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Friends
An old friend of Michael's is amazingly invited
During the days leading up to the 22nd January, the Pastor planned
the ceremony while Kell organised the hiring of the vessel "Ambience"
and continued to contact Mike's closest friends. Pastor Dennis
had suggested that they invite his friend Erana Clarke to sing
"Amazing Grace" after the scattering of Mike's ashes.
Erana was a Sydney session singer who according to Dennis, "Sings
from the heart as well as the throat. She loves to sing Gospel
songs since her conversion to Christianity had broken her drug
addiction." While Kell was a little reticent, he trusted
the Pastor's better judgement, after all, others like Jenny Morris
could sing too if they had the emotional strength. Erana was
overseas on tour and didn't contact Dennis until she arrived
back in Australia, the day before the ceremony. It was only then
that the Pastor and Kell truly appreciated the significance of
Erana Clarke singing at Mike's ceremony. Erana had called to
say that she was honoured to sing at Mike's ceremony. What both
Kell and Dennis hadn't realized until they spoke with Erana on
her return, was that Erana was a friend of Michael's... she had
toured with INXS as a backing vocalist during the 80's.
Prayers for calm weather
As the day of the ceremony grew closer, Kell was feeling a little
concerned about the Sydney weather. He related how he had years
before scattered the ashes of his father at sea during heavy
winds. The result was some what undesirable. Pastor Dennis decided
they needed some "help" and so he contacted a Christian
university in Ohio, USA where he had attended. Over 2,000 students,
staff and friends were praying for the lead up and as the event
actually happened, though there was such secrecy surrounding
the ceremony, they didn't know exactly for whom they were praying!
The bringing together of improbable friends
The Pastor had also logged into the internet INXS chat room under
a pseudonym to fully appreciate the extent of the grieving prior
to the ceremony. The chat room closed ranks when they wrongly
presumed the Pastor to be a press reporter. He tried in vain
to get a "message poem for Michael". Not realizing
who he was, the regular chat roomers used a barrage of coloured
language to send the Reverend on his way. The poem Kell eventually
used in the ceremony, was taken by the Pastor from a "Tribute
to Michael" page on the Internet. It's strange how tragedy
brings such a diversity of people together. Several weeks after
the ceremony, the same INXS fans who had unknowingly "attacked"
the Reverend, had now sorted out friend from foe, and enthusiastically
helped him bring about a world-wide Internet hookup with Kell
and INXS fans. Three months to the day after the ashes ceremony,
a small representation of the fans flew in from around the world
to meet with Kell. They also invited the Pastor to lead them
in their own ceremony as they scattered rose petals near to the
original site on Sydney Harbour on behalf of INXS fans around
the world. Amongst those paying homage were "Kick"
from Brisbane, "Brick" from Melbourne, "Yvette"
from Tasmania and "Brat" from Canada.
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