As you can see in the photos, this section features wall shelves that used to be part of garage storage.  When the garage was revamped, I decided to make little dioramas on each shelf either of themes I liked or items that I knew would look nice. As you can see on the bottom level, I always liked the history and property of the old Bethlehem Steel.  So, I chose to model that using buildings and scenery that I  could weather and make it appear like it was part of the Steel plant.  The coolest part of the whole shelf is the train coming out of the wall, into the shelf and right to the center.  I wanted to have a train be a part of this and to just have it only be in the shelf just did not fit with my vision. So, with a few cuts and a bridge design, the effect is really cool and fitting of the mill.

The two shelves above it are a bit simpler in their design. Due to site issues, I had to have larger buildings on the highest shelf with little detail or else you wouldn’t see it.  So, I took a few larger scale structures and trees and created an old fashioned town square.  The center shelf features a more utilitarian design with oil tanks and an electrical power station.

The other shelf is quite personal and also features a ‘N’ scale layout on top of the filing cabinet.  The top shelf represents my Italian heritage with a tribute to “Little Italy”. The one building is met with a little light humor as it is called the Motion Lounge Social Club.  This was the actual mob hangout name in real life from the movie Donnie Brasco.  There is also a Carlo’s Bakery and a Connie’s Pizza named after my mom.  I wanted to have a neighborhood feel and added the red, white, and green lighting for this shelf. This was fun to build and I think the background cityscape paper adds a nice dimension to it.

The middle shelf represents my love of the Civil War and specifically, the Gettysburg Campaign. This models the final battle on July 3, 1861, Pickett’s Charge where the confederates suffered a tremendous defeat which forced them to retreat to the south.  Since this design represented actual historical events, it had to be as realistic as possible.  The problem with this shelf was since it features a lot of detail, especially with tiny soldiers, horses, and tents, I needed a way to bring the detail to those not over 6 feet tall. So, after a while of thinking about it, I found a mirror and was able to angle it so everything can be seen from below.

I always liked the smaller ‘N’ scale. Since I had a few ‘N’ buildings and scenery on hand and the smaller area above the cabinet from which to model, it was a perfect fit.  I am very proud of the back mountain scene. The 3 pieces are a combination of basic foam and pieces of an old bridge. I designed and glued it all to fit in this area and then worked on creating a real life mountain look with trees, grass, and stone.  I am very proud the way this turned out.  The town feel is relaxed and almost resembles the Delaware Water Gap area.

I never knew until 2014 just how much model railroading and the artistry that goes into every design was inside me.  The chance to realize what I had for many years as a kid was too good to resist. When I was a kid, I always assisted my dad with the layout. I have enjoyed developing my technique and artistry with this hobby.  I hope to share this with others and hopefully someone will get the “bug” to enjoy a little model railroading.

The summer of 2018 has been one of unique opportunity for me.  For as long as I can remember, every summer would present itself with various concerts, festivals and outdoor gigs to play. The setting of dusk underneath the bright moon with the warm breeze of the hot summer night is very typical for all the summer gigs I play.  Of course, with the many days of extreme heat this summer, an out-door concert posed to be a bit more challenging!  Nonetheless, the summer concert season was made a little different with a few unique and personal opportunities for me.

In June, my wedding band, Generations (www.vposwing.com) had the privilege of being hired to play for the wedding of Ronnie Lord and Cassy Vash. If you didn’t already know, Cassy was a former student of mine who is currently living in Texas working as an engineer within the highway department system of Texas. She is doing very well and I am very proud of her.  Generations also played for her sister Helen’s wedding in 2014. So, it was a great honor for me to have the chance to play for a family that I am very close with.  As you can see in the photos, her wedding was held at the Loft at Jacks Barn (www.jacksbarn.com) in Hackettstown, NJ. The theme was very rustic and tailored to be very personal to both Cassy and Ronnie.  Since Cassy lives in Texas and is not able to travel to New Jersey that often, the day was even that much more special for the family and everyone involved.  We were part of both the ceremony and reception.  Everyone had a great time and the band had everyone dancing throughout. I am very thankful to Cassy, Ron and their family for allowing us to be a part of their most special day.

