Birthday Boy, Piano Guys, and a Slice of Peponi
*A post by Dad!
Saturday night found us at a concert that we had been anticipating for a long time. Not since I jogged the near-mile to have the honor of being the youngest in line (I was 30) at EnergySolutions Arena for Neil Diamond tickets have we been so excited for a musical performance.
And we were more excited for Myles than we were for ourselves, because his absolute favorite act, The Piano Guys, was at Thanksgiving Point — and we had prime seats. This was our birthday gift to him. (Despite his birthday being a few days away, this lined up pretty perfectly.)
We knew the setting would be perfect: An innovative, energetic piano-and-cello act in a soft, grassy amphitheater setting with America’s largest manmade waterfall in the Western Hemisphere as the backdrop. And we realized Myles would be up way past his bedtime, but that’s part of his birthday present privilege — it’s good to be king.
The night arrived. We loaded the car and started driving toward the venue.
We were also driving toward a large, dark, rain cloud — not the little black one Winnie the Pooh sings about.
Now, ideally, we would have chosen this particular day to have stifling, 90-plus degree temperatures throughout the day, then cooling off at night, while every other day for the past two and a half months would have had refreshing, afternoon rain showers. Unfortunately, this summer has been the exact opposite.
We understand. Climate control is above our paygrade, and the weather has caused much worse things to happen than just making people uncomfortable at a concert. It was just a little bit scary with some nasty wind as we made our way to the entrance. We’ll live with it.
Side note: We ended up having two tickets to spare, and found interested buyers in a young couple who’d driven two hours from the north. “Bless their hearts,” I thought, as they stood huddled and the young man was probably second-guessing himself on his choice of date.
So as we walk in the gate, we find out that we need a ticket for our personal Guest of Honor, who is not yet 2. The discovery of this policy was met with consternation from us.
Here’s the explanation: “Because the concert starts at 8, and we know some parents will call babysitters for their own date night, we don’t want them to feel upset because there are those who bring children for free. Therefore, by requiring you to buy a ticket for your child, you’re essentially saying “he’s not a free baby, his ticket was paid for too.”
OK, I don’t think I got that exactly correct, but she did use the phrase “free babies.” Just ponder that phrase, really.
Cindy said she understood the policy. I, however, was contrarian. If I show up at such an event with only my wife and see “free babies” — seriously, she said that! — it doesn’t bother me.
But it was windy and raining, so I didn’t stay there and argue like a baseball manager who had already been ejected from a game. On to our seats.
We found a row, and settled in — 45 minutes to showtime. That means weathering the weather and a toddler up past his bedtime. Buckle up.
Really, it was a blast. Myles took turns huddling under blankets with us and inviting his stuffed ghost/snowman “Chilly” in from the rain into a “nice, warm bed.” He was his usual, infectiously cheery self, and we couldn’t complain.
Myles watches videos of The Piano Guys (Jon Schmidt on piano and Steven Sharp Nelson on cello) almost every day. He even has code words for which songs to request: “Beach,” “Train,” “Race Cars.”
Then the show began. His face just lit up during the performance. One thing he loves to do is play air cello and air piano while he watches the songs. I could just feel how happy he was sitting on my lap watching his favorite music, and playing along as best he can.
The highlight for me was the Guys’ creative, unparalleled cover of One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful,” complete with plucking piano strings and playing them with a bow. Myles calls this the “Na Na Na Na” song because the group sings those syllables near the end.
I was almost in tears watching Myles and Cindy dance and laugh their way through this rousing tune. Every little inconvenience was worth it to see his unbridled joy.
It’s worth noting that The Piano Guys themselves expressed their hope that parents had brought their children to the concert, as their goal is to make videos that grandparents, parents and kids could watch together. I’d have paid a little extra to see them lead a “Free Babies!” chant.
The last song we stayed for was “Bourne Vivaldi,” or the “Train” song, as Myles calls it. This is the one that sends him into a frenzy with his air ensemble, and he gets to see a train, which is never a bad thing for him. And boy did he work those air keys and bow those air strings. We might have a music prodigy on our hands.
As we walked out, the Guys favored the crowd with a song featuring vocals by Mormon Tabernacle Choir member Alex Boyé. It’s called “Peponi,” which is a Swahili word for “Paradise” — as it is based on the Coldplay song of that name.
This song isn’t in Myles’ regular rotation of Piano Guys videos, so we were surprised as we were carrying him out and he started singing the chorus: “Pep-o, Pep-o, Pep-o-ni.”
I realized that this night was, indeed, paradise for us. To see how much our son enjoyed a wonderful performance worth way more than the unexpected extra ticket we had to buy.
