Ted Pearce

That was the longest non-stop tour I've ever done!?!

A full 7 months of visiting congregations all over the western USA, and hiking National Parks in between concerts of praise, with a bunch of local jam sessions in between. 

Whew…it was fun but glad it's over. It can get really lonely on the road, but at least a lot was accomplished during that time. My education and circle of friends was greatly increased by a lot of audio engineers in various cities of the tour…. it was a deep blessing personally to visit so many friends around the western half of the nation after an extended hiatus caused by Bizzaro World (2020). 

At the last stop of the 2022 Long Tour in Amarillo, TX, I had to go the emergency room for an absess tooth which seemed to be going septic.  Of course they need my info and after I gave it to them, they gave me a badge that listed said “Homeless - Amarillo TX” and I had to face the reality that it's true. I wish my children and extended family all lived in the mountains where I want to be. I wish my mom could make it through the next year.  I wish I could stay in one place long enough to form real friendships, real relationships. But alas, that isn't reality.

So, for the time being, my plan is to fulfill concerts booked in January, but to start looking for a permanent home (temporarily) in the southeast Texas area while mom is still alive. 

Ted's Tall Tales from the road....

Started out on the longest driving tour I've ever done at the end of April 2022. If you count Texas in May, this is already a 7 month non-stop tour that goes through November. For more than half a year, I will live on the roads of the western USA. 

I'll go to Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, maybe Wisconsin?, South Dakota (to VR the Badlands), Colorado, Wyoming (to VR Yellowstone), Idaho, Montana, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico 

We had a great time of outreach in St Louis Missouri and then an explosion of praise with Or HaOlam and the saints of Kansas City last week with both a concert and a VR Tour of Israel.

The energy of Kansas City is very upbeat, positive, confident and Or HaOlam is a STRONG light in the region.

Basically my "tours" are just traveling around to visit my friends and these congregations have always been such faithful brothers and friends. Much love and thanks to Shmuel & Dawn, plus Mike & Lynn in St Louis for their love and support over the years. 

Coming up in June: Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota

Shalom to you as we await the Feast of Shavuot!

5.24.2022

Has it really been 20 years?

It was Shavuot 2001 when Zealous Over Zion was released at The Underground Club in Jerusalem. In October of 2002, the Zealous Over Zion CD was released by Galilee of the Nations so we are approaching the 20th Anniversary.

In remembrance I plan to release the B side of that dance record “Adon Olam” for the anniversary in October.  In the meantime, I’ve got 10 songs nearly finished which will be released over this same time frame.

The Tour

Yesterday in Springdale Arkansas was my first stop on a tour that will go through November that brings me to every State west of the Mississippi except North Dakota. As you might remember from my last post, I’ve put all my things in storage in Asheville, NC and am “going to a land He will show me”.

At first I called this the “Delayed 2020 Tour” because we were planning this long trip when the lockdown stopped it. Then, we planned it again for 2021 and were interrupted by my daughter’s wedding. So assuming that I don’t run out of gas, it is now being called “This Is Not My Home” tour.

Besides concerts we are also booking the VR Tour of Israel where I supply Virtual Reality headsets for 40 people at a time and bring everyone to Israel on tours that I filmed over 4 years. We can do this in a congregation or even a home fellowship group. All it takes is an internet line to make it happen. The VR Tour of Israel is amazing audiences everywhere!

This next 3 weeks are in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. Then Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, Colorado, New Mexico, Idaho, maybe Montana, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona,  New Mexico and Texas. It will end with Hanukah in New Orleans.

As usual, CONFIRMED events are listed on my website at tedpearce.com

We’re still working to confirm dates at dozens of places before they go up on the schedule list. If you see your State listed and would like to arrange a concert or a “VR Tour of Israel” event please call Amanda ASAP at 409 679 6257 before every date is filled.

As usual, I go everywhere for an offering and a private room. No hassles, no risk, and no worries for the congregation.

In His Grip,

Ted

Another crazy story.    1.16.21

In one of the strangest twists in a lifetime of amazing stories, I have begun working with Mega-Producer Stuart Epps on the next "t.Roy" project. Most people don't pay attention to the Producer of a record, but that is usually the person most responsible for that song becoming a hit. Their job is to take an idea and turn it into a recorded song. 

