Alright, I know I haven’t posted yet this tour. I’ve been fairly rushed and kind of speaced out. Our northeastern tour leg is well underway now. It’s been some ups and downs. I flew into Springfield to pickup the truck April 22. Loaded the truck at Little Portion that afternoon and the bus Sunday afternoon after Mass. I’ve got a new recording computer out here on the road and that required some attention & preparation before we could get underway as well.
Our Monday morning departure started out on a bit of a somber note when we received the news that John Michael’s spiritual father, Fr. Martin had passed away the previous evening. John Michael assured everyone that Fr. Martin would not have wanted him to cancel any concerts so we left on time. I only knew Fr. Martin to say hello but I know that he was a great force in encouraging John Michael to found the Brothers & Sisters of Charity and continue his music ministry. In that sense he is at least partly responsible for all of us having this work to do and for the graces received by many thousands of people who’ve heard JMT’s music through the past 25 yrs.
So off we went…We scheduled a day early load-in in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania thanks to the generosity of Pastor David Hall and the Elizabethtown Brethren in Christ Church. But while I took over in the truck and headed for Elizabethtown the rest of the group met up in Bethlehem for a trip to the Martin Guitar factory and a special VIP tour. Tom Booth’s 8 yr old son Anthony is a special guest this trip; JMT got him his first guitar while they visited Martin. Anthony is already learning from the guys in the band and has written his first song!
Meanwhile, back in Elizabethtown I met up with my new assistant, Stephen, for a day of load-in, training, and maintenance. Our first two concerts in Elizabethtown and Ashland went very well and Stephen was a big help to me. On the day of our third concert in Archbald though we hit a snag…it seems Stephen ate something the day before that did not agree with him. He endured a long day with nasty case of food poisoning that put him out of commission. Fortunately Joe Hand & John Martin stepped up to the plate and bailed me out by doubling as road crew for the day. We had another great concert in Archbald and Stephen is now well on the mend. Next concert is in Providence at the Rhode Island convention center. Come see us and say hi!
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