Okay, now that you're back, let us move forward through the shortest of months in the Lost And Found calendar. The first event of the month was a concert in Dublin, Ohio (Columbus to you and me). Had a great time. Some kind folks from Camp Luther (a camp my family happens to love) came over to the show. That night we drove over to stay with our friends the Brown Family of Gahanna, Ohio (Columbus to you and me). Next day, after a stop at the imposing monument to consumerism known as "Easton," we drove westward for Cincinnati (which Pete from our office spells impeccably well).Perhaps you recall that last time we played Cincinnati (a word with which Pete won the second grade spelling bee), the costumes led us to imagine the show from our childhood called "Let's Make a Deal." This time around, however, the locals went beyond themselves and turned it into something more like the Rocky Horror Picture Show. As you can see from these photos, the people seemed to be interested in the song about the girl wearing blue, eh? Not to be outdone, the hosts offered Slide Girl Cookies for the group's nutrition needs. The turnout in Cincinnati (a word which Pete wants to tattoo onto his forehead) was so grand, a local policeman--Officer Jeff Newman--was brought in to control traffic. As you might have guessed, being a police officer, he was wearing blue.

Luther Campers

Slide Girl Duo


Slide Girls Anonymous


Slide Girl Scary Guys!

MMMM, yummy!

Blue-Spiky-Hair Sombrero Girl

The next day we were scheduled to play in Warren, Michigan (Detroit to you and me). After being a bit lost, we found the right street. Turns out, phonetic spelling in our directions made us look for "Shaner," a street that doesn't exist in Warren. Eventually, however, we found the facility and played a nice concert for lots of folks who were coming back from Homecoming. That's right, I said Homecoming. And yes, I'm well aware that it was February, thank you very much. Anyway, among the gathered group, was our old friend whom we affectionately call Blue-Spiky-Hair Sombrero Girl.

With Warren in our rearview mirror, we headed west to Grand Rapids, where we were treated to an amazing musical adventure. Our longtime friend Mike (of EGR fame) and his youth group recorded a cd of rock-out versions of our songs. You know, power ballads and rip-roaring metal-fest versions? Essentially, they made the first-ever Lost And Found Tribute Album. And we're not even dead yet! (Though we might want to consider contacting VH-1's Behind the Music pretty soon probably, just to be safe.) You can get a copy of this fun audio adventure by contacting Mike at mike@orchardhill.org. Anyway, in addition to all that, Mike turned out a huge crowd and a good time was had by this band, of whom you're reading.Some folks decided to bring along their own lyric sheets to help with singing.

Lyric sheets

A little faster there


Echelon rocks on

After that, we split up--er, I mean, we went in different directions. Michael drove off toward Texas (since he's not George Strait), while I returned to my home. My daughter, Eleanor, has been working on her piano moves, and seems to be following right in her dad's footsteps when it comes to finger technique. A few days after that, we met up at Michael's home in Los Angeles so that we could drive northward and hook up with our pals Echelon and Jonathan Rundman for a show in Simi Valley, California (home of the Reagan Library). A really fun time, and lots of friends showed up, including Micah, Joe, The Fitz Family, and others. Next day, we stopped shortly at Sophos' shirt shop. Awesome alliteration, eh? Hey, that's a double! In the words of Britney, "Oops, I did it again." Which reminds me, I have a friend in Minneapolis who claims to be going to see 'N Sync at the Metrodome. Where was I? Oh yes, California. So, we headed south on the 5, past my mausoleum (a story for another time), and arrived in San Diego. We were there because we were once again honored to be included at the annual Extravaganza event for Lutheran Youth Leaders from all over the country. We had the chance to catch some amazing speakers and great musicians. Always a pleasure to be among such folks.

After the Extravaganza, my spouse flew out for a little vacation with her husband. Fortunately, I was already there, so she had come to the right place. We planned to have a little break from the Ohio cold, but we'd been gone from California long enough to forget that February is the rainy season out west--not to mention the Homecoming month in Michigan.We had fun, but swimming in the pool seemed out of the question. After this brief respite, Cris and I flew back to The Glass City, and Michael battened down the hatches in Tinsel Town. During that brief break, I was thrilled to be able to make a quick trip to The Metroplex to catch a show by my all-time favorite singer, John Hermanson. His new band, Alva Star is really amazing and rocks my face off. Here endeth the personal endorsement.