This past weekend I went with Triplet to Strasbourg, France for the Heaven's Door festival. TRIPLET rocked the house and they were one of the best bands of the evening (definitely the hardest). I had the pleasure of seeing an old (in more ways than one :-) friend that I haven't seen for sometime, Jean-Pierre Rudolph, who lives in Strasbourg. Many of you may remember that in Italy we booked many a tour with Rodney Cordner and Jean- Pierre Rudolph. I wish I had a pic of us together to put up here, but maybe that will be for another day. It was great to see him and talk about the ole' days touring in Italy. That was then, but this is now and I'm really enjoying working with TRIPLET in Portugal and on the road in Europe.... and hopefully beyond!
Today was an incredible warm & sunny October day in Portugal. I love the warmth and the sun. The weird thing though was after we went and picked Alana up from the beach (isn't that great, going to the ocean in October!) on our way home we saw an incredible rainbow in the sky and it hadn't even rained. What's that all about? Anyhow, even though the pics don't show you what we REALLY saw, here are a couple that I took at our house after we got back.
So yesterday, Maureen says to me, "So are we gonna get rid of this blog?" and I'm like, well NO, I will eventually get around to it!! Then she mentions that it has been 4 months since the last entry .... How do you guys do it? I think I understand the why you do it, but I can't even do a monthly blog much less a daily or weekly!! O well, I will try to do better. There actually is alot to update which also is the problem. We'll see, maybe I will end up just throwing in the towel and realize that I'm just not cut out for this thing called bloggin'
It is amazing that just weeks after getting on the MTV Portugal Hit List that TRIPLET's video has hit the #5 spot having surpassed bands such as Paramore, Linkin Park, 30 seconds to Mars, and many others!! The number one spot doesn't seem so impossible to reach anymore!!
Thanks go out to many of you that have voted and have kept on voting!!! We need your continued support so please keep those votes coming.
Just click on the link below and choose TRIPLET - Eye 43 and click on the bottom "Este é o meu voto":
TRIPLET's video "Eye 43" just hit #14 today on the MTV Portugal Hit List!!! The Hit List is where people can vote for their favorite video, and the more votes, the more the video plays on MTV. This is only a week after the video was put in the voting!!!
You can vote too! Send in your vote each day and help us get the video to the top of the HIT LIST!! To vote, go on this link below and choose Eye 43 - TRIPLET and click on the bottom "Este é o meu voto":
http://www.mtv.pt/tops/mtv_tops_votacao.aspx
The really cool thing is that there is so much positive feedback that is pouring in from those who have seen the video. It's a song of hope and it's exactly what the young people in Portugal need right now.
Today TRIPLET signed with a Portuguese booking agency called Magic Box! It's amazing how much this agency believes in the band and wants to help us take it to the next level. They have worldwide connections and, most importantly, are well-established here in Portugal. The very first time that Ben, Jasmin and I went in to meet with the agency, we had the gut feeling that this was right. Even before we signed the contract with them, they were getting us gigs. They are an agency that for years was only bringing foreign bands - mostly Reggae - into Portugal and then recently decided to invest in a few Portuguese bands, one of which is TRIPLET. So now we're on the path to greater things and once again we see the favor of God in opening this door for us! You can check them out here: http://www.myspace.com/magicboxpt
Ben & Jasmin from Triplet recently had an interview at Best Rock FM which is the biggest rock radio station in Portugal. The DJ was a bit of a jerk as you'll see in the video. He kept pronouncing Triplet wrong and also some of the questions he directed towards Jasmin had strong sexual overtones. She handled it really well though. We have been told that the radio really wants to get behind the band and will do a more extensive interview in the future - with another DJ! Our hope is that they will add the single "Eye 43" to their hit list and start playing some of the other songs off the CD as well.
So, we had Triplet's video release party last night. "How did it go?" you ask. Now, that is a very good question! Besides the fact that the club failed to inform us that they wouldn't let anyone under the age of 16 through the doors (many of Triplet's fans are under 16 & that's never happened to them before here in Portugal!) and that their projector (it must have been ancient!) did not jive with the DVD copies that we made, resulting in a distorted image of the video....it went great! Sambo & Ryan from Reform the Resistance (with special guest Genette, Ryan's girlfriend, sitting in on keys on one song) did an opening set which they pulled off really well! Then Triplet rocked! The pleasant surprise of the evening was their version of Michael Jackson's "Beat It", which I think should become a regular part of their set. Although it was a bummer that some kids never got past the security guards (we did manage to get Isaac in :-), those who were there to celebrate with us the release of "Eye 43" on MTV Portugal did have a good time and it was more like a party with faithful fans of the band than a concert. Here is the video, and in coming months we're hoping to get it to the top of the MTV Portugal Hit list, as well as shown on MTV all across Europe! Enjoy!!
