gift cards #2

there's been a slight change of plan for tomorrow (we're driving now, not flying) so I'll stop taking donations to the gift card fund at 6am Tuesday morning. After that, I won't be able to check my e-mail to find out if you sent anything for a few days. If anything does come in after that, I'll send gift cards down to Rick Felkel (Elloree guitars in Louisiana) to give to folks he's helping out down there. By the way, we're up to $500 in donations now. You guys are amazing. Thanks so much!

gift cards

Man, you guys are great. Already you have helped raise $310 for Wal-Mart gift cards for evacuees in the Baton Rouge area. I'll be collecting money until 9am Tuesday morning. You can paypal me at Andrew@andrewosenga.com if you want to chip in a bit. Thanks everybody!

A Weekend in Texas

I'm sitting here with my lovely wife, who is currently cutting out photos of our little baby girl for a new picture frame, and trying to collect all that went on this weekend. I got back today around noon, just in time for our Church's BBQ lunch after the service.

Oh, in case I bore you with weekend details so that you only read half of this post, let me put this here. I'm going down, with a band, to Baton Rouge for a solo show on Tuesday, and just talked to Evan, the promoter. I asked him what type of thing we could bring down to help out, his church is helping to host a number of evacuees, and he said Wal-Mart gift cards are really helpful. This lets people get the things they need that might not be provided so generally, whether it's a weird hair-brush, a certain sort of toothpaste, a magazine to clear the mind for a few minutes, whatever... So I'm throwing this out: if you'd like to help me take some down there, I already have a few, just paypal me by early Tuesday morning (I go past Sam's on the way to the airport) and I'll get a slew of $10 gift cards. My paypal address is just my usual andrew@andrewosenga.com. Just put "gift card" in the subject line or something. I promise I'm not scamming anyone, just thought it could be a cool little way for the community around this site to help out a bit.

I'm really excited for this show, I've got to tell you. I've been going through some old Normals tunes and my solo stuff to pick a set list, and I'm just so pumped to be playing these songs with a band again. We're going to rehearse tomorrow, and that alone is getting me giddy. You'd think I never played music ever, the way I'm feeling. So, anyone who has a pile of money and wants to pay for me to bring a band to your club, church, treehouse, back yard, frat party, bar mitzvah, etc... just paypal to the above address. Put "rock" in the subject line.

Anyway, I went down to Houston on Thursday, to learn a valuable lesson about rental cars (mainly, you get what you pay for) (and then you pay about as much anyway...) and then met Cliff, Todd and Garett down at the George R. Brown Convention Center. This place has become the biggest center for evacuees, they call them "guests", in the country. It was incredibly well-run, organized and lovingly encouraging. Barring the probably square mile of inflatable mattresses in their orderly rows on the main floor, it felt like a pretty all right place to be.

They had complete medical facilities up and running, a "store" (everything was free) full of donated clothes, shoes, books, luggage, etc..., a baby "store" with every baby supply imaginable, although they were running low on strollers and could probably still use them if you have any laying around. It seemed to be run, from what I saw anyway, by a joint effort of the Red Cross and Cliff's church Second Baptist. I must admit, I tend to not be the biggest cheerleader for the mega-church team, but when a disaster hits like this, having millions of dollars and tons of staff puts them in an incredible position to do some real good. It was humbling to see.

Anyway, they had rooms set up as playgrounds for kids, they had a library, a beauty salon, rooms of computers for people to find their loved ones, to find jobs, new housing, whatever. It felt like most of these people's needs were really being met there, and although the radio and TV seemed to only show people complaining about how badly they were being treated and things were being run, I saw a lot of smiling kids, relieved parents, families sitting around talking and laughing after a meal...

I don't know why the media tries so hard to make everything everyone does look terrible, but I really don't think it helps. I was amazed at how many people were volunteering, thousands and thousands, and how many white people and black people were talking, hugging, playing together, reading books with eachother's children. We only got to be there a few hours on Thursday and a few on Friday, but it was something I will never forget.

And, please, continue to pray for Cliff. He is really in the thick of a lot of what's going on there, only getting a few hours of sleep a night, but really loving those people, and I'm proud of him. You can pray that he'd get some rest, and be able to still spend some good time with his family, while getting the work done down at the Convention Center.

So... I was saying... oh yeah, my weekend. After leaving ol' George, we headed to a rehearsal space to work on a few tunes for these Fall shows. Our friend Trip is going to be playing bass at a lot of them, so we spent some time on some of the Share the Well songs to be able to put more of them into the set again. We're not giving up on that record!! My sister-in-law Candice is an audiologist and she made me some molded noise-plugs, and they saved my life in that rehearsal. Also, I'm more in love with my Strat than I've ever been before. Thank you, new pickups. Oh, my old vintage ones are for sale if anybody wants them. Both Strat and Les Paul. Just paypal me...

