Faith Day makes Hill City stop
By Jon Busdeker on Jun. 21, 2007
The Lynchburg Hillcats will host a Faith Day on Tuesday at Calvin Falwell Field. A pre-game concert performance by Hawk Nelson and The Send begins at 5:30 p.m. with the game immediately following.
Tickets are available for $15 at the Hillcats ticket office or charge by phone 528-1144.
Faith Day baseball events, run by Third Coast Sports, include 10 events with Major League Baseball franchises and a 36-city minor league baseball tour. They feature a full concert with a nationally recorded Christian music artist, an appearance by Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomato from the hit Christian animated series VeggieTales and personal faith stories from some of the home teams’ players.
“Once again, God has increased our territory in amazing fashion,” said Brent High, president of Third Coast Sports in a news release. “To go from two Major League teams in 2006 to 10 this year is really humbling. We hope to be good stewards of the opportunity we’ve been given and be able to talk about even more expansion in the sports world in the very near future.”
This marks the third summer Third Coast Sports has hosted events across the country.
Hawk Nelson is headlining 32 of the 36 minor league dates. The band features Jason Dunn on vocals, Daniel Biro on bass, Jonathan Steingard on guitar and Aaron Tosti on drums.
The band’s debut album, “Letters to the President,” came out less than two years ago, but the Canadian pop-punk act’s list of accomplishments read like the quartet’s been at this sort of thing for more like a decade.
In that time span, Hawk Nelson has landed a TV appearance playing The Who, performing “My Generation” on the NBC television series “American Dreams,” a big-screen performance in the remake of the 1968 film “Yours, Mine & Ours” (starring Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo), music placement on “Smallville,” “Summerland” and the Summer 2004 Olympics commercials, well over 100,000 in album sales — and the list goes on. Rather impressive for band whose members were, just a few years ago, collecting money from tollbooths, serving coffee and washing cars to earn their keep.
Yet Hawk Nelson found time to head to Seattle in December 2005 to work with producer Aaron Sprinkle on its sophomore effort, “Smile, It’s The End Of The World.”
But don’t let the album title fool you. In fact, the title track is about finding optimism and solace in music when times are hard.
“Music is a big part of all of our lives,” says Dunn in a news release. “We wanted to express through this new project the realities and truths that we deal with in our lives and give some positive solutions to our peers and the people we make our music for.”
Opening for Hawk Nelson in Lynchburg will be The Send, featuring Joseph A. Kisselburgh on lead vocals and guitar.
Kisselburgh always dreamed of having the opportunity to author a project which encompassed the full spectrum of his artistry. In 2006 he left his previous outfit, Falling Up, and began to pursue his ultimate musical end — which was becoming a songwriter, lyricist, frontman and musical conduit.
This pursuit is called The Send.
“It was so challenging and inspiring to start anew. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing something from its inception grow, expand and evolve into a dream fulfilled. I feel like this project is me. It’s so close to my heart. It’s my songs. Being able to share who I am, and especially my relationship with God, is so important to me.”
His debut release, “Cosmos,” hits stores July 31.
If You’re Going
WHAT: Faith Day with Hawk Nelson, The Send and the Lynchburg Hillcats
WHEN: Concert starts at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday; game begins at 7:05 p.m.
WHERE: Lynchburg City Stadium
TICKETS: $15; includes concert, appearance by Veggie Tales and the baseball game
INFO: Tickets available at the Lynchburg Hillcats Box Office or Lynchburg City Stadium; charge by phone, 528-1144; or visit http://www.PremierProductions.com. A full schedule of 2007 events can be found at http://www.thirdcoastsports.com.
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