In the realm of science, potential energy is the stored energy of an object; the energy by virtue of an object's position relative to other objects. I think in Physics class in high school—forgive me, it’s been awhile—the concept was demonstrated with a coiled up spring, just sitting there doing nothing, but ready to pop up at any second. To me, it was the state of something about to explode into action.
Setting up to play at the High Line Car House on June 24 for the wedding reception of Brennan White and Mike Zaller, I started to feel this tingle of potential energy. Sure, it was a beautiful day; not too hot, not too cool. Yes, it’s a gorgeous location, just south of downtown in the brewery district at the edge of German Village. Yet there was also something intangible for me, coursing through the venue and continuing to ramp up as more and more of the guests and wedding party arrived from the ceremony.
For me, personally, another element at work was that this was the first time in close to a year that the full nine-piece version of Scarlet Fever Band has been together on a stage. These are people that are dear to me beyond my ability to adequately describe in the constraints of a blog entry, but suffice to say I was almost giddy about getting to share another stage with Scott, Aaron, Cory, Jason, Russ, Kevin, Tim, and Sarah.
Tim Perdue, always snapping (amazing) photos while not playing his trumpet with us, captured this view of our setup, not long before we started playing:
Setting up to play at the High Line Car House on June 24 for the wedding reception of Brennan White and Mike Zaller, I started to feel this tingle of potential energy. Sure, it was a beautiful day; not too hot, not too cool. Yes, it’s a gorgeous location, just south of downtown in the brewery district at the edge of German Village. Yet there was also something intangible for me, coursing through the venue and continuing to ramp up as more and more of the guests and wedding party arrived from the ceremony.
For me, personally, another element at work was that this was the first time in close to a year that the full nine-piece version of Scarlet Fever Band has been together on a stage. These are people that are dear to me beyond my ability to adequately describe in the constraints of a blog entry, but suffice to say I was almost giddy about getting to share another stage with Scott, Aaron, Cory, Jason, Russ, Kevin, Tim, and Sarah.
Tim Perdue, always snapping (amazing) photos while not playing his trumpet with us, captured this view of our setup, not long before we started playing:
Standing where he was when the photo was taken, I was struck about the potential energy of this view—the band about to explode into music, a coiled-up spring of sound and movement.
When the music began and the dancing started, I began to get lost in the music and fun going on around me. By the second set, surrounded by the joyful, dancing friends and family of the newlyweds, I was definitely in my happiest of happy places. The potential energy had become kinetic energy of the best type.
That’s when it hit me. Standing at the altar, about to be pronounced husband and wife, couples like Brennan and Mike are another type of potential energy—two people about to come together and join two previously unconnected families into something entirely new. A great wedding reception, like this one, is the physical manifestation of that potential energy first springing into motion. It starts a lifetime of movement, through weeks and months and years of time spent traveling the road of life together, hand in hand.
When the entire crowd was chanting, “One more song! One more song!” over and over again as we finished our last number, I proudly admit I was right there with them. I actually may have yelled it myself. We hammered out AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long,” and as I played, I was figuratively wishing Brennan and Mike a long, happy life together of shaking, moving, and the unending energy of love. I was also thanking my lucky stars, as ever, that I get to be present for moments just like that one.
When the music began and the dancing started, I began to get lost in the music and fun going on around me. By the second set, surrounded by the joyful, dancing friends and family of the newlyweds, I was definitely in my happiest of happy places. The potential energy had become kinetic energy of the best type.
That’s when it hit me. Standing at the altar, about to be pronounced husband and wife, couples like Brennan and Mike are another type of potential energy—two people about to come together and join two previously unconnected families into something entirely new. A great wedding reception, like this one, is the physical manifestation of that potential energy first springing into motion. It starts a lifetime of movement, through weeks and months and years of time spent traveling the road of life together, hand in hand.
When the entire crowd was chanting, “One more song! One more song!” over and over again as we finished our last number, I proudly admit I was right there with them. I actually may have yelled it myself. We hammered out AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long,” and as I played, I was figuratively wishing Brennan and Mike a long, happy life together of shaking, moving, and the unending energy of love. I was also thanking my lucky stars, as ever, that I get to be present for moments just like that one.
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