I remember
it well. November, 1983, I was sitting in the
front lounge of the Cathedral Quartets bus,
trying my best to pick George Younce's brain. I
had announced my resignation, was in the process
of forming The Talleys, so I needed all the
knowledge I could filter into my brain.
Knowledge on how to be an MC, how to introduce
the group, .....I had watched George for four
years and knew he was the master MC,
so I wanted his input as to what he thought I
should do as the groups MC. George and Glen were
so nice to me. I was leaving their group to
start another group, yet they were offering
advice and help. I will never forget what George
Younce told me that day. "Kirk, if you will
learn to laugh at yourself, others will have a
great time laughing with you" What great advice!
That advice, the knowledge from the Master of
all MC's certainly was remembered this past
weekend. Saturday, I sang in Blountstown Florida
at the annual GOAT DAY. I had no idea what Goat
Day was, but I assumed that Blountstown was
famous for raising good goats, or there was some
famous goat, famous for something...not sure
what....maybe born in Blountstown. Maybe they
made Goat Cheese in Blountstown.....no idea but
I went. I got to the park and saw all kinds of
arts and crafts booths, all kinds of food
vendors, a stage where a young country singer
was singing. There was a pen of pigs where they
had just had a greased pig contest, where
children tried to catch the pigs. ( Sorry I
missed that) Finally I found the goats. Just a
pen of goats where children were allowed to pet
them. THIS IS WHY THEY CALL IT GOAT DAY???? Well
I had to laugh as I had my picture made beside a
couple of the goats.
I sang for an hour and twenty five minutes. As I
was singing, gnats started rushing the stage. I
wasn't sure if they were coming from the pig pen
or the goat pen but evidently they chose my
cologne over the stench of the livestock area.
The entire time I sang, this family of gnats
kept swarming around my face. I finally
announced to the audience that we were going to
rename this festival to GNAT DAY. .I had been
singing about thirty minutes and all of a sudden
I start hearing this awful noise but couldn't
see where it was coming from. I could see the
audience looking in the direction of the noise
but couldn't find the source. Finally, as the
noise became louder than my music, I had to stop
to see what was going on behind me.
A HELICOPTOR had landed right behind the stage!
Talk about a distraction! So I just took a five
minute break and let every watch it leave again.
After it finally was out of sight, I resumed the
concert only to be interrupted again by the loud
beeping of a golf cart in reverse. When I
stopped to inquire what the lady was
doing....she tried to whisper "I'm sorry" which
made it even funnier. She finally dropped off
her drinks backstage and quickly drove away.
Finally I finished the concert, sold a few CD's
and packed up and headed back to Panama City. I
had been up since 4 am so I ordered a pizza and
ate and went to bed.
About the time I got to sleep, Delta called to
inform me that my flight the next morning had
been canceled and they had rebooked me on the 6
am flight. Once again I would have to get up at
4, but at least I was getting home. So at 4 am I
woke up to the sound of pouring rain. I don't
mean hard rain, I mean POURING Rain. I packed
and tried to load my luggage in the rental car.
Naturally I had parked the night before in the
back of the lot so I had to pull my luggage all
the way across the parking lot in the pouring
rain. By the time I got loaded, I was a soaked
rat! Water was running off my head like I had
just stood under Niagara Falls. My sweat shirt
was thick and soaked. I was miserable. I drove
around to the front desk to check out, Again,
out in the rain I go. Finally got the receipt
and headed to the airport. The wind was blowing
so hard and the rain was coming down so hard
that I could barely see the street signs.
Normally I fill the car up with gas on the way
back to the airport but I was so distracted by
the rain, I totally forgot to stop and get gas.
So I know that bill will be astronomical at 5.00
per gallon. I made it to the airport. I pulled
under the canopy to unload my luggage and the
security guard stopped me. "You can't leave
luggage unattended here". I explained that I had
to turn in the rental car, He didn't seem to
care that I had to pull the luggage thru the
rain, so I quickly loaded the suitcase back in
the car and headed out to the Return Car lot. Of
course the only empty parking spot was the one
the farthest away from the door . I had just
about dried off on the drive to the airport so
hear I was , outside in the downpour, pulling
luggage out of my trunk, running the length of
the parking lot, trying to get to an open door,
trying to keep my cool! Once inside, I made my
way to the ticket counter. By now, I was
actually dripping! My shoes were squeaking where
I had run through puddles of water. My head was
drenched again, this time, the shirt under my
sweatshirt was even wet! I stood at the counter
waiting on someone to assist me with check in. (
a towel or a hair dryer would have been nice)
Finally a man appeared and said "oh I don't know
if we are going or not because we have some bad
weather report". REPORT??? HELLO????? I am
evidence of the bad weather!!! You think I
intended to come to the airport like this????
