5 posts tagged “music”

I know it seems like i'm always just cross-posting Jamie's blogs, but it's because the ones I do, mean a lot to me, and my hopes are that maybe someone will stumble across my blog and find some meaning, too.

Well, here it goes:

My friend Byron says that life is hard for most people, most of the time. He is a very smart guy.

I suppose that hope suggests a need, and it suggests that something has not yet ended. To have hope is to believe for change, to believe for a better ending. I have been thinking a lot about hope because I have reminded lately that I am a person in need of hope.

I believe that pain is universal, which is to say that all of us can relate to pain. We break and don't fix easy. We break in different ways, at different times, for different reasons. We lose things. We get stuck in moments. We are slow to forgive, slow to change, slow to ask for help. We are slow to truly love people.

It is easy to talk about love. Easy to write blogs about it, easy to talk about it on stages. Love, in that setting, is an idea, and ideas make for great conversations - inspiring even. It is another thing entirely to love people. I suppose it's because ideas are more comfortable than actions. It is a much more challenging gig to be a person who loves other people.

Love is a choice. It is an action. It looks like this:
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

It is tempting to write these things as if I always have it all together, as if I am a person without need, a person who cares about pain but is not affected by it. The truth is that I am a person in need, a broken person, a person who fails, often. I have a lot to learn. I have a long way to go.

The last few weeks have been some of the hardest of my life. It has little to do with the tour. The shows, the bands, the crowds, the conversations – all of that is great. The issues are personal and I suppose I'm writing just to say that we're the same, and to share some things I'm learning.

Pain seems to scream. It asks for all of our attention. Pain suggests that we are only broken, that we are only all the things in us that ache. Certainly, we are responsible for our actions but "forgiveness" is a beautiful word. "Change" is a beautiful possibility. "Hope" and "rescue" are important words.

We are a people in need. We need so many different things: Friendship, love, conversation, medicine, encouragement, wisdom, hope. Whatever is broken, whatever your needs are, it's okay to be honest about those things. It's beyond okay, it is essential. Your heart, your life, your mind, these things are golden, priceless. Please be careful with them. And your friends, your family, the people you love, they are golden too. Please be careful with them. Consider your words and actions, the way they affect people.

We've been given dreams and gifts and talents and ideas, and there are people in our lives that we are called to love. Pain would like nothing more than to destroy all of it.

Each of us will have to fight for the things we call important - the things we hope for, the people we love. It will be a different sort of fight, one of patience and prayers, actions and choices and change. It will be a surgery of sorts, and we will need other people to go with us. It may sound difficult but there is much to be hopeful for.

I am learning to love other people, and I am learning to love myself.

Peace to you.
jamie

Things have been pretty hectic with school so it's been a while since my last post, but I'm taking a momentary breather from studying so I figure I'll write in here.

I'm not going to update you all on everything that's happened since the last post, but I will write about something amazing that happened to me on the night of the Anberlin show.  The show was amazing, the crowd was amazing, the energy was amazing, but the most amazing thing of that night happened before I even stepped foot into the pit.

