Slipping in, in the dark, missing the mark

Last night I went to c2g and listened to the North River Agents. They were alright. Americana music - which I like. Pretty good bass player (huge guy), the singer and drummer were good enough, the banjo player added quite nicely, an awesome viola player (at least I think it was a viola. it played like a violin but was a little bigger. man, he could rock. it added so much to their sound), and the lead guitarist got a really sweet sound out of his strat. It kinda reminded me of Mark Knopfler a bit. They just played an hour, and their last song was like 18 minutes long. "Carnival." It was good. I just closed my eyes and tilted my head back.

I love going to c2g on Monday nights. I went alone last night 'cause Jane had women's group, and it was nice. I think what I like best about it is the darkness. After walking into a regular lit entry hallway, once you get to the big room it is all black, and very little light other than the stage lighting. So I just cruised into a seat at a back table and felt good and relaxed.

I really think churches could learn something here. And I realize that church is ultimately about 'community', but I think it's difficult for people to break into those communities. We need to provide more places for people to "sneak in." Because, you know, sometimes we don't want to just be right out there in the open with all of our sin and hurt and heartache and all. It would be nice to have a place to 'crawl' to Jesus... to hang at his feet... let our tears fall on his toes...

Anyway, it was sort of a 'missing the mark' night. On the way I heard Chris Rea's "The Road to Hell" - and I always think that's Mark Knopfler. I love that song, though I wish the radio station hadn't cut off the blazing guitar solo. But they followed it with another song I love: "We Were Only Freshmen" by The Verve Pipe. And then the NRA guitarist had this sorta Knopfler-esque sound... so I thought a lot about Mark and Dire Straits and all.

Did you know Mark Knopfler was left-handed, but played his guitar right handed. That is perhaps why he was so good at finger picking. Other tidbits: "Money For Nothing" was the first video ever played on MTV in Britain. And he did the soundtrack for the extraordinarily awesome movie "The Princess Bride."