OK, Charleston is really good.I have to explain this statement a little to all of you Charlestonophiles out there who have always extolled to us the virtues of Charleston (and whom we’ve largely ignored).Aprill and I have spent the last couple of days in Mt. Pleasant, SC, just across the Cooper River bridge (officially named the Ravenel Bridge – one of the prettiest bridges I’ve ever seen. Google it!) We’ve been with our good friends Joe and Stephanie Shuster who have been house-swapping here for about 3 months. Mt. Pleasant is one of the coolest waterfront communities in the Carolinas. Mainly residential, quaint. Of course, like all Carolina coastal communities, housing here has become completely ridiculous. A shack costs $750,000. Oh well – glad I don’t really want to live here.Anyway, we had only been to Charleston once before – about 16 years ago – and we just didn’t really have that great a time. So we haven’t been back. Our loss. Just walking around Charleston is a visual feast. To me, it’s New Orleans without the trash and decadence. The homes are gorgeous. The streets are picturesque. You can look into the backyards of the homes and imagine all of the events that have happened there through the centuries.There is amazing food. We had mahi mahi both nights! Sunday night we went to a restaurant near the beach, and last night grilled at the Shusters. Yummy. Love mahi. We brought Henry, and it’s been fun hearing Joe campaign to Stephanie all three days about how nice it would be to have a dog. We thought about renting him to them for a month, but I think we’ll go ahead and take him home with us today.The Shusters used to own “Java Joe’s” in Charlotte. So they have a really nice espresso/cappuccino maker. It’s hard to beat fresh cappuccino made by a professional when you get up in the morning.As if it couldn’t get any better, we spent both days here relishing in Tennessee heading to Charlotte to play in the Sweet 16 on Thursday. Anyone hear of any available tickets? (BY THE WAY…I have no idea why when I post on Aprill’s computer it doesn’t break paragraphs. Sorry!)
Archive for March, 2008
Charleston
March 25, 2008Trouble in Paradise
March 21, 2008Ever hear a song that you haven’t heard for a long time, and it brings back a vivid memory?
The other day, I heard the song “Trouble in Paradise” by Al Jarreau. (As a side, if you’ve never listened to Al Jarreau, or the only thing you remember him singing is the theme from “Moonlighting,” you really should take a minute rediscover him. And it is getting to be the perfect time of year to listen to Al – as this story will attest.)
Anyway, for the first 3 years we were married, Aprill and I lived in Schenectady, NY. It was a great time – cold at times, and under mounds of snow and ice occasionally. But the summers were festive and jam-packed with good things. One of those things was SPAC and the Kool Jazz Festival. SPAC is the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. It’s in Saratoga Springs (25 minutes north of Schnectady). It is an outdoor amphitheatre in the vein of Tanglewood (as opposed to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre). Built into a natural setting, serene and a very cool, shaded lawn.
All three years we were there, we would enjoy SPAC. We saw Dan Fogelberg, Bob Dylan, Kenny Loggins, Whitney Houston (it was her first concert!), Henry Mancini (with the Philadelphia Philharmonic), the Moody Blues and I can’t remember who else. We were able to see the New York Ballet on summer hiatus. And all three years, we went to the Kool Jazz Festival.
The Kool Jazz Festival was a 2-day all-jazz weekend. It was incredible. During the three years, we saw Spyrogyra, David Sanborn, Weather Report, Chick Corea (among others)…and Al Jarreau. Jarreau is such a great performer. Here’s a youtube clip of another of my Jarreau faves – Roof Garden – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X42UySfQTx8
It’s a long set-up to saying that when I heard “Trouble in Paradise” this week, I immediately remembered hearing the initial strains of that song at the jazz festival, jumping off the blanket that we had our picnic basket on, and dancing with my beautiful wife on the lawn. It was a warm evening in July, right around sunset. I can remember the rays of the sun breaking through the pine trees, the first crispness of a summer evening that you only get in the north, and Jarreau wailing in the background.
Good memories are a blessing.
It’s Been Awhile!
March 21, 2008Hello to all my 10s of readers! It’s been awhile since I’ve written. Sometimes, life is so good that you don’t even have time to blog.
The last few weeks have been that for me. We’re in the process of revamping the communications at church, and I’ve been in the throes of that. New website, new brochures, new logo…new. It’s going to be so cool – and it’s been a lot of work. But it’s coming together, and I’m juiced. I think when we launch, we’re going to have the best website of any church I’ve seen. And I’ve looked at a lot of them.