I was sitting on an ottoman by the bar when this tall lanky guy walked up to me and stuck out his arm/hand and said "Hi, I just wanted to come over here and introduce myself. I like your shirt.  I like it in the green."  I looked at him and immediately knew who he was but somehow couldn't get any words out.  "I started that organizatio--" Before he could finish his sentence I blurted out "I know."  I don't know what happened but for one of the few times in my life I was just starstruck, that I was talking to Jamie of TWLOHA.  I knew that they were touring with Anberlin but for some reason it didn't click that he would be there.  Anyway, I told him how much the organization is such an inspiration to me and how it's just so amazing what all of them are doing and he just stood there smiling saying thank you.  We made some small talk for a while and then he said that he had to go change into his TWLOHA shirt because he was going to do a talk right before Anberlin came on stage.  He left and I just sort of sat there in this daze; Sure Jamie's no Ben Gibbard or Adam Brody, but in a sense he really is one of my idols.  I watched him make his speech before Anberlin and it was the first time I had ever heard the story spoken out loud.  Suffice to say, I was almost moved to tears.  The show went on and it was amazing, and then afterwards I went downstairs and Jamie was down there and saw me and we talked for a bit more, and then he introduced to me David (you may know him from the pilot of MTV's engaged and underage) and then I saw his wife, Lauren, who was working the merch table and saw me in the crowd of kids and smiled and said hey! and pointed at my shirt and grinned, and I just laughed and nodded my head.  Before I left I wished Jamie good luck with getting to the 100,000 thousand dollars and he smiled and reached out to shake my hand again but I went in for a hug instead.  Anyway, in light of that monumental night in my life, I bring you all his latest blog that I find fitting for this week...

Hi Guys.

"I'm wearing this tonight."

I remember my friend Jon saying those words. It was a year ago this Friday. We had just opened the first box of TWLOHA shirts. We were in south Florida for a Switchfoot show. Florida Atlantic University. Sold out show. 2500 people. Band Marino opening, on about eight hours notice.

At the time, the shirts were a simple attempt to help a friend. I had ordered a few dozen. No plans of becoming a non-profit organization. It was simply an attempt to tell a story, to share something that felt important, and to invite people into help write the ending.

I smiled as Switchfoot's Jon Foreman took the stage that night, proud to call him both a hero and a friend, and so proud of that new black shirt. Jon mentioned TWLOHA between songs that night. I remember him saying "You can check this out on the internet", and I remember thinking that no one would know where to find it.

The next morning, I checked this MySpace and there were comments from people who had been to the show the night before. There were friend requests and messages, people saying that they had found hope in the story, people saying that this story, and these struggles, were theirs as well. Some said simply "I want to help".

That was a year ago Friday. Amazing to think what has happened since, where the shirts have gone - USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Europe, Ireland, Japan, Costa Rica, Singapore, Phillipines... Amazing to think of the conversations they've sparked. We've heard stories of lives changing, people literally choosing life in those conversations. We've heard stories of people taking first steps to recovery, people finding hope, people helping their friends, people dreaming again...

I don't know the words to describe how much this last year means to me. It has been an amazing journey, so many great things happening, so many surprising doors opening, more every day it seems. I speak for our team in saying that we remain committed to the heart of the matter, to people finding hope and help and inspiration, to friends having honest conversations, the possibility of rescue.

I want to invite you to wear your TWLOHA shirt this Friday, March 30th, as we celebrate one year. Wear your shirt to school or work or wherever you might go... Tell your story... Tell our story. Talk about hope.

Thank you.
Peace to you.
jamie

I'm so proud of how far they've come, and I can't wait to see them spread even more.  So if you're still in the dark about what all of this is, check out their website.  I have to make my own personal disclaimer though, these shirts shouldn't be a way for anyone to jump on the bandwagon because 'all the cool kids are doing it', they aren't the next growing trend, they shouldn't be something you wear just because you've seen one of the band members of your favorite band wearing them. they stand for something so much more than that, and I would hate to see TWLOHA turn into a "fashionable and cause-worthy accessory" just like the livestrong or ONE bracelets did... In the end, people forgot what those bracelets even stood for, and I would hate to see anything like that happen to them. TWLOHA is not a fashion statement and it's not a trend. Sure, you can make the argument that "at least the money is going towards a good cause," but to be honest I think the world would much rather you be spending that money on another organization or cause that you hold close to your heart.  Love is the movement.

hope, faith, love&music.
until next time, readers...

This video almost ties the one below.  Paramore > BSB x 10! <333 them with just tshirts and jeans (not to be confused with me not liking them in their spiffier "emergency" outfits), Josh's singing and screaming, & "Here We Go Again" live breakdowns...all of them--this one, perhaps the most.

