Month: June 2018

Diamond Days – Out Of The Grey

Rick France 1994, 2011, Pop Rock , ,

 

Diamond Days
Out Of The Grey

What can I say about Out Of The Grey? Smooth jazz influenced pop rock and with all due respect to Karen Carpenter, Christine Dente is my all-time favorite female vocalist. Throw in the exceptional guitar work of Scott Dente and you’ve got an artist that I never tire of listening to. I have everything from the 1991 self titled release thru the most recent 2015 release of A Little Light Left. Then there’s the solo work of Becoming and Ashton, Becker, Dente and Tumes, Ashton, Dente and Keaggy, King, Dente. Did I mention the lullaby’s with Michael Card? Let’s just say if the name Dente is on it I probably own it.

I had already become a fan of the husband and wife duo after their sophomore release of Shape Of Grace but with the release of Diamond Days I was encaptivated! Now let’s stop and think about this for a moment. I mainly listen to Prog Rock, Ambient Rock, Arena Rock, Hard Rock, Alternative Rock, Classic Rock, Rock, more Rock and don’t forget Rock. I throw in a little Jazz here and there like Miles, Metheny and Krall or the old Standards like Sinatra from time to time and even Mendelssohn and Rachmaninoff but Out Of The Grey is Pop Rock. Pop Rock? Isn’t that an oxymoron? Definately not my style of music especially in the 80’s and 90’s. But there was that little bit of jazz sound in the chord structures that caught my attention and then there was that voice. I played this CD over and over from the day I bought it.

Stephen was 5 years old at the time Diamond Days was released in 1994. I took him to his first game at Neyland Stadium only months before. I was coaching his baseball team and it was post diapers yet before he started vying for his own independence. He was my shadow. He was at that perfect age where we spent a lot of time together. According to my wife it was a perfect age because she has always claimed I act like a 5 year old.

One Saturday morning the two of us were out and about and he was sitting in the front passenger seat beside me just talking away. If that horrifies some of you I’m sorry, but back then kids did not have to or want to sit in the back – unless it was the back of a truck. Nor did they have to sit in a car seat until they got their learners permit. They didn’t even have to have seatbelts on, but we both did so maybe you can breathe a little easier.

Anyways, I put Diamond Days in as we drove and during the song “All We Need” he asked me, “Who is this?” I told him, “It’s Out Of The Grey and I just LOVE her voice and he’s an AWESOME guitar player.”

After a few moments we pulled up to a stop light and I looked over and Stephen had this big ol’ elephant tear rolling down his cheek. I asked him, “What’s wrong buddy?”

He replied, “I thought you loved mommy?”

I literally felt my heart breaking in my chest. He was sitting there thinking I had betrayed his mom, his sisters as well as himself and I felt just horrible! We use the word “love” so flippantly in our language to describe so many different things. How’s a 5 year old supposed to know the difference? Well never fear, Dad is here to straighten this out.

I said, “Buddy, there are all different kinds of love. There’s the really deep kind of love that I have for your mom and you and your sisters. And then there’s the kind of love that is really just a strong like. You love to play baseball, right?” He sniffed a little and shook his head yes. “But it’s not the same way that you love your mom is it?”

He thought about it for a few seconds and much to my relief he finally said, “No”. It was one of those three syllable nos that goes from the root to the fourth and then suddenly ends on the octave. Here in the south we start adding syllables and singing them out at a very young age.

“You love to play Nintendo, but that’s not the same kind of love you have for your sisters is it?”

He said this time in a much more energetic way and with only two syllables, “No” skipping straight to the octave.

I continued, “When I said that I love her voice that means I really like the way she sings. It’s not the same way that I love mommy. My love for mommy is way beyond a like. You understand?” And he did! No more elephant tears and that infectious smile of his was back in place. I had evidently succeeded as a Dad once again if only for a day.

That night, Kathy had gone back to his room to tuck him in and before I got back there she returned to the living room and had a really strange look on her face. When I asked her about it, she said, “Stephen just told me that he loved me, but not the same way that he loves bugs and frogs.”

Oh the mind of a 5 year old. If only we could all grasp this kind of deep theology. Maybe that is why Jesus said to come as a child.

Yet the story does not end here. Fast forward to the year 2011. Stephen is now 22 years of age and he’s playing lead guitar and singing in a band named The Refuge with the Wauford’s: Erine (lead vocals), Emily (rhythm guitar), Ryan (drums) and Jeff (bass). Over the past few years I had been helping them out with arrangements, rehearsals and gigs and all. I had made up a CD of potential cover songs to help build their repertoire. As Stephen and I were driving to a game at Neyland, I was playing the CD to see if he liked any of the songs and the Out Of The Grey song “Disappear” from the (See Inside) album came on. After listening to a bit of the song Stephen asked me, “Who is this?”

