Sad, Madd, Glad--- and Just Plain Ol' Dad

This the final installment of a three part series that began Wednesday and continued yesterday.

  “There are no failures - just experiences and your reactions to them.”          
 Tom Krause  --- motivational speaker

          Failure is a state of mind.   Some of us may allow an outcome that we have designated as failure to shape our lives and define who we are.  Our failure may make us afraid to move forward in our lives or even give up.  True failure is that which makes us stop trying.

         On October 10, 1988 a concert event for which I thought I had thoroughly planned and in which I had invested several thousand dollars did not turn out as I had expected.   It was not a time for remorse--what was done was done.  I analyzed the "what ifs" of everything that led up to that concert and pondered many what ifs of my future.  It soon became clear to me what I had done wrong.  For one thing I had become too greedy and that greed had made me reckless.

          In July of that same year I had finished up a road tour with the theater company I had managed for nearly ten years.  Each year the tours had gotten shorter and the show dates had gotten fewer.  My wife and I had two kids and the oldest was now of school age.  We decided that this was the time to quit the gypsy life and settle down.  We would use Maryville, Tennessee as our home base and start an entertainment promotion business.  We had plenty of experience and contacts.  We also had a dream that was too big.

          As soon as we got back to Tennessee we started setting up operations.  I put together four simultaneous projects, which as it turns out was a big mistake as we were lacking focus.  I thought I had everything under control and that soon we would be raking in huge sums of money.  We began closing our Canadian bank account and various U.S. accounts and having all of the money transferred to our new business account.  Years of savings--thousands of dollars--were invested in our new projects.  If we had set smaller goals we probably would have slowly built a credible business, but we wanted everything to come quickly and all at once.

          After the concert was over we were left with savings depleted and a debt that was starting to mount.  The other business ventures that we had going at the same time were also not reaping the fortunes we expected and we were unable to adequately keep them going successfully.  One by one, each venture concluded with no profit.  Without any operating capital or incoming cash I was forced to find a job to pay the bills and my wife had two kids to take care of and another on the way.  The entertainment business languished as I worked my regular jobs for a guaranteed income.

          In 1991 I was approached by the company that owned the road show and offered a short tour and then a position of manager of a costume distribution business that they owned in Los Angeles.  My wife and I carefully considered all of the options and finally concluded that this would be a good way to start over.  I accepted the offer and in July we made our move.  The new life looked like it was going to be very good.

         Then an unexpected jolt came into my life.  Less than a year after we had made our move my wife left me with my daughters.  I never saw it coming and still don't really understand it.  All I know is that I was left to take care of daughters ranging in age from ten to three years old.  I somehow managed to keep going.  I struggled with depression, but was mostly too busy to be sad--but often I was sad.  My marital breakup was not a failure, but just a sad event in my life that now I had to move away from.

         In October of 1992 I set up a new account for a customer at my business who had a store by the name of Madd.  The store was a sort of eclectic second hand store in Long Beach.  Since the store had just opened, the owner decided that she wanted to have a grand opening party.  She invited me and I accepted.

         I got a baby-sitter for my daughters on the night of the grand opening party and drove to the party at Madd.  The store was very small and there were so many people there that many of us were on the sidewalk in front of the store.  Since it was October the store was decorated with a Halloween theme.  There was a wide assortment of people in attendance.  Many were arty looking types, some where goths dressed in black, others had tattoos and piercings--nearly everyone was younger than I and much different in appearance.  I looked around for someone with whom I could feel comfortable starting a conversation.

          I noticed a quiet conservative looking man who looked closer to my age standing on the curb and struck up a conversation with him.  At that time I had a tendency to direct conversations to the topic of the situation that I had been experiencing with my divorce and the sadness I had felt.  This man was a good listener and kept up his end of the conversation. 

          Eventually I asked what he did and he told me he was in a band.  My interest in music being what it was, I probed for more information.  He said that he was in a small Christian band that he was sure I had never heard of.  Now my interest was really piqued and I pressed on with my inquiry.  He told me he played saxophone in a band called The Choir.

          I was stunned.   The Choir was among my favorite groups.  I had listened to them for years and owned all their recordings.  The man's name was Dan Michaels.  Now I didn't really care about talking about my problems and wanted to ask him questions about the music business.  He seemed pleased that I knew who he was and was more than happy to continue to indulge my conversation.

