Dailey & Vincent at the Appleton PAC
I got back not long ago from seeing Dailey & Vincent live at the Appleton Performing Arts Center. They played a strong 90+ minute set with four band members backing them up. It started out with several songs with the entire ensemble playing, continued with a handful of songs where just the two of them sang and played, then closed out with the entire ensemble, including a two-song encore.
A few things stood out to me. First was the harmonies – they are incredibly tight. Especially with just Dailey and Vincent singing, but really with the entire ensemble, regardless of who was singing. They are singing a lot of four-part songs now – and not just the Statler Brothers songs they’re covering. They included one or two fine a cappella songs. That’s always been one of the things I like best about their music and it really stands out in their live show.
Second, you cannot really appreciate the depth and tone of Christian Davis’ fine, fine bass singing. He took the lead on two songs in the set and his voice just rumbles like rolling thunder! You can feel the reverberation in your chest – and not because of the sound system being too loud. You just can’t pick that up from the CDs.
Third, the six of them really seem to enjoy being together. You can see that in the videos they post from the road, like this one. They incorporate this into their act, with some scripted bits and some things that just happen.
They announced a 25 city or so tour later this year where the two of them will be singing with Jimmy Fortune and one other unnamed artist backed by a country band. They’re planning to sing old country hits, like Elvira and Class of ’57. They were leaning on the PAC director to book them back for that tour. I’m not a straight-up country music fan, by any means, but I’d go to that concert given the chance.
Here’s their set list from tonight’s show:
Black Eyed Suzie
Howdy Neighbor Howdy
You Oughta Be Here with Me
Back to Hancock County
John Henry Was a Steel Drivin’ Man
After A While
Going to Georgia
Thinking About You
When I Stop Dreaming
Class of ’57
Hello Darlin’
Keep on the Sunny Side of Life
Winter’s Come and Gone
Come Back to Me
My Only Love
When the Roll is Called Up Yonder
Elizabeth
Cumberland River
Fox on the Run
Thanks to Calvary
Elvira
Foggy Mountain Breakdown
I Believe
The Fourth Man in the Fire
By the Mark
Years Ago
If you get a chance to see them in concert, I recommend that you do so. It was a wonderful concert and well worth the cost.
One and Done – Three Years of Failed Leadership
Four years ago, on caucus night in Iowa, then-candidate Obama said this:
[Y]ears from now, when we’ve made the changes we believe in, when more families can afford to see a doctor, when our children — when Malia and Sasha and your children inherit a planet that’s a little cleaner and safer, when the world sees America differently, and America sees itself as a nation less divided and more united, you’ll be able to look back with pride and say that this was the moment when it all began.
Since that time, in the three years that he’s been President, he’s failed to deliver on that and many other promises. He’s delivered a United States of America that is worse off than it was before he became President in so many ways. The soaring rhetoric of the campaign was just that – rhetoric.
That night was not the moment it all began, his campaign was in the making long before that cold night in Iowa. But it does serve as an apt starting point for comparison. Comparison of what President Obama has done versus what candidate Obama promised to do. It is not a pretty comparison.
Dan Spencer at Redstate posted today a lengthy list of many ways in which President Obama has failed the people he leads. He lists, with references (many from organizations or individuals who strongly supported him), ways he’s failed with respect to jobs, housing, spending and deficits, debt, tone, influence of lobbyists, and affordable health care. The article is well worth the time to read – and to follow many of the links.
I don’t know who will win the Republican caucuses tonight in Iowa. I don’t know who will win the New Hampshire primary next week. Nor do I know who will win the Republican nomination for President this summer. I do know that we need to work to make sure that President Obama is One and Done – a one term President.
He’s failed too much already. He’s done too much damage already. We need today to be the moment when we look back, years from now, when the damage he’s done has been reversed and the United States is once again on the right path, and recognize it as the moment when the healing began.
So Many Things Wrong with This Picture
The Associated Press ran a story yesterday about a mega-church suffering after its pastor is taking a sabbatical from preaching andis getting a divorce. The article inadvertently, I believe, highlights many problems with this church, New Birth Missionary Baptist Church. I say inadvertently, as there is not a single mention of the Bible in all of this. Nor is there any mention of his leaving on the church’s web page, nor on his Facebook page or Twitter feed.
The problems become evident right at the beginning of the article. Here’s how it starts:
When Bishop Eddie Long was accused of sexual misconduct by former church members, his congregation rallied around him and his wife stood by his side. About a year later, the Atlanta megachurch pastor is headed for divorce and stepping away from the pulpit.
Long announced Sunday at New Birth Missionary Baptist Churchthat he needed a break from preaching to focus on his family.
