Rock

Tales Of Wonder – WhiteHeart

Rick France 1992, Rock , , , , , ,
Tales Of Wonder
WhiteHeart

WhiteHeart’s Tales Of Wonder. What a great album! I was already a long time WhiteHeart fan, but this one made me a true WhiteHeart FANATIC! I bought it as soon as it hit the stores in January of 1992, and I hardly listened to anything else for several months and beyond. I considered Tales of Wonder the bands defining work for many years however, Freedom is right there with it. I would be hard pressed to choose between the two as to which is their best work.

I was Youth Pastor at Promised Land Bible Church (PLBC) from 1988-1994 and we had named the youth group LightForce – a very 80’s name I might add. Since then I have helped with the youth at other churches and even been the “Youth Leader” in certain situations for a season, but PLBC was the last time that I was on staff at a church as a Youth Pastor and LightForce is definitely the group of teens that I hold dearest to my heart to this day.

In February of 1992, LightForce went on a ski trip to Sugar Mountain outside of Boone, NC. We did not have a church bus or van so we made the trip with a fairly large number of vehicles in order to carry all of the teens, chaperones and luggage. We started our journey late on a Friday night. Cell phones were not quite in vogue at the time, but we were fortunate enough to have some short range two-way handheld radios for each driver in our convoy thanks to the McKoy’s. Just in case we got separated. Which we did. Multiple times. Mainly due to the winter storm we encountered along the way that turned our six hour trek into about a nine hour adventure in wrong turns and road conditions.

At one point I began to get a bit sleepy, so I put Tales Of Wonder in and cranked it up. I was pumped up as soon as “Raging Of The Moon” kicked in. So much that I decided everyone needed to hear it. So I paused the CD, picked up the handheld radio and announced, “And now for your listening pleasure, THIS is my prediction for the album of the year!” I then started the CD over and placed the handheld radio in the speaker and held that button down for over 5 minutes until the song had completed. If not for my thumb starting to cramp I might have played the whole CD that way. I then asked everyone in the convoy, “How’s that for great music?”

The response was an overwhelming sound of static. No one was responding and after multiple checks I determined that everyone’s batteries must have died. I pulled up beside one of the cars and got the drivers attention and he unashamedly let me know that they had turned the radio off once they realized I was going to play the whole song. The same story was repeated later by every driver after they each randomly checked to see if I had completed my mission. The only explanation I can come up with is that it just didn’t sound as awesome through those little handheld speakers as it did in my car – at least that’s the story I choose to believe.

Anyways, we did finally make it to our hotel and everyone got a little bit of sleep before we got up and went to Sugar Mountain. Thanks to the winter storm we had an unexpected bonus of fresh, real snow on top of the man made base. Still, I had decided not to ski and just hang out at the lodge to help Kathy watch Stephen since he was only three at the time. Our group consisted of accomplished skiers like Jon and Carlton McKoy as well as intermediate and first timers. For the first timers, one of which was RJ Dunn, I had arranged a group lesson on the Bunny Slope. I left Stephen with Kathy in the lodge so that I could see how the lessons were going and when I got there RJ was nowhere to be found. I was told that he had skipped the lesson and went with Jon and Carlton to the top. The Black Diamond. The steepest and longest slope on the mountain.

Not long after I returned to the lodge, Jon and Carlton showed up but without RJ. They told me he was still at the top. So I sent them right back up to check on him and to bring him back. Later, they returned and informed me that he did not want any help and was going to do it on his own. Thus began the longest day of my ministry. The next time I saw the McKoy’s they informed me that he was still working his way down to the intermediate slope area. He was evidently skiing about 5 feet at a time before he fell down plus he was having to take extended rests by this time.

After what seemed an eternity he made it to the intermediate slope and I started getting more frequent reports from more skiers in our group. Evidently he was improving to 10 to 15 feet stints and had learned to stop himself by diving head first into the snow. The reports continued to come in for hours and everyone appeared to be taking great pleasure in the event, especially the fact that RJ refused to have anyone help him out what-so-ever!

Just over six hours passed and I was starting to worry that RJ was not going to make it in time for our scheduled departure. Then suddenly the door to the lodge swung open and in stepped Rudolph’s Abominable Snowman. The bibs we rented were all colorful blues, greens and reds, but I could not tell you what color he was wearing for the amount of snow that was packed on him. He had dug two holes out in order to see and another hole was carved out for his mouth. You could see his teeth in the depths of the snow and tell that he was grinning from ear to ear. He held his arms straight up in the air like he had just made a touchdown and yelled, “I Just Skied The Black Diamond!”

I immediately heard a female voice exclaim, “it only took you six hours too!” I have no idea who it was that made the comment. Whoever it was making her comedy debut, she brought the house down. Even those who were not in our group were cracking up but that did not deter RJ. He had done it. He had conquered The Black Diamond. From the looks of him he had brought a very large portion of The Black Diamond with him as proof.

The rest of the trip was pretty much uneventful as we drove a bunch of sleeping teens back to Woodstock, GA, but the memories of that trip have lasted a lifetime. As I listen to this WhiteHeart CD I can’t help but chuckle at the sight of RJ walking into that lodge. I can still feel the relief of knowing that he was back safe and sound and I’m even a little proud of his self proclaimed accomplishment.

This music takes me back to those days with LightForce and it’s not just this particular CD that brings them to the forefront of my mind. Music was a major part of our time together and I can guarantee you that this is not the last story to tell involving LightForce but one of many. You see with LightForce there are many Tales Of Wonder.

Rick E. France

 

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