Courtney's College Decision

I am very cognizant of the many, many blessings God has bestowed on my life even though I am not very expressive of that publically.  Yesterday was a moment in our lives when I was so aware and thankful yet could not find the words to express my feelings. Not for not wanting, but because of the overwhelming emotions of the day. 

For the last 8 years a large part of our lives have revolved around volleyball. It started with Megan in junior high. Megan was playing club volleyball. Courtney was interested in gymnastics. As we watched Megan practice with her team, Courtney would bounce a ball around the gym uninterested in playing.  In fact, she was opposed to joining a team. Then a person who would change our lives forever entered the scene, Ali Oliver. Courtney’s journey with the sport began as a fluke.

Ali, our club director and frequent coach for the last 8 years, befriended Courtney and got her to join in at practice.  After all, if Courtney was going to hang around week after week, she might as well hang around with a purpose and help out the team and club as well.  She was not on a team.  She did have reluctant fun practicing with the girls.  The team was made up of a group of 14 year olds. Courtney was 10. The day came for Megan’s first tournament.  We only had 7 players.  One had to leave midway through the first set for a family event.  As the second game got underway with our remaining 6 players, an injury happened.  Facing the possibility of forfeiting, Ali turned to Courtney and asked her to play for the rest of the tournament.  Ali quickly found spandex shorts, an extra jersey, kneepads and volleyball shoes for Courtney. Courtney has played volleyball ever since. We owe so much thanks to Ali for her role and development of our daughters.  She is a blessing sent by God to our family.  Our gratitude can never be fully expressed.

The two sisters played alongside of one another until the age differential made it impractical and then reuniting again in high school at Fullerton.  It was a joy to watch them play together over the years.  They are the best of friends and shine together on the court. While Megan chose to end her volleyball career as high school ended. Courtney’s passion for the sport continued to grow. With each new success or challenge on the sport, Courtney grew to love the game even more.  Her desire to continue her volleyball career post high school also grew. 

The college recruiting process has been a blessing and a challenge.  Out of state visits, new experiences, doors open, doors closed. Places and colleges we have never heard of.  It places incredible pressure on a 17 year old with hopes and dreams.  It takes resolve, a great deal of encouragement and support.  Mostly, it takes a great deal of prayer!  Thanks to each of you for your part in this.  There are too many of you to name.  We are hoping you know who you are and how important each of you are to us. 

Over the last few weeks, God has been leading in the process.  Not that He wasn’t with us all the way along but it has certainly seemed even more so over the last month.  A door opened at a school in Angwin, California (we just call it Napa, since nobody knows where Angwin is, St. Helena then turn right and go up the hill).  We had never heard of it.  Nobody had.  Then odd things happened.  An odd article we saw on Facebook from Business Insider Magazine titled “25 Colleges Where Students Are Both Hot And Smart” listed the school as number 2 in the country. It was weird and the timing was strange.  We researched and found that the campus is almost always listed among the most beautiful college campuses in the country.  The academic reputation was strong.  It was the right division to allow for scholarships.  It had the right majors.  We even found out that we are friends with someone who knows and played volleyball with the coach. Best of all, they wanted Courtney to visit, meet the team, talk to the coach and department heads and see if this was the right direction for her. 

The trip was great and it helped her narrow the choices to 3 colleges. The coach was very encouraging and complimentary of Courtney as were the team members.  The financial offer is outstanding and a huge blessing! Another trip yesterday made the path even clearer.  At the end of the day, Courtney verbally committed to play volleyball for and attend Pacific Union College in Napa. 

This week a formal signing ceremony will take place so watch for a very quick invitation to come.  Praise God!

It is still very difficult to put into words what we are feeling.  We are joyous and so very thankful.  Today, we are even giddy in our new P.U.C. sweatshirts.  Our pride towards both of our daughters is as high as ever but today is Courtney’s time.  I am so proud of her!  Her extremely hard work, sacrifice and God’s grace and hand in her life give me so much pause to be thankful today. She is an absolutely beautiful, smart, grounded and Godly young woman.  We are also experiencing surreal feelings of sadness knowing that August 1^st, when she will leave for college is not very far away. 

