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This Past Weekend in MD, CT & PA
Tue., Aug. 1. 2006 12:09am EDT
If you're in a rock band, you'd better love to jam. We loved the traffic jams of Chicago so much on July 22 that we decided to try a New York City traffic jam on July 29. We figured, if the nation's third-largest city had great gridlock, its largest city should have even better bumper to bumper. We weren't disappointed. We were treated to nice long looks at Big Apple landmarks such as the Empire State Building and Giants Stadium, just as we'd taken in a leisurely view of the Sears Tower and Cellular One Field while in the Windy City -- all without ever having to leave our vehicle.
Wait a minute ... weren't we supposed to be in Port Deposit MD, Hartford CT, and Conneaut Lake PA this past weekend? Yes, but there's a little road called I-95 that was supposed to take us from Maryland to Connecticut, and it did ... eventually. All's well that ends well, though. Despite major traffic delays approaching and leaving "the city so nice they named it twice," we still were able to start our Connecticut concert at a reasonable time.
Here's what Jauneen Dore', a friend of both ApologetiX and the concert's promoter, had to say about the show:
Thank you guys so much for a wonderful night in Hartford!! It was awesome!
There was another event going on in the church at the same time and Don (Jauneen's husband) checked with them to make sure that the sound wasn't carrying over to them. He also invited them over to listen, as they were leaving and you were speaking up in front. I guess quite a few stayed to look in the windows or listen for a bit. By the way, this was the first Christian music event ever held there and the pastors were very happy with everything so that they feel free to hold other events there because this one went so well.
It really struck me this time that it's no coincidence that getting to Connecticut is really a battle. The spiritual battle is intense when you guys come and the enemy sure never makes it easy for you to get here. The enemy seems to hit with everything he's got!! But thanks to all of you guys for not giving up. I know it'll change some young lives for eternity.
Thanks again it was awesome!! Oh, by the way, next time we'll help you with the "Avoid 95" travel plans if you'd like. It can be done! : )
Friday's gig in Maryland rolled along merrily until afterward when a bunch of kids disturbed a bee's nest outside and got chased by bees into the church lobby -- several kids got stung, and it broke our hearts to see it, although it appears everybody was O.K.
Sunday's show in Pennsylvania had a different set of obstacle to overcome: hot and humid weather at an indoor concert with no air conditioning. But the ApologetiX fans in attendance -- and there were many -- were troopers and made it a great show. Don't they always, though?
Speaking of our fans, here are some notable ones:
Jenn "Superchick" Kipp, who celebrated her birthday with us at Friday's concert, has now been to 54 concerts in nine states and one province. We brought Jenn on stage to sing "Happy Birthday" to her. If any of you snapped a photo of that, please post it to the site, so she can have a souvenir!
Beth Davis and Emily Coffey attended all three of the weekend's concerts and have now been to a combined total of 99! Beth is the all-time record holder in both number of concerts and number of states -- 81 concerts in 18 states (she'd already seen us in Maryland, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, so no new states) and Emily has now seen 18 concerts in seven states.
Micah Clausen, who also came to all three concerts but came along in the band van as our roadie has seen us in 15 states, but neither we nor he can remember how many?
Derek and Brandi Leasure and their kids are relatively new fans, but they're quickly carving out their own niche. After attending our our Conneaut Lake concert, they'd been to at least one ApologetiX concert for six straight weeks (We're counting Friday-Sunday as a weekend and Monday as the start of a new week.) What's more, they also plan to attend our New York show this coming Saturday and all three of our Western Pennsylvania shows the following weekend. That'll be eight straight weeks!
Special thanks to:
our concert coordinators: Jacob Thomas (Port Deposit), Kevin Marshall (Hartford), and Jim Zill (Conneaut Lake).
our CD table coordinators: Shannon, Nannette, and Jenn (Port Deposit), Jen, Spencer, Gregg, and Kathy, and Josh (Hartford), and Melissa, Jennifer, Ryan, Holly, and Krista (Conneaut Lake).
our roadies: Micah (Port Deposit, Hartford, and Conneaut Lake), and Greg, Rich, and Larry (Conneaut Lake).
our radio support: John and Phoebe Fogg from Buzz Radio and Al Kim of JunCTionradio.org (Hartford), and Mark Bradley Morrow and Laurie at WCTL (Conneaut Lake).
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