This Beautiful Butterfly Bench Sits In Fron Of The Malone's Home In Blairsville, GeorgiaMany of you have asked about the concerts and work we are doing, it really is amazing if I may say. I want to take a moment to explain it to those of you who don’t know about Al’s music and our ministry. Alan downplays much of what he does to family and friends, but I want to brag a little and tell you not only what he does, but how well he does it. There are hundreds of organizations around the country who help families whose children have died. Alan has worked with and donated his time to many of these organizations now for several years. His music and message have become very popular within the healing arts community. He has become nationally known and is sought after to play and speak because he mixes his music with humor wrapped in a hope filled message in such a unique way….there truly is nobody else like him. Every night he plays, he stays (as long as it takes) to autograph CD’s and to meet every person and to hug them and hear about their child…I know he is helping so many people and it is an honor to be a part of something so special.
I am writing this blog from Tampa where Al was the key-note speaker yesterday for a very big Angel of Hope fundraising event held here at the beautiful Quorum Hotel.
With the Mayor, and other dignitaries and big donors in attendance I watched him take the stage and wow the big crowd….it was a fancy brunch and he had people belly laughing as he talked about finding a grape in his chicken salad sandwich during the meal and confusing it for a pickle…he asked all the ladies to applaud the few men in attendance who had the courage to show up at such a fancy “Tea” which included a fashion show and silent auction. You could have heard a pin drop and there wasn’t a dry eye to be found as he closed with “Celebrate The Children,” ..many thousands of dollars were raised for this beautiful Park being constructed here in Tampa that will have a special Angel of Hope statue in it for families who have lost a child to gather around and remember….just another day in the life of traveling with Alan.
I feel such a part of what we are doing, the stories I hear each night as I work the CD table are something I will never forget. We are reaching out to the smallest of groups too, Al’s heart and generosity toward others who have lost a child and for small grief support groups who can’t afford to pay our travel expenses are becoming a big part of his legacy. Many nights we donate the money from CD sales to help pay for the cost of the event and our travel…it seems that angels appear along to way just when we need them who make up the difference.
It’s been amazing to watch Alan transform his deep sadness and grief after losing Ashley into something very special and wonderful. I’m sure he could make more money if he wanted to cash in on his popularity and play for big churches and other commercial motivational events that are available to him, but he is determined to make a difference and wants a ministry more than a music career, you can’t put a price on helping people, and I support him in this 100%.
There have been many newspapers around the country that have written about our journey and events, several have put a picture of Ashley in the article and I can’t help but think she would be so proud of what we are doing. So we play events large and small, and drive endless miles it seems…this is a journey to honor Ashley, and to help Alan heal…God lights the path…we follow that path…and somehow it all comes together.
My blog is meant to show you the things we do and see along the way, Al writes one on his website about the work we do. If you want to learn more about it, please keep up with Alan at http://www.everashleymusic.com/
Okay, now back to our travels!
It seems that when I left you, Al and I were leaving the Northeast and heading toward the South. After saying so long to Mom and Dad we played concerts in Wilmington, Delaware…Fairfax, Virginia, and then drove 540 miles for a concert in West Milton, Ohio which is near Dayton. That next morning we drove down to Frankfort, Kentucky where we spent the weekend playing and speaking a couple of times at a Regional Conference of The Compassionate Friends (TCF). Sometimes we get spoiled rotten at our events, and sometimes not so much…Frankfort was great because we were definitely spoiled. Frankfort is the capitol of Kentucky, yet it is a small and quaint town. We stayed at the beautiful Capitol Hotel near the old town square, and what a room!
I am writing this blog from Tampa where Al was the key-note speaker yesterday for a very big Angel of Hope fundraising event held here at the beautiful Quorum Hotel.
