My Summer is a Musical!

"Without music, life would be a mistake." 

-Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Music is a universal language.  Music can move your emotions and shape your ideas... it's powerful.  Emotionally speaking, music is the thing that soothes me when I'm angry and boosts me when I'm sad.  It has the poswer to heal my heart, and strengthen my character's endurance.  Spiritually speaking, music speaks to my spirit, my soul, more than words or books...  Music is the thing that has the power to make me smile no matter my mood and transforms my focus to positivity and productivity.  Music motivates and captivates me...  Everyone has that one thing that communicates on a full-level with them, and for me, that is music.

"There is nothing in the world so much like prayer as music is. 

-William P. Merrill

I truly feel what that quote above has to say is true... really.

My favorite scripture of all time is a scripture that I found right before my audition for BYU's Music Voice Performance Major.  I was scared out of my mind and thought I'd flip through my scriptures to calm my nerves, when I found this: "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation." (2 Nephi 22:2)  I found it because my favorite number is 22 and I wanted to look up a scripture with all 2's in it... and it stuck with me because randomly, it is about the power of Heavenly Father, and of music.  These are two of the most important things in my life...

That being said, I have a summer jam packed with singing (personally, jamming with friends, my musical web-show with Kate, etc.) and going to concerts!  I started off this summer right and set up numerous occasions that I would be attending concerts.  So far, I've seen Parachute and Allred for free (Hugo and Damato too), which was epic, and He Is We and Andrew Allen.  However, I also have lawn tickets for Sara Bareilles (SO stoked!  She's my favorite!) and Sugarland already (Go buy tickets & come with!) and am working Stadium of Fire this weekend... so I'll see Brad Paisley and David Archuleta there for free.  There are other people I've been considering seeing, and I honestly feel like it's a good use of my "play money."  I just LOVE music...

So, first I saw Allred and... PARACHUTE!  Finally!  Last time I saw them play live they were still called Sparky's Flaw and we were all in High School together in Charlottesville, VA.  Yep, I sat next to the lead singer (Will) in math class one year - haha... Don't get me wrong.  We've never been friends, but I saw them performed and we spoke a few times, so it was cool to see them climb the ladder of success.  Classic... I was helping out with the event for this AMAZING organization called Fight The New Drug - educating people on the harmful effects of pornography (check out the site by clicking on the name) - so I got to see the sound-check a bit.  It was really cool, but weird.  I was thinking, "I went to HS with him... and he looks virtually the exact same," as did Alex, the bass guitarist.  So funny!

An amazing moment during the concert was when Will was talking about UVA and C-ville and I screamed MEGA-LOUD for that, to which the whole crowd looked my way and Will stated, "You don't know where that is!"  My friends and I were all laughing because of all the people he could have said that too... homeboy was WAY off!  Haha... I started yelling, "It's my hometown!," but knew he wouldn't hear me, and it didn't matter to me if he did.  Haha!  I just kept thinking, "All I'd have to say is 'Bodo's Bagels,' 'Christian's Pizza' or 'Monticello' for him to know I'm from there."  Haha!  It was just kinda funny...

Singing "What I Know" - AMAZING! His voice, you can tell, was a little shot, but I give them MAD props for pushing through and for doing an unplanned encore after the crowd was screaming for it - it's the only time I've seen a band come back out AFTER the house-music went up!

The concert was fantastic and I got to see SO many friends, while supporting a great cause!  It was a perfect, summer evening...

The very next day I met up with my old flat-mate from London, Erika, and her sister to head into SLC for the He Is We concert.  I was a bit appreehensive about going bcause I had heard they weren't very good live and the YouTube videos didn't instill confidence in the vocal abilities either.  However, tickets were cheap and I wanted to see Erika, so I went!

 

They were actually pretty good live!  It wasn't the best concert I've ever been too, and the main girl wasn't amazing, but she was pretty spot-on.  I like it a lot... AND, the bass guitarist (in blue) was QUITE attractive.... I was diggin' on him.  Haha... Also, I loved the first guy that opened for them!  His name is Andrew Allen and he was like a Canadian Ryan Cabrera (whom I adore), so that was a nice little bonus.  Haha!

Now, I tackle Stadium of Fire this week, and that is going to be INTENSE I feel... It'll be a good learning experience, but this year especially, it'll be a lot of work for me.  I'm excited!  Anyone going to hit up SoF this next Saturday???

*muah*

Song of the Day:  I know I posted a song from each concert already above, but I wanted to post a song from this Andrew Allen guy I saw on Friday... I debated between this song and one called "Tears in My Eyes," which I love, but it came down to this song having a music video.  Haha!  Here is his song (that I also love) called, "Loving You Tonight."  Enjoy!