a new artist; a friend of hers named Harrison Hudson. She was also a resident of Nashvegas. Everyone I ever spoke to about moving to this place made it seem like the place to be. Talking with Dayna also inspired me to seek out an internship with WorldVision—which would have taken me to Federal Way, Washington rather than Nashville. Nevertheless, I started researching the interview process.

But then there B-Haley. He was my fifth or sixth show… I think. B-Haley is Tobymac's drummer. After hangin out with him and Jesus after WinterWonderSlam in 2005, I was re-convinced I needed to at least visit Tennessee.

So I did. On Spring Break, B-Haley took Kish, Holly & I by the studio—where we met Toby, David Mullen and a new artist named Nate Huss (who's album was later produced by my friend Jamie Moore). After hearing from David two weeks before graduation, I terminated my application with WorldVision to jump in to life at the Co-Op Studio, which is where I ended up spending the vast majority of last summer.

(On that Spring Break trip, at the Flying Saucer, the girls & I met a guy named Steven. He and Kish exchanged numbers and we bumped into him several times after moving here, nearly six months later. Two weeks ago (at a Luna Halo show, where we were out supporting our boy Barlowe), we ran into him again and he was able to get Kisha into the venue even though it was packed AND we were out of cash. Crazy.)

Now that I've been here a year, things have evolved. I've sorta kept up with Danny L. and I ran into him at the Flying Saucer about a month ago; he and Jeremy Camp recently parted ways and Danny L. now does merch for Switchfoot (my favorite!). A guy named Adam, who used to frequent my Starbucks and also used to work at a different Starbucks in town (alongside a friend of mine (Daniel Allen) from the MLBC youth group), is now doing merch for Jeremy Camp.

Adam is also friends with my Aussie mate, Swanny, who hangs out with my girl Stephanie Smith (who is signed with Gotee and sings the song "Superstar" that was on my myspace profile forever). That song was also produced by Jamie Moore, who runs in the same crowd with a guy named Kadar, who I met at a different Luna Halo show.

So last night while I was out with Kish, Holly, Swanny & Stephanie, I ran into Kadar & his friend Danny (NOT Danny L.) at the Flying Saucer, only to find that Kadar is on tour drumming for Nate Huss and Danny is a guitar tech for Relient K (who are also Gotee kids, AND about to go on tour with-- guess who? Switchfoot. Of course. :) ) P.S. Danny also guitar tech-ed for Casting Crowns when they came to ACU with Nichole Nordeman in 2005. I was working the merch table at that show too.

So last night at the Saucer while talking to Kadar and Danny, the conversation turned to my future aspirations. I mentioned my heart for writing, for Spanish and for impoverished children. Mentioned that I almost moved to Washington to work for WorldVision, inspired by a girl I met on the concert circuit in Abilene.

While I was talking to Danny & Kadar, a guy came up and sat down to talk to Kadar. Shortly after, a girl came up to say hi to the guys, and I started thinking-- she looks really familiar. It takes me a minute, but it clicks.

It's Dayna. From WorldVision. And the guy with her, talking to Kadar? Harrison Hudson.

I'd talked to her on myspace since I met her in Abilene, but never consistently. But when I reminded her, she totally remembered and was shocked and gave me a huge hug and introduced me to Harrison.

Unbelievable. :) I love stuff like that!

Not to mention it makes those LOST connections seem a lot more probable. :)

In short:
The world is tiny.
Shows are a great place to network.
And if you spend enough time at the Saucer, you will run into everyone you've ever met.