It finally happened!

Subject: It finally happened!
From: wysiwyg
Date: 15 Oct 00 - 09:52 PM

I have been wishing and praying and hoping and agitating and searching... for a guitar player... to join our Saturday night service music team. The one available was in NO SHAPE and every time he came it was terrible. I could not figure out how to make it better. I really tried. He is in our jam bnad. In that, he does OK, as long as I settle him down, keep him chilled, and put down a real strong beat.

Over the summer our jam band had a meeting. I initiated it during a jam, out on the front porch, where we had started jamming instead of at church. And boy did the porch loosen us up. No one else was showing up to sing along anyway, so screw that! Be comfy! New people can come to our porch! When the cold weather comes they'll have to tolerate smelly catboxes, that's all! (And that has already begun to happen too.)

During this meeting I expressed what I saw happening, that they would all come play for a benefit or similar big thing, but what about Saturday nights? Could they come, or find people who would? See, the sticking point for some was, "But Susan, it's church, I dunno how I FEEL about CHURCH...." One said, "Well, maybe I could try it..." But he was the one who was not working out when he did come... impasse... I made it clear we were after serious quality, now, not just fun, and we'd have to work differently for this... he was gonna think it over...

I took the summer off from that service. Church regulars played piano in a kind of quiet way. I was told that the lively autoharp and silly Susan were missed. OK... but I need a GUITAR.... I wasn;t going to do it anymore, without.

We asked everyone, we even leafletted the nearby university. Nope.

Meantime this guy-- and he is seriously challenged on several fronts, it's very complicated, and I adore him, we are great friends when he follows the beat or we are just hanging out--- he had started bugging Hardi, when are you gonna call me to come play????

Last night we had him come way early. Artsy D Lemur and I had begun picking out the night's tunes and warming up, and he arrived. We spontaeously went into silly mode and played and laughed for awhile and then got down to biz-- AND IT WAS GREAT. He had decided to really DO this. He even sang! He's paranoid and shy too! I mean for real! But he not only played, he sang????? Artsy D and I sang like a team, cuz I wasn't too focused on being the only player! For an offertory I didn't even play, he did, and I could just SING with her! I wasn't shy anynore! I was flying!

We sounded like so much LIFE! See, we have been approiximating it, but just falling short, and I have known it and everyone else has been telling me how great it is-- but we know when it isn't quite right, don't we really???

The other HUGE help was that crazy hymn thread I started, which has been mushrooming all OVER the place. The sense of support. I had no idea. I'm so excited to do ALL of them our wacky way, that nothing we did last night to prep seemed hard. And Artsy D was so inspired by the atmosphere that she gave up her prissy, head-voiced cute thing and SANG, full out, in her glorious contralto! And I got to blend instead of cringe! Ohhhh!!!!

I asked my new guitarist, what made this different? Cuz it was, and no sense pussyfooting. I knew one reason was because he had decided to DO this, and also knew he NEEDED to be in church. He said, "Must be the drugs! See, they adjusted my meds, plus with this foot thing, I'm on a lot of pain meds too right now, and I feel pretty good." He grinned. Such a wacko. Turns out he has a houseful of hymns he's been writing, too shy to share in our jams.

I have worked damn hard to lead this jam group in such a fashion that they have overcome a million other little blockages, to just let it out, and me too-- we had gone farther than they thought we could, too-- but I actually did not think this day would come. I was so wrong. I didn't have aware faith. I had to trely on unaware faith and my own stubbornness, until that gave way too.

Know what did it really? I had a little chat with God. He said, girl, you been bugging me for a guitar player, how about you try the one I gave you?" I just didn't realize He had been working on my friend as hard as He had been working one me. (Why do we never see this? Duh!)

Thanks for listening. Some of you have been listening to me for a long time now while I been so dumb. I sure appreciate it, sheesh!

Got anything similar? Post it!!

~Susan

Subject: RE: It finally happened!
From: GospelPicker (inactive)
Date: 15 Oct 00 - 10:13 PM

I emailed you a week or more ago in respect to your and Hardiman's struggles with exhaustion and church work and so on... In that email i offered to work out a time with you to get directions and come and play... you haven't gotten back to me... I hope you are not upset or something... I was really looking forward to getting together with you all... maybe the feelings I've had about that situation were wrong...

GP

@:([+] *sadly*

Subject: RE: It finally happened!
From: wysiwyg
Date: 15 Oct 00 - 10:18 PM

No!!!!!! I never got that e-mail! I onky saw a thread post about thinking about coming. I want you too! I want EVERYONE to come who can! I want a BIG thing!

We got a computer at home and e-mail is still werid, there are tech problems. PM me your phone number so I can call you tomorrow?

~Susan

Subject: RE: It finally happened!
From: Oversoul
Date: 15 Oct 00 - 10:26 PM

I am more familiar with the opposite phenomena. "Starts like a kiss, and ends with a curse", all too common. Sort of like dating, see? Best of luck! Sounds like you have hit pay-dirt! Longfellow wrote a poem about this, I think it was called "Gaspar Baccaria" (my sense of recall is lousy, especially spelling). Read that poem when you can, Susan.

Subject: RE: It finally happened!
From: wysiwyg
Date: 15 Oct 00 - 11:26 PM

Dave, it will never be perfect till you come sit in too.

Send me an e-mail, I miss you!

