Glory Bound in Janesville

It was a perfect summer evening in Southern Wisconsin. The sky was crispy blue with streaks of incandescent rays of the soft evening sunlight. The temperature moderated well in my nicely air-conditioned car as I cruised Highway 14 towards Janesville.

Jerry Oscarson and Deb Grenzow could not have chosen a better evening for the Dinner and Concert they hosted among adoring fans, friends and lovers of contemporary inspirational music.

They appropriately described the experience folks will take away from the concert as inspirational, Christian, upbeat, touching, heart warming, uplifting, easy listening and encouraging, and indeed no one left unfulfilled as they lived up to the billing all through the evening.

 

Jerry and Deb were quite a pair whose musical collaboration is infused with Christian charity, love, respect for each other and abiding faith in the power of the divine spirit, have been making inspirational music for several years both within their church community at First Christian church in Janesville and around different venues in southern Wisconsin. They have also cut a great album titled 'Glory Bound' that is out there for purchase if you want that uplifting feeling smoothing out your worries and calming your frayed nerves or self-doubt.

The venue of the concert was the VFW hall perched atop a hill by the Rock River, with an unmistakable presence in the neighborhood given the majestic air force plane mounted in the front yards.

Chuck Philyaw their accompanying keyboardist must have grown up as a musical wiz kid as he learnt playing the keyboard and piano with no musical training and yet could pick up any key or note and accompany any musical rendition as a pro that he definitely was that night.

Living up to the theme of the evening, Bob Maciulis, the compeer for the evening wove aspects of his own life story as he guided the audience through the program. His story demonstrated the love, Christian charity and hope that Jerry and Deb sang about. Bob was not just the master of ceremony but also pulled his family human resources together including his daughters, nieces and close friends to help cater and serve the dinner for the evening.

The audience packed the hall to its maximum capacity, men, women, young adults and some members of First Christian Church. I did attend with a bunch of karaoke and country western dancing friends from Madison.

While the main event was at one end of the hall, the Dessert Extravaganza was laid out in an island separating the two large halls. Was that heavenly? The desserts basically pulled you in right after dinner and begged that you heap your plates so high. You would think it was the first meal of the evening as everyone had plateful of assorted colored yummy mounds of the tasty treat. Jerry had earlier warned everyone who was on diet to suspend it for the evening.

The dessert was not the only treat for the audience. Gary stepped in there after to hand out door prizes through an instant lottery. The infectiously hilarious Gary did not disappoint, as he ran commentaries on the gift items and had good suggestions on how the lucky winners could use them. Oh, he was also the brain behind the ‘killer’ dessert extravaganza.

It was indeed a great night of charity and fundraiser and everyone that attended felt it was very well worth it. We were indeed glory bound in Janesville.