Now I'm famous

Recently at my job at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, I was approached by the staff writer to do a story on me for the web page - with a picture. The main motivation was the acknowledgement of an endowment created to allow purchase of new pianos for the music school at UNCG, of which I am piano technician. I am caretaker of around 135 pianos for the school, so I guess they chose to feature me, since I was the one who was pushing this project through. We are blessed to receive it.

Here is a link to the UNCG web page with me on the front page! I'm a celebrity!

http://www.uncg.edu/

Bus dreams

I don't know what it is about buses but I dream about them every now and then. One of these dreams had spiritual overtones and seemed prophetic. Here goes.

I was driving a sports car with the top down as fast as the car would go along a very straight road. My point of destination looked like a "dot" way way way up ahead. As I got closer I began to see that the "dot" was a bus parked at a bus stop waiting for a passenger. (it came into view as I approached). The expected passenger was Me, and I was racing so as not to miss the bus. I was afraid it might leave. I slammed on brakes and the sports car (a 57 Tbird, I think) literally slid up to the front door of the bus. I yelled to the driver " what about my bags and car?" He hollered back, " just leave them there, they'll be taken care of, just hurry up and get aboard" So I jumped out of the convertible and into the bus!! Then an amazing thing happened. The bus started moving like a dragster and left the ground and blasted off like a rocket. It left the ground and flew out of sight!!

Wow! I sat up in bed! What's your interpretation? How about, leave it all behind, get serious with God, don't worry about anything! Do it quickly. The Lord is doing a fast work! I think God is waiting for most of us.

This Old Bus

I think old buses are really cool. It's the 'art deco' styling from the 40's and 50's that attracts my attention. The body lines have areodynamic styling as if influenced by airplanes. Some have interesting features like engines in the rear, gears shifts on the steering column (silversides), an air scoop on top( flxible round back) or a double deck (scenicruiser) . The AFC had the engine in the middle of bus (underneath).

In the left column are my favorite "art deco" style buses.

A friend used to say "what if live was a big bus"?

Jesus is here - part 6

The summer of 1972 was a big summer for me. The charismatic renewal was combining with the Jesus movement and you could go to a different home group meeting every night of the week and twice on Sunday. Every one was discovering the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and wanting to do more that the organized churches in our area were doing. These meetings were usually led by a guitar player and we sang choruses and shouted praises to the Lord. People would have "words from the Lord" for people and other's would feel "led" to pray for the sick. Then there was the 'Leg lengthening' to help with posture and other things! You could actually see the short leg grow out like a small miracle! ! Of couse there was speaking in tongues with interpretation and learning to flowing in the spirit with the group. I used to love these meetings, because there was such joy and fellowship between believers. You could really sense God's love. I remember that I was very nervous about going to my first one, though. Were these crazy Christians going to embarrass me?! Mom finally talked me into going, saying a lot people I use to know from high school were there. I decided to go, and when I walked into the living room of this old house, I did see, to my surprise, 5 or 6 people I knew from high school days. In one of these house meetings there was a Jesus band from the west coast that had decided to settle in North Carolina and that was re-forming. Several of it's members were going back to the west coast and so they we're looking for new members. The name of the band was "The Bridge". I remembered my word from the Lord about playing in the Lord's band ( I always took the word as being literal: although I do think it also refers to the Kingdom of God) and turned in my name and address. I didn't think I would hear anything from them because it sounded like they weren't looking for a keyboard player. One late afternoon a car pulled up in my driveway with two Bridge members wanting to talk more. I played a few licks on my Hammond organ and spinning leslie speaker and they wanted me! So, there I was at 20 yrs old, embarking on a journey of Christian music ministry which lasted almost 10 years.

Jesus is here - part 5

Gradually, I began to see that the Lord was calling me to music ministry. Until this time, I was still playing locally with a band called 'Fred's Hat Band', just 'Fred' for short: named after a cat. The purpose of the band was not to perform but to cut an album and get a record contract. We worked and slaved over about 20 songs to perfect them enough to record. All the songs were original, written by members of the band. When we finally got them on record and submitted them to a few record companies, we were turned down by all. No takers. The complaint was : the music was too "down", too depressing. None of the companies were willing to take the risk that the material would sell. (not much to sing about when you don't know the Lord?) Needless to say, we were a discouraged group of people. It was supposed to be a sure thing! An interesting thing, however, happened at about the same time as our "turn down". I had invited the Jesus band, Tamarah, to come and hear our band 'Fred' for one of our few performances. When we finished I was talking to their bass player and I asked him what he thought of our band. He looked me straight in the eye and said, "it was great but, how would you like to play in the Lord's band" !!! Again, I didn't know what to say!! I think that was the first prophecy I'd ever received. It hit so hard and stuck in my mind so long! The Lord didn't waste any time getting that message to me. Very soon after that, I announced my resignation from "Fred's Hat Band". The bass player from Fred was the other person sitting in the circle when I received the Holy Spirit, so I think he understood, but the other guys didn't. One even told me I was a bit impressionistic. But I knew I was doing the right thing. The Lord wanted me in His band. Hallelujah!