So again, our sincerest thanks to all of you who have been a part of this walk with us.  Please continue to pray for Courtney!  We are excited to see how this journey continues into the future. 

Maybe it was destined!

Graduation Day

It was great to celebrate with family and friends on December 16, 2011 as I graduated (again) from Biola University with Master of Arts degree in Organizational Leadership with highest honors. It was a surreal experience to end my academic career and walk through a day knowing it is finished. I will greatly miss the weekly interaction with my many friends and professors! It sounds odd to be finished and yet wishing it could somehow continue but it is a very true sentiment.

Graduation Thanks

Today I am reflecting on the men and women who have poured into my life since 2002 when I decided to re-enter the college world at Biola University. First from my undergrad era from 2002-2006 and then during grad school from 2009-through Friday, February 16, 2011. These would include many, many professors, university staff, my cohort groups (Bamboo and Coffee) as well as many other classmates. Then to my North African teammates and hosts who not only were incredible ambassadors but also became the study group for my final project. I have also been blessed with wonderful colleagues at Ev. Free and so many friends the world over who have prayed for, supported and encouraged me. Mostly I am thinking about the love and support of my family who is always a blessing but have also sacrificed both husband and dad to allow this dream to finally come to fruition! Wow! This could not have been accomplished without each of you.

I don’t know if I can tag each of you in Facebook with this note or e-mail those not on FB. So please forgive me for those I miss.

Thank you everyone for your role! M.O.L. Graduation is Friday, December 16, 2011 at Biola University in the gym at 2:00pm. I hope to see many of you then and there. With the busyness of the holiday season, we are delaying a graduation party until January so watch for more info later.

God bless!

Jim

Surgery August 2011

Friends,

Word has been getting out about this so it’s time to share… We have not meant to be secretive but until everything was firmed up we just weren’t ready to share. After months of trials, tests, poking, drugs and even being shocked with a taser, it seems we finally have some answers on the health issue front. The good news is that there is no MS. The not so good news is that the MRI of my neck is not so positive.

My MRI shows multiple levels of significant disc protrusion. At C6/7 it is so severe that it is compressing the spinal cord and is the main cause of all of my symptoms (muscles spasms, weakness, balance issues). At the level above, the C5/6 disc has a right side herniation that is substantial. The level above at C4/5 has a smaller protrusion and herniation. At this point the plan is surgery on August 18th at 8:30am at Kaiser Lakeview.

The goal of surgery is to remove the herniated disc away from the spinal cord so that it is not continually harming the cord. The surgery recommend is a C5/6 and C6/7 anterior cervical discectomy and fusion. They remove the discs, put in a spacer that will graft to the spinal vertebrae, drill down my spinal column and give a little more room for my cord to heal and move and add a titanium plate as well. There is a chance that I’ll need the same treatment at the C4/5 disc as well in the future. The surgery is expected to take 5-6 hours and most patients go home in one to two days. The doctor will give me 6 weeks off but is hopeful I can come back much sooner even in a limited capacity possibly within a few weeks. It's great that I can do a lot from home. The only limitations are no lifting and repetitive movement. At this point, surgery is the only option and is urgent before further damage to the spinal cord becomes permanent and I lose the use of limbs.

Thanks for praying and for continuing to be in prayer!

Prayer requests:


That the neuro-surgeon (Dr. Lin) and hospital staff are wonderful and skilled.

The medication I am on is also making it very difficult to function mentally and dosages are increasing, so for strength, mental focus and stamina over the next month is critical as well as is quick healing, post-surgery.

Sandy and I leave for Europe for 11 days on October 20th. This will be about 9 weeks after surgery. I’m hoping to be healed enough to be pretty active so that we can enjoy this trip of a lifetime. Hopefully I’ll be able to look up when we are in the Sistine Chapel. :)

Thanks for praying!

Jim & Sandy

Megan's Graduating

In February of 2008 I posted comments about the fact that I am getting older and not liking it. With that BLOG was a photo of my oldest daughter Megan with her friend Ashley Chang as they headed off to their first high school dance. It was a bittersweet moment then and even more so today. Today is Megan's last day of high school. She is ready to graduate. I am not ready.

