It's Wednesday: APE 4

It's APRIL 4th. What on this planet?! Not only is time flying, but time is flying. I came to a realization the other day, April Fools Day to be exact. Exactly one year ago this week, Mr. Isaac Svensson and I, or as we're professionally known: Mawwiage Films, flew to Scotland for a weekend to film the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Ichikawa. This was the trip of a lifetime, a trip I will NEVER forget. And you know what's cool? Modern technology allowed us to film our experience. Modern technology allowed us to capture the ABSOLUTE ABSURDITY that was our weekend trip to Scotland. This video is a doozy and it never gets old. Very highly recommended. The emotions in this video are REAL, it's almost eerie (especially near the end when we have absolutely no idea what we're doing in a foreign country by ourselves).

MF in Scotland: The Documentary from Mawwiage Films on Vimeo.

On March 31, something absolutely wonderful happened. My favorite band as a kid, Relient K, came to Biola University to play a show. I was stoked beyond words. Here was my facebook status following the concert:

If you know me well, you know that I don't hear lyrics. It's a weird phenomenon, hard to explain. But for some reason, there's one band, and one band only, that I know a whole lot of lyrics to. That band is Relient K. Relient K played at Biola University tonight and ABSOLUTELY KILLED IT. And it will be the first and probably last time I will have the privilege to SING and SCREAM lyrics with the band and fans, all while going APE in the PIT. An absolute BLAST of a show. I can honestly say, my childhood dreams have come true. Thank you, gentlemen.

Everything stated here is a fact. Relient K rocked Biola, absolutely rocked it. I must admit, I was a little worried. You see, Relient K has evolved quite a bit since their self-title album came out in 2000. Their sound has evolved throughout their career, and when Mmhmm dropped in 2004, I heard an inkling of what was to come, an inkling I wasn't particularly digging. Sure enough, the Apathetic EP came out in 2005 and I disappointed for the simple reason that the "fun, immature, punk" Relient K was old news and the "serious, mature, indie" Relient K was here to stay. Their music changed, for the better in a lot of ways, but the new stuff was simply not the Relient K I knew and loved.

So this same Relient K was scheduled to play at Biola and we were all wondering what their set list was going to be. Were they going to play old stuff? All new stuff? Combo meal? I wanted wanted wanted the old stuff, but was ever so nervous they weren't going to pull out the fun stuff. BUT, sure enough, the dudes pulled off a BRILLIANT set. Here's a picture of it for you:

PERFECT mix of old and new, super pumped. We went ape, got a gnarly pit going, getting our mosh on. SO FUN screaming those lyrics, never experienced anything like it and will never again. Once in a lifetime experience.

Two crazy things happened.

1. I have a good friend named Mr. Scott Weir that also goes to Biola. His father, Dr. Paul Weir, and my father, Mr. Ned Lott, were roommates at Biola back when they were students. From what Scott and I have heard, there was this band Toto that was popular when our dad's were in college, repping a song called "Africa" that topped the charts when our dad's were in college. Now, Relient K has produced two cover albums, and on one of these cover albums, they cover Toto's "Africa." Do you know what this means? This means that Mr. Scott Weir and I are jamming to "Africa" while we were in college, just like our dad's jammed to "Africa" while they were in college. You know what's even crazier? Scott and I are going to be living under the same roof next semester. If that's not unbelievable, I don't know what is.

2. After the first two songs of the encore, the lead singer of Relient K, Matthew Thiessen (who is a BEAST of a lyricist) told us that his grandfather passed away this week and he would have given anything to be there with his family, but was commited to this show at Biola. Not only is this incredible dedication, but RK closed the night with Deathbed, an incredible 11 minute song that delves deep into the concept of death and our eternal meaning. Matt Thiessen performed this song BEAUTIFULLY, with emotion that can't be put into words. Straight from the heart. Take a listen, it's unreal.

And here are two pictures from the night, straight from the camera of Mr. Job Ang.