Audio Blow-up

One of my favorite charities is the local United Church in Stephenville, NL, Canada. My band and some other friends are currently doing a series of fundraisers to raise money to put cushions on the pews of First United Church and to help put some comfortable chairs in the Church Hall. The congregation is aging and the wooden pews are mighty hard on the butt. Another friend videotapes the Sunday services for people who are unable to get to church due to illness or aging. He does an excellent job so when I approached him to videotape the fundraiser he was more than willing.

This was a great opportunity to get some home grown videos of my band in a local setting. We brought an old PA system that we had used the week before at the Kippens Community Hall. It worked perfectly well. Two acts went on before us and the system held it's own. We had a coffee break, coffee and muffins help add to the dollar amount raised. Then it came time for our gig. The first snafu was with the drum machine - wrong setting. We fix that and get on the go. Midway through the 1st song the PA kicks out. So, I'm singing to a dead mic. We get it to workk again for a song or 2 and it kicks out again. We go unplugged for a song or 2 and my voice is wearing. You gotta sing loud when there is no PA!

Then, our guitar player suggests a solution and we create a makeshift PA with my vocals running through the same acoustic amplifier as the banjo. Losing your PA system during a performance is like 2 cars coming together at 60 mph each. A dead stop, except, I kept singing! It was interesting. it was fun, it was problem solving at it's best! If you have any similar stories - please let me know. I've written a song for the fund-raisng effort called "Cushions of Faith". Here are the lyrics:

Cushions of Faith

(D) (A) (E) (A)

VERSE 1

Some(A)times we feel lonely and (D7) fear growing (A) old

The (D7) pain and the (A) suffering these (E7) old bones do (A) hold

Those are the times to (D) sing out this (A) song

Some(D)thing to hold (A) on to, some(E)thing to lean (A) on

(D) (A) (E) (A)

Chorus

(E) God’s endless mystery is a (D) cushion of (A) faith

(E) Feel the loving warmth of (D) cushions of (A) faith

(A) Cushions of faith, (D) cushions of (A) faith

(D) God’s arms sur(A)round you like (E) cushions of (A) faith (A)

VERSE 2

As (A) time drifts slowly by, (D7) youth fades a(A)way

(D7) Thanking our dear (A) lord, for (E7) each and every (A) day

Seeing good friends come, (D) seeing good friends (A) go

(D) God’s spirit (A) moves us, sometimes (E) fast, sometimes (A) slow

(D) (A) (E) (A)

Chorus

Bridge

(E) There’s times when it all seems too (D) much

Be(E)lief in God slips from our (D) touch

(E) Reach out for those (D) cushions of (A) faith

(D) (A) (E) (A)

Chorus

Tag

(A) Cushions of faith, (D) cushions of (A) faith

(D) God’s arms sur(A)round you, (E) cushions of (A) faith

© 2012 Joe Wiseman SOCAN