Happy First Friday everyone! It’s definitely fitting on this First Friday to mention Ryan’s first community theater performance. Tonight is the opening night of “Father of the Bride” at Pull Tight Theatre. Although tonight is sold out, there are still several shows with tickets available. Get yours here.
You know, I think one of the things that most attracted Ryan and me to one another (besides our obvious charming personalities and dashing good looks) is the fact that we both love music and the arts. He was a theater kid who took piano and guitar lessons; I was a choir kid who could create almost anything with a few scraps and some art supplies. This is one of the reasons why we are both so excited about Ryan’s return to the stage this month. It hasn’t been easy with me having back surgery and trying to recover during the time that Ryan had play rehearsal five nights a week, but all of his hard work has paid off. (I know because I got to see a special sneak peak performance earlier this week.) Hope you will make it out to see the show!
In honor of our love for music and the arts, this First Friday is dedicated to our first concert.
As Ryan mentioned in his entry here, we went to the SafetySuit show in Nashville a while back. We love SafetySuit and have been fans since the old days before they were on a record label when they were known as Crew. It’s been almost four years since I first saw them in concert. My friend and bridesmaid Kelly found Crew as a local Nashville artist on MySpace. She had wanted to check out some local acts and after hearing their music online, I told her that we had to go to their next concert. That concert happened to fall on the same week that I started my new job at Gordian Health Solutions (which is now Onlife Health). I was making it through my first week and getting excited about the weekend show when I was introduced to Carmen Brown who worked in the Client Services department. I was surprised that Carmen actually had a Crew poster up on her cubicle wall. “I love them!” I told her. “My friends and I are going to their concert this weekend!” “Seriously?!” she asked. “The lead singer is my husband.” And I knew that it must be fate. 🙂
We went to that first concert at 12th and Porter and loved them even more after seeing them in person. As Ryan mentioned in his blog, they put on such an awesome show. So we started going to all their Nashville shows at 12th and Porter and at On the Rocks. It was at the first On the Rocks show that I went to that I met Arnold, a guy who actually works with me but I hadn’t had a chance to meet at the office. Arnold was Crew’s merchandise manager at the time, and probably one of their biggest promoters. I also convinced a college friend of mine (and later bridesmaid) to come to that show with me that night. Molly was really skeptical and it took me a lot of convincing to get her to come. She kept saying, “I don’t really ever like stuff like that.” And “I’ve heard lots of bands who were trying to make it, and I’m telling you that I never like them.” But I’m pretty sure she fell in love immediately when they started playing. Molly convinced our friend Amanda to meet us up there, and she became a fan too. Soon we had a big group going to all of their concerts. I like to think I’ve contributed to their success. 🙂 It helped that I worked with Carmen, and Arnold and could get all the latest updates firsthand. [As a side note, you should know that all the people I’ve met who are involved with SafetySuit/Crew are some of the nicest people ever. I ♥ them.]
When Ryan and I became friends, some of the first music I introduced him to was Crew and Dave Barnes (another awesome local artist). Like everyone else I introduced them to, Ryan became an instant fan. So I invited him to their next concert. That was so long ago that Ryan and I hadn’t even officially started dating yet. But we stood by each other at the concert, and there were definitely some sparks. I was just still trying to ignore it at that stage. We went to several more Crew concerts after we started dating and have been to a couple more since they were signed to Universal Records and changed their name to SafetySuit. It always brings back fond memories of that first concert together.
Be sure to check out SafetySuit! You will probably love them.
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