I had an experience, recently, that typifies how a small act of kindness made a real difference in my life. My family makes a yearly pilgrimage to Provo, Utah to attend one of the largest 4th of July celebrations in the country. Called Stadium of Fire, the show is both patriotic and entertaining, culminating with a fireworks show that seems to get bigger and better each year.
This years show featured David Archuleta and Braid Paisley. David put on an awesome performance! When Brad Paisley took that stage, the crowd went wild! Brad performed a great collection of hits: humorous, serious, and for, "those in love." At the end of the performance, and mind you, I had no idea when that was going to be, since Brad had told the audience, "We're going to play as long as they will let us tonight!" So, he was playing a song called "Water", when, during the solo at the end he left the main stage and walked up on a platform that separated the two giant video screens at the back of the stage. He continued his solo, and then the song ended and so did the Brad Paisley portion of Stadium of Fire.
Shortly after, my oldest son asked me if I had seen Brad Paisley's dramatic exit. I replied with, "What?" My son went on to say that after climbing up on the platform at the back of the stage, he waved good bye and jumped into the water that was displayed on the lower video screen. A large splash was displayed on the bigger top video screen. Then, when the splash has dissipated, you could see "Brad" on the lower video screen swimming away until off the screen stage left.
I had missed this dramatic exit since I was attending to my youngest son, who is at the "me" age, which I am sure a lot of you will agree is their whole lifetime! I am not a country western fan, but this evening Brad Paisley may have converted me.
After the Stadium of Fire had ended, I got to thinking, would there be any way that I could see a video of Brad's dramatic exit? I checked YouTube and found a video, but it abruptly cuts to fireworks, thereby missing the complete Brad Paisley dramatic exit. I had known that Stadium of Fire has been broadcast to all viewers of Armed Forces TV around the world. I checked their schedule and found a rebroadcast, only problem, how do I get access to the channel? Come to find out that you don't, only military installations have access.
But, wait. I bet they make a DVD of the production to give to Stadium of Fire officials for review, etc. I just happen to have a very good friend on the Stadium of Fire staff. I contacted him and he did some checking for me and replied that they couldn't distribute a DVD of the show due to copyright agreements. I was done, defeated. I'd lost this endeavor.
A day later, I found this e-mail in my trash box. It was from somebody that I didn't know. I opened it and it asked why I wanted a DVD of the Stadium of Fire. I looked up the name and came to find out that it was the Executive Director of America's Freedom Festival at Provo, none other than Paul Warner himself!
After discussing my wish with Paul, he explained, that under contract with the entertainers, he was unable to provide me with a DVD of the show, but invited me to his office to view it. I setup a date to return to Provo.
A few weeks later, I met Paul in his deluxe office, one that reminds me of a successful law firm. I could tell instantly that Paul was a very kind and generous man. His is a full time job of planning a yearly event that brings much happiness to thousands of people. Comprising scores of events, Stadium of Fire is but one, but easily the front-runner of the bunch!
(Paul Warner is on the left.)
After exchanging greetings, we went into his board room which contained one of the largest HD Televisions I have ever seen. He loaded up the DVD and located Brad Paisley singing "Water." We watched the whole song. At the end, Brad walked up on top of the stage that split the two video screens. Continued jamming on his solo and then lowered his guitar to a waiting stage hand, but the lower video screen showed as he lowered the guitar that it had fallen in the water and sunk to the bottom of the screen. Then Brad waved to the audience and "jumped" into the water. Well actually, jumped off the back of the stage hopefully into some sort of cushy landing spot or the arms of a big burly stage hand! The lower video screen showed him sinking into the water while a giant splash was displayed on the top video screen. Then, Brad swan off stage left on the lower video screen. The effect was awesome! The timing perfect! I was amazed!
As a kind of bonus, Paul let me stay and watch the half-hour fireworks display (which was good, but couldn't touch that of the real show!). When I was ready to leave, I thanked Paul again and he rewarded me by giving me a tour of his building and answering some questions about the show. Lastly he gave me a shirt that was given out during this years freedom run, which was a part of the 4th of July celebration.
I have been quite busy lately. Lots of work and play, so not a lot of posts recently, but this one act of kindness, this one small thing really made my day, the day I was able to see Brad Paisley's dramatic exit!
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