GMA Music Week

Well, we made it here... just about halfway done! Not much time to write but wanted to post a few pics of what's going on...

Here is a picture of the main reason I'm making it through this week at all:

This is my bed in my room at the Renaissance. You'll notice that it is dark in the room... and yet this is when we have to get up. 5:30 am. Shudder. Thankfully, sleeping in this bed is like sleeping on a cloud, wrapped in magic. I have to cherish it, because on my own dime I could never afford to stay in a hotel this nice. So thanks, GMA!

These are some of the other main reasons I'm hanging in there... my friends at work:

This is my intern, Jessica... she's doing such a great job this week! Every time I see her she's running around carrying something or checking something. I'm so proud of her!

This is Kristin. She's our registrar and she's basically an amazing human being. She's worked longer hours than any of us this week and done it all with a smile on her face. She's totally a trooper.

And then, of course, there's the music. You can't go anywhere during the week without hearing music blaring from every corner and seeing artists at every turn. I try not to geek out at seeing the artists too much, although it is cool to see them running around and hanging out with each other.

So far I've managed to drag my sleepy butt to two showcases. On Sunday night I went to the BMI Songwriter Showcase, featuring a whole slew of artists performing stripped down versions of the year's best songs. During this show there was one of those seriously awesome moments that you'll always remember. Leeland sang "Tears of the Saints" accompanied by his brother Jack, and you could've heard a pin drop as his wonderful, distinct voice just rang out this flawless song. Everyone was just spellbound... it was absolutely an annointed performance.

Also got to see Chris Tomlin perform his version of "Amazing Grace," which I also really love.

Then last night we hiked it on over to the Wildhorse to see Jars of Clay, Switchfoot, and Third Day. Talk about a line up! Unfortunately we missed most of Jars performance, but Switchfoot handily made up for that with an amazing rocking good time. I have only seen them once before live and it was at the Fair St. Louis so I was like, half a mile away. This was way better, obvs... we were right up near the front and it was just so fun! Jon was looking a little worse for the wear with some seriously overgrown and underwashed hair, but I'll overlook that. So I let my hair down and got my hands up and had a great time. During one song Jon came down into the audience, got up on a table, sang the rest of the song, then rode back to the stage on some dude's shoulders. Fun! Bummer, my camera died after about the first three minutes but I did manage to snap one or two blurry photos...

Third Day ended out the very late night, but it's never too late to stay up and see Mac Powell and his handsome mug. Snapshot of our conversation:

Ben: Do you guys want to stay for Third Day?
Heather: Uh, have you SEEN Mac Powell? And his beautiful blue eyes?

No, but seriously, their music is pretty good too.

Well, that's the last of my updates for now... tomorrow is Dove Day! Don't forget to watch it live on Gospel Music Channel at 7 central, woo-hoo!