The one obvious issue is that he’s getting a divorce. Notice that he’s not resigning because he no longer is qualified to be a pastor – he’s taking “a break”. The Bible is quite clear that this is wrong. Here is 1 Timothy 3:1-5.
1: This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
2: A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
3: Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
4: One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
5: (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
A husband of one wife – not if you’re divorced. One that ruleth well his own house – again, not if you’re divorced. He’s not ruling his own house well – which is a role that God commanded for him – and, therefore cannot be entrusted with leading a church. But that’s not why he’s stepping aside. Nor should anyone expect it to be – he was divorced before, according to the church’s About page and explained a bit more fully in the AP article. First, from the New Birth web page:
God’s hand has always been in Eddie L. Long’s life (just as it has been in yours). As a young child he knew the emptiness that impacts a boy’s life when he is raised by a father who doesn’t know how to show love to his sons. As a young boy he knew the harm that can be done to a child when people tell him he’ll never amount to much. As an adult he knows the shame that comes with being homeless. As a man, he knows the sense of failure that divorce brings. Yet, as with Joseph, his experiences, painful though they might have been, were all for a purpose: to prepare him to guide thousands into the goodness of God.
And from the article:
The couple has three children and a fourth from Long’s first marriage.
If Bishop Long has never been Biblically qualified to be the pastor of a church, why would anyone expect that anything that has been happening in the church has been because of God?
The article continues:
Not long after he arrived, the former Ford salesman and Honeywell executive dismissed New Birth’s board of directors and took unilateral control of the church, ensuring that he would be the one to determine the date of his departure.
The passage in 1 Timothy 3 right after what is quoted above provides the requirements for deacons. Their role is to take care of the secular concerns of the church and be helpers for the pastor. Bishop Long, in taking “unilateral control of the church”, dismissed not only its board of directors, but also the requirements of the Bible. I wonder what concerns were raised at that time and whether anyone who was attending the church then recognizes that today’s new is merely the culmination of the path they placed themselves upon back in 1987.
The article continue to point out another problem – greed.
Many who joined the church under Long’s tenure were attracted to the prosperity gospel that he preached and practiced. It was a message that mirrored an emerging black middle class in and around Atlanta. Unlike the traditional Southern Baptist preacher, Long owned a $350,000 Bentley and private jet, lived in a $1.4 million house with six bedrooms and nine bathrooms, adorned himself with diamond jewelry and read his sermons on an iPad.
Note the text from 1 Timothy 3:3, “not greedy of filthy lucre”. Granted, I cannot even imagine affording a car or house that expensive nor owning a jet airplane, but there is no good reason why any man needs things that are that expensive. And the Bible commands that a pastor cannot be someone who covets things like that. Bishop Long obviously did – yet the article makes no mention of that being a concern.
Next, the article goes into more sordid allegations:
In September 2010, when accusations swirled that he used his lavish lifestyle to seduce four young men into sexual relationships in exchange for cars, clothes and trips, New Birth members supported around their embattled leader, who vowed he was innocent and would fight the cases.
Long settled out of court eight months later for an undisclosed amount and has never admitted any wrongdoing. After that, some changed their opinion of him.
So, allegations come out an a lawsuit is filed fifteen months ago. Seven months ago, Bishop Long settles the lawsuit out of court. No charges were filed and Bishop Long was not convicted of any crime. But one wonders whether 1 Timothy 3:2 was in anyone’s mind.
1 Timothy 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour
The article concludes with a statement from a member of the church that suggests the Bible isn’t exactly driving their thinking:
“All things can be renewed, but I think he needs to leave,” she [Donielle Marshall] said. “Why continue to lead people when you are being dishonest? It shames the church, it shames the followers, and it shames him.”
No questions about whether he is qualified to pastor a church – no accountability to God’s Word – only judgment on human terms.
Jesus Himself spoke about what that will mean:
Matthew 7:21-23
21: Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22: Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23: And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
“I never knew you… ye that work iniquity.” By choosing to ignore God’s Word, Bishop Long set himself up as a more important authority than God in his own life – and in the lives of those whom he pastored. He preached in God’s name, but deliberately lived outside of God’s Word. These recent events should come as no surprise to anyone associated with that church.
Economic Freedom in America Today
The Charles Koch Institute released its second video about economic freedom last month. It shows the decline in economic freedom in the United States over the last decade. This isn’t just an issue with the current Obama administration. The second Bush administration is where the decline began.
More information is on their website at http://www.economicfreedom.org/.
To repeat my earlier disclosure, I work for Georgia-Pacific which is owned by Koch Industries.
Give Me the Banjo
PBS recently broadcast a history of the 5-string banjo and its influence on American music. It has mostly interviews about people who have played the banjo and have advanced the kinds of music played on it. Steve Martin narrates.
Watch PBS Arts from the Blue Ridge Mountains: Give Me the Banjo on PBS. See more from PBS.
