Messiah/The Final Warning

  Below are Photographs of Charles Michael dressed as Gene Simmons from The "Tribute To Kiss" show, and dressed as Alice from the "Tribute To Alice Cooper" show.

   The band became a success in the Texas market, and we stayed down south for four more years! During this time we put together visual shows to captivate the audience. We did controversial shows like:  A Tribute To Alice Cooper, - A Tribute To Kiss, - A Tribute To Black Sabbath. Each show went on at Midnight and lasted 60 minutes. Our visual shows included fire, fog, 7 ft python, a live lynching, a Black Mass Ritual and costumes and stage props for each tribute show. We tried to make it as real as possible! Club owners loved our band, because we were packing in the people every where we went.  We also did 2 - 60 minute sets of Rock Music each night before the show and we even started putting some of our original material in our set lists. The response was favorable to a point where people started requesting them. The song the Final Warning seemed to be the favorite and most requested song of the three.  Our booking agent called about a contest a radio station in Houston, Texas was throwing and wanted us to enter it with the song The Final Warning. The radio station wanted Texas bands to send 1 original rock song and they would pick the 15 best bands and make a CD with these bands. Of course the radio station would paid for the recording session and put the band up for a week all expenses paid. We knew that because this was the radio stations own CD, paid with their own money - they would play it a lot. This in turn would familiarize the Houston market to these bands getting constant air play. It would then spread to Austin, TX - San Antonio, TX - Waco, TX - Dallas, TX and so on!  We got the call, and won the contest. We were picked to be on this CD with 14 other bands. When the CD got released and the song the Final Warning got airplay, we became more popular than ever, more in demand on the night club circuit.  As the months rolled on the band began to pressure me to do more original material, and less cover material. So, after careful thought I convinced the band to do 2 - 1 hour sets of our best cover material (which included: Pink Floyd - Led Zeppelin - Genesis - REO Speedwagon - Bon Jovi - and many other great bands of that time). Then, the 3rd and final set would be all original material.  The band loved the idea and went to work on the cover songs and original material. I went to work on producing a 1 hour stage show, finding a financial backer, and changing the name of the band!

                                                                                        The Birth Of Messiah

     I had looked at entertainment from a club owners perspective, and from a bands perspective, and tried to find a happy medium! A club owner wants a band that can draw a crowd of people and keep them captivated throughout the night so they won't leave. On the other hand, the band wants to play their original music and wants the people to stay because they like their original songs. Unless you have hit records that have a lot of airplay the people won't be  familiar with your music so they won't be captivated by it, UNLESS,  you have something so visual for the audience to watch - it shocks them and  gives them something to talk about, something to bring their friends back the next night to see!  The music supports the visual show and stays in the peoples minds as they see the show over and over again. The band is only in town for a 5 night engagement, so they must see you now, and bring their friends to see you now, because you might not be back again for 4 or 5 months! So I decided to  Raise The Devil Up From Hell, And Send Him Back At The End Of The Show!!   The theme of the show was about the Anti-Christ from the book of Revelations.  I would title the show THE FINAL WARNING.  Remember, we were in Texas, In the late 1970's, the Bible Belt!  If this didn't create a stir, get people's attention - then I don't know what would! We toured the whole south, not just Texas. Remember John Lennon's (The Beatles) remark about being bigger than Jesus, Remember Ozzy (Osbourn) urinating on the Alamo? Lennon was afraid of being shot, people were burning Beatle records. Ozzy was banned from Texas for years, His band had to by pass the state when they toured America, or he would have been arrested and put in jail!  People in the south take their religion seriously.  We frequently would have nuns and priests passing flyers out in front of the club where we were playing  urging people not to attend, because of the Black Mass Ritual  and human sacrifice done during our "Tribute To Black Sabbath" show.  People took this serious, they actually thought we were doing a Black Mass Ritual on stage!  People can be so gullible at times!   

  When I told the band what I had in mind, they stared at me in shock, no one said anything for a moment. To break the ice I remember saying  "Look at Alice Cooper, Look at Kiss, their shows sold their music."  Finally the color started to come back into their faces and the drummer said  "I'm sure glad I'm back behind the drums, you might get shot!" I replied "If that happens, then you'll all finally become famous."  The laughter broke the ice and we all sat down and discussed the show. As I explained my ideas about the show, a name change, and financial backing (for costumes, stage props, better PA equipment, a truck to haul our stuff in...) I could feel the energy coming from the band, they were on fire. They now knew what I had known all along: THIS IDEA WAS DYNAMITE WAITING TO EXPLODE! Ever since Bayside, NY - I had been quietly putting this idea together, - now the time was right!

