4000 words deserves a break

Finished my first draft of the sermon for 8/2 and the word count showed me at 4,100 words spread over 12 pages. No doubt this will shrink. Has to! Still, after that brain dump, I needed a break!
So I went out to share An Evening with The Old 97s. Yeah, that's how it was billed. Like it was an intimate gathering in a small club, where the artists were going to let their guard down and be real personal.

Um.. it was at First Avenue, not a place known for its intimacy,




unless you mean the loss of personal space that happens on the main floor when everyone packs in there. Except last night it was pretty spacious. The crowd was thin, and it could have been intimate.. but it was really just a normal concert.

But I did get better views of the stage than I ever have before.



I was right down front for a while. During the pre-show period, the club drops a movie screen down from the ceiling and shows random movies. And I mean really random. From 1930's cartoons, to Nazi propaganda, to this week's feature: Batman & Robin, the 60s version.




Silly as this was, and fun to watch, it was also a lovely summer evening and people were outdoors as long as possible, having dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe across the street,



or hanging out on the street waiting for a band to start. So I did, too. After all, I did see Batman & Robin the first time around.. when it was a new release. ;)

And while I was out roaming around, enjoying the weather, I spotted an interesting looking metal structure on the outside of an old brick warehouse building.



Turns out it was a fire escape, but a circular staircase one. Never seen that kind of fire escape before. It was kind of cool looking.



But eventually I heard music and worked my way back in to find Murray Hammond, the bassplayer for the Old 97s, channelling A.P. Carter and the Carter family, celebrating roots music, playing some kind of contraption that looked like a tabletop accordion. Hm. Not exactly what I expected from the evening, but an interesting night just the same, and a needed break from sermonizing.