This Past Weekend in OH & Canada
Mon., Aug. 6. 2007 12:20pm EDT
We started this past weekend in the state we've played the second-most times, and we finished it in the country we've played the second most, with concerts in Lisbon OH (Friday), Mansfield OH (Saturday) and Sarnia ON, Canada (Sunday).
We had a great turnout for the live recording of our new "Chosen Ones" CD (see related story) in Lisbon, and things went so well that we even played five of the 10 new songs from that CD the following evening in Mansfield. We've now played 79 concerts in Ohio, second only to our home state of Pennsylvania.
The province where we've performed the most is Ontario, the location of all three of the Canadian concerts we've ever played. The Sarnia show was our first in the Great White North in five years. Speaking of five years, that's about how long it took us to get through the traffic jam at customs at the U.S. border after Sunday's show. Actually, it only took 2.5 hours! But the Canadian fans made it well worth it. We met many longtime fans who were just seeing us in concert for the first time, and they encouraged us greatly.
We also got to play right after one of our favorite impressionists (and fellow Christian parodist), Mat Gauthier. Mat is an exceptionally talented singer and guitarist as well, and his show combines all those talents. We'd seen one of his DVDs before and enjoyed immensely, so it was great to finally see him live. For more info on Mat, go to http://www.matgauthier.com.
Special thanks to:
Our concert coordinators: Jim Bean (Lisbon), Pastor Brian Peltomaa (Mansfield), and Brett Marsh (Sarnia).
Our merchandise coordinators: Dan, Ashley, and Jenn the Superchick (Lisbon); Marie (Mansfield and Sarnia); and Maggie (Sarnia).
Our roadies: Randy, Steven, Rich, Larry, Bethany, Derrick, and Brandi (Lisbon, Mansfield, and Sarnia); and Maggie and Daniel (Mansfield and Sarnia), and Brandon (Lisbon).
Our bus driver: Randy
Our chauffeurs: Larry, Derrick, Daniel, and Super-Dave.
Honorable mention to:
Marie Polick, who became the first ApologetiX non-family member to see us in 20 states/provinces by attending Sunday's show in Ontario (her 75th show overall). Marie's dad, Rich Polick, attended all three concerts, bringing his total to 71 shows in 16 states/provinces.
Marie and Rich are ranked third and fourth respectively, in terms of most concerts attended, behind our other father-daughter team, Bethany and Larry Davis, who each attended all three concerts. Bethany has now seen us a record 117 times in 19 states/provinces, and Larry has seen us 110 times in 18 states/provinces.
The Leasure Family (Derrick, Brandi, Jenna, and Caleb) were also there for all three shows and have each seen us 43 times in 15 states/provinces.
Heather Delaney and Ruth Hanawalt, two friends from Indiana, also completed the weekend trifecta, and have each now seen us in 5 states/provinces (13 concerts for Heather and 12 for Ruth).
Super-Dave Johnson, who drove the bus for our recent 10-day tour, came to the Sarnia show and has now seen us in 10 states/provinces. This time around, Dave also brought his wife (Jenny), mother-in-law (Peg), and three of his kids (T.J., Maggie, and Drew) to the show.
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