hate->love.

in early 2003 i heard the song, 'sadie hawkin's dance' by relient k. i. hated. it.
i felt they didn't have enough great songs on "anatomy of tongue in cheek" to balance out the crappy ones and the few good songs on the album just showcased how much they were wasting their talents on the other songs (think 'marilyn manson ate my girlfriend'). i was not an rk fan.
fast forward to 2007. i was doing an internship at a church in london and a guy in the office played "five score and seven years ago" non-stop. i. adored. it.
the song, 'deathbed' made up for any wrong doing matt theissen had committed in my mind. i loved the album so much (and apparently talked about it enough) that the team bought me the cd as part of my parting present when my internship ended. my friends got to hear me sing the entire 14-minute song (deathbed) while standing on top of the arc de triomphe in paris gazing at a glittering eiffel tower. it's on tape. no, you can't see it.
when i saw them perform 'deathbed' live last summer i pulled out my cell phone and sang at the top of my lungs. it was epic.
never let hate keep you from missing out on a great thing!
xo

love rock

time for another phenomenal merch table story.
i love music festivals and got the opportunity to work a table at the biggest festival in minnesota. now this festival usually attracts teenagers with skinny jeans, lip rings and loads of eyeliner but there will always be the sweet (and slightly weird) adults that come too. i really hope that when i'm 45 i'm still out there rockin' out for the newsboys reunion tour. and it will be the rightful newsboys too, peter furler taking lead and phil joel behind the bass. but i digress.
so i'm behind the table, talking to folks, selling cd's, having a grand time. the band whose table i was working had just finished their show so it was packed with everyone clamoring to get their autographs. craziness ensues for about an hour and left standing at the table is the band, myself, and one lady in a visor, sweatshirt tied around her waist and a handful of rocks. on each rock there was a word.
she had made it her mission to give each member of every band a rock that weekend. i cannot imagine the hours she had put into making these rocks, there were literally hundreds! she stuck out her hand for me to pick a rock, i told her i wasn't in the band and she said to take one anyway since i was serving that weekend. at first i found it a bit silly and just picked the smallest rock i could, it happened to say love on it. i tossed it in my purse and forgot about it.
i found it sometime later and realized that she was just doing what she could to be an encouragement to the bands in their ministry. she spent time making those rocks, she had the guts to talk to the bands and pass them out, she probably knew that most of them would end up on the ground somewhere never to be thought of again, but she did it anyway because it was how she knew to love on those bands. i still have my love rock.
i hope this post is an encouragement to the three of you that read this to get out and love people in whatever way you can. i'm not saying to go write on a bunch of rocks and pass them out to your friends (not gonna lie, i still find the whole rock thing a bit strange) but find however it is that you can love on people and do it! you might make a bigger difference than you realize.
xo

a girl crazier than me

i have a friend named jake. jake used to be a dj at a pretty prominent christian radio station in the midwest and was therefore granted backstage access to all of my favorite festivals. raise your hand if you're jealous. *raises hand*
anyway we were at LifeLight in south dakota and he had an extra backstage pass so he gave it to me for the weekend! finally, i was being granted permission to hang out with the rock stars!
being that jake has a pretty face and a magnetic personality he was always the one to go onstage and plug the radio station and introduce bands. i was standing stage right waiting for the next show and he was onstage doing his thing when i met grace. grace was a 19 year old girl who was interning at the local paper and was asked to take pictures of the event all weekend. she was excited because her favorite band (everyday sunday) was about to play and i was still just thrilled over the fact that i was backstage- it really doesn't take much to make me happy. this is the dialog that unfolded between us:
grace: "so which band are you here with?"
me: "oh, i'm not with a band, i'm with that kid (points to jake)"
grace: "you know jake scott?!"
me: "yeah, we actually met years ago at Bible camp"
grace: "i love his show on the radio, he's really funny. and cute"
me: "haha, sure. it's funny hearing him on the radio because he sounds the same but different on air"
grace: "yeah, sometimes when i pray, i pray using his voice"

eeek! hahahaha, i told jake and he was a little creeped out (probably rightfully so) but i thought it was great! finally, there is a girl out there who is more fanatical than me. like my sister always says, "you know you're someone if you're being stalked."
xo

"to love somebody"

pseudo-rock stars in my eyes are the same thing as legit rock stars, they are just one step behind. so naturally when a boy plays guitar or piano and sings incredibly well i'm head over heels before i even know his name.
this was the case when i was volunteering at Bible camp for a weekend retreat one winter. i went expecting a fun weekend filled with broomball, apples to apples, hot chocolate and some great worship. i got a whole lot more.
enter brady. great jeans, great 5 o'clock shadow, great teeth (i know i'm obsessed, i'm working on it). and for some reason his mannerisms reminded me a whole lot of paul meany- and i love, love, love mute math. i know i should have been looking at the inside but i just met the kid, all i had was the physical!
the weekend started off with a bang and a really great worship session. brady played guitar and sang with a couple of other guys. we praised our Creator, heard a mini-sermon and then headed to a time of "fellowship" out on ice.
while out on the broomball court one of the camper boys got upset and started sassing off to one of the other female counselors. not making a big scene brady called out to the boy ephesians 4:31-32, "let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." a rock star in the making who loves Jesus too, could it be??
after the game we headed up to a "coffee house" time in the lodge. hot drinks were served and kids and adults were encouraged to get up and sing or read a poem or whatever. after a couple of students went brady got up and asked who knew of/liked the bee gees? a couple of us counselors woohoo'd and the kids just sat there with blank faces. he proceeded to do a cover of the song, "to love somebody". fairly certain i didn't breathe the entire song.
my roommate-at-the-time was there and could see the love written all over my face. she leaned over and said, "he is now the measuring stick. all other boys will have to live up to brady."
she's right.
xo

will you.....me?

