If God exists, he wants us—this I am sure of—to dance.
Caffey Brothers, “Make Me Over” (Aura Records, Youngstown, Ohio)
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lagniappe
reading table
I know that He exists.
Somewhere – in silence –
He has hid his rare life
From our gross eyes.—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), 365 (excerpt)
sounds of Chicago
“Chicago gospel—a musical snapshot,” Chicago Tribune, 2007
*****
Happy Birthday to my oldest musical companion, my brother Don, with whom I’ve shared more musical experiences, live and on record, than I could possibly remember—the Beatles (Comiskey Park, 1965), the Velvet Underground (Kinetic Playground, 1968 [followed by our arrests, while walking back to the car, for, uh, curfew]), the MC5 (Lincoln Park, 1968 [Democratic Convention]) . . .
Dixie Hummingbirds (feat. Ira Tucker, lead vocals), “Maybe It’s You,” TV show (TV Gospel Time), early 1960s
Talk about longevity. Ira Tucker joined the Dixie Hummingbirds in 1938, when he was 13. He was still with them in 2008, when he died.
back to church
Speech and song are sometimes indistinguishable.
Pastor Ezell Smith, live, Chicago (Prince of Peace Baptist Church)
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lagniappe
random thoughts on Mother’s Day
Professional jargon, whether legal, medical, psychological, whatever, is largely a desert. But once in a while you come upon a flowering tree. The great British psychoanalyst and pediatrician D. W. Winnicott (1896-1971) planted one such tree—the good enough mother.
back to church
Rev. C. L. Franklin (1915-1984), “I’ll Go”
more
George Jones (1931-2013), “Amazing Grace,” TV show, 2008
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lagniappe
radio
Today, beginning at 10 a.m. (EST), there’ll be a four-hour memorial broadcast on WKCR-FM (Columbia University).
Once I start listening to this I don’t want to stop, ever.
The Original Gospel Harmonettes (featuring MCOTD Hall of Famer Dorothy Love Coates), “He’s Calling Me,” 1955
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lagniappe
art beat: Tuesday at the Chicago Cultural Center
Hale Woodruff (1900-1980), Old Farmhouse in Beauce Valley, 1928 (featured, through June 16th, in Rising Up: Hale Woodruff’s Murals at Talladega College)
*****
random thoughts
It seems to be difficult, if not impossible, for me to grasp the apparent fact that the distance between, say, 2010 and 1960, when I was eight years old, is just as great as that between 1960 and 1910.
back to church
Heavenly Gospel Singers, “Let Jesus Fix It”
Live, St. James Missionary Baptist Church, Canton, Miss., 1978
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Music, the greatest good that mortals know,/And all of heaven we have here below.
—Joseph Addison (1672-1719), “A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day”
two takes
The Davis Sisters (feat. Jackie Verdell), “We Need Power”
TV Show (TV Gospel Time), 1964
Recording, 1959
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lagniappe
reading table
Nothing lasts, and yet nothing passes, either. And nothing passes just because nothing lasts.
—Philip Roth, The Human Stain
back to church
“He Set Me Free,” Mt. Do-Well Baptist Church, McConnells, S.C., 1991
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lagniappe
reading table
“God’s Grandeur”
By Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)The world is charged with the grandeur of God.It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oilCrushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soilIs bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.And for all this, nature is never spent;There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;And though the last lights off the black West wentOh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —Because the Holy Ghost over the bentWorld broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
music clip of the day 