In 2001, marketing officials at the beautiful Phoenix Zoo, in Phoenix, Arizona, booked me for a
special after-hours concert, to raise funds for the zoo. I flew in from Nashville, and upon my
arrival, officials gave me a behind-the-scenes tour of the zoo. One of the zoo residents that I
met, was Indu, an Asian elephant that had a very unusual hobby…painting! He was discovered
using a tree branch to draw in the sand and dirt in his enclosure. The zookeepers gave the
pachyderm a big brush, an oversized palette with different colors of paint, then put a large
canvas in front of him. They showed him what to do, and he began expressing himself through
painting. He loved creating, and his original canvas art, along with prints, was a huge success,
and the elephant artist’s work sold for some big bucks, helping to pay for his upkeep, and
enhancing his enclosure. The concert/event was a major success, and I was so proud to be a
part of such a worthy cause. As I was leaving, the staff presented me with some of Indu’s prints,
along with several keepsake items from the zoo. A couple of weeks later, I was on stage with
the band in Huntsville, Alabama performing at the Panoply Festival, looking out at a sea of long-
time fans, singing along with our tunes. I had requested a ramp on the stage front, going down
into the audience so that I could make my way into the crowd, shake hands, and give some
high-fives to loyal fans. During one of our romping songs, I migrated down the ramp, began my
usual greetings, then turned to go back up the ramp, pushing off with my right leg, and suddenly
a snap…my calve muscle felt like it had exploded, and the pain was horrible. We had three
songs left in our set, and as I limped up the ramp and back on stage, I looked at Mike Wyatt
behind his drum kit, and the terror in my eyes told him that something was very wrong. EMT’s
were called to the stage, and wanted to examine me, but I had them bring a chair for me to sit
in, and I finished our show sitting on my rear. Those of you that have seen our shows, know that
I was all over the stage, leading the audience in our wild stage antics. When we got back to
Nashville, my physician ordered tests, and I wound up having physical therapy sessions, with
my leg enclosed in an apparatus that had ice cold water running through it. They put a brace on
the leg, ordered me off my feet, and all I could think of was that I had an upcoming show in two
weeks, in Atlantic City, NJ. I was not in the best of moods, because I had never missed a show,
but I was determined to perform in the brace if I had to. I have no idea how my Phoenix Zoo
friends found out about the accident, but they did. One morning the UPS truck pulled into my
driveway, and the familiar driver brought a box labeled from the Phoenix Zoo. I immediately
thought that I had left something there and proceeded to open the box. The first thing I noticed
was an envelope with a letter from the zoo staff, thanking me for helping make their fundraiser a
big success, but then saying… “Jim, in this box, you will find something very special, and it’s
one-of-a-kind, we don’t even have one at the zoo!” I anxiously dug down through layers of
protective wrappings, and I wondered what in the world I was going to find! To my
astonishment, it was an ostrich egg, that had been painted by my friend Indu, accompanied by a
disk with 40 pics showing the painting process. Tears began streaming down my face when I
realized that what I was holding, was priceless, and given to me…out of love. Today, 21 years
later, that beautiful painted egg, and those pics have a prominent place in my home, right where
I can see them each day, reminding me that my journey has been touched by many caring
souls… including one very big, painting pachyderm.
