Tribute to Larry Norman
For any Christian of my generation, Larry Norman opened the door. He was the first to show us that rock and roll could still be "Christian" and the devil shouldn't have all the good music. As he got older, he faded into the background of Christian music, as a generation of CCM types hit the stage unaware of the incredible work Larry had done to pave the way. My friend Mark Joseph wrote this tribute to Larry in the Huffington Post, and I for one would like to see Larry Norman remembered for the amazing contribution he made during that difficult transition the church went through in the 60's and 70's. I'd love to hear of any of you feel the same way. In my book, Larry will always rock.
I've been listening to Larry's music for over 30 years. (Gee ... that makes me sound old.) A couple of nights back, when I heard about his passing, I shed a few tears then posted a photo on my blog of the two of us together, taken 20 years ago after a concert he performed in Perth, Western Australia. He was interesting, controversial and a long way from perfect but he was a passionate follower of Jesus and I believe he made a huge contribution to the church and to many thousands of people around the world. He had a smile that could light up a room. He didn't use it nearly enough but it was amazing. I look forward to catching up with him again in eternity.
I'm very touched by the fact that he had such presence of mind to write a Goodbye Letter to everyone - That's truely amazing! What a gift to all of us. He's a true voice in Christian Rock. Modern bands should follow his lead. The difference: he wasn't writing to meet the immediate needs of youth groups, and radio stations. He was just makin' great music, and havin' a great time doing it. He wasn't thinking, "what's the program-manager gonna think of this?" or, "Oh, I really hope the program-manager likes it!" The CCM industry should all go back to his style of creating. After all, he started it that way. Thank you, God, for this man!!
I sang Larry Norman's song in Coffee House's and Restaurants back in the 70's. I came out of a rock background and had been singing since High School. Larry blazed a path for all ex-rockers like me to follow. He never "made it" into the mainstream of "christian rock" and he never tried to "cross over" like some do. He was too busy being on the cutting edge.
I remember having dinner with Larry back in the 80's in Thousand Oaks, CA. To say that Larry was unique would be a true understatement.
To be honest after all these years, I never did quite understand what he was saying during dinner. I guess that sums of Larry Norman. He laid it out there in shades of gray and let you interpret what it was he was all about. An artist.
My first Larry Norman concert was in 1979ish in Vancouver, BC. He made such an impact in my life and the youth all around me. We still sing his songs. His passing impacts alot of people from my era. I hope to pass this on to my children. Please check out this tribute to Larry Norman!
http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=080795a7f23cf9 1fc6dc
Thank you Larry for making the way for GREAT MUSIC.
Traz
Larry has a son, Daniel who is now 19 and lives in Melbourne Australia.. Larry abandoned his son and led his mother on with promises that they would one day be together. World Magazine have published the article of Daniels story, see -:
www.worldmag.com/articles/14180
There is another side to the guy ... God Bless .. Andrew Wallace .. Australia
Yeah - I've been finding that out. Thanks for the post.
Further to my last post ... Jennifer and Daniel have now put a brief clip of their story on youtube, the link is
http://www.youtube.com/user/jenksaustralia
Thanks for listening .. Andrew Wallace ... Australia
The documentary of Larry's life is now complete .. It is titled "Fallen Angel:The Outlaw Larry Norman"
It will have a pre-screening at Wheaton College on Thurs Oct 16 in the Barrows Auditorium.
Randy Stonehill will be present and will be doing a mini concert .. a Q & A session will be held at the end. For more information google the title.
Thanks Andrew Australia
The Documentary was shown on Oct 16th .. the following is a link to OC Weekly's review of the documentary
http://www.ocweekly.com/2008-10-16/news/david-di-sabationo-l arry-norman
Thabks Andrew Australia
For some reason the link does not seem to be working .. prhaps you can type it into your address bar .. the last part should read
/news/david-di-sabatino-larry-norman
Andrew
God will ultimately judge all our works, "you look upon a woman with lust in your heart and you are guilty of adultery".
Have you been subjected to the same pressures and temptations, have you been heartbroken by your marriage ending causing such unimaginable pain and sorrow that you become vulnerable to the weakness of the flesh. Have you cried out to God for forgiveness and restoration, and knowing he has forgiven you, you come to realize others won't.....
Larry Norman was human after all.
