Tag Archives: Gaither Vocal Band

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Singer keeps his cool

Vocalist David Phelps singing his Christmas show "One Wintry Night" at the Paramount Arts Center in Ashland, Monday Dec. 10, 2007. Proceeds from the concert going to Neighbors Helping Neighbors, a collaborative effort of five local agencies to provide basic human services for familes in need, raising funds to develop a one-stop center in the old Johnsons Dairy building.PHOTO KEVIN GOLDY

You want to know what “keeping your cool” is all about?

I’ll tell you about something my wife and I witnessed this evening.

We attended a gospel concert at a megachurch here in Amarillo. The Gaither Vocal Band was the featured act. We’ve seen them perform many times over the years — and every single performance we’ve seen has brought great joy to both of us.

As I told my pastor, this brand of music “ministers to me often more than a preacher in a pulpit.” He got it.

Well, tonight one of the vocalists — tenor David Phelps — stepped forward to sing a solo. This young man’s range is nothing short of spectacular, not to mention the power in his voice is simply not to be believed until  you hear it.

He launched into an operatic song he’s performed many times; we’ve heard it and are moved every time we hear it.

Tonight, about a fourth of the way through the song, the sound system let out this huge groan and then went dead. Nothing. Deader’n dead.

What did Phelps do? He kept singing. He didn’t miss a note. Not a beat. He sang as if he was in complete control of the situation.

The crowd of several thousand started to applaud. Some of them stood.

Phelps kept belting out the aria.

Then, just as he started to sing the conclusion, the sound came back on. He finished his song.

We all stood and cheered.

I turned to my wife and said, “Now, that was impressive.”

“Sure it is,” she said. “He’s a pro.”

No . . .  kiddin’.

Bravo, David! Bravo!

 

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Puppy Tales, Part 9

Update: I’ve been scolded, gently, by my daughter-in-law and now my son. They’ve reminded me that Toby the Dog’s actual “first road trip” was to their house in Allen about, oh, two months ago.

Mea culpa: My memory isn’t too good some times. Perhaps it was the hotel stay and the brief moment of anxiety that the dog exhibited that blocked my memory of the earlier trip.

I stand corrected.

***

You may choose to believe this or not. It doesn’t matter to me. A few followers of this blog have asked me about Toby the Dog.

I now have some news to report. It’s no biggie.

Toby has just completed his first road trip. He did beautifully.

He’s about seven, maybe eight months old. The only vehicle travel he’d done was around Amarillo. Well, we just returned from a quick overnighter to Oklahoma City.

We left Friday afternoon and returned Saturday afternoon. We blazed east on Interstate 40, checked into our hotel room, then left for the evening to attend a gospel concert. He travels beautifully in the car. He sleeps most of the time and isn’t interested generally in sticking his head out of the window and having the wind blow in his face.

What did we do with the dog once we got to the hotel? We brought his kennel. We put him inside. He yapped, whined and whimpered when we left the room. We stopped briefly at the front desk and asked the check-in clerk: “OK, we’re leaving for a few hours and we left our dog inside our room, in his kennel. Is anyone checked into either of the adjoining rooms?” She said someone was in one of the rooms. “Will they hear the dog? He’s upset that we’re leaving.” She said if they complain, she’ll just tell them we’re out for the evening and that we’ll return … and that the dog will settle down.

My wife told the clerk that she thinks he’ll “settle down quickly once he realizes what’s going on.”

We left for the evening and returned about 10:30 p.m. We asked the clerk as we walked in, “Any problems, any complaints?” She said, “I didn’t hear a thing and no one said a word.”

Excellent!

So, there you have it.

Toby the Dog passed his first major test away from home.

We’ve advised him there’ll be many more trips like this coming up. We think he’ll be ready.