a normal guy living in a crazy world

To Nashville, TN to see the Dove Awards

What a great trip I just got home from.  This could be a rather lengthy post, I apologize in advance.  On Thursday morning, Jennifer and I left to go to Nashville, TN.  We were very lucky to be able to get Thursday and Friday off from work.  We made it to Nashville to the hotel without any problems.  After catching our breath, some family of mine came to take us out to lunch.  It was great!  I had not seen Kevin and Christy my cousins in many many moons.  They live in Nashville where Kevin is a doctor.  We got to visit for just a little while.  After returning to the hotel, we got ready for the Dove Awards! 

The Dove Awards were pretty amazing.  What you might not know is that they give out a lot more awards then what is shown on the television part.  The awards ceremony started a little bit after 4:30 and didn't end until 10:30.  While we were waiting for the doors to open, we saw Daniel Carson.  Any guesses on who he is?  He plays guitar and does backup vocals in Chris Tomlin's band.  We also ran into Mama and Aunt Gomer.  During the pre-televised part of the Dove's, they gave out most of the awards.  They had three performances as well.  Meredith Andrews performed, "You're Not Alone" and they had a hip-hop artist play, and Downhere also performed, "Here I Am."  I was happy to see that Third Day took the award for best pop/contemporary album for "Revelations" and DecembeRadio won best rock album for "Satisfied."  Steven Curtis Chapman took the songwriting award.  When they announced that SCC had won the song writing Dove, he got a standing ovation.  This portion of the awards also saw the special event album award going to Passion for "God Of This City."  Around 6:30 or so, the pre-televised show was finished.  At 7:00, the televised portion of the Dove's cranked up.  It was being shown around the country, live, on the Gospel Music Television Channel.  This portion was filled with lots of performances and a few of the bigger awards.  I was a little dissapointed to see that Third Day, Skillet, or David Crowder Band did not take home the Group Award.  All three bands have had a great year.  It's not that I don't like Casting Crowns, but they had not even released a new cd this past year.  I thought that Natalie Grant was a great choice for female vocalist and that Brandon Heath was a good choice for male vocalist.  The performances were really good during this part.  Mary Mary kicked off the show with one of their newer singles.  Brandon Heath performed "Give me Your Eyes" complete with a set of dancers behind him.  Chris Tomlin performed "I Will Rise" with a string section.  Natalie Grant performed a song with Group 1 Crew.  They also had all the artists up for "New Artist Of The Year" do an abbreviated performance (minus Fee and Addison Road).  This included:  Remedy Drive, Chris Sligh, Francesca Battistelli, Jonathan Nelson and Tenth Avenue North.  Tenth Avenue North took home the award.  A Dottie Rambo Tribute also took place led by Sandi Patty and others.  The most moving moment of the evening though happened towards the end.  The last performance of the evening (not counting the closing) was done by Steven Curtis Chapman.  He performed his song, "Cinderella."  Before starting the song he simply said, "For Maria Sue"  I'm sure by now everyone knows about the horrible tragedy that he and his famly had gone through.  The last award of the night to be given was "Artist Of The Year."  Although I was pulling for Third Day to win, I was not at all disappointed with it going to Steven Curtis Chapman.  When he was named as the winner, he got a thundering applause and standing ovation.  I doubt that there was a dry eye in the crowd.  He took his wife with him to accept the award.  One word to describe that moment was, "wow!" That pretty much wraps up the Dove Awards.  It was my first ever trip to see the awards, and hopefully it will not be my last.  

We went to downtown Nashville on Friday and had lunch at Hard Rock.  We then came on back home.  All in all the highlight of the trip was seeing the SCC performance.  He must be so amazingly strong to be able to do what he did.

12 inches of snow

No.  Northwest Georgia did not get twelve inches of snow.  However, just to our north and east a little, a place did get that much.  That place is Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and in ten days, Jenn, Danny and Cassie and I are going for a visit to the Smokey Mountains.  We have rented a cabin in the mountains and will be spending the weekend up there.  While it looks like the weather will not be snowy for our visit, they got hit pretty hard today.  I am going to post a few pictures from the website of our cabin.

     

I don't remember the Care Bears like this...

Maybe I missed something when I was growing up.  I never was a huge Care Bear fan anyway.

You might want to click on the picture above for a "bigger" view.

Curly Wurly

Last Saturday, Danny, Cassie, Jennifer and I had a fun afternoon/night.  Friday was Winter Jam, but Danny was unable to go with us.  Saturday, we went to Hamilton Place Mall and walked around for a few hours.  Afterwards we went and grabbed some dinner at Lupi's.  I had a ginormous Calzone.  It was pretty good food.  Trying to decide what to do next, Danny suggested we go to Publix.  We had so much fun and all it took was a grocery store.  While Publix is a norm for some cities, we only have one that is located in the area, and it is actully not too close to where we live.  You can find items in Publix that you would never be able to find in your local Piggly Wiggly or Food Lion.  We ended up going around the whole store and stayed for at least an hour.  My prized purchase from the night was a Curly Wurly.  Have any of you ever heard of a Curly Wurly?  I had not.  It is a form of chocolate candy made by Cadbury.  Apparently, the company makes things besides those super-rich eggs you get at Easter time.  

