49ers First Round Review

Well the first round is in the books.  In my humble opinion, the front office did an outstanding job.  Read a great article in SF Gate by Scott Ostler.  Love this approach.

“-- Here come the 49ers, and they trade up to select tackle Anthony Davis. This has Mike Singletary's fingerprints all over it. The 49ers' draft machine is like the U.S. government, with three branches checking-and-balancing one another. You've got Paraag Marathe analyzing players mathematically, GM-lite Trent Baalke analyzing them with a football eye, and Singletary plumbing the depths of the candidates' souls.”
Read more: Here

There is a saying in football that it all starts up front.  I’ll take it a step further that great teams are built from the line of scrimmage out.  Meaning put talent on the line of scrimmage and it will make your room for error on the skill positions wider.  It means more time for QBs to find receivers and backs to find holes.  I have to agree with Scott (writer of the article) that it may signal a move to more of a run to set up play-action passing style of offense.  I hope so.  These styles of offense when in place break the spirit of the other teams by brute force.  This philosophy will set them apart in their division which is fraught with teams that try to finesse you.  They will be a team to deal with if all these kids grow up right (so to speak).

Looking forward for more magic tonight in rounds 3 and 4.  Hopefully in the form of a safety

How do you capture memories?

In the days following our Rock and Worship road show experience, we had a couple of different people either ask if we had more pictures or say ‘I can’t wait to see the pictures.’  Well we didn’t take a whole lot of pictures save a few with our phones.  Those phone pictures do not take the greatest photos.  The are usually blurry, out of focus, or the lighting just isn’t great.  Looking back at my phone they were just that low quality.  The most frustrating thing is that the camera that does take great shots was in my wife’s purse an arm’s length away.  Granted I have great, lasting memories of the show.  I think if I were honest I don’t know if I wanted to be snapping photos.  I was drinking in the moment.  If I start taking pictures, I end up not paying attention to the moments but more ‘getting the shot.’  My focus changes from enjoying the experience to trying to get a great picture.  Now, I do think it is possible to do both.  In fact I think that is the way it’s supposed to be.  Photos are great way to provide something tangible to the moment in our memory.  Something that can be shown years down the road when our memory isn’t so good.  So these experiences can live on and not get lost in the shuffle.  I just can’t bridge the gap.  Seems foreign to me to experience and capture at the same time.  It seems apparent to me that it will have to be a learned behavior.  On the drive home, I made a promise to myself to just put the camera in my hand when I attend events like this.  Maybe just maybe, I’ll experience the serendipity where I experience and capture a moment all at once.  So I ask how is it done?  How is that gap bridged?  I will be trying to learn how but does anyone out there have any tips for me?

My Rock and Worship Roadshow experience

Friday, my wife and I went to the Rock and Worship Roadshow’s stop in Dallas, TX.  The show was at the American Airlines Center.  We were blessed enough to receive some VIP passes from some great friends.   Here is my review of a great night

Sidewalk Prophets

These guys played a three song set to start off the festivities.  Prior to the show, I had heard of these guys but never really listened to them short of some of their fill-in appearances on last year’s roadshow.  The opened with their rendition of ‘Man in the Mirror.’ It was a a great opener.  High energy got people up out of their seats.  Their song ‘These are the words I would say’ touched on the concept ‘be strong in the lord.’  Which really strikes a chord with those who are going through something tough or have gone through something.  This song brought tears to my eyes because it really struck a chord with me because my wife and I are going through a season.  Every single solitary word in this song hit on what we are experiencing at this moment.

Remedy Drive

Nebraska was in the house.  I have to confess I’d never heard of these guys until a week ago.  I have since realized that I’ve heard ‘All Along’ while listening to my Pandora or radio before.  I was really impressed with their musicianship and I really liked their tunes.  Plus they are from the greatest state in the union, Nebraska.  Which by default moves them up in my book.  One thing they said has stayed with me after the concert and that is that ‘after the darkness comes the dawn.’  Which said another way is that good times are right around the corner.

Fee

Steve Fee came on and blew the doors off the place.  He opened with Rise and Sing and I felt like I was at a true, authentic arena rock show.  The only exception is that the love songs we sang were about Jesus and not some other human being.  It was an incredible set.  After the band left the stage, I began to wonder why I don’t have any of their music in my collection.

Francesca Battistelli

This was my wife’s most anticipated artist.  She loves her music especially the ‘dents in my fender’ and ‘it’s your life.’  Francesca’s set was very well done and I came away impressed with her vocal abilities as well as her backup band’s ability to create a jazzy groove.  My favorite song of the set had to be ‘It’s your life’ with it’s great rock groove.

Family Force 5

It’s probably because I’m a thirty something but I had never heard of these guys prior to the show.  I did some obligatory YouTube and Google searches to see what these guys are all about.  But to say I knew all about these guys would be disingenuous.  After seeing them live, I came away impressed and a fan.  The kids (I guess I can say that now) went nuts when these guys took the stage.  I can see why.  I grew up on hip hop and rap music.  I really like how they mixed musical styles.  I may not fit their demo but man I could bob my head to that music.  I feel like I have to justify my midlife crisises (not a word but I’m going with it).

David Crowder*Band

Okay I’ll admit this was the most anticipated set of the night for me.  Everything Glorious is one of my favorite songs of all time.  I’ll leave out why because I think it could be a blog entry all on it’s own.  Love their songs and how they layer different instruments in the composition.  They really mixed musical genres all keeping Christ centered.  It was a thing of beauty.  I think my favorite was their cover of Hank Williams ‘I saw the light.’  I really enjoyed listening to the band talk during their set.  We seem to share the same worldview (that is to say uber-geekiness).  I take this stance on the inclusion of the Mario Bros. theme music and their robotic drummer Steve-3-PO.  Which is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.   Overall their set was incredible and I came away more of a fan if that’s possible.

MercyMe

MercyMe continues to be one of my favorite bands.  So so many of their songs apply to my life (which is to say my own walk with the Lord).   Their performance was really awesome and I really loved how they kept Christ at the center and made it a point to do so.  My favorite was the inclusion of a ‘Homesick’ intro to I can only Imagine.  Their set list had a great mix of their hits and new stuff.  It also did a great job of covering a great spectrum of styles they have in their catalog.  MercyMe was like the exclamation point on a great night worshipping God.

They of course as the headliners had the coolest stage setup.  A massive LED board behind them that really did a great job illustrating what the band was playing and singing about.  It really added to the experience and the worship.

Summary, conclusions, and personal feelings of the night.

Now that my very weak attempt at a newspaper review is over, I can get to meat and potatoes of this thing.  Quite simply I have never worshipped my creator like that.  I know that is bad to say (especially since the worship leader at my service at church is a friend and might read this blog).  But there is something about church that makes me hold back.  I know we should hold nothing back because we are in his house but I do.  It doesn’t hold back tears especially if the song sings my heart. But I for some unknown reason keep my hands down.  This wasn’t the case on Friday night.  I held my hands and I sang as loud as I could with everything I had.  I was in a room with thousands of other people but I was able to sing to one guy.  And it was a beautiful thing.  The whole night was so moving.  Every song allowed me release and sing to my creator.  I couldn’t even take pictures because it was so surreal that I wanted to see it through my eyes instead of my viewfinder.  I walked out of AA center changed because I have tasted true worship.  Something I want to taste more of.