I was recently browsing my best friend Chris’ music collection and stumbled on his Don Francisco collection. Don is an amazing Christian folk singer that we’ve listened to since we were kids (well teenagers). My CDs have long since been scratched or lost and it was a great joy to listen to Don again. It got me thinking about high school and I suddenly remembered that I have a picture of Chris wearing a t-shirt from one of Don’s albums.
I scanned it and sent a copy to Don via email for kicks – he was, after all, the first Christian concert I attended and remains one of my favorite Christian artists.
Hi Don,
I’m sure you won’t remember me, but my friend Chris and I saw you at a concert in Long Beach, CA in the early 90′s at a small church. I can’t recall the year exactly, but we were probably 15 or 16 years old when we saw you. I had never heard your songs before the concert, but I was so moved by your music that we spent all the money we had to buy 2 CDs and two T-shirts.
We sat right next to a woman who claimed to be your sister. After the concert, she invited us “back stage” to meet you. You were kind enough to autograph our T-Shirts and CD’s. We wore those shirts at school (which raised some eyebrows). I attached a picture of me and my friend Chris from our yearbook where you can see Chris wearing your T-shirt.
Anyhow, I stumbled across my yearbook recently and I thought you might get a kick out of the picture. Chris and I have grown up and have families now, but we still listen to your music. I’ve met several “celebrities” in my life, but none quite compared to the humble Christian singer I met when I was a teenager. You are a true celebrity to me (and Chris I’m sure).
Thanks Don. Your music has inspired us both in ways we cannot express.
God Bless,
Jim
Three days later, Don sent a reply:
Jim,
Thank you very much. That photo is just wonderful! Wow, we’ve been around awhile.
What a great God we have.
In Him,
Don
In case you’re interested in Don’s awesome Christian folk music, please check out his web site. You can download pretty much his entire library as MP3′s on an honor system, but you can also buy CD’s if you prefer.
January 21st, 2009 at 18:28
Whoah… seriously old school. Nice find, Jim. =)
You may also be interested to know that Karen came across Don Francisco’s music in my collection and knew it well from her time in a Catholic ministry for young adults called Search. The good stuff gets around.
I took a look at those mp3s–I had not been in that folder in ages–and was more than a little horrified that they were ripped at 128kbps. I can’t even remember how long ago I stopped ripping at that bit rate (probably 1999 or so), which makes me think she was the one who did the ripping. I know she was the last person to have the original CDs. She horked them for something she was putting together for her old friends from Search, and they never made it back to my CD drawer. If you would like, I could try to find them are re-rip at 320kpbs for you.
Actually, thinking more about it… I have not seen the original to High Praise in a long, long time. I can’t recall a specific instance of seeing it since the blue Accord. There was some old Praise Band stuff in there, too. I think there were some Acapella CDs in there as well. Remember this one: http://www.theacappellacompany.com/setmefree1.html ? Some of that stuff got ripped at some point, which tells me it had to have survived to sometime around the apartment on Clementine, but I just can’t remember seeing it.
January 22nd, 2009 at 15:10
Come on Jim, can’t you remember that I was there too ?:) If you recall, there was supposed to be an intermission so you could by his stuff, but the Pastor never announced it, and the turn out was low, but John bought a tape for me since I didn’t have a CD player.
Also, when I was in the Ivory Coast I saw a kid with one of his shirts on. It was quite funny.
January 24th, 2009 at 18:20
That is very cool! Cool that you sent him a letter and that you got a response. It’s still hard to believe that you and Chris are old enough to have such “long ago” memories.