Thursday, July 8, 2010

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.

10 comments:

  1. I absolutely LOVED those concerts! There was a song on their CD that lived on repeat in my bedroom but can't remember the name for the life of me. On a side note, I think back in the day all of us were a little boy crazy :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. My two favorite songs off the Dissonance CD were Cry Me To Sleep and Personal Institution. And Meagan, do not descriminate- there was plenty of girl crazy as well! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Was there a song called Surrender? "Jesus, I want to fly away into your arms. Help me to find myself in your undying love and find the joy of Surrender." I loved singing that song!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous7/08/2010

    Prince of Peace was my favorite song after you came to Wesley. The girls always got to sing the good part! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ummm... On behalf of the band we are honored to accept such a prestigious award.

    Wow Carl. I was just talking about you with my dad. It's a small world after all. I remember those days so well. We were a little band that could (but didn't) and you had such an amazing group of kids. My was just telling my old man you (of all the many youth pastors we met) had the real deal. You loved those kids and it showed and that love is what was bringing them to Christ. I'm glad we were able to help you in your ministries. Thanks for all the great memories.

    I'm up to many a wild thing now days with the middle school group I run. Check out the madness from his summer. www.vimeo.com/jbund

    P.S. Sorry about the surfboard.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for the kind words, Justin. I have no doubt that your ministry, like that of your Dad, is totally wild and a model of what student ministry ought to be in 2010. God bless you, dude. And no sweat about the board...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Aah! I'm from Cleveland,OH and at 37yrs old I still remember when this band came out. We had an awesome DJ who would play rock bands on the local Christian station every Saturday night and I would be glued to my "boombox" listening to all of the bands I would have never gotten to hear otherwise. I also had to record the whole show on a cassette every time so I could re-listen. I still have my Spooky Tuesday cds thanks to this ❤

    ReplyDelete
  8. Andrew Neuman1/06/2022

    My teenage son has taken a particular liking to my traveling days with the band. We recently cleared out some 20 year-old boxes from my parent's basement and the kids found some old Spooky Tuesday paraphernalia...which led to a bunch google searching for their dad's band, and, more specifically, scathing reviews. Thanks for the post from 12 years ago Carl! And for being so kind, you partially saved my past reputation :) I totally remember our times together (minus the broken board). Those 5 years were incredible. I'm leading worship in a church on Oahu these days called Reality. Come check us out!
    Much Love - Andrew

    ReplyDelete
  9. They did a concert in flagstaff AZ. My whole family went, and at the time my parents owned a DQ, so after the concert the band came, and we fed them, and they hung out for a bit. They were so fun ! Still play the CD!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous4/11/2023

    I remember going to a concert of theirs when I was in high school at some retreat. My son has my iPod and one of their songs came on so I decided to do a little research on what happened to them. I occasionally search Spotify to see if their songs pop up.
    I remember them doing a song about Romans at the retreat I went on and loving it but never found it recorded anywhere.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for reading,and thanks for your comment!