And yes, I'd be exhausted all over again to have as much fun as I did this week. It was a very unique experience for me.
A few highlights I'll tell you about were
- on Friday night, Brian Free and Assurance sang. Their bass singer (Jeremy Lile) had not been with them earlier in the week because he had gone home to see his father who was dying of cancer. He called Brian Free on Friday afternoon to tell him he was coming back to the convention. They had buried his father earlier that day but said he looked forward to the convention all year and wanted to come. So, Brian Free told him if he was sure,
that he was welcome. 45 minutes before Assurance hit the stage, Jeremy Lile arrived. The second song they did was a song featuring him. Apparently he either wanted to sing it or agreed to sing it. It's called "Save Me a Seat." He got to the chorus and was unable to sing through his tears a little bit. After he made it through the second verse, he was no longer able to sing. He just bowed his head and wept. They guys in the group ended up around him in a huddle. There was a standing ovation for it and not a dry eye in the building!! It was awesome. I simply don't have a clue how he made it through the first line.
- Also, on Friday, while we were walking through the expo hall where all the artist had all the products set up, Jeremy was coming from the bathroom and happened upon Ronnie Hinson. He called Gregg and we all headed over to see him. Jeremy and Gregg had their picture made with him. The Hinsons were their ALL TIME FAVORITE growing up. Actually, they inherited the love for the Hinsons from their father. So, after the photo, they both began singing "He Touched Me" and joked that they were not going to wash their hands or their clothes since they had been "touched" by the great Ronnie Hinson. After that encounter, they were ready to go home. The trip had been worth it by that point.
- On Saturday, Guy Penrod surprised a regional showcase by showing up and singi
ng a few songs. He stayed from about 2- 10 pm. After he sang, he had a booth set up in the hall and stayed for autographs and pictures. He was extremely down to earth and humble. Jeremy and I also got our pictures made with him....It was around 9 pm when we got to talk to him. His booth was the only booth with barriers to control the lines around him. At one point there was approximately a 45 minute wait just to speak to him. It was pretty unbelievable.- On Saturday morning, we attended the Cathedrals reunion...which they taped to be released in December. It consisted of Gerald Wolfe, Scott Fowler, Danny Funderburk, and M
ark Trammell. They let Glenn Dustin (which is Legacy 5 / Scott Fowler's group's bass singer) sing the bass part. On some songs, Gerald Wolfe did, but for the most part, Gerald just played the piano. We learned that Danny Funderburk has had 4 strokes and an open heart surgery since the last time he sang with the Cathedrals, but he sounded great. He was a very humble man. Gerald Wolfe is hilarious. Mark Trammell's hair is completely white now. It was a very unique experience. When they started on "I Want to Thank Jesus" you'd have thought it was the real deal...well a few of them really were, but it was wonderful!- The Greenes were just awesome....have I said that already???lol!! So was Collingsworth Family.
- We attended a Ken Davis showcase. I almost needed to be excused. It was hilarious. He was telling about the drive through the state of Kansas to go to their summer home in Colorado. He said he always tries to fly because he hates the ride so bad. He told about his 3 grand kids sitting in the backseat playing "I See it" through Kansas. He said all I heard for hours was "wheat" "wheat" "wheat" "wheat" "wheat" "corn" "wheat." He said that was until 11 pm at night and he heard one yell "cow." He said they hit head on a 2 ton cow in the middle of the road in Kansas. He said no one was hurt, though. He declared he'd never drive through Kansas again. He was absolutely a scream. He also did this piece.
- One of the other great things of the convention happened about 4 times while we were there. The Triumphant Quartet (who won quartet of the year, btw-by the way) sang a song that was in the nominations for the song of the year called "The Old White Flag." It's the song that says...."why don't you just wave that white flag of surrender..." Well, we had never seen them sing this song in person before, so we were totally unprepared for when they started on the chorus of this song, that thousands of people would start waving white rags and kleenex. It was pretty awesome. We forgot to bring a Kleenex the next two times we heard it, but I grabbed a white rag on the way out of the hotel for the awards on Saturday night because I knew it was going to be sung. So, I got to wave my white rag from the HILTON HOTEL on Saturday night during "Old White Flag." My sister-in-law, Jeana, who is not exactly a joker, got a mean streak that passed through her on the next song which happened to be the SLOWEST rendition with 6 verses to "Amazing Grace" by the Talley Trio that you ever heard. After they got through the 3rd verse or so, Jeana reaches over into my lap and grabs my white rag and starts waving it. We almost fell our of our seats with delirium. We were so tired and the slowest song on the face of the earth was the last thing we wanted to hear. I woke up the next morning about falling out of the bed l
aughing about it.- Also, on Friday morning, we attended the All Star Baseball Game played by all the artist. The picture I'm attempting to post, is with Libby Perry arguing with the umpire. She was hilarious during this game. She's so short and she would hold on to the players clothes so she could hold them on base to attempt to get them out. It made for tons of laughs.
Anyway.....it definitely was one of the greatest weeks of my life. There's so much more. I may write more when I think of it, but I'll hush the rambling for now.
Later gators!
2 comments:
Hey! LOVED reading about your week. The former pastors here were there, Pat & Mary Lynn Franks (she's legally blind) so if you saw a couple in their late 50s, early 60s, him leading her, that was them. She tries not to miss it. They are missionaries to Cuba and Mexico, and she can SING!
Am delighted that Addison was content with Papa and Nana, that says a lot for her raising, she's confident you'll be back and not fearful w/o you.
Trust me, she'll behave in ways that you'll think Papa and Nana caused, but it AIN'T SO!
True, true! We didn't spoil her a bit. Made her walk the line the entire time she was here. Gave her a list of chores at the door, too.
Hope you don't have trouble getting her to sleep by herself again. We snuggled every night! She only woke up once. I miss her already. Will have to do it again sometime. Hopefully there won't be as much excitement going on then as there was this time!
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