The J6 Journey: Year 5, October 2nd, 2020: Special Concert Edition: MWS, SCC, & Mac Powell

Ah, that feels better! I scratched the concert itch with 5 other people in my van alone and many, many others in the crowd! From my Indiana Michael W. Smith fan base to one of my best friends who I should have invited to go with me but thought she was too busy and trying to stay healthy because she works in an assisted living facility. We talked a bit and all is forgiven, lol. She's my front row buddy if we have ever have that concert!

It was great seeing the guys up there doing their thing again. I know it makes their hearts happy just as much as it makes our hearts happy to see them. It felt a bit short, but it was also so cold! 50 degrees! And you had Mac Powell in a parka, Jim Daneker with no hat, Steven Curtis Chapman) SCC, toughing it out and Michael W. Smith with a backwards ball cap on with his current branding on it. They sang a few hits, and then actually asked for some requests from the audience. And they finished with some worship songs. It was quite interesting trying to handle my phone and DSLR camera while trying to keep warm by holding a sleeping bag around me. I didn't want to sit down. From standing in line for food to standing in line to use a bathroom and still missing a couple of songs. And my heart was racing because I was responsible for getting 5 other adults to and from the out door drive in movie theater. I had never done that before, so that was all new and I was the one driving! But it's located in the middle of nowhere and we were one of the first ones there as planned. Everybody seem to be having some decent conversations. But I could feel my ADD type brain going into chaos and nervous energy mode rearranging stuff and playing with my keys or my phone to try to center myself.

It was basically an outdoor concert with a twist because of the cars. It was kind of nice being able to leave most things in the car and pull them out one by one if I needed to. We had a great parking spot until someone pulled into the row in front of us and lifted their tailgate/hatch. Sigh. Unfortunately, it was a family I knew. So, I didn't say anything. BUT, I got some great footage on both my phone camera (maxing out my photo album again) and then even better footage on my DSLR that I could sneak in. But you try to hold a sleeping bag around you as tight as you can, feeling the cold air coming up through the holes for you legs, and get great photos. But all my Smitty fan friends that were there got some great shots as well.

It was just weird and different but not upsetting. I went in with lower expectations, too. It was just good to be out doing something somewhat normal. And for some of us, going to concerts is just part of our year long rituals. Something to mark the passage of time. Speaking of passing time, it's time for bed. I finally felt sleeping. It's 2:30 am. Time to sleep.

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Ok, let's see what details I can remember. Everyone arrived at my house on time. We had six people total. We didn't get a group picture, but that's ok. It was Diane VanOsdol, Laura Harrigan with a friend, and Kelli Woodward with her son Nick, as well as I. Some of them had been to this drive in theater before for another concert, so they were able to direct me. It was an easy drive down I-74, and just a couple of short turns off the highway. It's a small drive in, and we were one of the first people to arrive. We sat in line for about 35 minutes thinking we would be there for nearly an hour, but they let people drive in early. Kind of weird to be "standing in line" by driving a car though! The time passed pretty quickly, too. I was nervous about driving, but everybody was very friendly about it. I got us lined up in the first row of the general admission area. I nosed in, instead of backed in, which was the right move. Four of us ended up sitting in the van for most of the concert. Two of them sat out in their chairs, and I was about half and half. Everybody we arrived, we all took a turn in the ladies' room and ordered food. Again, that was the best move because the lines only grew longer as more people came. We had to wait until it got dark for the concert to start. The food prices were pretty good! The $5 bucket of popcorn was HUGE! Definitely doable. Again, it was weird getting food like popcorn and walking back to our car instead of our seats in an arena. It was definitely fun and part of the adventure!