If you’ve read any of my past blogs, you maybe aware of the Ken Brader Holiday Brass Quartet that I play with have been playing the national anthem at various events. (www.facebook.com/groups/659018100807942/)  This summer, we were chosen to play at a home game for the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizen Bank Park in Philadelphia on June 26.  The chance to play at a major league stadium regardless of who the home team is, presents a great opportunity. But, there is definitely more pressure upon us as 40,000 fans, players, and workers are standing at attention as we play on the field with cameras in our faces as it is being displayed on the big stadium screen. We were blessed with great weather that day and I want to humbly say that we hit a homerun with our performance.  This video was taken by the Phillies staff and they did a great job. (www.phillies.com)

We had two more nice opportunities to play the anthem this summer.  On Friday and Saturday, Aug. 3-4, we were asked to perform for the Drum Corps International semifinal performance at J. Birney Crum Stadium in Allentown, PA.  Drum Corps, or DCI for short (www.dci.org) is marching band for those serious students between ages 18-21. They work and travel all over the country all summer long leading up to the finals and championships in mid August.  Those in attendance are musicians and fans of brass music. So, this was a nice chance to play to a crowd who truly enjoy what we do. We also had a chance to again play for the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs on August 27^th for their final home game before the playoffs begin.  Although not the size of the Phillies stadium, it still is a great place to play and we enjoy every chance we have to play there.  This year, the Iron Pigs had the best record in the league and will be playing Scranton beginning September 5^th in the playoffs. It is a best of 5 series. If they go to a 4^th game, that will be Saturday, September 8^th and we will again be playing for that important game.

I finished up the summer by joining the band once again to be a part of Gloria’s Miami Sound, the best Gloria Estefan Tribute Band in America. (www.facebook.com/gloriasmiamisound/)  Led by the husband and wife team of Nikki Torres and Bill Ciamarelli, this band is awesome and a pleasure to play with. The show was held at the Cold Spring Country Club in Long Island, New York.  A top- notch band comprised of the best New York has to offer, I always enjoy meeting and performing with these musicians. I always look forward to working with Bill and Nikki in this band or their other very popular band New York Minute  (www.facebook.com/NYMinuteBand/) (see photo)

For me, these opportunities paved the way for a nice summer of music and gigs.  I am always glad to play and enjoy the life, but, it adds a special touch when you have some new events to perform helping those you know to share a beautiful moment in their life.  Plus, to be able to share the stage with talented musicians is always a great experience.

In the Fall of 2014 I decided to thoroughly clean out my garage and re-design how it was organized. I got tired of it being messy and knew that I could throw a lot out and make much better use of the space I had.  As this process was happening, I kept seeing the layout in the closet in the garage.  I think the little kid in me woke up again as suddenly an urge was rising to do something with it. At that point, the hobby was re-born within me. Once the garage was ready, I had a place and set-up the layout.  I began learning again about the hobby and the amazing amount of things that had changed in the hobby over the past 20 years. It was fun to go to shows, and see layouts running and feel like a kid again. However, what also had changed in that time was how expensive things could be! Wow!  I had no idea engines could be $300-400! The old recognizable brands of Tyco, Bachmann and Life-Like to name a few had been replaced by Walthers, MTH and Kato.  The inexpensive family sets were now costing upwards of $200.  What hit me right away was there is no way that many families can have it as a hobby to play with anymore.  What family of 4 or 5 can go out and spend $500 for supplies to run a train set or 2 with a nice display and scenery? Hardly anyone. Maybe the brands of the past weren’t the best, but as a kid, you just enjoyed watching the trains run and didn’t care about the brand, you just looked at the painting and decoration on the cars and engines.