        Then at one point Dan directed my attention to another man and led me over to introduce me to him. This man was Gene Eugene, another artist whose work I had followed for years and owned recordings by.  Gene Eugene was a musical genius who wrote songs and performed as a singer and musician.  He also owned a recording studio and had produced some of the finest albums by some of the top Christian rock bands.  Now I was really floored.  We chatted briefly, but it was getting late and I had to get home to my girls.

          I wish I could have visited with these musicians for hours.  And for all I know the guys who Gene was talking to may have been other musicians from other bands that I liked.  I'll never know.   Gene Eugene died  in 2000 leaving a tremendous void in the Christian music scene.  The funky jazz rock albums of Gene Eugene and his group Adam Again are well worth checking out, as are all the various other projects with which he was affiliated.  Likewise, the ethereal soft rock of The Choir is exceptional music well worth a listen.

           That night as I drove home from the party at Madd, I was glad that I had gone and excited about having met Gene and the exceptionally friendly Dan Michaels.   But I needed to get back home to my daughters.  If there was one thing that I really wanted to be successful at it was being a daddy.  The years have been good and I think I did okay.

           Are you familiar with the music of The Choir or Gene Eugene (Adam Again)?     What is your philosophy of failure and success?   Have you had a time in your life when you felt like a failure?  How did you come back from that feeling?     Right now in your life are you failing or succeeding? 
          


Gene Eugene:    I wrote about him in a post of October 9, 2009

Can I Get a Witness?

This is a continuation of my post from yesterday.

           Once, when I was touring the country with a traveling stage show, I was backstage talking with the custodian at a school where we were performing.  He was telling me about some of the various entertainers who had performed there in the past and about some of their behavior.   According to this custodian's words, the worst groups that came to play in this auditorium had been the southern gospel groups.  He said that they behaved awfully and left all sorts of trash including many beer cans behind.

        I can't vouch for the veracity of this man's story and his motives for telling it.  This is just what he related to me.  He didn't say how many of these groups came in and did this or if it had only been just one.  The point I'd like to make is all of us are judged by others, especially in our professional lives.  If this story was true, then the people on whom the story was being told are responsible for having set a very bad example before this one man who probably told this story over and over.  I'm sure I'm not the only one to whom the story had been told.

        When I signed the contracts with the agency that represented Greg X. Volz and Mark Farner, I was doing so on good faith.  Their music was very good--I knew this because I had followed both artists and owned many recordings from each of them.  But I had no inkling of what they were like as people.  I was very pleased with the relationship that I had with the agency so far and because the bands were close by and had open dates, I was given what I thought was a very reasonable price for the bands. I had every reason to expect a high degree of professionalism.

         Greg X. Volz is a vocalist with an incredible range.  As front man for the group Petra he helped the group develop a strong fan base and achieve a high degree of popularity.  In the few years since he had left Petra he had released two acclaimed albums.

          Mark Farner was a rock and roll legend having been the singer-guitarist for the mega-group Grand Funk Railroad.  This group had sold millions of albums and had performed in huge concert venues. Even in his career as a solo Christian artist he could be considered a star.   I had been a big fan back in the early 70s and was now somewhat awestruck that he was going to be headlining a concert that I was producing and I would be meeting him in person.

           The night before the concert I was to meet Mark Farner and his band at the Holiday Inn at the World's Fair Site in Knoxville. Providing hotel accommodations was my responsibility.  Due to my limited budget, this was the best I could afford and though certainly not the best place in town, it was not too bad. Near dusk I was waiting in the parking lot of the hotel and as scheduled a fancy tour bus rolled up.  I got out of my van and went to the door of the bus.  A man stepped out and identified himself as Mark Farner's manager.   He said he would introduce me to Mark.

         The man who stepped out of the bus was exactly the way I might have pictured Mark Farner nearly twenty years after his famed Grand Funk days.  He had a quiet, peaceful demeanor.  His smooth, straight sandy hair cascaded below his shoulders and he was wearing a fringed leather jacket.  He graciously introduced himself and then told me he had not been feeling well and could I take him to a drug store.  After giving the road manager hotel keys so that they could get situated in their rooms, I drove over to a drug store on Cumberland Avenue near the University of Tennessee.  I waited in the parking lot with the van while Mark went inside the store.  During the short errand we made small talk.  He mostly asked me questions about what I did and about my life.  When we returned to the hotel, after checking to see if there was anything else that they needed, he excused himself and told me he would see me the following day at the civic auditorium.