  

Winter Jam

This past Friday evening, Cassie, Jennifer, and I went to the 14th annual Winter Jam.  Over the years I have been to quite a few of these things (7 or 8??).  For me, it started back in college when it was called January Jam and cost $5.  I can remember seeing Big Tent Revival, Rebecca St. James, Clay Crosse, and others.  When I moved to North Georgia in 2002 to be the Youth Director at Rock Spring UMC, I took my youth to see it.  The price has increased to $10, but the line-up of artists stays strong every year.  This year, Winter Jam was headlined by tobyMac.  It also featured:  Stephanie Smith, PureNRG, Francesca Battistelli, Hawk Nelson, NewSong (of course) and Brandon Heath.  The speaker was Tony Nolan.  Chattanooga is a great market for the tour, but it is always held in the UTC McKenzie Arena.  The Arena does not have the best acoustics.  Every year, it seems the crowd gets bigger and bigger and that place does hold a lot of people.  If you happen to be near where the tour is coming, do go!  Chattanooga was the second stop of the tour and so it is still in its infancy.  I really enjoyed tobyMac, Brandon Heath, and Francesca.  Tony gives an amazing talk.  Over 1700 were saved in Chattanooga.  Unfortunately, we had to sit up high and far away from the stage.  We did get near the middle though.  If I showed you some of the pictures I took, you would laugh at me.  My Tilt has a 3.0 megapixel camera and an 8x zoom, but to get the 8x zoom, the picture must be a minuscule 160x120.  Oh, okay, I will post one, but please don't laugh...

Is that laughter I hear?  In case you couldn't tell, it's tobyMac (in the middle wearing a purple shirt).  Quit laughing.

Is there a light at the end of a tunnel?

Things are starting to slow down for use.  It appears that there is light at the end of the tunnel.  Since the end of August, Jennifer and I have been gone nearly every weekend.  Out of the last six weekends, we were only home for one.  We have been to Orlando on vacation.  We have been to south Alabama two times.  We have been to Atlanta once.  We have been to Coulmbus once.  We have driven through Atlanta nine times.  We have been to a wedding and we have been to two concerts.  We have put over 4000 miles on the car in under two months.  It has been a lot of fun though.  This weekend, on Saturday, we are driving over to Huntsville, Alabama for a family get-together (for the Fall Birthdays).  We are only going for the day.  We will get to see Kristin, Josh and Samford Sims, and other family.  If you happen to be one of our neighbors, please don't sue me; I promise to get the grass cut soon.

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Music Builds Tour

This past Saturday night, Jennifer and I had a chance to go see the Music Builds Tour in Atlanta, Georgia at Lakewood Amphitheater.  Two words to describe it:  Really Awesome!  It featured four music acts, including:  Jars Of Clay, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Switchfoot and Third Day.  Unfortunately,  I did not have my digital camera with me.  The venue rules said that cameras were not allowed.  I did however, have a cell phone camera.  While the shots were not great, we were close to a screen that did provide some so-so shots.  I will post the pictures below. 

Playing first was Jars of Clay.  They did a fine job.  Due to their place on the line-up, they were given only a 35 minute time slot.  They did a mixture of both oldies and newer tunes.  They started with a fresh update to "Flood," and ended with "Work" and "Dead Man (Carry Me)."  Other songs included "Love Song for a Savior" and a new song off their upcoming cd.  I would have liked to see them play longer, but with three other bands, it did not happen. 

Following Jars of Clay, was Robert Randolph and the Family Band.  While this was my fifth time seeing Jars Of Clay, I had never seen Robert Randolph.  He did a fantastic job.  If you've read anything about him, you've heard that he is an amazing pedal steel guitar player.  He is.  His band also played 35 minutes and was full of lots of dancing.  On the last song that they did, Robert and the other band members would trade each instrument. 

After Robert Randolph finished, it was Switchfoots turn to bring the rock.  Switchfoot did a great job.  I believe their performance at Rock The Universe was just slightly better.  The setlist in Orlando, edged out the setlist here by just a little.  There is no denying though, that Switchfoot can really put on a show.  While Jars and Robert each had 35 minutes, both Switchfoot and Third Day each had an hour.  All acts, but Jars went over the alloted time. 

After Switchfoot left the stage, it was Third Day's turn to bring down the house.  They did not disappoint.  The band, playing in front of their hometown crowd, really played with a huge force.  It was good to see that they did change the setlist up a little as well.  I am very glad that they performed "Run To You."  After hearing it for the first time in Columbus last March, it became one of my favorites.  Although they didn't do it in Orlando, they did it in Atlanta.  The songs that were chosen were really cool.  The encore was also really neat.  Due to the fact that the show was running over, the band didn't really take a break after finishing "Call My Name."  Mac just said something like that they would stay with us.  They brought out Robert Randolph and played "Otherside."  It was a great performance.  They then brought out Jars Of Clay and played, "I'll Fly Away."  Again it was neat.  The real kicker was when Switchfoot came back out and everybody did a U2 song, called "When Love Came To Town."  

