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Barry Who? Haynie Hammers Away at Hank's Record
Sun., Aug. 20. 2006 3:30pm EDT
With all the recent hoopla surrounding ApologetiX drummer Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner's 100th concert on August 5 and keyboardist Bill "Wild Thing" Hubauer's 200th concert on August 18, nobody seems to have noticed that bassist Keith Haynie is slated to play his 750th concert with ApologetiX on September 15 in Wilmington DE, putting him three fourths of the way to the millennial mark.
The soft-spoken-but-hard-rockin' Keith played his first official concert with ApologetiX on October 6, 1995, although he also filled in for us once at a concert on December 22, 1992. Preceding Keith on bass were Jerry Hayostek from 1992-93 and Andy Sparks from 1993-95. A number of other musicians filled in for us on bass in the early days at one time or another, including Al Cramer, Rick Errett, Bob Dinkle, and most notably former Omni bassist Steve Kayner, who also played bass on our "Isn't Wasn't Ain't" CD.
Keith has only missed eight concerts since becoming a member, but it took six guys to fill his shoes, including four in one concert! For the record, the following men all subbed for Keith: Rob Oakes (of Peter's Vision) once in 1996, Scott Gilbert (of Ten point Ten, 121 Mercy Street, and now the Aaron Greer Band) twice in 2001, and John Taylor (not of Duran Duran) five times in 2005 and 2006. John was part of a four-man crew who filled in for Keith at the last-minute during our Elizabethtown PA concert last August when Keith's mother had emergency surgery. The others were Dave Fehr, Durelle Leamann, and Steve Reaggs.
Although 750 is an impressive number, 756 may be even more significant -- just ask baseball slugger Barry Bonds, who is currently chasing that hallowed mark and finding it no easy feat. At his current pace, however, Keith should reach 756 first -- sometime in September. We have heard nothing definitive yet as to whether Hank Aaron will be on hand for the festivities, although a couple of Keith's other heroes will be at our concerts along the way:
Veteran Christian metal band Bride will be playing along with ApologetiX at Keith's 745th concert on September 4 in Bedford IN. Since Keith is the primary driver of the ApologetiX band van (one of the reasons we sometimes call him "Holy Driver"), we've heard a lot of Bride's music over the last decade. Their lead singer, Dale Thompson, has one of the most amazing voices in all of Christian rock, reminiscent of Ax'l Rose of Guns n' Roses.
Speaking of amazing voices, former Head East lead singer and longtime Petra lead singer John Schlitt is also scheduled to perform at Keith's 751st concert in September 16 in Souderton PA. Petra was a huge influence on Keith and the other members of ApologetiX, and we've had the pleasure of meeting John a few times before. He's one of the nicest people in Christian music. Then again, so is Keith!
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