My brother Paul and I left from our parents' home in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC, at about 4:15 a.m. on Thursday, July 1. From the middle of Interstate 70, we rescued a small kitten (thereafter appropriately named "Frogger") near the West Virginia-Ohio border.
We arrived at Cornerstone after about 15 hours, sometime after 7 p.m. Eastern time (6 p.m. Cornerstone time) and immediately sent up camp along the treeline just up the hill from the Main Stage.
During the two intermissions between the three main stage acts, Paul and I took a bunch of the seven x CD's and set off into the crowd to give them away. We quickly found out that it was going to take a lot longer than imagined to give away 1000 CD's.
Some people took a CD and didn't have any questions.
And then there were others to whom we talked for several minutes. That I found to be quite rewarding: discussing my music but also finding out where people where from and what kind of music they liked.
Before the third act started, we ended the work for the evening, realizing that we had only given away 100-150 CD's. We then rejoined the crowd for that third act: the Orange County Supertones.
(I had seen the Supertones at Cornerstone '96 and fell in love with their first CD. Paul, too, I believe, became a Supertones fan that night. I had told him that, as part of my inadequate reimbursement to him for his help on this trip, I'd get him any CD's that he wanted. The next day we passed by the Supertones table in one of the tents and he reminded me of that promise, asking for the Supertones CD.)
The only mornings that I was at Cornerstone were
Friday and Saturday.
Both mornings, I went to the Impromptu Stage at 9:40
to sign up to play...along with about 120 other bands.
Only ten bands were selected each morning, and
neither time did moron come up.
How would you have played live, being a
one-man band? Good question. The answer: I had
pre-recorded bass, drum, and keyboard tracks, over
which I was going to play guitar and sing. I was also
planning to play one song, "Verse for the King", (which
doesn't appear on either moron CD) with Paul on drums.
Both Paul and I were interested in listening to some of the speakers during the morning and early afternoon sessions, so we headed over towards those tents. Paul (who is in seminary and who has spent two summers doing missions work overseas--it's probably better not to say in which country) took in several sessions in the Wycliffe tent, and I bounced around here and there (i) trying to get on stage, (ii) buying t-shirts galore, (iii) enabling Joy Electric to finally meet me, and (iv) actually attending a few talks.
By mid-afternoon, we had set back out to give away CD's. From 3 p.m. until about 7, we stood out in the road and/or wandered tent to tent giving away CD's. As Paul would be quick to point out, he did more of the standing under the hot sun in the middle of the road.
I went from tent to tent. Along the way, I met several fellows who looked way too cool (in two senses of the word) to be your average, everyday Cornerstone visitors. As it turned out, they were Bumblepuppy
I also met Bob and Jen and some others from Minnesota. Before I had even approached them to offer my CD, they had invited me to share some dinner with them. Having subsisted to that point on just apples and pop-tarts, I was only too glad to have a real, cooked meal. Their kindness won't be forgotten.
Poor Paul, on the other hand, was forgotten, slaving away under the hot sun.
That night, Paul relaxed, doing some reading. I went to listen to Glenn Kaiser sing and talk. Wow, what a man of God!
We gave away over 700 CD's on Friday, and by Saturday we only had about 100 left to give away. (I had planned on keeping 50 to return home with, since I hadn't given any away to most of my friends or family.)
We took it kind of easy on Saturday. Paul went to more talks, and I hit the beach (to give away the remaining CD's, of course.)
Paul had to return to seminary on Monday the 5th, and so we were needing to be back in the DC area by late Sunday. Planning also to visit grad school friends of mine at a July 4th get-together in Lansing, Michigan, we decided to pack up Saturday afternoon and we left Cornerstone just after 6 p.m.
1. I think the Lord has impressed a certain
ministry on me: to record one CD per year
and take copies (1500 next year? 2000 in 2000?)
to Cornerstone to give away. Until He directs
otherwise, that'll be my ministry.
2. This trip, as opposed to my only other C-stone
trip (1996), was a working trip. Next year, I hope to
be able to spend more time there talking with
people (and attending more band shows, more talks,
etc.)
3. Today's Christian youth, no matter what styles of
music they generally prefer, have a place in their hearts
for praise and worship music (even if it's done moron style.)
According to my calculations, 426 CD's were distributed unsigned and without inserts. Despite the best efforts of myself, Paul, and a DJ named Chris from the Atlanta area, we gave CD's away faster than we could cut out information sheets and lyric sheets.
I know: I should have been better prepared. But the 1000 copies of seven x didn't get back from the plant until a few days before Cornerstone.
However, I do have extra inserts. If you'd like lyric inserts and a signed information sheet insert, e-mail me and I'll send them to you.