Love. Hope. Words. Music. Surfing. Community. Airports. Basketball. Comebacks. Metaphors. Microphones. Los Angeles. Paris. Coffee. India. Sincerity. Family. T-Shirts. Sebastian Inlet.
Music
RECENT: Bon Iver, Ray Lamontagne, The Airborne Toxic Event, Lykke Li, Keane, MGMT, Bloc Party, Ra Ra Riot, Damion Suomi ALL-TIME: U2, Counting Crows, Ryan Adams, Jeff Buckley, Coldplay, Radiohead, Switchfoot, Jon Foreman, Thrice, Dustin Kensrue, Sleeping at Last, the Honorary Title, Over the Rhine, Patty Griffin, Anberlin, Copeland, Lovedrug, Brand New, Bayside, Interpol, the Jealous Sound, John Mayer, Cat Power, Muse, Youth Group, Pinback, the Killers, the Cure, Embrace, Elbow, Sufjan Stevens, Pedro the Lion, Damien Jurado, Doves, Johnathon Rice, Rocky Votolato, Vedera, Damien Rice, Ben Harper, Mute Math, Bright Eyes, Idlewild, Iron + Wine, Band Marino, Athlete, Kate Earl, Mineral, Phil Wickham, the Fray.
Movies
Brick, Lord of the Rings, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Crash, I am Sam, About a Boy, Shawshank Redemption, Good Will Hunting, Gladiator, Garden State, Lost in Translation, Great Expectations, A Knight's Tale, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Pirates of the Carribean, Tommy Boy, North Shore
Books
Searching for God Knows What, and Through Painted Deserts (especially the intro) by Donald Miller, Dream Brother by David Browne, The Journey of Desire and Wild at Heart by John Eldredge, Traveling Mercies and Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, Bono In Conversation with Michka Assayas, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers.
Heroes
I am inspired by my parents and sisters, Martin Luther King, Bono, Johnny Cash, Jon Foreman, Donald Miller, Dustin Kensrue, Gord Marriage, Rob Bell, Josh Loveless, Jon Tyson, Byron Cutrer, Jim Hoyle, Eric Brown, Britt Merrick, Elisha Wright, Gordy Strongitharm, Josh Benfield, Bob Hurley, Kelly Slater, Al Merrick, Ian Soto, Denny Springsteen.
About me: From Note to Self:
"And God must be a pretty big fan of 'today', because you keep waking up to it. You have made known your request for a hundred different yesterdays, but the sun keeps rising on this thing that has never been known. Yesterday is dead and over. Wrapped in grace. Those days are grace. You are still alive, and today is the most interesting day. Today is the best place to live."
From Ever Get Home: "Rickey is here now, innocent and mature and inspiring in all of his appreciating. He reminds me of all of them. They are the coolest thing happening on the planet. That new baby Murphy will know so much love and laughter. And Joel's constant sharing, inspiring with his honesty. Kory always wrestling, always aware of the tension. Jorge's kind heart, humble and gold and I hope that we're the same. Griffin cool as shit, leading the change and smart and making people laugh. My dear friend Jon, leading all of them, always sneaking off at midnight, to the middle of Broadway, just him and God and the people stuck in moments. He goes to remember, to say his thousand thanks, to know his Father, to love his city. Someone told me once that New York City was like a person, and I suppose I understand that now. It is difficult to lose a person."
From I'm starting to believe the ocean is much like You: "The building has always come easy - the creative, the words on napkins, the wild open doors. It's easy to always look ahead, to equate success with getting the hell away from where you started. If you're faster than whatever's chasing you, then you never have to pay attention to it. You tell yourself it's okay that the bridges burned. You didn't mean for it to happen, but maybe it's better - I mean, you're not going back, they can't go where you're going.
Or maybe those are lies. Maybe the constant motion is simply a man on the run, a man scared to death of standing still, a man scared to death of what he might find, or what might find him. And maybe the hero's dance is not the run across the burning bridge. Maybe the hero's dance is the pause and the turning to say 'This wasn't meant to burn.' Maybe the leader is the one who looks back and sees something worth fighting for."
From This Broken City: "A couple in love is enjoying a picnic, a moment borrowed from some perfect movie. Nearby, a woman sits in heated conversation with herself, stuck in a moment, still reaching for something she lost years ago. My path divides them, and I can't shake either scene. I want to be the couple. I want the woman to be healed. I don't know the way to either place. My own heart is heavy. Head full of songs, I keep walking. "
From To Write Love on Her Arms.:
"She is full of contrast, more alive and closer to death than anyone I've known, like a Johnny Cash song or some theatre star. She owns attitude and humor beyond her 19 years, and when she tells me her story, she is humble and quiet and kind, shaped by the pain of a hundred lifetimes. I sit privileged but breaking as she shares. Her life has been so dark yet there is some soft hope in her words, and on consecutive evenings, I watch the prettiest girls in the room tell her that she's beautiful. I think it's God reminding her."
