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Larry Campbell, the LC of LCF, has been singing and playing guitar with friends (the F of LCF) FOREVER, let’s just go ahead and say that right up front. However, the friends have changed, come and gone, moved, become fed up, worn out, or just plain given up trying to keep up with Larry’s ever-ready bunny energy in many cases. So, names and faces have changed over the years. Let’s take a walk down LCF Lane. PRE-LCF Days Some time after college, Larry was living in Olathe, KS in a little house on Cherry Street. There, in his attic, he met with 4 friends. They were: Thurman & Vangie Gardner, and Jon & Denise Orjala. Singing for the Lord, for Sunday school classes, and church events, they dubbed themselves the “Singing Vitagliano Brothers and their Flying June Bug Circus”. That’s FOUR friends so far. In 1983, R. Lorraine Taylor (Shaver) moved to the KC area and within a year or so, she was invited to become one of the “brothers”. After many rejections by churches with regards to printing the name “The Singing Vitagliano . . . .” in their Sunday bulletins, the brothers agreed to change the name to “Brighter Day”. Much more acceptable in the Bible Belt!! Besides which, there was a song to go with it – “He’s gonna’ show me a Brighter Day”. So, R. Lorraine was the FIFTH friend. Brighter Day sang regularly at the KC Rescue Mission, the Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center, Lansing Correctional Facility (LCF?!?!?), and Leavenworth Honor Camp. Prison ministry has always held an important place in the heart of LCF. Sometime in the late eighties John & Denise moved away, life moved in, and others moved on. Larry continued to sing with people on occasion, but not in any established, consistent mode – i.e. don’t have a list of “friends” for this time period. However, he did at times join R. Lorraine with “His”, the female group Lorraine formed during Larry’s hiatus. Those friends would include Denise Smith, Debbie (Allan) Bennett, and Angela Hinkle, and occasional bass player Kevin Mohktarian. Once again, some moved away, life moved in, others moved on. So, let’s call that NINE friends. Larry gathered his thoughts and some more friends – Becky Privett and Tim James. The foursome – oh yeah, R. Lorraine continued to be a friend while the moving away, moving in and moving on happened. So, the foursome continued to sing in churches, prisons, rescue missions, etc. Update – ELEVEN friends. Moving away, moving in, and moving on forward to 1993 or so. There was a gap in the friends again, although Larry and Lorraine continued singing as a twosome most of the time. A young seminarian named Broe Davis (yes, Broe is his given name!) came to town. He was a long-haired guitar player willing to jump in as a friend. The threesome got some gigs with that were a little more youth oriented – like Breakaway in Warrensburg, MO and an all-nighter at Southside Nazarene! Fun. The count – TWELVE friends. It was on the drive from Warrensburg that Larry and Lorraine compiled a list, a wish list, if you will. A specific list of dreams and goals that has been pursued and in most cases attained! It was somewhere around this time that people began referring to the group as Larry Campbell and Company OR Larry Campbell and Friends. The threesome was invited to do music for the Kansas City District Laymen’s Conference. This was a legitimate gig. A big event, more than the threesome wanted to tackle alone. So . . . more friends. Diane “Cheeko” Cheek, Daren “Derb” Stimpert, and Dee ? sang with us. Newsflash – FIFTEEN friends. In the summer of 1995 Larry and the friends were invited to sing at a late night concert for the Nazarene Youth Congress in Phoenix, AZ. Woe baby!! The group that went to AZ as LCF included, Larry, Lorraine, Diane, Daren, and newest friend Zack Kauffman (long-hair awesome bass player!) – Broe Davis had moved away early ’95 but met us in AZ as well. In the meantime, Christy (James) Kuzmich joined LCF, but was unable to go on the Arizona trip. Yeah, that makes SEVENTEEN friends. Now that LCF was somewhat established, Rick Dryden and Dori Gerdes agreed to work as agents for the band. Rick also played drums – a first for the crew, a drummer!! Another first – a cello player, Ashley Smith. Didn’t last long, but it was fun while it lasted. OK, if you’re counting, that’s NINETEEN friends. Once again there was moving away, moving in, and moving on. Sadly, Diane moved back to Ohio; and Daren went back to school, then moved to California. Happily, Missy (Apple) Knotts stepped on board; sadly, after a year or so, she moved to Indianapolis. A new drummer came on the scene -- Stan Adell; and with the new drummer came a bass player , Larry Auston, or as LCF dubbed him -- Larry, Jr. The count is LC and TWENTY TWO. Moving on, that’s what Larry Jr. did, and in stepped Gary Dennington on bass. Scott Bozworth stepped in as drummer and that takes the count to TWENTY-FOUR friends. Nobody moved on, nothing moved in, but LCF came to somewhat of a screeching halt – maybe a more of a pause, or a sabbatical if you will. Then in 1999, some of the friends came back. And one might say, back with a vengeance. LCF was fortunate to make the acquaintance with West Heart, an awesome band started by Gary Kuzmich and we were able to steal Bryan Vignery, the drummer, and Dennis Norton, the lead guitarist as new friends. Then, the natural for the new bass player stepped in – Dr. Pat Bryant. And sound man, Jeff “J-Dawg” McBee came on board in a big way and the count was LC and TWENTY-EIGHT. But wait, there are some other friends that did not play instruments, but rather kept the instruments alive – the SOUND people that made LCF sound like they knew what they were doing: Roger Mason, Scot Baird, Leonard Hayes, Jeff Gibson, and Kenny Miller. Which takes us to THIRTY-THREE friends. Moving away, moving in, moving on . . . Dennis became worship leader at KC First Church. Miraculously (you’ll have to hear that story sometime) Don Miller stepped in on lead guitar. LCF has recorded 5 CD’s in Airborne Audio – Don’s recording studio – over the last 10 years! Another drummer also named Brian, joined LCF on occasion. THIRTY-FIVE and LC. Moving on again, Don needs a sabbatical, and LCF steals again! Spontaneous Combustion – awesome blue-grass band – loans LCF their banjo-mando-dobro-guitar-and-any-other-stringed-instrument-player Scott Prowell. LCF added John Clark a percussionist for a little while and Randy Neumann played bass for a short time as well. Randy moved on to live with Jesus in the summer of 2006. THIRTY EIGHT Friends…. Other significant part-time LCF’ers who assist with power point & media, lighting, and bookings are Gayle Sawrie, Laura Lance, Jim Dake and DeAnne Arnold. So there you have it as of 8/10/06….FOURTY FOUR friends. Oh, somewhere along the way LCF performed in Moscow and St Petersburg, Russia and Versailles and Paris, France. They are working on their 6th CD project and as always…looking for a few new friends! |