Something encouraging

I just got off work at the station...the main highlight on Fridays for me being that our regular early afternoon talk show is broadcast live from one of Central California's largest Indian gaming casinos.

Now the fact that the show is broadcast from a casino is not the highlight, of course. It's just that running and producing a remote talk show is a welcome break from the normal daily tedium.

What encouraging event occurred? Well, it seems our host was given all kinds of entertainment tickets to give away on the show...among the events, a concert Sunday in Fresno featuring Nat "King" Cole's younger brother Freddie, an Elton John concert in a few weeks in Bakersfield, a concert this weekend in Fresno featuring Michael Buble, and several pairs of tickets for the upcoming Great Western Southern Gospel Fan Festival, coming up at the beginning of May.

Now out of all of that, which tickets do you think we ran out of first?

If you guessed anything but the GWSGFF, you're wrong! The tickets for gospel music's premier West Coast event went first...with ease, according to our host. This helps make my long-held case that the Fresno area loves southern gospel music, and will jump at the chance to get free tickets for it! Are you listening, you big-name groups that say you can't afford to travel out here?:-)

This also is an answer to those who charge that southern gospel can't compete for the entertainment dollar when it has to compete with top secular entertainment. Keep in mind two things about today...

1)Our host never even said who would be singing at the GWSGFF...he simply said he had tickets to give aay for it.

2)All the other events he had tickets for are all going to be held within the next two weeks...the GWSGFF is not happening until the first of May! One would think there would be more demand for what's coming sooner!

But if people here know about a major gospel music event coming, there is no lack of appetite or interest for it! Now it's simply up to those artists at the event to justify all the interest...the people WILL come! And that is really encouraging for those of us who love gospel music and good family entertainment.

I'll keep you all posted...I'm looking forward to it.

Larry Norman

The world of Christian music lost another of its true pioneers this past Sunday night.

Larry Norman is generally considered the father of what came to be known as Christian rock music.

With landmark albums such as "Upon This Rock", "In Another Land", and "Only Visiting This Planet", Norman's trailblazing work in a genre of music he almost invented will long live on in the hearts and minds of those who recognize Christian-oriented rock music as an authentic form of musical testimony.

You might be wondering why I, an avowed lover of traditional gospel quartet music(which Norman vowed to supersede with his music), would be saluting Norman for what he accomplished in the music world.

Well, for one thing, Norman was very good at what he did. The aforementioned albums attest to that. Plus, with the emphasis on reaching more youthful audiences with their music, gospel quartets such as the Oak Ridge Boys, the Imperials, and JD Sumner and the Stamps recorded Norman's music. They knew good material when they heard it.

The Imperials and the Stamps both covered Norman's "Sweet Song of Salvation" in the early 1970s, and around that same time, the Oaks and Tennessee Ernie Ford(!)covered Norman's classic "I Wish We'd All Been Ready". Those covers proved that gospel quartet music could be versatile enough to adapt any song to its' style and be successful.

More than that, Norman was serious about what he did. Although the son of good Christian parents and involved early on in his life with making music with a Christian point of view, he never was interested as much in musical evangelism as he was in using his talents to express his true Christian faith to the world. And his world was not the world of churches and retreats...he liked the rock music that developed out of the tradition of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Norman undoubtedly thought(as the title of an early book about the contemporary Christian music movement suggested), "Why should the Devil have all the good music?"

How good Norman's music was in the absolute sense, as always, is a matter of personal taste. And in this posting, I will withhold value judgements on it per se...after all, his musical merits are not what I'm writing about in this post. I will state, however, that the lasting impact of his earliest music on those who aspire to succeed in that genre is testament to its merit among the genre's adherents. And inasmuch as that music has influenced many people who otherwise would not have considered the claims of Christ any other way, it is worth honoring and recognizing Norman's contributions to the world of Christian music.

Norman was never the easiest person to understand, either. Over the years, he aroused controversy due to the ways he went about his craft. And his well publicized fallout with one of his earliest pupils in the genre, Randy Stonehill, caused some to step back from Norman a bit and look at him from a distance. But to his credit, Norman never did what he did to simply curry favor with people. His walk with Christ was a deeply personal one that he followed with great personal integrity, for the most part.

