Monday, November 09, 2009

Roadtrip, Rockstars and Running

As I sit here and write this, I am listening to Concerto Grosso in D Major Opus 6, No. 5:Larghetto e staccato and I am overwhelmed by all the crazy and amazing events that took place over the past seventy-two hours. My body is still completely exhausted and having a hard time keeping up, but my brain is on full throttle! But I will do my best to make an accurate account of my downhere weekend.


DAY 1


We started off on our roadtrip to MI at 5:30am. Getting a slightly late start, and making a last minute Walmart stop, we still made it to the venue by 4:30. I know it was really early and there were no cars there yet(except the downhere van...) so we decided to scope things out. We were walking up to the door and a gentlemen points to me and says:"Mindy?" I didn't know what to think or say since I had never seen this man before in my life. His name was Bill and somehow he figured it was one of the crazy fans from WI. I'm guessing it was due to the "Downhere Bound" writing on the back of our car :) We sat and talked for a bit. He apologized by saying he couldn't let me in, but he ran and got something for us. We got guaranteed front row seats since we were here so early and drove so far. So the downhomies would for sure be able to be in front to take pics! Yes! He also told me that I was the first person to buy tix to the show. Crazy.....

Hannah got there and I promised myself that I would behave to make up for the crazy antics I did at the Peoria show a couple months earlier. Well, when I saw Hannah I geeked out. :) What can I say, I haven't seen her in forever!! So I was allowed.

We headed inside and waited around for Gina and Liz to get there. The whole time we were there people kept coming up to us asking if we were the group from WI. Everywhere we went people looked at us. We all had our downhomie shirts on so, we were a dead giveaway that we were there for the band...lol We all had our 15 seconds of fame. I found it funny that we were as "famous" as the band was. Crazy times.

The show was awesome, complete with random dance moves, outbursts about "Pluto" and everything in between you would get from a downhomie. I have never cried at a downhere concert before and I was most effected by "How Many Kings", "A Better Way" and "Here I Am". Something about the songs that moved me so much and meant so much. I have been having a hard time with a lot of stuff I think God was speaking to me so much that night.

Plus I got to FINALLY meet Jess Lewis! Such a sweet lady! I didn't get a chance to say Hi to her at the downhomiepalooza back in July so it was great to see her.

We hung around for a bit before heading back to see the guys. We grabbed our stuff and chatted. The people there taking pics were as interested in us downhomies as they were the band. So we were in a lot of pics. Now I know what the guys go through every night when they just want to sit down and relax.

We gave Marc his birthday present and he got quite a kick out of the Frankenberry and "Freddie Mercury" shirt we made for him. (you can check out pics on my flickr account-link posted below)

We were saying our goodbyes and Jason was like, "see ya guys tomorrow!" And I randomly started singing "Tomorrow" from Annie. See, I told you my brain is slower than my mouth at times....I had forgotten where I was and just started singing. Did I really just do that!? In front of downhere? Oh goodness....

Jason came back and said "Wow. You have a really good theatre voice." *shock*

We headed to the hotel chatted for a bit, contemplated walking through the drive-thru at McDonald's right next door and went to bed. I didn't get much sleep. I was running on 3 hours of sleep the next day.


DAY 2


Gina, Liz, Mom and I all headed to Tim Horton's for breakfast/lunch! It was my first experience and I loved it! I think I may move to Canada just for that purpose alone.

Gina and Liz headed to run some errands and Mom and I headed to Hannah's Uncle's house to record a song I had written. I was so excited. It turned out well, even though I was still getting over a cold thing and had "concert voice". Hannah is going to take it home with her and play around with it and add some stuff! So I can't wait to hear it when it's done!

We headed to the venue to get the merch table set up. The guys were sound checking when we got there, so we had background music while getting the table ready. We got done with that and we went in to catch some soundchecking.

Martel never ceases to amaze me. He started singing "Man in the Mirror" from Michael Jackson and I think I fell in love with him. *sigh* I just sat there listening and having a great conversation with Jaclyn and Hannah. It was good to have girl time too, before we headed to "concert mode".