Over the last four years we have watched her grow into a beautiful young woman. We have been absolutely blessed as God has watched over our family and kept us from many of the pitfalls high school students face these days. She has done well academically earning cords from the National Merit Honor Society and the California Scholastic Federation and the "Golden Tassel" award. She has been a 3 year varsity letter-person and co-captain of the Tribe volleyball team advancing to CIF in all three of those years. She has made many lasting friendships with kids we have come to love, appreciate and hope to continue to see for years to come. She has served the community both at her school and locally in many service projects from Grace Works, to the Walk for Life, the Special Olympics & many more. She has served globally, traveling to the Ukraine to teach English at a summer camp. And, she attended her last high school dance with a dear friend and looked beautiful as she drove away.

So, Cal-Poly Pomona her she comes. You are getting some of my best efforts at parenting and certainly loving another. I hope we have done well.

So today I am feeling just a little bit older than four years ago. Not much, but definitely more melancholy. My daughter has grown up. She is now a Godly young woman ready to launch into the world.

CLARK FAMILY CHRISTMAS LETTER 2009

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21)

We ushered in 2009 in 28 degree weather in the snow in Victoria, B.C. Canada, the close of our first family vacation over the Christmas/New Year’s holiday. Victoria may be beautiful but we missed most while it was covered in snow or raining. We enjoyed high tea, outdoor ice skating and fun restful time together.

The spring brought the usual club volleyball for us with our girls continuing to play for Smack Volleyball Club on the 14’s and 16’s team. Megan had the privilege of playing in Colorado in March, while tournaments almost every weekend were the norm all over Southern California. Club brought the opportunity to meet and spend time with both Keri Walsh & Misty May, our volleyball idols. Sandy became the key fundraiser and supporter for the club and did an awesome job.

The spring also brought a return to Biola University for Jim. He has entered a grad school program in organizational leadership. All is going well and he is both enjoying and being challenged by his studies. Maybe he will be done with school by the time Courtney graduates from high school.

Two major milestones were reached as summer approached. Megan earned her driver’s license and the freedom for our whole family that that brings. Courtney graduated the eighth grade and left Calvary Chapel Christian School behind for the challenges of high school.

The summer sent us in many different directions. Jim headed to Morocco for ten days with some of our friends to help observe and encourage new friends there. Megan and Courtney headed to camp at Hume Lake and also to various missions service teams from our church. While the girls were at camp, Jim and Sandy were able to enjoy a week together, reconnecting and enjoying just spending time together. We also enjoyed a family trip to Sedona with a day jaunt to the Grand Canyon. Then a quick trip to the family farm in Iowa by Jim ended the summer.

Early November, Jim and Sandy went on a five-day cruise to Catalina and Ensenada. We had a great time on the cruise with Sandy’s sister, Susan and brother-in-law, Dave and our friends, the Nicholls.

The fall brought new challenges. Back to school for Megan with a very rigorous schedule as a junior. High School as a freshman for Courtney. High School volleyball—both on the varsity team! Their team went to the second round of CIF. Then came the “great flood of ‘09.” On October 15th, we were flooded out of our home for the next six weeks. We are now back in our “new” home with fresh paint, tile, carpet, a new washer and dryer and TV. We are very thankful for friends and family who helped in the process. Sandy is working hard at putting it all back together just right as time permits between work, USC football, volleyball and helping Jim in ministry. It is good to be home.
We are very blessed!

We wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love Jim, Sandy, Megan and Courtney

Coffee & Fellowship

Coffee seems to be one thing that unites friends. In my case, it is no difference. I started drinking coffee when I would go to breakfast with my grandfather. It was bad coffee filled with sugar to make it palatable. But then my friend J.C. moved to Seattle in the early 90's. Soon after my love of Starbucks and coffee was born.

I now meet with two groups of friends every week over coffee. I treasure these times! Add to that the countless times we grab a coffee on a break during the middle of the day and there you have it. Coffee addiction? No, usually I drink decaf.

While on vacation this past week, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Mecca of coffee; the first Starbucks store at Pike Place Market in Seattle, twice! No pastries. They still have bean bins. Just good coffee. It is still the way it was years ago, and is not the new corporate starbucks. Yeah!