Jesus is here - part 4

In the early 1970's I was attending Atlantic Christian College. (not really a Christian school). I was there mainly because my parents wanted me to go and that I knew I should, but my heart was not really in it. I would come home on the weekends to play with my band. (a secular band). That's what I really wanted to do. Although the Lord was drawing me to Him, I still had a foot in the world. I was an angry and worldly young man for the that first year of school. In my second year in college, I started to respond to the Holy Spirit. One day the same friend who got saved in the previous post came to me and told me she had received the Baptism in the Holy Ghost and spoke with tongues! Spoke with what? Isn't that of the devil, I thought.
She and her friend wanted me and two of my musician friends , whom I played in the band with, to have this experience also. It was her birthday, so the bass player and I went into another room with the two girls and they asked the Lord to baptise us in the Holy Spirit! It was March 25, 1971 (the other musician who came with us was not interested). As we all sat in a circle on the floor we all had a sense of peace. I was waiting to get "hit" with something like my mom had had, but nothing happened. Just a sweet peace . My friend said " I am that I am". (He prophesied). Although I received the Holy Ghost by faith, my tongues came later as I prayer by myself but more than that, my life began to change. I wanted to study the Bible and do things differently. I wanted to hang with the Jesus people and other spirit filled Christians more. Something new was happening! I had new peace, not as much anger, and a desire to serve the Lord! My friend, the bass player, did not follow on to know the Lord, although we had many discussions.

Jesus is here - part 3

As the Lord, in his patience, continued to draw me, a hippie friend of mine came running up to me at school one day and said, "guess what! I just got saved!! and it is SO wonderful!!" she was beaming and grinning from ear to ear!! I remember feeling jealous! She said a man was reading the bible to hippies over in the park and many were gathering, listening and asking questions. The man had prayed with her to receive Christ. Other people whom I knew also prayed to receive. In the meantime, my mother received something called the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and had seen visions and had been filled with joy! I had never seen her this happy. Then I read a book by Hal Lindsay call "A guide to Survival". This book really spoke to me because it was about Biblical prophecy coming true in modern times. It seemed so relevant and got me reading the Bible a little. Mom started funneling little paperback books to me. "They Speak With Other Tongues", "The Mind is the Battlefield" and others. Mom quickly learned some things about spiritual warfare and prayed a lot of my demons away. One day I just went into my room and took down my huge poster of the 'integral yoga master', Swami Satchindananda . (see pic). She said every time she walked past my room and saw that picture she would take authority over the ememy. But she just waited and one day the picture was gone!. Then she told me about two local Christian rock bands. One called Tamara; the other The Bridge. I agreed to go and hear Tamara play. Some of The Bridge members were in attendance there. I had never heard anything like this. After the concert was over I went up front to compliment the band on their performance. I was shocked to here them say that they didn't really care if it sounded good or bad. They were simply making an offering to the Lord! I didn't know what to say! (now , I do think we should seek to have a good sound, but not for our own egos, but to honor the Lord!)

Jesus is here! - part 2

It's amazing the things the Lord will use to create desire in someone's heart to follow Him. For me, during my teen years, several things combined and the Lord used them all. One was, the study of Henry Thoreau and Walden's Pond. Another was the mid 1960's peace movement, counter-culture philosophy and Rock and Roll. It a great time of searching. Most of my friends were looking for something more. It was a very spiritual time. I remember combining all of these things with Christianity. I used to call myself a Christian-existentialist. ( I don't think I even knew what the term meant- but it sounded hip!). I adopted some of Henry Thoreau 's idea's and called myself an idealist! not a realist! How messed up I was! I was also against the Vietnam war and I was a pacifist. I also remember thinking Jesus was the greatest spiritual leader of all. So, as I grew older, played in my rock band , participated in local peace vigils and moratorium's and indulged in all my conptempative thinking, something happened. I got more and more miserable!!! I even read a book called 'No Man in Eden'. It was a fictional Christian sci-fi which really grabbed my attention. It raised the question: what if man had never fallen in the garden of eden? I was also a "treky" too. As you might remember, many Star Trek episodes had spiritual overtones. All of this was happening but my soul was left dissatisfied. The Lord was trying to get me to see Him.

