Risk Tickets

When I was down in Florida, I had the opportunity to see and hear the band Switchfoot who have one foot in the Christian market and one foot out there in Pop Culture. Surfing Evangelical U.S.A. I first became aware that Switchfoot was going to be playing in Tampa the same time I was in the vicinity visiting my Madre in Sarasota down the road. The fates smiled upon me. The iPhone app Bandsintown made me aware of the overlap.

There was a snag. The tix were free but one had to go to a ticket drop at local establishments in order to score a pair. I was heading in the opposite direction to Key West on the day of the drops so I sent an email to the promotions manager at the sponsoring radio station a week before inquiring how I could score the tickets. No reply. I know it was the holidays but seven days to reply should be enough time. I had started to waffle about going to the show until the day of where I was about 50/50 about making an attempt to go to the show.

My mom suggested I call the radio station. How quaint. Actually call on the phone. Outside of my job, the only time I talk on the phone is with my Dad. We can shoot the breeze for hours. Otherwise, the phone is equivalent of the horse-and-buggy. Outmoded communication transportation. I have never been a phone person. Not my dealio. I decided to ring the radio station and the admin assistant said that tickets were available but that she would only be womanning her desk until 5:30. It was 4:25. Google Maps stated that it was an hour to the station. I hopped in my Ford compact car and motored to St. Petersburg and made it with 5 minutes to spare. I was a bit stressed but the whole adventure was hardly life and death so I had already accepted that I may not make it in time.

  

Score! I next went to the Facebook Event page for the concert and clicked "Get Directions" from the iPhone. Bad move. The directions took me to downtown Tampa when the concert was actually close to the radio station at St. Petersburg. I quietly gave thanks that I didn't have a significant other bitching at me that I should have double-checked the directions for veracity. I had plenty of time, gas, and pedal, to get to the show on-time. Plus, I got to see some beautiful scenery of the Florida coast up from St. Pete to Tampa and back to St. Pete. There is something to be said for being single again. I forgive myself pretty easily.

I arrived in St. Pete close to the venue and got in line and rapped with fellow concert-goers. I can generally converse with almost anyone, but one of the my fellow line-waiters was one of the those young guys that just talks and acts like a piggy. No worries. It was a line for block and blocks. I was somewhere in the middle and we waited for about an hour for the gates to open. I suppose free shows can build an audience significantly.

 

Once we got inside the venue, I was amazed that it was a stage surrounded by residential buildings. Like those who live close to Wrigley Stadium. How cool would it be to catch a show from one's bedroom? As long as the band was decent and it wasn't Monday night, I would be all for a front-row bed. It was one of the coolest places I ever saw a show. I have to say it was magical to be outside in late December in short sleeves and shorts.

 

           

 

The place was called "Jannus Live" and the lead singer from Switchfoot commented when they hit the stage that it was little having their own Little League Stadium....

 



 

 

The opening band was great. Goodnight Neverland was their name. I read up on the band and learned that the lead singer had recently lost his mom and that changed the direction and intention of the band. They did have something special and I connected with them on Facebook and invited them up North to Lancaster to play a show. I know people. What make places cool is not the place really. It is the people. And Lancaster, Pa., particularly the city, has some of the coolest, kind, and most creative people around. I think it is actually the Christian ethos that permeates this place. Not a heavy-handed fundamentalism but people who take faith, love, and creativity seriously. I can't diss' this place. It is my home and it has been good to me. You can keep D.C., NYC, and Philly. I love to visit these places but wouldn't want to actually live there.  I am from the Philly Metro area so it is not like I don't know better. I was in Philly at least once a week for ten years while earning my Ph.D. 

 

The in-between band was one of those hard-partier Southern Deep Fried outfits with all kinds of crude yet pseudo clever references to boning girls and getting smashed. The kind of band that most of the young audience really loved, including probably the dude I had waited in the line next to. I just wanted to give the hairy chaps a shave and haircut like when Elvis went into the Army. I found the whole performance rather painful and juvenile. Made me wonder how a talented band like Switchfoot got married to them. It was rather nauseating.

 

Here are the boys from SF.... 

 



 

Switchfoot, coming off a world tour, gave a highly-energetic performance. No lounge-lizard crap. They were sweaty and were sinewy, revealing that they give it up night in and night out...I could also see their surfer skills manifest themselves in interesting ways like jumping off of high places and having extraordinary balance.    