Red Rain
My daughter published her first book, Red Rain, today. It is available now as a Kindle book and on SmashWords. A paperback version is due soon, after she receives and reviews a second proof copy.
Here is how she describes the book:
Government regulations said they had no choice. 17-year-old Philadelphia must stay on Earth in the hand of complete strangers while her father is sent against his will to Mars. When a Martian leader pulls the strings at the last minute and allows her to accompany her father, Philadelphia knows she must keep her head down or be sent back to Earth. But when a search for her deceased brother’s belongings leads her into a hallway that isn’t supposed to exist, Philadelphia is faced with a question she doesn’t want to answer – the choice between returning to Earth or destroying it.
My wife and I are, as you might well imagine, thrilled for her.
Ya Gotta Love Dave Winer
Tech guru Dave Winer dropped a phenomenal laugher on his blog yesterday when he said this about President Obama and Congressional Republicans.
He is President of the United States. If you don’t respect the man, respect the office, respect the country. We’ll treat you with respect too when it’s your turn.
“We’ll treat you with respect too when it’s your turn”. Seriously? Dave might be a tech guru, but he’s apparently forgetful about his own writing and hasn’t yet learned about Google. You cannot take him seriously given his own lack of respecting the office. Here are just a few examples of Dave’s writing.
Sounds real respectful, doesn’t he?
Update: Hypocrisy is nothing new for Dave and his political views. He wrote this in August, 2009:
Hitler gassed my people and incinerated them in ovens. Hitler came very close to wiping us out. Hitler was a monster. Hitler was the human race going insane on a mass level.
If you think Obama is Hitler you deserve to meet with others who agree with you, starving and freezing and dying in a cattle car, sitting in each others’ excrement, on your way to a concentration camp and its ovens and gas chambers, along with your children.
Comparing President Obama to Hitler – offensive. I get it. But Dave also wrote this in January, 2004.
People who support Bush apparently don’t like the MoveOn.Orgcomparison of Bush to Hitler. I haven’t seen the ad, but I don’t find the idea offensive.
Comparing President Bush to Hitler – not offensive. I don’t get it.
Video Trailer for Red Rain
My daughter just released a video trailer for her upcoming book, Red Rain. I think it is very well done and I’m looking forward to the book. And that’s not just a proud papa talking. 
Great Day at EAA AirVenture
My son and I went to AirVenture 2011 in Oshkosh yesterday. The grounds had thankfully dried out enough so that planes could move and you could walk on them to see the parked planes. We’re fortunate that we live so close to Oshkosh and that we can make it there every year.
Among the treats of the day were listening to Gene Cernan speak. Mr. Cernan is the last man to have walked on the moon, having commanded the Apollo 17 mission there. He is clearly not happy that the United States is now in a position where it could not put a man into space on its own, should it choose to do so. He wrote an op-ed article with Neil Armstrong and Jim Lovell that was published in USA Today in May. Jim Lovell was supposed to have participated in this talk, but the moderator let us know that his wife had taken ill the day before and he had gone home to be with her.
Colonel Charles McGee, USAF Retired, spoke about his experience as one of the Tuskegee Airmen, the all-black squadron of airmen that served so capably in World War II. He is a very engaging man and talked about what he and the others in his squadron went through, being considered as less than equal to the white pilots of the time and proving those who believed that way wrong.
FIFI, the last flying B-29 bomber in the world, may well have been the airplane star of the show, however. She is a magnificent airplane and was parked for display where everyone could walk right up and see her.
We had hoped to arrive in time to see the Boeing 787 Dreamliner land. It was scheduled to arrive at 9:30 am, but arrived early. We were caught up in heavy traffic and arrived a bit late, which didn’t help. By the time we got to the display area, it was already parked for viewing. The engines on the plane are absolutely monsterous! They give the plane enough power to appear very nimble on takeoff and in the air, as it was quick to get off the runway when it left at the end of the day.
We’ve enjoyed ourselves each time we’ve gone to EAA and this year was no exception. I recommend anyone interested in airplanes go at least once. We only spend one day each year, and we miss most of what is there to see as a result. But what we do see has always been great fun.
Thanks to everyone at EAA for putting on a great show.
More On Our Spending Problem
Ed Morrissey at HotAir wrote today on budget problems, including a spending-revenue chart very similar to the one I posted the other day. One of the charts he shows, from Heritage, shows that the U.S. debt ceiling has increased by $10.1 trillion since 1990. Of that, $4.5 trillion has been added since 2007 when Democrats took control of both houses of Congress.
He notes that this timing aligns directly with spending increases initiated by Democrat-controlled Congresses during that time. As I said, we have a spending problem. And it doesn’t seem to be in any danger of abating any time soon.