NOVEMBER 2001 NEWSLETTER
So, have you received this e-mail yet?
>This is very insightful. Thought you all might want to read it.
>
> Billy Graham's daughter was being interviewed on the Early Show and Jane
> Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this happen?"
> (regarding the attacks on Sept. 11).
>
> Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said "I
> believe that God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years
> we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our
> government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman that He is,
> I believe that He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us
> His blessing and His protection if we demand that He leave us alone?"
Yeah, me too. The first few times I treated it as I do all forwards. Leaned in, mentally shook my fist at the falsehood of it, and deleted it. Eventually, though, I decided to light a candle and stop cursing the darkness. I hit "reply all" and sent off the following . . .
"this is not insightful. this is childish and ignores the work of jesus. if we try to follow ms. graham's logic, and look at which country claims to welcome god, which country has tried to live by the law of god, which country has fought the infidels . . .well, you can see where this kind of thinking leads.
thankfully, god does not judge by our welcome nor our rejection. god has responded once and for all in jesus. there are myriad examples of godly nations suffering extreme poverty and famine, just as there are many examples of godless lands full of riches and good fortune. attempting to connect god's protection with national religion is a fool's game."
There, I thought. Candle lit; darkness temporarily dispelled. Within an hour however, I received a note from a woman saying "I don't know who you are. I don't care. If you've got a bone to pick with [name deleted] do it in private. Stop harassing me and my children with your reply all blast."
Whoa. Was it something I said? What a strange response. Her children? Harassing? Blast? If I may quote the Duckman, do I offend? This requires more thought. Perhaps I should return to cursing the darkness . . .perhaps I tried to share my candle too broadly. Perhaps I really am a child harasser, picking bones with non-hyphenated reply all blasts. But before I return to cursing darkness and limit my child harassment, I'll tell you about our month at large . . .
November began for us in October. The first event of the last events of the previous month was in Tulsa, on whose time Eric Clapton once lived. We were there to play for a national gathering of missionaries. Well, come to think of it, a gathering of missionaries is always international, isn't it. While there, we met a young lady who knew how to turn US currency into shirt. Albeit, really small highly starched shirts. Michael completed his internship and was able to create his own copy. We met loads of fun folks and then headed home. On my way back to Detroit, I had to fly through Memphis. Many airports around the country have increased security, but the authorities in Memphis mean business, as you can see from this sign. I don't know how much it costs to tow a human being, but I'm quite sure it's not a comfortable thing to experience. I guess your best bet is to claim that you're not the owner, just the driver.
Who took the eyeballs from the eyeball jar?"
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Let's see . . .oh yes, got home. Carved pumpkins. Cris made some cookies, while I made some eyeballs. Our daughters dressed up as characters whose names I can't spell from the Star Wars movies. Cris and I wore black and affixed foil stars to our clothing, pretending to be space. Then on October 31st, our daughters went out and collected candy for their father to eat.
Monkey Business rocks on!
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Next day, I flew out to the Golden state, where I met Pete and Michael at his house. After coffee and stuff, we headed south past my mausoleum and into Orange County. After much we're-lost time, we arrived in Yorba Belinda and played for a fine group of folks. There were two fun opening bands, Monkey Business and Gone Hazel, the latter of whom I neglected to capture on the digital camera. Then we headed north.
Downsized
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When we arrived in Sacramento, we were pleased to find it was crawling with youth leaders from the Youth Specialties Convention we'd come to play. Further pleasing was that my wife came out to visit for this event. Michael was able to find the green room, no problem, though it seemed a little less comfortable than in years past. Had an expectedly grand time, and over a thousand people got to see something very funny during our "Be Not Afraid" song. I was the lone person who missed out on the joke. You know, whatever, right? Next morning (and I do mean morning), Cris and Pete and I flew on beloved Northwest Airlines back toward our respective home states.
Very few days later, I was driving the van from my home to meet up with Michael in Minnesota, which we now call the Checkwriting State. On the morning of the 8th, we had the privilege of speaking to a group of seminary students from Luther Northwestern Seminary about topics as varied as our own music, and the Christian Music Industrial Complex. Very interesting time. The following morning we popped over to Minneapolis Lutheran High School . . .(just working our way through the Lutheran institutions this month). That afternoon, we headed south.
Oops!
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For the next couple of days, played for a group of young folks from the south-eastern part of the Checkwriting State in Rochester. This is when Michael began losing his voice. I don't mean to imply he was becoming disenfranchised like the voters in Florida. I mean he was actually losing his voice. (No need to call Al Sharpton.) We had a great time, and Sunday afternoon we headed into Iowa, the Slow-It-Down Sate. (More on that later.) We found the town of Elkader, and proceeded to the opera house. THIS was a great building! Wow. Set up the stuff, and were treated to the strains of the Hearts On Fire band, which rocked, though I have no photo of them. When we took the stage, it was clear that Michael would not be singing that night. Thus, the Elkader, Slow-It-Down State recording wins the award for Most Unusual Live Disk of the month, since the only one singing all night was the piano player. In spite of that, the concert was great fun and we look forward to returning to Elkader. Before leaving, we had the opportunity to notice an interesting sign in the men's room downstairs. Apparently, the maintenance person mistakenly added an apostrophe and S to the end of the final word. This mistake is understandable, but as you probably know, the possessive form of the pronoun "you" is actually "your," and not "you's" as it's written. You know, English is a tricky language to you's correctly. But, if you keep at it, you get you's'd to it, don't you?
