This Past Weekend in WA & OR
Mon., May. 11. 2009 12:05am EDT
We made a long-overdue journey to the Pacific Northwest this past weekend, with concerts in Mount Vernon WA (near Seattle) and Newberg OR (near Portland). If the audience turnout and warm reception we received are any indication of things to come, we should be playing there more often in the future, Lord willing.
Our trip almost turned out to be longer-overdue than we planned. Even though we arrived at the airport shortly after 5 a.m. (almost two hours before our flight) Friday morning, the self-service kiosks wouldn't process properly, so we had to get in another long line to wait for the overworked attendants at the understaffed counter to tell us we'd almost certainly miss our connecting flight in Cincinnati. Furthermore, there was only one other flight to Seattle available, and it wouldn't get us into town until after our concert was scheduled to end!
The people at the airline weren't very apologetic about it, either; we guess they figured that our band was apologetic enough. Thankfully, God worked it out that our first flight was delayed, and so was our connecting flight, and we made it to Seattle as originally scheduled.
Since we arrived in Seattle in the late morning after all, our chauffeur, Shad (yes, he really was named after the lead guy in Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego), gave us a nice tour of Seattle, and we ate at a restaurant in the market district with a great view of the Seattle Sound. We were tempted to order milkshakes, just to say we had "Shadrach, milkshake, and a band to go," but we resisted. Incidentally, Shad is the husband of Ronda Finley who coordinated the Mount Vernon concert.
The next day, Saturday's concert promoter, Jerry Moore, drove us four and a half hours south to the concert in Newberg. Jerry had driven to Mount Vernon the day before and attended that concert, too. That was a small ApologetiX road trip for Jerry; he and his wife Deanna once drove a round trip of over 1000 miles to see us play in California. The trip to Newberg was picturesque, to say the least. We got a great view of Mount St. Helen's and what seemed to be several million tall evergreen trees. We got to see the exit for the end of the Oregon Trail, which came not too long before the end of our own Oregon trail.
Ironically, Shad and Jerry (sounds like a 60's duo, doesn't it? No wait -- that was Chad and Jeremy) each had spent at least 10 years in the Air Force (13 for Shad and 11 for Jerry) before returning to civilian life. So we went from nearly missing our flight before practically having an Air Force escort the rest of the weekend!
Here's some mail we've received since those shows:Wow! I just had to write and say thanks for an incredible concert last night in Newberg OR. Hearing you on CD is a wonderful thing, but the concert experience takes it up several notches. The Newburg show also coincided with my birthday (May 9) which made it the best birthday ever! The whole family had a great time. I greatly appreciated J's testimony as it was very similar to mine- playing (in my case guitar) for years in bar bands and feeling it was all empty and meaningless, until I found Jesus Christ. I will be praying for you all and your ministry. Keep rockin' and spreading the Gospel!
Robert Wood
The Dalles OR My kids and I loved the concert last night. You guys are a great show live... I have seen a lot of bands that the stage show does not live up to the studio. You guys have great chops and great personalities. What a fun night! We really enjoyed meeting you guys after the show, and you guys couldn't have been friendlier. It was pretty impressive listening to you recognize so many of the fans you talked to. I also appreciated your testimony/message. You have a great ministry going. Keep it up and we will continue to pray for you.
Bobby Rice
Bassist: Cry of Stones
www.myspace.com/cryofstones Well done! The concert last night in Newberg was great! You made my wife's Mother's day! I hope your wives are having as blessed of a day!
Terry Kammer Thank you for a great concert.
Ronda Finley
Mount Vernon WA Special thanks to:
Our concert coordinators: Pastor David Luster and Ronda Finley (Mount Vernon) and Jerry and Deanna Moore (Newberg).
Our merchandise coordinators: Ronda and Jesse (Mount Vernon); and Laura, Dana, and Travis (Newberg).
Our chauffeurs: Shad (Mount Vernon) and Jerry (Newberg).
Our roadie: Rich "Ron" Polick, who has now traveled over 70,000 miles going to ApologetiX concerts by land and air and has seen us play in 30 states/provinces.
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