Saying Goodbye To An Old Friend

It's with great sadness that I have to announce that the T.B.G. Coffee House in Ashland City is closing it's doors. I recieved word this afternoon from TBG's owner Dana that our appearance there this Saturday night will be the final show at the Coffee House. TBG has been a blessing to us, an outlet for our music and has been a shining light in the Christian Music community. We will miss them greatly as will the community of Ashland City. We wish Dana and her family the best of luck and we will keep them in our prayers as they move on to the next phaze in their lives.
V

A New Beginning

Words cannot describe the Coffee House at New Beginnings Church, let me start out by saying a special thank you to those who participated...
Bryan Cumming & Band
Radnur Siitam
Steven Troy
Jennifer Herron
The members of X-ALT!
And most importantly the good folks at New Beginnings Church. There is no way to tell you how important and special it is to have a group of people that are willing to step up and make people welcome. The congregation at New Beginnings are the warmest most giving group of Christians that I have ever encountered and I thank God daily for every one of them.
In the near future I will be posting videos from the program but for now I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.


First up was Bryan Cumming and his kickin' band



Next up Radnur Siitam who defines the Christian Singer/Songwriter


Radnur Set the stage and then Steven Troy took it over and played a set of brand new songs that had the audience bouncing in their seats, clapping their hands and partying for the Lord!



X-ALT! had it hands full following Bryan, Radnur and Steven and if I say so myself we steped up and hit it out of the park. All I can figure is that we had been so filled with God's glory by these other great performers that when we hit the stage all that glory came spilling out in what had to be one of the most spirit filled performances that we have ever done.











We ended the night by getting all the performers to join us on stage for a group performance of "Amazing Grace" & "Awsome God"





It was just one of the greatest nights of my life and I am so proud to have been a part of it. We raised a good amount of money for the church, but more importantly we raised up the name of God and Jesus and filled those in attendance with God's Grace, and in the process got filled ourselves.
Keep checking back for video and more comments about the evening, I can't wait to do it again and we will soon!
V

A big thank you from Katy

Dear Friend,
I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your most gorgeous gift.
I can't tell you how that beautiful guitar has lifted my spirits. It
sounded so wonderful at rehearsal Tuesday night. I have been practicing with it since and have actually written some new songs! With the help of my band X-ALT, that guitar will be used to spread the joy of music and especially the promise of God's grace and love.
I do hope that you can come out to see some of our shows. I pray God's
blessings for you.

With Love,
Katy

It's Almost Time

It's almost time for the NEW BEGINNINGS COFFEE HOUSE and after what I can say was our finest practice in a long time X-ALT! is ready to go! If you have not made plans to attend it's time to make those plans and come on out to New Beginnings Church located at 7700 George E. Horn Road, Nashville TN 37221.
You will not be dissapointed. I can say with out a doubt that this is the finest line up of Christian musicians to appear under one roof in a long time. Bryan Cummming, Radnur Siitam, Steven Troy and X-ALT! How can you go wrong? And once you know where New Beginnings is you might as well come back for the Father's Day Service Sunday, X-ALT! will be leading the service and Pastor Brian Howes will be bringing the message. The Coffee House begins Saturday Night at 7:00 and the service is Sunday Morning at 11:00. WHAT A WEEKEND! See you there.
V

This Just In

Jennifer Herron host of WSM Radio's Midnight Jamboree and one of the hosts of WSMV-TV's morning show has signed on as host of The New Beginnings Coffee House. We are so excited that Jennifer has decided to join us and it just adds to the excitement of what is already turning into a very exciting night of music, all for the glory of God and to help out a great church.

Make plans now, you don't want to miss it!

V

Thank You! West Nashville SMC

We had a great Sunday afternoon celebrating homecoming with the folks at West Nashville SMC. X-ALT! was one of four sets of performers that sang throughout the afternoon and a good time was had by all.

MARK YOUR CALANDERS

New Beginnings Coffe House is just 2 weeks away!



