Date: 16 Oct 1998
To: RichMailList
Subject: [RichMailList 224]: Chester, MD 10/03 review
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Michael Gowen's Jammin' Java review
Date: 05 Oct 98 10:59:45
From: Michael Gowen
Subject: Ragamuffin review
Hi Danl--
Just a brief note to let you know that I was one of the fortunate ones to
be in attendance at the 2nd of two Ragamuffin concerts last Saturday
night at Jammin' Java in Chester (Kent Island), Maryland.
The concert got started with an opening act, and I hope you'll forgive me
for not catching her name, but I admit to only coming out to catch the
Raggamuffins. She played piano and sang a set of 5 original tunes
accompanied by her drummer.
After a brief delay to fix some sound problems, Rick, Mark, Jimmy, Aaron,
Michael and Carl took the stage and immediately launched into My
Deliverer, which was followed by Surely God is With Us. Rick took a moment out to
explain that the band had no sleep the previous night and had already
performed one set for the 6:30 crowd. But the sleep deprivation didn't
effect the performance at all, and if anything added to the spirit and
especially the humor of the evening...Rick and Mark trading friendly jabs at one
another all night long.
Anyhow, I'm afraid I wasn't taking notes, but the band performed (not
necessarily in this order) Hard to Get, You Did Not Have a Home, Man of no
Reputation (beautiful!); Hold me Jesus (inviting us to sing along), If I
Stand (introduced by Aaron reading Scripture, and again inviting us to sing
along); Here in America (Rick remembered that Rich used to have them
practice and practice songs that they wouldn't necessarily get to perform in
concert, this one falling into that category and also a band favorite);
Sometimes by Step and Calling Out Your Name.
After a brief plug for Compassion International, Rick got everyone on
their feet for a closing sing-a-long consisting of I See You, Awesome God and
an extended high-energy version Creed.
Rick promised everyone a worship service during his introductions...and
that it was. Awesome experience.
In Christ,
Michael
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Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 10:24:43
From: Suzy Dixon
Subject: Kent Island (Chester MD) Homeless Man concert
Danl,
I was one of the 150 people privileged to see the Homeless Man concert
at Jammin Java on Kent Island. The Ragamuffins did two sets, I went to
the first one at 6:30pm. What a great experience. I went to their
Lancaster PA concert two weeks before this one which was held in a big
concert hall (5000 people I'm guessing). I told Rick Elias later that
that one was with family, this one was with friends (Julie and Wayne
Johnson from Bowie MD). The Lancaster concert was a very good concert
but a little impersonal. Jammin Java seats 150 people. What a
difference and what an evening! I felt like I was sitting in someone's
family room watching the Ragamuffins.
A local artist opened the concert, I can't remember her name but she was
pretty good. I was hoping to see This Train and Mitch McVicker perform
but I know there was limited time for each set so they weren't part of
this concert date. And besides, I've see them twice since July, once in
Wichita and again in Lancaster PA. Anyway, the evening was haunted by
problems with the sound system. Jordan Richter was running the sound
that night and seemed to be very frustrated. Mark said later that
Jordan isn't very happy when he has to run sound. The Rags started
their set with "My Deliverer", and then "Surely God is With Us". Rick
explained that they were all tired from their travel itinerary. Flew to
New York, drove down to Kent Island (I think that is about a 4 hour
drive), set up, perform two sets, take down, (I think there was a couple
radio interviews in there), then drive back to New York the next day.
They had to get there by 1:30pm for a radio interview. They performed
several songs from the Jesus Record, Hard to Get, You Did Not have a
Home, and Rick sang Man of No Reputation (Mesmerizing!) Rick talked
about being on tour with Rich and how Rich would give them a list of 35
songs to learn just a couple days before the tour started. Then he'd
(Rich) would take a lot of them out of the line up. One of the songs
Rich cut was "Here in America" which Rick said was one of the band's
favorites. So they did "Here in America". By the way, also one of my
personal favorites! Aaron sang "If I Stand" after reading a passage
from the Bible. Jimmy Abegg led on Calling Out Your Name. They also
did Sometimes by Step.
Rick took some time to talk about Compassion and how important that
organization was to Rich. He encouraged everyone to get some of the
literature out on the table and consider sponsoring a kid or supporting
the Native American projects.
After that they performed several crowd favorites. We were invited to
stand and sing along which I think everyone did. They/we :-) did I See
You, Awesome God and Creed.
Between sets, in the store part of Jammin Java, Rick, Mark, Aaron, and
Jimmy were signing autographs, selling t-shirts and talking to everyone.
I talked to Jimmy about his artwork on "Exodus" which I love. He said
he really liked it too. I also asked him if he was the "Jimmy A" that
Sammy Horner of The Electrics was going to hang out with when he was
dead and gone. He just grinned and said "Yes" then explained that they
had toured together a couple years ago in Scotland. As we were
leaving, Rick was walking out at the same time. I said to him "I loved
you.... in "That Thing You Do". I think I kind of scared him in my
delivery of that statement. We stood outside talking about the concert,
how messed up the sound was, and how tired he was of the weather in
Nashville. He said at one point he was wondering what a particular
noise was and looked down at his guitar and realized that noise was him.
A couple minutes later Mark came out and joined in the conversation,
then Jimmy Abegg came out. This was an opportunity I couldn't pass up
so I asked if I could take a picture of them. (I had been taking
pictures all evening without permission! ha ha) They graciously said
yes and I got a really nice picture of all of them except Aaron. Then
they let me take a picture of myself with them. Danl, wait until you
see this picture. It's hilarious!!
Hope this was slightly coherent! The whole evening was a gift from God
in an otherwise messed up year! What a blessing. I'm still smiling!
Especially with I look at THAT picture! You'll see.
See ya, Suzy from Washington DC
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