Ichthus 2007

Here I am, returned from Ichthus 2007 in one piece, un-sunburned, and only marginally disappointed at this point that we only went for one day. As Trey, Drew, and Lauren can tell you, that day was in fact a Thursday. Not to be confused with a weekend. While we may have missed bands such as Chris Tomlin, Thousand Foot Krutch, Barlow Girl, Relient K, Newsboys, Skillet, TobyMac, Switchfoot, etc... and speakers Louie Giglio and Efrem Smith (both quite good in my past experiences with them), we had a great time. We arrived, not quite as early as we perhaps would have liked, due to some hiatus traffic. We then proceeded to erect the two tents... A simple job, one might think. But one would be grievously incorrect. Finally we got our tickets/wristbands, and were on our way into the actual festival grounds!

First we saw Poor Man's Riches. I'll spare you the entire blog-length review, but let me just say I very much enjoyed them. Here the guys are; they rocked pretty hard. The vocals were really clean, which was a nice surprise, and the lead guitarist was really entertaining to watch, as you'll see in the next picture.


If you're sitting there asking yourself "Is that a $*^#*%* Sitar?", then the answer is a most resounding yes. This guy was not only a sweet lead guitar player, he also has sitar skills. Skills sure to eternally rank among, if not surpass, nun chuck skills and bow-hunting skills. I was waaay too excited about this, but it's fine because Troller was equally excited, making my own excitement not only acceptable, but necessary.

Next we went back to our campsite and I ate an amazing Lunchmeat Sandwich. If you don't know what a Lunchmeat Sandwich is, ask LFD, she is the best Lunchmeat Sandwich maker this side of Golgotha. Did I mention there were 12 grains in the bread? Oh yeah, there were. I totally should have taken pictures with my sandwich, but alas, I was rather preoccupied with eating said delicacy.

Then we went to the worship, pretty cool band called... Esa? Or something pronounced like that is spelled. Then the keynote, a mister Justin Lookadoo, honest to God that's his real name. He's the tallest thing to hit Ichthus since Rob Bell. He had an interesting talk. He was a freaking spazz. Finally, the long awaited time had come, David Crowder was up next!

D-Crowds!

D-Crowds with a Keytar! haha, Forever, and ever, andever, endeavor, endeavor!

D-Crowds with a...Guitar hero guitar? I know what you're thinking. One of the guys somehow rigged it to play along with one of their new songs. How crazy is that?

Anyway, then we saw Seventh Day Slumber, came back and played some music, I ate another Lunchmeat Sandwich, Trey wrote a song about Lunchmeat Sandwichii, we started a fire which was totally against the rules (LFD nearly had an aneurysm), and finally retired to get what sleep we could upon the unforgiving ground. Wonderful times were had by all. If you read this entire post, I congratulate you on a job well done, it is perhaps more reading than some people will do in their entire lives, which saddens me, as it does all who enjoy written word. Here's a pic of the group.


I love you all,
-your one and only Flach.

My mommy says I'm a very special boy.

Anaheim Ducks!

Ok, time to break from the music thing because I just re-watched game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals, except from the Canadian Broadcast instead of stupid NBC. Dumb Americans don't want to have two hours of post-game awesomeness, so I had to get my fill from the good old CBC. If you don't know I'm talking about hockey yet, you might as well stop reading right now. Tune in for the next blog.

For those of you that don't know, I am a huge Anaheim Ducks (formerly Mighty Ducks of Anaheim) fan. I watched some of the guys play in the minors here in Cincinnati before that organization moved to Portland, and it was a thrill to watch them win the Stanley Cup!

I can't really even describe how amazing this was for me... I guess just imagine how Lee feels when the Lakers win the NBA finals. Or maybe how some of you would feel if the Bengals won the Super Bowl. I was tearing up watching some of those veterans lift that cup for the first time in as many as 15 years in the league. They earned it, they worked hard for it, they gave their time, efforts, lives, sweat, and blood to reach that goal, and even though it sounds odd, I am so proud of them all! Anyway, I'll try to keep this pretty short, but here are a few pictures. I love the one with Giguere (their goalie) holding his baby with all the confetti coming down.

Left to Right: Dustin Penner, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry
The PPG line! Also known as the "kid" line, they are a combined 656 pounds of young talent that is going to be dominant in the NHL for a long time.

Here it is, Jean-Sebastian Giguere holding his newborn baby, Maxim. Priceless

Baby in the cup! So cute.

Left to Right: Rob Niedermayer, Stanley Cup, Carol Niedermayer, Scott Niedermayer
The brothers finally win one together, Scott's 4th, Rob's 1st. When Scotty handed it to Rob, that was one of the most beautiful moments in sports I've ever seen. Here they are with mom.

Left to Right: Teemu Selanne and J.S. Giguere
Teemu waited a long 15 years to hoist Lord Stanley's Chalice, and he sure earned it. I was so happy to see him finally get to lift that cup high above his head.

Here's the team shot. Ah, what a run! What a season!

Alright, I'm finished. I hope at least one of my...two? Three? readers at least enjoys the fact that this made me very happy. Check back here in a few days, as I'll try to make a meaningful post about the impending Ichthus trip!

-Ach


Tears of joy fell like rain, as hearts were lifted high, and dreams were made reality.