Florence + The Machine sings with Hospice Austin teen

Published on May 20, 2016
Today we were privileged to witness the clear joy of a room full of teenagers singing with Florence Welch and guitarist Rob Ackroyd from Florence and The Machine who came to Hospice Austin’s Christopher House to give a private concert to a teen who missed her concert last night due to her illness. The room was full; full of joy and warmth and love and life and singing. Thank you, Florence!

 

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Monday’s Bag of Randomness

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  • Some neighborhood friends invited us to attend Main Street Fest in Grapevine on Saturday.
    • I’m not a social person and feel very uncomfortable doing these sort of things. Most of the time as an event or engagement nears, I try to think up of an excuse to cancel, but I followed through with my commitment this time.
    • We parked at First Baptist Church Grapevine, which is right next to the festival. They were charging $5 to park to raise funds for their youth group. I had no problem with that and thought it was a great idea and use of their facility. In other Baptist related news, we parked near someone with Hardin-Simmons connections who decided to risk getting a parking violation. Way to represent.
    • As an entire group, we ate on the patio at Esparza’s before entering the festival. The girls teased me about butt dialing one of them at bedtime right after I took an Ambien and having a conversation that lasted almost an hour, one which I can’t recall any detail. After we paid for our meal, one of our male friends scooted back in his chair and the leg broke. He fell back looking like he was drunk and hitting his head on a table. No injuries and no potential lawsuits, but we all had a good laugh.
    • Once we entered the festival I heard U2 playing, as if the band was actually playing live. As luck would have it, a U2 tribute band was booked for the event, The Joshua Tree, all the way from the Irish capital of . . . . Los Angeles. All band members dressed as their counterparts and even mimic body movements. Heck, WifeGeeding melted my heart when she said the bass player was standing just like Adam Clayton. I had no idea she knew all the band members’ names. The lead singer even went into the crowd as Bono would. Here are some pics of the band – Pic1, Pic2, Pic3
    • Our friends only know me as the reserved quiet one, usually just sitting in the corner observing everyone else. But they saw me throw caution to the wind and literally do an over-exaggerative high skip all the way from the festival gate to the concert stage and act like a caffeinated squirrel. After the concert, they all said they never knew that side of me existed. Hey, few things set my soul and heart on fire than U2
    • It was such a great setting. The concert was outside, the weather was great, and you could feel the music. “Even better than the real thing”? I didn’t think so, but they were a very good tribute/cover band and many said if they only heard them and not seen them, they would have thought they were the real thing. It was also great that many in the crowd were genuine U2 fans, singing along to songs and many, with liquid courage, dancing near the stage.
    • There are video and pictures of me really coming of out of my shell, which at a minimum includes me making out with WifeGeeding during certain slow songs, dancing with her and other women, pretending I’m an airplane flying down the aisle in front of the stage high-fiving strangers, and singing along to the top of my lungs as if I didn’t have a care in the world. And at that time, I didn’t. To be honest, I’ve been stuck in the doldrums for the last week and couldn’t put a finger on why. This was just what the doctor ordered.
  • When we got home I just couldn’t sleep and watched all of ‘Saturday Night Live’ and HBO’s adaptation of ‘All The Way’ with Bryan Cranston as LBJ.
    • I had my expectations set way too high for this movie. I love presidential history and have had a bit of a fascination with LBJ. Cranston’s performance was great, but it didn’t blow my socks off, and while the makeup made him look very much like LBJ, the hair plugs were distracting for me.
    • Maybe my impression of LBJ has been wrong all these years. I always felt as president, when he walked in a room, he had this commanding presence and people were intimidated. I didn’t get that Cranston’s performance and story.
    • I’ve been trying to find information on LBJ’s daughters and what they thought of the film. They have been at events for the film, but I haven’t been able to find any quotes from them.
    • I really was impressed with the supporting cast. I feel like Frank Langella is often overlooked but he always brings a solid performance, and he’s a bit typecast as an immoral politician. Bradly Whitford’s performance was surprising to me, I didn’t think he could deliver, and Anthony Mackie certainly delivered as MLK, he was exceptional. Melissa Leo was a very solid Lady Bird (always loved that name) and Stephen Root as Hoover continues to prove he is more than just a guy obsessed with a red stapler.
    • I did like how the film made sure to mention the faults of both MLK and LBJ, infidelities and all.
    • In a few scenes where LBJ was wearing pajamas, Cranston looked very much like my father that it weirded me out.
  • “I think it is one of the tragedies of our nation, one of the shameful
    tragedies, that eleven o’clock on Sunday morning is one of the most segregated
    hours, if not the most segregated hours, in Christian America.” MLK on ‘Meet The Press’

    • I’m glad I stayed up past three in the morning to watch ‘All The Way’ as it got me in the right frame of mind for our special worship service at church. A neighboring black church was invited and they lead our church in praise and worship (or song or praise, whatever you prefer) and their pastor delivered the sermon. It was certainly a culture change as our church isn’t used to their energy, music, praise dancers, and many other things.
    • After the opening song, you could tell there was a lot of energy and joy in the room. It appeared everyone was having a good time. The worship leader asked us to welcome and greet those around us. One person next to me is a senior that served as a deacon with me. She’s a quirky one, very healthy and fit, and never shakes hands in fear of germs. She looked at me and said, “I HATE this.” It floored me, and to be honest, I was really disappointed in her. I can’t recall the last time I was that disappointed in someone I personally knew. While I’m not exactly sure the reason for her comment, I simply yet gently told her, “You know, ‘hate’ is a really strong word.” I think my words sunk it, as she nodded in agreement, gulped, looked me in the eye, and said, “You’re right,” and then looked at the ground. But no matter what, she continued to be uncomfortable and left after the next song.
    • I’ve mentioned this before, but I do what I can to avoid the word “hate” because it’s too strong of a word, no matter if it’s used as a joke or talking sports or whatever. I curse like a sailor and my friends now I’m pretty darn vulgar, but “hate” is just one word I do my best not to use. Go ahead and fact-check me on this blog. For the most part, I’ve avoided direct use of the word. Sure, it’s used a handful of times directly by me, but all other references of the word are used in context of a quote or title reference.
    • During the sermon, the guest pastor asked us to open our Bibles and turn to a particular verse. It was actually an interesting moment, as no one really uses an actual Bible at our church, especially the sermons. Usually, any scripture references are displayed on one of several video monitors. People either dusted off the Bibles located under each seat or used their smartphone.
  • Back on March 18, I tweeted the Star-Telegram and Bud Kennedy that I’d love to read an interview with their photographer who captured the photo of Rougned Odor punching Jose Bautista’s face. I was curious where he was placed, what was he thinking, did he have an idea a fight was about to break out, when did he have his camera at the ready, that sort of stuff. This weekend, a Ryan Bort, a staff writer for Newsweek and a contributor to Esquire, replied to my tweet with an interview he conducted with the photographer – Newsweek – What It’s Like To Have A Picture You Took Become Iconic Overnight
  • Somewhat related since the photographer is interviewed – The True Internet Story Of The Crying Jordan Meme
  • A very cool animated map showing who immigrated to the U.S. from 1820 to 2013.
  • GIF – She’s not going to live down this bowling mishap.
  • There’s a reason it’s so hard to find a therapist who takes insurance
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