Norman's first impact in the music world came in 1968 with the rock group he was then a part of, People. People's major hit was a song called "I Love You(But The Words Won't Come)", a song that to this day is played often on the "classic rock" radio stations. With Norman, People recorded songs that for a time expressed Norman's Christian point of view.

Shortly after that song became a hit, though, the majority of the members of People embraced the relatively new cult of Scientology....soon demanding that the entire group embrace it or leave the group. Norman and his best friend in the group refused to abandon their Christian beliefs to assent to Scientology, and as a result, they left People.

People was never heard from on the charts again. Norman, however, had acquired enough of a reputation with his music to get the group's label, Capitol Records, to issue his breakthrough solo album. "Upon This Rock" in 1969. The album was an underground success in the rock world, and its' success inspired many other young artists of the Christian faith to go forth and pursue their own musical visions and careers. Thus, Norman quickly earned the reputation as the originator of Christian rock music.

Many other rock artists expressed admiration for Norman and his work, most notably, Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan. Since then, Chriistian artists of all genres, even traditional southern gospel, have looked upon admiration from the world of secular music as a validation of their musical worth. While such respect is nice if you can get it(and certainly justified in the case of many Christian artists), it seldom comes to those who make an issue of courting it. Rather, in the case of artists like Norman, it comes as a result of maintaining your personal and musical integrity. It can be argued that Norman was used by God in a most difficult mission field to spread His Word to many who otherwise would never be exposed to it. This, perhaps, is Norman's greatest legacy as a musician and person.

Norman's music didn't make much of an impact in the world after his peak work of the 1970s, and maybe it didn't need to. Norman never stopped making music or playing it before audiences, and up to his final days he was sharing it and himself with others, content with expressing himself to his satisfaction.

There are many lessons we can learn from Norman's life and music, and I suspect his name will live on for many more years in the minds and hearts of those inspired to seek and make Christian music because of him.

Danny Koker

Another of gospel music's great stars of the past has received his promotion to his eternal reward.

Danny Koker passed away this past Sunday after a long bout with cancer. He was one of gospel music's most talented pianists, a fine singer and arranger, and he was a major part of some of the finest gospel groups of the post World War II era.

And as is the case with most of those great stars, I discovered him much later than I ought to have.

The first time I ever heard Danny play was on an RCA compilation of gospel quartets. Danny was playing with arguably the smoothest sounding quartet in gospel music history, the Weatherford Quartet. I enjoyed his piano stylings on "The Bible Tells Me So" but didn't think too much about him for several years after that. Though I did wonder why his name was spelled "Koker" rather than "Coker", the more common spelling of that name.

Later on, I discovered the Cathedral Quartet from watching them on the "Gospel Singing Jubilee" in the late 1970s. Though Danny was not with them at that time, my M.O. has always been to seek out those quartets that made a positive impression on me, and acquire as many of their recordings as I could, which I did. When I did, I discovered that Danny was one of their original members, and in retrospect also discovered what an integral part of their sound he was, not only for the time he was with them, but for all the years afterward.

For you see, the Cathedrals were always known for smooth harmony singing, and their fine, tasteful arrangements. Danny did most of their arranging during the years he was with them, and since the Cathedrals were spawned by the Weatherfords, it followed that their vocal harmony would be quite similar.

Much later, when I started writing the history articles for Southern Gospel News, I discovered that he was also a member of one of the more underrated but certainly accomplished groups of that era, the Foggy River Boys. Along wirh Bill Crowe and L. David Young(with whom he shared piano duties), the Foggies had a memorable, unique sound, and were one of the most gifted gospel trios that have ever existed.

Finally, my good friend Cliff Cerce assembled a CD for me of a 1968 concert in Clifton, NJ featuring the Couriers, the Blackwood Brothers(who had just acquired my all-time favorite bass singer, the late London Parris), and the Cathedral Quartet. Danny was not only playing piano and singing baritone with the Cathedrals, he was their MC on stage. And he was quite personable and engaging in that role.