With the Mayor, and other dignitaries and big donors in attendance I watched him take the stage and wow the big crowd….it was a fancy brunch and he had people belly laughing as he talked about finding a grape in his chicken salad sandwich during the meal and confusing it for a pickle…he asked all the ladies to applaud the few men in attendance who had the courage to show up at such a fancy “Tea” which included a fashion show and silent auction. You could have heard a pin drop and there wasn’t a dry eye to be found as he closed with “Celebrate The Children,” ..many thousands of dollars were raised for this beautiful Park being constructed here in Tampa that will have a special Angel of Hope statue in it for families who have lost a child to gather around and remember….just another day in the life of traveling with Alan. I feel such a part of what we are doing, the stories I hear each night as I work the CD table are something I will never forget. We are reaching out to the smallest of groups too, Al’s heart and generosity toward others who have lost a child and for small grief support groups who can’t afford to pay our travel expenses are becoming a big part of his legacy. Many nights we donate the money from CD sales to help pay for the cost of the event and our travel…it seems that angels appear along to way just when we need them who make up the difference.It’s been amazing to watch Alan transform his deep sadness and grief after losing Ashley into something very special and wonderful. I’m sure he could make more money if he wanted to cash in on his popularity and play for big churches and other commercial motivational events that are available to him, but he is determined to make a difference and wants a ministry more than a music career, you can’t put a price on helping people, and I support him in this 100%.
There have been many newspapers around the country that have written about our journey and events, several have put a picture of Ashley in the article and I can’t help but think she would be so proud of what we are doing. So we play events large and small, and drive endless miles it seems…this is a journey to honor Ashley, and to help Alan heal…God lights the path…we follow that path…and somehow it all comes together.
My blog is meant to show you the things we do and see along the way, Al writes one on his website about the work we do. If you want to learn more about it, please keep up with Alan at http://www.everashleymusic.com/
Okay, now back to our travels!
It seems that when I left you, Al and I were leaving the Northeast and heading toward the South. After saying so long to Mom and Dad we played concerts in Wilmington, Delaware…Fairfax, Virginia, and then drove 540 miles for a concert in West Milton, Ohio which is near Dayton. That next morning we drove down to Frankfort, Kentucky where we spent the weekend playing and speaking a couple of times at a Regional Conference of The Compassionate Friends (TCF). Sometimes we get spoiled rotten at our events, and sometimes not so much…Frankfort was great because we were definitely spoiled. Frankfort is the capitol of Kentucky, yet it is a small and quaint town. We stayed at the beautiful Capitol Hotel near the old town square, and what a room!
Al working hard at the conference table in our "Rock Star" suite in Franfort, Kentucky
Al played at this event last year and they love him, and love to treat him like a rock star. They put us in a huge suite which you seriously could host a party for 50 people in this room. We stayed 3 nights, and it was very nice…on Sunday we ate their very famous brunch which included prime rib, crab legs, and all the usual yummy brunch fare.
We left Frankfort for a concert in Marietta, Georgia. One of my jobs has become hunting great hotel deals on the nights when we have to pay for our own room. Bingo on this one, I found us a cool Quality Inn with a kitchen in it for $69…this is a score when you are on the road. We cooked dinner and played the concert and then headed across western Georgia for an event in Huntsville, Alabama. Alabama is really a beautiful state; in many ways it may be the most beautiful state we have seen. Who knew? We took the back roads and saw some breathtaking lakes.
Our concert in Huntsville was nice, and the next night we played in Auburn, Alabama and once again took the back roads. We stopped for coffee at a unique and wonderful little coffee shop along the way which was something we did for “Brenda.” Of course what would life be without paybacks, so for “Alan” we had to stop in Talladega which is the home of a huge NASCAR event and also the home of a very down home southern BBQ joint. Al had to have a fix of some Alabama BBQ, and I must admit…it was awesome.
We played in Auburn and then headed up to Charlotte, North Carolina for a final event before flying home to Colorado to celebrate our Gavin’s 7th birthday….this would be Al’s 40th concert since leaving Colorado…he needed a break too! The concert in Charlotte was for an organization who has already built a Memorial Park with a brick walkway dedicated to children who have died. It was a big event and Alan was the Key-Note speaker here as well, it was supposed to be held outdoors but because of the rain it was moved indoors.
The people hosting the event had a special brick made and placed in the Park honoring Ashley; we were both very moved by this gesture.
We stayed at the
Marriott in downtown Charlotte and got to watch North Carolina play Kansas in the Final Four of the NCAA tournament at the local sports bar, it was fun.
We woke up and flew back to Colorado for a whirlwind week of rest. We got to see most everybody and Gavin’s party hosted by the “Grandparents” was terrific, Dennis and Donna Bistram are the absolute best of friends and we love them..it was a great time as usual….Alan misses everybody more than he is letting on and can’t wait to get home at the end of May to be around family and friends.
