When Andy Osenga’s The Morning came out two and a half years ago (to much fanfare on this blog) I would not have predicted that New Beginning would become the signature track off the record. Early In The Morning would’ve been my bet, with then either House of Mirrors or Marilyn next on my list.
Thirty months later, though, New Beginning has become the most durable track, evidenced by, if nothing else, the fact that Andy is performing it almost every night this year on the Behold the Lamb Christmas tour.
The bridge of the song still gets me every time:
I can feel a prayer rising
And I don’t even know the words
Still the groaning is the postage
And it will not be returned
Though we’re living in this rubble
Of our reckless plans and games
We are reaching for the promise
That we will not stay the same…
Thanks, Andy, for a great song.
OK, so I’m biased a little bit. I really like Andy Osenga’s music. I run his fan website. I drive for hours to see the guy play shows. But all that aside, yesterday Andy put out Letters to the Editor, Vol. 2, and it’s definitely worth a listen. Or multiple listens.
As the “Vol. 2″ would indicate, this is the second in what I hope will be a long-running series of EPs from Andy based on inspiration sent in by his fans. His fans are all over this album, really – in addition to the song ideas, they submitted pictures, which he uses in an extensive “album liner” PDF file, and recorded “Webground” vocals and instrumentals, which he mixed into one of the songs. (I am kicking myself that I didn’t find time to record my own Webgrounds. Next time.)
And the best thing: it’s free. That’s right. Click on the picture below and you can download the 6-song EP gratis. If you like it, head over to his site and donate something to the cause.
So back in my Caedmon’s concert post, Daniel commented that he found the length of that road trip to see a concert “insane”. Being the nerd that I am, I decided an “equation of insanity” would be appropriate. (Geof’s equation of motivation was an additional piece of inspiration.)
So, without further ado, the equation:
I = (d+t)/qL
Where
I = relative insanity of the trip
d = distance traveled to the concert
t = time that trip took
q = quality of the artist you are going to see
L = length of the concert.
Of course the tricky thing here is that the q value will vary between persons, so just because you think my trip is insane doesn’t mean that I will agree with you. Also, by including not only the distance of the trip but also its’ duration, trips like Geof’s planned flight to Philly aren’t as insane as if he were to, say, drive to Philly.
There’s also the issue of theoretical insanity versus actual insanity. For instance, my trip to see Andy O’s The Morning release show theoretically should be much more insane because of the distance to Nashville, but in actuality the concert was so awesome that the real insanity level was much lower.
Note to Becky, my Mom, etc: Yes, this really just means that I am a huge nerd. Not exactly a revelation. 
The lengths I will go to hear a concert? Well, this weekend the length was 300 miles, each way. Lincoln, Nebraska ends up being, with short stops, about a five-hour drive. Well worth it to see Caedmon’s Call in concert again. First I should extend thanks to my mom for coming down to watch the girls for a couple of days. They had lots and lots of fun with Grandma, and it was sure a blessing for Becky and I to be able to get away.
Three hundred miles to Lincoln on Friday morning was broken up with P. F. Chang’s for lunch in Des Moines. It ended up being a good thing we ate a big lunch, because we never did get supper eaten, unless you count the McDonalds cheeseburgers we picked up from the drive thru around 11 pm while on our way to see Andy Osenga’s post-show set. After checking into our motel (very decent for the price), we headed down to the church where they were playing to hang out, take pictures, and watch the sound check. Everything was running late enough that once sound check was over it was almost time for the doors to open… so we ended up just staying there the whole night. Between Derek Webb, Caedmon’s, and Andy Osenga, the concert went a full three hours. Lots of fun. I’ve written up a full review with pictures over on caedmonscall.net.
After the Caedmon’s show, we trekked over a couple miles to Grace Chapel (a little PCA church in a neat old church building) where Andy Osenga did another half-dozen solo songs. It was fully midnight by the time that was over, and then we were headed back to the other side of Lincoln to our hotel. What a day.
