Live Simple - Pray Hard

More from Rafter Six & Lake Louise

2008-05-23T14:22:00.000-04:00

Leaving the Rockies

2008-05-21T01:33:00.002-04:00

We had a day off here at Rafter Six Ranch after a great concert and teaching yesterday. I have a bunch of photos and some video to sort through. Hopefully I can get some up in the next couple days. We leave first thing in the morning for Lethbridge, Alberta the back to Calgary for the remaining concerts. I've discovered that I was confused about the date of Memorial Day this year so it looks like I'm going to miss all my family at home. Any of you reading this....sorry! Absent minded sound guy syndrome.

Back in Alberta

2008-05-19T01:54:00.000-04:00

Well we had great concerts in Saskatoon & Regina and today made the drive from Regina to Rafter Six Ranch just a bit east of Banff. I had a great walk in Saskatoon the other day that I hope to write about on my other blog. CAM member and organizer of this leg Denis Grady met us here at the ranch today. Denis and his wife Wendy were nice enough to take me out to dinner tonight and show me around Banff a bit. The evening finished with a bit of a sing-a-long around the campfire. We even had John Michael and Viola out for a bit!

Denis getting his guitar warmed up

Vioal Toasting Marshmallows

Little Portion Fire Video

2008-05-19T01:42:00.000-04:00

Click here for an alternate, Ken Burns-esque, version of this video.

JMT on TopCatholicSongs

2008-05-16T01:49:00.000-04:00

Nick Alexander just sent word that some CAM members have placed playlists of favorite JMT songs and comments about the fire over on TopCatholicSongs.com.

Woooo...catching up...

2008-05-15T21:25:00.000-04:00

Well I'm settled in here at Queen's House retreat center in Saskatoon for the night. It feels like it's been a whirlwind few days. We've been to Red Deer, Sherwood Park, Caroline and Fort McMurray already. All the concert have been very good. All the crowds have been very responsive both to John Michael's music and to the news of the fire at Little Portion.
In Sherwood Park we played at Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish to a packed house and John Michael did a retreat/teaching the next day. The folks at OLPH did a great job getting us all in and setup. Len, the sponsor from OLPH, is also from Universal church supplies who are handling product sales at all our Canadian concerts. We've seen Len and his wife a few times already. We sent our bus in for repair in Sherwood Park too. Unfortunately it still isn't fixed so it will make another trip to the shop here in Saskatoon. Our poor bus driver Bill has been nearly pulling is hair out dealing with the mechanics.
After Sherwood Park we went down to Sanctum Retreat center in Caroline, Alberta to meet our hosts Kristoph, Mariette and their son Joshua. Bill & Joshua struck up an immediate friendship & rivalry watching hockey on the bus! I wandered the somewhat snowbound trails at Sanctum taking pictures and shooting video. We all did laundry and John Michael sang, without PA, for a group of about 30 priests on retreat. A good time was truly had by all.
From Caroline we headed north to the oil sands country and Fort McMurray. We stayed at the rectory of St. Paul's church with 26 year old Father Andrew, the youngest priest of his diocese. St. Paul's is actually part of St. John the Baptist parish whose pastor is Father Gerard. Father Gerard has spent much of the past decade making tapestries which hang in his parish. They are each based in scripture and are spectacular. His tapestries of the book of Revelation and of the prophets nearly brought me to tears. I heard the song Ancient of Days in my head as Father explained the images to us. I only wish I'd had my camera with me. Perhaps one day Father Gerard will be able to publish a book of photos documenting his work.
So here we are in Saskatoon after a long drive today. I've been doing some video editing on the bus. John Michael and I have trying together to learn Google Sketchup the past few days. Viola is feeling a little under the weather and could use your prayers.
JMT playing for Priests on retreat at Sanctum Retreat Center

JMT & Viola with our hosts at Sanctum

JMT teaching at OLPH in Sherwood Park

Into Canada we go..

