John's
U
p W i t h P e o p l e
P a g e
offered to Bridgeport University in the "States" was now out of the
question and my football coach - George Bossy, pointed my to a volunteer
construction job on Mackinac Island - Michigan.
It was run by an organization called Moral Re-armament - previously called The Oxford Group and recently renamed Initiatives of Change.
By January the weather in the Straits of Michigan as too cold to work outdoors and I was offered an opportunity to travel to join a performing musical group called Up With People. The photo above was taken shortly after joining.I spent the next 3 or 4 months touring South Eastern United States - Georgia, North & South Carolina, Alabama. The photo below was taken at a performance in Clearwater Florida.
The experience was great. I met a
allot of great performers, musicians and stayed with some wonderful
people, in private homes, universities and military bases. D
uring
the day we performed mostly in high schools or rehearsed. At night
night we usually performed... then
on to the next town.
The show was transported in 2 40 foot tractor trailors. The cast traveled in buses... and the amazing thing was - in those days, it was all free of charge.
Sound Clip will go here.
The best way to describe the show was 2 hours of positive, wholesome, international fun. The majority of the songs were in English but because the cast was from Europe, Japan, Korea, Africa, South & Central America.While in Florida, we received word that Cast "A" was preparing to return from an Italian tour that was so successful we were to continue it. We returned to Ashville NC to reherse.
Italy was fantastic. What you had was
this school drop-out landing in M
ilan
and visiting the Duomo Cathedral, viewing the Last Supper and checking
out the fashion capital of Europe. There are more than a couple of
stories to tell about this 2 month tour but the most amazing was doing
and afternoon performance in the Sistine Theater in Rome for the
President of Ziare (Democratic
Republic of Congo) and a small entourage. The place was empty.
The majority of the show was in English, Italian and other international segments but we hat to hastily learn new songs in French, Swahili and Lingala. He Joshef Desire Mubutu evidently liked what we did and invited us to perform at the 10th Independence Day Delebrations and at a conference he was hosting for the Organization of African States.
