February 26, 2006

Anthony Burger's funeral arrangements:
LOCATION: Christ Church, Nashville, TN
VIEWING: Tuesday, February 28, 2006, 6 - 9 p.m. and Wednesday, March 1, 2006, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
FUNERAL: Wednesday, March 1, 2006 - 1 p.m. at Christ Church in Nashville, TN
For directions to Christ Church, please visit www.christchurchnashville.com

Anthony Burger's Web site

LOCATION: Clingan Ridge Baptist Church, Cleveland, TN
VIEWING: Thursday, March 2, 2006, 5 - 9 p.m.
FUNERAL: Friday, March 3, 2006, 2 p.m.

February 24, 2006

Photo tribute to Anthony - Click here.

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Correction:
Ben Speer, who was on the ship when Anthony passed away, sent me the following e-mail:

The rumor that Anthony was playing We Shall Behold Him is incorrect. He was playing Hear My Song, Lord behind Bill, Gloria and Guy when he passed away.
Ben Speer

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I just found a picture of Anthony and me from the day we spent riding jet skis on Center Hill Lake. It was during the summer of 2001. I showed him some of my favorite places on earth. It was a great day. Look here.

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The reMarkable site was shut down temporarily yesterday because of the unusually high Web traffic hitting it all at once. This might happen again today if the traffic remains high. I'll send out an e-mail to everyone on the reMarks list when Bob gets me the funeral arrangements/info.

February 23, 2006

Remembering a friend

Anthony Burger
June 5, 1961 - February 22, 2006

I'm numb and in shock. Anthony was only 44 years old. That's young. 44 years seems like a lifetime when you're a kid. But now that I'm 47, it looks like only half.

I wasn't on the cruise when Anthony died but I've been thinking...

In my mind's eye, I can just see it: Anthony isn't feeling good but he is still at the piano. Bill is leading everyone in the evening concert... putting different singers together to form trios, spur-of-the-moment-quartets and, now, it's time for Anthony to play a song. I'm not sure but I don't think Bill ever told Anthony what to play. I could be wrong but I never saw it. In all my years of traveling with the Vocal Band, I never heard Bill tell Anthony what to play. He told everybody else what to sing. Sometimes he wouldn't even tell us... we would find out when we heard the intro to the song.

Anthony always knew what to play. When he played, you not only heard it... you felt it. Anthony played with passion. And he rarely failed to get the audience on their feet with a thunderous ovation at the end. Yet, he could fall into the background and cause a singer to rise high... never knowing they were standing on Anthony's shoulders.

I've been thinking... They tell me Anthony was playing Hear My Song Lord when he suffered a heart attack or whatever it was that made him pass. But, can you imagine for Anthony what that must've been like? To be playing for Gaither one minute and God the next? To be listening to the Homecoming singers - blink - and hear angels singing? Was Jesus standing in the crook of the piano where Anthony finished the song?

Who knows? I've just been thinking.

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I just received this e-mail from Tori Taff (Russ Taff's wife):

Last night during the evening concert, about two songs after Anthony's solo, a woman on the front row began gesturing to the artists onstage and pointing at Anthony. He appeared to have frozen in position, his hands curled into fists and poised above the keyboard, sitting stock still. Immediately, the guys closest to him on stage - Ernie Haase, Roy from SSQ, Reggie Smith and John Bowman - sprang into action and literally picked him up in the seated position and whisked him off stage before he fell from the piano bench. Those who were with him at this point feel that he was already gone by the time they laid him down backstage. Russ told me last night that he looked Anthony full in the face as he passed by and that he "now knew what a body looked like after the soul had left. Anthony wasn't in there anymore." The ship's emergency medical crew and the Inspiration Cruise people were right there and they worked feverishly for the next 45 minutes with CPR and shock paddles but there was never any response. LuAnn got to him very quickly but he never spoke. Many artists had stayed on the stage, praying with the crowd and leading choruses while all of this was going on. It was horrific; no one knew what they should be doing but the artists were so unbelievably calm and comforting that they kept everyone from just freaking out. At some point, it became apparent what they were dealing with and someone (it may have been Russ) addressed the audience and told them that Anthony had passed away. One of the emergency people said later that the sense of hearing is the last to go, so we all have taken great comfort in the fact that the last sound in Anthony's ears as he rushed into the arms of Jesus were the voices of his friends, singing him Home.

I was in my cabin with Charlotte when Lisa Haase called me and asked if I had heard anything about Anthony - someone in the hall had said that he had passed out onstage and may even be dead. I said I would find out immediately and went running down the hall to the elevator. The first person I saw was Andrew Hayes, Amy's husband, who confirmed what had happened. He said Russ was right behind him and, as I rounded the corner, I met Russ on the stairs. We headed straight for Bill's cabin and joined him at his table there. Gloria was still with LuAnn and the other artists backstage. Bill was devastated. He was so shaken and so concerned for everyone. In over 40 years of singing, this had never happened on his stage. He kept asking after every artist, especially the ones who were with Anthony the whole time. Ernie and others came and went, Gloria finally returned and said that Lynda Randle and her husband Michael (who is a pastor) were with LuAnn.