We flew back to Charlotte and picked up our beloved Butterfly Bus (which runs like a top and is a great way to travel.) We grabbed another bargain hotel outside of Charlotte and drove west a couple of hours to Brevard, North Carolina for a concert. We are starting to stay at the homes of some of the people putting on events as a break from hotels once in awhile. This night we stayed with Bill and Marisol who are the TCF Chapter leaders. They are world travelers, connoisseurs of great coffee, tea, and wine, and Bill is a gourmet chef…we could have moved into this place. Bill made a fabulous Chinese Chicken soup that defies words, his homemade stock he makes with more ingredients than I can count…he served it with his freshly baked beer bread and topped it off with a wonderful wine that he had selected for our meal. This was one of the tastiest dishes I have EVER eaten…it was that good.
They had recently traveled to China and were introduced to specialty Chinese teas…we are talking expensive and rare teas. He broke out some of his favorites and we all enjoyed tea before bed…after of course the great wine, food, and somewhere in there Al played a concert. We woke up the next morning to another fabulous meal…Hubble Bubble which is made with fried mashed potatoes, pork, eggs, sausage, fancy cheeses, and who knows what else….it was spectacular too!
We left that day for another concert back in Charlotte, so we drove back down the same road we had come up a day earlier. We had a great concert there and a lady at the concert gave me her card and said she owned a restaurant and invited us to have lunch “on her” the next day if we had time…..believe me….free lunch…I’m the Treasurer of this big adventure….we made time! Wow, what a great place to eat….New York themed food with authentic NY flavors, they actually bring in all their meats and bread from New York….she sent us packing with a bunch of goodies too….MMM.
Our next concert was in Dalton, Georgia…not much to say about Dalton except that it is the carpet capital of the frickin world I think. Apparently they manufacture it there, and every other building has something to do with carpet selling. The event we played was nice because after Al’s concert they had a balloon release just as darkness was falling…I got great pictures of the balloons and the moon.
We woke up the next morning for a bit of an adventure, it was Friday morning and we didn’t play in Miami, Florida until Monday night…so I routed us a path that would take us through Savannah, Georgia and Daytona Beach. A couple of places I had never seen. Al seems to have been everywhere and most places more than once, but he had never seen Savannah and so we were excited.
We left Frankfort for a concert in Marietta, Georgia. One of my jobs has become hunting great hotel deals on the nights when we have to pay for our own room. Bingo on this one, I found us a cool Quality Inn with a kitchen in it for $69…this is a score when you are on the road. We cooked dinner and played the concert and then headed across western Georgia for an event in Huntsville, Alabama. Alabama is really a beautiful state; in many ways it may be the most beautiful state we have seen. Who knew? We took the back roads and saw some breathtaking lakes.
Our concert in Huntsville was nice, and the next night we played in Auburn, Alabama and once again took the back roads. We stopped for coffee at a unique and wonderful little coffee shop along the way which was something we did for “Brenda.” Of course what would life be without paybacks, so for “Alan” we had to stop in Talladega which is the home of a huge NASCAR event and also the home of a very down home southern BBQ joint. Al had to have a fix of some Alabama BBQ, and I must admit…it was awesome.We played in Auburn and then headed up to Charlotte, North Carolina for a final event before flying home to Colorado to celebrate our Gavin’s 7th birthday….this would be Al’s 40th concert since leaving Colorado…he needed a break too! The concert in Charlotte was for an organization who has already built a Memorial Park with a brick walkway dedicated to children who have died. It was a big event and Alan was the Key-Note speaker here as well, it was supposed to be held outdoors but because of the rain it was moved indoors.
The people hosting the event had a special brick made and placed in the Park honoring Ashley; we were both very moved by this gesture.We stayed at the
Marriott in downtown Charlotte and got to watch North Carolina play Kansas in the Final Four of the NCAA tournament at the local sports bar, it was fun.We woke up and flew back to Colorado for a whirlwind week of rest. We got to see most everybody and Gavin’s party hosted by the “Grandparents” was terrific, Dennis and Donna Bistram are the absolute best of friends and we love them..it was a great time as usual….Alan misses everybody more than he is letting on and can’t wait to get home at the end of May to be around family and friends.
We flew back to Charlotte and picked up our beloved Butterfly Bus (which runs like a top and is a great way to travel.) We grabbed another bargain hotel outside of Charlotte and drove west a couple of hours to Brevard, North Carolina for a concert. We are starting to stay at the homes of some of the people putting on events as a break from hotels once in awhile. This night we stayed with Bill and Marisol who are the TCF Chapter leaders. They are world travelers, connoisseurs of great coffee, tea, and wine, and Bill is a gourmet chef…we could have moved into this place. Bill made a fabulous Chinese Chicken soup that defies words, his homemade stock he makes with more ingredients than I can count…he served it with his freshly baked beer bread and topped it off with a wonderful wine that he had selected for our meal. This was one of the tastiest dishes I have EVER eaten…it was that good.