What became very apparent to me was that the hobby is time consuming. In today’s society of everything happening fast and needing it now, I don’t see trains as a big draw to kids or millennials.  It doesn’t move fast enough and actually takes artistry and work to make a nice display.  What I did learn was that if you wanted to get more supplies, the most affordable way was to keep an eye out for garage sales or auctions. I discovered www.auctionzip.com for train auctions in my area.  This has actually been a great help.  The past 3 years I have been able to go to a lot of auctions and sales and pick up many great trains, scenery items and displays for a fraction of the cost of buying new.  What I also noticed is that I was probably one of the youngest buyers of trains in these auctions.  I learned that the market for trains was those mid 40’s and up and if you saw a kid at an auction, he probably was there as a tag a long with his grandfather.  The realization that this is no longer a family hobby was very evident. It was more for older men who could absorb the costs because they don’t have to worry about car payments, mortgages or college tuition!

Since 2014, I have enjoyed re-learning the hobby and expanding it with artistry and design. As a creative person, it certainly allows me the chance to develop and expand my creativity to be as expansive as you would like.  The photos here show my layout from many years ago. There is even one from when I was in the newspaper as my layout had been featured since it was so unique.  Over the next weeks, I will be exploring with you in more blog posts my layout and what I changed and re-built along with showing you more photos and video.  Stay tuned… More to come from Vince’s Railroad Depot!

The success of the first coffee house in October made one thing very clear for the church. They liked the idea of new events and a time for fellowship. It was in January that myself, Connie Sabatine and Jeff Barrows sat down with the pastor and proposed our plan to hold a concert in June and follow it with an Italian dinner. Calling it “Italian Night” we would be able to entertain our guests and then provide a delicious home cooked Italian meal.  I knew this combination would be a great fit.

Building off of our success with the Interfaith Choral Festival in November, I had searched for an opportunity for the choir besides the coffee house and singing in church on selected Sunday mornings.   I believe if you want your ensemble to grow and become more mature, you need to find new outlets to perform in and a new audience to sing for.  Stretching yourself out of your comfort zone will definitely do that.  Since we have never sung more than two sections in a row, this opportunity to perform a full concert can only help us become a better choir.  I can now select literature of varying styles ranging from secular to Sacred as well as material that is better suited for a concert as opposed to just a Sunday service.  This is exactly what I did. I chose several songs including “Cantate Domino” which is partially sung in Latin. Although not terribly difficult, it is a good concert song that allows me to teach more advanced musical concepts as well as introducing Latin to our members.

In addition to Cantate Domino, we are performing Instrument of Peace, A Thousandfold, An Irish Blessing, Joshua, Make a Joyful Noise, A Mighty Fortress is our God and The Christ Child is Born will be our Sacred selections.  But, we also have a few non Sacred songs to provide a little fun and they include Bring Him Home from Les Miserables, Stand By Me and the traditional college song Vive L’Amour.  There will also be a special selection sung by Jeff Barrows.

I am definitely proud of the choir and the work they have put in so far to make this concert a success.  Like other church choirs, our membership has a varied level of musical talent with some having music and choral experience to those who this is the first time they have ever sung in a choir.  But, they are developing nicely and working towards my high expectations of them.

The dinner part just fit so nicely into the plans. It does provide a night out for our guests with dinner included.  Plus, it is all for free.  Where can you go in our society today that you can get a good concert and a full dinner all for free?  I am excited to know that many of our guests are not just going to be regular members of the congregation.  We will have family and friends from out of town, those from other churches, and even those who don’t go to church at all.  This is a nice opportunity for anyone who has never been inside our church to meet our members, have a chance to walk through the church and get a feel for who we are and what we stand for.  If opening up our church can even change one persons life for the better, than it is all worth it.

After the concert, I will be the disc jockey for the dinner.  I will be playing many of the great Italian favorites and dinner classics associated with the great country of Italy.  It stands to be a beautiful night for everyone.

I do need to tell you that entrance to both the concert and dinner is by ticket only. You will be only able to get into the dinner by having a ticket. Right now we have very few seats left. If you are interested, please call me and I will try to save you one.  However, if you don’t care about the dinner and just want to come and hear the concert, you can do that.  Just come on in!

If you have any questions or would like to inquire if we still have tickets remaining, please call me at 908-619-4502 and I can give you more information.