Grad School - Biola

It took a while to get this post written. Grad school will be at Biola University in the MOL program. A Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership will be the degree. It will be a great program and quite a challenge. It is very similar to what I was hoping to take at SC. Biola has been a blessing to me. My undergrad was done there with a great group of folks in the Bamboo cohort group as well as two others in the psych program Almond and ?. So this is an update post and a salute to my friends from Biola. The photo is of Bamboo in 2005 on our last night together.

Grad School Bummer

Proverbs 16:9 says “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” (NIV). This morning I am reflecting on this wisdom with a little bit of a sad heart. You see in my human nature, it is sometimes hard to understand when your plan is not His or when He gives you such a strong desire and then changes your path, but that has happened today. The truth of the proverb is real but sometimes that does not make the change in course any less painful.

I have been praying in hopes that I would get accepted to graduate school at USC. After 12 stressful weeks of waiting, the news came last night that I was not accepted. I do not have any further information than is contained in the letter which says not accepted and probably never will. It does come as a bit of a shock after having been invited to orientation, receiving a student number and even receiving some sense from my admissions officer that the decision would be different, but there is not much I can do at this point.

So what’s next? There has always been a “plan B”. Understanding that this was a possibility, I have also applied to the Masters of Organizational Leadership program at Biola University. I am waiting to hear from them now as well with hopes that this is the change in path that the Lord has for me. It would be a blessing to be back at Biola, where I did my undergrad degree and in a program that is led by one of my friends as I do love it there and know that I fully support their mission.

So thank you for your prayers and support. Please keep them up but with a shift in direction. Thanks also in advance for your understanding of me being in a little bit of a funky mood for the next few days while I work through the questioning of why. I am looking forward to seeing what path the Lord has in store next with great trust in Him.

Perks

One of the benefits of having a wonderful wife with a great job is that there are some fantastic perks that go with it.  If you don't know, one of Sandy's jobs is that she is the ticket master for her firm.  She controls a suite at Staples Center (Lakers, Clippers, Kings, Sparks, Avengers, Concerts, etc), court side seats to the Lakers, dugout seats as well as others at Dodger Stadium, two boxes at the Hollywood Bowl, third row seats at the Disney Concert Hall and seats at the Home Depot Center (LA Galaxy aka Beckham, Chivas USA).

Over the years this has meant the opportunity to do some rather fun things.  Groups of friends in a suite for a game or concert, sure.  First choice to buy concert tickets, yep.  But one of the fun things we have gotten to do is the special events for the suite holders/administrators. We've been to a closed Universal Studios, Rod Stewart concert and many, many dinners.  They have all been tremendous blessings and allowed us to do for free what we could never have afforded to do ourselves.

Sandy's run as the ticket master may be coming to a close soon.  We are both sad and glad about this.  Sad that a great perk is coming to and end, glad that she deserves a break from what is probably the most stressful part of her work life.  So it was time to BLOG about it and share a photo from dinner last night.

The dinner was on the floor of the Staples Center.  They boarded over the ice.  Great food and drink.  A chance to shoot some hoops on the Laker's court. A tour of the locker room. Free stuff.   Another great night.  

Teenagers

As of yesterday morning, I became the father of not one, but two teenage girls. Happy birthday to Courtney who turned 13 on September 30th. I am really wondering where the time has gone. Please stop growing up. Love, Dad

Season Ticket Day 2008

From previous posts, you know that we are football people.  Not just football people, Trojan football people.  The Clark family bleeds cardinal.  Every Saturday during the fall you will find us either in front of the TV or in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum watching USC play. We root for our team and whomever is beating UCLA.  You also know that we are very traditional and in this area, tradition is strong.

It starts with season ticket day.  That special day when we arrive home to see the overnight delivery package on our doorstep.  Slowly we rip open the envelope wondering what this years season tickets will look like and where we will be sitting.  This year, we will be sitting in section 14, row 86.  The tickets, well, they look like victory!

