JANUARY NEWSLETTER
So, I guess I upped the ante with my opening few paragraphs in last month's newsletter, eh? I tell you, people whom I admire sure do have some strong opinions. Of course, that may be why I like them, which might just lead me into a complacent self-fulfilling sense of purposefulness on this planet. Or maybe I've just been projecting my own sense of self on the people whose words I enjoy reading. Most likely, however, aliens have planted a microchip in my brain, which switched on at midnight on the 31st of December, and since that time I've been kind of like the second version of Darren on "Bewitched," a sitcom of my childhood. Oh well, no sense in trying to think through these things. As a ubiquitous bumper sticker might blithely note, SWITCH HAPPENS!
Which reminds me, we've made a rather radical decision. As many of you know, we recorded the song "Used To Be" on both our SIKKIBAHM and SPEEDWOOD 3 albums. We've been selling the SIKKIBAHM album since 1995, and have not heard any complaints about the song. However, since the time that "Used To Be" was recorded on our SPEEDWOOD 3 album last summer, Tipper Gore's husband has been aggressively campaigning for Savior of America/Inventor of Everything, and we've received countless e-mails and letters from folks who are really angered by the lyrics of that song. (Well, I guess I can count to 4, so it isn't exactly "countless," but the ones we have received were really mean, so they seemed like a lot more.) After much discussion and gnashing of teeth, Michael and I have decided to side with the Vice President's wife and her friends by removing the song from our SPEEDWOOD 3 album. As the Lutherans might ask, "What does this mean?" The answer is: "This means we should fear and love God, so that we remove from our commonly sold albums any songs that might cause our neighbor to send an e-mail to the band questioning their personal salvation." In layperson's terms, we have removed the song from subsequent printings of SPEEDWOOD 3, and the printing with "Used To Be" on it is no longer available. As George Carlin once noted, the squeaky wheel is the first one to be replaced. For those of you who currently own the album and are wishing to have the Tipper-Gore Approved Version, you may return your copy containing "Used To Be" and we'll send you the censored version. For owners of SIKKIBAHM, rock on, and keep the letters not coming!
How did I end up there? Never mind. And now, on to the results of the trivia question from the November Newsletter. As the faithful will recall, the previous trivia question asked you to identify to location of the two photos of Michael D. Bridges. Though I'd hoped to assemble a nice list of percentages like I did with the PJ O'Rourke trivia question in October's Newsletter. However, I am out of time for such whimsical writing this month, and so I just give you the answer. The photos were taken outside of Bronner's Christmas Store, in Frankenmuth, THE GREAT LAKES STATE. Thanks to everyone who submitted answers, even wrong ones like "The North Pole," and "my house."
Now that we've covered the place where Christmas lives in perpetuity (give or take 3 or 4 days), let us continue on with the doings of the favorite duo. I guess I'm implying that we're your favorite duo, aren't I? Well, let's look at the competition: Hillary and Bill; Bonnie and Clyde; Hitler and Mussolini; Sears and Roebuck. You know, I think we might actually have the edge. And even if we don't, you're reading our newsletter not theirs, and most of those people are either dead or living in Argentina . . . or both.
On with the description of the first month of the next thingy where everyone got upset and thought that the world was going to end because the calendar changed or whatever that was all about . . .
Just for fun, I've decided this month to refer to all the states by their nicknames. We began the month as the folks in Sacramento do. We were hanging out in Sacramento. We went to THE GOLDEN STATE in order to play for a fine group of folks from the SDA Church who were gathering for the weekend. On Sunday night, we played in Fair Oaks, THE GOLDEN STATE at the church of our long-time friends Dave and Debbie Price. They turned out a huge crowd and we were psyched to play a couple of tunes for them. Before our set, the church's own ska-type band played a few numbers. They were really good, and I'm embarrassed to say that I never wrote down their band's name. However, if you're looking for a fun band in the northern part of THE GOLDEN STATE, drop me an e-mail and I'll get you their digits. Also that evening, we were treated to an appearance by two guys who were trying to set-in for us. They looked the part, I must say. The next night we played two concerts at an old favorite of ours, Concordia University, Irvine, THE GOLDEN STATE. What fun was had! |
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The band which rocked
Is that us?
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A Moment of Relaxation
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From there we traveled further south and visited our friends at the Youth Specialties office. We enjoyed a moment of relaxation in their breakroom. They've got a jukebox and everything in there. Admittedly, we were not surprised to find that our albums weren't listed among the machine's selections. That evening, we played in downtown San Diego, THE GOLDEN STATE in one seriously beautiful sanctuary of the First Presbyterian Church. A fine time was had by a fine group of attendees, or attenders, wait . . . neither seems right . . . let's just say people who attended. After the show, we drove the interminable distance back to Los Angeles, THE GOLDEN STATE and slept for an hour or two at Michael's house. Following that, we groggily headed for the airport so that Michael could send me on my way to Detroit, which is in THE GREAT LAKES STATE. My family was able to visit me during my layover at the Detroit airport. They had driven up from our house in THE BUCKEYE STATE.