 

The three band show was sponsored by Shock Top (Budweiser) and it made me ponder whether it was a good thing for Switchfoot to be allied to a corporation and scene dedicated to drinking one's fill and fulfilling hormonal urges. I don't think it is fair to expect Switchfoot to have to be sponsored by the Billy Graham Association or anything like that, but I did think that a band espousing a Christian-worldview might want to be a little more reticent about such an association. But who I am I to talk, a beer-lover and someone who rode the Bud Clydesdale horses into a free show.  Just kind of ambivalent about it.

 

I assuaged my guilty-conscience with one of the Shock Top nasty brews. Truly punishment enough. A pernicious combination of sugar, apple cider, alcohol, and carbonation. A girlie beer for sure... 

                

 

Speaking of girlies, a couple of Chicas behind me I guess were flirting with me. I suppose scratching my back side meant something amorous. I have never been much of a player so I just looked back with a glance essentially pleading with them to just stop. I am fifty years old for heavens sake. Not that I look it. I dress like a kid and am decently fit, so I could probably pass for thirty-something in some circles, especially when alcohol impairment is factored into the equation.

 

Switchfoot was tremendous. I surmise most of the crowd missed the spiritual references at the time but I hoped that some would go back later and perhaps explore more of the band's releases--9 albums and a film about surfing worldwide. There is a lot of deep waters and waves in Switchfoot songs that go well beneath the superficial surface. For those who have ears to hear I suppose...

 

Here are just some general observations, large and small about the experience:

 

1) Little risks teach us about bigger risks. There was one certain way to ensure that I would not see Switchfoot play. That would have been to stay at my Mom's house. I decided that I was cool with not getting to the radio station on-time. Counting the costs often has a lot more to do with accepting potential conclusions, whatever they are, ahead of time. We may not know what all the consequences will be but do your best and let God take care of the rest. 

 

2) Enjoying the journey. It is a much over-used cliché to say that it is important to enjoy the journey rather than the destination. It is actually both. It is true that many invest so much in the destination that miracles pass-by unawares and they arrive in such a way as to have missed 50% of the fun. It is messy getting where you want to be. If you don't embrace it, that is like throwing out half of the sandwich. Eat all the experience.  

 

3)  Talented bands like Switchfoot are in a terrible bind. I know that they take their faith seriously and if they go off preaching Jesus too vociferously from the stage, they will soon be relegated back to only playing for teeny-boppers at Christian music festivals where the bands act like cheerleaders for Jesus. Having a beer conglomerate sponsor the show might raise some eyebrows but I want to give them the benefit of the doubt that they used discernment about what they decided to do and why. When I listened to the lyrics of their songs like "The Shores of Babylon" there was a lot of truth being communicated. So what if the words were set to music and rather than just spoken. Music warms ears that otherwise would be shuttered like windows on cold winter days. 

 

4) These days, with Google Maps and all of the technology resources we have at our finger-tips, it makes embracing new experiences much more possible. It is a big and interesting world and in order to find your place in it, you must get outside of the box--like a puzzle piece and connect with larger experiences. Since I have a very poor sense of direction, such GPS interventions are necessary. Before GPS, I would dread going to new places. Take a step back every so often and appreciate what technology has allowed us to do and don't take it for granted. I think one of the greatest sins of the soul is ingratitude.

 

5) It is OK to be alone. Too often we buy into the lie of the culture that in order to have an entirely meaningful experiences it is mandated that we have others with us. I don't buy that. We can enjoy an experience alone. There are trade-offs in life for everything and I mean everything. Like I mentioned previously, when I am by myself I don't have to apologize and berate myself for screwing up for following bad directions. I get stressed when others' expectations begin to impede on my ability to accept myself, flaws and all. Ultimately, we are meant to live in community yet taking forays alone outside of one's circles is healthy and not abnormal. If I had demanded that I have company on my Florida vacation, I would have missed more than half of the very cool experiences I had. I am social enough that I can typically connect with anyone and anywhere.

 

6) There is a whole generation that is quite literally missing the Gospel. I mourn that there are young adults whose lives revolve around the party scene and Friday/Saturday nights. That is, until they get married and live really boring and narrow lives. As Switchfoot sings, "We were meant to live for more than this and we want more than what this world has to offer." It perplexes me how to reach them, it really does. 

 

7) God is the giver of all good gifts. The Switchfoot show was beautiful. And I thank the Lord of Heaven and Earth for letting me be a small part of it in St. Petersburg on 12/27/13.