February 18, 2018
Christ Lutheran Church, Hellertown, Pa.
10:45am Service
https://www.christlutheranhellertown.org

Of all the musical offerings that I am a part of, the one that is the most rewarding is my sacred big band.  The ensemble is a 17pc. band which plays sacred songs and hymns but in a swing and jazzy setting.  There is nothing as great and awesome as the sound of a big band performing in church.  The oddity of it alone makes it a must see for anyone. But, the experience of hearing such a sound is what makes it so great.  Yes, it can be a bit loud at times. But, what would you expect from 17 musicians performing in a church? However, because of the style of the music, the volume never becomes an issue. When directing the group, it is always so rewarding for me to turn to the audience and see the enjoyment on their faces as they hear their favorite hymns played in a jazz setting.  For many churches, music plays a vital part of their Sunday service. Whether it is an organ, praise band or even just a piano, they lead in song and help to give praise to the Lord.   The Sacred Big Band was formed in 2011 after I felt led to begin a new ensemble which could take the love for the Lord and my faith and pair that with the swing band.  It was and still is a great experience for me to direct this group.  The arrangements are terrific and everyone realizes this is such a unique ensemble that it is hard not to experience joy.  Unfortunately, due to space constraints, it is not easy for the band to perform in many churches. It seems finding enough space to adequately fit us in is a key issue. The churches that I talk to love the idea and wish we could schedule a performance. But, when our next conversation covers logistics, it can tend to be a deal breaker.  I wish we could play every Sunday somewhere. But, it is just not possible.

With the declining number of churches to perform in and the opportunities becoming fewer, I realized that if I wanted to keep this moving forward, I needed to be pro-active to their concerns and find a way to be more feasible to church facilities and schedules.  So, it is with great excitement and joy that I announce that we now have 7 pc. Sacred praise band that is about to start performing in churches.  The band, comprised of horns, solid rhythm and great vocals will feature a blended style of favorite hymns as well as contemporary praise and worship favorites. Many churches with blended services may have a praise band already, but, this ensemble combines the best of traditional, contemporary and jazz all in one! We have been working had to compile music and arrangements and are ready to perform.  Merging styles such as, rhythm and blues, Latin, contemporary and soulful jazz together, our group is ready to spread Praise wherever we go.  I am excited to announce that our first performance is set for Sunday, February 18, 2018 at the Christ Lutheran Church in Hellertown, Pa.  The service is at 10:45am and we welcome you to praise the Lord with us!

I have had the privilege to perform in the church the past two years with Ken Brader and the Holiday Brass Quartet.  I have always been impressed with the musical direction and the planning of their music schedule. They do not take a break in June but rather schedule a variety of groups and performers all summer long to provide spiritual renewal.  The music department is in very capable hands led by Steve Wysocki, a very talented organist and educator.  Steve clearly has a vision and desire to bring the congregation more diverse music and opportunity for worship.  I have always enjoyed my time playing for this church. Whenever the quartet has played, they are always so welcoming and excited to hear us. They are an active church and always seeking the best for their congregation.I am very much looking forward to our debut performance and am glad that it can be at such a great church like Christ Lutheran.  I welcome everyone to our debut and hope you can come. It should be a great time and.  The church is located at 69 Main Street, Hellertown, PA 18055. It is very easy to get to. Take Route 78 to Exit 67 and proceed south on Route 412 for about 2 miles. The church will be on your left hand side across from a used car dealer. It is that easy. If you have any questions or need more info, please call me and I will be able to help you out. I can be reached at 908-619-4502.

We would love to see you on Sunday, February 18^th at 10:45am.  If you can’t make it, I will blog after and hopefully have some video clips to share with you.

Blessings to all of you!!