We can't wait - hope to see all of you there.
V

Prayers Do Get Answered

If you are a friend of this band or if you have been following this blog for a while you know that a little over a year ago we were asked to step down from a long running commitment we had made to lead the contemporary service at Nashville's Belle Meade UMC. The reason why is still unclear, but many members of the band X-ALT! were badly hurt by the way things were handled. As a member at Belle Meade, along with my wife Brooke and Tommy and his wife Luann we have been facing our own challenges in continuing to worship at Belle Meade.

Not long after we were let go, a new Assistant Pastor, Pam Hawkins, was assigned to the church and she has made quite a difference, especially where Tommy, Luann, Brooke and myself are concerned. She has spent time talking, praying with and for us and counseling us and it has made a huge difference in our outlook. But there has still been that feeling of hurt and betrayal that continues to nag at me. I have been praying for a chance at closure for the situation and also for a chance for
X-ALT! to return to Belle Meade. We have many friends there who stood by us while we were going through everything and transitioning from a "Church Praise Band" to a working "Contemporary Gospel Group" and we so missed all of them.

Well today my prayer was answered with an invitation from Senior Pastor Mike Ripski for X-ALT! to return to Belle Meade and play an after dinner concert on Aug. 29th. We have accepted his invitation and it will now be my prayer that this appearance will be a stepping stone to the healing that needs to happen. God is good and everything happens on His schedule. I've always felt that when the time was right we would be asked to return to Belle Meade, and now that time has arrived.
Thank God! (Literally)
V

Portland Strawberry Festival

I'm not going to waste a lot of space telling you about our day at the Portland Strawberry Festival. Let's just say "We Had A Blast"! Here's the pictures to prove it.




















A special thanks to my daughter Lucy for the stellar pictures she took of us on stage and to Susie and her family for the ones they took as well.
V

Prayer requests and many thanks

X-ALT! is blessed to have a lot of very talented friends and we so appreciate all that they do for us.

Having said that we need your prayers for one of our own. Katy Seale, who has been with us since the beginning, is facing another round of surgery for problems with her back and neck that have kept her away from the X-ALT! shows for too long. Please keep Katy in your prayers that this surgery will be a success and she will be feeling good enough to join back up with us soon. GOD bless you Katy, we love you and miss you.






I also want to say a special thanks to a couple of people.



Thank you Lawrence! Lawrence Bailey is one of the most talented multi-instrumentalists that I have ever had the pleasure to know and work with. Lawrence started playing with Tommy and me many years ago in a band called "Blue Collar". He is now resident Sax player for one of the hottest FUNK bands in Nashville. His group "The Jones" is well worth your time to check out whenever they are playing around town. Lawrence has been kind enough to sit in with us from time to time and will be doing so again this Saturday at the Portland Strawberry Festival, playing both Sax and Guitar (not at the same time). THANK YOU LAWRENCE!




Thank You JESSICA! Jessica Reel will be making her first official appearance as part of X-ALT! at the Portland Strawberry Festival. Jessica is Susie's daughter and has an incredible voice and her mother's love for singing. Jessica will be filling in for Katy untill she feels well enough to come back. Thank You Jessica! You ROCK!

Come on out to Portland for the Strawberry Festival this Saturday. X-ALT! will be playing at 4:30. See you there.
V

A few pictures from the Portland "Relay For Life"

How cool is that!

Mark Mills informs me that Gospel radio station 790am out of Ashland City TN played "Open Up" from the Rhythm and Praise CD during their Sunday morning line up!
We were on the radio - HOW COOL IS THAT!
V