On Friday we played at a youth rally thing outside of Houston. Stephen Baldwin spoke. I won't get into the weirdness of taking brand new Christians and immediately putting them into ministry just because they're kind of famous, when Paul spent a dozen years in the desert after his conversion before he started his ministry. I'll just mention it in that sentence you just read. I'll also mention that I dedicated a song to Keiser Soze. Two points if you get that.

On Saturday we had a new and unique concert experience. A 13-month old girl had her name entered in a radio station contest to get a big, famous Christian band to come and play in your backyard. She won. We turned out to be the band. I'm not sure too many of the people there really had ever heard of us before, but it was pretty fun. There were probably about 25-30 folks there, half of them jr. high girls. We just stood in the backyard and played some tunes with minimal instrumentation. I didn't have an amp so I actually used a POD. Worse than that, it sounded pretty good. I think I'll keep it with me on fly dates from now on, just in case. Dang you digital modeling technology!!!!! Anyway, the backyard concert. Another milestone in a long and illustrious career, if I do say so myself. To prove it to you, here's a picture I took with my camera-phone. That's Cliff in the middle of the "stage". Sweet, huh? I know you're jealous.



So yeah. That was about it. That was in the outskirts of Dallas, and on the way back into Houston we stopped to eat at Pappasito's Mexican Restaurant. Oy, Mama! The Indelible Grace band was in town, so they met us there and we hung out for a while. That was fun. Matthew Smith, Cason, a guy I've met a few times named Trip (two Trips in one weekend!) and a guy sitting in on guitar, I think he was named Ben.

There are no hotel rooms in Houston anymore, so all us NashVillians (I just came up with that, thank you very much...) crashed at Josh's new place. It's been a while since I've done the sleeping bag on the floor thing, but I actually slept really well. I think the book I'm reading about John Adams, while very interesting, really helps knock me out when I need to sleep.

Speaking of, I should head to bed. I get to rehearse tomorrow and spend the rest of the day with my family. I'm a lucky guy. Thanks for reading all of this, and if you're so inclined to send some cash for those gift cards, I'm sure those folks would really appreciate it. Good night.

P.S. I forgot to say that Shaun Groves was on our flight back, and I actually met him for the first time in person. A very nice man. As was his road manager traveling with him. He asked me how often I blogged, said it seemed very erratic. I thought that was really funny. And true. I had to leave in the middle of our conversation, because the bus got to my car, but if he reads this, thanks for asking about Share the Well, and although the sales might not have been all we hoped, I wanted to say that it's been more than successful in raising awareness and encouraging people into missions, and that we've really seen God's hand at work with the record, even though it doesn't always look like it when you're crunching numbers. I didn't want to sound like I wasn't pleased with what was going on with it. Anyway, nice to meet you, man. Let me know if you ever need a guitar player.

video clip

Andrew Peterson sent me a video clip last night from the recording of his Christmas album, and I put it up on the Drawing Board. I thought it was kind of cool. That is all.

a tangible way to help

My friend Rick Felkel, who runs one of my favorite little guitar shops, Elloree, lives in North Louisiana, and sent this e-mail out yesterday. I hope he doesn't mind me sharing it with you, but I've been kind of overwhelmed with how to help out, and this gave us a more tangible way. The place he talks about, Life Choices, is something he's been involved with for years, and last year one of their fundraisers was a guitar he built with Caedmon's signatures under the finish. It was pretty cool. Anyway, not to add to the voices screaming for your attention, but if this helps direct your giving at all, then I'll be glad I put it up here...


"You've seen the news reports of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. And you're hearing a plenty about the long term effects. There's lots of political and racial bickering going on and the press is making big of it. Possibly, in a few months, when I can afford myself the pleasure, I'll state some opinions. Right now the times are too desperate for me to allow myself to be side tracked from the immediate needs we are facing. I want to devote this time to explaining where we are and how you can help.

As other towns north of the disaster, Monroe & West Monroe, Louisiana are completely overwhelmed by the folks who fled their homes on the Gulf. More people are arriving every day: some by bus, some in automobiles, and others on foot. Now, while it's only about a four to five hour trip from Monroe to New Orleans, people were stranded all along the way. When towns that were not destroyed lost electricity, gasoline could not be pumped. Folks have been living in their automobiles and waiting for a way to refuel. Getting the last survivors out of the effective areas has been painfully slow. Buses will be taking these people to several locations, including here.

