Nettwerking & Duran Duran

Well, I'm enjoying a mango-peach at the Edgehill Coffeeshop. This is happenin'. I've got a great deal of itunes gift certificates to spend, and a free hour to sit and think. Good time to catch up with you.

The Duran Duran show was awesome. The band emerged on stage, and led up to a major production/sync track issue. So, all the lead up to a big oops. I believe Simon Lebon's words were,"That's a big f*ck all, isn't it?" HAHA. The crowd was not deterred. They went NUTS. It was like that was the best thing that could have happened.
Simon working the shiny silver jacket.
NO "reflex." That was the only disappointment. But in light of all the other hits, it wasn't so bad. "Girls on Film," and "Say A Prayer" were highlights. "Rio" was a huge closer....OH, and they dedicated "Ordinary World" to the bomb victims in London, which was a pretty wonderful gesture from a pop group.

John aka "Mr.Banana" (thanks Lori) slapping the bass in pure 80's pop style.

Overall, a great night. Lis and I went with Chris and Emily - rode in their Jeep with the top down. Fun night! Now, tonight, after a meeting to decide the future of music, haha, Evan and I are going to Avril and experience some teen angst together.

Tonight, my first tape.

I'm headed tonight to see Duran Duran at Starwood, our outdoor shed venue. Should be a great night.

It's gonna be fun to see early dreams and current realities collide. Stickers on trapper keepers, my first purchased tape from "Musicland" in the mall. New moon on monday, indeed...

Celebrating 30 years of me-ness.

We woke up early in the morning, and the 4 of us went to the Franklin Merchantile. Carlen woke and graciously joined us. This is where the best breakfast in Franklin resides.

This is the breakfast plate - 2 eggs sunnyside up, covered in hot sauce. The other plate is a single blueberry pancake, because I can't be there and NOT have at least one. In the cup is a LARGE cappuccino.

After that, we had an easy day that ended with Lis making my mom's recipe enchiladas.

AND this wonderful cake.

The night was just beginning.

We watched Stereophonics at the Exit Inn. It was capped off by some birthday pints with Pasty (Michael),a member of the nashville team.

30 isn't so bad. It feels like late 20's are just treading water and rehearsing for the things that will be expected when 30 comes calling. I'll keep you posted.

War hits home.

I still don't know what it looks like to spread democracy like this. To make our country potentially safer from attack. How we are to bring freedom. What it means to remove our vulnerability.

I know that war has killed many people. Human beings. And this war finally killed someone I have met, and that feels really awful. I am praying for wife, children, and extended family.

I'm praying, and I'd ask all those pro-war, anti-war, and otherwise, join me and pray that we can see this end soon.

Still unpacking from the weekend.

I'm finally sitting down in a quiet house. The only additional noise is by choice - a dvd I was given to convert your TV into an aquarium. This is true technology at work.

I took Evan with me on a whirl-wind tour of life-altering experiences. And a mall. We started there at Opry Mills. We played about 45 minutes, and had a BLAST. My favorite comment, afterwards is important to me as I approach the 30 year mark. "You guys look a lot older in your photos."


As we got tucked in our bunks on the bus, Evan said,"I've got my pillow, a bunk, and a little tv. This is the good life."

He's starting to make me laugh out loud, with great frequency.

We headed off to Philly for Live8. Our Blood:Water Mission, Bono, and Data were some contributing factors in how all that happened. Well, we played 2 songs. 5am soundecheck for 8 minutes of glory. We got to talk quite a bit about B:WM and the work going on in Africa. Evan met Queen Amidala (Padmé)


That was probably his highlight. Rumor has it that photo will run in the Tennessean tomorrow in the gossip column. Maybe they will be rumored to have been engaged!

We had the best sushi ever - Iron Chef Morimoto prepared the most amazing food.



A few of the guys attended a party Will Smith threw the night before, and a guy from CNN asked what we'd think if we were "back here" doing another benefit 20 years from now. Matt said something wonderful as we discussed that question later on.

Would that really be so bad? The exercise of giving our hearts to helping others is life giving. It reminds us all of why we are on this earth. Sure, I'd do this again.