Mark Bishop
Singing News Article
June 2007
Although I did it for about 17 years
with the group, I no longer travel around in a big touring bus.
After becoming a soloist about six years ago, I just couldn't
really justify any need. I suppose it would look nice, but for me
as a soloist, it would just feel impractical.
That said, a bus is nearly
indispensable if you travel as a part of a group. There are just
too many people and too much equipment and product to get from
place to place to travel any other way. Many artists and groups
have tried touring in an RV. They are comfortable but they lack
storage and they just aren't cut out for the many, many miles.
Some groups opt for a van and a trailer. The Bishops did this for
over a year as we saved to buy our first brand new bus back in the
day. We found this to be a great way to save money but with five
guys riding long hours, through the night, in a cramped touring
van, we all aged ten years in one.
My dad, who was always the one who
had to watch the bottom line, fretted about how much of the income
was out-going to the big ol' bus parked outside. Introduce me to
a group with a bus and I'll tell you who the highest paid member
of that group is. It's a no-brainer. The bus is getting the
highest salary.
Then there are the head-aches that a
bus will give you. My goodness. If all the stories about bus
break-downs could be written by all the artists you've gone to
see, the volumes could not be contained in the Library of
Congress. If you ever find yourself standing in the middle of
some traveling Gospel singers and the conversation goes awkwardly
silent, just ask if anyone has ever broken down on the side of the
road in a bus. Be prepared to wait a while for your next
opportunity to speak.
I don't believe that there is a state
east of Oklahoma that we didn't break down in. I have many
memories of holding flashlights over engine compartments on the
side of our fine interstate systems. I have ridden in the backs
of pick-up trucks and wreckers. I have shaken the greasy hand of
a mechanic on white horseback. I have seen the promised land and
it is a 24 hour truck stop. I am tempted to tell you some
stories, but just like eating a Pringle's potato chip, I know I
wouldn't be able to stop at just one.
You have heard it said that we as
taxpayers, in a year of work, are working for the government up
until May. Then, after that, we start earning something for
ourselves. Well, the Gospel groups in the big ol' bus who are
singing four days a week are singing two of those for the bus.
It's just the way it is. You can't get around it.
Now of course, I have some wonderful
bus memories too. It becomes your home away from home. Some of
my fellow singers claim to sleep better on the bus than at home.
Nowadays, I spend two or three nights a week in hotels arranged by
the concert promoters I'm working for. Most are wonderful but
every now and then, I get a less-than-wonderful room. Only then
do I miss a bus. Otherwise, I'm glad for the memories but, well,
I don't even like working for Uncle Sam the first fourth of the
year.
I'm happy to see a new group and
their first bus. It's an experience that they will never forget.
They will no doubt create some lifelong memories, some good, and
some that you can only laugh at later. Once the glamour wears
off, the bus will become less of a status symbol and more of a
tool to get everybody from here to there and still meet payroll.
A wrestling match that you will be engaged in until the day you
retire and they hang your plaque in the Gospel Music Hall of
Fame.
Les Beasley once said that if you
flipped a bus over you would see engraved on the bottom "Made in
Hades". Spoken like a man who has held a flashlight over an
engine and who has shaken a greasy hand at a 24 hour truck stop.
Southern Gospel Music and the touring bus. They go together like
peanut butter and jelly. And the jelly is keeping the peanut
butter from half of the bread.
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