2008-05-09T00:53:00.000-04:00

Ok, actually we're already in Canada. We had a great concert in Great Falls, Montana Tuesday night. Stayed with the Poor Claires in their new retreat house. Special thanks to Colette Bernica at Central Catholic HS for enduring the flood of packages and other mayhem that ensued because of the fire. Thanks too, to Marty Severson for bringing me a decent little PA on short notice.
Wednesday we made the drive across the border. Spent an hour or so dealing with immigration. No great trauma there, just bureaucracy along with friendliness. Made a stop in Calgary; while I picked up rental gear John Michael did an interview with the Calgary Herald. Thanks go to the fellas in rental at Long & McQuade.
That brings us to today here in Red Deer, Alberta. I had to make a run this morning to pick a pile of assorted stuff necessary to getting my job done from day to day. Then this afternoon it was off to St. Mary's parish for our first Canadian concert. Turned out to be a great night. Irene, our sponsor, did a great job and my volunteers were cheerful and willing at every turn. Except for me a making a couple mistakes with the new PA it was a really good concert. Tomorrow and Saturday we're in Sherwood Park.
JMT in Red Deer

More Photos from the fire

2008-05-04T18:37:00.000-04:00

These photos come from Richard Ims, BSC.

LittlePortionFire from Richard Ims, BSC.

Tour departs on time...

2008-05-03T16:48:00.001-04:00

At 6:00 a. m. this morning, Viola, John Michael and I, along with Bill our driver for this trip, boarded the bus for our first Canadian tour. Meanwhile, life at Little Portion has already regained some sense of order if not normalcy. It's been one heck of a four day ride for the community. Myself, I chipped in a little here and there. I was able to help get the wheels in motion to have a new phone system installed and took the first steps towards having new broadband internet access brought on site. I also made some small electrical repairs to the interim common center. That, strangely, felt like the most productive and satisfying thing I did this week. There are many special little things I've seen or heard this week. I watched Tuesday as the children walked around the site taking in the damage for the first time. Many visitors were asked to make a prayer walk around the site and to pray over the grounds. Father Bob & Father Thomas I am told, prayed over the ashes of the Altar which lay atop my gear.
Thursday the whole community participated in celebrations for The National Day of Prayer at the Carroll County fair grounds. The event concluded with John Michael performing, the final moments were in candlelight. It's almost surreal to me to think of this event. Looking into the stands I saw a profoundly American, and newly ecumenical, picture. All of the Brothers, Sisters & Families from Little Portion in their habits. Mennonite children sitting among the LP children. Baptists, Pentecostals, Presbyterians... Anyone who knows me knows that I don't pull punches when it comes to doctrine and belief. But that doesn't mean that I am unaware of, or opposed to, the significance of such an event. Many of my ancestors after all were Puritans with names like Cotton, Dennison & Gallup. Special thanks go to Randy Franz and family for the generous use of their PA for the whole event and the special assistance that Randy provide John Michael & Me. I have more to post about but am thoroughly exhausted at the moment. More pictures to come soon I hope.

Early morning after the fire

2008-05-01T10:25:00.000-04:00

These were taken early Tuesday morning. The last fire fighters didn't leave until about 6 a.m. They returned later that day to try to douse some hotspots in the area of the stock room & library. Even now that area is still smoldering.

