Southern Adventures and Louisiana Jon
Even through tour ended almost 2 weeks ago, I still have so many stories to share. This, however, would take forever, so I will only share a few brief highlights. Since I have never been down south I was really excited to see where we would end up visiting on the way, or if we would always just drive straight to our concert location.
One of our first really exciting stops occurred in St. Louis, MO. After eating lunch at a rather fancy restaurant, several of us hopped onto the bus and headed over to see the St. Louis Arch. After waiting for a bit, we all piled into these tiny little tram cars and were whisked 630 feet up in the air to the top of the arch.
While milling around the top of the arch looking out over the city and river, we discovered that we were able to hear each other in the tram cars and sang “Plenty Good Room” on our way back down.
The following day before heading to the hometown of Grant Vanderford in Bartlett, TN, we stopped briefly in Memphis – the
birthplace of rock and roll. Don’t get me wrong, I love choral music, but I have a rock ‘n’ roll heart! So we had about 45 minutes in downtown Memphis and we definitely made the best of it. While some people simply took a break and sipped on Starbucks, others of us traveled down Beale Street, and a few people even visited the Gibson factory.
I stopped in a shop right next to the B.B. King Company Store and B.B. King’s Blues Club and picked up a few things. What I really loved about Beale Street is that, just like Hollywood, they have famous peoples names engraved on golden eighth notes right on the sidewalks. The best part was yet to come.
A couple of days later we landed ourselves in Amite, LA. I don’t think that Amite was exactly what any one of us really expected, but I personally think that it was one of our best concerts – and here’s why. After a brief rehearsal, Gordon introduced our host, Jon. Jon must have been in his 70s or 80s I’m guessing, and was the sweetest man alive on this planet. While he was telling us how excited and proud he was to have us singing in his hometown, he began to cry tears of joy and gratitude.
We discovered during dinner that Jon had heard the Concordia Choir about 20 years ago, and from then on he was bound and determined to bring them to his hometown for the rest of his community to hear.
After working for 20 years to raise the money needed, Jon’s life dream was realized. We decided that it didn’t matter that Amite was such a small town, and that if no one but Jon showed up to our concert, we would sing a full concert for this wonderful elderly gentleman.
Between songs that night, I could see Jon sitting right in the front row, along with his family, with the biggest smile that I have ever seen on one man’s face. In the matter of a few hours, we didn’t just make his day or his year, we made someone’s life. Now that is an honor. I will never ever ever forget Louisiana Jon.