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Mel's Procrastination Palace
Saturday, February 11, 2006 Kickstart



A week ago, my husband and I joked around with the idea of going to the Collective Soul concert in Chicago. They've always been a band I liked--since at least the Shine days, but somehow I never had purchased their CD (I've bought myself MAYBE 5 CD's in the last decade, so this isn't surprising). If you want the truth, I hadn't noticed they'd been "missing" from the radio scene until I heard Better Now and dammit, I *knew* that voice!!!!!!!

Just after that, my husband called me into the living room to watch the second half of the concert they did (that was broadcast on cable) with the Atlanta Youth Orchestra. Even watching them on TV made me feel...energized. I knew I had found one of those "bands" I'd easily name one of my favorites for a long time to come--the combination of sound (gahd, I love Ed's voice), lyrics and emotion in their style hits my chord, if you know what I mean!

So, back to the tickets... [yeah, Angie, I hear you asking, "tangential much?"]. I found out they were free, and to get them, you more or less had to BE in Chicago. The online option seemed like it'd be impossible, simply because it was 1st 400 people. Okaaaaaay. The hubby even stayed up til after midnight but couldn't figure out what he was supposed to do. I considered the tickets gone. Ah well, that's okay. Another time.

But then I saw the online option wasn't "closed" yet. Hmmm, so I tried it, just for fun. Didn't get a response, nothing, nothing... Tuesday, DH goes home at lunch, and while he's there, DHL delivers. Yes, that's right, tickets to Collective Soul.
*did you hear the big thud? That was me. I.was.going.to.see.them!!!!)
Yeah, I get a bit fangirly. Why not, it's fun!
The show rocked. I couldn't have imagined it would be so...inspiring. Energizing. I'm not "so" into music--usually the only time I hear music is in the car, so yes, that surprises me. We had kick ass seats, and then toward the end, I went up toward the stage and got to stand just in front of the first row. There were still bodies at least 12 deep to get to the stage, but I was right there. The drums and bass thumped in my chest and I could SEE the light in the eyes of the guitarist and singer, Ed. Just like everyone around me, I raised my hands, jumped up and down (cuz we were packed so tight there was no side to side dancing thing... up and down, that was it...lol) and we screamed out the lyrics as Ed sang them.

And as he was up there, I thought. Here's a guy (okay, group of guys) who's just like me, or anyone else with a dream. He practiced, he planned, he wrote, played, probably got shot down a few times before finding success. Even then, he had to continue to write/sing/develop, work at perfecting those songs, deal with the crap life threw at him while maintaining a professional persona just to stay on top.

I don't see other people's success as something I'm envious of (okay, maybe just a little, but they earned it--I haven't yet)... I see it as inspiring. Thanks Ed and gang from Collective Soul, for giving this little author a kickstart. Now I'm outta here.. I've got a book to write, pitch and SELL!

Posted by Melani Blazer :: 1:06 PM :: 1 comments

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