James Cochran’s Blog

My wife ran across a site saying Third Day is coming to Bloomington on November 7th.  Since we just saw them and they were awesome I thought I’d check it out to see what the deal was.  I couldn’t find anything on Ticketmaster about it but I did on a small site called iTicket.com.  I wasn’t sure about them but a Google search turned up many people with good things to say.  I decided to call them and a nice woman answered and told me all about the company and how they do presales for a lot of concerts like this.  They had the Gold Circle seating available so I went for it.  $35 each later and we’re going to see Third Day again this fall.  The seats should be good because the presale just started today and Ticketmaster won’t start selling until the 12th.  I hope to find out my exact seat number soon.  She said only 150 of those seats are available so regardless they will be great seats. For those interested you can get your tickets at the iTickets website here.

Apple has confirmed what most of us Apple fanboys have known for awhile.  There will be a special event September 9th which is next Tuesday at 10 am Apple time.  There are many rumors going on about what this might be about.  I’ll throw my hat in the ring of rumors with what I think is coming out.

• New iPod Nano design
• iTunes 8.0
• Price reduction on iPod Touch

There you have it.  Tell your friends.  Don’t buy an iPod this week or face the consequences of buyers remorse.  I doubt printing out this invitation will get you in to the event but send me some good pics if it works for you

On the way to the concert

For Angi’s birthday I bought her tickets to see Third Day at the Music Builds Tour.  We actually got much more than just Third Day since they headlined with supporting acts Jars of Clay, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, and Switchfoot.  Our seats at Verizon Wireless Music Center in Noblesville Indiana (formally Deer Creek Music Center) were great.  We were in section A row M which meant we were to the left of the stage and about 20 yards back.  These were the best seats we’ve ever had there which didn’t exactly come cheap.  That’s why when I found out that $1 of every ticket went to help Habitat for Humanity (hence “Music Builds”) I couldn’t help but wonder why more than $1 from my $60 ticket didn’t go toward the cause.  I do know though that Third Day personally has been helping to build houses as well as donating money from their own pockets to help.

Mac and Tai from Third Day

We missed all but the last song of Jars of Clay which was disappointing but I hear they rocked the place.  Robert Randolph and the Family Band are kind of like a jam band and they did a great job.  I had never heard of them before but they are definitely worth seeing.  Where we were sitting we could see into the backstage where members of the other bands were eating and lounging on couches. This is when we caught MAc and Tai checking out the other bands.  Or should I say they caught us taking their picture.  Right after this they smiled and waved at us but we took the picture a second too fast. It’s still pretty cool though and I can’t believe how close we were.

Switchfoot did a great job.  I’ve heard their music before but was only familiar with a few of their songs.  Their entire set was real good though.  There was a point where the lead singer Jon Foreman came down in to the audience right next to us at the left of the stage and sings to us high fiveing people.  He walks up the side and around the back of the pavilion asking the lawn how they are doing and stopping to sing some more.  That’s when I got this shot.  Then he continues on up along the other side and back on to the stage to finish the song.  That was some pretty cool stuff.

Mac Powell

Of course the real reason we went is to see Third Day.  We saw them a few years back at the Indiana State Fair in 2006 and have been looking forward to seeing them again since I gave her the tickets for her birthday several months ago.  They played a couple songs off their new album but we would have liked to hear more.  Of course they did play a lot of their older stuff which was real cool.  For a few of the songs he had everyone sit down and relax while they played.  That’s something i’ve never seen at a concert.

Tai and Mark

Mac does a great job of getting the audience involved.  He talks between every song.  Sometimes about that song and sometimes just about some random stuff, but the crowd loved every minute of it.  They are easily some of the best performers I have seen live.  At the end of the night members from all the bands come out for the encore songs.  They play a cover song called When Love Comes to Town and all the different bands get into it.  Really cool stuff.

Angi made up her own post that describes the night even better.  I suggest you check it out over at her Myspace blog.  I’m still trying to talk her into getting a real blog but she’s a little hesitant. I’ll leave you with a couple of YouTube videos.  The live one is actually from this concert and it’s called Slow Down.  The video they had playing behind them for it was really cool and while the sound is kind of crappy I still like this video a lot.   The second is a highlight of their new album Revelation.  I’m sure they will win a Dove Award for at least one of the songs from it.  This Is Who I Am comes to mind.  I’ll throw my name into the hat for the Third Day on the third day contest

Keeping with the music theme I ran across some free MP3′s from Amazon earlier today.  There is some random stuff in there but with 3200+ songs I’m sure you can find something.  After all, the price is right.  Check it out at Amazon’s site.  My favorite so far is I was able to download the album A Sound Legacy: 60 Years of Folkways Records and 20 Years of Smithsonian Folkways for free.  You can’t beat that!  Enjoy.