They had recently traveled to China and were introduced to specialty Chinese teas…we are talking expensive and rare teas. He broke out some of his favorites and we all enjoyed tea before bed…after of course the great wine, food, and somewhere in there Al played a concert. We woke up the next morning to another fabulous meal…Hubble Bubble which is made with fried mashed potatoes, pork, eggs, sausage, fancy cheeses, and who knows what else….it was spectacular too!
We left that day for another concert back in Charlotte, so we drove back down the same road we had come up a day earlier. We had a great concert there and a lady at the concert gave me her card and said she owned a restaurant and invited us to have lunch “on her” the next day if we had time…..believe me….free lunch…I’m the Treasurer of this big adventure….we made time! Wow, what a great place to eat….New York themed food with authentic NY flavors, they actually bring in all their meats and bread from New York….she sent us packing with a bunch of goodies too….MMM.
Our next concert was in Dalton, Georgia…not much to say about Dalton except that it is the carpet capital of the frickin world I think. Apparently they manufacture it there, and every other building has something to do with carpet selling. The event we played was nice because after Al’s concert they had a balloon release just as darkness was falling…I got great pictures of the balloons and the moon.We woke up the next morning for a bit of an adventure, it was Friday morning and we didn’t play in Miami, Florida until Monday night…so I routed us a path that would take us through Savannah, Georgia and Daytona Beach. A couple of places I had never seen. Al seems to have been everywhere and most places more than once, but he had never seen Savannah and so we were excited.
This Beautiful Church Is in Old Town SavannahThis is a beautiful city indeed. I tried to capture the beauty of the trees lining the streets with Spanish Moss hanging from them…these oak trees are everywhere and the old colonial style houses near the old town square take you back in time. 
Al and I drove out to Tybee Island on Friday night to eat dinner at a very popular local place called the Crab Shack (not Joe’s). 
They have live alligators and a huge deck where you can see all the boats docked on the water…..they serve great crab legs, shrimp, and we had a great time enjoying the ocean breeze and food.
We had another cockroach incident however in Savannah….let me put it this way…..we thought we would be extra cheap and use our points for a free night and let me just say….the Roadway Inn in Savannah….has many cockroaches…baby ones, infant ones, junior sized ones, tiny teeny ones…and they all were having a party in room 106…..we had to leave the hotel and drive to another one as we discovered them after we arrived back at the hotel from dinner….it was creepy! 
This is the oldest school house in the US, it is in St. Augustine, Florida
Daytona Beach is AWESOME. It was between seasons when we were there, so we got a great rate on a room with a kitchen, overlooking the beach…..we got to spend 2 nights there and I loved it. Al had caught a cold and wasn’t feeling all that great…but we still managed to see some things, and I got in some reading on the beach time. 
On Sunday we went to the world famous “Drive In” church…it was across the street from our hotel. From the moment you drive in and are handed your plastic container of juice for communion until you drive out…the place is a hoot…..we took many pictures to share with you of course. The first picture is Brenda reading her bible at the Drive-In Church, The second is Al reading his bible at the Drive-In Church......we had so much fun!
The View From Out Hotel Room In Daytona Beach
After Daytona we drove to Boca Raton, Florida for a concert and then the next night to Miami for another concert. This was the beginning of a very long week for us. We would play 6 out of 7 nights beginning in South Florida, then back up into Southern Tennessee and Northern Georgia, then back to Tampa, Florida to end the week. After our Tuesday concert in Miami we drove to Blairsville, Georgia which is tucked into the Northwest corner of Georgia near the Tennessee and North Carolina border. Our friends Patrick and Kathy Malone (he is the former Board President of TCF) who booked us in Blairsville are wonderful and we stayed at their beautiful estate (the best description) called Irish Hills. They have an incredible house on 8 acres they are remodeling…and plan to retire there after selling their horse farm in the Atlanta area. 
Kathy may have the largest collection of butterflies of any woman I have met…hundreds of butterfly pins, art, and other items are a part of her collection.
