BlakeAtwood.com

“Her virtue was that she said what she thought, her vice that what she thought didn’t amount to much.”
- Peter Ustinov

“Progress isn’t made by early risers. It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.”
- Robert Heinlein”

I call him phenomenal.

Last weekend I attended a concert hosted by the fine folks at Hope Chapel in Austin, TX. The concert featured Don Chaffer, former lead singer of Waterdeep. I never thought I’d get to see him perform again unless I somehow managed to wind up in Kansas City, KS on the same rare night that he’d be performing.

You see, Waterdeep is my favorite band, ever. At least they were. Not that they still aren’t my favorite band, it’s just that the band no longer exists. Don’s gone on to producing, to spending time with his family and his new son, so it’s all understandable, but still gets me a little depressed that the group as I knew them is no longer.

As for the show, it was phenomenal. Don talked a lot between the songs, and he was hilarious. He also gave a talk during the morning of his Saturday concert, which was insightful, if not somewhat stream-of-conciousness. Then again, I greatly appreciated that aspect. He’s one of the most honest people I’ve never really met. How often can you say that an artist is honest? Either his stage persona is fake and he’s a real person off-stage, or vice-versa, or neither. Hardly ever do you find someone that’s both.

He used a repeater (or a looper, depending on what you like to call the guitar pedal that will loop a few bars played into it) and people were just amazed. I’m a drummer, and I’ve played in lots of worship bands and a few jam bands, so I’ve seen and heard this effect used before, but I’ve never seen it used so masterfully to create such wonderful, multi-layered textures of sound, just from one man and his guitar.

Bono might have been talking about Don on this night when he said, “All I have is three chords and the truth.” I wanted to cry during some of his songs, but felt too inhibited. It was the first time in a very long time that I could feel the music. I play music every Sunday, and every Wednesday, and it’s mostly the same songs, rehashed, semi-rehearsed, and played half-assedly. It wears on me, so when opportunities like Don’s concert come, I salivate over the sonic possibilities of what I’ll get to hear. I was not disappointed, at all. At least not that night.

I contacted the church to get a recording of the talk he gave on Saturday morning, his concert on that night, and his two talks that I did not get to attend on Sunday morning. The nice lady sent them to me as quick as possible. I opened the package like a Ralphie on A Christmas Story, only to discover that I wasn’t allowed a copy of the concert, the one thing I wanted most, my Red Rider BB Gun, so to speak. Apparently, someone’s afraid I might shoot my eye out.

So I didn’t get my copy of the concert, and I was sad, and I still am, a bit, but I’m getting over it. Maybe I was just supposed to enjoy it for one night, to relish that experience, but not quench it with repeated listenings. The things we remember often become better with time as it is. Why would I want to ruin that with actually hearing the concert?

Bollocks. I still want the concert.

[a few weeks later, I actually got that tape. it's amazing.]

And yet I fail to do so?

(More hilarious posters to be found at despair.com, but I digress)

I meant to write an incredibly long post about my summer mini-tour through the great, sweeping plains of Oklahoma, the wet mountains of Seattle, Washington, and the dry, cool mountains of Colorado. But I never got to.

I’ll just tell the one story that was possibly the most fun – having our picture in the Seattle Times because we just happened to eat at the right Moroccan restaurant on the right night. Having a few beautiful women close to me didn’t hurt our chances either (one being my wife, of course).

Link to Article in the Seattle Times

I know I look like I’m having a great time in the picture, but really, it was an extremely fun night, filled with good food, great memories of our time in Morocco, and it wouldn’t have been the same without our friends to enjoy the night. Heck, we should have shot a commercial for this place while we were there!

Here’s the picture (that I took) that best represents our dining experience that night. Did I mention that there was a belly-dancer that night?

That’s my old college roommate Paul, a current seminary student, dancing with the belly-dancer. That’s my friend Cory in the foreground. I think you can tell what she thinks of the situation.

In the name of fairness, I have to post this picture as well.

Um…yeah…that’s me. Dancing. I don’t dance. I have rhythm. I can drum. But I can’t dance. Worth a flip. And I work at a church. I don’t just talk about working at a church someday (he said sarcastically and with a knowing wink to his friend Paul).

At one point, the nice belly-dancer had all of us get up and gyrate and shimmy and shake and move about, but there was no one to take a picture of that. The best part of that was when she told us to “Shimmy!” and Rachel said “Shimmy what!?”

Poor Paul and Cory didn’t make it into the Seattle Times, but at least the picture of Paul dancing with the belly-dancer didn’t make it either!

for saying the things he says:

“There is so much pretense in Christian Music, of people trying to convince people that they are Jesus, because of how well that markets. I am not Jesus. I am not my savior. I am not sinless. I am not perfect. If anything, my heart is a mockery of those things. And I would much rather model brokenness. I think that’s more consistent with the Christian worldview, rather than modeling perfection.

The Christian life is about one of two things: it’s either about being perfect and keeping the law, or it’s about realizing your need for one who can keep the law in your place. And a lot of us genuinely believe that Christianity is the first one. We pay lip service to Jesus being sufficient for our sins, and liberating us from the law, when really we still believe that God loves us more when we keep the law. And that’s a lie.”

And this:

“If art is judged on form and content, the cross is the ultimate artistic example. Jesus was the form of humanity and the content of God. We as artists have to learn how to marry human brokenness and divine mercy together in art. That’s our job.”

I just returned from New York City. I’d never been before. I graduated with 80 people. This is a fact that matters, as you will soon find out.

First, to get it out of the way:
THE CELEBRITY SIGHTINGS.

1. Tony Bennett
(“I Left My Heart in San Fancisco”) He flew first class in the plane that took us from Dallas to NYC. Some of the kids (The trip was with FBC Georgetown and included 11 kids and 5 other adults) had their picture taken with him at the baggage claim at La Guardia. He was very nice to them.

2. Cedric the Entertainer:
One of the other adults and myself happened upon a throng of people outside of the Ritz-Carlton hotel. There was another throng on the other side of the street, also waiting. We asked numerous people who we were waiting for. No one knew, yet we stayed, feeling that this was somehow an authentic New York Experience free for the taking, if only someone relatively more famous than ourselves would emerge. There’s no surprise here; it was Cedric the Entertainer, and the proof is in the picture shown here (look in the center for the white suit:

We later deduced that people may have been waiting for Russell Crowe, as not everyone left after Cedric came out, and this was the day after Russell had gotten into a tussle with some poor guy. Mr. Crowe apparently forgot how to use a phone and reached out and touched (i.e. smashed) this guy on the head.

3. Gary Sinise:
(possibly) I was told by a reliable friend that Gary Sinise was walking in front of us, but I could only see the back of the man’s head. I attempted to walk more quickly to see if it was really him, but then I almost got lost from my group, and it’s a good thing I didn’t or I would have missed Beauty and the Beast, which was a really good show.

More stories later.