Planting seeds

Todd Ditton, 42, and Woody Baldwin, 58, have been playing together more than 20 years.

“We were going all over the place, playing in Georgia … Florida … but nothing was satisfied, Ditton said tapping his chest over where his heart would be located.

They were playing rock music and riding motorcycles in a club.

Scott Rudin, 46, was riding his bike too. But he, Baldwin and Ditton might never have met had it not been for the Lord.

“We were in rival clubs, Rudin said.

There was a day that they could of just beat the pulp out of each other rather than play in a band together.

“You know how the brotherhood is,” Rudin says nodding to Baldwin, who nods his head right back in agreement.

“I was mean. Really mean,” said Rudin. “God [has taken] all of us and had us get along like brothers should.”

All members of the Hermitage Chapel, the bandmates now sow different seeds than those of destruction.

“We’re planting little seeds, to try to win people over to the Lord,” Ditton said.

And though they will still knock a roof off every once in a while, Rudin says, it is totally figurative now. And it’s all in praise of their heavenly Father.
There’s one member though, who stands out among the former bikers, who never was a member of that lifestyle.

It’s August Lupino, the pastor of Hermitage Chapel, who has been playing with If Anyone Has Ears. Lupino plays bass for the band. At 69, he’s more like an older brother to the other three.

Ask the guys what type of music they play and they all agree it is a rock-relation, somewhere between the likes of Creed and Hootie and the Blowfish. And definitely Christian. And fun. Ditton crafted almost every song the group sings.

“It’s hard to classify,” Rudin said.

Whatever it is, locals will be able to sample the band’s work Saturday evening. They’re playing their second gig at 7 p.m. at the TNT Café on Route 340 in Crimora.

Tom Osinkosky, an air traffic controller at the Charlottesville airport, said their first concert was well received.

“More than 55 people came to hear various local musicians,” he said. With the café’s agreement, they’ve made the decision to hold monthly concerts.
Osinkosky and his son came up with the idea to have a band come and play for their Sunday community group that meets at the restaurant.

“Just Because We Care was started to bring people together,” Osinkosky said. It’s an outreach for those who don’t have, or do, a church home.

“It originates out of a desire to pull the larger community together and simply let them know that there are people with this community who really do ‘give a rip’ about people and their lives.”

Dan & Company is another band scheduled to play Saturday, plus the mic will be open before the bands go on, to anyone.

“All of us who are working with this outreach see these monthly events providing a positive impact within the community, helping to fulfill the vision of bringing the community together,” said Osinkosky.

Chopper Lupino agreed.

“As a pastor, I can say these guys are the best thing that happened to the church,” Lupino said. “They proved to the people that salvation is real, if Christians are what they say they are. This group is a ministry. They don’t just pray and sing.

“Our chapel is dedicated to the people who have fallen through the cracks. We want to help the people in the trenches.

“These guys?

They inspire me when I need to be inspired.”