Florida Catholic | A Real ‘Pick’-Me-Up: Tony Melendez ‘toe jams’

A real ‘pick’-me-up: Tony Melendez ‘toe jams’

“Live like you are going to heaven,” Tony Melendez tells the crowd in his closing remarks. “You are a gift.”

CHRISSY CUTTITA | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Published: 02.29.08

Tony Melendez autographs the shirt of Falyan Williams, 9, between sets of the guitarist’s concert at St. Bernadette Parish in Panama City Beach.
CHRISSY CUTTITA | FC

PANAMA CITY BEACH | As guitar player Tony Melendez strummed praise and worship to the Lord with his 10 toes, hundreds were inspired at St. Bernadette Parish in Panama City Beach Feb. 17.

The Nicaraguan artist, born without arms, may be right when he says his performance is sometimes more about the message than the music: Always say yes to a life with God, never say “I can’t,” and always dream.

“I knew about the music, but I didn’t know the personal story,” said Amy Xydias of St. Dominic Parish. “Their story (told by his brother) before all the fame was very touching and showed a human side.”

In between sets, Tony Melendez and his brother, Jose, shared their childhood journey of struggling for Tony to gain acceptance in a cynical world that has to see to believe. They said their neighbors couldn’t believe that the sound of a guitar was coming from a room where the boy with no arms lived.

Jose Melendez said he questioned why other children kept poking fun at his younger brother, but remembered his mother’s strong message that his brother had to be loved just the way he was.

Stories of experiences like these and Tony Melendez’ interactive praise-filled songs connected to the youths who were lined up on the floor in front of the stage, watching the concert.

“Just amazing,” said Falyan Williams, a 9-year-old St. Bernadette Catholic School student, who watched Tony Melendez perform for the first time.

She said hearing his stories gave her a great feeling and his talents were overwhelming.

Tony Melendez and his Toe Jam Band are credited with seven albums, but he is most known for his performance before Pope John Paul II in 1987. Tony Melendez has performed in every U.S. state and 40 countries, and said the mix of family made the audience at St. Bernadette “a great bunch.”

Allison Lopes, 16, and other teens from the parish’s youth group took it upon themselves to make an extra special thank-you to the band by going on stage to perform a song for the guitarist. “The first thing we did as a youth group was go to Baton Rouge to see him perform and it inspired me a lot, so I became more active at church,” said Lopes. “We felt it would be more meaningful to give back the gift he gave us.”

Tony Melendez explained to the audience, if he can play the guitar, drive a car and have children, then no one can deny the value of life.

It is for that reason one couple sought the opportunity for a Tony Melendez concert to come to Panama City Beach.

“He changed our lives,” said Mike Illies, visiting from Minnesota with his wife, Betty, who met Tony Melendez during their honeymoon in 1999. “He made us realize that if he can do it with just two feet, we can do it with two feet and two hands. We can reach out more.”

“Live like you are going to heaven,” Tony Melendez said to the crowd in his closing remarks. “You are a gift.”

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A real ‘pick’-me-up: Tony Melendez ‘toe jams’

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