Wednesday, July 27, 2005

To Study War No More: For Tim Hines (1984-2005)


I’m gonna lay down my burdens
Down by the riverside
Down by the riverside
Down by the riverside.

I’m gonna lay down my burdens
Down by the riverside
To study war no more.


A couple of weeks ago, a friend of our family died of injuries he received in Iraq. I did not know Tim Hines personally, but my parents and younger siblings remember him. He was my mother’s library aide, and my father remembers clowning with his mom on the sidelines as Tim and my brother played basketball. My younger sister is just a year older than Tim’s young widow.

At times like this, I am deeply comforted by the spiritual “Down By the Riverside.” When I was a little girl, I loved to hear this song at church. This was because my father, a deacon, would sing this song with my Uncle Chuck, and the whole church would join in.

Standing in front of the altar in their dark deacon suits, Dad and Uncle Chuck would trade verses and ad-lib around one another with such ease and joy that I really did think they were blood brothers:

I’m gonna lay down my sword and shield
Down by the riverside
Down by the riverside
Down by the riverside.

Gonna lay down my sword and shield
Down by the riverside
To study war no more.

As much as I enjoyed this spiritual, I don’t believe I understood it until I became an adult, facing the world on my own in college and afterward as a twentysomething. During these years, I’ve come to see that all of us are studying war somehow. Whether it’s nursing a broken heart, searching for answers to long-offered prayers, figuring out how to make ends meet or watching as the world around us becomes more and more confusing, we all study war.

We are all looking for ways to make our way through intact, hoping our scars will heal and wanting to believe that there is a purpose behind our existence—and that we’ll see more than a hint of it here, on this side of the river.

My hope is that all of us, whatever our feelings about war, can come together around this great belief: That one day, all of us will lay our burdens down, once and for all. Let us gather around each other, offering sweet comfort and the assurance that one day, we will study war no more.

Well, I’m gonna put on my long white robe
Down by the riverside
Down by the riverside
Down by the riverside.

Gonna put on my long white robe
Down by the riverside
To study war no more.

Rest peacefully, Tim.

To make a donation to Tim’s family and for his unborn son, due in August, please do so in care of the Timothy Hines Memorial Fund c/o any Fifth-Third Bank or to Impact a Hero. Condolences may be sent by visiting www.avancefuneralhome.com.

Read more about Tim here.

Image credit: www.fairfield-echo.com

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Pete Seeger Hearts Strawberry Shortcake


Blogging to: Universal United House of Prayer, Buddy Miller.

Until today, I knew very little about Pete Seeger--mostly that he sang songs like "If I Had a Hammer" and "We Shall Overcome." I knew that he is a folk singer and activist who sang about the Civil Rights Movement. (In this article, he compliments evangelicals on the way they encourage everyone to sing in church--and the spirituals and gospel music for the repetition that also makes them singable.) But now, thanks to my friends at GetReligion.org and the Dallas Morning News, I also know that Pete Seeger makes great strawberry shortcake. Ain't a' that good news? (Seriously! It is!)

Who knew that I could combine my loves of folk music and my favorite dessert of all? According to Pete, he makes the best strawberry shortcake in the world. And his Beacon Sloop Club holds a strawberry festival in New York every year, so it's possible to test his theory for yourself.

Here's his recipe, courtesy of the Dallas Morning News and reported by Jeffrey Weiss.


***

Just before dinner (not earlier), rinse and hull 2 quarts of fresh, ripe strawberries. Then slice about 1 ½ quarts of the fruit into large chunks. (Crushing the berries would make the sauce too juicy.) Set the remaining whole strawberries aside to use later as decoration. If desired, sweeten the sliced fruit to taste. (A few tablespoons of sugar or honey should sufficiently please your palate.) "Put in icebox," Pete writes.

Next, whip 1 pint of heavy cream, adding ½teaspoon of vanilla and a little sweetener (Toshi, Pete's wife, used honey at the festival) to taste as the cream becomes lighter. Then chill the topping.