Friday 12/22 7:15pm & 8:15pm

www.outletsatsandsbethlehem.com

As you probably may know from reading some of my other blogs, Ken Brader has been a long time influence and role model to me in my life. I was a student of his for many years as I was growing up and still to this day, seek his guidance on trumpet playing. One thing that bonds together all of Ken’s students is the Holiday Brass. Ken Brader’s Holiday Brass has been in existence for over forty years. Ken leads this brass collective of 35-45 musicians in concert during the Christmas season. It is always a joy knowing that this event is coming up and the enjoyment that comes with it. For the season is not complete without a performance by the Holiday Brass! The sound of a 40+ piece ensemble in a shopping mall is hard to put into words. The few that do come to mind are big, bold and beautiful, yet elegant and very magical.

One of the joys of playing in the group is to get a chance to see those you rarely get to speak with during the year. As a kid, this was great because Ken taught so many students it gave me a chance to meet new people from all over the region. Now, as an adult, I see so many faces from those years and now we catch up. But, instead of talking about school, classes and sports, we now talk about things like health, family and who is sick… Wow, I am getting old…LOL. However, it is still nice to see Ken’s students, those in middle and high school, who join us for the first time and the excitement they have for this experience.

Since this ensemble has been playing, there has never been a professional quality audio or video recorded. It was never thought of or suggested to make something like this…until last year. After we played in December, the idea was born to make a CD. We do have videos of our performances, but, they are taken in a shopping mall. So, you have other issues to deal with while taking video in a mall. Plus, they are not of a high quality.

After months of planning in early 2017, we finally achieved the goal of getting the group together to record a CD. The CD was recorded on July 15th at the Bethel Memorial Baptist Church in Easton, PA. (www.bethelmemorialbaptist.org) by Sonlight Productions (www.sonlightproductions.net). Owner and engineer D Freeman, Rachel Ewaniuk, and Kris Ewaniuk donated their time and services to help make this dream a reality. We were also given financial support to make the CD’s from the Christmas City Veterinary Hospital (www.christmascityvet.com), Lisa Cawley, Proprietor. It was a great day!! You may have seen one of my previous blogs on this event.

Well, after a lot of mastering, fine tuning and over dubbing, our CD is finally ready and we are excited about it. The CD, titled REJOICE! is a compilation of all of our holiday music. With this blog, I am very happy to announce that our CD release event of REJOICE! will be at our holiday performance which is set for Friday, December 22, 2017 at 7:15pm and 8:15pm at the Outlets at the Sands Bethlehem (www.outletsatsandsbethlehem.com/specialevents/) These performances are free and open to the public. We usually play in front of the large tree on the bottom level close to the elevator. The Outlets always treat us so great that we felt this would be the right time and location to hold our release party.

This CD is a long time coming and I am very proud of everyone who gave of their time and efforts to make this CD a success. Only the Lord knows how long this group will continue. But, it is great to know that we finally have a great recording to last a lifetime.

If you can make it, it would be great to see you on Friday, 12/22. Come out to help celebrate a CD 40 years in the making.

I have a few photos, a behind the scenes video and some clips from the recording linked with this blog. Check them out.

Behind the scenes video clip…

In case you are not familiar with the festival, it was started to give local church choirs an opportunity to come together to share their talents with each other all while glorifying the word of the Lord.  It is usually held the Sunday before Thanksgiving. A free will offering is taken which benefits ProJeCt of Easton.  P of E is an interfaith initiative in downtown Easton that offers emergency assistance, a food program, community supportive services, and educational programs to over 5,000 disadvantaged children and adults each year. Information on ProJeCt can be found at http://www.projecteaston.org.   It is a great organization and I am happy to say that this year’s donation from the festival was over $1000.00.  Since it is called an interfaith festival, the choirs come from protestant and Catholic Churches, a Jewish Temple and this year there was a Muslim group that performed.  In addition to The Victory Voices, the festival was represented by the following church choirs:  St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church, First United Church of Christ, Trinity Episcopal Church, Temple Covenant of Peace, Lehigh Dialogue Center, St. John’s UCC of Farmersville, and the host church, St. Jane Frances de Chantal Roman Catholic Church of Easton.  We came together at the end to perform two selections together. They were “I Choose Love” by Mark Miller and “American The Beautiful”.  Having over 100 voices really made the conclusion of the festival sound tremendous.  I Choose Love was written in response to the Charleston, NC church shooting in 2015. A solemn but very emotional piece.

