A few good men.

I went downhere concert-ing again. So here I am to recount my experience and write down some thoughts.

Oh, and I think I'm going to go really stream-of-consciousness with this one. So expect me to jump around. We'll see if it works. I'll try to make sure it's not a complete, jumbled, confusing mess.

The guys were great as usual. They have yet to disappoint. And besides their great performing and musicianship, they're just such great people that I can't help but like being around them.

It was in Sevierville, TN. About three and a half hours from my house. My brother and Garrett, a friend of ours, were my concert pals. The trip there and back was pretty uneventful. We talked more coming back than going. I'm afraid that for some, my brother and I aren't the greatest road trip companions. If we come up with something to talk about, then we happily chat. But mostly we just listen to our music and sing. I think Garrett was okay, though. I hope.

This was Garrett's first time to see them, and he hadn't really ever listened to them before either. So that excited me. But I was kinda nervous at the same time. I get that way whenever I introduce someone to something I really love. "What will they think about it? What will I do if they hate it? Can I handle that?" But I usually get over that pretty quickly and I didn't let it stop me from having a good time.

They downhere guys were playing for an event to celebrate the end of the church's Upward basketball season, so that made the night interesting. The place was swarming with kids. And we were treated to a few extra things besides the concert. They had a youth dance team that performed three songs over the course of the night. And they had a guy get up and talk to the kids about Jesus. And they gave special recognition to a few of the players. The ones who won the slam dunk contest, I think. Needless to say, they were tall. But anyway, it made for a different experience and I was cool with that.

And I wasn't about to get up and leave, because I didn't want to miss a second of the guys on stage. Garrett and my brother got hungry at one point and decided to pop out when the guys weren't on stage. And had I gone with them, I would have missed two whole songs. And that would have been unacceptable. Because one of those two songs was "Mighty to Save" and I love hearing them do that song.

Jason got the Funny Award for the night. He said some pretty hi-larious stuff. The first words that came out of his mouth (that he didn't sing) for the night were, "Hello, my fuzzy chickens." And in the next minute he said the word "fuzzy" about a million more times. I don't even think he knew what he was saying or why he was saying it. But I was about to choke on my laughter. Funny, funny man.

Garrett couldn't get over the similarities between Marc and Freddie Mercury. On the way there, we listened to some downhere. And during their song, "Don't Be So," Garrett first commented about how much marc sounded like Freddie Mercury. Then after we were there, he said he even moved like Freddie Mercury when he performed. And after the show, he said that he resembled him slightly. Yep.

All of the kids were up at the front during the whole show. It started out with just two girls. But then slowly more joined them until they were swarming the front. And they were having a good time. I enjoyed watching them. When I didn't have my eyes fixed on the band, that is.

After the show, I had to make sure I talked to them. I felt kinda bad about making Garrett stand around, though. There were tons of people lining up for pictures and autographs and I wanted to wait until most of them cleared out. So I finally went over and spoke to Marc first. It was just very briefly. He recognized my face and I reminded him who I was. He remembered. In our brief conversation, my brother and I mentioned where we drove from and his response was to widen his eyes and say, "Wow. You need to leave then." It made me chuckle.

Every time I come away from interacting with Marc I always think, "Maybe I'm not quite as introverted as I thought." Because that guy is one of the most introverted people I've met. Definitely one of the most, if not THE most, introverted performer I've ever met. Especially considering how crazy he can get on stage. It's almost like night and day. I used to be a lot more introverted than I am now. I've finally reached a point where talking to people is a lot easier for me to do and comes more naturally. I don't feel nearly as awkward as I once did, even though I still fell awkward daily. Hourly, would be a better description. Often even more frequently than that. Because usually I'm the reserved one in the conversation. But Marc has consistently made me feel quite outgoing. It's an interesting feeling and provides a lot of perspective.

We talked to Jason next. He's so easy to talk to. We had a really good conversation with him. Quite lengthy. He also recognized my face, and I reminded him who I was, etc. After all that, he commented on my shirt. I was wearing my dcTalk Supernatural Tour shirt. We started talking about K-Max. And (this makes me really excited) we found out that Jason was also at the Rutledge when we were in January when we saw K-Max. I can't believe we didn't see him! It's only because my brother and I walked in, found places to sit, and stayed there and didn't get up until it was time to leave. and we were in the very front of the room, and it was pretty dark, so there were a lot of people we couldn't see. Jason said he was in the back. Jason also started talking about how talented he is ("freakishly talented" as Marc put it in a recent interview with jesusfreakhideout.com). I emphatically agreed. And that made me even more excited than knowing we saw K-Max together because one of my favorite musicians, like me, also liked to gush about another one of my favorite musicians.

Then we got started talking about recording technology and a bit about the industry today. Garrett had told him about a paper he was working on and that he's a Recording Industry major. So he was mainly talking to Garrett. I'm pretty geeky and I like my music, so I wasn't completely lost. But some of things he was saying kinda went over my head. But I got the gist of what he was talking about. It was a good conversation. I think this conversation and the wonder at the similarities between Marc and Freddie Mercury helped to provide at least a little interest over the course of the night for Garrett.

Here comes the only disappointing thing about the night. While we were talking to Jason, Glenn and Jeremy disappeared. We didn't get to talk to either one of them. I was sad. They were the ones I had talked to on Twitter and told that I was going to be there. I'll just have to make an extra-concerted effort the next time I see them. Maybe there won't be so many people around.

So there you have it. Those were the highlights. I think I stayed on task pretty well. I'm always happy when my writing comes out able to be understood. It makes me feel accomplished.