i am just going to forewarn you, this will be the first of many "merch table stories"- it is also one of my personal favorites!
a couple of years ago the family force 5 and falling up tour came through town and i was asked to work merch. rad. so i got crunk and crossed my fingers that i'd get to work ff5's table. no such luck, i ended up working falling up's table, which is fine since i may have a bit of a crush on joe kisselburg. and their main merch man (the guy that travels with them) is hilarious. all was not lost!
the best part of the night though came after the show had ended and kids were just milling about finding rock stars to sign their t-shirts, posters, and shoes and i was doling out said t-shirts and posters (no shoes for sale) like candy.
me: "hi! did you enjoy the show?"
random teenage boy: "yeah, i did. are you married to one of the guys in the band?"
me:(chuckles) "no, but i should be, right?"
random boy: "so since you aren't married to one of them, will you go to prom with me?"
me:(laughs out loud) "i'm a bit old to go to prom, but thank you for asking."
random boy: (turns to friend) "see, i told you she wouldn't go with me."

i will never know if he was being serious or if it was all a dare but i will never forget it. kids say the darndest things.
xo

a love that rivals phil joel.

this is the story of how i met the second love of my life, jon foreman. it was my freshman year of college and myself along with four other girls and one brave boy piled into my sister's baretta to drive into the city to see switchfoot. we had heard the show was sold out (we didn't have tickets) so we were going extra early to be the first ones in line in case they had a few left at the door. the show was at 7pm, we were arriving at 2pm. we parked in a lot right next to the venue and as we're climbing out of the car we look across the lot and who should be climbing out of another car but jon foreman and co. i honestly think i may have wet my pants a little.
being the very uncool kids that we are we bum rushed them. as they were asking all of our names and found out that we didn't have tickets, hence the reason we were there so painfully early, they were like "no problem, we'll put you on the guest list." so they took down our names, waved and headed into the club for whatever pre-show rituals they may have.
so we got in line. and waited. and watched them put up a sign in the window that said "sold out - don't even ask". and got nervous that maybe switchfoot had forgotten to tell them about us. and waited some more. and finally the doors opened, moment of truth. we went to the guest list area and they had remembered!!! there we were being ushered into the venue like we were something special and we didn't have to pay a dime.
the show was incredible,jon even pointed and waved at us standing in the front row, my heart melted when they sang learning to breathe. since we hadn't had to pay for tickets we all bought copious amounts of merch and got into the autograph line, they remembered all of our names and thanked us for coming. such stellar guys.
that (among many other reasons) is why this girl will never call switchfoot a sell-out.
xo

love makes you say silly things.

ever since my first festival i have become obsessed with all things music/musicians. ask any of my friends, they all know. they also all know that i have a tendency to let my mouth run the show once i'm in the presence of rock stars. it's an emotional word vomit that i can't seem to stop! and it always seems to be some physical characteristic that i comment on.

to trevor (the lead singer of thousand foot krutch and fm static) i said, "you have beautiful teeth." to which he replied by sticking out his hand (for me to shake) and said, "hi, i'm trevor." but seriously, go check out his teeth, they really are gorgeous.

to brian (the lead singer of vota) i commented, "you have the bluest eyes in the world. i think they're great." he seemed a bit more fazed than trevor, he just kinda looked at me and mumbled a thank-you.

and finally to ben (guitarist of skillet) i mentioned that i appreciated that he put his full name on facebook, even though he had no control over what his parents named him, because judah is just such a fabulous middle name. he responded by asking me my middle name- which also happens to start with a 'j', we're probably destined to be together.

i always feel dumb after these encounters but secretly hope they will always remember the girl who commented on their teeth, eyes, or middle name.

xo

beginning of the love story.

in the beginning there was a girl. she was 12 and about to embark on an adventure that would radically change her world: she was going to her first music festival. upon arriving she set up her tent and wandered the grounds. over the course of three days she took in the sights of multiple stages, the sounds of melodies soaring to the skies and the smells of sweat, fried food and port-a-potty's. before arriving she was most excited to see princess amy grant and prince michael w. smith but quickly fell head over heels for the curly blonde mop of sir phil joel and the rest of his crew (aka: the newsboys). she found that she loved being in the pit surrounded by thousands of people jumping up and down, singing at the top of their lungs. she loved the way music told a story and brought people together. she loved how in that moment she realized this was where she was meant to be and where she would always want to be. by music and love was how she wanted to live. it's 12 years later and she hasn't looked back since.
this is my story. i am that girl. a dozen years after my first music festival and i still can't get enough. there is a soft spot in my heart that is still reserved for phil joel (i'm sure he'd be super thrilled if he knew). this blog is going to be my stories of meeting rock stars (well my version of rock stars anyway), working merch tables (i've worked a few in my day), and a few stories about falling more in love with music and the Creator and creators of music. if you are reading this you may seriously be the only one so thanks much, let's be friends, i'll grow to love you too! if you are a rock star reading this, rest assured, i love you already.
xo