For several years after high school, I was a Christian rock 'n' roll singer!! I didn't need a good job, a haircut or higher education, because I was gonna be a singer, whether God liked it or not! (Thank God for His patience and forgiveness.)
I did concerts for churches, youth groups, banquets etc... all denominations... prisons, festivals, retreats, concert warm-ups for people such as Mike Warnke, Randy Matthews, David Meece, John Fischer and others. Did lots of volunteer work at the Dandelion coffeehouse, with Ken Canfield. Sang with a duet/trio band called 'Fools for Christ' for a year and a half. Recorded a 45 rpm record featuring Tom Green, Newt Graber, and Cliff Major.
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Q: Elvie, have you ever done any recording?
A: Why, yes I have, but it's been so long ago that some of the details have gotten fuzzy. We either recorded a '45 back in '78, or a '78 back in '45, I don't remember which. (Sound effect: bu-dump-tsss)
Take a few moments to recover, folks...
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Without a steady job, I slowly ended up in debt to friends and family and did what anyone in that situation would do: I joined the Army (the U.S. one). Then I got out of debt, saved some money, separated from the Army (honorably), attended an audio tech school in New York on military benefits, got married, ran sound for a big church in a big NY theater, dad had his first heart attack, I separated from my wife, spent a summer in Kansas, returned to NYC, moved upstate NY, moved back to Kansas, did stage mixing for a Rich Mullins tour, and got divorced. WHEW!!
I just hit the highlights; reading the details would be like picking through tornado rubble.
Since returning to Kansas, I've been attending Hope Community Church, in Andover. This was a time of spiritual recovery and renewal. I limited my involvement in music to ministries inside Hope Church. I got a real job worth retiring from (Raytheon), and started clipping my own hair. Hey -- ten bucks is ten bucks. And I even began to like playing hymns. Well, some of them, anyway.
This is the point where you may be thinking, "Gee, Elvie finally settled down". Well, perhaps, perhaps not. The "perfect" job at Raytheon was outsourced in the spring of '05.
So that's when I started Hope Music Works. I take my guitar to critically ill or disabled individuals in their private home or nursing home, and do a one-man concert for them. I do traditional hymns, bluegrass hymns, old show tunes, folk tunes -- you name it. Whatever they want to hear. Sometimes I'm singing to one person, sometimes for a family, sometimes for a neighborhood crowd. I'd never have guessed that singing for such a small audience could be so rewarding.
I think I've finally found my perfect job.
Your prayers are appreciated,
Elvie Malcom