I learned that all the "old man" jokes directed at Cathedral lead Glen Payne did not begin merely after the Cathedrals hit their peak in popularity in the 1980s, but were part of their onstage banter even back then. Danny Koker set the style and tone for much of what the Cathedral Quartet did in those subsequent years, both onstage and musically....and it's sad that even among some very devoted Cathedral Quartet fans to this day(most of whom only joined the bandwagon after the larger gospel music world did), Danny's work has been largely ignored or forgotten.

Well, THIS longtime gospel music fan agrees with noted gospel music historian John Crenshaw when he says that there may have been flashier pianists or baritones with the Cathedrals than Danny Koker, but there were none who were better.

Heaven now has quite a number of great quartets at its' disposal with the arrival of Danny Koker.

Full circle?

OK, back to gospel music.

In the past few days, I've noticed quite a bit of discussion in the southern gospel community about the genre's recent Dove award nominees.

Of course, when the Doves were born nearly 40 years ago, it was the growing southern gospel industry that created them in the first place...so why should it be so surprising now to see the genre's artists being nominated again?

Before anyone says so, let me just state that I'm aware that the categories that the southern gospel artists are being nominated in are the ones specific to that genre, so it's not like the Dove people made any extra room for them or anything.

But it is nice to see people like the Hoppers, Karen Peck and New River, Gerald Wolfe, and Ernie Haase and Signature Sound being considered for their just due by those same Dove people...for it seems to this distant but interested observer that artists like them should be recognized not only in their little corner of Christian music, but in all of it.

For when the first Doves were awarded in 1969, it's arguable that the artists operating in the southern gospel genre were the most talented ones in all of Christian music at that time. For what is known as "contemporary Christian music", or CCM for short was barely getting off the ground. And other artists in the field of Christian music were not making the overall impact in the music world that the southern ones were, IMHO.

And who else, logically, was the GMA going to give the awards to at that time? For the majority of the GMA leadership was composed of people whose background was in the southern field....and given the stratification that existed in the Christian music world then(and still does now, to a great extent), what else could one expect?

That situation existed until the late 1970s, when the CCM field began to develop some influence and muscle of its own. The number of categories grew and grew, until by the late 1980s, the southern gospel field began to feel like the proverbial red-headed stepchild, pushed aside in favor of the younger, hipper "cutting-edge" style.

By the 1990s, the Dove awards became an event not unlike the Grammy awards, even becoming a television event complete with vapid acceptance speeches, to where an event created to honor artists who made the best music dedicated to glorifying God became just another overly long, dull, tedious Hollywood-styled awards show.

All this is my own impressions of what the Doves became...for someone who always appreciated good, entertaining music yet looked upon gospel music as something with a higher purpose, this whole approach was disturbing...as if we were not only in the world, but of it as well.

Now I'm not going to accuse other musical genres of corrupting the gospel music world with a hostile takeover of its' award show, but something was clearly different than the originators of the Dove awards had intended, I'm sure.

Much of this can be laid at the feet of the southern genre, for becoming stale, complacent, and losing its' own idenity. Although there was still a lot of good music being made in the field, it seemed that the genre was lacking in direction and leadership.

And to a degree, that problem still exists in it today. And since the southern field now has its own awards and sources of recognition(the Singing News fan awards, the SGMA, the Southern Gospel News fan awards), the Doves are less and less of a focus than they were.

So it is always heartening to see that the GMA seems to be reaching out to its' founding genre a bit this year, and almost belatedly recognizing the southern field's indisputable contribution to the year's best Christian music.

And as a person with a vested interest in the southern genre, if not an actual member of the "industry"(despite what some of my friends claim), I admit I would love to see the artists in it get as much honor and recognition as possible.

So, you go guys(and gals)...take home the hardware!

Although I don't think awards are that big a deal for gospel singers(for they ought to know where their REAL awards come from), it is only human and natural for people to want recognition for what they do well.

