Tuesday; August 7
In the late 1970s songwriters Jackson
Browne and Bryan Garofalo wrote a tribute to life on the road as a major pop
star.The song, “The Load Out” became a
hit (especially when combined with the remake of the Maurice Williams song,
“Stay”) and came to define a generation of concert-goers and the behind-the-scenes
people who made it all possible.As I
listened the song recently I was struck by the words, “People you’ve got the
power over what we do – You can sit there and wait or you can pull us through –
Come along, sing the song – You know you can’t go wrong.”.As I thought about these words I realize
just how much performers depend upon the crowd to generate an energy that
allows them to do their best.When the
audience is engaged, the show is bound to be better than if the crowd just sits
there like a bump on a log. Many of us are familiar with the New
Testament passage, “Obey your
leaders and submit to them,
for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them…