        Then the day arrived--October 10, 1988.  I was first on the scene to make sure the facility was ready. Then time began to pass in a blur as a flurry of preparations took place.  The lighting and sound companies arrived and set up the equipment.  The catering company arrived to set up serving tables for the preconcert meal.  Equipment was unloaded and the stage began to take shape for the evening's performance.  I basically just watched with the awareness that I had done a good job at making the preconcert arrangements.  Now everything was in the hands of the professionals I had hired.

       Greg X Volz came in from Nashville the same day of the concert.  He and his band arrived like clockwork and set up their equipment.  Greg and Mark and their bands ran sound checks and with plenty of time to spare the concert set-up was finished.  The caterers had the food ready and everyone got their suppers.  I found myself alone at a table in one of the backstage rooms with Mark and a young man that I had gotten to help with set up.  Mark led us in a prayer and then the three of us ate.

        During the meal, we chatted and at one point I asked Mark how he could be a Christian and yet much of his tour schedule consisted of playing at rowdy bars.  Mark made reference to the Gospel passages that tell how Jesus went to be among the publicans and the sinners.  He said that he wanted to minister to the people that really needed it and not so much to play in churches.  His mission was to save lost souls.  He knew that he still had a large fan base from the Grand Funk days and many of those fans frequented bars.  If he was there with them, he might have the opportunity to minister to them.  This sounded like a good answer to me.

          The concert itself was fantastic.   Very few tickets were sold at the door--I was losing my shirt on this concert.  But the few hundred in attendance for the most part really enjoyed the evening.  One church group of about twenty did get up in the middle of Volz's opening set because he performed a mesmerizing version of Aerosmith's "Dream On"--they were offended because he had performed a secular song.  Greg's set would have been a great concert in itself.  It was slick and professional.  Then when Mark took the stage he commanded the rest of the evening with the talent that had made Grand Funk such a popular band.  In one way I was wishing that it wasn't my concert and I could just be sitting there enjoying it.  Then on the other hand, I was proud that I had been responsible for putting together such an amazing event.

        Then it was all over.  The audience was gone.  The crews scurried to pack everything away.  I was busy paying people and helping to breakdown the equipment.  In the dim light of one side of the stage I could see Mark Farner gathered with a small group of people.  They were audience members who had accepted Mark's invitation at the end of his set to come up afterward if they wanted to know more about Jesus Christ.  As I worked I would periodically glance over at the small group.  One was a burly guy who looked like a biker who had a hard looking biker chick with him and then there were three more rock and roller long hair types.  Eventually I could see them all on their knees praying.

          Later, I thanked Greg and his band--I had barely had any opportunity to talk to any of them--and they were on their way back to Nashville.  Mark came to me to thank me for everything I had done and I told him what a great concert it had been.  I never gave any indication how much I was hurting inside because of my failure in successfully promoting the concert and because I had lost what to me at the time was a lot of money. We shook hands and he quietly told me that tonight five people had come to Christ.  At that moment I looked in his eyes and saw not a figure from rock and roll history, or an artist I had hired to perform a concert, but a brother in Christ.  Standing before me was an extremely humble and gentle soul who had come to Knoxville to do a job and it was a job well done.

           A couple of weeks later, I received a letter from Mark's agency thanking me and letting me know that they would like to work with me in the future.  Enclosed was a check for a thousand dollars from Mark Farner.  He had been impressed by my attitude.  I had not paid Mark and his band and crew too much more than that to come to Knoxville.  Mark had probably lost money on the venture as well.  But of course there were the five people who came to Christ that night.

        
I am going to have to apologize for this and hope you will indulge me.  I had not expected this story to run as long as it has and I would like to postpone my piece that was scheduled for tomorrow and finish this story I've been telling.  I hope you will stay with me on this.  It's a good thing I didn't get into detail!  There is so much more I could have told.

