at the playground

My whirlwind trip to NY for the Billy Graham Crusade was quite an experience. Backstage was buzzing from the middle of the afternoon on, as Charles Shumer, Mayor Bloomberg, and Bill and Hillary Clinton arrived. Our set--about 20 minutes--went great, playing for an estimated 70-80,000 people spread throughout the park. Afterwards, Dan introduced Dr. Graham, and the rest of us scurried to the other side of the stage to be seated for his sermon/invitation. We looked up and realized the Clinton's were a couple rows up, and just started laughing at the paradox. Cutting through any politics and such, there was a sweet, genuine love present between them and Dr. Graham. That was a great glimpse of the Gospel--not getting lost in judgement and emotion/passion, but realizing how people have loved well in the midst of great trials and failures to live up to expectations...sin at the bottom line. As they walked off stage, Bill waved to us and said "You guys rocked tonight". A bizarre night indeed.

I'm in the studio (Playground Studios) with Ben Phillips, Jason Bradford, Phil Symonds, Matt Stanfield, and Jimmy Jernigan for a record Jason is producing. We had a full day yesterday as well, and we're trying to finish 11 songs in 2 days. I went to college with Jason, but haven't seen him in 5-6 years...somehow worlds continue to collide. Tomorrow I'll be back at Paul Eckberg's house/studio playing some upright bass on a record for Christopher Williams.

Tonight we are hosting our neighborhood group again, and I'll give a report (promised from before) soon.