Mr Epps has worked with the biggest names in rock history. Starting out in publishing at Dick James Publishing (London) he worked with the Beatles. He later went on to be an engineer and producer, working with people like Led Zepplin, Elton John, George Harrison, Oasis, Twisted Sister, Wishbone Ash, and the list goes on with the addition of t.Roy & The Smoking Section. 

He will be mixing what I've just recently recorded in the dining area of my very small house. This project ("Dining Room") was started last year in the city of Asheville as t.Roy & The Smoking Section.

The t.Roy series has been an outlet for the secular songs (non-church music) I've written over an entire life. 

"Gypsy Queen" is a song about my Canadian wife, Hadassah Dove, whom I have not seen since July 2020. At first it was because of covid but now it's because of immigration. Alas...the story of the song. 

This is only viewable to you who care enough to read my blog. It has not been officially released yet. 

  "Gypsy Queen" by t.Roy & The Smoking Section

Do you know how to celebrate the end of slavery in America? We need to know because it's the greatest victory of Christians in America, even if it was a high cost.

It's called Juneteenth. I have much to say about this, but first some history.

The end of slavery was resisted in the South for months after Lee's surrender. Texas, being the farthest from Washington, was the last State to be occupied. That made Texas the last bastion of slavery until June 19th, 1865 in Galveston.

During the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862. The Emancipation Proclamation was formally issued on January 1, 1863. It declared that all enslaved persons in the Confederate States of America in rebellion and not in Union hands were to be freed. This excluded the five states known later as border states, slave holding states that had not seceded from the United States and – Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, and Missouri – and the counties of Virginia soon to form the state of West Virginia, and also the three zones under Union occupation: the state of Tennessee, lower Louisiana, and eastern Virginia.

More isolated geographically, Texas was not a battleground, and thus the people held there as slaves were generally not affected by the Emancipation Proclamation. Planters and other slaveholders had migrated into Texas from eastern states to escape the fighting, and many brought enslaved people with them, increasing by the thousands the enslaved population in the state at the end of the Civil War. Although most enslaved people lived in rural areas, more than 1,000 resided in both Galveston and Houston by 1860, with several hundred in other large towns. By 1865, there were an estimated 250,000 enslaved people in Texas.

The news of General Robert E. Lee's surrender on April 9 reached Texas later in the month. The Army of the Trans-Mississippi did not surrender until June 2. On June 18, Union Army General Gordon Granger arrived at Galveston Island with 2,000 federal troops to occupy Texas on behalf of the federal government. The following day, standing on the balcony of Galveston's Ashton Villa, Granger read aloud the contents of "General Order No. 3", announcing the total emancipation of those held as slaves: "The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere"

How did slavery get started in the first place? On June 19th, 2011 Dr Raleigh Washington of PromiseKeepers with Rabbi Eric Carlson of Newport News VA sponsored a Juneteenth March of Remembrance on the very property where slavery began in 1607.

Also speaking that day was the great, great, great, great, great (is that 5x?) granddaughter of General Gordon Grainger who had issued that order in Galveston June 19, 1865

Other speakers included Chief Ann Richardson of the Powahatan Tribe, and there were several local Pastors and ministries that wanted to give a word or lead us in worship.

The point of March of Remembrance has ALWAY been about breaking the silence of indifference. We can argue statistics and policies but it's hard to argue there isn't a whole lot of indifference between people everywhere these days. As they say, "Sunday is the most segregated day in America" to our shame.

On this date, we had invited every church, every saint we could and yet the turnout was very small. We only need ONE to hear us, but it was a disappointment more didn't find it worthwhile.

But how about this year? Would you be willing to walk for AT LEAST 8:46 in a public way, either with your congregation or by yourself if necessary, praying on June 19th, 2020? Would you pray until your heart breaks for injustices done to black people LONG BEFORE today? Would you pray that your heart breaks for fellowship with ALL of the saints in this worldwide tapestry? We have to be the people we are hoping for.

We should be leading instead of reacting, my friends