Are you a fan of Grand Funk Railroad and Mark Farner?  Have you even heard of them?   What about the Christian rock group Petra?   Greg X Volz?   What was your favorite line-up of Petra--with Volz or a version that came later?  Should entertainers who are Christians perform in places like bars?  What are some of the Christian oriented concerts that you have attended and how did you feel about them?


        

Musicians of the King

         In the late 60s and early 70s I can recall waking early in the morning to prepare to go to classes at high school and college, and as I would have my breakfast I would watch a gospel music program that came on the local Knoxville, Tennessee television station.  The show was hosted by a fellow by the name of Harry Golden and he would present prerecorded clips of various southern gospel artists performing their music.

        At first I found the music to be somewhat annoying with its twangy vocals, but being musically curious as I have tended to be my entire life, I began to be drawn to the music.  The clips ran in rotation and over time I became familiar with the songs and they began to catch on with me.

          My favorite group was the Oak Ridge Boys.  This was several years before they crossed over to secular country music and became huge stars. Their harmonies were pleasant to hear and they sang songs that were well written southern gospel songs.   Then one morning a new clip was presented that was unlike anything that had been previously played on the program.  The song by the Oak Ridge Boys was called "I Wish We'd All Been Ready".   About fifteen years later I would discover that this song was written by Larry Norman, who is sometimes referred to as the "Father of Christian Rock Music".

         At that time, I had no idea that there was any kind contemporary Christian music movement.   I bought every Oak Ridge Boys album I could get my hands on and discovered that their music was not all country gospel sounding, but was influenced by many other styles as well.  This was also when JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR came on the scene.  I wanted there to be a Christian rock music genre and I became a fan of just about any pop song that related to God or Jesus.  It thrilled me when songs like Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky" hit the charts and received regular radio play.  But the real contemporary Christian music scene was brewing and I didn't even know about it.

          Fast forward to 1984:  I happened to see a piece on a television news journal program about a group called Petra and the Christian rock music they played.  I had found what I had been trying to find over the past fifteen years.  I began to discover incredible groups and artists that I had never known existed. I amassed a huge collection of Christian music cassettes and vinyl albums, read up on everything I could find about the genre, and began attending many concerts.  After a while I considered myself to be somewhat of an expert on the subject of Contemporary Christian Music.

        By 1988 I had decided to take a break from my traveling life with the road show production I had managed since 1981.  My family and I settled back in East Tennessee and I started an entertainment production company.  Among the ventures I decided to try was promoting a large scale Christian rock concert in Knoxville.  I carefully researched what acts might be the best to put on the show and finally settled upon two giants of Christian rock--Greg X. Volz and Mark Farner.  It would be a blockbuster show that would be sure to be a hit.

          Greg X. Volz had been the amazing vocalist with Petra, the group that had first caught my attention four years earlier.  Greg had left the group to embark upon a solo career and was on the heels of two superb albums.  Mark Farner had been the front man of Grand Funk Railroad, one of the most successful rock acts of the early 70s.  Mark had turned to Christian music and gone solo, hitting the Christian charts with his recordings.   They were both known artists with respectable histories behind them.

        On my limited budget I promoted the show as much as I could afford.  I had secured the Knoxville Civic Auditorium with a good stage and seating for a few thousand people.  I arranged for light and sound companies, catering for artists and crew, union stage hands.  I set up interviews and special musical highlights on the local radio stations and bought radio time and newspaper ads.  Excitedly I looked forward to the concert day.  As the day approached I went to all of my ticket outlets to collect monies and unsold tickets.  I was dismayed.  Only a couple of hundred tickets had been sold.  It appeared that all of the work that I had put into the concert had been in vain and I was about to take a bath on my investment.

I have come to the realization that this post is longer than I had anticipated.  I am going to continue this story in my post for tomorrow.  The Debate Day topic that was originally scheduled for tomorrow will be postponed until a later time.  Be sure to return tomorrow to learn the outcome of my concert experience and my encounters with the artists and with some other artists a few years later.

Do you listen to any Contemporary Christian Music?  Are you a fan?  Who are some of your favorite artists?  If you don't like Contemporary Christian Music, why not?   Do you think that Christian artists are genuine in their missions or do you think they are just in it for the money and recognition?