From To Whisper Against This. (Alive Inside the Astrodome):
"Young men from New Orleans are doing calculus on cots, finding inspiration in strange new skies. Boys are being boys, moving perfectly from tackle football to toy soldiers on a small strip of turf. Old men laugh at this display of youth, while mothers braid hair and keep children close. One boy smiles bright and points to Payton Mannings autograph on his Jimi Hendrix t-shirt. The quarterback was here yesterday. Dr. Phil is here today. Bill Clinton and George Bush Sr. will be here tomorrow. There are reporters and men with cameras, soldiers and police, doctors and nurses. Men in suits move through, pitching religion while hundreds more live theirs quietly.
It is some stange slice of life, so many characters moving through, me among them. I am seeing so many things; poverty and laughter, rescue and pain. Hope is here too. They are a beautiful broken people. I forget that I am in Houston, as every conversation is New Orleans. I am tasting that famous blend of history and fantasy, music and mayhem, bright lights and darker things. Beneath banners of business and victory, inside a dome built for pleasure, I sit among ten thousand stories."
From Zeke Sanders: You Were Loved:
"i didn't know him well but this is what i knew:
Zeke Sanders was hilarious and kind, small and huge in the same moment. He was humility and rock star, fashion and fishing, alive and encouraging and broken and hopeful and a thousand other things i'll never know. He was simple and complex. He was my friend. Something hopeful in me says he knows now how much he was loved. We will miss his smile, his laughter, his kindness, his tiny jeans and enormous shoes, made for wrestling. We will miss him tomorrow night when we set up, Sunday when we tear down, and Monday morning at Ian's, when it's too quiet. i don't know what else to say. i just have to believe that we are all more loved than we'll ever know. And we're all in this together."
great running into you again for a moment at catalyst. would have loved to sit and hear all that's going on in the world of twloha in that moment, but was running running. wish i had a better discipline to embrace the interruptions in life. looked for you again later, but you were gone. perhaps it won't be another year before we run into each other again. praying all is well for you guys!
i'm so glad to know you're coming to omaha! a friend of mine are coming to the meeting tomorrow and are very excited! we are both very inspired with your message and the whole TWLOHA organization :) we were able to meet you in omaha when you were here after the Westroads tragedy, and have been checking in ever so often to see if there are any dates you were in our area! can't wait until tomorrow!
You are eternal; you are divine. Live your divinity by doing what is right for you. If it turns out to be a mistake, you will learn from it, become stronger and more perceptive, and you will go on.
First off, I would like to say thank you for all of your effort and time that you have put into this cause. It really means a lot to me and my friends.
I have sent an email to the booking team as well as relayed the message to the TWLOHA MySpace -- and am currently trying to coordinate the street team as well. I am trying to put together an event with TWLOHA and any and all consideration is truly appreciated.
Hey, we are really psyched that you like our music. Now that you have become a fan, do you think you could help us out.
1. Tell your friends about us, and tell them to tell their friends, etcetera chain game! We'd like to tour before fall 2009 to do this we need an increased fan base
2. Chat with us, we are all interesting people you can reach Nate- flopsocks69 Gabe-sumwatapathetic Meg-haha1491 Tyler-Oceanfloor49
3. If you know of local bands in your area, or know people on your schools newspaper or radio or TV let them know about us so that we can get more coverage
Thank you for being our fan and more importantly our friend!
Thank you for mentioning The Perks of Being a Wallflower in one of your blogs. I never would have found it otherwise, or felt infinite, or heard The Smiths.
You carry the torch of a champion. You may not fully recognize it, but it is with you, wherever you go. Its fire is your winning spirit. Within you lies a golden ore of potential. Uncover it. Mine it. Let your burning spirit meld with your potential to forge your own winner's medal. Now you are ready to become a champion. The torch will guide you on your way. See yourself wearing your winner's medal. Feel it, enjoy it and know its value. This medal is your permission to win. The secret of winning in life is that, first, you must believe you are...
saw me some counting crows tonight but somebody who should of been there.. was not.
i mean honestly, my love for them is totally your fault. you really should of flown home and taken responsibility for your actions. don't worry though, i took complete control of the situation.
as punishment i got you a really sweet shirt. hopefully, it will cause you so much guilt that you will never try and pull something like this again. also, upon entering a land where your telefono works, you may or may not receive multiple musical voicemails.
You've probably already heard of these. But incase you haven't, you might appreciate them. Alexi Murdoch Rocky Votolato Paper Route The Weepies The Great Book of John
I read something in Walking on Water by Madeleine L'Engle that made me think of your writing: "...when the words mean even more than the writer knew they meant, then the writer has been listening. And sometimes when we listen, we are led into places we do not expect, into adventures we do not always understand."
Jamie, i know you get this all the time but im so grateful for what you are doing you really saved me. Lately ive started to get bad again but i still have yet to do so. I credit you and everyone eelse at TWLOHA eith helpinh me with this i really couldn't of done this without you guys. you really inspire me beyond belief. Thank you,
sooooo i have homecoming next week and we've dress up days and one of them is hero and ive decided that i'm gonna dress like you because what you have started has changed me completly
Thank You for the Add. To those that may read this..."When you hit rock-bottom, You can't fall any more. When you think Your journey is over, There's always more to explore." ;)