When game day arrives, we gear up in our cardinal and gold and load the car.  We head for breakfast at The Pantry in downtown Los Angeles where we dine in a sea of USC football fans.  After breakfast we head to campus, Heritage Hall to be specific.  For my UCLA friends, that's where we keep all of the National Championship and Heisman trophies.  Yes, we need a building for all of them.  We meet my friends, the Freemans at Heritage Hall 2 hours before game time for band warm up and the halftime show run through.  It is moving when the band echos throughout the campus halls as they begin to play "Fight On" and "Conquest."  As the band marches to the alumni quad, we head for the Colesium, the band will catch up and overtake us with the drum cadence pounding.  We follow the band off campus, kicking the lucky flagpole as we go and march ourselves to the stadium.  Once in our seats, we await the bands march to the field and the sound of the "Pre-game Sequence" followed by the "Star Spangled Banner."  The kick-off comes, game on!  When the game is won, we head to the student section for the final band concert, our car and dinner.

We love USC football.  Go Trojans and Fight On!

What a blessing!

It has been an extremely blessed summer for me.  If you have followed my blog, you have watched as for the last five weeks, I have been able to jump around the U.S. doing some fun things.  That is because I am a very blessed man.  I have worked at the First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton for almost nine years now.  I love my job!  It is of course not without its challenges, but I love getting up and going to work and those whom I work with.  As a matter of fact, I have missed my friends for the last five weeks as I have been on sabbatical.  The church has blessed me with five weeks off in which to rest and refresh.  Thank you to our elders for this wonderful gift.

My sabbatical has consisted of a trip to New York, a week camping and surfing in San Diego, scuba diving in Catalina, taking the GRE, a trip to Las Vegas and time with my family.  There has been a lot of reading, reflecting and just hanging out with friends and family. 

Most of the pictures of my time off are already posted on this blog.  Here is a last couple of pics as I get ready to head back to work.

Dive Buddies

In 2005, I was trying to finish college by any means possible.  Well not really by any means, but when you are down to needing only a few units to graduate you start to get creative.  I found myself needing one unit of P.E.  21 years after graduating high school, taking a PE class seemed pretty silly but what are you going to do?  After some research, I found out that something I have always wanted to do, scuba diving, could get me the unit I needed.  So, off to dive class I went.  Megan, then only 12 years old, also loves the water and I was able to talk her into going along.

Megan is the best dive buddy ever!  In class, we learned how to handle every mis-step you can have when diving.  Megan almost drowned me during buddy breathing regulator passing.  She got hit by a rogue wave and lay floundering in the surf at Laguna.  Her tank came off in Catalina.  We have had a lot of laughs.  Watching her try and get a wetsuit on is pretty hilarious too (sorry Megan, I am laughing at you not with you here).  Believe it or not, they actually gave us certification cards.  We actually did pretty well. Megan being only 12 was amazing!

Now even though we don't get a chance to dive very often, we love to dive. On almost any vacation, you will find us underwater at some point. I have dove Cozumel, Maui, Catalina, Shaw's Cove (Laguna Beach) and my favorite, The Big Island of Hawaii.  We hope next year brings diving in Grand Cayman.

The picture is from this past weekend when Meg and I dove off Catalina Island at "Sea Fan Grotto" and "Dynamite Shack".  The diving was only fair.  We saw lots of kelp, garibaldi, blue banded goby, sea stars and urchins and even a very nice lobster.  We had a lot of fun.  No mis-haps this time.

Yankee Stadium Trip Report

As promised, this is the follow-up post on my trip to New York.

Ken and I arrived in Manhattan on Monday, July 28th at about 9:30pm. Flight delays, a confusing air-train map and switch problems on the E subway train along with Joel having problems getting in from Minneapolis through our plans for dinner at Lombardi’s off a little bit. We checked in, and walked: Times Square, Carnegie Hall, The Russian Tea Room, The Plaza, Broadway, etc., etc., etc.

Once again I sing the praises of my iPhone. With the new Google maps app and subway system app, we found everything easily. We were like a walking Apple commercial, mapping, linking to websites, finding hours of operation, etc. When we wanted historical info, there it was. How late is the Carnegie Deli open, we were on it. BTW, the Carnegie deli is open until 4am in case you find yourself needing cheesecake or a sandwich as big as your head at 2:45am in Manhattan.

