Larry's brother Charles Norman has a link to Larry's Grave as well as some interesting information. Before Larry died he told Charley that he wanted to be buried on a hillside beneath a tree marked by a simple cross.
If you read the story you'll find how this came about. Larry Norman's grave
The family did not know what to put on his grave stone. In going through Larry's papers, Charley came upon some drawings Larry had made of a cross with the epitaph Larry Norman - Evangelist without portfolio - and is small letters - Bloodstained Israelite. Larry had also written in - 1947 - 2009. 
This was all done prior to his death. Larry missed the date by one year.
"...no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows."
God Bless Pete Seeger on his 90Th birthday.
He has lived a long and interesting life. His parents were both entrenched in the business of music. His father was a pioneer in ethnomusicology and a composer. His mother was a classical violinist and teacher. The apple did not fall far from the tree.
In his travels with his father, Pete picked up the 5 string banjo as his instrument of choice. He acquired a repertoire of race songs and hillbilly songs during this time.
As he grew older he fell in with Alan Lomax, who went throughout the country recording blues music, folk music and mountain music. He also was friends with Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly. He played before Presidents and was black listed by McCarthy for being a communist.
He was in part responsible for The Almanac Singers, named after a play about American workers being on strike.
His most famous group was The Weavers, who had some Hit Parade songs with Good-night Irene,So Long It's Been Good To Know You, On Top Of Old Smokey, Tzena Tzena (an Israeli song) and Wimoweh (which was released in 1962 as The Lion Sleeps Tonight).
The Weavers stopped touring in 1953 after the McCarthy hearings blacklisted Pete and he could not get booked. The reunion tour and subsequent performance brought us such songs as Sixteen Tons written by Merle Travis and Kumbaya (which everyone knows).
Seeger penned such great songs as Where Have All The Flowers Gone , If I Had A Hammer and Turn, Turn, Turn. He also adapted a Welsh poem The Bells of Rhymney into a song (which I always was fond of due to the line..."for the vandals in court, the bells of Newport" - it was prophetic since Newport now has the Freedom Bell). Pete has introduced many, many songs into our culture that are now considered folk songs.
Seeger invented his own long neck banjo and had the Ode company produce it. It's neck is 28" long and is tuned a minor third lower than a regular 5 string banjo which has a neck usually 24" to 25.5" in length.
Seeger married his Japanese born wife Toshi and moved his family to New York State in Dutchess County and built a log cabin and later he built a house. In a documentary his children talk about how he built it and how much of the time, they would sleep outside. He heats the house with wood that he still gleans from the forest and draws his water from outside as well. He also built a sailing sloop and sailed up and down the nearby Hudson River to encourage people to clean up the Hudson.
Taking a cue from Woody Guthrie, who posted a sign on his guitar that said, This Machine Kills Fascism, Seeger has stenciled on his banjo's perimeter the words, This Machine Surrounds Hate And Forces It to Surrender.
God Bless Pete Seeger.
Amidst all of the American flags and presidential seals, there was something missing when President Barak Obama gave an economic speech at Georgetown University this week -- Jesus.
A decision to cover up a symbol of Jesus for the president's speech at Georgetown is upsetting many.
The White House asked Georgetown to cover a monogram symbolizing Jesus' name in Gaston Hall, which Obama used for his speech, according to CSNNews.COM
The gold "IHS" monogram inscribed on a pediment in the hall was covered over by a piece of black-painted plywood, and remained covered over the next day, CNSNews.com reported.
The Washington Times Belief Blog asked the university about the presidential request:
Julie Bataille from the university's press office e-mailed me that the White House had asked that all university signage and symbols behind the stage in Gaston Hall be covered.
"The White House wanted a simple backdrop of flags and pipe and drape for the speech, consistent with what they've done for other policy speeches," she wrote. "Frankly, the pipe and drape wasn't high enough by itself to fully cover the IHS and cross above the GU seal and it seemed most respectful to have them covered so as not to be seen out of context."
While the "IHS" directly behind where Obama spoke was covered over, CNSNews.com said the monogram was still visible in 26 other places in the hall during his speech. Those areas just weren't as prominent. However these other places were not shown during the speech.
The Belief Blog talked with the Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Institute at Georgetown University, who said he didn't think "this is motivated by theology, but by communications strategy."
The blog also talked with Catholic University spokesman Victor Nakas, who felt a bit more strongly on the subject:
"I can’t imagine, as the bishops’ university and the national university of the Catholic Church, that we would ever cover up our religious art or signage for any reason," Mr. Nakas wrote. "Our Catholic faith is integral to our identity as an institution of higher education."As a Christian I object to being pushed aside and having symbols of my faith covered. Would this same cover up occur if a speech were given by our President at a house of worship of another faith?
I am working on music for the Jesus House reunion concert coming up this May. As I do this I am reminded of all my old friends from those sweet days.
One group that had such a big impact on a lot of us in this part of the world were a group of friends, Michael Goldberg, Susan Goldberg and Ross Johnson that made up the Christian trio, Rising Hope.
Michael and Susan were students at Great Lakes Bible College in Lansing Michigan. Ross was from Cincinnati and a student at Cincinnati Bible College. They pooled their assets, lived together and drove around the country fighting crime and saving the world from evil... uh. Well no they didn't actually do that. However they drove around the country playing music at churches, church camps, festivals, coffeehouses and pretty much anywhere they could sing about their love of the Lord.
They were not just musicians. Aside from having an incredible singing voice, Susan was blessed with a gift for visual art and did produced both covers for the two LP's. Michael was a photographer and put together their multi-media slide shows. Ross was a woodworker. Michael had the ultimate Martin 12 string guitar. I think it may have been a D35S12. It was a beautiful instrument.
Rising Hope included some of their friends to enhance their performance. Mikal Keefer didn't sing or play, but he had a great speaking voice. Nancy McIntosh added her flute and voice to their songs. In later days Chris Adams was added as a permanent bass player and permanent member.
The excellent thing about their performance was that it was multi-media. They would play their own songs and then have a visual arts show that utilized Mikal Keefer's voice over recorded music and 3 slide projectors that would blend photographs onto a screen. Yes folks, this was many years ago in a galaxy far, far away..... before Power Point existed.
They wrote most of their own music or sang songs written by friends. Their voices blended well. Their style was quiet and acoustic-oriented.
Alas all things change and the 3 went their separate ways.
Ross Johnson married a wonderful Aussie girl named Lyndell and raised a family.
His woodworking skills have blossomed into luthery and he creates beautiful acoustic guitars.
Michael and Susan parted ways.
Susan, now Susan Rice, became a minister, studied at the American Christian University in France and is currently a missionary in Thailand.
Michael became a radio guy and is currently on WNKU as the morning host. He is also a noted artist in stain glass. I still see some of them on Facebook so it is nice to keep in touch and I listen to Michael aka Michael Grayson (reliable sources say the pseudonym was taken from a favorite professor) on the drive to work. I miss their wonderful songs and their comradery.
Larry's brother Charles Norman has a link to Larry's Grave as well as some interesting information. Before Larry died he told Charley that he wanted to be buried on a hillside beneath a tree marked by a simple cross.