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After our brief visit, I was back on a plane and headed for Springfield, THE SHOW ME STATE. Michael and I met up at the airport and drove on over to Joplin, THE SHOW ME STATE, where we played for a fine group of youth leaders from all over America, THE UNITED STATES. We had a great time and sat in on some informative seminars. The next morning we got on a plane and flew to Knoxville, which is in THE FORWARD LATERAL STATE. Our top-notch office guy, Pete, had driven down to meet us. He flew from THE NORTH STAR STATE to THE GREAT LAKES STATE, where he picked up the van and drove to meet us in THE FORWARD LATERAL STATE. Then we drove with Pete over to Gatlinburg, THE FORWARD LATERAL STATE, where we played the first of two weekends called "Resurrection," huge gatherings of young folks from the eastern portion of THE FORWARD LATERAL STATE. The first of these events was really great for us and we once more had the privilege of hearing the most amazing band led by our friend James Ward. While we were at the event, Michael decided on a name for the soap opera he's scripting. It's about a man who opens a store but doesn't ever plan on restocking anything. Michael hopes to pitch the pilot to a network next year.
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Michael and Pete with our wares
One hot band!
Such drama!
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Takin' chances!
Joyfulnoise, a duo which rocks!
That's advertising!
Obviously an LC-MS church
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Also at the Resurrection event, I made the decision to step out of my comfort zone. Many folks talk about this kind of thing, and I decided it was high time to just do it. On Sunday afternoon, Michael and I drove Pete to the airport in Knoxville, THE FORWARD LATERAL STATE and drove east to Hickory, THE TAR HEEL STATE. Our long-time friend Dean Hansen put on a spectacular event with a huge crowd! How pleased were we with the turnout? Answer: VERY! From there, in rapid succession we played in Columbia, THE PALMETTO STATE. The turnout might have been a bit smaller than it could have been, since many folks were busy protesting down at the capitol on January 17th. Our new favorite band from THE PALMETTO STATE opened for us with some really great harmonies. They're called Joyfulnoise, and they rock. The next day we drove over to a small town called Fayette, in . . . okay, now we've reached this month's trivia. I have to trust you not to look this up. Is there anyone reading this newsletter who can tell me Alabama's nickname? If you think you can, without consulting outside sources, please send your answer to us at hengh@aol.com. The hosts in Fayette did some serious advertising. Okay, then we headed back to THE FORWARD LATERAL STATE where we played in Hermitage, essentially Nashville (The Forward Lateral City itself). Had a fine concert and met a fellow who wore a Buffalo Bills' cap. I couldn't resist asking him the question "When you drive your car down the street, do you drive it in forward or reverse?" The hosts made a huge arch out of balloons and placed it above the area where played. It felt like we were in St. Louis, THE SUPERBOWL CHAMPIONS STATE.
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After that fine event, we headed south and east. I left my wallet in the hotel that morning and we had no time to go back. That night we played in Atlanta, THE PEACH STATE, the city whose motto is "The City Too Busy to Hate." As I pondered this claim, it occurred to me that while this might be true for most folks, local baseball pitchers aren't really all that busy, are they? Anyway, the area of Atlanta where we played is called Marietta. We had a really fun time with lots of folks who were too busy to hate our music.
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The next morning, we headed over to play at Atlanta Christian College, where we were warmly welcomed and had quite a nice time. That afternoon, we once more met Pete at the Knoxville airport and went back to Gatlinburg to play the second of the Resurrection weekends. Meg once more did a great job running things from the back room, and we had periodic meetings with her (where the coffee was). This weekend's event—quite remarkably—was even better than the first one. The main reason for that was that we were privileged to have the James Ward band grace the stage on two of our songs! How amazing and exhilarating. In fact, I was so excited that I began the "Lions" song at something nearing twice the speed at which we normally sing it. Nonetheless, we were two very psyched boys from Buffalo, THE EMPIRE STATE. We met another Michael who resembled the one we have in the band. When it was over, Sunday afternoon, Pete and Michael dropped me at the Knoxville airport and drove the van to St. Louis, THE SUPERBOWL CHAMPIONS STATE.
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Mission Control
I've got one pair!
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And that was all that happened in the month of January, or at least until my newsletter deadline. What else is there to say? Answer: Nothing. Oops, one more thing, as usual you can click on the Photo Phrenzy to see some pictures of the kind folks who came to our concerts or allowed us to play at their events.
Until next month, rock on, and on, and on.
george
Read more of George's monthly newsletters.
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