And I realize that the above impressions are merely my own, and not necessarily reflective of what actually went on in the hearts and minds of those who were in charge of all of the above, I still feel that the southern genre has always had a high percentage of the most talented Christian music artists, and their lack of proportional recognition from the Dove awards has been unfortunate.

Let's hope that a change is in the air.

A hero, for sure

A lot of so-called "heroes" come to us from the world of sports.

And most of them have two things in common...they have a "style" that we admire(and these days especially)they make a LOT of money doing what they do in the world of sports.

Well, since I'm admittedly not like everyone else, it follows that my heroes be somewhat "different" as well.

I'm not a track and field fan per se(though I have a lot of respect for the athletes and coaches in it) but one of my newest sports heroes has devoted most of his life to track and field, and giving those gfifted a chance to participate in it and to excel at it.

Bob Fraley finally retired as track and field coach at Fresno State a couple of days ago after 28 years of being one of the best coaches of it in the country.

And the last five years, he's done it for free.

Yes, you read correctly...I said free. As in no salary, no benefits, no perks, no fancy ad deals or contracts.

Why?

Well, in 2003, Fresno State was poised and ready to eliminate track and field altogether from its' athletic budget. You see, track and field in college is not the high revenue, high visibility sport that football and basketball are. And despite having one of the best track progframs in the West, the university was scrambling financially with its' athletic budget. The school has already eliminated its' water polo, wrestling, and swimming programs because of its' budget mess.

Fraley would not accept that fate for a program that he devoted so much time and human effort into for the previous 23 years...so he made a deal with the university. In effect he said, I'll forego my salary if it will help save the program and keep it there for the kids who want to do it.

In an age where even some baseball coaches in college are making seven-figure deals to coach, and coaches like Bobby Petrino are abruptly leaving PROFESSIONAL jobs to accept huge college offers, it is truly refreshing to see a modern coaching legend(which Fraley is)consent to coach and mentor for nothing, at least nothing more than the pride of helping youngsters learn the rudiments of track and field.

Far from being viewed as insane by the sports community, Fraley was given national accolades by the likes of Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly, and sports people far and wide expressed admiration and respect for this man who was willing to put his money where his mouth was, and teach lessons like what results true sacrifice can produce.

Fraley is not hurting for money, he was 65 at the time he forsook his salary, and he has enough to last him his remaining years on earth.

But he also has something too few in his profession have these days.

He has honor...and respect. And we all learn eventually that there is never a price tag that can be placed on either of those things.

Enjoy your retirement, coach...you truly HAVE earned it.

Words to live by, continued….

Well, I'm back home after two much needed days of R&R in Southern California.

And I hate to move the inspired discussion in my last post off SGN's front page, but I had to share some amusing words from one of Fresno's finest pastors.

G.L. Johnson is retiring after pastoring People's Church(Fresno's largest church)for the past 45 years. The city of Fresno held a day in his honor yesterday. That's pretty amazing itself, that a major American city would hold a special day for a retiring minister, but G.L. is a special man.

Person after person came up to heap praise upon the pastor, and when it was his turn to speak, Johnson gave the perfect rejoinder for those who might become embarrassed after hearing a great deal of effusive praise heaped upon oneself.

He said, smiling, "May God forgive you for everything you all are saying, and may He forgive me as well for enjoying it so much.":-)

Some things I don’t understand

I very seldom post on politics, mostly because those kinds of discussions invariably produce more heat than light.

But I am hearing a disturbing trend(to me)that is taking shape more and more as the 2008 Presidential election nears.

Before I go further, let me say that the following is not to be construed as an endorsement of anyone. I honestly don't know who I'll support at this point, and that is not the point of this post besides.

But now that most pundits seem to be conceding the Republican race to John McCain, there are a number of vocal disaffected conservative voters who, despite proclaiming their vocal opposition to ANY Democrat candidate, stubbornly vow that they will under no circumstances support John McCain for President...even asserting that they may vote Democrat rather than stay with their party.

Huh?

