What do we really need to know?

Yeah, a little ironic title there…especially with my tag line.

But you’ll see what I mean if you read on.

This is only my second entry…and I’ve been thinking what to put in here next after my initial entry. I’m still trying to determine what kind of blog this is going to be…and when you don’t have a clear plan, you can easily become immobilized before you really do anything.

Enough of that…time to get to today’s topic.

Thanks to the internet, we can know more things about this or that than we could have ever imagined, say, 20 years ago. Are we smarter? Not really…we just know more bits of information.

Back when I first became a gospel music fan, it was a real coup for me to know the ages and a few biographical facts about my favorite singers and groups. If I knew, for example, that London Parris’ birthdate was May 25, 1931…and that he started singing professionally in 1955, and first became popular with the Rebels before moving on to the Blackwood Brothers and then to the Apostles, I felt like I really KNEW him. And then, if I found out he was born in Alexander, NC and was married to Yvonne, it was impossible to be in the same room with me…my head would be so huge and my chest would be sticking out so far.

Now, one can go to websites and search engines to find out all kinds of information we had little or no access to in years past. And if one should spend any time on blogs or message boards, one can find out group personnel changes almost right after they happen…or know about upcoming recording dates or contract signings. We can even find out why a certain group didn’t appear at a certain event…and why. But does that make us any more informed than generations before us? Are we really smarter fans today…or are we falling prey to the tendency of all societies to consume to our hearts content if it’s available to us?

What inspired this particular train of thought is the circulation on certain gospel sites and/or blogs of Joyce Martin’s MySpace.com profile. Now, most gospel fans probably were very aware of Joyce’s work with the Martins, and on solo projects…and considered her a fine singer with a heart for the Lord. I have no reason to believe this impression is inaccurate even after this week.

For those not familiar with Joyce’s MySpace.com page, her profile there might cause the casual reader to think of her as one more lonely divorcee on the rebound with an inclination to have a good time and(gasp!)dance once in a while. The profile is suggestive of the personal ads so prevalent not only on the internet but in the “older” media, like newspapers or magazines. What are we to make of this revelation?

For many gospel music fans, it may appear off-putting at first glance…as though Joyce was a “woman of the world”…heaven forbid. But if one stops to think for a moment, one might get other ideas.

Joyce is 38 and unmarried, fresh off a difficult divorce(there’s no such thing as an “easy” one)..and the thoughts and interests she expressed in her profile are not that much different than anyone else in her situation. This is not to say that what is expressed is what God wants for her(I’m not God, and I have a hard enough time figuring out what He wants for me, let alone a 38-year old female gospel singer who I don’t even know…), just to say that most people aren’t that different from Joyce.

And why is Joyce subject to greater scrutiny than the rest of us? Because she’s a “celebrity”? Says who? Says a lot of gospel fans, that’s who. Because she can sing a song about Jesus better than most of us…and is recognized for that, she somehow loses the right that the rest of us have to struggle with her humanity in privacy?

But, John, you say…she posted it online…where anyone could see it…that’s how much she cares about privacy. And that’s a good point, but consider…was Joyce expecting all her fans to read and discuss it, or was she posting it for the benefit of people who were already friends she trusted, or potential friends she hoped to meet?

I think(and you’ll agree, if you’re honest)that she was intending that MySpace.com profile to be read by the latter in this case. But because it’s “out there”, and gospel fans today are no different than I was when I was a new fan, such people are going to find it. And because it is endemic for us to talk about things like that to the people we know, a lot of people end up “knowing” this stuff. But are we smarter people? Do we “know” Joyce Martin better than we did before?

I think that if we really stop to think about it, we must come to the conclusion that we don’t really know much more about the person, Joyce Martin, than we did before..but we know a lot more about ourselves…deep down.

What do we really need to know?

Yeah, a little ironic title there…especially with my tag line.
But you’ll see what I mean if you read on.
This is only my second entry…and I’ve been thinking what to put in here next after my initial entry. I’m still trying to determine what kind of blog this is going to be…and when you don’t have […]

Well, here I am!

This is my initial post in which I hope will be an enjoyable activity for me, as well as for those who drop by to read from time to time. I don’t know how regularly I’ll post, but I’ll try my best to be as consistent as possible.

Unlike “real life”, Ill try to post only when I have something important to say that I think people will be interested in reading. As far as comments are concerned…I invite them…good, bad, or anything in-between…just keep them clean and reasonably free of any unnecessary invective. Thanks in advance.

I don’t even know what to expect from my own blog…this will be a learning experience for all of us. And as such, I’m looking forward to it. I don’t have any particular subjects I plan to emphasize above any others…whatever I feel like expressing myself on that day, that’s what my subject will be. I WILL take requests if I deem it appropriate to do so.

For now, welcome to my world…more later when I have more to say.

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