waking up

The night before Easter I was just relaxing, relieved that I didn’t have to wake up early for any kind of worship leading and stuff… so I watched Ong Bak and slept late. What a ridiculous movie. Such crazy manliness.

To be honest, I didn’t expect too much for Easter Sunday. Haven’s plans were to visit the Victorians again (our formerly homeless and mentally impaired neighbors downtown). We were going to serve them lunch and just talk to them, a marginalized group of people the city simply overlooks or has perhaps forgotten. The first time we did this was legendary in their community (they LOVED the pizza), but my interactions there were less than interesting. I didn’t see this time being much more fun or meaningful than the last… until I met Henry.

In all the times I’ve visited with the Victorians, I have never met Henry. A gentle, kind, black man who looks way too young for his age (he said he was 51 years old), we struck up some conversation over a hot dog. He started to share about how he sometimes hears voices that tell him he’s too poor, he’s not good enough, and that he’ll never be normal. I quickly offered prayer, and as I took his hands, I asked Jesus to give us the ability to hear what He says about us and that His voice and His words would be the only voice and words that mattered. And I closed it with something I heard on Good Friday from Christine’s lady neighbor – “God made us and God don’t make junk.” Henry was missing a lot of teeth, but at that moment he chuckled and smiled huge. I thought I could go home after that. But then, our conversation led to me being a guitar teacher, and he said, “Hey, I got a guitar in my room! Let’s play!”

After I played some Eric Clapton stuff for him, I thought, “Cool, I’m glad I could play for him.” And then he BUSTS OUT SOME CRAZY JAZZ STUFF. Chords I had never seen before, originals and Bossa Nova stuff, blues stuff, and what he called a “computer/futuristic riff.” He taught me three songs after that. Now I know how to play Girl from Ipanema.

I told him I would bring my computer around to record him and make a CD for/of him, and we would jam on guitar soon. He lit up with joy.

Then the Haven guys decided to go play some basketball, just to shoot around. We ended up playing 15 or so rounds of Knockout. What a workout! Running around when your ball takes a bad bounce just so you won’t get eliminated. Sergio won around seven games… But the point isn’t that we had fun or that we did something physical. The thing I noticed the most was that we organically wanted to be together. We wanted to be brothers, and just enjoy each other’s company when we could have been elsewhere, doing any number of other things. And this is indicative of something else going on… that we are just drawing closer as a family. It’s been two and a half years for me here, and I finally feel like I am starting to really appreciate guys like Sergio and Dave King and John Chan and bunch of others. I think for a while they were just people that I served with or saw a lot, mostly got along with, and liked here and there. But now we are becoming brothers.

If that weren’t enough, I made my way home to shower and get ready for a show in the city… Bon Iver. Usman (my piano player) and I carpooled over and met up with Nick (my guitarist) and we all had dinner and chilled out at this nice place called Fly. I met a few friends of Nick’s there, and we all waited for his childhood best friend and musician friend Sean, who is actually Bon Iver’s drummer. He was really cool.

Later that night, Bon Iver played the show of their lives to a sold-out crowd at the Independent. I can only say that I am privileged to have been in attendance that night. Sad thing is, the crowd started clearing out after they played (Billy and Dave Shin included), and suddenly, the headliner that night (Bon Iver had been switching headlining with Phosphorescent) was playing to a very bored, chatty crowd that dwindled down to around 50 people by the end. The girls in the crowd playing air guitar and air drums entertained me more than they did, I’m sorry to say.

Anyway, we got to hang out a bit with Sean and just enjoy the night. I imagine Nick had to have been a bit jealous of his friend that night… but it was easy to see he was overjoyed for him as well. How many people can say their friend has really made it in the music world? Nate Chan was there as well, having shot Bon Iver and Phosphorescent for La Blogothèque.

Apparently, Nick showed Sean our myspace, and then Sean showed it to Justin (the main guy behind Bon Iver). Justin liked it, and compared it to Mogwai. As Nick was telling me this I called him a liar and screamed over and over “Bulls***! Bulls***! Bulls***! Don’t lie to me! You liar! He was Bulls***ting! No way!”

Then Nick, Usman, and I headed to Nick’s new place in SF (which is hella baller), and we talked about the band and basically just about how much we want to make it but have no control over such things. Usman and I drove back to San Jose and we started getting to know each other a lot better as well, talking about lofty and personal things alike.

I got home around 2:30am, and then I found out that Radiohead tickets just went on sale. I bought two. $516.50. Didn’t hurt at all.

It didn’t hurt. Spending a lot of money on the SF Outside Lands festival didn’t hurt (Radiohead). Spending a whole lot of time with people who were strangers to me five months ago didn’t hurt (the band). Spending time with Haven guys wasn’t a pain in the butt (although it rarely is). Getting to know Henry didn’t hurt. Today, there was very little that produced any unease in me, except not knowing what’s ahead.

Most days now are a narrow escape from being owned by fear. Some days you just don’t know if you’re meant to do or be anything. But for now, I am free, challenged, and in this moment, I am challenged, I am affirmed, I am inspired, and I know I am doing some good in this world.

1) Lunch with the Vics.
2) Meeting Henry and learning three new songs and some jazz chords.
3) Being able to share some life with Henry.
4) Time with the Haven guys playing Knockout and grabbing a drink with Sergio and Dave Shin.
5) Meeting Nick’s friends and hanging with Matt (Nick’s brother) and Usman.
6) Meeting Sean and hearing about his life on tour.
7) Witnessing Bon Iver.
8) Seeing Nate work.
9) Getting that compliment from Justin Vernon via Sean via Nick. Couldn’t quite receive it, though (see above with all the expletives).
10) Bring able to be more open with Nick and Usman.
11) The drive back with Usman.