LittlePortionFire

Fire at Little Portion

2008-05-01T10:12:00.000-04:00

Friends,
I'm writing to you from Little Portion Hermitage, the home of the Brothers & Sisters of Charity and their founder, my friend & client, John Michael Talbot. Late Monday night a fire broke out in the Chapel here. By the time the Sisters came to wake me up at 2a.m. The Chapel was completely gone and the adjacent common center was completely engulfed by the fast spreading fire.
Four volunteer fire companies responded to this remote location in the Ozark mountains. They worked hard to prevent the fire from spreading to the other buildings of the monastery. The workshops, farm buildings, convent, brother's hermitages, family residences, and the smaller Portiuncala Chapel were all spared. Unfortunately the Main Chapel and the common center were a total loss. In addition to losing their primary worship space the community lost its kitchen, dining rooms, offices, infirmary, classrooms, recreation room, stock room (full of CDs & books), and the library & community archive. This is a devastating blow to the BSC who are celebrating their 25th anniversary this year, fortunately no community members or firefighters were injured.
While I am not a member of the community it has been a part of my professional & personal life for about eight years. It's difficult to describe what it's like to watch your friends endure such a blow. Even more, words seem inadequate to describe the resilience and faith which this community and its friends have responded. By sunrise Tuesday friends and neighbors began arriving bringing coffee, food and offers of help. Working through the day the Brothers quickly restored power throughout the undamaged portions of the monastery and more importantly water, which was so desperately needed to care for both community members and farm animals. Office operations and a community gathering area were quickly reestablished in an empty residence. At 1pm the community and visiting guests crowded into the Portiuncala Chapel to celebrate Mass. Fr. Bob quoted Job: "The LORD giveth, The LORD taketh away, Blessed be the name of The LORD." At 5:30pm the community was back on it's regular schedule, gathering for evening prayer in the Portiuncala Chapel. Despite reduced phone and internet access messages of support and prayer have poured in from community friends far and near. There have been regular visitors from nearby catholic & non-catholic churches, local and regional press, and even from Subiaco Abbey, some distance away.
With the encourage ment of the community John Michael's scheduled tour to Canada will proceed as planned. John Michael, Viola & I will be leaving Saturday for the Journey to Alberta, with one concert stop in Montana along the way. All of the equipment we tour with, much of it purchased just a few years ago, was lost in the fire. There is not one cable, microphone, speaker or amplifier left. I'm making arrangements for rental equipment as we go along. It will be a simple, minimalist setup this trip.
If you are of a mind to, please say a prayer for the Brothers & Sisters of Charity. I know that they are ever grateful for all the support they receive. If you'd like to know more about the community or to make a donation please visit http://www.littleportion.org. Lastly, if you have time, stop my tour blog: http://monkrocktour.blogspot.com. As soon as I have decent internet access I'll post some pictures from the fire along with any more news and my regular updates from the road.
God bless,
John

Catholic New Media Celebration!

2008-04-25T13:42:00.001-04:00

Just checking in...

2008-04-14T21:15:00.000-04:00

Didn't want anyone to think I've completely forgotten the blog. We'll be leaving on another JMT tour in a couple weeks. We're heading to Alberta, Canada this trip. Our first time across the border on tour. I'm a little concerned about dealing with customs but I think we've got it all worked out.
Meantime it's been a sleepy but somewhat productive winter. I just finished a pretty large bunch of archival material for the BSC library. I'm hoping that some of this historic material will eventually be made available on the web. This year marks BSC's 25th anniversary at Little Portion so it's an appropriate time.
In my own world work continues on my house bit by bit. I made it to the Faith & Media Conference at Franciscan University earlier this month. A worthwhile trip that provided some insight into the way new media can impact the church. Not quite sure how I fit into it all myself though. To see & hear some of this new media check out SQPN.
I've also been posting randomly to my other blog.
More to come as we get going on our way to the great white north.

Liam Lawton on PBS

2008-03-09T14:20:00.000-04:00

Irish priest & singer Liam Lawton credits JMT in this story that appeared today on Religion & Ethics News Weekly.

There are two still images of JMT in the piece. The first is in the chapter room at Little Portion. The second is one, likely taken by me, from a concert at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Phillip in Atlanta.

Louisiana - Alabama

2008-02-12T10:32:00.000-05:00

Greetings!
We're two concerts into this run now. Sunday night in Louisiana was a bit interesting. We played in a worn out college auditorium. Had a partial power failure in the building just 10 minutes after the doors opened. We did the first set with the house lights on, I had to act pretty quick to make sure we had a functioning PA. Had it all back together with stage lights for the second set.

Last night saw us outside Birmingham in a nearly packed church. Overall, both concerts were pretty successful and I'm pretty much back into the swing of things having been at home since the fall.

Lent and the road

2008-02-08T16:40:00.001-05:00

Well it's been a while but we're road bound again. JMT had a busy fall between touring, visiting Rome, Ireland & India. Now we're off on a short lenten trip through the south. Please check the concert calendar and come on out to support the ministry and enjoy a little Lenten quiet time.
Also, if you haven't kept with all of JMT's traveling be sure to check his blog for reports from abroad.
God grant you a blessed and prayerful Lent,
John

Christmas Greetings

2007-12-21T15:18:00.000-05:00

A little levity.....