On the way back to the van, I heard my friend Sheryl Morning's voice! Man, we could have talked for hours! Her coworker had insisted that she come to the concert. I felt so bad because I purposefully didn't directly ask her to come with me because I knew she was guarding her health because she works in an assisted living facility and I know that she would be working the next day. But how fun to bump into her, as well as many other folks from church. It's hard to tell how many people actually came, but it was a smaller venue so I'm sure it wasn't that much. There were some great fans down in the gold circle though. I wanted to be down there but the tickets sold out quickly. Oh, while I was standing talking to Sheryl, it started to spit rain and it got in our popcorn! Ew! Oh well. I was a nervous ball of energy all evening. I found myself rearranging stuff in the van, not knowing what to do with what, making sure others were comfortable, (although I forgot to directly ask and kind of mumbled to myself), unsure of when the concert would actually start, how cold was I going to be, etc. Oh, and about 20 minutes before the concert started, the second/last tour bus pulled up! It must have gotten stuck in traffic. I'm not sure which artist it was fun, but I had to laugh. I quickly pulled up all their Instagram accounts but no one mentioned it. I did see that Mac Powell had brought his wife with him and they had done some hiking yesterday at a park in Ohio. His wife was the one who had an abysmal on her brain last year and they almost lost her. So it was good to hear that she was able to come and spend a couple of days away from their kids, who are still at home I think middle school age now.

Anyway, I was in line for the bathroom when the concert started, but that's ok, I could see it while I was in line. The way they did it was that they just took turns playing one of their hits. They even took requests from the audience! I think the best part was hearing their voices and instruments playing on each other's songs. That's unity right there. When I was younger I thought that Steven Curtis Chapman and Michael W. Smith were rivals. No, they didn't fight, but in my mind, either you liked guitar (SCC) or piano (MWS). Of course I listened to SCC, too, and he played a few of the hits I love from him last night. But those three 57-63 yr old goofballs on stage are such a hoot! I wanted to come just to see these three legends interact and they didn't disappoint. SCC talked about how Mac Powell said his adoptions encouraged the Powells to adopt. And SCC's kids and MWS' kids went to the same schools. They talked about going on their first tour together, SCC and MWS together 11 years ago, and I distinctly remember that concert. It was at the Murat Theatre downtown Indy, with Sheryl, and it was after the Healing Rain album (maybe a year or two?) My mom was battling cancer and I remember singing "Healing Rain" and praying for God to heal her, or heal my heart. That would have been in 2009. It was a simple band and no fancy lights kind of tour, just like last night was. The band was pared down to the three guys, Jim Daneker, MWS programmer/keyboardist, a drummer, and a bass guitarist. Mac Powell is a guitarist, so is SCC and MWS was on keys of course. So, loads connections to these guys. And of course, when Third Day was a young band, they toured with MWS a couple of times. My mom's last concert was a Third Day/ MWS concert at the Indiana State Fair (before the accident where a storm demolished the stage, killed a few people and hurt many), which I think happened two weeks later or a couple of years later). She loved Mac Powell's unique southern drawl voice. Lots of connections.

So when the guys play the hits, I didn't come to tears, but they mean something to me. Like Place in this World, Pray for Me, SCC's I Will Be There, Thief, Agnus Dei, and so many others. Oh, and "God of Wonders"! It was so cool to be under the night sky with a huge full moon singing about the galaxy and hearing all the men's voices singing it. It's one of those songs that was in heavy rotation and popular in worship services so I kind of got tired of it for awhile. But listening to it under the stars was an unique way to revive the song for me. Oh, and Laura Harrigan doesn't quite know it (or maybe she does from my posts), but we are kindred spirits in a few ways, one being able to enjoy and sing along with all these "old" CCM songs from the '90's! She was taking pictures and videos and standing up the whole time, just like I was. It was sweet to see someone else enjoy themselves as much as I do. I felt freer to dance and such in the dark and with social distancing. It was difficult to take a lot of photos and videos and hold on to a sleeping bag to keep warm, but I managed. I should have pulled my DSLR camera out sooner because it took way better photos than my phone as you'll see below. I don't know about the videos because I haven't watched them yet. I didn't record everything, and since the stage set up didn't change and there wasn't much lighting, I tried to refrain. Even still, I managed to fill up my phone (it wasn't loading the photos to the cloud because it wasn't plugged in) so the first half of the photos were on my phone and the second half was on the DSLR. I wish I could bring the DSLR into every concert! Lol! Such better quality photos!