As far as music and worship, all good there, too. I practiced last night with the team I usually work with in the Cafe. It’s a whole lot of fun when a group clicks. It’s hard to explain if you’ve never been through it – but a band in which the players know each other and can feel the flow is just about as cool as it gets. And this team knows itself. We’re going to have a rocking Easter Sunday. 5:21 Saturday (our Saturday night worship service) continues to click. The two worship teams are getting tighter and tighter. It’s just so much fun to be surrounded by kindred spirits who want to worship the Lord, play music and play it well. In the last two weeks, we were able to lead two of my favorite songs of all time. If you’ve never heard them, stop reading this rambling nothing and go out and buy them now. “Rescue” by Desperation Band, and ”I Belong” by Kathryn Scott. This week, we will play “Revelation Song” on Saturday and Sunday. If there’s a better praise and worship song out there now, I invite you to tell me what it is. This one hits the center of the bullseye.
This week, Aprill finalized another contract that we’ve been working on for CJDR. So, she is now officially booked out for the foreseeable future. That’s a really good thing. Tonight, she made a ragout, an Italian dish with sausage, kale, beans, tomatoes, zucchini and lots of other good stuff. We opened a celebratory bottle of Chardonnay and had it with the ragout. It was knee-weakening delicious.
Life is good. Really good. And Tennessee hasn’t even played yet.
Pandora
March 10, 2008OK, I’ll admit it. I’m a webaholic. I love the web. I seem to surf endlessly. For me, there has never been anything quite its equal to waste my time. I figured out that the web is now my magazine. I have my laptop with me all the time.I see quite a bit of junk. But occasionally, I come upon a site that is so good it’s impossible to think how it could be better.
One of those sites is www.pandora.com. If you haven’t visited www.pandora.com yet, stop reading this senseless drivel and go there immediately. Pandora is a site that allows you to create your own personalized web radio stations. You select an artist, and it plays a song by that artist. Then, it plays songs by artists that match the genre of the artist you first selected. You can rate the subsequent artists with “like” or “don’t like.” Before long, you have a radio station that perfectly fits your listening tastes.
Then, just when you think it couldn’t get any better, you can create another station based on another listening mood.
Finally, it’s all free. Pandora.com. If you like music at all, you’ll love this.
Vols Win Regular Season SEC Basketball Title
March 10, 2008Need I write more? This is REALLY good.
Late Winter Days
March 6, 2008I love late winter days like today. It’s about 68 and sunny. Tomorrow, it’s supposed to be 54 with a cold rain. Today, it’s beautiful.
My favorite time of the year is actually autumn – for a lot of reasons. I’ll write about in autumn. But late winter is great for a different reason. It tells me that the warm weather months are just ahead. We have some great patio nights on the near horizon. Dogwalks in shorts are coming soon. Breakfast on the patio. Doing work on the patio in the AM. (Can you tell I love my patio?)
Spring is just around the corner. Today reminds me of that.
More Buttercups
March 6, 2008
As you can see, our backyard is not the garden spot of the world, especially in the winter. But Henry and the buttercups brighten it up quite a bit.
Buttercups
March 6, 2008
As promised earlier – a sea of yellow.
The Election
March 3, 2008I love this country. I love that we have elections. And I particularly love this election.
It’s not because I’m exceptionally enamored with any of the three (or four) candidates still in the race. Anyone who knows me knows that I’ve never been impressed with our current president. So I am ready for someone new. (And for the record, I’ll be happier with any of the remaining four than I am now.)
But I love two things about this election. First, the choices are a woman, a man of color, a former POW and a Baptist minister. We’re going to have someone in office with a new, completely unique set of life experiences. I think that’s what America needs right now. It’s a new world out here – and it’s going to require new thinking. None of them are Steve Jobs (I’m starting a Draft Jobs for 2012 campaign right here), but I do think they’ll bring some new ideas.
Second, we get to decide every 4 years. We don’t always get it right – first time or second time around. But at least we get to decide.
So for me, this election represents opportunity. It’s a really different world. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to vote for the one I believe is the best thinker – regardless of party. We need new ideas. Lots of them. C’mon Steve…not too late to throw your hat in…