A Great Night in Portland

Sometimes things just go your way, Friday night at the "Relay For Life" in Portland Tn was just one on those nights. We were all grumbling a bit as the rain came down for the second consecutive night we had scheduled for an outdoor appearance but God was watching out for us and for this great event. The rain had dwindled to a sprinkle as we arrived and started to unload our stuff. Just as the luminary ceremony started the rain stoped and a cool breeze started to blow. The luminary ceremony was one of the most touching events I've had the pleasure to experience as candle after candle was lit in memory of those who had survivied cancer and for those who unfortunately had not. As a bagpipe player started playing "Amazing Grace" the crowd made a commemorative lap around the track at Meadow Brook Park, we finished our set up and were ready to go. The six of us that made the trip began our set as the crowd completed their circuit with "Down To The River To Pray" then went into a set of our favorites including "Piggy Back Ride", "Lean On Me", No Place Like Home", "Just For You", Sooth Me", "The Lord Is Coming Back" and a few others. The night was perfect and the crowd seemed to enjoy our music. Afterwards the host who is a DJ for a Christian music station in Ashland City pulled us aside to thank us for our appearance and to ask for a CD so he could play some of our music on his station. He also invited us to make an appearance on his show to talk about our ministry.
We tentatively made plans to do the show the Sunday before our appearance in Ashland City on June 30th.
We are really looking forward to our return trip to Portland for the Strawberry Festival next Saturday the 19th.
Then we are off to the races again during the month of June with four appearances before taking a break during the month of July. God has blessed us with such an active ministry, and we thank Him for it. EVERYDAY!
V

A Note From Some Fans

We received this over at our Myspace page from the girls in the pictures at the end of the last post...

"Oh my goodness I saw y'all at relay for life in Gallatin...I was one of the wet dancers!!!! I'm in those pictures!! Y'all were awesome!!"
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"We loved y'all's band! And we had so much fun!!! I wore my shirt today and put y'alls CD on my ipod! I'm glad I'm y'alls friend!! I hope we talk! Love y'all, Jade"
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We love you guys too! Thanks for helping make a wet night a lot of fun! Hopefully we will see you all again soon!

Raindrops Are Falling On Our Heads

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head
And just like the guy whose feet are too big for his bed
Nothin' seems to fit,
Those raindrops are fallin' on my head, they keep fallin'
So I just did me some talkin' to the sun
And I said I didn't like the way he got things done
Sleepin' on the job
Those raindrops are fallin' on my head, they keep fallin
'But there's one thing I know
The blues they send to meet me won't defeat me
It won't be long till happiness steps up to greet me
Raindrops keep fallin' on my head
But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turnin' red
Cryin's not for me'
Cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complainin'
Because I'm freeNothin's worryin' me

I am so proud to be a member of X-ALT!

We arrived at the Sumner County Fairgrounds for the American Cancer Society "Relay For Life" Friday around 8:00PM. It was starting to sprinkle as it had been all day long but the forecast was calling for heavy storms with thunder and lightning - and the forecast was right. Around 9:00 the bottom fell out. Some of the scheduled bands cancelled but we were there and although there was a lot of concern we decided to wait it out and see what happened. The ceremony scheduled to start at 9:00 was delayed for about 20 minutes and the track was cleared due to lightning. As the water started to flood the set up area we started to quickly put our equipment on the stage and begin our set up. The rain slacked off to a steady downpour but they began the ceremony around 9:30. By 10:00PM, when we were scheduled to start, the rain was still coming down but a few of the walkers has returned to the track as others started giving up and packing to go home. We were given the nod and started our set and it was like God was listening, the longer we played the less it rained and by our last song, an hour and a half later the rain had cleared and we even had some young and very excited dancers in front of the stage.

What could have been a total wash out turned into an evening to remember. I've said it before and I will continue to say it "God is good and works miracles every day." The "Relay for Life" was a blessing for us and it raised a lot of money for a great cause, and I hope God was glorified by both.
Here are some pictures from the event...

A slight change of plans

X-ALT! will be performing "Horn-less" for the upcoming "Relay For Life" benefits. Circumstances beyond our control have caused our horn section to be unavailable for the month of May so we will be pulling out the more Rockin' material and moving on!
Our good buddy Lawrence Bailey will be joining us on sax for the Portland Strawberry Festival.
Rock On!
and God Bless
Vince

The Car Show Pictures Are In

Here are some pictures from the Classic Car Show and Concert. It was a great day for XALT! and for the church, they raised a great deal of money for their charity. Up next the "Relay For Life" for the American Cancer Society in Gallitin TN.