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]