2007-12-11T00:13:00.000-05:00

Back home....

2007-11-23T00:10:00.000-05:00

Well, this tour ended well. JMT had serious vocal problems for the last several concerts. But, with much prayer & care he made it through. I flew home Monday from Kansas and have since moved on to visit family out of state for the holiday. I'll be back to working on my house and doing studio work for the remainder of the year. John Michael and Viola returned home to Little Portion on the bus and I've heard from JMT that the food and fellowship for thanksgiving were wonderful as ever. I'm embedding two slideshows below. One is an overview of the whole tour leg. The other, dedicated just to our time on the Navajo reservation in Tohatchi. While we work with many wonderful volunteers and visit terrific new places each trip, Tohatchi will likely be the most memorable for us this trip.

JMT November 2007

Tohatchi November 2007

Tohatchi

2007-11-06T21:27:00.000-05:00

Our concert in Mesa was canceled so we are able to spend some extra time at St. Mary's mission here on the Navajo reservation. Last night JMT played in the mission church here to a small but enthusiastic crowd. Today we went out with one of the Sisters here to bring communion some of the elderly on the reservation and later to visit the parish school in Gallup.

A few pics...

2007-11-04T00:02:00.002-04:00

Sunrise over Little Portion

Monastery Farewells

Onstage in Amarillo

JMT with our Sponsors in Amarillo

Off we go...

2007-10-31T12:01:00.000-04:00

Greetings campers. The JMT express has left the station once again. The boss is back from his sojourns to Rome & Ireland, we've got a big red pentecostal lookin' bus and we are now westbound! 1st stop Amarillo. Be sure to check the schedule for a concert near you. What? There isn't one near you? Then book one! There's booking info available here.
More to come soon.

On to Reading....

2007-09-16T10:16:00.000-04:00

It's been a busy few days. We haven't done this many concerts in a row in a while so I think we're all still catching our breath. One more today in Reading, PA (you know, Monopoly gave them a railroad), then two days off before our concert in Hershey. Mmmmm..chocolate. :-) Pictures and maybe even some video coming as soon as I have some time. Speaking of video, look for a JMT interview and some concert footage from the concert in Woodstock coming on IcthusEQ, a show from the Diocese of Brooklyn.

Still goin'

2007-09-09T13:47:00.000-04:00

The concert in Forked River, New Jersey went great last night. A full house with an enthusiastic audience. John Michael for the first time in years came out for an encore and asked the audience to sing the Doxology with him. Today is Rehobeth Beach, Delaware and tomorrow Patchogue, Long Island. We're overnighting to Patchogue to try to avoid the NYC traffic Monday morning so pray for us as we go.

LA...Little Portion...and beyond

2007-09-07T08:15:00.000-04:00

Well we're back on the road again. For me it's been a bit longer than normal since I missed most of the last tour when Mom died. Thanks again to Richard Hoggat of Stage Directions in Houston for stepping up to the plate to cover me in April.
We flew out to Los Angeles and drove to Anaheim for SCRC. JMT taught a session on the Jesus Prayer and sang before and after the keynote address.
JMT & Jeanette Humes BSCD at the JMT/BSC Booth
We rushed right back to LAX for our flight to Arkansas sow worried about traffic we were four hours early! We killed some time with a leisurely lunch, arrived at the gate with two hours left only to find that our flight was canceled. This summer has been the worst for flying that I can remember. So we re-booked, flew to Dallas then flew to Arkansas Sunday morning. Drove straight to Little Portion Retreat Center in time to join the celebration of the retreat center's 30th anniversary on More Mountain.
I did some gear maintenance Monday morning, the bus arrived in the afternoon and we loaded up gear and merchandise. I had time enough Monday afternoon to take a little tour of the chicken pastures at LP too.
Chickens in a pen

Chicken Dog

Chicken Spider

Pens in a pasture

Wednesday was the first concert of the Living Water tour, at St. Joseph Parish in Freeburg, Illinois where they are celebrating 150 years as a parish. It was a great concert with a great crew of volunteers.
Now we're headed for New Jersey and four or five concerts in a row. Keep praying for us!