Many Voices ~ One Sound

It was a small group but representative of our community.  Some young people.  Some older people.  Men and women and a few children.  From many walks of life.  Interesting folk who spent a weekend together to relax and pray and learn.  And sing.

Concert Diaries ~ Chapter 27: Reading ... The Road Trip

About a month ago, someone I work with asked me if I'd like tickets to see Gavin DeGraw in Reading, Pennsylvania, about an hour and a half or so from me. Someone she knew had won them through a radio station and didn't want them.  I hadn't considered Reading because it was originally scheduled for April 1, was a work night and I already had tickets for several other dates that week.  But the concert had been rescheduled for May 10 because Gavin and the band opened for Billy Joel in Cleveland on that date.  Did I want the tickets?  Of course.  Last row is better than no row, right?

Through a series of events and amazing concert karma (which I may write about later), the tickets grew and multiplied until these two tickets became five and I wound up in the second row within arm's length of the stage.

Concert Diaries Chapter 26 ~ Oh Honey and James Blunt

I won these tickets.  I must have entered this contest a long time ago because I was totally surprised when I opened the email from WPLJ, my favorite radio station (and I'm not just saying that because of the tickets ... I say that because of the fun on-air personalities who work at this station ... really fun, interesting, smart people).  If I'd known what a crazy, busy this week would turn out to be, I probably would not have entered but the live-music addict in me could not turn down concert tickets even though I was out working at something every night this week in addition to "the day job".  It must have been meant to be--Tuesday was my only free night.

The curse (one of the curses?) of being divorced is having no single friends ... so, as I so often do, I flew solo to the Bergen Performing Arts Center.  The seats were pretty good and the theater was nice (although not as nice as my own M-PAC, the Mayo Center for the Performing Arts in Morristown).  The sparse crowd had me worried at first but little by little the theater filled.  I'd never heard of the opening act, Oh Honey, so I settled in and waited to be surprised.