Let me get this straight...you despise the thought of voting for any Democrat, yet because your party(if you're a Republican)is not nominating a person you prefer, you're going to support your ideological enemy? Do the words "sore loser" mean anything to you?

Consider the logical conclusion if such a position is carried through. Disgruntled Republicans refuse to support the nominee of their party, yet since they will likely not vote for the Democrat nominee either, their voice will be missing in the political process. This essentially hands the Presidency to the Democrats without as much as a fight. Do any of those people really want that to happen?

And worse, if they vote for the Democrat in protest, that almost guarantees a Democrat victory. Are these people willing to hand over the Presidency for the next four years based on a principled objection that is not really principled?

Let's look at McCain for a moment. Granted, he is not a strict conservative(but neither are so-called American conservatives, if you really want to quibble about definitions). And granted, he prefers to position himself as a so-called maverick, an independent minded Republican who is under no one's marching orders(a very disingenuous posture, if you ask me). But just because he's those things, and has enacted legislation with Democrat legislators, does that REALLY make him a liberal Republican?

And even McCain's critics must concede that he has been an unswerving supporter of the current President's policy in Iraq and on the "war on terror". And would a McCain presidency be as frightening to the conservative wing of the Republican party as a Democrat one would be?

I doubt it. But the fact that so many seem so convinced that they will not support McCain under any circumstances and may even vote contrary to their avowed principles and philosophies is such that it's looking a bit scary right now.

The good thing is, it's a long way from November, which is the only time that all this will matter anyway. And in the course of that time, a number of these questions and dilemmas might well be solved, and things won't look so confusing.

In the meantime, I'll make up my own mind, pray, and trust God for the best.

Praising someone

I haven't posted about gospel music message boards in quite some time...mostly because the last time I did, certain people from one such community intent on finding fault with what I said decided to take certain thoughts I expressed and words I used and make them weapons to beat me down with. It would sure be nice if such people read what I actually said instead of what they were AFRAID I'd said. But in today's world, sadly, interpretation and misunderstanding come before actual attentiveness and understanding.

But I had to mention one very positive development on the community I've been with the longest, the Southern Gospel News message boards.

There is a current thread there entitled "Praise Someone". The stated purpose of the thread is to think of something positive in the world of gospel music and call attention to it. It can be an artist one thinks deserves special attention, a trend that one hopes will become a tradition, or someone else in the community deserving of special commendation. This is a welcome change from all the complaining and sniping that is all too common even on gospel music message boards.

And yes, I have posted to it...so I'm not just speaking from an idle observer's perspective.

The cumulative effect of such an exercise helps one's attitude...the effort involved in finding something positive to say about someone helps develop that state of mind. And that can be helpful when one needs to deal with those who are more difficult to say positive things about.

If you really think about it, you can find positive things to say about just about anyone in the world. And the more practice you get in looking for those positive things, the easier it is to find them in time. And that is not only helpful when it comes to those you dislike, it makes it easier to find things in those you like that are praiseworthy. This is a good thing...because every step you take to make your outlook more positive makes you a better and happier person, IMHO.

And if we truly love gospel music and the people in it(or those involved with it to any extent), shouldn't it be easy to find good things to say about them?

The thread isn't getting a wide sample of participation yet...but I'm hopeful it will. Surely we can think of a FEW things we like or are happy about in gospel music, can't we?

I know...there are those of us who think that gospel artists' sound systems are too loud...or that EHSSQ should get rid of those hairstyles and ties and stop ambling all over the stage in concert, And we certainly can't be happy with all the backing tracks and the vocal stacks some artists use in concert, can we? And too many artists these days are making any kind of music BUT southern-style gospel under the SG banner...aren't they?

But let's just take a different mindset into all those things...and look at the other side of the coin, OK?

It's a good thing that gospel artists have the finest sound systems available to present their music to their fans. And it's also a good thing that EHSSQ revive a lot of great older gospel music, and update it for newer, younger fans without compromising the original musical and spiritual integrity of it.

