gomertopia

Mac's Q&A Twitter Session

Last night, while we were having fun with "You might be a @ThirdDay @3DGomers if . . ." on Twitter last night, Mac Powell (on Twitter he's @MacPowell) was having some fun of his own. He opened the floor for fan questions. In case you missed it, here are the questions and his answers. (Keep in mind, you only have 140 characters on Twitter, hence the abbreviations and short answers. All of these are tweets by Mac. The beginning part "RT" means "Retweet" which means he's copied hte question the person asked, along with their Twitter username at the beginning. Mac's answer is at the end of the question. I made his answers in Bold and Italics.)

• any one have any questions?
  
  
• RT @kjbug40: when u come 2 knoxville (me & my dad will b there!) in October can we hear some Rocky Top? none of that Roll Tide stuff :) Nope
  
  
• RT @daddyzprinzess: @macpowell What in your life has surprised you the most? I can fall more in love with my wife and kids 

Awesome Photos: Third Day at Creation East

Every time I look at my friend Susie's concert photos, I feel that I either need to hang up my camera or take some lessons. (I'm thinking the latter would be more productive.) She takes amazing photos! Come look at her photos of Third Day at Creation East last month. Click here to see them! (Click the little Slideshow icon to see the photos at their best.) Be sure to leave her some sweet comments. Here's a sample of the photos there (click it to see it larger). Hypnotic, yes?

Welcome Our First Guest Blogger - Rose aka shabbychica

From time to time, I'd like to share stories with you from other Gomers. They may be anything from how Third Day's music changed someone's life to how much fun it was at the concert meeting other Gomers, and anything in between. So if you have a story you'd like to share, please send it to me at MamaGomer@Gomers.net. I won't be able to use all of them, but I'll use as many as possible.

The following is from Rose Richter aka shabbychica on the Third Day boards. Rose is an especially sweet gal I've met in person three times now, and hope to see many more times. Hers is not an unusual story. I think a lot of Gomers came to know Third Day's music and be a part of the Gomer family in much the same way. And that's why I want to share Rose's story with you. I think you will enjoy reading it.

Rose's Story -

Growing up with parents who truly loved music, I learned at an early age how important “music appreciation” was in life. My parents were huge Willie Nelson fans. It’s a little surprising my first words weren’t “whiskey river take my mind”. My father was such a huge fan, every childhood memory I have consists of a Willie Nelson song as background music. Our Christmases were Willie on the console turntable as we decorated the tree and then later opened presents. We took long family car trips between North Carolina and Texas with Willie on the 8-track. We were consumed 24/7 with Willie Nelson. I had no idea then I would cherish those memories so much later in life when my father was no longer with us. When I hear Willie Nelson songs, I can still hear him singing along.

As I grew older and out of my “Partridge Family” stage, I developed a love for rock music. Def Leppard was my favorite for a very long time until the 80’s rage of Hair Bands. I loved them all! My favorite was Dangerous Toys because they were from Texas. I was a huge fan, going to all their shows, meeting them several times and even corresponding with them via snail mail. They were so good to their fans. I still have all my letters. Then as the 90’s approached, it was all about the grunge, and I was all about Soundgarden, Temple of The Dog, and more recently Audio Slave. But it wasn’t until my husband Adam introduced me to a song called “Constantly” by Cross Canadian Ragweed that my musical interests took another turn. I was so happy to introduce them to our 2 year old son because after all, some of their songs were about the goodness of Jesus. It was something I never embraced before. Around the same time, (2002) we started attending a church where we sang Third Day songs. We didn't realize the seed was planted and about to grow!

Parachute Festival, New Zealand

I have asked Kevin LJ to give us an account of the Parachute Festival in New Zealand. He was on the photography staff for the festival, so he got a closer view than most. Kevin, his wife Sharon, and their three sons live in SE Asia. Sharon home schools the boys and Kevin works with an organization helping poor farmers out of the poverty cycle through coffee farming. All five members of this Gomer family converse on the Third Day message boards! You can find their family's website, full of Kevin's beautiful and inspiring photography, here. Below is Kevin's blog entry. Take a look at his photos of the event in the album on the left. You can see Kevin's photos of the Third Day concert here.

I hit the ground running in Hamilton. Well prepared with our family set of orange Gomer shirts, (thanks to a generous bunch of States side Gomers,) we'd come to see Third Day (mainly) and I'd come to work, having volunteered my services as a photographer for the weekend. I'd been assigned to cover a whole bunch of bands and other festival activities, but main stage on Sunday evening was to be the prime time.