Currently Listening Adios: Greatest Hits By Audio Adrenaline see related

Related Article

Is this faulty thinking peculiar to me?  You are made aware of a special movie, concert, or other event.  You scan your list of friends and acquaintances looking for someone sharing a nearly identical enthusiasm for the event.  For a critically important and potentially emotional event (like Rocky Balboa for example) do you decide to go by yourself rather than risk the following:

• Feeling bad for the other person if they were not as enthralled as you were especially during the event which spoils the event for you
• Feeling bad if they "dis" something after that event had just changed your life forever
• Feeling bad that you "sold" the other person on the idea of going in the first place.  Although I have seen some people mitigate this feeling by paying for the other person. 
• Feeling bad because the other person might be embarrassed by some of the things you do as you heartily enjoy the experience.
• Feeling bad because you are embarrassed by the some of the things you do as you heartily enjoy the experience and it is worse when someone you know is a witness

Or, is it more relationally responsible to share important events with those that are important to you - regardless of the results? 

Currently Listening Smile, It's the End of the World By Hawk Nelson Everything You Ever Wanted see related

Back from the Dead part VII - The future

 With WinterJam just 1 month away the quest for the ultimate jumping experience demands that we plan ahead.  Here are the things we need to consider:

• How close to the front is too close, or is this just stupid? 
• How early do we have to get there to get this close? (last year I think the front row got there about 12:30) 
• What band/song has the highest jumpability index?  (off the top of my head I think band is Hawk Nelson, but not sure of the song)
• Does it take a group effort to get it going like "the wave"?

Back from the Dead part VI - The present

Audio Adrenaline/Mercy Me

   I can't just rate the jumpability of this concert without a little background.  I used all the information rigorously collected from the previous experiences to arrive at the following conclusions:

• To have a good jumpability index (JI) you need to have good seats
• The best jumping I ever saw was to an Audio Adrenaline song though I can't remember what song it was (hopefully I at least got the band right)

  When I heard of the Audio Adrenaline/Mercy Me concert I felt like the ultimate jumping experience would surely happen at this concert.  I bought the best seat that I could buy.  See Related Article for more reflections on going to potentially epiphany generating events. 

   The Concert

   AudioA was great , the show they put on was almost the same as the one that contained the song which initiated this quest for the ultimate jumping experience.  As a dutiful second row concert participant I did my part (perhaps more than my part - yes more forced jumping) to try to jump-start the crowd numerous times.  I would not let my fellow jumping fans down.  I refused to accept anything less than the ultimate jumping experience.  I knew almost every song, had great energy, and was in good jumping form that night.  Nothing could go wrong... or could it.  It never (and I mean never) occurred to me that people who pay $35 for near front row seats might not be jumpers.  There were only a few isolated pockets of legitimate jumpers.  I also didn't realize that when you are in the first couple of rows there is no one in front of you but the stage and the band (duh).  OK so I knew this fact, but I underestimated the feeling of being "outside" of the crowd.   Mercy Me had several  potential jumping songs, and I gave it my best college try.  Tonight there would be no epiphany.  Tonight there would be no ultimate jumping experience. 

   Tonight was the final St. Charles appearance for AudioA.  The lead singer had to stop singing for medical reasons.  Sitting in the front row I could see the pain on his face when he realized that he couldn't hit a note the way he so desperately wanted to - the way he used to be able to do so easily.  This was very emotional for me for some reason (prolly because that is how I feel EVERY time I TRY to sing).  Even though I had only seen this band several times I felt very close to them.  When they sand their new song Goodbye the lyrics cut like a knife:

You'll be fine tomorrow
The sun will rise again
It's never easy to say goodbye
You know I'll always love you
You know I always will

Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
My old friend (my old friend)
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
We've reached the end (we've reached the end)

I don't cry for sorrow, I cry with joy
The memories we've made can't be destroyed
You know I won't forget you
You know I never could
And when I say I loved you
You know I meant for good

You know I'll always love you
Goodbye 

  For me the Mercy Me part of the concert was anticlimactic and just not much fun, but I still tried to fulfill my obligation that went with the 2nd row seat.

Currently Watching Rocky (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) By Stallone, Shire see related

Back from the Dead part V

 Casting Crowns Six Flags

  Good seats (thanks to everyone that stayed in the grass and didn't use their seats),  exceptional energy from the guy two rows in front of us, disappointing energy and jumpstarting initiative from the sedate and "I'm too cool/reserved/pulse-less to really get down by jumping up" crowd in all the really good seats.  I tried to practice my jumping - and sometimes was guilty of forced jumping - you know occasions when the song really did not warrant jumping, but if you really listened you could find at least a very strong foot-tapping beat.  I was somewhat emboldened by the guy 2 rows in front of me in this endeavor.  On this occasion I realized the slant of the stadium seating and the distance between the yellow bench seats created a challenge for which I was not trained.  I felt like a green/blue skier on a black run.  My shins felt like I should act my age.  Nevertheless,  there was enough jumping (forced or otherwise) to revive my quest for the ultimate jumping experience.   

Currently Listening Let Love In By The Goo Goo Dolls see related

Back from the Dead part IV

WinterJam 2006

   Greeeaaat seats on the floor about the 6th row (thank you very much if you feel remotely responsible for these seats), I remember the Toby Mac song Gone as the best song of the night.  Lots of "dancing", but the "jumping" never really caught on - in my opinion.  

Great concert that I did not go to: Goo Goo Dolls and the Counting Crows at the UMB Bank Pavilion- but low on the Jumpability Index (JI) anyway.

Live on the Levee Concerts downtown 2006:

Sister Hazel and Better than Ezra - Great music, could get as close as you wanted to the stage - or as close as you dared to the drugs/alcohol (which we stayed away from - just to reassure any parents that might be reading this).  Not much jumping.

Cheap Trick - Many different guitars, Lots of hits (if you were a student of the oldies stations, or had the incredible opportunity to hear them as newly released Top 40 Hits).  The only jumping I can remember was me jumping out of the way of 2 "ladies" fighting for a towel thrown off the stage.