Hall of Fame: Spooky Tuesday

It's a CCM Thursday here at I'd Laugh, but it is also Hall of Fame Week.  Today we combine the two into a little youth ministry gumbo and honor our old friends Spooky Tuesday with a special spot in my Youth Group Hall of Fame.  How did a relatively unknown band from Hawaii earn such an honor?  Here is that story.

Sometime in the summer of 1997 I received a box of CD's and posters from Interlinc, a youth ministry music service I subscribed to for many years.  In that particular box was a CD from a band I had never heard of, Spooky Tuesday.  It was called Dissonance, and I did not listen to it.  I also paid no attention to the poster included in the box.  A little later that summer I received a phone call from my old buddy Rick Bundschuh (see Atlanta '87).  Rick, a longtime youth pastor, was now pastoring a church in Kauai, Hawaii.  He informed me that the student ministry at his church had produced a band that was at that time putting together a nationwide tour and that they would be in Florida in September.  He told me they had two major claims to fame- they had finished second to an Elvis impersonator in a local talent show, and Rick's own son was the bass player.  He wondered if we might be interested in hosting this band, called Spooky Tuesday.  I listened to the CD, loved it, and called him back and said yes- because they were cheap!  As time drew near for our September 28th concert, Rick and I had several more discussions.  We would house the band for a few days, and I would get them passes for Disney World so they could have a little rest from their grueling tour schedule.  Rick would fly in and join them. 

The concert was great.  The band- Andrew, Jess, Kevin and Justin (Pepe) Bundschuh- connected immediately with our youth.  They ate dinner with us in the youth room before the show, and by the time they took the stage they felt like friends.  Some of our group loved their music, while others (Sara Autrey, for one) just loved the band.  She had a huge crush on Pepe, and she was not alone.  The guys found Jess very attractive as well.  By the end of the evening we had adopted them, and they were pretty fond of us as well.  I hung out with them at WDW, and we ate together a few times.  A bond was formed.

Less than a year later they were back.  June 6th, 1998 they played a return gig in the Fellowship Hall of FUMC-K, and again they rocked the house.  I think most of the group had some sort of Spooky Tuesday merchandise in those days, either a shirt or a CD.  A year later they joined us for a third time, but this time they came to our Last Gasp Summer Blowout at Melbourne Beach, where they served as out worship leaders for the weekend (and managed to break a rented surfboard).  It was during one of  those worship sessions that they taught us the song Prince of Peace.  We had never heard it before (this was well before Michael W. Smith recorded his version) and it was amazing.  The youth loved it, requesting it over and over again.  After we returned to Kissimmee they kept requesting it, but I didn't know how to play it.  I e-mailed Kevin and he sent me the chords.  And that is how Prince of Peace became part of our youth group history. 

Spooky Tuesday didn't stay together much longer, although they did play one more concert for me after I moved to Chicago (I feel pretty confident that event is still, to this day, the most radical thing ever to take place in Union Church...).  They never had a hit or made any major impact on the Christian music scene- except for Kissimmee!  Kevin and Jess eventually got married (I was among the first to know when they were pregnant!), and she still records.  You can find her on Youtube.  Justin does youth ministry at his dad's church.  Their impact on our student ministry at FUMC-K was significant, and not only for giving us Prince of Peace.  I have put together a little musical slide show featuring them singing that song, and including a few pictures from those Kissimmee days.  It was the best way I could think of to honor a little band from Hawaii as I induct them into my Hall of Fame.  Enjoy.