One of my favorite musicians likens life to a song. There is beauty, there is pain, there are wrong notes, and joyous crescendos, questions, and answers offered up with every verse. And each individual tune – even if it riffs off another – is wholly unique. No one can write exactly the same song with the course of their life.
His most well-remembered song speaks to the tension of life – as if it were a guitar string – the tension between “who you are and who you could be, how it is and how it should be.” As he perceives it, these inherent polarities are the building blocks of existence. And rather than being fearful of mistakes, his philosophy is to embrace everything for what it is because sometimes the wrong notes can be beautiful for the very fact they are honest. He even gave a mini Ted Talk performance along these same lines.
The Man: Living and Breathing Music
By name alone, Jon Foreman might not have universal acclaim yet, nevertheless, he has an ardent fanbase who are drawn to the same things he is: music and its inbred powers to draw disparate communities of people together. Some might know Foreman as the frontman for the San Diego-based, alternative rock band Switchfoot (their name originating from a surf term meaning to switch directions on the board), but for others, he is so much more.
Yes, he plays sold-out arenas around the U.S. and the world with his four bandmates (including his younger brother Tim). They have toured for well over 20 years and released 11 albums by this point in time to general acclaim. However, what becomes increasingly apparent is how voracious his appetite for song is.
He’s noted for his regimen of writing nearly a song a day and after his concerts, he’ll regularly meet with fans at makeshift after shows where he plays music for anyone willing to show up. No smoke and lights. No microphones. No ticket fees. No conventions to follow. He strips down the events to their purest elements. Music and people. Singing and sharing in fellowship with one another.
It’s a highly unorthodox approach in this often consumeristic culture of ours. He somehow breaks the system and people are attracted to it. It’s something different than what we’re normally peddled. It feels authentic. The allure of his approach to life can be summed up by one day documented for all posterity in the documentary 25 in 24.
As already alluded to, his lyrics are rife with the same conceits and if it’s not obvious by now, some of these same songs have retained profound significance for me. “Caroline” is an empathetic ode to a “middle finger queen of the nevermind” who has innumerable scars to show for a life of hardship. “Patron Saints of Rock n’ Roll” tackles religious hypocrisy in a tongue-in-cheek meter.
“Ghost Machines” follows how our constant devotion to our electronic devices often sucks the lifeblood out of us. “June and Johnny” evokes a romantic road trip played against the enduring soundtrack of June Carter and Johnny Cash. “Inheritance” is simply a serene ballad about how Foremen met his wife. The list could go on and on. While the themes themselves are hardly revolutionary to him (or any other human being), each song rings with its own voice and an authentic dose of truth touching on something deeply relatable.
The Crazy Idea: 25 in 24
The journey began with this series of four EPs encompassing 24 songs (including the ones mentioned above) that he released over the course of a calendar year with each tune representing a different hour of the day. It was a form of artistic expression – a solar system of sorts – in which to explore all the emotions elicited across the spectrum of light and darkness. Foreman termed it The Wonderlands.
For many, this would be more than enough to keep them busy but for Jon, it was merely the jumping-off point. His dreams were far more ambitious with a crazy idea he wanted to realize solely for his own edification. Since he had 24 songs (and a vast catalog besides) wouldn’t it make sense to play an entire day of concerts? We’re talking 24 hours, multiple locations, and absolutely no gimmicks.
Logistically it was madness. Driving from point A to point B in his hometown of San Diego, California. Playing only 3 tunes at each venue and allowing for any unexpected mishaps along the way. It’s these types of practical issues that sink many dreams in their tracks. Not Jon. He was game no matter the outcomes.
Embracing The Chaos: The Tension is Here
On October 24th, 2015, loaded up in a VW Bus and powered by caffeine, they set out on a mission to play 25 concerts dotted across San Diego. The ambitious endeavor comprised 75 separate songs and an ever-changing list of collaborators and spectators supplying the kind of magic that coalesces with such spontaneity. The craziest thing is the fact it actually happened and galvanized a whole community together. It wasn’t just Jon’s vision linking a constellation of his own memories; it came to involve so many others, whether friends or perfect strangers who found similar solace in music.
Each location is supremely personal as Jon makes the rounds across his home turf. He plays with his old high school’s band. He gets the accompaniment of his mom on the rarely-played pipe organ in the historic Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park. In another interlude, he and a couple of buddies play Rady’s Children Hospital, a safe haven for kids fighting cancer, and close to Foreman‘s own heart. The night brings a first dance performance at a wedding, a Mexican restaurant gig with a full-on mariachi band, and the apex occurs at Mt. Soledad to welcome in the sunrise.
By this point Jon and his compadres are beyond tiredness, buoyed by the sheer adrenaline of each subsequent moment taking them to the sandy shores of the beach and even the rooftop of a local coffee shop, Let It Be-style.
We also witness the problems as they come. There are flat tires, traffic delays, and a plethora of issues, but this is all part of the experience as Jon gladly goes from venue to venue ready to take whatever comes his way. The best moments of the doc come with serendipity, whether it’s random musicians stepping in to play on songs they barely know with the cellist Keith Tutt calling out chord changes.
Or Jon getting pep talks from fans and friends as they rally him on and thank him for doing what he does. True to form, when it is all said and done, instead of going straight to bed like most conventional human beings, he grabs a board and heads for the water, paddling out to catch a wave as the perfect ending to a perfect day. If he’s a musician first, then he’s a surf-lover right behind that.
A Life of Joy: Live It Well
What’s most extraordinary about the doc is not the capturing of the event so much as it is the person and the people who were brought together in this once-in-a-lifetime daylong adventure. It takes the long-traveled roads and common meeting grounds of everyday life and transcends them with the infectious power of music.
The recurring theme propagated by how Jon tackles life can be summed up by a call-to-action: Live life to the fullest. Because our amount of time on this earth is finite and so there is a necessity to make the most out of what we’ve been given. Enjoy it. Embrace it. Bond with those around you in meaningful ways.
We need more fun. We need more crazy ideas. And speaking for myself, sometimes we need beautifully, messy, c*ckeyed dreams like these to challenge our status quo. When the stage goes dark and the lights are going out on the final show of your life, what will you remember?
The times you played it safe and slogged through, driven solely by money or convenience? Or the times you lived life to its limit just because you could and there was a whole solar system of stars to explore all around you. Constellations of relationships, experiences, and emotions just waiting to be touched.
I’m not saying – and I know Jon’s not saying – be rash in making thoughtless decisions on the road ahead. But lest we forget. Life is short. Live it well. Tell your family and friends you love them. And don’t leave this globe loaded with regrets. There’s no trailer on a hearse. We’ve only got one life left to lead and one song left to sing. Make it a good one. There’s no doubt Jon Foreman‘s going to go out with a bang. The key is bringing a whole caravan of folks along for the ride.
Would you be gung ho about being a part of 25 in 24? Do you think music is one of the primary modes of bringing human beings together? Let us know in the comments below!
25 in 24 was originally released for streaming on March 6th, 2018. In May 2019 it was made available to stream for free on Amazon Prime.
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