New York Update

I’ve posted a complete Blog of the New York trip on the MYSPACE PAGE so click on over and waste a few minutes.

September Update

September has been crazy-busy so far. I loved getting to reconnect with MATT CHRISTENOT this weekend in Jonesboro. In my search for great neighborhood coffee joints I tracked down a place near the ASU campus and found it closed late Friday. Attempt numero uno. Deterred but not defeated, I wandered back over there on Saturday evening. When I walked to the counter, I asked the Russian exchange student working the evening shift if they had soy milk. She said they did, so I ordered a soy latte. After trying three drink options she finally explained in broken english that there coffee maker wasn’t working. No espresso, no coffee, but she would gladly sell me a soda. OUCH! Back to Barnes and Noble’s Starbucks to feed the monkey on my back. That was the ONLY strike i could come up with against my new friends at Arkansas State. The Nashville show last weekend (pictured above right) was such a blast. Thanks to the faithful few who showed up for our little experiment. I’m in the studio the last weekend in september with Geoff Clapp and JP Scott to get some of this James Tealy Trio nonsense recorded. If you stayed on the site this long to read, why not drop me a note HERE.

Peace,
James

@ the Beach

It’s been a wild week in Myrtle Beach with the crew from Manassas. The gray skies finally parted this morning and I watched a gorgeous sunrise come up over the Atlantic. The guys in OVERFLOW ended the week by spiking all the pitchers of KOOL-AID with cherry-flavored liquid laxative. Ouch! That’s gonna leave a mark. I’ve had a blast getting to hang with these guys and I’m expecting their new record to be wall-to-wall with Southern Rock Hits. ShoutFest is Sunday and then I’m off to New Orleans to sing at a Katrina Anniversary Prayer Service and enjoy a little vacation with my wife.

I was sent a link today to a video of an interview I shot a few months ago. Check it out HERE.

Don’t Forget New Orleans!

Peace,
james

The Fall Rush is On

Bass player, JP Scott (PIC Right) takes to the velcro wall with style but couldn’t quite stick the landing. Biloxi was a blast. It was great being back with JP, Andy and Chase. They wicky-wicky-slam like nobody I know. Smokey Gibson at FBC Biloxi is one of my favorite guys on the planet and it is always rewarding to watch the way his passionate heart is translated into his work with students. I love getting to reconnect with some groups year after year like I have with the Biloxi crew. Off to SC to get some sand between my toes for the week. Big Love! – JT

Botswana Update

Never the same. I suppose it’s cliché to suggest that after a trip like this I am forever changed so I won’t say it…but it’s true! I am fresh off the plane from a couple of weeks in GABORONE, BOTSWANA in Southern Africa. I went with 10 of the most powerful, confident, and creative STUDENTS I’ve ever met. We were all scared sometimes, out of place and trapped behind a language barrier (even when they were speaking English). But I watched these students rise to what was expected of them. They fell in love with the people of Botswana; both hurting with them and hoping for them.

Our days included time at an AIDS orphanage outside of town. Some of the children seemed to bounce around as though completely insulated from their circumstances. Others carried the obvious weight of their own mortality; eyes too young to bare such a load. Slowly, there was change, there was the light of recognition in their eyes when we walked onto the campus. We began to see in their eyes the hope of a moments’ joy. I plotted ways to sneak sweet little Katlago into my guitar case when we left. A selfish wish.

Our afternoons were full of school visits and rallies. 500-700 students at a time would crowd into large open rooms and we would share with them a message of hope about a revolution of purity that was sweeping across Southern Africa. AIDS/HIV have descimated THIS REGION OF THE WORLD but the revolution has begun and a new generation is choosing abstinence as the radical solution, the greatest weapon in this fight.

Maybe I will post more pictures and more ramblings later. In the meantime, after 19 hours on planes, I am going to sleep for a while! Thanks again for all of your prayers and messages of support.