Too many things to mention from one of my best weekends in Washington. Timber! Outdoor Music Festival was this weekend, featuring an array of talent from the Pacific Northwest. There were some amazing folks I've seen a few times before like Ivan & Alyosha, Lemolo, and my favorite Seattle songwriter, Noah Gundersen, and some other great performers I hadn't seen before like Bryan John Appleby, Hobosexual, and Fruit Bats. The most pleasant of surprises was Vikesh Kapoor, who I expect to see more in the near future, including August 13 at Fremont Abbey.
I could honestly write a whole lengthy blog about this amazing weekend, but the One Awesome Thing I want to address today is people's stories. Listening to dynamic songwriters this weekend reminded me that there are plenty of stories to tell.
Everyone has grown up in a different place with unique parents and a variety of rituals and traditions. Listening to Noah Gundersen sing about Jesus, wondering what his thoughts are today, what they were a year ago, and what they will be in ten years is what makes music transcendent. I wonder who was "Easy to Love" for someone in Ivan & Alyosha or who's been off and on for Megan or Kendra from Lemolo.
Stories are what songs are composed of. Without the people living those stories, there would be no story to tell.
We all have our own story. Looking around Timber or the Mariners or Sounders games this weekend, I could only wonder what everyone's story was. Seeing wedding rings on some artists fingers and wondering if they'd told their wives they love them that day. Seeing college-age kids and wondering what other nonsense they'd get into this summer before classes start again. Wondering what brokenness might be temporarily mended by the words Eric D. Johnson or Bryan John Appleby.
This weekend, my story was of a celebration of life celebrated with people whom I care for in a time of my life I'm sure to look back on with thankfulness for the fullness I've experienced.
This is really great and it's so interesting that you should post it because on my hunt for coffee at the stadium last night, I looked at the faces of all the people I passed and said, "Do you ever look around at so many people gathered in one place and think, 'every one of these people has a family and a different situation and there are just so many people in this world'?" So this is timely and beautiful!
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