Title: ELCA Congregation to Appear on the Letterman Show ELCA NEWS SERVICE - NEWSBRIEF December 20, 1996 LUTHERAN ?BOTTLE BAND? ON LETTERMAN SHOW David Letterman will feature the ?Bottle Band? from St. Luke?s Lutheran Church in Park Ridge, Ill., on his Monday night show Dec. 23. The Bottle Band is unique. Led by Paul Phillips, a student at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, its 28 members ?play? bottles filled with various amounts of water by blowing over their top or striking or plucking them. ?The band is a way of showing humor as a way of ministering,? said Phillips. ?It provides a release for people -- an opportunity to enjoy themselves and laugh.? Phillips? mother Doris was part of the draw for Letterman?s producers. Letterman playfully involves his own mother in on-camera routines. Doris Phillips, 80, who sits front and center in the Bottle Band, will be interviewed by Letterman as part of the band?s appearance. All the members of the band are Lutherans, most are members of St. Luke?s Lutheran Church where Phillips grew up. He said the group?s membership is ?stable and enduring.? For the Letterman show they will wear tuxedos and perform popular Christmas tunes. The Bottle Band attracted the attention of a Letterman producer who saw the group?s performance on ?Wild Chicago,? a program of public television station WNET. For information contact: Ann Hafften, Dir., ELCA News Service, (312) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]; Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Dir., (312) 380-2955 or [log in to unmask]; Melissa Ramirez, Assist. Dir., (312) 380-2956 or [log in to unmask]