It was a large slice of Peponi, to go.
pictures to come
Saturday night found us at a concert that we had been anticipating for a long time. Not since I jogged the near-mile to have the honor of being the youngest in line (I was 30) at EnergySolutions Arena for Neil Diamond tickets have we been so excited for a musical performance.
And we were more excited for Myles than we were for ourselves, because his absolute favorite act, The Piano Guys, was at Thanksgiving Point — and we had prime seats. This was our birthday gift to him. (Despite his birthday being a few days away, this lined up pretty perfectly.)
We knew the setting would be perfect: An innovative, energetic piano-and-cello act in a soft, grassy amphitheater setting with America’s largest manmade waterfall in the Western Hemisphere as the backdrop. And we realized Myles would be up way past his bedtime, but that’s part of his birthday present privilege — it’s good to be king.
The night arrived. We loaded the car and started driving toward the venue.
We were also driving toward a large, dark, rain cloud — not the little black one Winnie the Pooh sings about.
Now, ideally, we would have chosen this particular day to have stifling, 90-plus degree temperatures throughout the day, then cooling off at night, while every other day for the past two and a half months would have had refreshing, afternoon rain showers. Unfortunately, this summer has been the exact opposite.
We understand. Climate control is above our paygrade, and the weather has caused much worse things to happen than just making people uncomfortable at a concert. It was just a little bit scary with some nasty wind as we made our way to the entrance. We’ll live with it.
Side note: We ended up having two tickets to spare, and found interested buyers in a young couple who’d driven two hours from the north. “Bless their hearts,” I thought, as they stood huddled and the young man was probably second-guessing himself on his choice of date.
So as we walk in the gate, we find out that we need a ticket for our personal Guest of Honor, who is not yet 2. The discovery of this policy was met with consternation from us.
Here’s the explanation: “Because the concert starts at 8, and we know some parents will call babysitters for their own date night, we don’t want them to feel upset because there are those who bring children for free. Therefore, by requiring you to buy a ticket for your child, you’re essentially saying “he’s not a free baby, his ticket was paid for too.”
OK, I don’t think I got that exactly correct, but she did use the phrase “free babies.” Just ponder that phrase, really.
Cindy said she understood the policy. I, however, was contrarian. If I show up at such an event with only my wife and see “free babies” — seriously, she said that! — it doesn’t bother me.
But it was windy and raining, so I didn’t stay there and argue like a baseball manager who had already been ejected from a game. On to our seats.
We found a row, and settled in — 45 minutes to showtime. That means weathering the weather and a toddler up past his bedtime. Buckle up.
Really, it was a blast. Myles took turns huddling under blankets with us and inviting his stuffed ghost/snowman “Chilly” in from the rain into a “nice, warm bed.” He was his usual, infectiously cheery self, and we couldn’t complain.
Myles watches videos of The Piano Guys (Jon Schmidt on piano and Steven Sharp Nelson on cello) almost every day. He even has code words for which songs to request: “Beach,” “Train,” “Race Cars.”
Then the show began. His face just lit up during the performance. One thing he loves to do is play air cello and air piano while he watches the songs. I could just feel how happy he was sitting on my lap watching his favorite music, and playing along as best he can.
The highlight for me was the Guys’ creative, unparalleled cover of One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful,” complete with plucking piano strings and playing them with a bow. Myles calls this the “Na Na Na Na” song because the group sings those syllables near the end.
I was almost in tears watching Myles and Cindy dance and laugh their way through this rousing tune. Every little inconvenience was worth it to see his unbridled joy.
It’s worth noting that The Piano Guys themselves expressed their hope that parents had brought their children to the concert, as their goal is to make videos that grandparents, parents and kids could watch together. I’d have paid a little extra to see them lead a “Free Babies!” chant.
The last song we stayed for was “Bourne Vivaldi,” or the “Train” song, as Myles calls it. This is the one that sends him into a frenzy with his air ensemble, and he gets to see a train, which is never a bad thing for him. And boy did he work those air keys and bow those air strings. We might have a music prodigy on our hands.
As we walked out, the Guys favored the crowd with a song featuring vocals by Mormon Tabernacle Choir member Alex Boyé. It’s called “Peponi,” which is a Swahili word for “Paradise” — as it is based on the Coldplay song of that name.
This song isn’t in Myles’ regular rotation of Piano Guys videos, so we were surprised as we were carrying him out and he started singing the chorus: “Pep-o, Pep-o, Pep-o-ni.”
I realized that this night was, indeed, paradise for us. To see how much our son enjoyed a wonderful performance worth way more than the unexpected extra ticket we had to buy.
It was a large slice of Peponi, to go.
pictures to come
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