Sunday
Feb182007
weekend in Normal
Sunday, February 18, 2007 at 06:50PM
We’re about an hour from Nashville and I’m typing this so I can post it when I get home. It’s been a fantastic weekend and I want to majorly thank everybody that had a hand in it.
It all started very early Friday morning. Todd and Dean came over to my place and we finished loading the trailer and took off, with warm Bojangles in our bellies thanks to Todd. We drove to Normal, Il, my hometown, and picked up Mark, before heading up the rest of the way to Naperville.
We didn’t have exact directions to the venue, so once we got near Dean found a stray wireless signal and tried to mapquest it, but Todd rolled down a window and asked a jogger, which proved a bit quicker. Take that, science! The venue was a tiny, white church building. There is nothing more vibey than playing a rock show in a tiny, white church so we were all excited, and yes, that was sarcasm. However, we walked into the place and it was great. They had gutted it, put in a stage, good sound system and a bunch of tables. The basement of the building was a homeless pantry/thrift store sort of thing. It was just an awesome place to play, you could tell cool things were happening there.
The show was a total blast. I told a couple of the stories from the “don’t tell� pile and the crowd seemed to be having a good time. Mark and I were in The Normals together, he taught me how to play guitar, and it felt great to play rock and roll with him again. He creates this wall of texture and sound that I will never understand and always admire. Todd and Dean played great, as well, and we really just had plain old fun making music.
Some of my family came out, and I was glad they got to see a fun show and that we got to spend some time with them. The show was followed by some delicious Giordano’s pizza, a little Fat Tire, and an actual night’s sleep. Twas a good night.
We got up way later than planned Saturday morning, walked past a hundred old men wearing swords in the lobby (the Knights of Columbus, anyone? what is that about?) and started back down to Normal. The weather had gotten really bad. Huge snowstorms have been rocking the Midwest, and we counted 12 cars off the road during the two-hour drive. It was a little nerve-wracking.
I haven’t been back to Normal in over a year, since Christmas of ’05, so it was good to be back. My parents redid their basement and Todd got some good video of my Dad giving a tour. Cason is playing with Mat Kearney who’s on tour with John Mayer right now. They were playing in town last night, so he came over too and we hung out at my parent’s place for a little while. The guys headed out with Cason to watch their soundcheck and I went over to visit my old YoungLife leaders Amy and Ben and their family.
The rest of the evening we spent at the John Mayer show, and it was fantastic. Mat’s band is made up mostly of good friends from Nashville so we got to hang out with them and catch their show. B.J. from The Normals and his wife came, too, so it was the second time in about two months that four out of the five of us have been together. I got to quickly catch up with one old friend from high school, which was great, but besides that it was really weird to be back in my hometown and find only familiar faces in folks from Nashville. Just surreal.
The guys in Mat’s band watch John’s set every night, and we had VIP passes so we could go anywhere in the room. It was great to watch up close, then back at the sound board, then back up to the front. A nice perk, for sure. John’s band was amazing, as was he, and I got chills at one point during their show. As I’ve stated before, I’m a recent Mayer convert, and last night was proof that I made the right choice.
It was fun to watch it with guys who’ve seen it every night. The set is really different from show to show, and they rarely play songs the same way twice. They play together so well, it was just a blast to watch. And I stood five feet away from Jessica Simpson behind the sound board for a while, which my wife thinks is pretty cool.
We stayed with my folks last night. My mom made pancakes and bacon this morning, and we partook with my brother and his wife before heading off for Nashville. The weather wasn’t as bad, but it was still pretty nasty. We counted thirteen cars off the road this time. Mostly pickup trucks. I have some theories why. Todd’s driving now and we’re pulling into the outskirts of Nashville.
We start officially tracking the new Caedmon’s Call record on Friday, and I have a bunch of work left to do on the songs, but I’m looking forward to it. I’ll keep you posted. For those of you that stuck with this long, probably boring post, thank you. Hope you all had a great weekend and thanks again to everybody who came out to our show Friday night. Hope you had as much fun as we did.
It all started very early Friday morning. Todd and Dean came over to my place and we finished loading the trailer and took off, with warm Bojangles in our bellies thanks to Todd. We drove to Normal, Il, my hometown, and picked up Mark, before heading up the rest of the way to Naperville.
We didn’t have exact directions to the venue, so once we got near Dean found a stray wireless signal and tried to mapquest it, but Todd rolled down a window and asked a jogger, which proved a bit quicker. Take that, science! The venue was a tiny, white church building. There is nothing more vibey than playing a rock show in a tiny, white church so we were all excited, and yes, that was sarcasm. However, we walked into the place and it was great. They had gutted it, put in a stage, good sound system and a bunch of tables. The basement of the building was a homeless pantry/thrift store sort of thing. It was just an awesome place to play, you could tell cool things were happening there.
The show was a total blast. I told a couple of the stories from the “don’t tell� pile and the crowd seemed to be having a good time. Mark and I were in The Normals together, he taught me how to play guitar, and it felt great to play rock and roll with him again. He creates this wall of texture and sound that I will never understand and always admire. Todd and Dean played great, as well, and we really just had plain old fun making music.
Some of my family came out, and I was glad they got to see a fun show and that we got to spend some time with them. The show was followed by some delicious Giordano’s pizza, a little Fat Tire, and an actual night’s sleep. Twas a good night.
