Kerry Livgren's Testimonial

We've had several people ask to see this video posted. I have been including it in the extras, but here it is. Kerry's story is an amazing one. Here is an individual who was looking for rock n roll success, and trying to find a deeper purpose at the same time. He got the rock n roll success, but that ate away even more.

I don't remember if I included this in the edit here (and I'm too tired to check it right now), but another interesting thing about Kansas-- the band had no problem with Kerry chasing Buddhism, eastern mysticism, even Urantia... but when Kerry became born again, then some problems started. The name of Jesus has incredible power. It makes people flinch to say Jesus. You can say Buddha. You can say Mohammed. But to say Jesus separates and divides people.

Thanks, Kerry, for taking time to talk with me that day on the set.

What's the deal with "Churches Only?"

The biggest question we get from the website is "when is the home DVD going to be released?" Well, first we are making the movie available to churches for public exhibition. Why? Well, this gives us a chance to have a theatrical "window", a movie industry term for the slot of time for a movie to be in theaters (or in our case, churches).

We are getting more and more orders and lots of screenings coming up. Today in Kansas, the Wheatheads (hardcore fans of the band "Kansas") are having a showing. Then in a few weeks, Kerry Livgren's home church is renting out the local theater and having a big shindig-- several screenings of the movie... talk with Kerry... sermon around it. That will be Topeka.

Churches in Florida, Virginia, Washington State, Utah, Kansas, Texas, Tennessee, and Georgia have purchased the exhibition license. Want to help with our "theatrical" rollout? We need you. Bring the movie to your city. Ask your church to put on a movie night. Or rent the local theater. I appreciate everyone's support so far!

Carry On Wayward Son

So how did Kerry Livgren become a part of the movie "The Imposter?" For those that don't know, Kerry was an integral part of the super-group Kansas. He wrote the classics Carry On Wayward Son and Dust in the Wind.

I've always been a fan of Christian rock and enjoyed the work of an all girl band called Rachel Rachel back in the early 90's. They did a cover of COWS and a music video to go with it.

A few months before shooting Imposter, I was cleaning out some VHS tapes and saw one where I had recorded a Christian music video show. I had saved it because of the COWS video. In it, the girls rock out and Kerry comes on stage during the solo. I had been racking my brain for who to play the role of the Mentor in the movie and wanted an older Christian rock icon. I thought Kerry would be perfect.

I did a search on the internet and came up with his manager Dutch Dehnert's email address. After firing off an message, the reply was pretty quick. Dutch would pass the info along, but don't get my hopes up.

Long story short, Kerry wasn't too keen at first, but agreed to read the script. And his wife Vicci read the script. And he decided to do it and the movie was so much better for his participation.

So with Kerry attached, I began to dream. Wouldn't it be great if Kerry re-did the song with Kevin Max singing? I didn't think I would be able to talk Kerry in to it, and at first he wasn't big on the idea (He said he'd like to remake some of his songs-- COWS is not one of them). But then I got a CD in the mail with a return address Kansas. That was the day before shooting started. I popped it into the truck's CD and cranked it up. It had no vocals yet, but it was awesome.

The day after the last day of shooting, Kevin laid down some demo vocal tracks. A few months later, we paid for some studio time and Kevin laid them down for real. I had shot some music video segments on the set and during the summer edited the music video.

*When* we release the soundtrack, I'm sure that will be one of the songs. I might release the COWS video soon as well.