Jesus is here! - part 1

I've been wanting to put this down in words for quite a while, so I think I'll start working on it now. This will be the first part. Please excuse me if I do a little philosophizing.

My parents brought me up in the church, so I was raised with a minimal concept of who Jesus was. What a blessing! When I was a small boy they would give me a penny each Sunday morning and tell me to put it in the offering. They told me I was giving 'pennies to Jesus'. Is that not cool?

One day when I was about 4 years old there came a knock at the front door and when I went to answer the door, my mother says I ran back to get her crying, "Jesus is here, Jesus is here". Now, she was wondering what she would find when she went to see who was there. (was she going to be called by God to do some special thing?!) When she got to the door , a lady from the church was standing there. There have been various interpretations to what happened. Since this lady was the one I was giving pennies to, (she took up collection), did I think she was Jesus? Plus all of those old romantic period pictures of Jesus around the Sunday school rooms made Jesus look like a women with a beard. (remember those?) Down through the years I've always wondered. Wouldn't it be amazing if Jesus or and angel had actually visited me when I was a child? The bible does say we can entertain angels unaware. Also, there is the story of Jesus coming to our door and knocking (door of out heart). Also many stories are in the bible about how Jesus felt about children. Was that really Him when I went to the door? I like to believe, through the years, that is some way it was. I'll find out for sure some day!

Hammond eggs, grits and biscuits

This isn't about breakfast food, of course, it's about the mighty Hammond Organ. You say, what's the big deal? Well, it's something about those tone wheels -- hmmm, I think. It's such a cool idea, you know?! All those tone wheels spinning in front of electro magnets to produce that awesome sound that thumps, scratches, scrapes, screams goes soft to lush ballad. spins up then down. It's really amazing. The Hammond is electric, too, not electronic. There is a difference. The sound is produced by spinning wheels of different sizes. Wow!! Then, there is that chorus scanner. Whew!! I don't think that sound can be simulated by electronics.

It all started with an inventor named Laurens Hammond who had colleagues the likes of Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison. He first came up with an idea for a synchronous motor which enabled an electric clock to be built which would keep accurate time. Up until then, electric motors weren't suitable for clocks because their speed varied too much for time keeping. This led to the invention of the first portable Hammond organ (there were only pipe organs before) which used the same synchronous motor to spin all the tone wheels which provided constant pitch for music. The year was 1934. Mr Hammond never dreamed of what would happen to his organ, though. Over the years musicians found all kinds of different ways to use them. In the 1960's jazz and rock musicians discovered how great the organs sounded when the drawbars were pulled all the way out and the volume cranked way up!! That slight speaker distortion was just what Steve Winwood of the Spencer Davis Group, needed on "Gimme Gimme some lovin" !! Of course, Jimmy Smith showed us how to use the harmonic percussion and play upright bass with his left hand and foot! Keith Emerson pushed his Hammond around the stage as he played and threw knives at it as part of his stage act. The Hammond was totally transformed forever. I'm sure though, this was not what Mr Hammond has in mind!!! I often wonder if he was insulted!!!!

Today we hear that sound almost everywhere. If we stop to listen, it's mixed into music in top forty , at the mall over sound systems, on TV shows and commercials and movie tracks . And, it's always been in the black church. Many white churches ,too.

The last tone-wheel Hammond was made in 1976 but the sound lives on! The old organs, even from the 40's and 50's were so well made (over engineered) that most of them will still play, even though they may need to be re-wired. The Hammond company still makes the organs but no longer uses the old 'electric' system, with the wheels ,but uses electronic synthesis and sampling technology. Other companies too, are trying to get into the act ,trying to imitate the "spirit" of the sound. Often times on tape, it's hard to tell the difference between the real thing and the 'clone'.

For me, I fell in love with the organ when I saw Felix Caveliere with the Young Rascals play their current hit song on the long extinct, Ed Sullivan show. I remember that is was a Sunday night and I was about 15 years old. When I saw Felix singing and playing the Hammond B3, and stabbing the bass pedals, I was 'awe struck'! It was the sound!! Check out my 'Youtube' clip!


My favorite use for the Hammond organ now is in praise and worship music at church. In fact I'll make a bold statement and say that I believe the Hammond organ to be one of God's instruments that He allowed us to have, to help usher in true worship in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is interesting to note that almost since the beginning of the invention of this instrument, it has been used in the church. Especially in black spirit filled type churches , this sound has been sought out. A pastor friend of mine says, "when I hear that sound of the Hammond organ, it just makes me want to praise the Lord"!