-Ron-

“THIS FRIDAY” by Madison Lovelien

This Friday

Wake up

Put on  your clothes

Eat Breakfast

This Friday

Wave to your

Family

As you leave the house

This Friday

Your tools bump up against

Your thigh as you walk

The dirt road

You enter the city

Busy

Crowded

Loud

This Friday

The sun is already telling you it’s late in the day

So you hurry

Through the crowd

To your job

This Friday

Your boss tells you

Where to go for your job

But that this time there’s something

Different

Unusual

About it

This Friday

When you arrive

It’s the usual

Women sobbing over the situation

People taunting

Others wondering

This Friday

But…

There is SOMETHING different

You go to your partners who are

Holding his wrists

Holding the nail steady

Waiting for you to pound it in

This Friday

You raise your hammer

Steady your hand

And

Look at His face

His eyes are sad

But

Not for him,

For them

Us

You.

His body

Weak though once strong

His head

Covered in a mocking crown of

Thorns

Above a sign reads

“ Jesus King of the Jews“

You look away

Questioning what has this man

Done?

This Friday

The other workers tell you to

Hurry up

You raise your hand once more

The sky darkens

You pound down

Hard

He winces

Cries out in pain

But doesn’t pull His wrists

Away

Like He

Wants to

No…

Needs to

You finish the arms

And

Move to His

Feet

This Friday

Raise the

Cross

Hear Him

Gasp

Cry out to

The Father

“It is FINISHED!!“

And YOU did it

We all did

I’ve never been one to get emotional about any of my so called “milestone” birthdays. It was no big deal when I turned 18 or 21, never got all worked up about turning 30 or 40; and I’m not at all dreading turning 50 in a couple of years. But…when my youngest child, my boy, turned 13 the other day (THIRTEEN, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!), I must admit, I struggled with that one. But, why? It’s not at all a bad thing (in fact it’s a pretty special thing) and it’s not his fault, right? So what was it?

Have any of you ever heard the country song from a couple of years ago titled “And Then They Do”, by Trace Adkins? It’s a pretty sweet and sentimental song about a dad (and for those of you who don’t know me very well, I’m a pretty sentimental dad, myself) watching the day to day life of his children, and then all of a sudden, without the dad seeing it coming…they’re all grown up. There’s one line in that song that kept going through my head as I prepared to celebrate my youngest becoming a teenager, and it made me a little sad; “I see them as babies, I guess that’ll never change”. WOW!!! Weren’t they just babies? Aren’t they still? Wasn’t I just that young buck working at the paper mill and spending all of his money at the Wigwam? Where does the time go?

And why does it go so fast?

I’d often heard people (much older people than me, I would always think), comment on how fast time goes. And now, suddenly, BAM!! I’m that (older) person.

Then, through the lyrics of that country song, it hit me…I never, ever realized how fast time went until I became a parent. And now ALL of my time is measured not through the usual days or years, but through them, through their lives. Kickball games. Basketball games. Trips to Disney World. Trips to “Sasquatch Hill”. Weren’t we just doing those things? I remember them so vividly, like they happened last week. With all due respect to Bob Seger and Billy Joel and everybody else still playing on “The Bridge”, those moments, moments of a lifetime, moments of their lifetimes, are my real “Classic Hits”!!

My son now joins my daughter as a teenager, and she will be driving next year!! And then? I don’t wish for much. I do, however, wish time didn’t go so fast. And I wish I could just hold onto their childhood for a little while longer. You see, just like the song says, I still see them as babies…I guess that’ll never change.

BIG NEWS in this blog!!! The Living Room is proud to announce our very special friend, Duluth, MN Singer/Songwriter JAMES MOORS (you saw his amazing Thursday Night show here in August for our 2nd Anniversary Celebration), along with his friend and talented co-writer, KORT McCUMBER of Colorado, will be playing a limited number of shows in Minnesota and Wisconsin this month to celebrate the release of their first CD as a Duo, titled simply “Moors & McCumber”. And we’re honored that they chose to have their only show in The Chippewa Valley right here at The Living Room …and YOU’RE INVITED!!