And the backing tracks make it possible for artists otherwise unable to reproduce the sounds of songs they sing that entertain and bless a lot of people, so that they're not cheated in concert appearances. And sometimes the vocal stacks make a group sound fuller and more pleasing to their audiences. And finally, it's nice to have a variety of styles to choose from...so that everyone's musical tastes can be satisfied without having to go outside the genre to find music to listen to.

See? It can be done...and it doesn't hurt, does it?:-)

And it's the same sorts of things I can do with my days...I can look at the clouds and the gray, or I can choose to be thankful for the sunshine, even the sunshine I don't see directly or at first glance.

Oh, OK...I admit I still have definite preferences in my gospel music...and I may never learn to like those examples outside my basic preferences.

But there's no law saying I have to put it down, or worse, ridicule those who don't share my preferences.

And there IS only one way to heaven...but musically, there are plenty of styles and people that can help motivate someone to get there.

So why not stop and praise someone, and take time to appreciate what they bring to the table?

Reflections on a “super” football game

Another Super Bowl is behind us now...the XLIInd such affair. And for once, it almost lived up to the annual hype.

Of course, no football game can live up to the annual billing the Super Bowl gets. For all the pomp and hoopla, it is still simply the championship game of the National Football League, nothing more...and nothing less.

And for most of its' 42 year history, the games have been so one-sided as to cause non-football fans(yes, even today in America, there are some)to scratch their heads and wonder what all the fuss is about. And that question can only be properly answered by a fairly comprehensive analysis of our society and what about it makes football so attractive to us.

This year's game, though, was a happy exception to the prevailing results of Super Bowl games.

For openers, it had a classic storyline. The New England Patriots, winners of each of their 18 games to this point, wanted to put a firm exclamation point on one of the finest seasons a football team ever had. A win would have made them only the second team in pro football history(after the 1972 Miami Dolphins)to win every game it played during a season, in short, achieving pro football perfection. Their fine quarterback, Tom Brady, had thrown over 50 touchdown passes this season, and was touted by otherwise sober observers as possibly the greatest quarterback to play the game. And their coach, the curmudgeonly but brilliant Bill Belichick, had steered the team through a suspected spying scandal and a host of other distractions to get his team ready and focused on playing and winning each game, in a manner not seen in many a year. But that gruff demeanor set him up to be everyone's arch-villain.

Their opponents, the New York Giants, did not even win the division they played in during the course of the year. They battled injuries, inconsistency, and erratic play from their highly touted and pedigreed quarterback, Eli Manning(kid brother of last year's championship quarterback, Peyton Manning, and son of one of the more famous legends in NFL history, ex-New Orleans Saints quarterback Archie Manning). As late as the seasons's 14th week, there was some doubt that the Giants would even make the playoffs at all. But as it turned out, they not only got in, they beat every team they faced in the playoffs on the road, including the top two seeds on the NFC side, Dallas and Green Bay.

Small wonder, then, that the oddsmakers established the seemingly invincible Patriots as 12-point favorites to put away the ragged but determined Giants, and reach perfection...and possibly prove that they were indeed the best team in the history of professional football.

You can already see what's coming, can't you? The little engine that could finds a way to conquer the biggest obstacle in its' path.

And indeed, the little engine that was the New York Giants found a way to knock off the allegedly perfect Patriots. They did it mainly by putting such pressure on Brady that they disrupted the timing of the league's most powerful offensive machine, frustrating the normally unflappable Brady to the point where he was reduced to yelling at his receivers after incomplete passes. And the Giants' offense held the ball for long stretches of time, not always scoring but keeping the Patriots powerful offense off the field altogether.

As a result, the outcome of the game was in doubt up to when only 39 seconds remained in the game. Brady had shaken off the shackles enough in the game''s final seven minutes to crisply lead his team to what seemed to be the winning touchdown. Enter Peyton's kid brother...with only 1:24 to play and down by four, he had to move his team 83 yards to the end zone...and redemption would finally be his.

