Throwback Thursday

The date: the late 80's

The place: Pineville, Louisiana

The mood: you look at the pictures and you decideThis may come as a surprise to the masses, but I was in a band in college for almost 4 years. No autographs and no flash photography, please. We weren't just a singing group. We were a band with drums, bass guitar, keyboard, electric guitar and vocalists. We were cutting edge too because we sang some "praise choruses". Chris Tomlin was still in high school. David Crowder didn't even have facial hair much less a funky goatee. Our name - you might want to sit down for this one - Hosanna. Is that 80's enough for you. We sang at Sunday morning church services, youth retreats, Valentine's Day banquets, Friday night aftergame fellowships, Sunday night church services and anything else anyone would invite us to do. We travelled all over LA and TX in a van with no a/c that broke down ALOT. We didn't get paid. Imagine that. Churches gave us love offerings which were used to fund students going on summer mission trips from our college.

Five of my favorite things about Hosanna:

1. I loved the people in the group. It's a good thing because we spent almost every weekend together from Friday until Sunday night. Sometimes even later if the van broke down on the way home. Did I mention the van had no a/c? They were all as different as could be, but the unique personalities made every weekend unpredictable.

2. I loved the clothes. See the pictures. Really get a good look. We had outfits - either something denim and a solid color for casual concerts, black/white/red combos for more formal settings, and "modules" for other concerts. For those of you who did not grow up in the 80's, modules or units were cotton pieces of clothing in various solid colors that you could mix and match. The key was the stretchy belt that could be a solid, a pattern or even a print. If you were really trendy, you could put two belts together in a twisty sort of way and make knots, flowers, bows. The possibilities were endless! There was even a booklet to give you ideas of how to wear your modules. Guys did not wear modules; however they sometimes wore boleros instead of ties. Like I said. Cutting. Edge.

3. I loved the places we went and the people there. We saw places that I didn't even know existed. We got lost almost every weekend. Little bitty churches. Sometimes bigger churches. Always welcomed us with open arms. A town named Pumpkin Center where the water smelled like rotten eggs. Churches that fed us tuna sandwiches that had been sitting out all afternoon and resulted in a little thing we like to call food poisoning! The pastor who walked in on the girls changing clothes. Being stranded in Pearland, TX because of an ice storm. Breaking down on a military base and getting in trouble with the MP. People who sat through our LOUD music because they were thrilled to see college students doing something positive with their lives.

4. I loved the hair. From big hair perms on the girls to mullets on the guys. Really just study the pictures and take it all in. It just didn't get any better than hair in the 80's. I admit I own a Chi flat iron now, but I still long for the days of perms and mousse. Life was so much easier then. I'm just sayin'.

5. I love the memories I have from that time in my life. I could write a whole post about it, but only two or maybe three people who read this blog would understand it.