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This Past Weekend in KS, OK & MO
Mon., Jun. 5. 2006 1:34am EDT
We kicked off this past weekend's festivities in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri with a concert in Wichita KS. Unfortunatley, nobody there could tell us if the Wichita lineman "is still on the line," and Glen Campbell was unavailable for comment (although two of our band members, Karl and Keith, did see him at a Houston airport a while back). If the Wichita lineman is "online" right now and sees this news article, maybe he can tell us himself.
Wichita was full of surprises. When our plane was touching down at the airport, we had no idea we were landing in a city known as the "Air Capital of the World," but it's true. Wichita is the birthplace of Cessna, Learjet (now Bombardier Aerospace Learjet), and Beech (now Raytheon Aircraft Co.), and Boeing is the city's largest employer, with over 20,000 employees.
You might be as surprised as we were to discover that Wichita is also the birthplace of two major fast-food franchises, White Castle (1921) and Pizza Hut (1958), not to mention the Coleman Company (1914), world famous for its camping and outdoor recreational equipment.
But the biggest surprise was the large Islamic mosque located directly opposite the Lutheran church where we played the concert -- not something you'd expect to find in Wichita. Although its shape and color resembled many traditional mosques, it appeared to be constructed almost entirely out of aluminum siding.
Anyway, the concert went well, and we liked Wichita so much we decided to take a souvenir along with us -- Darrell "Mad Dog" Doesken. Darrell not only coordinated the Wichita concert -- he rented a van for the band to use the entire weekend and accompanied us to all three concerts, helping out as an all-purpose roadie, merchandise set-up person, and tour guide, before driving the rental van back to Wichita Sunday night.
Of course, Darrell hears the "Larry, Darrell, and Darrell" references (from the old Newhart T.V. show) all the time, but the irony is that he really was named for Darrell and Darrell; two of his sisters chose the name because of two different boys they liked named Darrell.
After Darrell departed, we were driven from Centralia back to St. Louis in a plush church bus (seriously, it was really nice) for our return flight home. Thanks to Jim for acting as our chauffeur for that trip, along with his son-in-law Kevin and grandson, Dylan.
In the interim, we played two long-standing outdoor community festivals on Saturday and Sunday -- the 24th annual SunFest in Barltesville OK and the 20th annual Anchor Fest in Centralia MO. Both events were well attended and well received, and we hear there's a good chance we'll be asked back. We certainly enjoyed them enough that there's a good chance we'll say yes if asked. :)
And the weather all weekend was just like all the people we met ... great!
Thanks to:
our concert coordinators: Darrell Doesken (Wichita), Brian Harp (Bartlesville), and Sharon Dullens (Centralia). Special thanks to Laura Agee, who initiated the Wichita concert.
our merchandise coordinators: Amber, Andrea, Heather, and Joel (Wichita); Michelle, Anthony, Amanda, Kelsie, Alex, and Catie (Barltesville); and Rick, Donna and John (Centralia).
local radio stations that supported us: Karen Myers at KCFN American Family Radio (Wichita), Dan Smith and Joe Roach at KANR Fly 92.7 (Wichita), Brent McCoy and Janelle Keith at KLVV The House FM (Bartlesville), and Jerry Clair, Kevin Hilley and Karen Dye at KMFC Joy 92 FM (Centralia).
Honorable mention to: Darrell (not Doesken), Trevor, and Skyler, three friends who came to our shows in both Wichita and Bartlesville. Skyler's attendance Friday and Saturday set a new ApologetiX record. They were the third and fourth consecutive concerts where we met somebody named Sky or Skyler. Who says "the sky's the limit"? It seemed to us there was an unlimited supply of Sky, at least for those four concerts.
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