| mattwesselmusic.com |
| matt's journal october 10, 2006 |
| Our show on Friday night in Pleasant Prairie was a great success. We had a nice crowd come out to hear us play and we were able to raise just over $1,000 for the American Cancer Society. St. Anne's is a beautiful church to play in. Its design is very modern and like nothing I had ever really seen before. On either side of the church, there are deep, wide rows of chairs that face one another. In the middle, on the far side of the space, is an altar and a music area. On the opposite side, closest to the main entrance of the church, is the ambo. The entire floor is concrete. The ceiling is twice as high in the middle of the church than in the other parts of the space. The church's design presented some initial sound challenges for my group. The acoustics would be great for a large choir, but it's harder for a small group with various instruments. But Larry was able to make do. Everything sounded great in the end. And the neatest part about St. Anne's is their lighting capabilities. They have spotlights, floodlights, softlights, etc. The people at St. Anne's - and after taking an informal survey in the middle of the show, we found out that most of the people there were actually from St. Anne's - are very, very nice. They seemed to love the show and want us to come back next year. So hopefully that will be the case. It's always fun to bring the Concert For Life to a new venue, but it's even better to bring it back to a new venue for a second year! I actually had tonsillitis during the show. I got it the week before and was still fighting it on the day of the concert. As I write this, I don't have anymore symptoms. I have a few more days of antibiotics to choke down, and then (hopefully) I'm home free. I hate being sick. I'm fine with having a cold now and then - that's unavoidable. But I hate when it gets to the point of having to take medicine. I'm not sure how I got this, but in the meantime, I'm blaming by girlfriend! Kidding ... HELLO, AUTUMN I went to a pumpkin/apple farm on Sunday night with Katie and her younger brother, Jack. Jack is essentially a 9-year-old in the body of a 3-year-old. He's incredibly smart and well-spoken. And he's one of the cutest kids I've ever seen. Check out his picture HERE. Back to the pumpkin/apple farm. After we picked a pumpkin for Jack (which we carved and lit later that night), we strolled around the apple orchard. My question ... how do these places make money? We basically roamed free in the orchard, picked a bunch of apples, threw the apples in the air, at trees and at each other, and then left. Katie even took an entire branch off of a live tree. My point? We ruined a tree and threw away a bunch of apples for free. And the items we paid for - a big pumpkin, some gourds and an apple sundae - only cost us six bucks. Oh, and we took a tractor ride for free. I'm not complaining, just wondering ... GO BUCKS GO The Bucks are in Minnesota tonight and they play their first preseason game of the year tomorrow. I'm so excited for the season. We have a great team and an exciting schedule. I'll be with the team in Dallas and Houston next week on Wednesday and Thursday. Then I won't travel again until the regular season (which starts on November 1). TWO MORE GIGS I have one more show this year. I'll be playing in Milwaukee at St. Hedwig's Church on Sunday, November 12. I believe the show is going to be at 3:00 p.m. I'm still waiting on some details, which is why I haven't posted much on this site. But keep checking back. The show will be an all-liturgical set to benefit Habitat For Humanity. If you haven't made it out to a show yet this year - or if it has been awhile - please try to come out to this one. We've been playing some great concerts lately. My group is really beginning to get comfortable with one another and it's been a joy to play with them over the past few months. In addition to that show, my sister and I will be singing at a private anniversary dinner for the MACC Fund (Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer) on October 26. Jon McGlocklin, who played for the Bucks and is currently the team's TV Analyst, started the organizations upon his retirement in 1977. The October 26 dinner has been planned to celebrate their 30th anniversary. As part of the ceremony, they've asked Beth and I to play and sing "See Them" near the end of the evening. I guess over 700 people are supposed to be there. Beth and I are thrilled and honored. John Cary, who heads up the entire MACC Fund, is the one who invited us to play. He's a dear friend and has been a big supporter of my msic. We can't wait to be a part of that evening. BASEBALL PREDICTION Detroit over Oakland. St. Louis over New York. Detroit over St. Louis. That's all I have for now. I'm going to go watch the A's / Tigers game. Have a great night! I'll write again soon ... Take care! |
