Beatle-mania

There it was, in the corner of my newspaper: a headline for one of their articles.  I flipped open to the page, and lo and behold, the article about the band 1964.

And my heart did a little leap of joy, and I went “EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”

1964 is a tribute band that plays all Beatles songs.  They dress like them, talk, and act like them.  They even played their instruments the way the Beatles did.

I saw this same band when I was in 9^th grade.  My sister and I went, along with a couple of our friends.  Somehow, we got front row seats at the Civic Auditorium.  When the band started, we jumped up and started dancing.  But the guy behind us didn’t like it.  He poked us, and yelled “Sit down!  We’re trying to watch!”

So we went into the orchestra pit, along with a bunch of other teenagers.  We danced in pure Beatles bliss.

Anyway, when I saw they were performing up at BYU-Idaho, I immediately called my two Beatles-loving sisters.  They were both all over going to the concert like white on rice.  I think they both went “EEEEEEEEEEEE!” too.  I called and got tickets.

And so we went.  First we got burgers from Five Guys (YUM!), and then we headed on up.  I just love spending time with my cute sisters.

We were singing at the top of our lungs, and boogying in our seats.  At one point the band told everyone to jump up and sing and dance to “Twist and Shout”.  After that, my sisters and I couldn’t be contained in our seats any longer.  They had an area in the back where people could dance if they wanted to. 

There was a boy, about 10-ish years old, who was spastically dancing around, and was totally off-beat.  There was an older guy, maybe in his 40s, who had his two little girls dancing with him.  He was dancing exactly the way my dad would dance with us girls when we were little.  There were some couples trying to ballroom dance to the music, and I wanted to kick them in the shins.

And then there was us.

1964 only plays the early Beatles stuff.  There were a few songs with which I was unfamiliar.  But then they played my favorite Beatles song, “In My Life”.  The band told us to pull out our phones and call someone to share the song with, and I called Pete.  I was so excited that it was “In My Life” that I was all, “petethey’replayinginmylife ilovethissongsomuchcanyouhearit listenlistenlisten!!!”  I asked him later if he heard the song at all, or what I had said, and he was all, “Um, yeah, phones don’t really work well at concerts, I couldn’t hear anything.”

After they were done, we all clapped and cheered, and stomped, and yelled for an encore.  They came back out, and played four more songs, just right in a row.  We ran up to the stage, along with most of the audience.  We danced and sang some more.  There was a guy in front of us, that, when they started the third song, he turned to his friend and said, “This is just BLOWING my mind!”  It was funny.

Then it was over.  My cheek bones hurt from smiling and laughing.  (The “Beatles” would joke around in between songs.)  My throat hurt from yelling and singing.  I was a sweaty mess.  But I was also high as a kite from adrenaline.  It had been wwaaaaayyyy too long since I had listened to Beatles music.  I love, love, love the Beatles.

And here is my favorite Beatles song.  (Pete, when I die, you need to play this at my funeral, k?)

Roadshow Rocks!

Well, it's over.  You know, the thing that's been at the front of my mind, on the tip of my tongue, and the thing that has given me some sleepless nights for the last few months.

Our roadshow.

Sweat, tears, time, energy, effort, heart, and soul went into this show.  It was hard.  It was fun.  It was entertaining.  It was faith-building (for me, anyway).  It was challenging.  It was rewarding.

We loosely retold the story of Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah from The Book of Mormon.  We used the parts found in Mosiah 27-28, and Alma 17-19.  Basically, Alma and the sons of Mosiah are tearing down the church and spreading lies.  An angel comes, and the guys repent, and then they all go on missions in their enemy's territory (the Lamanites).  We also told the story of Ammon's mission: he becomes a servant to King Lamoni, and saves Lamoni's sheep from some other Lamanites by chopping off their arms.  Then Lamoni and a lot of his kingdom become converted.

It's a very cool story.

While studying this story again, I came across a really cool scripture.  It's Alma 26: 12-Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

I just love that scripture.

I honestly don't think I can pick a favorite part of our roadshow.  We called it CSI: Zarahemla.  We had these CSI guys investigate the crimes that the brothers were doing, including chopping off the arms.  Just, every little bit was awesome, and funny, and amazing. 

Our CSI guys were perfect (and imitated David Caruso in CSI: Miami).  Our brothers each had their own style of picking on the citizens.  The brothers each had a great style and were so awesome in their own way.  Our citizens actually looked like they got hurt by the brothers.  The dancing was amazing.  My set boys were crazy fast at taking off our sets.  Our Alma the Elder rapped!  Our angel wore stilts.  Our Lamoni wore a glittery crown with pride.  We had cute little kids be our sheep.  Our bad Lamanites parodied "The Three Amigos", and sang and danced to My Little Buttercup with fake arms that got cut off by a light saber.  They even threw their fake arms (as they were being cut off) at the stake president who was sitting on the front row.  Awesome.

Everyone in our show did an amazing job.  I was so impressed, and grateful.

Well, right now I don't have a copy of our show, so pictures in a fabulous slide show will have to suffice.  I tried to put them in show order, but I don't know if the slide show thingy cooperated with that idea.  And someday I'll get a copy, but who knows if I'll be able to load it onto a blog-it might break blogger because of its size (25-ish minutes).  Or because of its awesomeness.

Post-roadshow: my body decided to shut down.  Feeling sick, and SUPER tired, and achy.  I've been sleeping a lot, and have been to the chiropractor a few times (my back has been out a long time).  I have much to catch up on, and much to do still.  The end of school is ramping up, with so many things to do and accomplish.  I'm excited for summer and the laziness it (somewhat) promises.  I do promise to blog all about the past, present, and future!