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First Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa gig with Benny Hester
This is the concert that set in motion everything else that happened to us. Randy Ziegler ran the Saturday night concert series at the church, which was the center of Christian rock music and especially New Wave.
We had all seen many bands there: Undercover, Phil Keaggy, The Lifesavers, Altar Boys, Choir (Youth Choir back then) and when we were told we were going to open up for Benny Hester we were stunned and thrilled.
Murphy's Law struck when our synthesizer broke about a month before the gig. We got it back the day before and had to rehearse with a little Casio keyboard, which was a joy for John and John to play (John Giali played keys on Love's Irony and John McNamara on In His Presence and Show Me in the early days)
Glenn recalled, "I don't think I've ever been that nervous in my life when we were waiting to go on stage. I remember trying to move and look cool and comfortable and I had as close to the "deer in headlights" feeling as I've ever had. Especially with those mega-bright Calvary Chapel stage lights. "
We went on to play there about 15 times and it was always a high point for us.
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| We are all big Beatles fans and this was as close as it got | John and John sing, probably on "Ronny" | Steve's passion drove the band | Steve and Glenn coordinate |
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| John had his hands full that night | When in doubt, look at your fretboard |