As human as Solomon who in his weakness gave in to foreign women that ultimately brought his demise, but do we throw away the Song of Solomon or Proverbs, no, because God's calling and gifts are without repentance. Larry's sin is not unique to human frailty, but I don't blame Larry alone for his innability to come to grips with the consequences of his sin, but it is to be laid at the doorstep of the church, that even though God is forgiving and merciful, his church isn't as evidenced by the pulling of Sandi Patti's albums from shelves and the boycotting of Amy Grant's albums, and the churches response to countless others who have fallen, yes the church has its own list of unpardonable sins, thus the church forces Christian artists or ministers who want to continue with a carreer or ministry to put up a wall of pretense and silence, and church becomes the place where masks are worn and where everyone has to pretend to be perfect. In today's church Peter never could have continued with a ministry feeding God's sheep. So many fallen soldiers are trampled by selfrighteous pharisees, instead of giving a true hand of forgiveness, assistance and restoration!
The following is a link to a trailer for the documentary "Fallen Angel: The Outlaw Larry Norman" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5Vc5G1gXTA The next screening is in San Jose California at Cinequest Film Festival in Late Feb 2009 Thanks Andrew
This is over a year now..but Phil keaggy and me got together to re-record this old Larry tune in tribute to Larry himself. besides Keaggy, Larry's old drummer Mark walker from the original track reprises his role on drums - to you, Larry. Richard
"Fallen Angel" is complete rubbish! PRODUCTION: A far less than amateur production - the sound was so poorly mastered and "all over the map" level wise, I found myself riding the volume control just to get some hearing comfort. Almost impossibly - the video quality was even worse! The entire production was simply a poorly assembled and redundant photo slide show of a truly horrible standard and erroneously edited with pre-teen level camera work. VERY amateurish and boring, the worst part for me was the seething hatred and accusatory tone apparent in the voice of the narrator, and that conversations were obviously clipped, diced, and manipulated to put the protagonist in the WORST possible light. Seemingly made on a production budget of $13.59 this video fails miserably! DOCUMENTATION: Even more derailed than the production: This "movie" confirms the grim reality of the much reported bias the filmmaker has against Larry Norman - having spent less than 2 minutes of the entire film on Larry's REAL attributes seen by thousands over decades of integrity, character, generosity & humor, and the rest of the time impugning him for all sorts of horrible things that were easily and correctly dismissed as hearsay and rumor while Larry was alive... Objectivity was a million miles away from this hack flick, and was only barely hinted at when truly objective statements were sparingly sprinkled in the last few moments of the film. It is clearly a case of slander per se, which explains it's posthumous release… and don't tell me this "took years to complete" - the whole project could easily have been done in one week. CONCLUSION: If anyone can watch this slanderous tripe without feeling cheapened or deceived, I seriously question THEIR integrity! Almost anyone could have made a better film than this personal vendetta… wait for a real moviemaker to tell this story of the centric character in Jesus Music - it deserves to be told. RIP Larry Norman.
Dont hold back Tony, say what you really think ! ! :)
I have watched the documentary a number of times .. I think it is fantastic ! ! At no time did I ever feel the need to adjust the volume, I set it to the level I wanted and watched it. It is well presented, factual and very enlightening.
What does Tony know about larry's "real" attributes ?? Did he talk to Larry for 2 minutes at the end of a concert ? Those in the documentary "worked" with Larry extensivly over "many" years
The filmaker was nominated for an Emmy on his previous work, "Frisbee, The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher". Fallen Angel was listed among the "must see" films at Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, so he must be doing something right !
The filmaker is a published author on the Jesus Movement and also holds a Masters Degree in history. The study of History is about getting things right !
Anyone reading Tony's post will see it for what it is , the comments of a "disgruntled die hard Larry Norman Fan" .. But dont take my word for it, or Tony's .. see it for yourself :)
www.fallenangeldoc.com
Andrew
The Theatre release of the the movie "Fallen Angel The outlaw Larry Norman" will happen at the Belcourt Theatre Nashville TN at 6.30pm April 20th. Randy Stonehill and movie maker David Di Sabatino will be present for a Q&A session .. For more info please go to http://www.fallenangel.com Thanks Andrew
See the truth about David Di Sabatino and the deception in his Fallen Angel Larry Norman movie. http://www.failedangle.com
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