Since this was only our third time performing in public, you would think that we would have a few butterflies. But, this ensemble is a fun group to work with that is down to earth, relaxed and likes to have fun.  We got on stage and knew we were there to sing praise to the Lord and entertain the crowd.  There was no fear or worry, just excitement to be there!  As they stood there in their white shirts and red ties, I couldn’t have been more proud with how well they did.  They were strong, energetic and filled the room with sound.  It was very clear that what came out of the mouths of our musicians was widely enjoyed by the audience.

I was very pleased with this experience and even more happy of how well we did.  I can humbly say that we were a huge success by the way many of our members were treated after the concert.  I could hardly get to the refreshment table without someone stopping to say just how much they enjoyed the group.  I am very Blessed to be the director of the ensemble and thankful that we were able to make a joyful noise to the Lord through our song.

If you want to hear the Victory Voices again, we are singing for the Christmas Eve service at the Bethel Memorial Baptist Church on December 24^th at 6:00pm.   You can find the church at http://bethelmemorialbaptist.org.

Check out some of the video and pictures from the event and our other public performance.

The Jack Furlong Orchestra is a talented 12pc. big band that was formed in 2014. Although still relatively new to the scene, they have entertained audiences throughout Central New Jersey for concerts, weddings and private shows.   The band is comprised of some of the top musical talent you will find.  They play a diverse selection of music from the world of jazz, classic standards, and even a hint of pop and favorite television theme songs.  I know this is shaping up to be a great concert as there will definitely be something for everyone. It will be a great way to spend a summer night in August.  More information about this concert can be found at www.jackfurlong.com/orchestra

I have had the privilege of knowing Jack for many years.  I met him while he was a music major at Lafayette College.  I was hired, at the time, to full out the trumpet section for a few semesters.  I then hired Jack to be a member of the Vince Pettinelli Orchestra and have enjoyed his music and friendship ever since.  In addition to this ensemble, Jack is well known for the award winning Jack Furlong Quartet.  Since 2006, the quartet has recorded 3 albums (And That Happened, Jazzeration, and Bunnies in Limbo.) His most recent recording, Charity, is a duet with Sean Gough, piano and features Christian hymns performed in a jazz setting. The title of Charity was chosen because all the proceeds from the CD sales were donated to 3 local charities.

Music is not the only way where Jack spends his time.  He is an avid baseball fan and local baseball umpire. In 2013 he founded the OSIP Foundation.  OSIP stands for Outstanding Sportsmanship is Paramount.  Its mission is 1) To provide financial aid and assistance to those affected by acts of aggression due to poor sportsmanship and/or fanship, and
2) To raise awareness of the need for better sportsmanship in all capacities throughout sports.
Jack ultimately believes that all sporting events and competitions in life can be held without malice and with respect for all involved.  A very noble desire and foundation created by Jack.

The Howe Commons (www.howecommons.com) is a beautiful place to listen to a concert.  The property is made up of five spacious buildings with plenty of off-street parking that blended with the quaint Colonial feeling of the town. The finished product squared off the Commons, creating a dramatic town square that accentuates the historic center-piece of the property, the Abey Building – originally a residential mansion. These common areas heightened the aesthetic appeal and provide a beautiful backdrop for any performance.

I know the concert is going to be great and a fun way to spend a Sunday evening in August. If you are able to come, it is advised to bring a lawn chair.  If the weather is iffy that day and you are unsure about making the trip, give me a call and I can let you know if it is postponed or not. You can reach me on my cell at 908-619-4502.  I hope to see you there!!!

The group is comprised of myself on trumpet, Rick Case on drums, Joe DeMaio on bass, Oscar Duarte on auxiliary percussion and Jennie Tielman on piano.  Jennie was unable to make it so Linda Pettinelli (my sister) filled in quite ably for her. We played “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” and “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder”.  This was the first time that our jazz quintet has performed outside of Bethel.  When the coffee house date was set, I thought it would be great to include this group to have an opportunity to perform for a different audience away from the church campus.”