The drive back home was rather uneventful, unless you count seeing multiple cars sliding off the road (not already in the ditch, but actually actively sliding into the ditch) as eventful. Made it home in one piece. Took most of Sunday to catch up on rest. In the end we drove about 750 miles for the weekend. Now, I’ve driven further to see concerts, and have seen better concerts, but overall it was great to hear Caedmon’s again, to be able to take Becky along (her first Caedmon’s show!) and to have a weekend out.
Well at least half of you who read this blog are already listening to this album, but I should still note that Caedmon’s Call released their 15th album yesterday, entitled Overdressed. It marks the return of Derek Webb as a contributor to Caedmon’s, though whether he’s actually considered a “member” of the band is fuzzy to me at the moment… the word “contributor” has been used more, I think.
Christianity Today gave this album 5 out of 5 stars yesterday, and it deserves them. Good solid music and songwriting all the way around. My man Andy Osenga had a lot of influence on this album, and it’s better off for it.
If you’re interested in Overdressed, you can check out the info over on the cc.net Song Vault. Also, Bryan Allain has been doing some amazing liveblogging from the past few days and there are multiple videos, pictures, and inside info on songs available on CaedmonsCall.net. Go check it out. You can buy the album from their online store, too. I don’t think it’s available on iTunes yet, but it should be shortly.
So the iPod case that I mentioned yesterday still hadn’t shipped as of yesterday mid-morning. I was kinda disappointed – should it really take at least two days to send a single item? Ah well, so I went to my backup plan. Sent an email to Tony in Seattle who just happens to work at a Mac store. He was kind enough to offer to get me a case and ship it post-haste. By last night I had a UPS tracking number, and by tomorrow I should have the case, well in time for my trip to Florida next week. Woohoo! And thanks, Tony.
Last night late, then, I had a nice chat and recorded and interview with Andy Osenga. The interview has some audio issues and will require some post-production; I’ll probably post it next week on andrewosenga.net. If you visit ao.net now, though, you’ll find some info that might excite you if you are a fan of Andy’s old band, The Normals. It was good to just chat with Andy and get an update. I’ll have to do it again sometime soon.
So, yeah… it’s good to know people.
I feel like I’ve been in it for a few days already, but I know there’s still more to come this week.
Friday afternoon I drove four hours to Omaha to see Andy Osenga in concert at a little place called The Foundry. It was a great show, fun to see Andy again and visit. There was a 7:00 Saturday morning elder meeting scheduled at church, so I had to turn around and head back home right after the show. What I did learn from that experience was that the right combination of diet pop, sweet tea, Red Bull, and candy will keep me wide awake on a four-hour drive in the middle of the night. Good to know.
Saturday was the aforementioned meeting and then time at home to catch up a bit – cleaning, spending time with the family, watching some of the Final Four on TV. Also watched a pretty cool SciFi channel miniseries that I’d TiVo’d back in December called The Lost Room. Becky even enjoyed it. Good stuff.
Sunday morning I led music for both services, then we had an afternoon elder meeting, then the church’s annual meeting in the evening. Thank the Lord most of that stuff is done with for now.
Now it’s Monday morning, and I’ll be at work for a few hours before heading home, eating lunch with the family, and then flying out to Salt Lake City for a quick trip for work. I’ll be back home on Wednesday night.
Friday morning I get off work (Good Friday) and so we are taking the girls up to my folks’ place for the weekend. The girls will have fun seeing Grandma and Grandpa again. By the time I get back home on Sunday night, well, I’ll be ready to be home for a while.
Welcome to the Whirlwind. It’s a wild ride.
It seems like I always need a project of some sort to work on… so today I assigned myself another one. After checking out Geof’s fantastic update to derekwebb.net, I checked and realized that andrewosenga.net was available and hey, AO needs a good fan website.
So I snagged the domain name and I figure that I’ve got a business trip coming up where I’ll have a bunch of time to do design, when I’m not out walking around Washington.
It seems like I always need a project of some sort to work on… so today I assigned myself another one. After checking out Geof’s fantastic update to derekwebb.net, I checked and realized that andrewosenga.net was available and hey, AO needs a good fan website.
So I snagged the domain name and I figure that I’ve got a business trip coming up where I’ll have a bunch of time to do design, when I’m not out walking around Washington.