After getting through security (When I took my
shoes off, water ran out) I waited in the gate
til the controller allowed us to board the
plane.
My seat was the very last one. In the very back
up against the window. The lady beside me took
up all of her seat and half of mine. So I sat
all scrunched up, trying to keep my wet clothes
from touching her (dry of
course cause someone dropped her off under the
canopy) So all the way to Atlanta, I was up
against the wall, trying to sleep, trying to
keep off the lady beside me. The air circulating
in the plane had just about dried my sweatshirt
so when we arrived in Atlanta, it was a welcome
feeling to stand up. As I started down the
stairs of the plane, I felt my knee give way. My
legs had been asleep on the plane, As I stepped
on the fourth step, my knee went down, I went
down, my carry on luggage, went down, and guess
where I landed. You guessed it,....in a big
puddle of water! now my jeans and my sweatshirt
was soaked again. I just stood up and said "what
a trip".
I made my way up the steps and into Concourse D.
I decided a nice warm sandwich would make me
feel better. I was craving Quizno's Black Angus
Steak. I made my way to my next flight on
Concourse B, hoping I would pass a Quizno's on
the way. I arrived on B and hadn't seen Quizno's
so I stopped and asked an airport cop and much
to my dismay, Quizno's was back on Concourse D,
one gate down from where I had made such a
graceful landing. I decided to forego the
Quizno's idea. I walked on to my gate in B. I
was still wet, but at this point, I really
didn't care what else happened. When I arrived
at B, there stretched out on the floor of gate
27 was an old friend of mine, two kids, and her
boyfriend. They had been to Disney World and was
returning home to Knoxville. They had been
canceled on a previous flight so they were all
stretched with all their vacation trophies.
Julie informed me that she was worn out and
tired and had about enough! I started telling
her about Goat Day and the rain and my perils of
the last four hours and we just sat there and
laughed and laughed and made fools out of
ourselves. But it felt good! The more I laughed,
the more I didn't care that I was wet, the more
I didn't care that I had forgotten to buy gas,
the more I didn't care about the botched program
at Gnat Day.......It was good to laugh!
Laughter is a good thing. It's medicine! As I
boarded the plane, I noticed that I had been
upgraded to First Class. FINALLY something
GOOD!!!!!! ( I was the only wet person in first
class) I got off the plane in Knoxville and
headed home to play with the dogs! They didn't
care if I was wet, damp or tired and sleepy!
They were glad to see me!
George Younce was right. Go ahead and laugh at
yourself. You know you are funny! Someone else
might need to laugh at your expense, so go ahead
and let em laugh! Throw your head back and
cackle! You deserve it!
___________________________________________________________________________________
David Yardly is a friend of mine, he lives just
up the road from my office. He is a huge Gospel
Music fan, he attends lots of concerts and has
been having lots of difficulties in the past few
years. He and his family has suffered lots of
illnesses, mainly because, as they have just now
found out, their home is filled with mold. David
has been out of work for some time and he has
applied to get a home makeover from Oprah. For
the complete story, go to
www.ourhouseneedshelp.com and then click on
the link to nominate them for the house
makeover.
http://aaronsnet.com/clients/househelp/contact.php
I had someone ask me today about soundtracks.
All the soundtracks are available on CD now, so
if you are looking for new songs to sing that
your congregation hasn't heard, you can get any
of my soundtracks on CD and be a blessing to
your church audience. All the titles are listed
in the store of the website,
www.kirktalley.com
I hope a lot of you Krew members will be in
Winston Salem Saturday night. Go to
www.rayflynnpromotions.com and get all the
details or call them at 888-238-6858. I will be
singing at the awards program which begins at
5:00 PM. Sunday evening I will be singing at the
First Assembly of God in Lexington, NC at
6:00PM. Come on out to both nights!
Well, I have to get out of here. It looks rainy
and I want to get down the office steps before I
have to drive home wet and miserable!
Thanks for your prayers. I mean it when I say
that God has used Kirks Krew members to minister
to me and support me in the last few years. Your
prayers are greatly appreciated!
Kapt Kirk
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