Steven Curtis Chapman

Hi, everyone! If you know my sister Valerie at all, you will know that she is an avid Steven Curtis Chapman (SCC) fan. There has hardly been a day recently where she does not spontaneously break into song and sing "Love take me over!". She dances to "Cinderella", dives into "Dive", rides along with "The Great Adventure", and does laundry to "Do Everything"; she shouts out "Live out loud", can quote "Declaration of  Dependence"  word for word, makes plans for her future family to adopt while singing "When Love Takes You In", and stalwartly follows Jesus with "For the Sake of The Call" ringing in her ears.

Quite literally, Valerie is the poster girl for the ultimate SCC follower. She is about as attached to Steven Curtis Chapman as pop-cultured girls are to Justin Bieber or One Direction. She can chatter incessantly on anything about SCC -- how many albums he has produced, how many kids he has, what he looks like in his latest picture, where he is touring, when his next album will be released, why they don't play more of his songs on the radio, blah, blah, blah.

 As a typical brother, I love to tease her about her favorite musician. It is my pleasure to remind her that SCC is a grandpa now and ask (while trying to keep a straight face) if he has announced his retirement yet. I call him "the old croaker" and provide a running commentary on all his new songs, commenting especially on how SCC has completely run out of creative ideas. For instance, I am quick to point out that his song "Take Another Step" is basically just those words repeated over and over. And over. And over. She usually accepts my comments with a roll of the eyes, but occasionally she will appear genuinely bothered -- and my mission is accomplished. Most of the time she just cranks up the volume to "Live Out Loud" and plugs her ears. This does not daunt me, though. I patiently wait for the song to end with a grin on my face, and when she cautiously removes her fingers from her ears, I start in with Tim Hawkins rendition of SCC's romantic song "I Will Be Here." Here's the comedian's rendition:

As you can see, I am very good at building sister-brother relationships! In fact, when I heard from Valerie in shaky, joy-filled expressions that SCC was coming to Seattle, I knew instantly that it was my duty to come along with her to the concert. Someone needed to be there to catch her when she swooned at the sight of the old croaker, after all, and I thought a thirty dollar concert ticket was a cheap price for hours of teasing fun! She reluctantly agreed that I could come, but only on one condition: I had to be on my best behavior. I  fulfilled that condition to the letter . . .

 

 Unfortunately, Valerie wouldn't let me sleep through the whole concert, and I forgot to bring my ear plugs anyway, so SCC's caterwauling made sure of that. 

 

 



 I also told her along the way to which movie character SCC looks almost exactly like. Compare the pics below to see what I am talking about.

 

Mr. Fredricksen from UP

The Old Croaker

Strangely, as a result of this observation, Valerie now refuses to talk to me. I'm not quite sure what went wrong in my brilliant relationship building plan. I don't know, maybe my sister needs counseling.

 

Okay, so we are still best friends. :0)

 

 

And in case you are wondering, despite all my teasing, SCC is one of my favorite singers as well (the concert was awesome!). But don't tell Valerie I said that. ;0)