The Not-So-Official E-Newsletter
WIB & WIG
September 2003
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So here we are.
Allow me to reintroduce myself. My name is Jeremy, I’m a musician – I write songs and sing them. I opted out of college three and a half years ago to do this with my life – as a full time vocation. So that’s what I do. I write songs, and sing them.
This is my newsletter. In it and with it I tell other people what I’m writing and singing about, with whom, and where. I started out alone (by myself) in a 1996 Chevy Beretta. I would drive, and I would sing. Youth groups, churches, college campuses, and coffee shops would invite me (or allow me) to perform for them here and there throughout the U.S. I’d travel alone (by myself) and crash (sleep) and sing wherever I could.
Now I’m married. Have been for nearly nine months (coolest thing I’ve ever done). Her name is Jenny, and she’s my wife. Now we travel, and sing (some), together. This is what we do.
While we’ve been doing this for a while, I don’t believe I’ve said much about it at all. So it seems there’d be much to tell – and there is – but I have no intention of telling (even remembering) everything. Instead, I’ll poke around at a couple of stories and say it’s all been very good – because it has – and then tell you about other exciting things, like what we’re doing now.
We got married January 5th, 2002. Did the traditional honeymoon hoorah, then took to the road together. We’ve been to the West Coast twice, Colorado once, Illinois and Wisconsin a dozen times, and through Minnesota and the Dakotas again and again. There’ve been somewhere near sixty different engagements along the way, from worship leading around campfires and retreat-teaching on the glory of God to concerts for churches, colleges, conventions, and a warm-up for the North Dakota Medora Musical.
In June we borrowed a van and invited our friends Ben, Andrea, Drew, and Tom with us on a road trip to a community youth conference near San Diego. We rehearsed along the way, performed for a crowd of California kids the last day of their conference, and recorded the set when we got home. Along with the concert, I was asked to lead a session teaching about the glory of God – what it looks like and why it’s important. Did something similar at a couple camps on Lake Winnebago later in July. It’s such an empowering truth, and though it can take awhile to digest, there were handfuls of students in both places who grabbed on for the ride. I love that.
Last spring, Wes Patterson and I drove up to the U of M in Duluth. We performed for their Intervarsity’s last large group of the year. Then this fall, Jen and I made a tight loop through the college towns of Morris and Fargo. In Morris we performed for a Mainstream-Ministries-sponsored event called “Music for the Masses” – an on-the-mall concert for whatever students might be passing by. About a hundred sat for the whole show. In Fargo, we visited NDSU IVCF’s kick-off, where I sang, then spoke on the bigness and “firstness” of God’s glory. While it’s possible we could return for a school-sponsored concert later in the year, we were unable to make their fall retreat (couldn’t afford it) but have been able to spend a great deal of time with Macalester’s IV fellowship here in Saint Paul. Early in October, I was asked to do the speaking at their weekend retreat, and have continued with them by leading worship for their on-campus gatherings once a month. This has been a very good thing.
Including a recent ten-day trip through Illinois for the White wedding (Threefish Ministries’ Kevin & Robyn), and a day with both Judson College and Living Hope in Elk Grove Village, one could say that brings us to the present. Much has been left out of this summary, however, and much of that was very good as well.
These days are rather difficult days. While trying hard to produce audio for reprints of both “Bigger Than Me” (98) and “ Not So Complicated” (99), I’ve been in and out of doctors’ offices trying to establish exactly what is wrong with my wrists. For two years now, I’ve had progressive pain developing in both of my arms – recently to the point of having to cautiously space out, and even cancel, concert bookings. Leading worship Sunday mornings has come to include little more than standing near a mic, as playing guitar or piano (not to mention percussion) is increasingly painful.
After three months of physical therapy treating tendonitis (with little result), we decided to do all kinds of testing. Carpal tunnel syndrome has been ruled-out, and though the results of several tests are pending (arthritis, etc…), the most likely case is that I’ve got tendonopathy – a type of “over-use syndrome” that causes extensive damage to both muscle and tendon.
I’ve been advised to spend 6 to 12 months playing instruments as little as possible, while giving much time to fitness programs and physical therapy, which will both heal and strengthen the tissue in my muscles and tendons. So that’s both the good news and the bad – I can heal, but between now and then, much of what I normally do with my wrists is taboo.
To understand the emotional and financial impact of that, imagine debilitating injury without workman’s comp. There you go.
We’re starting production of the FLY 2003 worship album within the next month or two, however, and as I’m being hired as producer this year, there will be both income and creative outlet in that. I’ll merely be unable to play as much as I’d like – teaching me how to pull that sort of musicianship out of other players, perhaps – that’d be a good thing.
Before then, we’re aiming to finish the production of new audio for two previous solo albums (“Bigger Than Me” and “Not So Complicated”), which are due for repressing (what happens when we run out of CDs). I’ve been using some of my own equipment to touch up hastily produced tracks and completely redo others. The result will be two “new” albums of “better” recordings of old songs. It’s kind of an artistic thing to do – a perfectionist’s impulse – but there are rational reasons, too. Like suiting the sound for radio-play and the like. The new discs will sell for $12, and a supplementary disc of brand new material (roughly recorded) will be available for pennies with the purchase of one of the others. I expect to have samples of these new recordings on the website within the month.
And my website needs some serious attention. If you’re a web-guy, and would consider designing a new jeremyerickson.com, send Kevin or me some samples of stuff you’ve already done (addresses below). We could use some help.
If you’ve read this much of the letter, you may be catching the vibe that we’re trying to gear up for something new, while fighting adverse circumstances to merely keep doing what we’ve done. Such is the case. This is to Jen & I both a calling and an ambition: as citizens of an earthly kingdom (America), we want this to work for very obvious reasons – we have bills just like everybody else – yet as citizens of the heavenly Kingdom, we believe this calling has been given us, and strive to fulfill it by relevantly communicating the necessity of Christ to the culture, and equipping others to do the same. The obstacles at present are rather out-of-the-ordinary, but a 6-12 month problem is still a temporary problem. I will heal (Lord-willing), and we’ll learn what we must in the meantime. Your prayers and support in this are paramount.
Consequently, we’d like to streamline our mailing lists. This is a long letter. If you’ve made it this far (regardless of how long it took you), you’re the kind of person we’d like to hang on to. To continue receiving WIB & WIG in the future, send a quick reply to Kevin at the address below. Just put “Wib & Wig” in the subject heading and he’ll get what you’re getting at.
So that’s it. I like brevity, I really do. It’s just that there’s so much to say. Today, if I were to try, I’d maybe sum it up like this: God is first: Jesus lived and died to show us that, then rose to give us room to live like that. I want to live that way. I want to learn with others what it means to live that way. Then I want to do it. With everything I’ve got.
Well, it’s not Lucado, but it’ll do for now.
In process,
His, Jeremy (& Jenny) Erickson
Jeremy je@jeremyerickson.com Jenny jen@jeremyerickson.com Kevin kevin@threefish.org Robyn robyn@threefish.org
* Mark Haugen (Mainstream Ministries) is doing much of what little scheduling I have right now. Mark & Anna, and their daughter, Eli, live in Morris, Minnesota. They’re great friends to have.
November 7th Worship with Macalester IVCF 17th AM Worship with Crossroads Church in Cottage Grove, MN 22nd PM Concert at Good Shepherd AFLC in Cokato, MN 24th AM Worship with Emmaus in Bloomington, MN 25th-27th Studio Work in Minot, ND
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