Lake Ocoee In Tennessee
Alan thought this would be a great place to eat lunch...(this is in Blairsville, GA)
After our concert in Blairsville, we drove the back roads to Chattanooga for a concert the next night, within 30 minutes of leaving Blairsville, we were in 3 different states..(Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina)…we drove through the Ocoee National Forrest which is where some of the rafting events were held at the Atlanta Olympics, this is another spectacular place.
We played a concert in Chattanooga on Friday night at 6PM and had to play another event in Tampa, Florida at 10AM on Saturday morning.(if you do the math you will see that these two cities are 600 mile apart.) We actually had hotel rooms booked on Friday in both cites. Al slept a couple hours at the hotel in Chattanooga before the concert, and we slept a couple hours at the hotel in Tampa when we arrived Saturday morning…it is the first time I have ever been in two hotels the same night in two different cities! It’s times like these when I don’t see how Al does it. We played in Chattanooga for a Conference of bereaved families who had traveled from around the United States and Canada to this event and Alan was their special guest artist. He stayed after the concert for nearly an extra hour so that he could meet and give everyone a chance to talk about their child with him. We then hopped in the Butterfly Bus and drove until nearly 6AM when we arrived at the hotel in Tampa. Alan had to sound check at 9AM…and he showed up on time and smiling and like I said at the top of this blog….it was Alan at his finest!
We are staying at the beautiful Quorum Hotel. The organizers of the event provided this for us for two days. It is a very luxurious hotel, I think I could get used to this J Last night we were worn out from the road and had pizza and movie night in our room. We play another concert tonight here in Tampa and then we are OFF for 4 days, we found a cute little condo on the Gulf Coast of Florida near Panama City. We don’t play until Friday night when we will be in Atlanta for an event….then it is on to the Northeast and the Boston area; we are so excited that we get to spend a few days with our good friends Nancy and Doug in Maine. I have to go now…the Rock Star is hungry and so is his Tour Manager……Love YOU and MISS All of YOU!
We played a concert in Chattanooga on Friday night at 6PM and had to play another event in Tampa, Florida at 10AM on Saturday morning.(if you do the math you will see that these two cities are 600 mile apart.) We actually had hotel rooms booked on Friday in both cites. Al slept a couple hours at the hotel in Chattanooga before the concert, and we slept a couple hours at the hotel in Tampa when we arrived Saturday morning…it is the first time I have ever been in two hotels the same night in two different cities! It’s times like these when I don’t see how Al does it. We played in Chattanooga for a Conference of bereaved families who had traveled from around the United States and Canada to this event and Alan was their special guest artist. He stayed after the concert for nearly an extra hour so that he could meet and give everyone a chance to talk about their child with him. We then hopped in the Butterfly Bus and drove until nearly 6AM when we arrived at the hotel in Tampa. Alan had to sound check at 9AM…and he showed up on time and smiling and like I said at the top of this blog….it was Alan at his finest!
We are staying at the beautiful Quorum Hotel. The organizers of the event provided this for us for two days. It is a very luxurious hotel, I think I could get used to this J Last night we were worn out from the road and had pizza and movie night in our room. We play another concert tonight here in Tampa and then we are OFF for 4 days, we found a cute little condo on the Gulf Coast of Florida near Panama City. We don’t play until Friday night when we will be in Atlanta for an event….then it is on to the Northeast and the Boston area; we are so excited that we get to spend a few days with our good friends Nancy and Doug in Maine. I have to go now…the Rock Star is hungry and so is his Tour Manager……Love YOU and MISS All of YOU!
One of these is a solemn statue, one is my mother...can you guess which is which
The Washington Mall is beautiful; we were told that when spring arrives and the flowers are all in bloom it is even prettier. We saw the White House next, we were escorted away from the fence by security after taking a couple of pictures...we talked to the security officer and got him to admit that the President was leaving the White House to go to the Pentagon and that is why we were not allowed to be by the walkway.....we felt very small and unimportant about that time.
Mr. and Mrs. Bush did not invite us in for coffee
A tour of George Washington's home is part of the experience; the brightly painted walls represent wealth. Washington kept nearly 300 slaves on his 8,000 acre plantation, we toured the slave quarters and the magnificent gardens too...it really was an educational as well as a wonderful adventure.
The view from the back yard of Washington's Estate
Mom and Jimmy at the Easter Feast...Thanks for your hospitality!
Mom with her sister Laura and two of her daughters at Easter dinner
