AUGUST 2005 Dear Friend... My name is Arlene Marais. I was born Arlene Ward, in the town of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (a British colony in Africa originally called Southern Rhodesia) and no... my parents were not missionaries! My Mother was born in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia in 1930. Her parents came out from England to start a new life. My Father was born in the port town of Durban, South Africa in 1929 and came with his family to Bulawayo when he was just two years old. His family has been in Africa for over 100 years and were part of the 18th Century Settlers. Malcolm and I met at the tender age of 12 when my family decided to attend the Baptist Church he and his family attended. We started dating in our last year of high school. He then went off to join the Royal Rhodesian Airforce where he received his commissioned rank of Flight Lieutenant while serving as an Air Traffic Controller. I went to college and then went to work for Barclays International Executor and Trust Company. We married at 21 and moved into a little house in married quarters at Thornhill Airforce base just outside the small town of Gwelo. The political climate in Rhodesia deteriorated over the years, culminating in a terrorist war which claimed the lives of many innocent Rhodesians both black and white... including my sister’s beloved husband and many of Malcolm’s airforce buddies. In 1980, a Peace Corp, made up of various world countries, was sent to Rhodesia to oversea the political elections which brought about the name change to Zimbabwe, and the despot, Robert Mugabe into power. As a result, Malcolm “retired” from the Airforce at the ripe old age of 25 and went back to school. He decided to change his whole career focus after we discovered the new Government had put a freeze on employment. Much to our dismay, we had to leave our beloved country and had no choice but to move to Johannesburg, South Africa. There, Malcolm began training for his new career in computers. After six years in South Africa, God opened the door of opportunity for us to come to America, which to us at that time was definitely the “land flowing with milk and honey!” It was quite a challenging move however, leaving all our family and loved ones, and venturing into the “unknown” with our first child on the way—I was six months pregnant. Our new home was a little apartment in Houston, TX. Three months later we were blessed with a beautiful son, Roger, born on my birthday! 16 months later, Trudi was born. We’ve had quite an eventful 18 years in our new adopted country—we lived in Houston for four years, before moving to Reston, VA for two years, then Raleigh, NC for two years, then Atlanta, GA for eight years and now Bonita Springs, FL for two years! When Roger was approaching school age, I was concerned about the public school system here. I never thought I was qualified to home school, but after trying to make plans for him to enroll in various private schools, God made it abundantly clear I was to home school. It’s been the most humbling and rewarding experience of my life. I’m so thankful and feel so blessed to have had this wonderful opportunity to have played such an important role in my children’s lives. Roger graduated this last Spring and is halfway through obtaining an associate’s degree in Business Management. Trudi’s in her senior year and hopes to graduate by the end of this year! They’re both such a blessing. I guess you’re wondering how in the world I became involved in the music business! A good question... and I can honestly say... God! 10 years ago while living in Raleigh, NC, God gave me the opportunity to meet a hard rock band in the vein of Petra, called Final Destiny. They had plenty of musical talent, but no one in the band seemed to have what it took to “manage” them. Malcolm encouraged me to pray and see if it was something I’d like to do. He felt I needed some kind of outlet that was a break from home schooling and running the home, etc. Music has always been a part of my life—my mother is very artistic in every way including musically. She’s the musical director for their church back in South Africa. I’d never thought about managing a band, but prayerfully decided to take on the challenge if the guys in Final Destiny agreed. They did, and soon after, we moved to Atlanta, GA!!! Phones and computers are wonderful tools! I put a promo pack together and started making calls. Before I knew it, venues were booking the band for gigs! Then, one night in early 1996, while at a club/studio in Atlanta, I met Kevin Young from the band Disciple. He was waiting to give a copy of their first CD, “What Was I Thinking” to Marty Bush of Gray Dot Records, the owner of the club/studio. This was Disciple’s first show outside of their little hometown of Maryville, TN. After listening to their sound check, I decided to stay and watch them perform. I was literally speechless! Never in my life had I experienced anything like their music or their bold witness for Christ from the stage. I believe that evening was truly one of God’s divine appointments. Disciple didn’t have anyone to help manage their band and book shows for them, so I offered my services and started working for both Final Destiny and Disciple. I had the privilege of working with Disciple from 1996–2002. God opened some wonderful doors of opportunity and ministry during that time. I was able to travel with the guys to Europe on numerous occasions. We returned many times to play various festivals in Germany. We spent two weeks touring Sweden and went on two separate mission trips to the Baltic States in Eastern Europe. The first trip was for three weeks, and the second for two weeks, at the invitation of the Archbishop of Riga & Latvia. Over the course of these years with Disciple, I experienced first hand what it’s like to be treated by various labels from a band’s perspective. Unfortunately, most of it was not very positive. In 1998, I was “introduced” to Ashton Nyte and The Awakening from South Africa, through one of our nephews, visiting us at that time. He knew Ashton from church and brought me his first two CD’s to listen to. Once again I was blown away with his vocals and the quality of his music. I contacted Ashton and soon became his agent—working at a grassroots level to try and get his music into stores and on the radio both in the US and Europe. It’s been a challenge working with a band at such a distance, but slowly but surely The Awakening has begun to come into its own in various parts of Europe, especially in Germany, the Nordic Region and Russia, as well as various parts of the US! Then God graciously allowed one of my life long dreams to come true last year. I was able to organize The Awakening’s debut trip to the US in October 2004. We had a blast covering over 5,000 miles in two weeks, playing 10 shows in various venues—from gothic clubs in Illinois to church auditoriums in Florida! My only regret was that the venues didn’t promote as well as they could have, and so, many people only heard about the shows after they happened, and lost out on the opportunity to see them live. Lord willing, however, I am trusting God will open the doors for The Awakening to return some time in 2006 in conjunction with the release of their 8th project! In 2000, www.youngside.com was created, primarily to mentor and service indie artists who didn’t have an outlet for their music. Over the years YoungSide has become know in the underground scene as a home for various genres of music ranging from gothic rock to hip-hop. A large portion of the bands represented are international. A couple of months ago, however, I came to a crossroads and began to wonder if it was time to “retire” from the music world and close YoungSide down. I set aside a week to pray and really seek our Heavenly Father’s will—fully expecting to come to the end of the week with the decision to “hang up my boots.” Friday of that week, my son Roger came home from work and walked into my office with a profound question/statement. His exact words were,“Mom... what are your plans for YoungSide? I would like to come and work for you!!! I really believe I am ready to come and help YoungSide grow!!!” Needless to say, I was speechless! This was definitely not the answer I was expecting! I told Roger I needed to think and pray about his offer! So... here I am today, with my son, sitting behind me at his desk busy researching college radio stations to send promo packs of artists we feel will find listening ears in their audience. We’re apprehensively excited about the future... although I certainly don’t know what the future holds, I have complete confidence and assurance in the One who holds the future. We’re certainly not your “conventional” record label!!! I would humbly value your prayers for YoungSide Records as we work diligently to serve the bands I believe the Lord has brought to us. Please pray too for each member of the various bands we represent, as they seek to serve the Lord with the talents He’s so richly blessed them with. Thank you and God bless you! In His service, |