Shaun Groves
So about thirty minutes into ‘Help Haiti Live‘ last night I get a text from someone in the audience claiming Taylor Swift had snuck into the balcony to watch the show. Now, I’m not a fanboy, usually, generally, normally. But songwriters leave me a little tongue tied. And Taylor Swift is a first rate songwriter so I was a little nervous to hear that she was in the house…until I remembered that I wasn’t singing.
Whew. Thank, God.
Poor, everybody else.
But I figured my buddy was pulling my leg anyway or mistaken. I mean, how many supermodel-sized blondes are there in the world?
Oh. Right.
After the show I started packing stuff up, you know, doing promoter-y type things, and completely missed the opportunity to awkwardly thank Taylor Swift for coming out to the show and more awkwardly beg her to put something in our auction.
Thankfully, Big Kenny was there to thank her for me. I’m considering hiring him to make all my personal appearances from here on out.
Taylor Swift backstage with Big Kenny at Ryman Auditorium after ‘Help Haiti Live: A Benefit For Compassion International Haiti Relief
If I were an expert on such things like Boo Mama or Big Mama, at this point I would make a comment about the adorableness of Taylor’s coat, earrings or purse but I don’t know adorable from thrift store outcast so for now I’ll only say I’m impressed and surprised by how well Kenny pulls off that amount of bling. Nicely done, sir.
Oh, and there were a bunch of other people at the show too. On stage. Singing and whatnot for the thousands affected by January’s earthquake in Haiti. Here are just a few of Compassion’s new friends.
Steve Mason, Matt Odmark, Jon Foreman, Matt Wertz, Jon’s cellist, Dave Barnes, Big Kenny, Brandon Heath at Compassion International’s ‘Help Haiti Live’ Feb. 27th, 2010.
Shaun Groves, Big Kenny and Mat Kearney at Compassion International’s ‘Help Haiti Live’ benefit for Haiti relief.
Thank you to everyone who tweeted, Facebooked, blogged, and e-mailed to get the word out about this event. And thank you to everyone who gave. THANK YOU doesn’t feel like enough.
Thank you to Keely Scott for these pics and many many more. Justin Zebell and Wade Tam and the whole crew at Synergy Production Group and CTS Audio for donating your time and services to ‘Help Haiti Live.’ Thanks to Gaylord Entertainment and Ryman Auditorium for use of the venue and your generous contribution of $25K to Compassion’s disaster relief fund. Thanks especially to Brian Wagner who heads up marketing for Ryman – thank you for pulling out the stops to pack the house in less than two weeks. Thanks to Tim Tabor and his guys at Transparent Productions for sharing his promoter wisdom and helping out with promotion on radio and Facebook. Thanks to Nic Dugger and his small army at TNDV for amazing video work and large doses of optimism. Thanks to Ben Stewart for building HelpHaitiLive.com and overseeing all the streaming aspects of the show and auction. Thanks to Velvet Kelm and all the angels at M-Collective for rustling up an incredible amount of publicity in a very short amount of time. Thank you to Brad Ruggles for donating website, logo and banner design in a very short amount of time. Thank you to Ron Roark for donating beautiful poster designs in only a few hours. Thanks to Barton Damer for creating all the graphics on screen for the broadcast late at night after a full day at his real job.
And thanks to…
Alison Krauss and Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas
…and their many managers, publicists and whatnot for trusting me and my team and Compassion with your time, talent and name. Thank you for helping us help Haiti last night. God bless you for it.
Big Mama says:
Her earrings, coat and purse really are very adorable.
Awesome concert last night! Great job!
Shane S. says:
Those last two pics are amazing–so much incredible talent (not to mention some pretty great people) in just 2 shots! Great work with the show, Shaun. I pray that the proceeds are multiplied tenfold for the Haitians that will benefit from it.
Denise Carter says:
You deserve a break today…. didn’t Barry Manilow write that jingle?? Seriously you do! However, please…. I know you will not… let people forget that the need for Haiti continues. It does not stop after last night. I must say that I was amazed at some of the apathy of my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. I do repent of my judgements when they occur. Perhaps it is like what I heard Matt Chandler of The Village Church say on a Podcast.(paraphrasing).. We can deliver a message to a group of people and they all are hearing (physically) the same words, but perhaps only one person is stirred enough to act on what was said.The person was not “ripe”, they did not have ears to hear. He was talking about sharing the wonders of Jesus as our Savior, but perhaps it is the same with the plight of Haiti. Let us pray that if we keep sharing that more people will be ripe to hear and act!!
Melissa Fitzpatrick says:
Shaun, I loved watching last night. And if you don’t mind me saying so, you did a fantastic job. Hope you’re getting some serious rest this week. Your friend, Melissa
boomama says:
You did a phenomenal job.
And the coat is spectacular. 🙂
Kelly says:
I know you are worn out and you don’t have to pack to go to Africa now or anything…….but you did an awesome job. Your “little idea” turned out to be something amazing!
Praying for ya’ll this week! Can’t wait to read about the trip!
Clint says:
And thank you Shaun for all of your hard work…we were there and thought it was an incredible success, not to mention an awesome show!
Bless you Sir!
Jason says:
Fantastic job, Shaun.
donbeeson says:
Hi, Shaun! What a great night. The live feed over the internet was great! I didn’t know you were a spokesman for Compassion. You were so articulate and convincing. What you said and what Wes said really affected me deeply. And that story about Kiren(sp) in India really made me think about God’s material blessings on so many of us and our tendency to take them for granted.And yet the Kiren’s of the world have so little materially, but spiritually they are leaps and bounds ahead of many of us! I know for myself– I need to hear the stories of the Kirens. It certainly causes me to check my own behavior and often reveals my selfish attitudes and spurs me onto more Christlike behavior.
Kudos to Big Kenny! What a heart both he and you showed! I was blown away by his and your comments! And that one song by Alison Krauss talking about her Savior was very touching. I would like to hear that again!
What a fantastic evening!
Seth Dunham says:
I missed this concert and so many artists that I think the world of (including you, Shaun). Any chance there will be a DVD or download of the concert for purchase sometime? I am sure I am not the only one that would like to have a copy of the wonderful performances.
Yeni Diziler says:
And thank you Shaun for all of your hard work…we were there and thought it was an incredible success, not to mention an awesome show!
Bailey Singh says:
Taylor Swift is the best country-pop singer today. I love all her songs and i love the she dress. She is pretty too. `
Yeni Dizi says:
meep