Cornerstone '98 - a weekend in review
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Cornerstone '98 - a weekend in review |
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Up until leaving for the fest, time seemed to be whizzing by regardless of whether I was having fun or not. So for quite a while I was in shock that I was actually at Cornerstone and days away from seeing Terry & Friends play. But at the same time, I had the feeling as though I had never left (this might have to do with camping in almost the exact spot I camped last year).
As always, there were many people bustling about going who knows where. So my friend, Chris, and I joined them. Chris told me that on Monday there was tornadic weather which caused the literal destruction of the Encore tents and the main Exhibition tent. Fortunately, no one was hurt during the storm. Also fortunately, the Encore tents were quickly replaced; and the Exhibition tent was to be finished by Wednesday evening.
Looking over the schedule, I saw confirmation of something Chris had mentioned: a second Terry show! The Prism tent was featuring dinner-time acoustic shows and listed for Saturday was Steve Hindalong, Kevin Clay (My Little Dog China), and Uncle Terry! Thank you ESA (Evangelicals for Social Action)!
The exhibition tent was not opened until late that night, but when it was, there was no sign of our friend Tom Gulotta.
I did peruse the Cornerstone Store to see what CDs were, um in-store. I do not believe they had one DA cd in there, but they did have a really nice Surfonic display set up. There was even a contest where you could win a surf board! I guess they had to out do me and my little contest. Sadly, there was no sign of Browbeats - this really surprised me.
Anyway, I went back to the exhibition tent and found Tom unpacking his boxes. I don't remember what all he had, but here's my best shot: Preachers, Live Bootleg, Alarma, Doppelganger, Vox Humana, Songs of the Heart, Knowledge and Innocence, the Neverhood soundtrack, At the Foot of the Cross Vols. I & II, Ten Gallon Hat, and I saw him pull out a handful of Meat the FarmBeetles. There were no shirts, hats, or undergarments for sale. New! - visit Tom at the Stunt Booth!
Two o'clock rolled around and I went back to the Stunt booth for the meeting of the DADLers (Daniel Amos Discussion Listers). Doug Wyman, the master DA chat organizer, managed to organize a real life chat! I think I was the first one to arrive and Tom told me that he had the brownies (which was a little sad since Doug said he was going to make giant cookies). He had brownies, but still no John Wayne discs. Tom had said the a label guy brought them with him from Nashville, but Tom still hadn't seen the discs. I can't remember the order of people there, but there were about nine of us. Doug broke out the brownies and there was much rejoicing.
Most of the DADLers wandered off and I went back to talk to Tom when up walks no one other than Doug TenNapel (of the Neverhood) and his wife! I kicked myself (not literally) for not wearing my Neverhood shirt which I was going to wear. Anyway, I tried to pry as much information out of Doug that I could. (Those news bits will appear somewhere on Terry's pages)
At 8:30pm I wandered over to the Encore 1 tent for the sound check. Terry and gang had just arrived and were unpacking their stuff. I was hoping to see Jerry and/or Greg, but they were not there to be seen. Wandering over to Tom's spread of merchandise, I saw a look on Tom's face that said, "Finally: John Wayne." (well, his face might have actually been saying "boy is it nice to be out of that Exhibition tent", but I read it as, "Finally: John Wayne.") I bought a couple of them and there was much rejoicing.
Waiting for the sound check I got to chat with a number of fans including a lady who was a close friend of Ed's. She confirmed that Jerry and Greg weren't there.
The band got in there positions and started making some noise so I got my camera ready. I was hoping to get a press pass so I could get on stage to take some pictures, but I was denied. Sure, they let their personal friend, Doug TenNapel up on stage, but me... Anyway, I did get Tom (Gulotta) to take a couple pictures on stage for me.
The sound check went well except for Tim's bass amp. It sounded pretty toasted, but then it got better is seemed. After they left the stage, the wheeled in a new amp, but didn't connect it up...
As time went on, more people entered the tent. I was kind of surprised to see people in front of the stage so soon, so I got my butt back up there. The crowd filled in nicely, and it didn't get too crowded up front. Like many of this years concerts, the show started on time! Dwight Ozard of Prism magazine (Prism was one of the tent sponsors) came out and gave Terry & the boys a very good introduction. Dwight left the stage and What a Friend We Have in Jesus started playing. I expected to see a giant Maranatha! dove lowered on to the stage, but that didn't happen. When the song ended, the boys walked out on the stage...and as the started the intro to Through the Speakers, Tim's bass amp had terrible distortion going through its speaker. A yell from the sound booth, a flip of a switch, some cord swapping, and some knob turning, and they tried it again with a much more successful result.
What can I say? The show was quite good. You could really tell they were having fun up there. They started out with a number of old tunes - which the crowd loved. They also played many of the songs they did last year; but the lack of Phil's B-3, the lack of Jerry, and the addition of Wayne made for a good bit of variation from last year.
When the show ended, the crowd obviously wanted more. They came back out and played The Pool, I Love You #19, Sanctuary, and New Car. Not surprisingly, the crowd still wanted more so they came back out again. Terry made a number of comments about how they've already played all their songs. So he thinks for a minute and starts singing, The Happy Wanderer! The rest of the band huddled around mikes and joined in with Terry and the audience. After this, the crowd had no choice but to accept the fine meal Terry & gang had served.
Someone grabbed the set list I was going to grab - so I yelled to Phil and asked for his. So here it is, thank you Phil!
Sometime during Common Children's press thing, the press tent guy erased Terry's name from the schedule board. Then around 2:45 I saw Terry and Ed walk up to the tent and I'm sure they looked at the board and got confused. They kinda walked around looking into the tent, muttering things to each other. The press tent guy (who will now probably never give me a press pass for calling him the "press tent guy") finally saw them and went out to explain what was going on.
Finally Terry & Ed got to sit at the table. This is when the fun began. Terry whispered something to Ed, then Ed leaned towards the microphone to explain that he would be Terry's moderator and asked to keep questions to questions that only needed simple yes/no answers. I'll try to put up the beginning dialogue and a summary of what was said.
After the press conference, I went back to the PRISM tent to find a million people (slight exaggeration) there for the Simpsons talk. Afterwards I easily found myself a front row seat so I could take some pictures for you folks (oo, the sacrifices I make for you!). After the fabulous seminar (really, it was a great seminar - "Why Christians Should Listen to Secular Music" (or something like that), Steve Hindalong played a few songs for us. When Steve finished Kevin Clay of My Little Dog China gave us a few songs (although I ducked out for a second to buy Darn Floor on vinyl...).
Anyway, Terry finally got his turn. Ed & Steve handled percussion while Andy and Terry did the strumming & picking. This was a neat, intimate show. Between songs, people were continually yelling out song requests - and Terry made jokes about most of them. I'll work on the set list for this...
After the show, Terry and Ed went over to the table where Tom was selling their wares. I noticed a fair number of DADLers over their so I suggested getting a picture of them (Terry & Ed) and us (the DADLers). It was a moment to remember - well, for us - probably doesn't mean anything to anyone else. Really, it was really neat (really) to physically meet fellow DA fans who have conversed through email.
After the picture, I did get a chance to chat with Terry (he didn't hang around the Stunt booth as much as he did last year). Anyway, we talked about doing an on-line chat sometime - probably around the store release of John Wayne. I'll keep you posted.
Well, that about sums it up as far as DA related matters go. We didn't
have anything like the 700 Club
thing last year, but the weekend was still very pleasing to DA fans.
Jerry, Greg - if you're reading this, we want to see DA play in '99! (well,
at least I do)
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