It became clear that the artists were literally wandering the halls in shock and Bill decided to gather them together and try to hold on to each other and just be together. The Inspiration guys secured a private meeting room and the artists began to assemble there, hugging each other, crying, shaking our heads in disbelief. My little Maddie Rose had not actually witnessed the whole thing, thankfully, but came into the concert in the middle of it and was there during a lot of the traumatic part. I kept her with us in the room with everyone - I wanted her to be a part of the grieving, too. We stayed in that room until 1:00 in the morning. We prayed together and sang songs and told stories about Anthony. We found ourselves doing that thing you do when a tragedy strikes, where you all seem to need to talk about what you were doing when it happened, how you had just seen him that afternoon, and what he had said earlier... almost like you are trying to make it real by saying it out loud. There was such shock and sadness and pain in that room. Anthony had no known history of heart trouble, no physical complaints that anyone was aware of. At one point, we all looked up and LuAnn had quietly entered the room. She said, "I just wanted to be with you all. I didn't know what else to do." She had spent some private moments with Anthony before they took him away and she had been on the ship's phone trying to reach his family and children. She stayed with us for a long time and, eventually, everyone began to head back to their rooms.

A decision was made, with LuAnn's input, to continue the scheduled concerts in the morning but to not attempt to carry on a 'business as usual' concert. Bill said, "We will just be there to try to minister to the people and let God tell us what to do." Becky Isaacs and Lynda Randle stayed the night with LuAnn and Michael Randle took his Bible and settled into the meeting room to be there all night in case any of the artists couldn't sleep and needed to talk. He truly has a pastor's heart.

I have never been so proud to be a part of a group of people as I have been in these hours since Anthony left us. These artists, from Bill and Gloria on down, are such people of integrity and faith. To watch them comfort each other and support each other and affirm their faith to each other has been a life-changing experience. I am honored to be able to count myself among these friends of Anthony's.

The concerts this morning were full of tears but, also, full of glorious singing and praise. As so many of the artists have said, this is the time when you decide if you really believe what you have been singing about all these years or not. It's either true, or it's not. And all of us on this ship who have gone through this cataclysmic experience together appear to have decided that we do indeed BELIEVE.

Anthony IS with God. We WILL see him again. His soul is at peace and his legacy will continue. And all of us loved him so very dearly.

Please continue to pray for all of us and, most especially, for his family. You can see it starting to really sink in today and I worry about the guys who were on the front lines, so to speak, backstage with Anthony though it all. It was a horrific thing to witness, the death of a friend so young and so shockingly unexpected. I also, frankly, worry about my sweet Russ who's trying to take care of everyone, especially Bill. Pray that they will all rest well tonight. No one has slept much at all.

Blessings, peace and comfort to all of you, in the name of the One that Anthony loved and served so well.
We love you,
Tori

February 22, 2006

Anthony Burger passes away
I just got a phone call from Michael Lord, Stan Whitmire and, then, Scott Davis - so I called Barry Jennings to confirm it. About an hour and a half ago, Anthony Burger was playing We Shall Behold Him on the Gaither Cruise and he collapsed and died. A couple of people took him backstage. They tried to revive him but couldn't. I presume this was a heart attack. I'll post more when I know the details. Please keep all of Anthony's family in your prayers.

Here's Anthony with his two sons.

To listen to the interview I did with Anthony on The reMarkable Radio Show, click here.

February 21, 2006

A message from Mark is right here. Don't miss it!

February 20, 2006

reMarkable Radio Show #29
I just posted reMarkable Radio Show #29. On today's show, I play some beautiful instrumental music; the music of Spring Hill / Green Hill records. Beegie Adair is one of the featured artists today. She's an incredible Jazz pianist and she'll be playing Cheek to Cheek. You'll also hear songs from Irving Berlin, Paul McCartney and John Lennon and many more...

A shoe poll
Please go over to the reMarkable Poll page and take the poll on shoes. One poll is for men and the other is for women: How many pairs do you have?

February 13, 2006

I've uploaded a new reMarkable Radio Show
To listen, click here.

February 10, 2006

We have winners!
The Be The Miracle Contest is officially over and it was almost impossible to pick the top five. All of them were incredible. I thank each of you who participated in the contest.

We had 326 entries. We don't know all of the states and countries that were represented but we do know we had the most from Ohio, Texas, Georgia, Michigan and Indiana (in that order). And, we had entries from Canada (British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick) and one entry from South Africa. We had reMarkables that have been coming to the site for years and we had new friends who have recently discovered The reMarkable Site.

Among the nominees were: Family members, friends, me, pets, Sue Thomas (F.B.Eye), Brian Free & Assurance, the Gaither Homecoming friends, teachers, preachers, Jesus - and lots of children.

Here are some of the comments:

"Boy, have I waited for this opportunity for a few years."

"Thanks for reading my story! And thanks for the great contest that gave
me a reason to write it down. I think it was long overdue!"

"Thank you for having this contest, even if I don't win I have won because
I get to interact with the subject of my entry every day and that is
enough for me."

"I know that the Be A Miracle contest is supposed to be about someone
else. However, I've found that being here for others is a real miracle for
me... WE can each be a candle, a sparkle, a shining light even in the
deepest darkness of our own lives... it provides a light of hope."

"Whether or not this story is a 'winner', would you, who are reading this,
stop and say a prayer for my friend?"

The five winners can be found here. And the Honorable Mentions (that we just had to let you see, too) are here.