Heart Support Tour

What do you do when you have a free night in Knoxville TN? You go to someplace by Lexington KY to a concert. We heard about a christian organization called heartsupport.com that was doing a concert tour with The Beautiful Republic,Spoken, Falling Up(yea) and Family Force 5 (double yea). Lexington is only a couple of hours from us so we headed north, checked out Lexington and went to the concert.

It was first come first serve on the standing (yes, standing only) concert so we got there as soon as the doors opened. I, Hope, Grace and Norm were to determined to stand as close to the stage as we could. By the time Beautiful Republic was done, so was Grace-too many Kentucky boys trying to mosh. By the time Spoken was done, so was I. I am too old to enjoy my hair being pulled, my feet being stomped on and being a part of a mosh. The bands were great, I love Falling Up and Family Force 5 was as always fantastic. I enjoyed the rest of the concert with all the other forty-somethings-singing-along-looking-dorky-cause-we-know-all-the-words people.

We had a great time, my ears are still ringing. -Tina

And a video short by Grace (Family Force Five)

HAWK NELSON (no relation)

The event

we'd been looking

forward to finally arrived.

HAWK NELSON

in concert

in Knoxville!

It was a sold out

concert at

the Coliseum.

There is so

much energy in

their shows and

last night was

no exception!

Rock The City
was

sponsored by the
Franklin Graham Festival
coming to Knoxville in

April 2008.

-Norm

A Video Short By Grace..................

La Forza del Destino

Last night was to be our Valentine Day outing. It turned out to be a family event. One of the reasons I was attracted to Knoxville was, for being a town by mountains, it offers a lot of cultural events. Last night we attended Verdi's (in english) Force of Destiny Opera at the Tennessee theater. The tickets are less than what I paid for Hannah Montana in 3D (yes, we saw it) and was just fathoms better.

The Tennessee theater is one of the most slendid buildings I have ever been in; just a gorgeously restored theater. The people were as interesting as the building itself. You had the men in tuxedos, women in full length gowns, the business dressed and even the UT students in the orange (go vols!) hoodies and jeans.

The full orchestra was spot on and the cast was amazing. One of the main characters happens to be the owner of the store where I work. He is a vocal teacher at UT and offered us to go backstage. I love opera among other genres of music, but opera is what I would love to sing. I look forward to seeing Pucini's Tosca (one of my favs) in the spring at the Tennessee theater. Of couse Merle Haggard will also be performing there as well. Hey, it is the south!

-Tina

Storms and Sushi

I still monitor the weather and news in California. As storms have nailed the Sacramento Valley and just about all of the west coast. Here in Tennessee, another type of weather has made itself known. Tornados ripped through the Nashville area and surrounding states. We are happy to report all we experienced was high winds and rain. I think part of it might be the effect the mountains have in counteracting the wind patterns. Thankfully, we are all safe and sound.

Last night we went out to eat sushi. Our last experience with sushi was at a place in Redding. It was not a pleasant experience, but last night was a whole different story. The atmosphere was great at the Stir Fry Cafe in West Knoxville. Hope had a salad. Grace adventured with us in trying sushi. It was very fun trying something new and eating with chopsticks.

Friday evening Tina and I will be trying something else new. We will be attending the Knoxville Opera for an early Valentine's Day date. I hear the Tennessee Theater is something to see!

-Norm