Every imaginable relief agency is on the scene, and we are all stumbling and scrambling and trying to meet the needs. Every year, folks come here from the New Orleans area. The storms pass through, and in a few days, they go home, clean up, and carry on life. We had no imagination big enough to take in the enormity of what has happened. The Civic Center is filling up with families being helped by the Red Cross. I spoke with the commander at the local Salvation Army, and they are at absolute capacity. Churches have begun to open up every bit of available space for folks to live, and we are taking strangers into our homes. We are stretching hard.

This is no short term effort. I guess most of us can give up a day in our life to do some good somewhere. The truth is starting to sink in on us - we will need to give long term help to these people. The estimate is that the evacuees will be displaced from three to nine months. Some will be able to go back later and repair their homes. Others have nothing to go back to. The need is so enormous, we can see we are going to run out of supplies before need runs out. Before I begin to get specific about needs, it's only right that I thank Simon H. from California and Lynne R. from South Carolina for proding me. For years now, I have lived a quiet, reclusive life. But I can see I can't just sit this one out. Being out in the middle of it all scares me but these are desperate times. So here's what we need. We are very low on everything that pertains to newborn babies: formula, pampers, car seats, clothes. It's amazing to see the number of women who fled the hurricane and got to Monroe, Louisiana or Jackson, Mississippi just in time to have their babies. I have partnered with Life Choices for years now. They are being called by the hospitals because the hospitals are running out of things needed by newborns. And Life Choices is helping with relief efforts in Jackson.

I am presently selling an electric octave mandolin on ebay. This is an instrument I built and had in stock. Absolutely every bit that comes in from the high bidder will go to the local Salvation Army for this disaster relief. Commander Riggs tells me the biggest needs are: men & women's underwear of all sizes, canned and dried food, and Walmart gift cards for $5, $10, or $20. They don't really need our worn out underwear. They need new. Commander tells me they have lots of shelf space, but not much refrigeration space. Hence the need for canned and dried food. Some things they just can't provide for, like personal hygiene items. So the Walmart gift cards would help meet that need. I'm always hesitant to ask people for their money, but let me say this. A can of string beans doesn't cost much. But you would probably spend a lot in shipping that can. Clothes don't weigh much, so you could justify the cost of shipping them.

Some people are going to need to relocate and start over. If you are in a position to hire someone, that would be a tremendous help. Lowe's, Home Depot, automotive dealerships, and others are trying to hire the folks who had such jobs in the gulf cities. But there's just so many jobs available here. And others will just never see the point in going back.

We're slowly coming around to all the different aspects of normal life. When it became evident that people were not going home for quite a while, we began to see we needed to get the young people back in school. Lynne R., from South Carolina, is a college professor and she emailed me with the desire to help with school supplies even before we fully understood the need here. So if you have or want to buy anything by way of school supplies, it would meet a definite need. And school clothes, by all means: jeans, casual shirts, tennis shoes. They don't need to dress for the prom, just for going to school each day.

When the terrorists took the top off of New York City, the state of Louisiana raised money and bought a fire truck. We named it "The Spirit of Louisiana". It was driven to New York City and is on the job there now. New York City donated I think it was a quarter of a million to our disaster relief. I understand Hillary Duff gave a quarter of a million. Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Aaron Neville, and Harry Connick Jr. did a benefit concert. I haven't heard how much was raised. Different actors, singers, and organizations are doing what they can. Walt Disney Company gave $2.5 million. I don't remember how much Walmart has given so far, but they are one of the most charitable organizations. But make no mistake about it. The fives, tens, and twenties that come in from individuals will make all the difference. At present, the damage is being estimated at about $80 billion. Only about $25 billion is insured losses.

And please don't believe what you are seeing on the news. We are all so frustrated at how things are being misrepresented. I don't have time or inclination to address those matters right now, but in the words of 007, "Later - perhaps." I'm going to sign off with some addresses you can send to. If you feel more comfortable sending to me, I give my word as a gentleman, I will make sure your help goes directly and completely to the agency you request.



Salvation Army
105 Hart St.
Monroe, LA 71201


Life Choices Pregnancy Resource Center
1500 Royal Avenue
Monroe, LA 71201


Elloree Guitars
810 Tidwell Rd.
West Monroe, LA 71292


Red Cross is definitely front and center in the relief effort, and you can find various phone numbers all over the internet.

Thinking of New Orleans and missin' the music.

Rick"