The day of this concert, I happened to get into my car, and hear Christy play a Rise Against song. When I got home later that night, she had sent me an email, that she was bummed with the edits in this piece.

So...I've included her entire piece here, before the editors spliced it up.

Here it is:

A line, a lyric, a melody catches your attention. There is always a song that sparks your interest and makes you want to hear what the hell the band has to offer. You wonder, “Are their any more good tunes? Are they the real deal?”And so it starts…your discovery of this unfamiliar band. At least that’s how it happened for me with Rise Against.

A couple years ago when I was living back in Albany, NY my girls and I were chilling at my place after leaving the bars around 4:00 a.m.; one of the perks of living in NY. We were going to town on some killer pizza and B.S.ing while Fuse was on the TV in the background. Mid conversation the lyrics from the song on the TV caught my attention, “Are we getting closer or are we just getting more lost…”
It sounded like it was about my freakin’ life. Things with my boyfriend were really crappy, I was trying to make it work but he was over it. As I was thinking about that the song played on…

“I've been here so long I think that it's time to move The winter's so cold summer's over too soon Let's pack our bags and settle down where palm trees grow I've got some friends some that I hardly know But we've had some times I wouldn't trade for the world We chase these days down with talks of the places that we will go”

Now here’s where it gets really crazy dude. I’d just been saying to my friends how lame winter was and how we should all move out to California to make some new memories there. I mean, at the end of the day doesn’t everyone just want to live, love, and be happy?

Of course like a real nerd I stared at my TV until the music video was over and it displayed Rise Against “Swing Life Away.” Sure, I knew about Rise Against but after hearing that song I had to hear more. I bought their CD’s. I looked up the lyrics to their songs. I was digging the band hardcore. How could I not? That song put my life in perspective.

Needless to say, I am super stoked to see them when they play here. I just hope they play my favorite song man. See you there!

Yep, the editors had to hack away some nice stuff. Good thing the internet has no space considerations and we could see the whole piece in its original habitat here.

...that's some fine writing-work there Christy...good on ya...

As I read this, I kept hearing the line "Stopped in to a church, I passed along the way - well I dropped down on my knees....."

Well Duhbya, what is the next line?

I always thought it was "and I PRETEND to pray." Sometimes I hear it as that, other times it's "And I BEGAN to pray."

I read an interview with Mama Cass the other day (an old one, obviously), and she said she sang it as "pretend" but that it was written as "began"...and it was a bit of confusion.