     The band members simply loved the concept and new band name Messiah, and the pieces of music, the ideas for songs, were coming into focus as I put lyrics to them. Now I had to find money to make all this happen!                               Beaumont, Texas was between Lake Charles, Louisiana and Houston, Texas. About an hour drive either direction, and we were pulling fans from both places to Beaumont, TX -  the birth place of Janis Joplin. We still were mixing in new original songs into our sets along with cover music, and we hadn't changed the name of the band yet, as we wanted all this to happen at the same time when we presented the new show "The Final Warning" to our audience. God only knew when we would find financial backing to put this show together, and it was becoming a strain on the band because we were ready to roll. The show was written, the songs were written, now we just needed the money to by the stage props and costumes! Also we needed better lighting, a spot light, better PA equipment and a truck to haul it all!  We figured $50,000 would make it all happen. Back in the late 1970's that was big money, it's even big money today!                            One day when we were on our 1/2 hour break between sets in Beaumont,TX.  I was called to the back office of the club by the owner. When I walked into the office, fully expecting the club owner or his wife to be there, I was greeted by a young man who introduced himself as the club owners son! He said he heard rumors we were putting a new show together but lacked funding. He wanted to know how much it would cost to make it happen and I told him $50,000!          I fully expected him to fall backwards out of his chair onto the floor, but he didn't flinch. He told me he would talk to his parents and get back to me. Needless to say, I left the office stunned! I noticed he sat in the back of the club and watched our last 60 min. set of the night, and then left. The band never asked, and I never said what I talked about, I doubt they even knew I was back in the office during the break - as they were sitting in the audience talking to girls or tuning up their instruments for the last set of the night!  By the end of the week long engagement I kind of didn't expect the club owners son to show up - but he did! He told me to order what we needed and have it delivered to his home. He also said they would get us a truck and find us a seamstress to make our costumes. He had talked to our agent and we would finish out our next  8 weeks of bookings and then come to Beaumont, TX and everything would be here!  We were to stay in rooms provided by the club for 8 weeks and put the show together during the day and play at night for money to eat on and buy whatever was needed. During that time the costumes would be made for the show, so we had to get the designs together and be ready because we only had 8 weeks to get it together!                                                         

We left Beaumont, TX. and started the last leg of our 2 month tour which finished in Brownsville, Texas - from there we were suppose to go back to Beaumont, TX and put our show "The Final Warning " together!  The next 2 months seemed to drag on and on and I could see the band was impatient and tired. Everyday I called back to Beaumont, TX to talk to the club owners son, but I could not get a hold of him. I left messages for him, but he never returned my calls!  I wanted to see if the equipment we ordered and the truck had arrived. I wanted to make sure living accommodations were taken care of. I needed information to give to the band to lift their spirits, but each time they asked all I could say is, I haven't heard anything yet! As the last two weeks of this tour started to wind down, tempers were flaring and arguments became common place between each other. I was trying to hold the band together because they were all feeling that the whole Beaumont, TX investment had fallen through. That is why my phone calls weren't being returned. To make matters worse we had no more bookings after the Brownsville, TX dates!  I was even picking up rumors that members were talking about leaving after this job was over. I believed the devil was trying to pull this apart before it even got off the ground! Our final club dates were in Brownsville, TX - we played there for two weeks straight. we played Wednesday - Sunday and were off Monday & Tuesday. The final Sunday the club had a Battle of the bands going on during the afternoon outside of the club. He worked out a deal to use our PA equipment and road crew to run the show. The bad part was that the equipment had to be moved back in the night club for our performance that evening! The winners of the battle of the bands were to get 6 weeks of free recording studio time to put their music on an album! The contest was judged by 2 representative of the recording studio and Freddy Fender a popular Mexican recording artist. The local bands in the contest weren't that good and the audience was getting restless, so the club owner asked us if we wanted to enter the contest. He said that because we played his club for the last 2 weeks he considered us a local band. I knew the reason he wanted us in the contest was because we were very popular in this town. The radio station played our song The Final Warning and we packed his night club! I talked to the band and told them I didn't think this was fair to all the young bands who were legitimate residents of Brownsville, TX and we were not. Besides, If we won we wouldn't have time to use the free recording studio time because we were going to be in Beaumont, TX putting our show together. The band members replied as I expected - there is no show - there is no financial backing - tonight was our last night and we still hadn't heard from Beaumont, Texas yet! I backed down and told them to put a 30 min. set together and come and get me when it was time for us to go on. I would be back in the office trying to get the club owners son on the phone! I had to stay near the phone because if he called back no one would hear the phone ring because everyone was outside for the battle of the bands!                                                                When our turn came to perform We Brought The House Down as they say in show biz!  The audience kept demanding and encore and wouldn't let us leave the stage! Everyone in the band knew we had won the contest, you could feel the energy - the spark was back in the band members eyes! They wanted this free studio time to put down the rest of the original music we had written for the show - possibly even put it on an album, which is every bands dream!  When it came time for the judges decision, everyone (including the audience) was in shock. The 2 recording studio judges gave us each a 10, but Freddy Fender scored us a 9 because we expressed our religious views on stage. The audiences wouldn't stop boo-ing and I felt bad for the winning band. When I went back to the dressing room my band members exploded on me. They said they had enough of this religious crap and were quitting at the end of the night! They also said they were not going to Beaumont, TX only to find out there is no financial backing, no truck, no equipment, no place to live. They doubt it was ever gonna happen, and I had been misled!  I managed to stay away from the band until later that evening when it was show time! I spent this time praying - I was confused, upset, and very depressed. I didn't know what to do next!                                                                                                                                                                                        I finally decided to call Beaumont, Texas one last time and tell the club owners son, we were finished - the band broke up! We were about ready to go on stage, so I had to make the call now or it might be too late at night to call after 1st set. I dialed the phone number again, as I had done so many times before, and after a few rings I heard a voice pick up and say Hello. I couldn,t believe my ears - after almost two weeks of constant calling, I was finally getting a response! But, my excitement was short lived as the voice on the other end of the phone began to talk without any response from me.  It said: "Hello, welcome to dial a prayer.  Today's bible verse is taken from the New Testament..." and on he went reciting a passage from the bible. "Today is the day the Lord has heard your prayers. Get down on your knees and give thanks because the Lord has answered your prayers"! I hung up not really paying much attention to the message, but more concerned about what number I dialed

