Friends, these are exciting times.  Not only are you reading the first-ever blog by Whitney Roberts for North Central College (which is not a big deal) but you also get a backstage pass, or I’ll atleast describe what it would be like for you to have a backstage pass, to Derek Webb’s show at the Union.  First things first, I thought I would share with you a very honest portrait of my condition on Tuesday nights. Yes, in this picture I am enjoying a delectable serving of Carribean Jerk wings at Buffalo Wild Wings (will now be referred to only as “wings”).  Every Tuesday night at 10:00pm a random group of friends of mine show up at wings. We’ve been going to the same restaurant almost every Tuesday for 3 years. Needless to say, one thing I won’t leave college without is a very developed skill for eating with my fingers.

So at this point you might be asking “Whitney, why did you title your very first blog ‘DWebb day’? To that I would answer “Because DWebb (derek webb) is one of the most influential musicians in my life and I got to spend the day with him and his band (and wife and baby) on Friday.” CRAZY. Here’s how it all went down: one of the hats I wear on campus is working in the office of campus ministry and service. Jeremy Gudauskas, the Director of Campus Ministry and Service, sits in his office immediately to my left and often asks “Whit, who should we bring to the Union.” One such conversation happened about a year and a half ago and I got my hopes up and said, “Jeremy it would be sweet if we could get Derek Webb to the Union.” By golly, last winter (almost a year from last Friday’s show) he was playing at the Union. Jeremy is actually a magician, imagine that. So after we packed the Union last year at his show, he agreed to come back. Currently he is on tour for his new album, The Ringing Bell, with his wife Sandra Mccraken, also a musician, and his full band. They agreed to make a stop in good ole Naperville to hang out with us Friday and it turned out to be fantastic.

I was incharge of making sure all of the band members and bus driver got to the hotel when they needed to to sleep/shower etc during the day. I was also responsible for being at the Union when the bus arrived. To my dismay, we didn’t know what time they were going to get there, for sure, but they had mentioned possibly arriving at 7:00am. Guess what time Whitney was up and ready to go on Friday morning… you got it, 7:00am. After calls to the hotels to confirm our early check-ins and all that jazz, I made my way over to the office waiting for the bus. They finally got to the Union at around 10:30am. The rest of the day consisted of 40 miles worth of trips to the hotel (probably 10 trips), load-in of equipment, sound checks, stocking the consession stand, setting up tables, sweeping floors, and finally letting all 170 of the eager fans in at 7:00pm. Dwebb day was a success. I left thoroughly exhausted, as I should, and they got back on their tour bus to head to Wheaton for their Saturday night show. Jeremy got a call, already, from their manager asking if it made sense for them to do another show next year… maybe this Dwebb day will turn into a NCC holiday?