Phredd

FRED MCNAUGHTON – I had the opportunity to attend Momentum 2010 this past week.  Momentum 2010 is a gathering of Christian Radio and Festival people who get together to share ideas.  In addition to great learning sessions, there were also many opportunities to hear artists.  One new artist that I was really impressed with was Coffey Anderson.  Half way thru Coffey’s song, he backing tracks quit.  Coffey continued to play with just his guitar and really impressed everyone by keeping his composure.  I think you are going to really like his music (it comes out later this fall).  Here’s the song he played for us in Orlando.

PS I did get to talk to Coffey and he told me he was just recently in Camp Hill.  Hey Camp Hillers, did you get to see Coffey in concert?

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FRED MCNAUGHTON – Tractor, Tractor harvesting the wheat. Tractor, Tractor harvesting the wheat.  What an incredibly catchy fun and engaging song.  You’ve probably heard TRACTOR TRACTOR on the Kids Cookie Break or maybe you’ve been one of many who have called Radio Friend Phil to hear it on the request show.  Even  more fun and engaging is Mr. Randall Goodgame himself.  Randall brought Slugs and Bugs to Creation this year despite a nasty gash to his lower leg obtained while building a tree house for his 3 children.

Read Randall’s account of his first visit to Creation.

Listen to more Slugs and Bugs song at their myspace

…and watch Randall wow the Creation Kids Stage Crowd.  I’m thinking you will find him as fun and engaging as we did, and I’m guessing you’ll be singing “Tractor Tractor” and “Bears” the rest of the day.

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Fred McNaughton

phredd@wjtl.com

FRED MCNAUGHTON – This morning’s musical guest was a breath of fresh air.  Engaging, winsome, and fabulously talented – if you’ve not heard of Joy Ike, you need to do some clicking.  She is sharing her faith in mainstream settings with honesty, personality and great music.

Check out the interviews and live songs.

Visit her website.

See her tonite in Hanover or Friday in Lancaster.

Watch the interview and song from this morning.

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Fred McNaughton

Get Up and Go Show Host/Station Manager

phredd@wjtl.com

FRED MCNAUGHTON – Jon Acuff’s daily blog is mostly amazing.  This one is even more mostly amazing!

Fred McNaughton – aka Phredd

Station Manager & Get Up & Go Show Co-Host

phredd@wjtl.com

Dana practicing this past Memorial Day in preparation for an upcoming benefit concert.

FRED MCNAUGHTON – For many WJTL listeners from the mid to late 80s, DeGarmo and Key was their favorite band.  They remained Rock and Roll while adopting “cool” 80s keyboard sounds and production techniques.   They also continued to share the Gospel in their same straight-forward manner, even though other artists of the time were finding success with ambiguous lyrics and a less confrontational message.

I had the opportunity to produce/promote/be a part of….about a dozen DeGarmo and Key shows over the years in the WJTL listening area (Hersheypark Arena, Elizabethtown College, Hershey Theatre, LMH, Sight and Sound, Creation).  With Dana’s unexpected passing, I was trying to remember some of the highlights from those events.   Of the two of them, Eddie DeGarmo was the more affable.  He was much more likely to strike up a conversation with you and hang out with the local crew.  Dana seemed more serious and focused on the task at hand. I do remember that Dana had the kind of gaze that could turn you into a statue.  Intense would not begin to describe it.

Here are just three little nuggets of memories I had from working with Eddie and Dana over the years.

For some reason I ended up backstage just before D&K was to perform at the Creation Festival.  As I remember it, this would have been toward the end of their career.  They were playing an afternoon slot.  I overheard stage manager Denny Keitzman tell them that, for whatever reason, they wouldn’t be able to soundcheck.  Eddie, Dana and Tommy Cathey (the band’s bass player) were unfazed by the request and nonchalantly said they could go on without a soundcheck.  This was not said with any sort of bragging, just very matter of factly.  Then they went on stage and lit into one of the hottest sets I have ever heard at Creation, barring none.  They were consummate professionals.  They had done thousands of shows and showed complete confidence in their own abilities as well as that of the Creation team they were working with.

Once, when we were doing a DeGarmo and Key show at LMH (Lancaster Mennonite High School).  Dana was on some kind of special diet where he needed to eat fish every so many days. Our intrepid concert catering team (Gwenda, Sarah, Cyndee, et.al.) agreed – against their better judgement.  By the time school opened back up on Monday morning the fish smell had permeated the entire music wing of the school.  I am pretty sure we have not served fish at a concert since.

