Larry Norman Message Board

On November 17th, 2007 I played a gig at a place in Saginaw, Michigan called Jamestowne Hall, a place where alcohol is banned from the shows so that all ages are able to attend the shows.

The show did contain mostly secular acts but I was not the only Christian who performed as the lead singer of the main act who played is a Christian himself as well :)

A national independent label band called A Farewell Rescue had played at this show as well (only my 2nd time on the same bill as a national act, except the other national I was on the same bill as, was not a national act at the time but became one later on).

Anyways I had planned for this show to do 9 original songs of mine, plus 1 Larry Norman track, the one titled I Wish We'd All Been Ready, as I had also done I Wish We'd All Been Ready at my 2 other gigs that I had done in 2007.

So that was 10 songs total I had planned to do, however after playing 10th song for the set and thinking I was all done, I was told I had time for 1 more song, and well ok any other song I would throw it would be one I had not even bothered rehearsing, but I didn't feel comfortable enough to add another one of my originals into the mix, and I Wish We'd All Been Ready was the only Larry Norman track I had rehearsed for the set.

However I had before played Why Don't You Look Into Jesus at home, and I am sure I had considered it for setlist before, so although I had not rehearsed this one for the show, I knew I could play it and although Why Don't You Look Into Jesus was not planned for my set, you can be sure that God had planned the last minute addition of the track into my setlist.

And you can be sure God was with me as I played it because I played it real good, and after I was done and taking my equipment down, 1 guy in the audience told me that the last song I had played in the set had meant a lot to him, and I told him about that Larry Norman wrote the song, I asked him if he had heard of Larry before and he said he hadn't.

Of course before I played I Wish We'd All Been Ready, I asked the crowd if anyone had heard of Larry Norman and it appears 1 person did say yes :)

With the fact that I learned that you could send a check for $100 and an autographed CD of your remakes of Larry's stuff to Larry himself, to secure permissions to sell your own remakes, I had wanted in due time to send Larry a CD of my Live at Jamestowne Hall show (since I had recorded it) along with a check for $100 but I had not done this yet due to money issues up for me (but I had hoped to eventually send CD and the $100 check).

But now with the passing of Larry, I regret that I never did at least send him the CD of my gig, because I think he would have been happy to know that a Christian currently age 29 had performed 2 of his songs in front of a crowd of younger generations that had never heard his music before, not to mention this 29 yr old which is me, had kept Larry's music alive in 3 gigs while performing original material as well.

I would like to send Larry's family a copy of the show on CD as well, so if anyone from Larry's family is reading this and you want a CD of my Jamestowne Hall show, please let me know and I will send you a copy as soon as possible.

I have no idea when I will do a gig again, but I do plan to include I Wish We'd All Been Ready and Why Don't You Look Into Jesus into my future gigs.

It is an honor to have played those songs when Larry was alive, and I know Larry was dedicated to spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the songs, and I know a lot of musicians including myself wish to help keep Larry's music alive.

Larry is home with the Lord now, but his music and his message will continue to live on.

In Christ

Ryan McReynolds