From: Jeff Dolan
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001
Subject: RE: Master's Loft, Greensboro, NC
Pics and review by Jeff Dolan, bass player with the acoustic rock band Remember Jonah.
We are from Morehead City, NC, which is about five and a half miles from Greensboro, but we weren't complaining -- we were going to play with Mitch outside for a bunch of July 4th firework watchers! We got there around 12:00pm and met Mitch and the guys.
It was a blistering hot day, and the sun was giving us all sun burns as we set up a make-shift stage and did a sound check before the show. A local radio station was sponsoring the event, so naturally they were so pumped about the whole thing, you felt like you were actually important and not just some poor traveling artists with nothing else to do on a holiday. Then the sun gave way to dark clouds about an hour before we were to start. "Pray God will make it go away," people kept repeating as the idea bounced around what little crowd decided to watch the poor artists play. They gave us a big intro, and we jammed our hearts out -- for three songs. At the very last lingering note of the third song, God just squeezed out a cloud all over us. What was a nice relaxing concert under the about-to-start fireworks turned into a chaotic mess of people yelling and throwing tarps over everything electronic. Somehow, I got caught up in a tarp trying to save Mitch's harmonicas, another guy starts screaming about the soundboard, and everyone that was outside was now inside much to the delight of the Master's Loft, the Christian book store and coffee shop that was hosting the event.
Our lead singer, Rob Blackwell, decided to play his acoustic for an unplugged set to get everyone into the spirit again. It did the trick. The people got into worship, and the reason why we came started to become clear. People were touched. God's presence filled the place. After Rob reflected on those who died to make the U.S. a free country and sang the national anthem, Mitch set up to play with his band.
As soon as Mitch got up to the microphone, all the frustrations of the day vanished. He smiled really big, told everyone that he was glad they were there, and began his first song. Two African American women were getting into Mitch's music so much, everyone else started wondering what they were missing. Finally, everyone else got the picture and just relaxed, which is when you trully can appreciate Mitch's songs of love and peace. All I can say was that after Mitch's set, you didn't want to go home. You felt like you were chilling on a porch somewhere in the deep south, with the smell of the grill in the air and kids running around your feet. The crowd urged Mitch to play so many songs, I don't think he had anymore to play.
After the show, I found out my bass case was open and right in the way of a flowing stream of rain water running through the parking lot outside. While I was wipping off my bass and looking around, Mitch was as happy as a kid out in the rain, and that satisfied feeling that you get after something really cool happened was working its way down my back.
Jeff DOLAN ><>
Remember Jonah
http://www.rememberjonah.com
