Saturday, April 18th, 1998

Trip To Nashville

My flight to Nashville was uneventful. It's raining, and expected to rain tomorrow (Sunday), too. At least no tornadoes! (But we Kansans have grown up with tornadoes.) Praise God, there were no deaths here in Nashville. Pray for those who have sustained damage and injury.

Pamplin Fever Showcase with This Train

Tonight I attended the Pamplin Fever Showcase at the Sound Check in Nashville. The artists I specifically came to see were This Train, Rick Elias, and John Elefante, but came away with some new groups to check out. Groups I saw for the first time live included Human and the Channelsurfers.

We were a bit late getting there (because of some delayed flights and lost luggage in our group), but only missed a small part of the fun. There was lots of good (free!) food, and lots of fun visiting with many I haven't seen for a while. I especially had a good time visiting with Mark Robertson of This Train and the Ragamuffins. I had not spoken to Mark since Rich died, and we yakked about a lot of things. One thing (other than Jesus) that had carried him through that whole tragic situation, was the fact that on Rich's last day on this earth, Mark and he had gone for a long walk and talked. It was then that Mark hugged him and told him how much he loved him. He had absolutely no unresolved issues. We talked a little about the new project, The Jesus Record, which would have been Rich's next CD, had he not gone home to Jesus so soon. In the interest of brevity for this particular page, I'll just repeat what I've said before; this could be one of the easiest purchasing decisions you've ever made. I've created The Jesus Record FAQ at http://www.kidbrothers.net/rmml/rmml204.html, which includes pre-purchase information!

Mark introduced me to Michael Johnson who does Broadcast Promotions for Pamplin/Organic Records. I told him the exciting news that "A Million Years" was the second most requested song last week on Light 99.
(see [RichMailList 200]: Release/Light99/Madeline/ThisTrain)

The Sound Check was a kind of warehouse with diferent rooms setup for concerts, and one area setup with food and drink for visiting. Jim Dunning introduced me to Jamie Kiner, A&R Coordinator for Myrrh Records. We talked a little about the possibility of doing some promotion announcements on the RichMailList for the new CD.

I also got to do one of my absolutely favorite things to do - meet someone face to face, after first having met online. After sharing pictures (so we'd know who to look for) I found Trish and Rhonda, whom I'd met first on the RichMailList and the ThisTrainMailList. I also met Diana Morris (who moderates Prodigy Christian Music Forums), and Jeff Scott of KSBJ in Houston. We all then went to one of the three concert rooms to watch the groups mentioned above. (Mark and I were so busy visiting we missed Lloyd. ARGH!) Human was a good modern rock band with lots of energy. Billy Smiley recommended I check these guys out, and it was good advice. The Channelsurfers were kind of a funk/rock/rap group, but had a touch of almost jazz. The lead singer really had fun, as they got the intimate, almost capacity, crowd of a maybe a 150 on their feet. Since this concert just gave us a taste of Pamplin/Organics groups, each group only got to do two or three songs.

Next was the first part of the 70's costume contest. There were some major "far out" outfits. Willie Ames (from the old TV show "Eight is Enough", and now has taken on the persona of Bibleman) did an excellent job emceeing the contest, as well as the whole evening.

Then came our personal favs - This Train, who after years of being independent, was just signed by Organic. I had not seen them live since last year, and the first thing I noticed was how much more animated Cobra Joe was on drums. Mark was his usual suave and funny front man, and Jordan Richter did that rocking guitar thing. Everybody's hair changed. Mark's hair is major blonde. Jordan's is much shorter with a touch of dark red, and Cobra Joe had hair and it was dark (It was extremely short and white the last time I saw him). They opened with "Missing Link" from the new CD, Mimes Of The Old West, went right into a smoking version of Hank Williams' "I Saw The Light", and closed with "A Million Years." Right before the last song, Mark was trying to tune up the upright bass he was playing, which had gotten jarred out of tune by his antics of dancing it all over the stage. He quipped, "Serious classical instructors ... will advise you against my techniques. (laughter) It's on a "what not to do" video coming out this spring." After finally getting back in tune, he introduced "A Million Years" (co-written with Rich) saying that he really missed Rich a lot, and this song helped him miss Rich less.

Rick Elias was next and did an acoustic solo, opening with "Prodigal Son", from Blink. He told us, in order to help us keep our Christian musical focus on Christ, it would really be cool if we could include an empty chair, front and center, at the Dove Awards in anticipation of and desire for Christ's attendance. He closed with "Man Of No Reputation," a song he wrote for Jesus, and is included on "The Jesus Record," which he produced. That song was one of Rich's favorite Rick Elias songs. Earlier in the evening I was visiting with Rick, and he told me some exciting news. They were trying to find a live recording of Rich playing "Nothing but the blood..." on hammer dulcimer from last summer's tour. After no luck, and a last minute request sent out to the RichMailList, they finally found a guy with a soundboard recording, and were able to use it on the album. Rick said it closes the album, and is very moving.

The evening closed with an artist I've been following for many years, but have never seen live, let alone met. Many acquaint John Elefante with his very young years as the replacement lead singer for Kansas, or as half of the dynamic Elefante brothers producing team. Now however, he is making waves with his solo recordings. Even though he only sang one song, it was a real treat hearing him live finally. What a voice! It was more of a treat being able to visit with him afterwards. I told him how dissapointed Bill Hammell (my cyber-buddy and Livgren/Elefante MailLists moderator) was that he was going to miss this evening. Bill was coming, but would not arrive until Sunday. John told me how much he appreciated receiving all the encouraging email from fans as a result of the MailList and Elefante web page, but was discouraged in not having enough time to respond to everyone. We are going to work out a way to help him with that via the Mailing List.

At evening's end, Bill Scott of ZJAM interviewed Mark live on-air (as well as other artists through-out the evening). Then Trish and Rhonda and I all headed out to late-night breakfast and coffee at the Waffle House with Mark Robertson for some food, fun, and fellowhip. It was a blast!