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AUGUST 1999
So, if I may quote Aqua: "I'm so plastic; it's fantastic!"
Those of us who have young daughters know the aisle in the toy store. It's an unmistakable color: Barbie™ Pink. My brother claims that his 5-year-old boy shuns the aisle, won't even walk down it. My daughter talks about the fuschia aisle like nirvana. Which leads me to this question: Have you seen the new "Soccer Barbie™?" She's a Barbie™ who comes with a soccer ball, a pair of shorts, and a soccer-type shirt. (I believe her hair comes in a rubber band or something as well.) On the box, it says "I kick and throw like Mia Hamm!"
I kick and throw like Mia Hamm. Of all the physical qualities to which Barbie™ might claim some unusual status, world-class athletic ability does not number among them. In fact, I'm not sure a woman of Barbie's™ physical stature could kick and throw at all. (And those heels would wreak havoc on the playing field.) I'm not convinced that being "so plastic" is all that "fantastic." Here ends my pro-feminist tirade.
| In Augustinian terms, our month was good. We began in Florida at the Florida/Georgia gathering of Lutherans. We got to play with our friends Echelon again, which is always great fun. |
Michael readies for tour
Echelon rocks on
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Never played on a bus before
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While at that event, we arranged to go visit the John Lennon Songwriting Contest folks in their bus. The good part of that was that the bus was right there in Orlando. The downside was that the bus was inside the grounds of the Vans' Warped Tour. Wow, now that was a little different than most events we play. We had the opportunity to board the bus and play a few instruments. |
| Following that, we headed back to Ohio where we played at the national Church of God gathering at Findlay College, in Findlay (of all places). Had a great time in the largest gym I've seen in some time. We also led a few workshops, where Michael had to testify before a committee. |
Maybe he won't go to prison!
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From there we went to play at the annual Spectacular at Graceland
College in Lamoni, Iowa. What a fun event! We had a blast, and met a woman whose name is Gertrude Gunderson. However, her middle name is Kamakaopiopiowiwoole, as you might expect. After Lamoni it was vacation time! George headed for Western New York to meet with family, while Michael headed to Los Angeles to work on his house. (My, how times have changed.)
A week later, we teamed up in Michigan at the studio of our friend Joe Jenkins. He recorded our THIS cd, of which we were psyched, so we arranged to record our Christmas album with him as well. We're quite pleased with how it turned out. I didn't take any photos of the sessions, so you'll just have to imagine us in sweltering heat, wearing headphones, recording songs about wintertime. Look for the Christmas album to be ready by early October. And while we're on the subject, you can get our Speedwood 3 album right away by going to the Stuff to Buy section of our site.
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No thanks.
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After the successful laying down of tracks, it was off to Denver to play for the young folks at the ELCA Churchwide gathering. In the large meetings in the convention center, we were offered Personal Listening Devices, but we had brought our own so we were all set. |
| After sitting through a few meetings, I realized that I was developing some sort of mental illness. Just a general sense of unease. Then I realized what I had. I just hope there's a cure. Where was I? Oh yes . . . the event was held at the Adam's Mark hotel. The logo for the Adam's Mark hotel is on everything. You can find it on the soap, the dishes, the towels, the matches, the plates, the shower caps, the pens, everything! Over the course of three or four days, all this exposure leads one to ask "what, exactly, is this Adam's Mark supposed to be?" Michael, being the thinker in our band, came up with the answer. The Adam's Mark is really just Gumby practicing his Aikido! Perhaps he could take on Soccer Barbie™ in a death match. |
Martial Arts Gumby
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Is that a bar graph?
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Then we went home for about 48 hours. On Tuesday the 24th, Eleanor started school. I remember crying the first day I went to kindergarten. I was all prepared for comforting my daughter when she broke down in tears, since I figured all children cry on the first day of school. Nope. Turns out, it's just me who cries no matter who's starting school. |
| The next night we were shuffling off to Buffalo to play at the Kingdombound Festival at Darien Lake amusement park. It struck me as funny that the last time I had set foot in this park was to see Cyndi Lauper in 1984. My, how things have changed since then. Michael and I had wanted to play at the Kingdombound Festival for years but were never invited. We chalked it up to our "Nazarene Complex" (a prophet is not welcome in his own land), though more likely it's related to the dreaded Denver Convention Complex. Anyway, having been invited we were overwhelmed by the welcome we received from the local folks. We even had some wings and beef on weck to celebrate. Michael was so psyched that he put on his band jacket and laid down a couple of leads. To top it all off, the Kingdombound Festival allowed us the opportunity to run into all sorts of old friends. Most surprising of all was to see our old friends Andrea and David Hake from Niagara Falls days. Though our photo is missing one son in the family, we were able to catch a few of them for posterity. |
The 1984 mainstage
I play guitar like Eric Clapton!
The Hake family
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And that wraps up our month of August. Don't forget to go to the Photo Phrenzy if you'd like to see some photos of the crowds of people we saw from the stages. Until next month, rock on. And remember, if you're made of plastic and you live in a cellophane box, try not to compare yourself to Mia Hamm, okay?
george
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