There are some really awesome things going on right now with the band TRIPLET! One of the most exciting is that their video "Eye 43", is in rotation on MTV Portugal which, by the way, still plays music videos. We have been praying that once this video started to air that it would open more doors for the band in this country. Well, a week after it started to air, the biggest rock radio station in the country, Best Rock FM, contacted us and they want to start airing Triplet's music on their station! To start with they will be doing a live interview with Ben & Jasmin on Tuesday May 13th and this will also help promote the video release party that we're doing on Thursday May 15th! Next week after the party I'll put the video up here for you all to see. Ben will also be putting it on YouTube and I'll give you the link for that as well. Stay tuned for more.....
Besides the fact that I'm posting 2 days in a row, today is a historical day in that Isaac had his first surfing lesson in the ocean! I wish I would have taken a camera, but I didn't and all I did was lay on the beach and enjoy the awesome warm sunny weather as I watched Isaac trying to get up on the board (which he did with the help of the instructor). We are blessed to be friends with the number 3 Portuguese surfer (she has been as high as #2) Joana, who is pictured here with Isaac. She is a new believer and Isaac hit it off with her the first time they met.
Before leaving Italy, one of Isaac's older friends at the Sk8park said to him that he would have to come visit him here to see him surf. Isaac's response was, "You won't have to do that because you'll see me on TV!!" That's my boy!!!
I did a vid for our church's mission conference and I thought that those of you who hadn't see it might enjoy seeing it here in spite of the poor quality. Rick Cua, who is one of those friend's that we haven't seen in way to long, did a song that just captures what we feel about being in Portugal and about what God is doing in and through us here. Hope you enjoy it!
Hi everyone! So people REALLY do read these things :-)!! We got several emails asking why we haven't written anything here in sooooo long. Well, besides that we got so busy and as a result forgot what our password was... we're also a bit on the lazy side when it comes to writing. Also, since Maureen is always writing to people and is on the computer instant messaging (I've been absent both on MSN and Skype), what I thought would be a natural process of her just taking off with the blog, turned out to be just one more thing that she couldn't find the time to do :-( I guess I should have checked that out with her in the first place!!! So.... let's see how it goes this time, but don't expect anything like a daily entry.... we'll try monthly, with the hope of doing more. Here's hopin'....
Wow.... I hate to see Christmas vacation end. I've so enjoyed relaxing with our family, sitting around the table laughing and telling stories with friends, watching movies and sleeping late. We've had some much-needed rest but aren't feeling quite reading to resume "life as usual" (whatever that is...). School starts again for Alana and Isaac on Thursday.
After a Christmas Eve dinner with 30 other friends and a quiet Christmas Day at home, we spent New Year's Eve at "Mount of Oaks", the restful community our friend Barbara has started three hours north of Lisbon. It was a day of talking with friends old and new around the table, walking in the woods, sleeping in the hammock, laughing around the campfire.
It was also a special day because we brought our friend Marcia and her few bags of belongings there, as she begins a new chapter "stepping out of the boat" that has been her normal life. Last Friday, she left her job and has now moved to Mount of Oaks, where she'll spend the next six months, resting, serving, growing, listening. After that, it's on to Mexico for a YWAM Discipleship Training School. May God's grace shine more brightly on you with each new day, Marcia!!
I was also touched to meet a young German guy at Mt. of Oaks - our daughter Alana's age and with a green mohawk that matched hers, too :o). Spiked hair, punk clothing, jacket toting the anarchy symbol... yet just a little love, caring and acceptance quickly shattered the rough exterior, revealing the heart of a child, soft and seeking.
In halting English, he shared the story of his recent difficulties in school, with his family and with the law, how he was ordered to find a place to do community service for the next 6 months and how he's ended up at Mount of Oaks to do just that. He says he doesn't believe in God but finds what's going on there at the land pretty cool. Late in the evening, he sat with our 10-year-old Isaac, asking him to show him the right way to hold the drum he was trying to play, to teach him about rhythm. So much for anarchy... God is so good.
This story began when we met through YWAM Amsterdam back in 1983. In '85, we married and moved to Italy, where we spent 22 amazing years in music and youth ministry. We're now in Portugal, beginning to pen the next chapter of our lives.
This past weekend I went with Triplet to Strasbourg, France for the Heaven's Door festival. 
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