God and Country

Point of Grace

Avalon (Michael Passons second from left)

I just returned from a fun evening at the Idaho Center here in Nampa. The area "God and Country" rally was held in the outdoor ampitheater, featuring Point of Grace as the special musical guest. I'm telling you, those girls can still sing! They have one "new" member who has now been with them nearly 3 years, Leigh Cappillino, but their harmonies still povide the classic POG sound I've always enjoyed. They traveled out here with a scaled down band, just an acoustic guitar player (the Leigh's husband, Dana, who has been the band leader for the last 7 years) and Michael Passons on the keyboard. Some of you diehard CCM fans from the 90s will remember Michael as one of the founding members of the group Avalon. Maybe I'm getting old and nostalgic, but their best songs tonight were the ones from their first 3 recordings. They performed my personal favorite, "The Great Divide", along with some other classics like "I'll keep Believing", "Gather At the River", and "Keep the Candle Burning". As a special treat Michael Passons brought the house down with his rendition of the Avalon hit "Testify to Love". I felt like it was 1998 all over again.

After the concert, right above us I might add, they had a fantasmo* pyrotechnics show! I was a little nervous about how Kassady would handle it, especially being that close. She loved it! I had bought some popcorn, so she kept one hand going from the popcorn bag to her mouth, while gazing up at the fireworks. Trey enjoyed it, but was concerned that some of the flaming bits would land upon his person (uh...he doesn't have, like, a person person...it's just an age-old metaphor...just forget it, OK?) and so he kept one eye on where the dying embers were landing.

We had a good time. It's nice to just get away and enjoy an evening with family, friends, and fireworks (I would throw in Point of Grace, but their name doesn't start with an F, now, does it?).

*This is the first time that I have ever typed the word "fantasmo". It felt good.