Yes sir! Thank you Kansas! Thank you volunteers! This was an inside show, so no heat or rain, but I know they did whatever they could for this book drive. Gawd luv ya! It was good to be back in Kansas- the great state of Bob Dole! “Joe Mac likes it! America likes it! Bob Dole likes it!”- BD. :)
I don ‘t have a count for the books we collected that night yet, but I’ll get it to you! It was a great show and once again we are humbled by your support and love.
Let’s continue this! oxoxoxoxxoxo -jm
Me-me-me-me- MEMPHIS! And I thank. And I thank you! Way to go. Technically, if we are talking about pure numbers, ladies and gentleman, we have a new champion… with 1700 books! This is because there was a girl who drove from Florida with a car load of books! She did her own book drive on the side (which I love cuz it gets more people involved- more people, more books!). She brought a thousand books! (I’ll give a special shout out for this great donation soon). The rest of Memphis brought 700, which is very good considering it was one of the smaller venues for the tour. So that brings the total to 1700! And they take the crown from Chi-Town!!! Chi… you raised the bar like you always do and I know if we had a show there tomorrow you would take back the crown, but this is Memphis’ moment. Maybe it was The King- he knew I went to Graceland and he heard me singing Hound Dog and he just had to make Memphis The Book King! Great town, great people, great concert! I love yas!!!!! Thank you to all the volunteers for standing in the heat and making this happen for all these kids!!!! Books are beautiful and so are you. oxxoxoxox -jm
“Meet me in St, Louie, Louie! We can collect lots of books there!”- 1100 new books, y’all!!! Way to go. And the venue for the show was smaller than some, so technically per capita- St. Louis stepped up BIG TIME!
Thank you thank you thank you! I sound like a broken record, but another great show. What a sweet journey we are on. You can smell the nectar, it is that pungent. !!!
These volunteers showed how St. Louis does it. We had a great time in your city- got a couple days off to soak it in. Good times!!! Shout out to the City Museum- that place is spectacular.
I love ya, St. Louis. You not only didn’t let me down. You lifted me up…so high, so high, ya make me wanna fly so high!
oxoxoxoxxox
-jm
Couple of questions came up about why we are only collecting new books. There are a lot of “gentley used” and “like new books” out there that could certainly be a deserving part of a home book shelf. However, for a book drive like this, we wanted to keep it simple. The turn around for the books being collected and picked up is less than 24 hours. We want to be sure right away that all these books are ready to go and ready to get into the hands of a child that can call it their own. There is something about being the first pair of little hands to open up a beautiful new book. It is special for that child. I think it reinforces the relationship of that child with the book and the amazing journey they are about to share.
Just thought I’d say a few words about that. I never thought we’d even think of coming close to 20 thousand new books, but now I’m dreaming of 25 thousand :) !!!! Let’s keep it going, guys! Let’s coral this! Let’s elevate this! Let’s GET this!!!
-jm
“Goin’ back to Indiana!” -MJ
Indi (like every show this week) was bombdiggitiohsious! Being able to pay tribute to Mike in his home state was really special and a great honor. Wow…
And again I think he would really appreciate all the books we collected for kids. I don’t have a solid count but I think its around 750! And that is dyno-mite!!! xoxxoxo
Thank you to these very upbeat folks that so willingly spent there time to make sure these books got into the right hands. Nice meeting all of you! xoxooxox -jm P.S. I went with the first pic :)
Cinci, baby!!!
Almost 900 books!!!!!!! Love it!!!! Hope you guys had fun! Nice meeting you in the heat…whoa! But you did it :) Thank you for your warmth and good vibes for this cause. I hope you want to keep buliding on this! In fact Let’s compound this! :)
!!!!! xoxoxoxo -jm