Good Charlotte, Evanescence

I've written about both Evanescence and Good Charlotte in earlier posts. I talked about Good Charlotte because of their Hold On video. Evanescence moved audiences with My Immortal, and had a personal place in my life as well.

As you can probably tell, I love both of these bands. So does my daughter. I learned about them from her.

This is why I have to share the good news: Evanescence and Good Charlotte are touring again, and we have the opportunity to see them! It's a bit of a drive (one is three hours away, the other will be four) but I can't miss this chance.

These bands are very special to our family, as you will see.

I wrote earlier that we had a major loss in our lives this year. It's still unreal to me, and I still struggle with getting things done while I grieve. I'm even finding it hard to put the words on paper.

In February, we lost my Mom.

I want to delete those words, to pretend it never happened.

But back to the bands, to why they are special to us...

My daughter is a singer, and she and her cousin used to sing to my Mom. Mom loved their music. One of the first songs they ever sang was Good Charlotte's LIttle Things. That was followed by many more songs of both Good Charlotte and Evanescence.

My mother's last gift to my daughter was on Christmas. It was a Good Charlotte t-shirt.

Fittingly, my daughter's last gift to my Mother was hours before she passed. It was an Evanesecence song.

Seeing them on tour (within a week of each other) is very meaningful. To make it even better, my daughter's birthday is between concerts. She was dreading the loss she knew she would feel on that day. Now it will be memorable for good things instead.

The song my daughter sang to Mom is called Good Night. You've probably never heard it. I'm not even sure where she found it. It's a short lullaby, and the last words are "We said goodnight and not good-bye." I'd put all the lyrics here but I'm not sure of the legalities of it. I'm sure you can find it on any Evanescence lyric site. It's a beautiful song, and was very appropriate for Mom's passing.

It was the last song she ever heard.

This is going to be an emotional couple of concerts, but one that will also make me feel closer to Mom. I'm as excited about them as my daughter is. I want to think that Mom will be right there by our side those nights.

I'll be posting more about Evanescence later. The Evanescence website has a link to Amy Lee's Foundation, Out of The Shadows. It is very impressive and worth looking at. I'll talk about it in a future blog.

Mostly likely I'll be talking about new releases from both groups. You probably already know that Evanescence has a new CD, The Open Door, which will be released on October 3. (We've preordered...no surprise to anybody who knows us.) The Evanescence website provides links if you want to hear it now.

Good Charlotte is also close to releasing a new CD. Check out the new song at GoodCharlotte.com

Expect me to talk about both of the concerts in future blogs. I'm so excited! I can't tell you how good it feels to be excited about something again...except, of course, it's very difficult to not be sharing with Mom.

I want to publicly thank both bands for their musical gifts to us. The right songs can really make a difference in our lives.