Of A Revolution

One foot out the door.

Madeleine was a strict photographer,

"No Dad, A real smile!"

He was ready to go.

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a pair of tickets to see OAR at the House of Blues here in Houston.  OAR has been around since 1996 but is still a bit under the radar screen.  Four of the band members, including lead singer Marc Roberge, got together in high school in Rockville, MD (not far from where I grew up).  They picked up a couple more band members at Ohio State University where they played fraternity and sorority parties before moving on to bigger venues.

Last night was actually the second time we've seen OAR live.  The first was when they opened for The Dave Matthews Band a few summers ago.  We were among the few, the proud to be there to see them and, even though we love Dave, when they were done, we both said, "wait- is that it?  We want more!"  We got a lot more last night.  

The venue was incredible.   The House of Blues is small and classy.  We got there early and were about 10 feet from the stage.  The only time I've been closer at a concert was when we saw Lisa Loeb at a tiny bar in Lawrence, Kansas.  (I wore a concert shirt to give my final exam the next day and one of my students asked, "Did you have fun?"  She sounded a little bitter.)  While we waited, we made friends with our neighbors in the pit.  Chris has a talent for making fast friends with strangers in about five minutes which comes in handy when you're elbow to elbow with people for four hours!  We mostly talked to a couple of UT grads.  Since we have our very own UT grad in the family, we found some common ground around that. (I told them my SIL is doing her part to Keep Austin Weird- just a joke Martina :)

Eric Hutchison was the opening act.  He looked a little like one of the Beatles, had a great sound and a funny stage presence.  We enjoyed him enough that we'll be buying some of his music. 

OAR was amazing.  They have this rich rock/jazz/raggae sound that I love.  The song Chris was hoping for, "Revisited", was third.  I liked "Hey Girl" but also appreciated their encore of "That Was a Crazy Game of Poker", "Lay Down" and "Shattered".  "Shattered" is their biggest hit so far.  I like it because the question, "How many times can I break till I shatter?" seems appropriate for my journey so far in life.

It was a great date night, an evening of sharing our mutual love of music but at the end, I was so glad to climb into my comfy bed.  We went to the late Mass this morning!