The members of the group beside myself mainly only perform with the praise team at the church.  So, when this opportunity came along, I knew it would be a great chance to get out of our comfort zone. I’ve always believed that anytime an ensemble or performer has a chance to play outside of their regular spot, it can only strengthen them. When you go to a venue that is new, there is a sense of uncertainty and you don’t always know what to expect. It actually draws everyone closer because the only thing that you can rely on initially is each other.  It is natural if you are in an unfamiliar place to cling to what you are comfortable with.  So I thought from this aspect it would be a nice bonding experience for all of us.  Then, when you begin to perform you know it sounds a little different and that forces your ears to be even more focused to what is going on.  This is always my favorite part.  When you begin to hear your music and it sounds a little different than the way it usually does, it allows you to take more chances and develop more creativity.  I believe the members of the quintet did just that on Saturday.  I felt Oscar was playing more unique rhythmic patterns and whether he recognized it or not, was branching out and expanding on the parts he normally plays. The same was true with Rick. I felt his drumming had a different vibe to it as he added some neat new grooves to both songs.  Both added a nice touch to the music allowing us to really feed off of one another.  All of these experiences I believe, will help us in the future as we continue to grow and build on the success we are having. Overall, we are most happy to be able to Glorify the Lord through our music! We were very grateful to have the opportunity.

In addition to performing, I also had the privilege of running sound and lights.  I had recently purchased some new LED lighting so I was excited to be able to use them. Memorial Hall, which is used for Sunday school, the boy scouts and an occasional covered dish was transformed so nicely with the ambiance and feel of a real coffee house.

The night was awesome. Everyone had fun, loved the entertainment and enjoyed reminiscing with the trivia contest.  As I said, “It was a great night for the church”!  The mission aside, the fact that it was a miserable rainy Saturday and yet still drew a record crowd is a great sign of strength and growth occurring within Pilgrim.  As of now, there is talk of wanting to schedule another coffee house in October.  I am already looking forward to it with plans to grow the event even more.

More information regarding the Presbyterian Coffee Project of Equal Exchange and Fairly Traded Coffee can be found on the website http://equalexchange.coop/pcusa

He had a date set for March 4th and about two weeks before got in touch with me to make sure I was still good to play. The session wasn’t just a studio album recording. It was a Live video recording as well. He was actively advertising it on Facebook and other social media and tickets were selling pretty well. He sent me the music for the first song called “I’m Excited”, a song speaking to his excitement for the purpose of the recording session.. Glorifying God. It was a really good song with great horn parts. I had no idea it was an original of his or that he had that much talent to compose! I received other music from him all original music. Each was just as good as the next if not better. I have worked with artists who have their own music and you usually get a mix of good and bad. But, Chips music was all inspiring of praise to the Lord and you could sense his passion in each song.

When I arrived at The Resurrection Center on March 4th for the recording you could feel a sense of excitement throughout that today was going to be something special. I also learned that it was also his 30th birthday!! As I met the other horn players, one who was his brother, I learned that everyone had known Chip previously and were all equally excited to be supporting him on this project. He put together a nine-piece band and a six piece back up vocal ensemble. He also had two special guest groups to sing as a warm up act and intermission act. He also featured his mom, Glenda Bailey, who is an accomplished national recording artist herself. Wow, a full recording was in store for everyone.

The recording began at 6:00pm and the sanctuary had well over 100 people ready to support him and show praise to the Lord. It was very obvious that this was a long time dream of Chip’s and today was the culmination of that goal. Chips’ energy was infectious to us all and there was a great sense of togetherness and synergy in the room. We were all there to support his vision of praise and worship and I couldn’t be happier with just how well everything went. He was a dynamic performer and so appreciative to everyone who was a part of it. But, it was all of us who were so appreciative of him for letting us be a part of his special day.

Since it was a Live recording, video and audio recording were strictly prohibited so I could not record any clips or take any photos on my phone. But, as soon as the recording is ready for release, I will certainly pass it on to everyone. You won’t be disappointed.