Upon leaving Elkader, I received my second speeding ticket in Iowa, bringing the band-wide total to four, which is the same number as there are letters in the state's name. Hmmm . . .I don't even want to think about speeding in South Carolina. For this reason, we have found it necessary to no longer call Iowa the Hawkeye State (which doesn't make any sense anyway). It shall henceforth be known as the Slow-It-Down State. But that's all just an aside. As I'm sure you know, I shouldn't have been speeding in the first place, right?
NOW I feel better!
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The next night, we arrived in Prairie Village, Kansas (Kansas City to you and me). The hosts were most gracious to allow a little overflow seating in every imaginable place (including where the choir sits). Had a marvelous time and even had a little assistance on singing our "Baby" song. Left that night and drove east. The next night found us in Glendale, Missouri (St. Louis to you and me). The hosts here decided they'd better have a little security for us, so they hired a couple of bouncers. Our friend Michael brought us some new cd's of groovy music, which we always appreciate.
Next day, continuing our theme of Lutheran Education month, we began with a little chapel time at Lutheran High South. A large group of students, but all required to sit in the bleachers, meaning that every year we set up under the net and play to the empty gym floor while the students watch. Some of the braver ones eventually moved to the floor, and I hope they're done with their detention by now. After that, we quickly packed up the stuff and drove across the city to Edwardsville, Illinois, where we played for the students at Metro East high School. They invited in students from other schools as well, and we had a fine time, even making a recording, which is available in the Live Album section. After that, we quickly packed up the stuff and drove across town to a well-hidden church in Edwardsville. This was a really fun concert, including a reprise of New Creation which, come to think of it, only makes sense.
The next night we played in Wichita. Now, I was going to go off and describe to you our horrific experience with the security guard at the campus where we played, but I've decided against it, since I've got to watch your blood pressure. Suffice it to say, one wonders at the irony of calling your school "Friends University" when the first person to greet visitors is an irrational, hysterical man who's also packing heat. However, the folks who invited us were delightful and we soon got over our frightening experience with ol' Stevie. A large group of folks came over to the concert and we had a great time. We were careful when leaving to follow all the parking-lot rules, which was inconvenient, but left us without having to see gunplay.
We headed south, making this one of those strange days where we woke up in Missouri, played in Kansas, and went to sleep in Oklahoma. It's more disorienting than it sounds, I'm sure. Heading further south, we arrived in Dallas, Texas, where we played in a beautiful new sanctuary. The hosts were great, the crowd was large, and Brian of Rhode Island finally reminded me (without ceasing) to be sure I got the recorder turned on for the concert-which I did.
That night we drove over to the hotel where the National Youthworkers Convention was taking place, but only for a visit. In the morning, we boarded planes and flew to Portland, Oregon. We flew there to play at the annual CPYA retreat. We had a true blast, though it seemed we could never quite get warm. They do some really fun stuff at this conference. I can't explain it all, but I know that when we left, everyone was gathered with flashlights in the parking lot, watching two teams throw water balloons at each other from inside refrigerator boxes on wheels. Like I said, I can't explain it all.
So, we got back to the airport and flew to San Francisco, where we caught what's called a red-eye flight back to Dallas, where we got to the National Youthworkers Convention and did our morning's sound check. As always, we had a great time with folks form all over the country. And, as always, we had a great time with our friends CPR. Which reminds me, we're doing a brief tour with those guys next Fall. Details will be at both of our websites as the time approaches. (By "the time," I mean next Fall.)
Yummy!
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Leaving Dallas, I flew out bright and early while Michael and Pete drove the length of I-35 back to the Metroplex, in the Checkwriting State. Had a few days off, and like many Americans, I cooked a turkey. Next day, which was half the band's birthday, Michael and I flew to Seattle, which is in the Intermittent Wiper State. There, we were honored to play some music for the Region One Gathering. Great fun, and a great speaker named Mark Yaconelli. Not often that a band can find someone with something new and true to say.
From there, we both flew to Minneapolis. Or, Michael did. I had a twelve hour layover in the Seattle Airport, where everything closes early on Sunday afternoons. I got another of those red-eye flights to Minneapolis. Then we regrouped with our musical and artistic pals for another Churchnoise gathering. It's an eclectic group of independent musicians, actors, jugglers, and comedians that comes together twice a year for fun and fellowship. This year we brought in speakers including Rev. Gerry Coleman and Bob Stromberg. Be sure to check out the website sometime for more information.
AND THEN: The Third Annual LOST AND FOUND Christmas tour was set to begin. This very afternoon, we're getting the team back together. The Fitz Family will again join us and famous-actor Justin Vetrano for seven nights of music, juggling, and inspirational characters. Be sure to check the schedule and see if the tour is coming anywhere near you. It's really delightsome, if you ask me . . .which you didn't.
If you'd like to see the photos from the piano guy's position, you can click on Photo Phrenzy. If you'd like to see a list of the live recordings available from this month's journey, you can click on November Live Albums. If you'd like to continue rocking, then go right ahead.
We'll wait . . .
george
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