I was born half Baptist (the East Texas, King James carrying, pipe organ, hymnal singing, Southern, type Baptist) and half Pentecostal (the Holy Ghost, jumpin' and shoutin', hand-waving, prophecying, Southern, type Pentecostal). Later, I was born again.

The son of an insurance salesman and a social worker, fructifying in the piney woods of Texarkana, I was as muddled as the name of my town. We drove a light blue Ford Thunderbird; not the old, classic kind, but a brand  new one that had a sticker on it. The one with the electric windows and mirrors and the headlamp covers that flipped open when you turned on the headlights and an in-dash eight-track player. My dad and mom both used Aqua Net hair spray. He parted it on the right side and always carried a comb. She got permanents and had curlers that heated up every Saturday night while we all watched The Lawrence Welk Show and Hee-Haw. The eight-tracks in rotation were Elvis, Willie Nelson, Olivia Newton John, and Bill Gaither. Everything I've ever done musically can be traced back to there -- that Ford Thunderbird, those sounds, the view out of those windows, and my brother punching me in the arm on the way to Sunday morning Church. That is all metaphor and all true.

I didn't mean to write and sing songs for a living. Doesn't seem like much of a thing to get paid for. I'd guess the odds are about the same as winning the lottery or getting struck by lightning. Given my nepotistic hookup, my assumption was that I would move back home after college to sell insurance for my dad and eventually take over the family practice. Who doesn't love a good actuary table? And yet, one late October night, on an apartment balcony in Waco, Texas, just off of the Baylor University campus where I was student, a friend spun yarns that fell on me like a blanket and the course of my life was altered. He was an itinerant pastor of a rural church just outside of town. "So, I get a call at two in the morning," he says. "It's Carl Reeves on the phone, 'Pastor. We need you. You gotta get out here, now.' And so I go. I get in my truck and I go," he says. "It turns out Carl has a cow that has taken sick and he wants me to pray for it. To get in the mud, put my hands on this cow and pray for divine intervention on behalf of this bovine beast. And so, there I am. In the mud, chasing this cow around, trying to get my hands on the thing long enough to spit out a prayer."

Right then, I was being rescued. I had left the church and this was the beginning of my way back. As it goes with hypocrisy, judgement, dogmatism, and all the rest of it that Jesus put to death, it's hard to see in yourself what you readily see in others. And into my cynicism and anger my friend began to dream aloud, "What if church really was like family. What if we pretended the, 'brother and sister, son and daughter,' stuff was real. What if relationships were thought to be rare and valuable things. What if it was just a bunch of people that loved each other and were simply trying their best to follow this Jesus we read of in scripture. What if we pretended, the 'love your neighbor as yourself,' thing was a better way to live. What if we got in the mud for each other at two in the morning? What if the cow dies and it's ok because we are there, in it together. What if we pretended we are all sinners. What if we pretended grace is real. What if the word 'pretend' felt less powerful than the word 'believe' because we did actually believe. What if…"

CZT is a church where Christ is at the center.

„THIS IS MY CHURCH“
Bookings: booking@affekt-events.ch
Instagram: daaeeru
AFFEKT BERN // 
DANCETRAY BERN // 



"Someday I will update this list." - I said

04.02.2023 - Kopfklang Club Lucerne w/ UMEK
03.02.2023 - Scala Club Zofingen 
28.01.2023 - Loft Club Thun
27.01.2023 - Sommercasino Basel
14.01.2023 - New Graffiti Bern
07.01.2023 - BERNA Club, Adelboden for KREATION.LAB
25.12.2022 - Maia Club Bern
17.12.2022 - EXPO BERN, MASKOFF
03.12.2022 - MYTHIC  Club Fribourg w/ Davide Mentesana
02.12.2022 - THE MAIA CLUB 
18.11.2022 - Kater Karlo Bern 3 Hour Set
11.11.2022 - Circle Club Bern
28.10.2022 - Loft Club Halloween, Thun
08.10.2022 - Kater Karlo - w/Dancetray
01.10.2022 - Thunplatz Daytimer, Bern
30.09.2022 - Circle Club Bern
23.09.2022 - Circle Club Bern
24.09.2022 - [AF•FEKT] Labelnight @ mokka thun
08.10.2022 - Kater Karlo - w/Dancetray 
10.09.2022 - Reminder, Bern
03.09.2022 - Studio Session w/@kreation.lab
13.08.2022 - TAG AM SEE (tanzkarussell) w/CLASSMATIC (solid grooves)
23.07.2022 - [AF•FEKT] w/ Peter Flamingo Bern
25.06.2022 - Bremgarten, BE
24.06.2022 - [AF•FEKT] Stadtfest Bern Einspruch Diskothek
18.06.2022 - Weyermannshaus, BE
18.06.2022 - Zollikofen, BE
03.06.2022 - [AF•FEKT] *ALLNIGHTLONG*
28.05.2022 - FC Goldstern, Daytimer, Bern
13.05.2022  - Quartier, Hinterkappelen BE
07.05.2022 - Tanzkarussel / Abflug Berlin, Lyssach (with HOZHO PRT)
29.04.2022 - Stadtgarten, Bea Expo BE
30.04.2022 - DEJA VU, Langenthal BE
02.04.2022 - [AF•FEKT], Einspruch BE (with ALISHA / UK)
12.03.2022 - Daydance Interlaken 
05.03.2022 - Südpol Luzern, Kopflos Agency (with ALEX STEIN & MARHU) 
04.03.2022 - [AF•FEKT], Einspruch BE (with MarZ)
25.02.2022 - Warehouse Friday, Bern (with TITA LAU)
11.02.2022 - HEIMAT Club, Basel
04.02.2022 - [AF•FEKT], Einspruch BE (with SHE NIONIKA) 
21.01.2022 - FREE FRIDAY, Einspruch, BE
15.01.2022 - BAR excellence 
31.12.2021 - NYE @Warehouse Berne (with Raffa FL)
03.12.2021 - [AF•FEKT], Einspruch, BE
04.12.2021 - BDAY TEXX, Münsingen, BE
19.11.2021 - Warehouse Friday, Fabrikhalle BE (with GUZ) 
05.11.2021 - [AF•FEKT], Einspruch, BE
09.10.2021 - 4AM, Suedpol, LU
01.10.2021 - [AF•FEKT], Einspruch, BE
10.09.2021 - [AF•FEKT], Einspruch, BE
28.08.2021 - Jimmy's Rooftop, Langenthal, BE
27.08.2021 - Private, Hingerkappelen, BE
14.08.2021 - Sommer Im Club, Einspruch, BE
10.07.2021 - CULTURE Daydance, LU
10.07.2021 - DANCETRAY Rooftop Rave, BE
13.02.2021 - Soundbude Livestream, Thun, CH
02.10.2020 - Einspruch Diskotek, Bern, CH
25.09.2020 - Liebefeld, Köniz, BE
04.07.2020 - DANCETRAY Rooftop Rave

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