We did finally connect with Joel on Monday night at about 11:45pm at the Carnegie Deli. You know the Carnegie Deli, the place where $20 buys you a sandwich big enough to feed an entire country in Africa. No joke here, my brisket sandwich was absolutely the biggest I have ever seen. Don’t ask the waiters the difference between matzo and kreplach, they don’t know and we still don’t know. It’s a fun challenge though watching them try to explain. What better to wash it all down with than a trip into Gray’s Papaya at 2am?

Tuesday found us on the town. Breakfast was pizza at Lombardi’s. Excellent! Lombardi’s is in Little Italy and is recognized as the first pizzeria in America. Their over was first lit in 1905 and has made great pizza ever since. The folks there were great, even inviting us to the kitchen for great photos with the cooking staff and a peek into the oven. We walked to Washington Square, through the village, down Mulberry Street, into Chinatown, to Central Park to the Dakota and Strawberry Fields to see the Imagine memorial. We shot up to the Cathedral of St. John the Devine, started in 1822 and still nowhere nearing completion. One interesting note is that there was more reverence at the John Lennon Imagine site that in the cathedral. Then we jumped on the 4 train and headed to the Bronx.

I could sense the excitement building as we rode closer to the stadium. I remember being in NY a few years before and stepping out onto the subway platform only to be turned away by the driving rain. Not this trip. It was sunny, low 80’s, very humid and hundreds of fans all in Navy or pinstripes exited the train with us. We were steps away from the ballpark. From under the subway platform, you could look to the right and see the future, the glistening new stadium, to the left, the cathedral of baseball, the old Yankee Stadium. All along the exterior of the stadium are businesses that cater to the Yankee faithful. Restaurants, bars, souvenir shops, stretch all in a row for a city block. It is a block long tailgate party without the cars as everyone comes to the stadium on the subway; the Yankee faithful united. I bought peanuts and Cracker Jack. I wanted the whole experience as it was intended when the game was invented. We geared up at a local shop and headed into the stadium.
Walking into the stadium I paused and said to Ken, “we are really here.” It was very surreal. We headed to Monument Park only to be denied by a security guard. We were 10 minutes too late. A major disappointment, but we were still inside Yankee Stadium. We were at the home of all of baseball’s greats and arguably one of the greatest sporting venues ever in the United States. It’s not just about the baseball, since 1923 Yankee Stadium has been the representative arena for all sports in America. Gene Tunney & Joe Louis won heavyweight title boxing matches here. Graziano fought here as well as Sugar Ray Robinson. Muhammad Ali fought Ken Norton to defend the title here. This is also where Knute Rockne gave his “win one for the Gipper speech” in 1929. Three Popes held mass here. The baseball stands out however. It is hard to not think that by being here only for a few moments that you were in the words of one of the great players Lou Gehrig “the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”

The Yankees lost to the Orioles 7-6 that night. They came from behind with 5 runs in the bottom of the 8th. We all thought they had them. I say “we all” because at Yankee Stadium, all 57,545 people in attendance are rooting for the Yankees. The new greats were all there: Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon perhaps on their way to World Series title number 27 and immortality in the new monument park. When it was all over, I didn’t want to leave. I took some last shots of the scoreboard to freeze it in time. There were some last photos to capture the memory of my first and last trip ever to Yankee Stadium. It was a memory to last a lifetime. We crowded back on the 4 train to Manhattan. We grabbed a slice at Ray’s to end the night after a long walk around to say goodbye to the New York icons; St. Patrick’s, Prometheus, Central Park, Times Square.

On Wednesday, we got a little bit of a late start. We grabbed a bagel at H & H Bagel Company. New Yorkers call it the best bagels in all of New York City. There is some documentation of that on the walls. We shopped a bit and got on the E to JFK. We missed our flight. Oh well. We grabbed another slice, sat, waited and shared our thoughts about the great trip.

