Coming Soon . . .

Friends,

Some of you are aware that GospelGal.com, the blog, has served as the "beta" site for GospelGal.com, the dream. As I mentioned in my first post a couple of years ago, I've always had big plans for this website.

Over the last couple of months, I've started to work and plan more steadily toward the next phase--a more traditional-looking site where I'll put some of the interviews and reviews I've done, and where my future work will appear (If you just can't wait until then, or you reeeally want to read some of my older material, well, click here).

Watch this space for an announcement when the redesign is launched, or subscribe by typing your e-mail into the space on the left sidebar. Leave a comment about the kinds of coverage you'd like to see. And get ready to spend even more time talking and thinking together about the music we love.

Best,

LaTonya

Trudy Pitts and 'Mr. C'

I often run into interesting music stories I'd like to share with my GospelGal.com readers. But between a lot of busyness lately (and working on--wait for it--a full-scale relaunch of GospelGal.com), a lot of those great stories have piled up in my inbox.

Here's one of those stories:

Trudy Pitts and 'Mr. C,' Partners in Music: A beautiful story of life, love and music between jazz organist Trudy Pitts and drummer Bill Carney, who have been together for 50 years. I love hearing stories like this. Listen to their gentle disagreement about their anniversary, their unabashed, everyday romanticism and their description of "instant improvisation." I enjoyed Ms. Pitts' interpretations of "Jesus Loves the Little Children" and "Jesus Loves Me." You can hear more of their music on the NPR site, buy their CD here, and find out more about them (and hear even more clips) here.
image credit: www.trudypitts.com

Stellar Awards Recap

As always, Gospelflava.com is on the case. Here is the list of Stellar Award winners, and here is the recap of last weekend's festivities. To find out when the awards will be airing in your area, click here.

Book Review: The Gospel According to the Beatles

Review by LaTonya Taylor

Veteran music journalist Steve Turner explores the spiritual paths of the Beatles—both collectively and as individuals—in this deftly and densely reported combination of cultural history, comparative religion, and biocritical insight. "The gospel of the Beatles is not found in their conformity to an orthodox creed," he notes, "but in their hunger for transcendence."

Turner begins by reporting the furor that erupted over John Lennon's infamous (and widely misunderstood) 1966 comment that the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus now," then compares the Fab Four to magical, shamanistic storytellers who shared the insights they gained through their spiritual explorations with an audience enmeshed in political, cultural, philosophical, and religious upheaval.

Turner wisely avoids the temptation to force the Beatles' hope for freedom, unity, and peace into a Christian mold. Indeed, Turner focuses heavily on their use of drugs and forays into Eastern religion and the occult in search of enlightenment and spiritual insight. Still, Turner thoughtfully demonstrates ways the Beatles' search reflects the continuing influence of Christianity: "They were skeptical and even dismissive of the church, yet many of their core beliefs—love, peace, hope, truth, freedom, honesty, transcendence—were, in their case, secularized versions of Christian teachings."

This review first ran in Christianity Today magazine. Related articles and links

Updates on Pilgrim Baptist Church . . .and Pilgrim Baptist Church

Regular readers know that I was deeply grieved last year when Pilgrim Baptist Church, where Thomas Dorsey pioneered what we now call gospel music, was severely damaged in a fire. I'm writing to offer a correction and some updates.

First, the correction: In this post, I wrote that that Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago is the church that appears in the movie The Blues Brothers--in the scene where James Brown is the church pastor. That was incorrect. There are actually two different churches, both named Pilgrim and both founded in 1917, and both in Chicago. (That sound you hear is me pounding my head against the keyboard.)

Now, the sad part: That Pilgrim Baptist Church (which was called Triple Rock Church in the film) was damaged in a September 2006 fire. More here and here and here.

Finally, the update: The Chicago Tribune reports that Mayor Daley is helping raise funds toward rebuilding Pilgrim. Um, the first one. (Here's the Sun-Times' story.)

And, a promise: speaking of the Godfather of Soul, I had the pleasure of attending what I didn't realize would be one of his last concerts. Naturally, I took notes, and of course I'll be sharing with you. So, stay tuned . . .or subscribe, and you'll get an e-mail once I've posted my thoughts.

http://www.villaricatourism.com/