Alright – first things first. After years of doing the daily updates for my friends of Gospel Music Week, I went to bed last night instead of doing the blog. I know – slacker! So here I’m combining Sunday and Monday into one post and hopefully I can do daily updates for Tuesday and Wednesday. 
Have you ever seen the “Close Talker” episode of Seinfeld? Elaine’s boyfriend, played by Judge Reinhold, is a close talker, violating people’s personal spaces while talking to them and really takes up with Jerry’s parents, Morty and Helen. It’s a great two-parter episode, one of my favorites. Well, I had a chance to speak to the “close talker” himself for a few minutes yesterday. I kept my distance, though.
Besides meeting new people, like Eddie Murphy’s “Beverly Hills Cop” cohort, I really have enjoyed seeing old friends like the many great and friendly publicists who comprise this industry and catching up with artists on what they’ve been up to. Spent a lot of time with Dr. Mark Lee and other Third Day dudes, Russ Lee, Josh Bates, Warren Barfield, Cindy Morgan, Avalon, Sara Groves, my buddies in Overflow, Shawn McDonald, Bethany Dillon, Mark and Will from Audio A and Starfield. It’s been a great two days.
I also had a chance to “cross a bridge” today with someone who probably didn’t expect me to “break the ice.” The look on his face when I told him my name was classic.
Here’s a snapshot of two friends, Brad from Third Day with Greg from Day of Fire.
Let me share with you an awesome moment, one of the highlights of my life, I’d say. It just absolutely blows my mind that here, twenty years after I first started listening to his music, I’m one of half a dozen people sitting in Michael W. Smith’s personal studio listening to him share really really early stuff from his upcoming record and feasting on a fabulous lunch spread prepared by his parents. When Michael shared his admiration for the composer John Williams and said he could hum any movie theme Williams had scored. So I shot back, “Jurassic Park” and he immediately turned around and began playing the complete theme to it. I started to just start throwing out others – “E.T.,” “Star Wars,” “Gilligan’s Island,” “Beverly Hillbillies” – but I refrained.
Now, this is no joke, but he and I also did a duet for the others. When he told me that he was hoping to do a “classic song” on his new disc and began playing the opening to “Your Love Broke Through,” he would turn to look at me and I would sing along. Will it wind up on the new CD? I think I shut his recording equipment down – oh well, maybe next time.
Now I told her that this was going to be the QUOTE OF THE DAY, so she was warned: When I asked Bethany Dillon what she liked about playing festivals, she said: “You don’t have to shower – people don’t really care what you smell like.”
My friend Lance is with me and he’s having a lot of fun. I’m introducing him to all the folks and I think sometimes it gets a little overhwhelming. Funny that he really was the one so long ago that introduced ME to Christian music, so I guess all the music industry has him to blame for me being around.
Tomorrow is the busiest day of them all, so if I can make it, I can make it anywhere, anytime.
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