Following the concert, it was time for the Meet-N-Greet.  We had to wait a few minutes but it was fun.  While waiting for it to start, Jennifer and I ran into somebody that remembered me from the Columbus concert.  He remembered me from when I got to play the Cowbell with DecembeRadio.  At the Meet-N-Greet, they had four stations set-up where you could walk around and see each band member.  Jennifer and I got our picture taken with Mac.  At the very end, we got our picture taken with the whole band.  I will post those below.  The picture is just one more cool thing that Wired has added.  During the Meet-N-Greet, Mark told me he had lost his iPhone.

Well, that about wraps up my comments from the show.  All in all, it was for sure worth the heavier ticket prices.  It was a great evening.

Just a few last minute thoughts... I was very excited to see free parking!!  The merchandise area was horribly unorganized, but that is no fault of the bands.  The line(s) had no rhyme or reason.  It was sort of a mini "mass chaos" type of thing.  It was awesome to see that Third Day has added a new very cool skin (wrap) for the iPhone. 

Mark rocking out!

Mac and Dan, sharing lead vocals

The whole ensemble takes a bow

David at the Meet-N-Greet

Us with Mac

Us with the band

Me playing a wii (is this cool or what?)

Tonight at Jared and Nina's I did a little trick on a wii. Let me know what you think...

Rock The Universe - Universal Studios - Orlando, Florida

Okay.  I got really sad the other night, I thought my laptop screen had died.  Apparently, it still has some life.  It has been a great trip!  We left Thursday morning and drove all day to get to Saint Augustine.  I had been before, but Jennifer had never been.

Friday morning, we left to drive on to Orlando.  We stopped by the beach for a few minutes and drove by the lighthouse.  The waves were really kickin' it from Tropical Storm Hanna.  We also took a "pit stop" in Daytona (har har).

We arrived in Orlando, checked into the hotel, and headed over to Universal.  The first day, we got to see Group 1 Crew, Skillet, Relient K and Switchfoot.  The concerts were really good.  I'm a huge fan of Skillet, and they put on an excellent show.  It was similar to the show that they had in Chattanooga, but good none-the-less.  After Skillet, we headed to the other stage, and caught most of the Relient K show.  They did a lot of great songs and ended with "Sadie Hawkins Dance."  After they finished, it was time for Switchfoot.  This was my third time seeing Switchfoot, and by far the best of the three.  They even played "Learning To Breathe."  See some pictures below.  Because of our location, the ones of Relient K and Switchfoot did not really turn out.

Group 1 Crew

John from Skillet

Switchfoot (on the screen)

Saturday, we spent the whole day at Universal.  With Jennifer on crutches, we were only slowed a little.  Luckily, we were able to rent a wheelchair each day.  The concerts on Saturday were great.  We got to see a little of This Beautiful Republic and Special D.  We also got to see Stellar Kart, Jars of Clay and..... Third Day!  Jennifer and I saw David Carr walking around a couple of times during the earlier shows.  Before Third Day came out, Brian "Head" Welch (the former member of Korn) came out and gave a testimony.  Also before the Third Day show, we got to go to the Meet-N-Greet.  It was really awesome.  We got to spend a little time with each band member and get an autograph.  At the end, we got to have pictures made with the band.  As part of the deal, the Wired representitive took our picture and then posted them on the Wired site.  (See Below)  Now my thoughts on the show.  The band did an excellent job.  It seems like with each show, it only gets better and better.  The setlist was great.  I'm sure Mark will post it in the future.  The songs from the new album really sound great.  The show in Columbus in March was great.  It was our first glimpse of the new album.  The show last night was great, because we are now very familiar with the album and could hear the songs again.  Otherside is becoming one of my favorites.  The intro that Mark did to Creed on the guitar was also awesome.  Today, Jennifer and I went back to Universal.  Although the concerts were over, we got to spend some time at Islands of Adventure.  While a lot of the rides are not possible for somebody in a wheelchair, we did a few things.  Twister and Poseidon's Fury were really neat.  We also got to see a Blues Brothers show.  We enjoyed both parks.  All in all, it has been a great trip.  Tomorrow, we head home.

During the day on Saturday, we ran into some fellow Gomer's.  We got to meet Debbie (AuntGomer) and another Gomer (so sorry I forgot the name).

I was also very surprised to run into Josh Burnham.  I went to college with Josh and we were both involved with the Wesley Foundation. 

"Doc" Brown from the Back to the Future trilogy.

The DeLorean DMC-12 and me.

Now for the 3D pictures.

 

 

The above three were taken by Mike, the Wired representative.  Thanks, Mike!

Jennifer at Riverbend.

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