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Thanks Duane Eby, Ron Fife of Mother Grove, Dave, Tommy, Steve and CaoimheIh March 27, 2009

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 Luckily yesterday Duane Eby and the gang were able to save the moment when my own kiddos had the flu. Duane Eby, Aren Winebrenner, Dave Baker, Ron Fife of Mother Grove, Tommy Meyers, Caoimhe McNeil and Mister Stephen Tyler played Riley and Methodist, Children’s Hospitals. They had all practiced the Mimi Burns Band songs, but when I was not able to make it, Duane stepped up to the plate as did the crew and they played Duane’s music and listened to stories told by Caoimhe. My deepest and most sincere thank you to each of you!

Of the children that were affected by your presence (and presents); one was going into surgery and she was not able to settle down until they turned on the television to show the band playing… the other was of a young man who had just come out of surgery and he came in to listen to the band play and was able to relax and sleep. 

I will post a few of the comments from the group over the next couple of days~ this one is from Dave Baker

Mimi,

  I definitely missed you, but indeed Duane was the hero and the glue.  Just watching the few smiles I was able to absorb and then to hear from those people at lunch about their child, made it more than worth the small effort we put out.  We must have made a wide impression as the parking attendant asked what we were parking for free for and I told him we were playing music in the Atrium and he said he saw it on a monitor somewhere in the hospital.  So we were on closed circuit TV within the facility.  As for doing it again sometime, sure.–Dave

 

Mimi,
 
I’m really happy to have had the opportunity to go and try to brighten those children’s day, even if just a bit.  If the one little girl that was afraid, then comforted by the music was the only person that got anything out of what we did, then it was well worth the effort in my book. 
 
My dad was one of those kids many, many years ago.  He had polio in the 1950s and was subjected to an awful array of “experimental” surgeries(the medical community was desperate), and has paid a heavy price, his entire life, for that.  The pain and trauma that he went through as a child all ended up being uneccessary due to the vaccine that did ultimately save his life.  Growing up, knowing what my dad went through, really makes things like this feel close to home for me, and I’m glad that I am getting the chance to make a difference.
 
AW

Scene from Gypsy Dance October 19, 2008

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We’ve been practicing and reworking the show with diligence. We are still heading toward the full production with the bagpipers, and many more dancers/youth choir. I will have to change a few of the lyrics yet to fit into the show a bit better though we’ve had tremendous feedback and we look forward to many more performances both at festivals and showcase events.

Military Appreciation Party September 7, 2008

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As noted on our calendar, we’ll be at the Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, IN on October 3rd for a Military Appreciation Party.  We’re honored to take part in an event that shows our appreciation for what our military have done and continues to do for us.

Please take a look at the website to find out more about it: www.militaryappreciationparty.us.  The event is welcome to all and we’d love to see you there.

Why a rock opera? August 3, 2008

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The Lighthouse Effect as we mentioned is an opera of the rock variety. What does that mean? It’s a good question considering there haven’t really been that many. There’s Tommy by The Who and there’s Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie, but what makes them opera’s? You could argue they simply used the term for marketing purposes or the opposite view of it being a label someone else applied.

For me, being one involved with the composition and the story, it means a musical performance that tells a story entirely through song. I refer to the Lighthouse Effect as a rock opera because of this; I also have no problem with labels, I have learnt of the importance of them when trying to describe something.

We put the story together based upon a selection of our songs which were in turn influenced by our life experiences when they were written. I then added a few musical interludes as a way to transition the story in a couple of strategic places. Add a healthy sprinkling of theatrical presentation and the result is our opera.

The question remains, why write an opera in the first place. Don’t the songs stand up in their own right? I happen to think they do, but framing them within the context of an emotional story makes them that much more powerful, a greater than the sum of the parts. This is the first reason, we wanted to present our material in the best light possible. We have always felt that if we are to perform then it should be a performance and not a bunch of people standing on stage playing instruments. This, of course, is the second reason, we wanted to make it a more compelling presentation.

The third reason is touch more ambitious in that we wanted to use the emotional content in the show as a way to invoke thought and discusion about relationships.

As far as what other people get out of the show, I look forward to your feedback.

Lighthouse Effect Rehearsal July 20, 2008

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Although we haven’t talked about it much on this site, we’ve been working hard on a Rock Opera called the Lighthouse Effect.  It’s a theatrical production centered around our songs (I didn’t use the term musical, please note) with a couple of new ones. We’ve been having a fantastic time with it and I’m personally excited about sharing more details of how all of this will take place in the future. In the meantime, here’s a collection of clips to give you an idea: