THE BAND SONS OF THUNDER & SAM KINISON

THE BAND SONS OF THUNDER & SAM KINISON

In November of 2009 I published a short post  in this blog about the death of Sam Kinison, the comedian, entitled “The Strange Death of Sam Kinison” https://paulluverajournalonline.com/weblog/2009/11/the-strange-death-of-sam-kinison.html   For reasons I do not understand that post five years ago has produced more comment than any other thing I have written about. Not only that, there is controversy in the comments from readers with strong views in his favor and others very critical of him as well. He was controversial in life and apparently in death. For information about Sam see: http://www.samkinison.org/home.html

 I have just received an Email from Roger Wood, an original member of the Christian rock band Sons of Thunder who read the post and knew Sam well.  Roger, like Sam, was the son of a Pentecostal preacher in the South end of Seattle growing up. He and his brothers started the band with an African-American friend that became known as The Sons of Thunder that played Christian rock primarily. In addition to church services, they put on concerts around the Chicago area where the family moved. During this time they met the Kinison brothers, Bill, Richard and Sam. The Kinison brothers played in revivals for Roger’s father over weeks at time during about a four year period. As a result Roger became friends with Sam and his brothers. In fact, Roger and the band took Sam with them on their Gospel concerts through the Midwest. 

He says the last time he saw Sam was in the spring of 1972 when they were on tour with the Rolling Stones and Stevie Wonder with an opening act by Dorothy Norwood the popular black recording artist of that time. After that the band later split up and Roger went on as studio player and touring with many pop, rock R & B and contemporary Christian music groups. 

Now the members of the Sons of Thunder are working with a biographer to tell some of their story. TV pilot scripts have been written and there are media plans. Roger says: 

‘I want to thank you for your article on Sam’s passing. There is no doubt in my mind that it was his time to go and our God and creator wanted to get him off the road and bring him home. Sometimes, and based on our life purpose, we stay shorter on this earth. By the time of Sam’s death, he and his family and already invested so much into the kingdom, and had a huge bank account stored up in Sam’s spiritual bank account. It was his time to go, and yes the creator dispatched his angels, or came himself, and gave Sam a welcome ride home. All good.” 

He also provided media links, to follow the development of their ‘Life story’ movie/script.  Sons of Thunder social media links:

http://originalsonsofthunder.wordpress.com/

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/sons-of-thunder-a-life-project/x/1675590

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq7CjdjpVjg

 https://www.facebook.com/sotisback

https://twitter.com/sotisback

http://www.vinylradionw.com/music/sons-of-thunder-spin-that-45-vinyl-radio-editon/

http://www.journalofgospelmusic.com/contemporary/what-happened-to-the-sons-of-thunder/

Sam continues to be someone people have not forgotten.

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