March's Music Notes. From the road.

How is everybody this March so far?  For some of you on the East Coast it got pretty cold and snowy, even for us up North we got some of the white stuff with cold temps after nice 60's one week.  Crazy weather for sure, but typical this time of year.  But, I don't want to talk about weather really, except............we have escaped the wintry scenes and gone south..... HAHA. 
We've been having a great trip filled with some music gigs and enjoying visits with friends in Iowa and in Tulsa, OK before arriving at our end destination to help Warren's mom move out of her rental.   So this is the report from the road this time.

PERSONALLY:
At home we have had two months of very busy times with Warren working pretty much around the clock and his weekends were filled with refereeing for basketball games.    So this spring break with no school bus driving, Warren was free to go help his Mom down south get stuff packed up and moved out of the rental she lives in.   It's been really SO nice to be around family, seeing his sisters and the rest of the family who lives here and coming together in "manpower" to get this done!
Our drive down was a little tougher this time, I think it is because we were so tired with all the work and preparations prior to the trip.  We each pretty much had to switch up driving after 2 hours behind the wheel.  So lots of stops which slows down the progress, but rather arrive safely then try to push through to make time.  It's just wisdom.

Now we are preparing for a garage sale and while mom is getting things sorted out, there's not much for me to do, so I decided to get my March News out before we get busy again.  Warren has taken mom's car to the shop for an oil change and checkup.  Nice to be able to do these things which we can't do for her with living so far up north.   Now to our adventures on the road....

MUSIC:
The first stop on our trip south was our concert morning on Saturday, March 11 at Caffe Tempo (which is "time" in Italian).  Thank you to our friend Larry for coming out and Paul Wiersgalla for inviting us!

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After the concert we headed to Iowa, visiting with our friends from our home church who have moved there and graciously offered us a place to crash for the night.  Then we headed to Tulsa, OK.  After finally getting there 10.5 hours later which should have been an 8.5 hour drive....we enjoyed some awesome fun and fellowship with our longtime friends Cat & Michael Jones and their (now so grown up) kids Mike and Hannah!   We had an absolute blast, including an impromptu concert which Cat videoed live on Facebook.  If you'd like to see it, it's also on my FB Music page.  Cat is an accomplished singer herself with a voice that's just amazing!  I love her sound and sweetness as she sings.  She should be on the radio!  Seriously!  Then young Mike is equally becoming the musician himself playing the trumpet.  He is currently in the High School Band, but has also recorded a song with his dad Michael playing the keys, mom Cat singing and Mike improvising some cool trumpet fills in their own version of a Christmas song.    Ah what fun to hang out with them.  Music talk, silliness (as you can see), memories and "you remember when's".  Those are the times I wish they lived closer!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Date:  Friday, 3/17/2017 
Town:  Ardmore, OK
Time:  3-4:30 pm
Place:  Main Street Coffee, 108 W. Main Street
Event: Coffeehouse Concert
Short notice concert!  In wanting to connect with another area songwriter I contacted Main Street Coffee to see if they might be up to some acoustic Christian Music.... they agreed and so here we are....going to be sharing some of my original songs and my favorite contemporary music.

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Date:  Saturday, 3/25/17 
Town:  St. Cloud, MN
Time:  11a-6p.     Sam's Live Music Slot:  1-2p (to be confirmed yet)
Event:  Empty Bowls
Annual Fundraiser for Place Of Hope Minstries, 
Place:  Calvary Community Church,  1200 Roosevelt Road

As of the time of this newsletter going out - I have not received confirmation of my time slot as of yet.  I have requested 1-2 pm, however last year I was placed in the 2-3 pm time slot.  So please watch my Facebook Page or check back here on my website again as I will update the exact time (on the TOUR DATES page) when we will be playing before you come out.  Hopefully I will have this confirmation a few days ahead and not the day of.....

Also.....WATCH FOR A possible MUSIC DATE IN APRIL in AVON, MN..... :)


IN ENDING:
Remember that in MAY-JUNE I will be in South Dakota, Colorado, New Mexico and then on Tour with "Renewed" and "Brendan Brooks".  (See "Tour Dates" page).  Excited and looking forward to fruitful music events!

Well, everyone is back at the house and ready to work packing some more stuff, so I'm signing off to get back to work. 
May the rest of the month bring you calmer weather and may those be comforted who have lost property or even loved ones in the fires in the Texas/OK Panhandle, those affected by tornadoes and by recent snow storms.  Crazy weather all over the place....
I pray in those times we all would seek and find comfort in God's never failing love and that He is the source to go to for all our needs and restoration of what is lost.

Remember to watch the "Tour Dates" page for updated event times and new events.  Of course if you are connected with me on Facebook you should hopefully get those updates right away.
Until next month!  Love y'all!  Sam. 

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