Harris United Methodist Church held their Spring Concert this afternoon and I was one of the ringers in the Heavenly Handbells Choir. We played two tunes, “Awesome God” and “All Glory, Laud & Honor.” During the preconcert rehearsal we couldn’t get it together for some reason and sounded horrible. Luckily during the concert itself both songs went off without a hitch. I guess, if you’re only going to play the song correctly once, it is best to save it for the big show.
Amoeba couldn’t be at my concert. While I was playing handbells he was sitting in an Indian Restaurant eating Tandoori Chicken with a bunch of his colleagues, and since the restaurant in question just happens to be in Houston, there was no popping over to have a listen. I figured that the only friends I’d have at the concert would be the ones playing the other handbells, but it turns out I was wrong.
Thom popped in — despite the fact that he told me he was afraid the church would crumble when he stepped inside. Many other people were participating in the hour long concert as well, but Thom said he was only staying long enough to listen to me play. Here is a picture of Thom sitting on a church pew. He is waving his hand and shaking his head because he didn’t want me recording evidence of this visit.
He was intrigued by the handbells and had lots of questions. He was very surprised that as well as picking them up and ringing them, we left them on the table and struck them with mallets, which gave an entirely different sound. In fact, he was very surprised, period, that a bunch of people could ring bells willy-nilly and have a recognizable song emerge.
I was quite surprised when Thom stayed for the entire concert. He enjoyed the organ pieces and the piano piece, but I think his favorite parts were played by the two handbell choirs. Just before he bugged-out I commented on how surprised – -and pleased — I was that he stayed. I also pointed out that the building hadn’t collapsed — it didn’t even give a little shudder. He said, “Yeah, well, don’t get any ideas. I’m still a heathen and I’m staying that way!”
But you know, for a heathen, he does a great job of living by the golden rule. Mahalo, Thom, for stopping by. It meant a lot to me to have somebody in the audience listening.
(See Thom’s version of this story here.)
(No bus drivers were harmed in the making of this post.)