Monday, March 03, 2008

star gazing

Hymns hold a special place in my heart, but I'm not one-sided. I began enjoying Christian (rock) music in the summer of 1986. My favorite band is called Petra. They've won a bunch of Grammys and Dove awards. They're retired now, but their lead singer for 20 years was a man by the name of John Schlitt. I saw him debut his new solo project this weekend and got permission to take pictures. Twice. I wish you could hear his amazing voice! [click on photos to enlarge]

He let me get waaaay up close while he was doing the soundcheck, and I used the flash for that one.

The rest of the time, I went without flash, crawling around and trying to be stealthy like a ninja-tographer.

This was my attempt at getting artsy with the "solarization" feature on the camera.

Other people were taking pictures. Some with cellphones, and some had real cameras. I told you that I was not using flash. By chance, two of us clicked simultaneously, and so I benefit with a remote flash effect.

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Oh! By the way... Sunday, 3/2/2008 in BOLINGBROOK, IL

High Temperature: Actual: 57°F Today's temps are back down to normal.

8 comments:

donsands said...

I loved Petra. I saw them live way back in 1993 or so. They were great, the Newsboys opened for them.

Do you remember their singer before John? Greg X. Volz. What a name he had.

That's a nice blessing for you Craver. The Lord is so good to us.

imac said...

Nice photos there my friend, also an experience not to be missed by the sound of it.

Every Square Inch said...

Yeah - love Petra's Not of This World album. I especially like the song Grave Robber.

Craver Vii said...

Sandman and ESI, Volz had such a distinct sound. I had Never Say Die and Not Of This World and I didn’t expect to like their new singer, but Schlitt has a way of bringing out the element of Jesus as conqueror and overcomer. A lot of singers emphasize God’s love or grace or other things (and that’s fine), but it is cool to have a distinctly male voice proclaim God’s victory over the grave.

For any of you who are not familiar with Schlitt’s sound, try to imagine Steve Perry of Journey, and the music sounded maybe like Deff Leppard. Not thrash mess, but it was definitely not elevator music.

Imac, you probably know that I am intimidated at the idea of taking pictures of people. Inanimate objects pose enough of a challenge. Then, I found myself with permission to get snappy at point blank range. I crossed my fingers and took LOTS of pictures.

L.L. Barkat said...

Ninja-tographer. Funny! I think I had one of those at my wedding.

Sharon said...

I saw them in concert in 85, when Greg X. Volz was the lead singer :)

Unknown said...

So...what did he sing?? Come on Craver, give us some details here! :)

Craver Vii said...

I hope he was just practicing stealth, LL. Throwing stars, poison and explosives are generally not acceptable for weddings.

Hiaaaa!!! **whack, thud** Nevermind that, folks. I just had to take care of a little business over my shoulder just now.

'85, Sharon? That was a year before I was "grafted into the vine." Speaking of which, his new album is called The Grafting.

Eve, I'm pretty sure he did only his own stuff, that is to say, nothing that Volz made famous. Everybody got involved when he did Beyond Belief. There was a lot of new stuff, including songs from his brand new release, and one of them even got him choked up and teary-eyed a little bit. Then, on Sunday morning, he led worship with the songs from Two Guys From Petra. It was excellent!

Back to Volz for a second, today I can't get Grave Robber out of my head. Thanks, ESI!