~Susan

[e-mail]

Who needs stinkin' PMs!

Subject: RE: It finally happened!
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 16 Oct 00 - 12:32 AM

Praise, I would have appreciated it if you had labelled this thread as BS:

Max's BS filter works very effectively if regulars have the consideration to spend a few seconds before creating a thread title.

Regards, John

Subject: RE: It finally happened!
From: wysiwyg
Date: 16 Oct 00 - 06:44 AM

John, how can you say this is not a music thread??? Please PM me if you were kidding. If you were, it landed in a pretty sore place.

~Susan

Subject: RE: It finally happened!
From: Jeri
Date: 16 Oct 00 - 08:47 AM

It's about music, even if it's something John doesn't want to read about. There's too many people now putting "BS" in the title when their thread is about musicians, song history, events in songs, etc.

Praise, it's funny isn't it, how all of us sometimes miss the most obvious things. It's also funny how we'll go to great lengths to avoid helping someone improve if it involves honest feedback. (And I have no idea if that happened in your case - just that it seems to be a common occurrence.) How many times have you heard "he/she's bad," "off-key," "wrong chords," "no rhythm," "sings too loudly," or whatever, and not one person has mentioned it to the one they're speaking about? A person isn't stuck in "is" - they're a sum of "was," "is" and "could be."

I've been criticised in a helpful way by friends, and appreciate it very much. I also tend to trust the people who do it. Of course not everyone wants an honest opinion, and not everyone wants to take the responsibility and risk ("Oh, bugger off! Who asked you?!") for helping someone improve.

Subject: RE: It finally happened!
From: black walnut
Date: 16 Oct 00 - 09:58 AM

concerning labels for threads....i would just like the thread labels to be more clear than tantalizing. a combination of the two would be also acceptable.

i know that some people here consider the mudcat their home away from home, but some of us just want to stop by for occasional refreshment, and prefer the thread titles to read like a restaurant menu rather than a game-show of what's behind door # 1, #2, #3.....

~black walnut

Subject: RE: It finally happened!
From: Jeri
Date: 16 Oct 00 - 10:27 AM

After I wrote the above, I noticed that there are quite a few BS threads without BS in the title. Folks, there's no rule saying we have to do it, but it's good manners. Some people filter out the "BS" and it's not nice to force them to read threads that will exasperate them because the filter doesn't work, or because the title is deliberately vague.

Subject: RE: It finally happened!
From: wysiwyg
Date: 16 Oct 00 - 11:24 AM

OK, I'm taking charge of the thread.

This is NOT a thread about thread titles, or human foibles about them...

John in Brisbane is a fine fellow, and I have never seen a MudMess cleaned up as fast as he acted to respond to me in PM's.

I should not have yelped at him in this thread and I apologize. The discussion I encouraged by responding to him here, instead of in PM, is hereby declared closed.

This IS a thread about music triumphing over human foibles. Discuss on, on that topic, OK?

~Susan

Subject: RE: It finally happened!
From: MMario
Date: 16 Oct 00 - 04:16 PM

Praise - wish I could have been there! I will get down sometime before spring, I promise!

Subject: RE: It finally happened!
From: Kim C
Date: 16 Oct 00 - 05:40 PM

where do y'all live?

Subject: RE: It finally happened!
From: wysiwyg
Date: 16 Oct 00 - 05:51 PM

North Central PA, an hour south of Elmira NY or north of Willimasport PA.

MMario is further north, and Ithaca NY is in between us sort of.

~S~

Subject: RE: It finally happened!
From: Helen
Date: 16 Oct 00 - 05:53 PM

Praise/Susan,

Thanks for telling us about your commitment to make this music group work. I like your story (excuse me for calling it that, but it rounds off nicely as the plot for a story - interested in writing stories??) on a number of levels.

I like it because it touches some chords for me about jam sessions turning into serious band commitments; with associated heart-wrenching communications with friends who are fellow band/session members; quality outcomes and how to achieve them (re: my organisational and management training & experience); the urgent call to the higher levels of the Universe (God, in your case) for help, and that exasperated, over-worked and underpaid voice from above saying: why don't you work with the one I already sent you; and then the sudden revelation after a brilliant piece of musical synergy that the answer was right under your nose all along.

Thanks - I feel good after reading this.

Helen

Subject: RE: It finally happened!
From: Melani
Date: 16 Oct 00 - 05:56 PM

I know a guy who really wanted to sing, but wasn't all that great. We encouraged him anyway. He's apparently been really working at it, because the other night he sang really well, as opposed to the indifferent performances of the past. He did even better a few days later. He still has trouble finding the right place and the tune, but once he gets going, his improved self-confidence really shows. I think if we hadn't pushed him a little he'd probably still be singing too soft and off-key.

Subject: RE: It finally happened!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 Oct 00 - 06:06 PM

I have seen a number of prayers answered, some in quite miraculous ways, but not always when or how you think they will be. In fact, hardly ever. You've got to be pretty specific, I find, or you can get yourself in hot water by praying for things.

As far as the BS threads, I have never prefaced a thread with that acronym (I don't much like it), and probably never will. It's easy enough to spend a few seconds investigating the start of a thread, and see what it's about. Then if you're not interested, just go on to the next one. What's so hard about doing that?

Anyway, Susan, I'm glad that your particular prayer worked out as well as it did.