Without missing a beat all I said was, “Well buddy, I just LOVE her voice and he’s an AWESOME guitar player.” This time there were no elephant tears. Just a slight smile along with the rolling of his eyes, but it was well worth the eye roll. I mean, how often do you really get to relive a special moment in time like that?

As I listen to this CD right now, I love her voice today probably more than I did in 1994, but now her voice also reminds me about my little buddy’s traumatic brush with my love for his mommy and it brings a smile on my face every time. You see, I love his mommy much more today then I did in 1994 too, and it’s not the same way that I love bugs and frogs either.

As the Golden Years of our life draw closer and closer, it’s nice to have another chance to listen, look back and relive if only for a moment those Diamond Days.

Rick E. France

 

 

And From The (see inside) Album Also Mentioned

Can’t Stand Too Tall – Rick Cua

Rick France 1990, Rock , , , ,
Can’t Stand Too Tall
Rick Cua

While Rick Cua’s “Can’t Stand Too Tall” is a Christian album and contains some really good spiritual content, not all of my musical memories are spiritual. Some are about family. This album falls into that category because as I listen to this album it always brings me back to TGIF! Yes, Rick Cua goes hand in hand with Uncle Jesse, Urkel, Balki, Coach Lubbock and Dominos. All of these combined bring me back to those wonderful Friday nights in 1990 when my children were young and family was a new and exciting adventure for me.

Kathy and I were married in February of 1988 and Stephen was born the following February in 1989. In the spring of 1990 Katie was finishing the third grade, Melissa the first grade and Friday night had become Family TV Night thanks to the TGIF lineup on ABC. It started with “Full House”, a show that made “you got it dude” a household catchphrase. This was followed by “Family Matters” and Urkel’s “did I do that?” and then “Perfect Strangers” with Balki’s “don’t be ridiculous”. The final show in the lineup that year was “Just The Ten Of Us” which was a spinoff of “Growing Pains”. Quite funny but I can’t recall a catchphrase from it. Maybe that’s why it didn’t last but a couple of seasons. However, the aforementioned catchphrases were constantly repeated all week long in our house over and over and over . . .

With these shows came our Friday night routine. A little before the shows would start we would move all the furniture and lay a blanket out in the middle of the floor. This was Dad’s night to cook so I would call Dominos and order a couple of pizzas. At that time, the closest Dominos was in Crabapple and they would not deliver to our house across the county line so I had to meet the driver in the parking lot of Chadwick’s Hardware. Before I left for the pizza I would put Rick Cua’s “Can’t Stand Too Tall” in the CD player and queue it up to track 6, “Crash The Party”. When I returned home with the pizza, someone would start the CD and the girls would start to sing and dance!

You see, at some point Katie and Melissa had come up with their own lyrics for this song. I’m not sure if they just misunderstood the words or if they just liked their version better, but they would sing, “Piiiiiiiz-zaaa Parrrrrty!” I wish I could describe the dance, but let’s just say it was far removed from the ballet classes they so painstakingly took. Kathy and I would set the drinks out and lay the pizza boxes on the blanket all the while everyone was laughing and singing, “Piiiiiiiz-zaaa Parrrrrty!” About the time the song was winding down I would stop the music, we would hold hands and pray over our food and then start eating pizza while singing, “Whatever happened to predictability? The milkman, the paperboy, evening TV.” We had the timing down to an art form.

The night had begun. We laughed. We talked. We snuggled in the floor together. It was great! I miss those days. I’ve gotten to relive them to a degree with my grandkids from time to time mainly while watching reruns of “Full House” but those days when we were such a young family are really special to me and I must admit the memories are strongest when I listen to this particular Rick Cua CD. Especially when I am alone in the car. That’s when the theater of my mind seems to be the most active for me.

I always feel like I am almost forcing myself to listen to the first few songs of this CD because I want to get to track 6 so that the memories will come flooding in. So the easiest thing to do is to start there and then go back and listen to the rest of the CD which means I get to sing “Pizza Party” twice every time and that’s a pretty good thing in my opinion. And no, I never sing “crash the party” or even hear Cua singing it – it is always the voices of Katie and Melissa that I hear and their dance that I envision in my mind’s eye. I guess as long as I have this CD, I will always be able to relive those days with my little girls and enjoy one more time if only for a little while, our little Friday night “Piiiiiiiz-zaaa Parrrrrty!” 

As I listen right now knowing that my little girls are all grown up with children of their own, I pray that they will lock away deep in their hearts all the little things. I pray that they will not allow the world to try to drown out the joy of their time with their kids. I pray that they will remember that with all the chaos this world pours out on us, Christ will hold you up above it all and therefore you Can’t Stand Too Tall.

Rick E. France