A long, long day and a backstage pass.

The things we do for our kids.

I woke up in beautiful downtown Salinas at 6:00 after a night of sharing a queen sized bed with my 14 year old who is taller than I am, and he snores, and he's a blanket hog. Suffice to say I did not have a restful night's slumber, but we hit the shower and headed off to breakfast at the Black Bear restaurant. After a few cups of coffee I was ready to head out to the concert. We drove through the early morning coastal fog into the bright sunshine at Laguna Seca raceway to enjoy the day at the Spirit West Coast music festival. That is when I realized that the musicians are not early risers.

About 15 cars were stopped in line at the entrance to the park by a closed gate. I guess 8:00 is too early for parking so we sat in our cars for a while until we were finally set free by a park ranger. OK, lets get to the concert! We drove for a few miles of twisting one lane roads to be greeted by a group of youth parking volunteers. We followed the direction of their orange safety flags and found a spot to park. OK, lets get to the concert!

We walked up to the entrance to find a sign stating the ticket booth would be open promptly at 9:30. I glanced down at my watch hoping that it was on the latter side of 9 o'clock, it was 8:32. Crud. We waited in line for an hour passing time with other concert goers and getting a lay of the land from a program that would serve as our navigational guide for the day. The concert was held at 6 different stages, the main stage was an arena sized venue, holding 10- 12,000 people and the other stages were set up for 1- 2,000 and some as small as 2-300 concert goers.

Alas, 9:30 and as promised, we were let into the concert. I brought along a small business size shoulder bag to carry a light jacket and a few souvenirs if we purchased any. Some families brought 60 quart ice chests and folding chairs in rolling gardening carts. I wondered if they had ever been to Laguna Seca, it is not a flat piece of real estate, it is rolling hills and spread out. My son and I were set, we looked at the schedule and found a band named My Second Chance playing at the Air1 stage. They were first up and since they are musicians, and a 10:00 curtain time can be rough so they showed up in their pajamas. They were pretty good. My son bought their upgrade EP at their booth later in the day and had them sign it. That is one very cool thing about Christian musicians, they are very approachable and will talk to you for fifteen minutes if you would like.

We kept on stage hopping, checking out all kinds of bands when we ran into the Air1 stage emcee Brad, he had mentioned that he might just have a few back stage passes and I asked him what it would take to get one? He said that he takes bribes and anyone who sponsored a child through Compassion International at the concert would be pretty high up on the list. I told him that I already sponsor a child in Columbia and I love the work CI does, he said if I made a cash donation to Compassion, that would get some consideration.

I went to the CI booth and made a cash donation, if you don't know about the work Compassion International does, please check them out and then check out the marks they have with the folks who rate charities for honesty and getting the money where it is supposed to go, you will find out what a great job they do.

So after a long day of checking out bands and looking at t-shirts and other vendor booths, we headed back to the Air1 stage just before Disciple hit the stage. I worked my way to the front and finally got Brad's attention, he motioned me to the security gate and we made it in. I was cool just being backstage with my son but Brad invited us along with two other CI sponsors onto the stage where we watched the set from the corner right next to the drummer. It was pretty cool. Along with a bunch of pictures I asked the drummer for a drumstick and he gave me a stick he was playing during the show.

Tim Barrett pounding the skins.

Here is Brad Noah on guitar, that guy can flat out play.

After the set was over, we were both tired and hey, how could we top that? We decided to hit the road and missed seeing Switchfoot, we are going to see them when the come UC Davis this fall anyway.

We pulled into the driveway at 10:00 last night after the 3 hour drive. I wanted to make sure were we not scheduled for the set up team at church the next moring but sure enough, it was our turn. So when the alarm went off this morning at 5:30 I was groggy and a bit leg weary from the hills we walked the day before. We made it church for set up 6:50 and came home after the we tore down around 2:30 this afternoon. I took a nap.

My son and I had a great time and it was cool to spend that much time with him doing something he loves. I hope we can do it again.