Lastly, I remember a show we did with Eddie and Dana at Sight and Sound Auditorium. This was the old sight and sound hall before the new one was built.  If my memory serves me correctly it was a co-bill between DeGarmo and Key and Mylon and Brokenheart.  It was the last day of the tour and the crew was pulling off all kinds of practical jokes.   During one song, they lowered a poster of some kind with writing all over it, from the rafters, right beside Dana while he was singing.  Even the stoic Dana Key got a laugh from their unexpected prank and laughingly shared with the audience that it was the last night of the tour and that everyone was just a little giddy with the thought of going home.  I think it helped all of us realize that these guys weren’t just musicians – they were dads and husbands with wives and children who were excited for their soon arrival.

Dana Key (along with his childhood friend and partner – Ed DeGarmo) was a pioneer of Christian Rock Music.  He died yesterday (June 6) reportedly of a ruptured blood clot, at the age of 56.  At the time of his death, Dana was pastor of a church in Cordova Tennessee – The Love of Christ Church.  His passing gives new perspective regarding his comments from that Sight and Sound concert from long ago about “being a little giddy with the thought of going home.”

Fred McNaughton
Station Manager & Get Up and Go Show Co-Host
phredd@wjtl.com

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FRED MCNAUGHTON – Sadly, we do not have many Chic-fil-As in our area.  The song, however, is hysterical!

Phredd

phredd@wjtl.com

FRED MCNAUGHTON – Today our winner in the Kids Cookie Break “Phreddsong” art contest brought Lisa and me cookies made from letters that spelled out our name.  How cute is that?  Thank you Kiana.  Enjoy the Uke!

Fred McNaughton

phredd@wjtl.com

FRED MCNAUGHTON – When I was little I loved the smell of coffee brewing in the morning.  My mom and dad would be getting ready for work and I could smell it wafting from the kitchen from my room.  Then one day my mom left me taste it.  IT TASTED LIKE PICKLE JUICE!!!!!  Yuck.  Thus was born the song, “If Coffee Smells So Good Why Does It Taste So Bad.”  Not only is it one of my most requested songs, I think it might be up there with one of the longest song titles of all time.

When I sing “The Coffee Song” in concert, kids inevitably ask me if I really don’t like the taste of coffee.  I tell them that when I was their age I didn’t like it, but that as I’ve gotten older, and have fried more of my taste buds, that I actually do enjoy drinking coffee in the morning.

Yesterday I received this email from listener – Pastor Melvin Flosser.  It made me laugh so much that I thought I would share it with you.

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Dear Phredd,

Well, I was heading to church this morning with my wife and five kids sipping a cup of coffee (Sumatra beans fresh ground and made in a french press) and, well, let’s just say I was inspired.  A little silliness, a little caffeine and well, the rest just kinda flowed.  Hope you enjoy.

I’ve got this nagging question,
I pose it to you Phredd.
I really want to help you!
It really must be said!
You had a bad experience,
Like most the people had
If you drink pathetic coffee, then of course it’s bad!

C-O-F-F-E-E
Use bottled water, and grind your own beans!

C-O-F-F-E-E
If you do it right you will LOVE COFFEE!

I’ve got this nagging question
And also to your spouse
Did you just try Folgers
Or buy some Maxwell House?
Do you think Dunkin Donuts is gourmet? Oh how sad!
No wonder you think coffee is so awfully bad!

C-O-F-F-E-E
Don’t go to Turkey Hill, to buy coffee!

C-O-F-F-E-E
If you know what to buy you will LOVE coffee!

Coffee is so good!
If you make it like you should!
It doesn’t have to be
Bitter or acidy
Oh, it’s liquid love
A gift from up above
You will yell out loud for sure
Asking me for MORE!!

I’ve got a nagging question
I pose it to you Phredd
Don’t let people who can’t make coffee
Make you think it is all so bad!
If you just let me make you some then you will be so glad
You will know that coffee smells so good and does NOT taste bad!
— 
Pastor M. Flosser.

Thanks Pastor Mel.  That made my day.  I think I will ask Eddie to fire up the WJTL Coffee Making Machine because now you got me hankering for a cup of joe.  Pour yourself your favorite hot beverage and enjoy the video.

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Fred McNaughton – So I was tooling around the new WJTL website, seeing how everything looks and making sure all the links are working and enjoying how the videos pop up at the WJTL video page when I saw this video and remembered how funny I thought it was.  So I watched it again, and somehow I think it is even funner.  Thank you Kristi, Eddie and Shawn MacDonald for being so genuinely entertaining. You have taken something as misunderstood as stalking and made it a work of art. Can you say “Reality TV Show” Pilot?  Listen closely for the line, “If I was in charge of myself, I’d be on vacation.”

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Fred McNaughton

Phredd@wjtl.com

So, this girl shows up this morning and says she is my co-host!  She seemed to know what she was doing and sounded good on the radio, so I let her stay.

Welcome back Miss Lisa.  We all missed you, but I missed you most!