Yankee Stadium

I have great respect for tradition. That respect approaches sentimentality on numerous occasions. Next Monday will be one of those occasions. On Monday, July 28th, I will have the opportunity to travel with friends to New York City. These days, folks call it a "man cation". A vacation for the guys without our wives. The reason for this trip; a pilgrimage to the cathedral of baseball, the house that Ruth built, Yankee Stadium. 2008 is the final season for the original stadium. Sadly, at the end of the season the oldest surviving baseball stadium will be torn down to make way for a new ballpark across the street.

I am not a baseball fan per se, but I do love the tradition of baseball and particularly of the Yankee organization. In this stadium, the greats of baseball are immortalized, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Micky Mantle, Yogi Berra Casey Stengle, Roger Maris and the list goes on and on. There is something about Yankee tradition and the stadium that is exciting to me. So more in another post.

I'll be there for the Orioles vs. Yankees on July 29th with my friend Ken Bascom & his son Joel. Good pizza in Little Italy. Maybe a cannoli. Bust mostly baseball with respect for the tradition.

Boston Concert 2008

At some point in life you go from listening to children’s music to grown up music. The change is drastic and immediate. You put away the old, never to be listened to again and the new takes over. For me, that happened when in the early 70’s listening to AM radio, I first heard the band Boston. It was different from anything else I had heard. Incredible dual guitar riffs split by an octave. Great lyrics with incredibly tight harmonies.

In those days you could by a “45” at the record store for $1 including tax. You’d get two songs; one a hit and one more obscure. My first “45” was of Boston’s song Don’t Look Back the “B side” was the song Party. I brought it home and put it on my record player, closed the door to my room and played it over and over until it was worn out. I would sing along with the great Brad Delp and played air guitar with the genius behind Boston, Tom Scholz. Later, I would even learn to play drums and would always play along.

As I got older 45’s would turn to into albums, albums to eight-tracks, eight-tracks to cassettes, and cassettes to CD’s. Finally, the CD’s have been imported to iTunes and then synced with my iPod and iPhone. Boston is one of the few bands of which I bothered to convert my old stuff into each new music format. I have every “album”. By the very nature of the digital music age, Boston is with me everywhere I go.

As I got older and had the means to go to concerts, I went to see Boston every time they were in Southern California. Places like The Forum, The Greek Theater, The Universal Amphitheater, The Pond and The Pacific Amphitheater were always sold out when Boston came to town. Tom would casually walk onto the stage in his shorts, tank top and knee brace looking like a roadie, pick up a guitar (a Gibson, Les Paul, Gold Top) and start playing the Star Spangled Banner. The show had begun. With everyone already on their feet they would remain there for the next two-plus hours. A confession, on one tour, the band played 3 nights in a row, sold out in three different venues in So Cal, I was at each of three nights. It was awesome. I even got to start taking my kids to see them passing my love of the music on to Megan and Courtney. They rocked along with me. Megan’s favorite song is Peace of Mind; Courtney’s is More Than a Feeling.

Last year when Brad Delp passed away, Boston lost their lead singer. I thought the band was over. Certainly over the years the albums have been sparse. They’ve only put out six albums since 1975. Brads death seemed a final curtain call. Then news that Tom had chosen two new singers and the band would be on the road in the summer of 2008. Of course I would be there. Then a friend of mine, Brian Mayes called. Brian is a PR guy in Nashville. He remembered my love of Boston and said hey, I represent the new lead singer (Michael Sweet) so when they come on tour, you’ve got tickets and I’ll get you in to meet the band. What? I thought they were done, now I had an opportunity to see my favorite band again and meet them backstage. Incredible!

Last night was the night. July 3, 2008, location Del Mar, California. Megan and I were there in row eleven (great seats). Free tickets provided by the lead singer of Boston and backstage passes. We even sat with the Scholz family and we stood for the band and sang along with every song. Thanks to Brian and Michael for making this happen. The concert was great. As a matter of fact, it was better than ever. There is new energy in the band. They played all the favorites as they always do. Kimberly Dahme sand lead on Hitch a Ride, which I have never heard in concert before. When the last bow was taken, we headed backstage for drinks and photos.

The pictures tell the rest of the story. We got to meet each band member and get photos with most. The band was as gracious and friendly as I could hope which endears them even more. We’ll be there next time.