Where Are They Now: Arts & Crafts Edition

I started the first internet memorial to Servant and the HMS commune the band was part of in the late 90s, over on Geocities. But over the years, Geocities has become less user-friendly, and the code on that page has degraded. So I'm closing that page, and moving the information to a few pages over here. Comments from the Geocities site will be artificially added here.

You may not have had a chance to read my first live blog posts, back in 1971, '72, '73, and '83, as I discussed my thoughts of living in the commune at the time, a form of fictive kinship society.

Since then, a few updates. The commune's most enduring concrete legacy seems to have been in the arts, in myriad forms, so that's the focus of this post. Some of the music of Sheep and Servant can be found here- just click on the drop-down box on the right to find the right band from yesteryear. Bob Hardy, one of Servant's lead singers, produced a solo cassette, Face the Distance, which was mellow and deep, due in large part to lyrics written by Servant's guitarist Bruce Wright, now promoted to glory. My dad, Jim Palosaari, later managed and promoted Whitecross with Rex Carroll, One Bad Pig, and Deliverance. More recently he did the narration for a PBS production of The Lonnie Frisbee Story.

Jacobstone was an alternative Christian rock band managed by Matt Spransy of Servant and Sheep fame, and including Daniel Spransy, a child within the commune. Max, another of Matt's sons has recently come out with his own music as well. And Mike Damrow has resurrected Sheep with Mole and Mary Barker in the Milwaukee area.

Matt's daughter, Linnea, has done splendid artwork over the years, and now works with a group that prays through the visual arts. Matt's brother, Tim, is a successful commercial artist. Servant's guitarist, Owen Brock, went on to influence the development of Over the Rhine and does the artwork for them. Over the Rhine interestingly has a direct connection to Servant, as in later years the name of the band was retained though most of it's members changed. The final amalgamation of members included three who would eventually become Over the Rhine.

As for me, my most significant contributions to an artistic legacy were directing high school productions at a school in North Africa, of The Breakfast Club, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and most recently, Oliver. But those have been successful largely due to an excellent cadre of actors, incredible music direction by Elissa, and innovative set design by Joe.

These days, the definitive look at Servant can be found at a new website, launched a year ago, and I would encourage you to browse there.