What an adventure though! I didn't have super high expectations. But nothing went wrong. Everything was smooth as could be. Well, except accidentally taking some sponsor children home that I now have to quickly mail back to the organization. Whoops. It was a blast of an evening. Just what the doctor ordered. Nothing super special, but a taste of normalcy. I didn't realize how much I just missed the atmosphere! After having gone to big events and concerts several times a year for several years in a row, I just got used to it being part of my routine. So I got to scratch that itch. Who knows when arena tours will start up again. Both Brickworld and the Michael W. Smith events that were supposed to happen in March have been postponed to next March 2021. I don't know about the homeschool convention, but I think it's kaput. We'll probably talk about it at our all volunteer meeting on Tuesday. While I love convention, you can't keep having something that loses money every year. Such a bummer. I'd rather have a curriculum fair so we could see product though. It could be held in a smaller venue and for cheaper. We can listen to speakers online. But we need to be hands on looking at curriculum instead of going in blindly. Man, how did I just digress to homeschooling, again? Sheesh!

I'm so glad I "took a risk" and bought the tickets last minute. Everybody paid me something so that money easily covered the cost of the ticket, but I was willing to just do whatever money wise. Like I said, I didn't go to the merch tent because I have every t-shirt and CD and button and poster I want. I liked sitting in my cushy front seat watching and leaning back. I want to go back now to do a drive in movie with Jared and the kids. It would be a late night one and they might fall asleep, because in the summer, the sun doesn't "turn off" until 9:30pm. But it would be a cool experience. It's not that expensive. This one seemed to be run just fine. I mean the food building is older, but clean enough. Like one of the artists said, "How did we end up in a little town called Shelbyville, Indiana?" surrounded by cornfields? Probably reminded them of the days when they started out and the crowds were much smaller, lol. It did feel like an outdoor music festival and yet, we weren't all crowded together. We had our creature comforts in the van. We were cold, but otherwise comfy. We could even close the windows and doors so the music wasn't so loud. Oh, and if we wanted to, we could have tuned the radio to a certain station where they pipe in the audio from the movie or the stage. I wasn't sure if putting on the radio might wear down the battery though, so I didn't try it.

All in all, a perfect break in a long string of busyness. And now, we keep on truckin'.

Note on the videos: I forgot that the videos on the DSLR pause when I take photos. Whoops! So enjoy it if you can. I've done my normal thing of making a playlist and listing out the songs to the best of my ability. I try not to sing too loud or sway too much, but, you know, it was cold, I get distracted. I'm not a professional. Enjoy what you can. Thanks!

MWS/SCC/Mac Powell Drive in Theater Tour Shelbyville, IN, October 1st, 2020

Hm,....seeing a concert from the comfort of your car? Weird! Drive in theater on a lot no bigger than maybe 10 acres? Interesting! I wonder what the neighbors think!

This drive in theater is much smaller than all the ones I saw online that have been having these concerts. And for once, I'm glad. It means we get to be closer to the screen! We were one of the first ones there, so we got a great seat!

Then one of the tour buses pulled up with like 20 minutes to go until concert time or something. Whoops.

We saw a double rainbow on the way over there. Shelbyville is about 30 minutes southeast of where we live and right off the highway. We had a few spits of rain, too.

Sunset, let's go! I was standing in line for the bathroom I think here. And you can still see the stage just fine.

Steven Curtis Chapman, by the way. I know a few of his songs.

Mac Powell, all the way to our left, then SCC, then Michael W. Smith all the way on the right. Mac in a parka. Steven in a couple of shirts. And I think Michael had a light jacket or sweatshirt on.

Jim Daneker to the right behind Mac, and then a drummer and a bassist. That's it. Nothing fancy. Pretty plain light set up as well. Nothing more than what we have in our church. Nice photo though with Michael's hand up.

They all stayed out for most of the set and sang on each other's songs. Just hearing their three voices blend was incredible. So much talent!

Michael W. Smith

The moon was full and bright. There's two full months this month and the 2nd full moon is called the blue moon. "Once in a blue moon" means every 2 1/2 to 3 years because that's how often it occurs! And then there's blue moon ice cream only found at Meijer in Michigan.