We got up way later than planned Saturday morning, walked past a hundred old men wearing swords in the lobby (the Knights of Columbus, anyone? what is that about?) and started back down to Normal. The weather had gotten really bad. Huge snowstorms have been rocking the Midwest, and we counted 12 cars off the road during the two-hour drive. It was a little nerve-wracking.
I haven’t been back to Normal in over a year, since Christmas of ’05, so it was good to be back. My parents redid their basement and Todd got some good video of my Dad giving a tour. Cason is playing with Mat Kearney who’s on tour with John Mayer right now. They were playing in town last night, so he came over too and we hung out at my parent’s place for a little while. The guys headed out with Cason to watch their soundcheck and I went over to visit my old YoungLife leaders Amy and Ben and their family.
The rest of the evening we spent at the John Mayer show, and it was fantastic. Mat’s band is made up mostly of good friends from Nashville so we got to hang out with them and catch their show. B.J. from The Normals and his wife came, too, so it was the second time in about two months that four out of the five of us have been together. I got to quickly catch up with one old friend from high school, which was great, but besides that it was really weird to be back in my hometown and find only familiar faces in folks from Nashville. Just surreal.
The guys in Mat’s band watch John’s set every night, and we had VIP passes so we could go anywhere in the room. It was great to watch up close, then back at the sound board, then back up to the front. A nice perk, for sure. John’s band was amazing, as was he, and I got chills at one point during their show. As I’ve stated before, I’m a recent Mayer convert, and last night was proof that I made the right choice.
It was fun to watch it with guys who’ve seen it every night. The set is really different from show to show, and they rarely play songs the same way twice. They play together so well, it was just a blast to watch. And I stood five feet away from Jessica Simpson behind the sound board for a while, which my wife thinks is pretty cool.
We stayed with my folks last night. My mom made pancakes and bacon this morning, and we partook with my brother and his wife before heading off for Nashville. The weather wasn’t as bad, but it was still pretty nasty. We counted thirteen cars off the road this time. Mostly pickup trucks. I have some theories why. Todd’s driving now and we’re pulling into the outskirts of Nashville.
We start officially tracking the new Caedmon’s Call record on Friday, and I have a bunch of work left to do on the songs, but I’m looking forward to it. I’ll keep you posted. For those of you that stuck with this long, probably boring post, thank you. Hope you all had a great weekend and thanks again to everybody who came out to our show Friday night. Hope you had as much fun as we did.
Reader Comments (13)
I'm jealous. Jessica Simpson is so hot right now.
Yes, Mayer's a stud. Did you see his half-hour show he did for VH1? That was probably the funniest half-hour of tv I've ever seen.
I've been a John Mayer fan for a while now, but Continuum is the best thing he's done yet. I love it. My wife and I got to see him in Memphis a few weeks ago, and it was one of the best shows I've ever seen. I really FELT it, you know? I was emotionally connected, and it was wonderful.
The show Saturday was terrific, I am so glad we got to drive up and catch it. It didnt hurt that the manager of that place you played at picked up our tab at Giordino's. Nice to meet you (again) and I will send those pics.
And I meant to say the show Friday.... oops
I've listened to John Mayer's radio hits and seen some TV concerts he's done, but finally ordered his first CD a few weeks ago. So in terms of caring enough to actually buy something, I'm new to the Mayer camp too. The jury is still out.
I like the CD but lyrically, it might be a little too twenty something for this plus fourty codger. No doubt, his lyrics have evolved though, since that first CD. Anyway, we'll see. The guy can play ... and that voice, I guess one either likes it a lot or not at all. I like the style. And his lyrics are far from trite ... at least in terms of execution.
Hey AO,
Great show Friday night! Much rock was had and it was good; yea, it was very good! You guys sounded great. I haven't seen Mark play before but spent the evening sitting right in front of him watching him do his thing; it was great.
Hanging out after the show, enjoying the Giordano's and Fat Tire was wonderful and then having it paid for was a pleasant surprise.
Hoping to see you in Chicagoland a few again in the near future. Glad you made it home safely.
i love fat tire, john mayer's two rocks, jessica simpson, and mark lockett...
why couldn't I have been there?!?
i saw john mayer last night here in omaha, for free! it was good, mat kearney works well in a big arena, i wasn't sure how his music would translate in such a big space.
mayer was really good, i worked at the arena making coffee before the event and was in the area where he was, he seemed pretty nice from the people he was dealing with, i didn't get to see jessica simpson.
it was cool to see cason a few months ago in a little church in Elkhorn, NE with the BTLOG tour and then to see him play at the qwest center in front of 18000 people, strange.
Shoot.
And my enter key is stuck. Sorry about that, all. To continue from previous post: Shoot. I was in Bloomington for the weekend as well. Probably could have waved at you at several points on Saturday. Oh well, back to Florida I go.
Thanks for sharing Andy- I really enjoyed this post! I had no idea you were a Mayer fan so that's very cool to find out as well.Continuum is one of my favorite albums of 2006 bar none- I got to see Mayer play at the Austin City Limits Music Festival in September and I was very impressed! I hope you and yours are safe and blessed and I'm looking forward to hearing updates on the Caedmon's record. Woot!
Andy,
Good to hear you're a recent Mayer convert...I know, I know-kinda hard to see the talent through the bubble gum lips but I knew Continuum was on its way...and thus one of the great artists of our generations continues to emerge. Within 5 feet of Jessica??? You make me sick :)
Ok, gotta run but I'm totally looking forward to the new CC album, take care!