FREE CD AND FREE SMOOTHIE WITH $10 PAID ADMISSION!!!
The shows have a $10 cover charge, which includes your very own signed copy of the new CD!! That’s a $15 value on it’s own, but that’s not all!! Once inside you will also get a 16 oz. Kona Mocha, White Chocolate Mocha, or Chocolate Malt Smoothie FREE!!! We will be having many other incredible drink and food specials throughout the night as well for everybody in attendance. This is a night to CELEBRATE!!! It’s going to be something very special!!!

Seating is limited…Please call The Living Room (715-831-0245) A.S.A.P. to reserve your spot for this very special show.

REVIEWS FOR JAMES MOORS:
“James Moors resonates immediately. He writes deeply sincere, often peacefully therapeutic music with a wisdom far beyond the norm. A special artist. It’s no wonder he loves Neil Finn, because he shares some of the same melodic gifts, enhanced by a warm-hearted spirit that makes you want to hear more.”
— Steve Morse
longtime Boston Globe writer

“I hear a lot of CDs as a music director for a college radio station, but few pass the test. This guy can write and sing enjoyable, radio-friendly
melodies and deserves your ears.”
— John Bommarito
Host of Acoustic Alternativees, WHFR Dearborn

“From beginning to end, “Hush” is a beautiful tapestry of gracious, Storyhill-worthy melodies and straight-shot-to-the-soul lyrics; proving, once again, that Moors is one of the nation’s most underrated songwriters.”
— Matthew R. Perrine
Budgeteer News

“An original Talent 4 out of 5! The twelve songs on this album form a balanced whole, with James Moors coming across as a young Joe Henry. There is a great similarity between the two. From the dark brown layer to the sharper high.”
— John Gjaltema
altcountry.nl

“A radio-friendly baritone. Consistent quality that marks a professional at the top of his particular game”
— John McLaughlin
Host/Producer Roots & Wings WMUC-FM

“Hush” is a document of transformation. This is one man’s unblinking and unveiled declaration of his life conversion offered to his family and the world.
— John Zeigler
The Duluth News Tribune

“James Moors isn’t hiding behind Sterling Waters any longer. Upbeat tracks like “Sunshine,” mixed with introspective tunes like “Stretch” or the love song for his wife “Anne Louise” invite listeners to press play and never look for the stop button once. Moors’ new release is a solid blend of meaningful lyrics and down-to-earth music.”
— Becky Moore
Owatonna Peoples Press

You can find out more about our talented friend @ www.JamesMoors.com

I hope we see you at this show. Thank you for reading this.

Your Friend,

Ron

Welcome to the new and improved Living Room web page, and even more importantly, welcome to what is sure to become the talk of the internet world…”Ron’s Blog”!! I feel like a big shot journalist, something I’ve always not-so-secretly wanted to be. I hope I’ll be able to share something with all of you in these blogs that will in some way make you smile, touch your heart, give you some insight into our family-run business, or, who knows, maybe just show you a different side of me and/or of The Living Room.

Thanks to our dear friend, Jesse Hamble, for putting all of this together for us. Thanks to another special friend of ours, John Berthold for all of his hard work and dedication to our original web site.

As I sit here writing this ground-breaking first blog (something which I’m sure has you all a-tingle with historical excitement at the magnitude of such an achievement), I can’t help but be amazed at the outpouring of support this little family-run business has had, and continues to have, from so many of you. We have said this so many times, but it is still as true today as it has been from our very first day…We can’t do any of this without YOU!!! In fact it’s probably MORE true today than it’s ever been.

This humble little place is really a pretty big underdog out there in the world. We face a lot of giants every day. We probably got into this business at the wrong end of the coffee house boom of the late 90’s, and we certainly got into this at the beginning of a pretty nasty economy for the country as a whole, and in the two-plus years that we have been here, coffee houses have been closing all around us. And yet…here we still are.

Thanks to all of you for not only making us your coffee house of choice, but for supporting us with your friendship, your encouragement, and your prayers. We know there are a LOT of you praying for this place. We can feel it EVERY DAY!! Those prayers are the reason we are still here. Thank you, friends, for everything.

I look forward to sharing these blogs with you in the future. I hope you enjoy them.

Your friend,

Ron