The old tent revival with Rockfish - By N.L. Belardes
A few years ago I read a history book on Buck Owens by a friend of mine named Katherine Burke. It’s her graduate thesis and is a marvelous read that deserves to be published by a university press somewhere. I’m actually not sure if her work was published and I can’t remember the title for the life of me. What I do remember is a chapter on the Bakersfield bible belt. That old Okie Dust Bowl migration transplanted an entire church-going culture from the South into the Grapes-of-Wrath Central Valley, and is part of the reason why there’s a church on every corner here in the conservative landscapes of Bakersfield.
Why do I even bring this topic up? I got an email from Brent Hicks of Bite Me Cookies. He's also in the classic rock band, Rockfish. Rockfish is a Christian band that has trouble booking gigs because, well, they sound too much like Jimi Hendrix. Now these guys are good and I recently heard a tale about them playing an Edison Highway tent revival which reminded me of Katherine Burke’s chapter on early country music and church revivals… it’s an interesting topic, though I still don’t feel the Latino contribution has been fully explored in its contribution to the Bakersfield Sound… Anyway, being a storyteller myself, I love stories. Here’s Brent’s letter of the old tent revival…
On Thursday afternoon, I got a call from a pastor's
wife. Emma Coffman said she was from the First
Baptist Church of Edison. She said she knew that it
was last minute, but the music they had planned for
Saturday had just backed out. Emma said she got our
band's name from Jesus Shack. Would we be available
to play a Saturday afternoon tent revival? She
sounded so enthusiastic when I said we would. I
warned her that our music was Christian classic rock
and blues. Somehow Emma conveyed to me that she was
at a computer, and I told her to check Rockfishmusic
on My Space. She listened to it and still seemed just
as enthusiastic.
After checking with the other members of the band, our
keyboardist was the only one who wasn't available to
play that Saturday. But Rockfish had played as a
three-piece for quite some time, so the three of us
agreed to play the tent revival.
Emma told us they had a P.A. system, a stage and about
50 seats. They would be serving a barbecue dinner
(deep pit pig and goat). After about a 20-minute
drive out Highway 58, taking the Edison turnoff, I
drove past the tent the first time. I didn't see it
because it was recessed on a dirt lot. The tent was
red, white and blue. It was quaintly decorated with
artificial flowers.
We were warmly greeted and helped with our equipment.
The band was set up in no time. They started the
generator, and we were able to take a sound check and
see that everything was working.
We played music to a cross-mix of grandmothers,
thirtysomethings, teenagers and young children. We
think they liked the music. We played all of our
songs and said "thank you" and mentioned that we had a
CD for sale.
It was a humbling performance, but it was where we
felt God had called us to play.
There you have it, Nick, the big tent revival through
rose colored glasses.
Thanks,
Brent
Why do I even bring this topic up? I got an email from Brent Hicks of Bite Me Cookies. He's also in the classic rock band, Rockfish. Rockfish is a Christian band that has trouble booking gigs because, well, they sound too much like Jimi Hendrix. Now these guys are good and I recently heard a tale about them playing an Edison Highway tent revival which reminded me of Katherine Burke’s chapter on early country music and church revivals… it’s an interesting topic, though I still don’t feel the Latino contribution has been fully explored in its contribution to the Bakersfield Sound… Anyway, being a storyteller myself, I love stories. Here’s Brent’s letter of the old tent revival…
On Thursday afternoon, I got a call from a pastor's
wife. Emma Coffman said she was from the First
Baptist Church of Edison. She said she knew that it
was last minute, but the music they had planned for
Saturday had just backed out. Emma said she got our
band's name from Jesus Shack. Would we be available
to play a Saturday afternoon tent revival? She
sounded so enthusiastic when I said we would. I
warned her that our music was Christian classic rock
and blues. Somehow Emma conveyed to me that she was
at a computer, and I told her to check Rockfishmusic
on My Space. She listened to it and still seemed just
as enthusiastic.
After checking with the other members of the band, our
keyboardist was the only one who wasn't available to
play that Saturday. But Rockfish had played as a
three-piece for quite some time, so the three of us
agreed to play the tent revival.
Emma told us they had a P.A. system, a stage and about
50 seats. They would be serving a barbecue dinner
(deep pit pig and goat). After about a 20-minute
drive out Highway 58, taking the Edison turnoff, I
drove past the tent the first time. I didn't see it
because it was recessed on a dirt lot. The tent was
red, white and blue. It was quaintly decorated with
artificial flowers.
We were warmly greeted and helped with our equipment.
The band was set up in no time. They started the
generator, and we were able to take a sound check and
see that everything was working.
We played music to a cross-mix of grandmothers,
thirtysomethings, teenagers and young children. We
think they liked the music. We played all of our
songs and said "thank you" and mentioned that we had a
CD for sale.
It was a humbling performance, but it was where we
felt God had called us to play.
There you have it, Nick, the big tent revival through
rose colored glasses.
Thanks,
Brent
This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on
Monday, October 24, 2005.
You can leave your response.
leave a response