Everything was set and we were ready for the show to begin. We took turns literally running around the auditorium to get up to the merch stand. We would wait a couple songs and then switch guards. Once again, the show was great and there were more random outbursts, dancing, and just plain downhomieness. During "Rockstars" I had made a sign that says SPAM on it. I tried getting Marc to see it and he avoided me at all cost. So I pouted until he saw me. I think Glenn did at one point and smiled.

Marc had also made a comment about our "square dancing". We were just being complete goofballs and dancing like fools. But it got the people to come out and dance with us. For the longest time I think it was just us.....

But the night wasn't over. We had a few more things up our sleeves. On "Bleed" we pulled out our cue cards for Marc. the past few times we had seen them, Marc always forgot the words on the verses or switched them. So we helped him out a bit. When he saw them, he couldn't help but laugh into the mic. Then continued to follow the cues by reading them. We giggled and danced some more. Then came the echo of the "OOHS". I broke out my best harmony and Marc turned to our side, smiled and said, "Nice harmonies!" *shock once again* Instead of nodding and smiling, I turned around and giggled like a crazy fan girl. I mean, Marc Martel just gave me a SHOUTOUT! WOW! Then Hannah and I broke out the Tambourines for Glenn's part. We found out that he really got a kick out it.

We headed back to the merch table where we sold LOTS of How Many Kings, tshirts, and jewlery! I stood there and smiled and couldn't help but love God and thank Him for letting me serve him in this way. Liz and I were talking in between customers and Marc shouted something to us and was making weird hand motions. We had no clue what he was talking about. But we tried everything on Glenn and Jeremy to let us come to Denmark with them....lol

We hung with the guys for a half hour or so, gave Glenn his VERY BELATED BIRTHDAY PRESENT and chatted. It was hard saying goodbye, but I get to see them in a month again.

We headed back to Gina's house. I was extrememly tired and the fog and late night wasn't helping. Gina almost hit a cat and deer. It was soooo foggy. We made it back and talked some more nonsense about hair and other girly stuff.


DAY 3


Liz had to leave early on Sunday, but we still got to hang out. Gina, Hannah, mom and I had a great talk about a lot of stuff and it felt good to have a conversation like that. It was so hard to leave, but after eating lunch at Pizza Hut, we had to "peel the band-aid"

Over all, it was a great weekend and I have so many more memories bottled inside for safe keeping than I could put down here(hahahaha....downhere....)If I did, it would be a book. And I am sure that your eyes are already tired from reading this!!

God it good all the time. All the time, God is good. Thank you for friends, family, rockstars and an amazing witness to the world.


You can check out my pics from the show here:
Oxford Show, MI-November 6, 2009

Farwell Show, MI-November 7, 2009

6 comments:

Liz said...

What a fantastic weekend it was! And I'm still quite curious as to what Marc was trying to tell us with his sign language.

I made it back to WI just in time for my meeting @ church. Stupid Chicago traffic.

Unknown said...

I was sitting here squealing and giggling while reading this! Amazing! I miss you all so much, and cannot wait to see you again!

Mindy said...

Gosh Liz, I know what you mean!!! Ick. Chicago traffic horrible! And yes...I want to know what Marc was saying to us. If we ask him in December, I'm sure he won't remember :)

Emily....I can't wait to see you again either! I'm so excited. See, I don't go to the concert to see the guys. I go to see my friends. Everyone thinks I'm a "groupie"...lol

Unknown said...

Up to this point, I've never gone to a downhere concert to see my friends, so I guess I'm more of a groupie than you. ;-D

Mindy said...

nothing wrong with it! It's clean good Christian fun....one of my coworkers is like, "You are the only Christian groupies that I know..."

Unknown said...

Yeah, we are an anomaly.

Ahoy! Thanks for stopping by. Sometimes life should be an open book and here you will find that true. My mind is always on full speed and I will be heading over many waves. I hope this journey is as much of an adventure for you as it is for me~ ~Mindy