On The Road With, Lev Shelo With Corry Bell. Did You Say, A “Glamorous Life? (For the second time in one month, I was privilege to accompany both my wife, Corry, and my daughter, Michaela, to one of their singing gigs. This one was located in the High Desert town of Lucerne Valley this past Saturday. I would like to share my thoughts with you about this venue and the dedicated work of this Messianic band, Lev Shelo, now.) If you happen to have read one of my earlier posts, I mentioned after a lot of soul searching, that I decided it was high time for me to support both Corry and Michaela, whenever possible, by attending their singing gigs whenever my work schedule would permit. Besides, what if there is something the valets cant do for them or the many helpers that probably swarm to help set up the musical instruments? What if the music engineers who probably do all the cord hook-ups, mic checks, and trouble-shooting are not attentive enough? And I know there are plenty of staff who are privileged to help prepare the stage for their band guests. But in the event everything is taken care of, I could, at the very least, help by personally bringing the hot coffee, tea and water over to the band through-out their rehearsal. Well, I went and found my assumptions to be rather lofty. Let me explain. This weekend began on Friday with a wedding for my nephew, Bryce, and his bride, Francine, at the beautiful La Canada Country Club. My wife and our daughter, my niece, Vanessa, my sister, Roxanne and myself had a wonderful time. The wedding ceremony was beautiful followed by hours of dancing. Yea, thats right, you heard me, I was out on that dance floor myself. I cant tell you how many years its been since I last donned a pair of dancing shoes! The point of this story is not to tell you about my new dancing career, but to talk to you about the “glamorous life of a band on the road. We left the wedding that evening and arrived in the desert town of Lucerne Valley. Corry told me we were fortunate to have accommodations for the night offered by the owner of the Lazy Lizard Ranch. I was quite tired from the long evening at the wedding followed by the drive to Lucerne Valley and thought, I wonder what she means by fortunate?” (I found out later that sometimes their accommodations are far less than comfortable which probably contributes to my wife’s growing back problems.) The next morning, Corry, Michaela and I drove to the place where we were to have the concert. As I pulled onto the dirt driveway in a dry sandy field just outside of a gated horse stable, I saw Mark, the guitarist, standing on a make-shift stage in the middle of the desert. “Corry, are you guys playing outside?”, I said. “No, its an inside gig,” she replied. Well, low and behold, this gig’s venue changed from inside to outside, apparently overnight. Being the gracious trooper that she is, Corry said, “Well, lets start rehearsing.” No one in the band batted an eye or complained. I took my seat on a bail of hay in front of the stage and watched Mark, John and Corry set everything up themselves. There were no valets, no engineers, no swarms of people helping to set up the equipment. And the coffee? Well, as far as the coffee was concerned, I found myself driving to the nearest market along the highway in Lucerne Valley to purchase 6 cups. By the time I got back the wind had picked up and sand was blowing all over the stage and instruments! I sought out a break from the wind in the port-a-potty but, there was only one outhouse, so I didnt stay in there long as others were waiting to use it! But here is the impressive part about this story. To look into the faces of those dedicated, ministry-driven musicians, you would have thought they were performing at the Taj Mahal sipping on Champagne during the breaks! My daughter and her friend Rebekkah, troopers right out of Desert Storm! And as for Corry, the wind blew against her face with such force, it literally sandblasted the mascara right off her eyes! After that, I never mentioned how hard I thought the bail of hay I was sitting on felt. (Lets just keep that between us, alright?) So, let me end with this. What you see on television is only for the rich and famous and that is the life of glamor. But, for Lev Shelo and other bands like them, its work; hard work. Long hours of traveling, dusty venues, shared sleeping accommodations, sometimes no food or drink other than what they have prepacked for the drive and a myriad of other inconveniences that they dont even seem to notice. I am so proud of them for what they do and even more proud of them for serving G-d without complaint. If you can keep them in your prayers and if you feel lead, please support them financially, so they may continue to minister to those souls who wish to meet G-d, in that dry sandy desert place, where most others will not go. Written by, Michael Bell
Posted on: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 19:47:32 +0000
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