Now, with clean fingers, combine 2 ½ cups of unbleached flour, 3 teaspoons of baking powder, 3 tablespoons of sugar and ½teaspoon of salt with 6 tablespoons of butter until it is smooth – no lumps. (At this year's festival, the flour was half whole-wheat.) Set the mixture aside while you grease a cookie sheet.

With that done, you can relax and eat your dinner – but preheat the oven first. You'll want it to be medium-hot (425 to 450 F) before you put the biscuits in. About 20 minutes before you plan to serve the dessert, go back to the kitchen.

Next, quickly stir a scant cup of milk into the flour mixture. The consistency of the batter should be much thicker than that for a cake, but not as dry as typical rolled biscuit dough. Spoon the batter onto the cookie sheet in eight (2-inch) lumps, and pop the works into the preheated oven.
The biscuits generally take 15 to 20 minutes to bake. When the dough has turned golden brown, take the shortcakes out of the oven and carry them to the table. ("Now comes the time when seconds count!" Pete writes.) Working as fast as you possibly can, slice a piping hot biscuit, insert a pat of butter between the halves and place the cake in a serving bowl. While you're slicing the next biscuit, have a friend dollop a generous spoonful of the sliced strawberries on top, followed by a great blob of whipped cream and a garnish of whole strawberries.

Then eat the treat right away.
"Now you know why Clearwater Strawberry Shortcake is the best in the world! And why most restaurants cannot serve it," Pete writes.

***
Freedom songs and strawberry shortcake? Does it get any better than this?

Image credit: www.peoplesmusic.org

Sunday, July 17, 2005

'Independents' Day . . .and the House of Blues




If you’re ever passing through Southern California, take a few minutes and stop in at Rhino Records in Claremont Village. (No, that is not Gospel Gal waving from the door.)This independent record store (across the street from a neat Folk Music Center and some fun novelty shops) features a broad and quirky selection of new and used CDs, including a vinyl section. When I visited over Independence Day weekend, I found a couple of gospel gems:

Mary Lou’s Mass, Mary Lou Williams. This amazing woman—and this interesting, challenging and mind-broadening jazz mass—deserve their own blog entry. It’s a-comin’.

Live In Chicago, Shirley Caesar. This album—which includes favorites like “Feel the Spirit” and “Hold My Mule”—features the late Rev. Milton Brunson and the Thompson Community Singers. The Thompson Community Singers were one of the first widely known mass choirs (If you’d like to get into an esoteric debate, pose that question—who was first--among a group of gospel lovers). They disbanded fairly recently—I think the last performance was in 2004—but there’s been some whispering about a reunion album.

Anyway, if you want to know what people mean when they refer to “the Chicago sound,” recordings of the Tommies are a good place to start. The Tommies launched a lot of great gospel careers, including those of folks like Darius Brooks, Percy Bady, and Smokie Norful. The album also includes a duet with Albertina Walker. If you’re jealous that I’ve secured a copy of this album, well, I don’t blame you. So why not check out your local independent record store and report on your great finds in the comments section? Then it’ll be my turn to be the jealous one.

Later that week, I went to the gospel brunch at the House of Blues, Sunset Strip. This is something you can do if you live in/near the following cities. I enjoyed a lot of great Southern food—some repentance is probably in order, amen—and an excellent set by the Sons of Christ quartet. The set list included “I’m Sanctified,” “Amazing Grace,” “Already Been to the Water/Since I’ve Been Changed,” and “I Can’t Make It Without You.” At the end, they merged some themes from “Makes Me Wanna Holler” (Marvin Gaye) and “Get On Up” (James Brown). Very nice.

I haven’t confirmed this yet, but I think the mistress of ceremonies—a regal woman in gorgeous green, with a gold chapeau that rivaled any crown—might have been one of the Clara Ward Singers. Anyway, when I saw how she danced—despite wearing some killer gold heels—I realized I couldn’t kick off my stilettos any time soon. After all, if the queen of the house could dance, the least I could do was keep my shoes on. That’s just the right thing to do when folks are havin’ church.