Dancing in Circles

This past weekend was such a whirlwind! I feel like I should probably make 3 posts tonight—one for each day to try to encapsulate it all. But instead I'll just span it out over the week.


So this past Friday I got to experience some pretty great things! You see, a few years ago, I had the awesome opportunity to travel up the East Coast on a ministry tour of sorts and as part of the trip, we had a band join us on the road. The band was called Three Nails Short and the four guys that joined us were Brian Bandas, Wade Sommers, Kevin Waden, and Wesley Copeland. We got to hang out with the guys and spend some cool hang time . . . and let's just say that after quality time in 15 passenger vans with people, you learn a little more than their favorite colors. But yeah, so we got the chance to get to know these guys.

Fast forward years later, and Brian is in a country music band called Love and Theft. They have toured with Taylor Swift and are currently on tour opening for Tim McGraw. I knew they were coming to Seattle and that I wanted to attend the show at the Key Arena, but I missed the cut-off for the meet and greet sign up and decided that paying $60-$80 to see their short set and fight fangirls to get to say hi to Brian at the merch table, would be a little much. So after talking with my wonderful friends and asking their advice, I decided against it. To my benefit, even though I wasn't able to go to the main show, I WAS able to go to the free live acoustic set they were playing at the Hard Rock Cafe (which JUST opened) downtown!

I showed up early and about 10-15 minutes after I showed up, the guys showed up and I went up to Brian and got to give him a big hug and we just got to reconnect for a bit before their sound-check. He also introduced me to the band and I got to hang out with some other fans while they were sound-checking. The entire evening was so great! It felt so awesome to see Brian up on stage playing his heart out doing what he loves to do! From watching all the interviews and music videos, I am completely in awe of how things have developed for him and I couldn't be more excited! To see how he has been able to maintain balance and his down-to-earth personality is very refreshing, especially when you become a big-time band and start getting floods of fangirls and fame.



It was such an honor to have the opportunity to catch up with Brian and to meet the band. I look forward to seeing them play again in Seattle! And if they ever come to your city, you should DEFINITELY check them out! These guys are amazing!

(L to R: Stephen Barker Liles, Me, Brian Bandas, Eric Gunderson)

My video footage from the evening:





BONUS: Brian's intro to their music video to DON'T WAKE ME