for the love of God

Today, one of our "yutes" performed at Fine Arts Festival. Eric and I brought a host of other yutes up to cheer him on during his performance, and we continued on through the "celebration service" where winners were announced and the "meritorial award" winners performed their gigs on site.

It was pretty cool--I'd never been involved growing up since I lived in Africa--and even though our guy didn't place this year, I really hope we can push this to our group for next year. Best part of today, besides hearing our guy rock his performance (he SHOULD have placed!!!) was watching how he took not placing and going on to nationals. He at least didn't show his disappointment, and he took it like a champ. Good news: he's a sophomore this year, so he has two more years, and a whole lot of time to polish his work and style. Also, he's only been writing since about November of 2011--and he's amazing already!

A lot of the students that come to our youth group are wicked talented. We have dancers and singers and musicians and artists and one of the gals placed second last year in vocal talent, was invited to nationals, and didn't enter this year. (WHAT?!) That said, my creative juices started flowing, and I really want to push these guys and gals to be confident in their talents, to show their talents to the world, and to use them to glorify God.

the sounds of music

We now have a record player (YAY!), and Eric just set up the sound system so now we can listen to it without using headphones. ;) Currently listening to the honeyed sounds of Nat King Cole and MAN, that guy could sing. Gorgeous voice!

There is something so wonderful about listening to music on vinyl instead of digitally. I don't know what it is, but it seems like it's a better sound. It probably isn't, but it sounds much richer to me.

Date at the Pops

Today, Eric and I went on a date to Benaroya for a Sunday matinee performance of "Sci Fi at the Pops" with the Seattle Symphony, Victor Vanacore (conductor), and Jonathan Frakes (host). In case the name Jonathan Frakes doesn't ring a bell, you might recognize him as this:

Will Riker of the U.S.S. Enterprise, Star Trek: The Next Generation

I heard about this concert only a couple of weeks ago, and although I didn't know what all would be played during the concert, I felt like the basic premise of sci fi themes couldn't be bad, so I talked to Eric about it and voila! A date was born.

We went to the early service at church, then took the bus into Seattle to avoid traffic and paying way too much money for parking in the city. Then we got to Benaroya Hall about an hour and a half too early, so we chilled inside the lobby with some Starbucks and some treats and enjoyed the Dale Chihuly glass chandeliers.

While waiting for the doors to open, we enjoyed people watching, which turned up one particularly unique specimen, a woman (at least mid-thirties), wearing booty shorts over some fantastic tights with knee high, high heeled boots. Her get up--although I'm sure it was her style--was altogether distracting, and Eric and I had a very difficult time not staring. An elderly couple sat next to us and we didn't interact for awhile, but then just before they got up to leave, the woman leaned over and said something about "that whore over there"--um, what?!--and then said, "Enjoy the show!"

About this time, we drained the last dregs from our mochas and as the doors were open to the auditorium, we headed inside to our seats. Our seats put us right about here:



Oh hello, Mr. Bassoonist! I can just about pick your nose. (We got cheap tickets, but they were still fun seats!)

The overall vibe in the packed music hall was relaxed, but excited. Only Seattle can summon this many enthusiastic geeks, I tell you! :) The program was as follows: Star-Spangled Banner, Star Trek theme (introducing Jonathan Frakes), Adventures on Earth (E.T. Theme), Independence Day Suite, Thriller/Beat It/Thriller (with accompanying zombie dancers!!!), Ghostbusters, Superman Returns Suite, INTERMISSION, Mars ("The Bringer of War") from The Planets, Name that Sci-Fi Theme (included Jaws, Psycho, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Addams Family, The Exorcist, and an R&B rendition of 2001: A Space Odyssey), Battlestar Galactica, Suite from Avatar, and Throne Room and Finale from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. They also performed an encore of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Jonathan Frakes was a great host. He was light-hearted, he shared some genuine stories and emotions about each piece that he introduced, and he had a great attitude about the various pieces introduced. He shared a story about how he was with Christopher Reeve when he got the call from his agent that he was going to be Superman. (How cool!)

The conductor was super charismatic as well, entertained the crowd, and sang the words to the Ghostbusters' theme, cuing the audience to chime in "Ghostbusters!" at the appropriate times. Seriously, how awesome is that? :)

It was such a wonderful day, but we ended up spending a lot of time away from home, so we are both very much wiped out right now.