Hi Mitch friends,
Jim Bacon writes to tell us about Mitch's concert in Farmington, NM.
From: Jim Bacon Subject: Mitch in Farmington, NM Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 23:43:25 My wife, our two boys and I just went to see Mitch and This Train in concert here in Farmington, NM. Mitch's voice sounded great. Mark said it's been improving over the course of this tour. It seems his vision isn't coming along near as fast though. He's still having double-vision and doesn't seem to be able to tell that it's getting better. He struggled emotionally introducing a song that's new to me, "Strong" and as he talked about a couple of songs he'd written with Rich. Mitch and This Train had been to Window Rock and stayed at Rich & Mitch's old place here in New Mexico, visited with old friends down there and had devotions in the place they used to have devotions at. We talked to Mitch a little before and after the concert. He's hurting emotionally. He also said that it just hit him today how tired he's getting on this tour. They have to drive through the night to get to Tulsa, OK to do a bookstore thing tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. and then a concert tomorrow night there. We continue to uphold Mitch in our prayers and ask that others do too.
Jim followed up with the following post about the interview that took place the morning of the concert.
From: Jim Bacon Subject: Re: Mitch in Farmington, NM Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 22:28:49 KNMI Christian radio station manager Emmitt Fowler interviewed Mark Robertson of This Train at about 8:30 a.m. July 23 here in Farmington, NM. Emmitt asked Mark about the other members of the band and Mitch McVicker. Mark said he was sure the rest of This Train were still asleep, but he didn't know why Mitch wasn't there. Mark said that the group had just been back to Rich Mullin's home for the first time since he'd died. They stayed there while giving a concert in Window Rock, AZ and had devotions in the old place where they used to have devotions together. On this tour, Mark said they're trying to go back to and are being invited back to, a lot of the places they toured last year with Rich and that it was a good time for people to reminisce and kinda look back and get a little more peace and closure on the whole thing. "So it's been good and it's also been fun. I'm sad that I don't have his friendship and his company anymore, but I know that God's taking care of him and I'm sure he's having a great time. It's sad that we don't have him and have those songs, but you also see God's mercy and grace in Mitch McVicker, who by all rights, we should have lost him, too. So we really get a strong sense that in the same way God called Rich home, He called Mitch to stay because there's no reason why Mitch should be here. He got really messed up bad. And his recovery has been miraculous. We talked him into touring with us, we've only been out about two and a half weeks now. He gets better every single night. His voice comes a little bit better and, aah, not that it was that bad - but he had a lot of problems with that when he got in the accident. In fact, he couldn't talk for a long time, much less sing. Then he couldn't sing and he didn't know when he'd ever get his voice back, but sure enough God has been healing him and it's really an amazing thing to watch." Mark was on the air talking just a bit in between songs that Emmitt played and giving away concert tickets and This Train and Mitch McVicker CD's to callers for about an hour. Some of the songs they played were "My Deliverer," "Here and Now," "Missing Link," and "The Lemonade Song." Mark talked some about projects that he had worked on with Rich and the Ragamuffins and what was coming up in his life. At about 9:30 a.m., a ticket winner, "Kathy," was on the phone with Mark and Emmitt when Mitch walked into the studio and the following conversation took place. Kathy: "Hi Mitch!" Mitch: "Hi." Kathy: "We saw you last year in concert and just loved it!" Mitch: "You did?" Kathy: "Oh yeah!" Mitch: "Well, I liked it too." Kathy: "We're real excited for the concert tonight too." Mitch: "Well, thank you." After a bit, Emmitt commented that Mitch and Mark were having a whispered conversation in the background and asked what that was about and Mark said there was some confusion about what time they were supposed to be at the interview this morning. Mitch thought it was 9:30 instead of 8:30. Emmitt told Mitch to wipe that worried look off his face and that they were glad to have him there. Emmitt then said to Mitch, "Tell us about your part of the show." Mitch: "I just get up there and do a real simplistic type of thing and This Train comes out and corrects all that." Mark: "Mitch will rejoin us in our set which is a lot of fun." Emmitt then encouraged listeners to buy tickets and played This Train's version of Hank Williams' "I Saw the Light". Emmitt: "It's not a big problem that you're late." Mitch: "I didn't know I was late, but I guess that's par for the course." Emmitt: "Tell us about your new album Mitch, self-titled Mitch McVicker. Course I recognize some of the tunes you did last year. Tell us about the project and getting it done. Mitch: "Okay. Well actually it's kinda old. We finished recording it first part of September last year. The day of the wreck we finished up recording it." Emmitt: "Wow!" Mitch: "Then it was on the back-burner for a long time and a few months ago we decided to go ahead and mix it and get it all manufactured and everything. And so it's out now and I'm selling it at concerts and certain special radio stations have it. Emmitt: "Yeah, we got it and gave a bunch away. I'm going to play a song called New Mexico written by Rich & Mitch. Tells us about the song. You guys lived in Arizona, but we're real partial to New Mexico. Mitch: "The weird thing is we lived right on the border. We actually lived in New Mexico. Our trailer was actually in New Mexico. We spent most of our time in Arizona, but, aah, we wrote that probably about two and a half years ago and I just remember we each had friends we were thinking of. Friends we didn't do a very good job of keeping in touch with and that was kinda, we just wanted to let them know we were, yes we were alive and living in New Mexico. And it's kind of an eerie song now. Emmitt: "Who threw in the background vocal on this? Mitch: "Rich." Emmitt: "Are you going to do this song tonight? Mitch: "Yeah." Emmitt: "Cool." Mitch: "I do a little more funky version of it." They then played the song "New Mexico." Emmitt: "You know guys, it's a privilege for us to have you here and grace our little studio once again this year. Thanks Mark. Thanks Mitch." Mitch: "Yeah, I think I was here a good ten minutes." Emmitt: "Come and see these guys tonight."