If I knew that the show at the Hall of Fame was going to be Josh and Hayley busting' it acoustic, I would have amputated my left leg and sold the rights to my soul to go.  Actually, that's somewhat of an exaggeration (i'd probably only amputate my right pinky toe), but at least the video (which is by far my favorite live recording of any band ever) is enough to keep me minimally happy for the time being, while they're still recording.

Let's be honest; when I heard that the Postal Service was rumored to show up to play Coachella, about 80% of me believed the rumor, because we know, or at least i'm praying, that Death Cab is finally taking a much needed and deserved break from Plans, and Jenny Lewis doesn't seem to have much or anything scheduled for either Rilo Kiley or with the Watson Twins.  On top of that, Coachella is known to always bring some impressive mindblowing bands -- Daft Punk last year and the reunion of Crowded House this year (after a 10 year drop off the face of the planet) to name just two.  So needless to say, I was already trying to plan how I could fly myself home to see them on their respective date, and then fly back to NYC to study for finals.  WELL, anyway the official lineup was released not too long after I read about the rumors and the Postal Service is not playing, which is actually a relief because they were the main reason I would have flown back.  The lineup just isn't that great this year.  Sure on the first day you've got Bjork and Interpol headlining, but i've already seen Interpol play three times (not that I won't catch them again tour this year, but I wouldn't fly back just to see them play Coachella) and as much as it would be a mind-trip to see Bjork live, that's still a pretty weak first day. Then we've got the second day where RHCP and Arcade Fire will be headlining.  How did RHCP become a headliner? The last time I checked, weenie roast and inland invasion are nowhere near the likes of Indio. And i'm happy as balls for Arcade Fire to be headlining, but just two years ago they were about a size 8 font on the lineup, haha.  A lot can change in such a short amount of time I guess.  Tiesto's also headlining but c'mon, Daft Punk >>>>> Tiesto, so i'm not bummed about that either.  On the second day we've also got , Jack's Mannequin and Fountains of Wayne---Wait, WHAT!? I love Jack's Mannequin, but they should be playing something more along the lines of Warped.  As for Fountains of Wayne, like i've said before, I hope they get annihalated by some tumble-weed on their way over to Indio because they do NOT deserve a spot on the bill.  Stacey's Mom is not cutting it for me.  And on the third day we have Rage, Willie Nelson, and Crowded House, but still, someone has to agree with me that that's pretty weak.  Even if we combine all three days and pull out Travis, LCD Soundsystem, Regina Spektor, Arctic Monkeys, Circa Survive, The Decemberists, Kings of Leon, Tapes n' Tapes, Lupe Fiasco, Damien Rice, Kaiser Chiefs, Paul Van Dyk, and all the headliners... it's still not an impresive lineup.  I think what's happening now is that the exec.'s behind Coachella are trying too hard to make the festival even more "popular" than it was before; I should've guessed that after the appearance of both Common and Kanye West last year.  Well, I guess they're doing a good job because KROQ sent me a code to get "pre-sale" tickets for Coachella a week before the general tickets went on sale.  All I could think was WHY ON EARTH WOULD I EVER NEED ONE OF THOSE.  We used to be able to get tickets the day before Coachella.  Now I hear they're almost SOLD OUT.  KROQ's making such a big deal out of it, and we all know it's because of RHCP and Rage. It would still be nice though, just to see the look on the faces of the tools who drive all the way out to Indio, nearly die from heat exhaustion and dehydration, and end up realizing that they'll only catch either band playing a 45 minutes slot.  Regardless, It's just sad when something as epic as Coachella dumbs itself down to the wrath of KROQ.  Coachella was amazing for what it was before--it didn't need an addition of country acts or "pop-punk/rock" bands to get a bigger fanbase.  Coachella, I love you to pieces, but I regret to inform you that I will not be going this year to share the desert heat and Tesla Coil with you.