Chameleon Dreams of Youth



Acts 2:17

In the last days, God says, I will pour my Spirit on everyone. Your sons and daughters will speak what God has revealed. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams.

Went to a showing of the documentary about The Chameleon Club the other night at Lancaster Public Library on Duke Street. The Chameleon has been a Central Pennsylvania hotbed for music, with either nationally-known bands making a stop or local bands progressing up through The Chameleon to national status. LIVE of course is the obvious example.

I have so many memories of so many great shows. The original owner, Rich Ruoff, who ran the club from its inception in the mid-80's to the early 2000's and sold the club soon after cops came in and raided the place and knocked out the deejay in a case of SS tactics. He had also married and wanted to have kids and leave the 24-7 nature of running a club behind. He made an interesting comment about starting the club. He was in his early 20's and really didn't know better. That was the gist of his comment. He learned by doing. The gift that the young bring is the "Why Not" in a "Because" world. As we get older, our risk-taking become less and less. But, we die a little every day in the process. If you don't dream, you die. 

Ruoff booked over 3,000 bands in his tenure. He started small in a back room of a local restaurant with a dream to provide a venue for a wide-array of bands to perform. How can you encourage a young person to pursue a dream and to dream with them?  

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