I didn't want to redial the same number again so I made sure the next number I dialed was exact!  When the phone rang The club owners son answered, and to my surprise he said "where have you guys been - I've been trying to reach you, all the equipment is here and your truck is here and the seamstress is waiting for you to get in town to get started". He also told me his Mom had a furnished house ready for us to move into when we got into town. I didn't have time to go into all that had happened so I told him we were on our way after we finished our performance tonight.  When I hung up I was dazed, like in a fog. I tried every conceivable combination of numbers and could not find dial a prayer again, so I chalked it up as another mystery and prepared to go on and perform - besides I  had more important issues, like convincing the band members not to quit because everthing we dreamed of was now within our grasp in Beaumont, Texas!

When we arrived, everthing was as it was supposed to be! The whole bands' attitude changed and the spark was back in the eyes of the musicians again. We performed 5 nights a week to earn our keep, and worked during the day putting the show together. We began working our new original songs into our set lists during the evening performances and kept the audience in suspense over our new show we were going to debut soon! We also changed the name of the band to Messiah, and dropped the Tribute Alice Cooper and the Tribute To Kiss and The Tribute to Black Sabbath. The Only show we would ever do from now on was: The Final Warning!  Raising Satan and sending him back to hell all in one hour forced us to use all our special effects from each Tribute show and we stuffed them + the new ideas into a 1 hour show.  Up to this point this show was definitely the Highlight of my career! The end of the 8 weeks came and it was time to debut the show we tirelessly worked on. The final Friday and Saturday night at the club in Beaumont, TX was the most people I had ever seen packed into that club, they were three deep standing on chairs in the back of the club just to see us! On Friday night, the first night we did the show, the club was emotionally charged - people were crying because we were leaving town, they had become attached to us after 2 months in the same town. It seemed the whole town of Beaumont had come out to see a familiar band with a new name, a new image, and a new horror show called :The Final Warning" It was midnight and time for the show to begin. We were in the dressing room before the show and I could see they all were nervous. Some one suggested we pray, something we had never done before as a band before a performance. I led the prayer while we held hands and bowed our heads. I don't remember what I said, but I do remember band members and road crew alike wiping tears away when I was finished. I was so touched I went up and hugged each guy as they left the dressing room for the stage

Messiah: From left to right Michael Lopez (guitarist) - Charles Michael (singer) - Jeff Basham (drums) - Danny Ariens (keyboards) - John Echlin (bass Guitar)