Eli made the right plays...the key one being a spectacular play where he avoided a certain sack and hurled it to a seldom used receiver named David Tyree, who made an incredibly athletic one-handed catch in midair, clutching the ball against his helmet to assure possession of the ball as he was being tackled. This put the Giants squarely in position to pull out a victory...which Manning did shortly thereafter by hitting his top receiver, Plaxico Burress, with a touchdown pass to put the Giants ahead by three, 17-14, with only seconds remaining.

Brady's valiant last-ditch efforts were in vain, and with :01 left, the Patriots turned the ball back to the Giants on downs, and Belichick, in a bizarre gesture, ran off the field to congratulate his opposite number, Giants' coach Tom Coughlin, ignoring the fact that the game was not yet officially over...though for practical purposes, it was.

After restoring order, the Giants ran the clock out...and the Patriots' dreams of perfection turned into a cruel illusion....for they were beaten by a team that, on this particular day at least, was superior.

The game was the most watched Super Bowl in history, and it was indeed an exciting, intense struggle throughout.

There were many things the game was, and there were many things it wasn't.

What it wasn't....

1)THE BIGGEST UPSET IN FOOTBALL HISTORY: I saw a poll on Yahoo this morning, and it asked which of four Super Bowls was the biggest upset. Incredibly, 69% of respondents chose this game...showing that gospel music is not the only genre that can be woefully ignorant of its' history. Were any of those who chose this game over 30 years of age?

Well, I am...and I remember every Super Bowl ever played. And by far, the third Super Bowl was the biggest football upset of the series, and arguably of all time. That year, the New York Jets were 18-point underdogs to the Baltimore Colts, who were nearly as dominant in that year(1968)as the Patriots were in this one. And since at that time the merger of the AFL and the NFL had just been announced, it was incumbent on the Jets to prove that they even belonged on the same field with the Colts...since the first two Super Bowls were lopsided NFL wins. Almost NO ONE gave the Jets even a prayer in that game, except for their brilliant and flamboyant quarterback Joe Namath, who "guaranteed" a Jets win a week before the game(there were several experts this year who thought the Giants could beat the Patriots, by comparison).

I remember as a 10-year old football fan staring at the TV with mouth wide open in shock after the Jets' implausible 16-7 win over the Colts. Yesterday, I was surprised but not shocked by the Giants win. An objective analysis of the comparison will prove me to be correct on this, IMHO.

2)THE MOST EXCITING SUPER BOWL EVER: Granted, this game was close, hard-fought,and in doubt until the end. But the intensity of the game didn't always translate into action to me. Again, when it comes down to cliffhanger finishes, Super Bowl V could be chosen over this one, coming down as it did to Jim O'Brien's game winning FG with just :05 left in the Colts' 16-13 win over Dallas.

3)THE MOST WELL PLAYED SUPER BOWL EVER:: Many others featured much crisper play than this game...both teams struggled offensively for long stretches, And as I noted above, Brady seemed to be off the entire day.

What it was...

1)THE MOST POPULAR SUPER BOWL EVER: The ratings are enough to prove that. Plus, with a New York area team involved, there is a lot of passionate interest.

2)A GREAT GAME: Despite what the NFL wants to believe, the most exciting football games tend to occur when the defenses establish themselves, which both teams' did decidedly yesterday. Scoring doesn't always equal great competition. This was a game between two teams filled with valiant competitors...and for that reason, it for once was almost a "super" bowl.

3)FUN TO WATCH: There was something for everybody....from the hardcore football for the ardent fans, to Tom Petty's halftime concert set for those wanting some pop culture, and the inevitable commercials for those who like what some of America's more creative minds can produce when given a large budget to work with.

YouTube videos, cont’d…

Well, another dull Saturday at work...so just as I did last week, I passed my idle time watching some more videos Dean Adkins posted on YouTube.

Actually, not all the videos I watched were posted by Dean...just the good ones.

The best of those that Dean posted that I saw today was one of the Plainsmen Quartet when Rusty Goodman was their bass singer, and they a fun and fancy version of "Dry Bones"..it was quite well done, especially the ending. Yessir, Rusty was quite a good male quartet bass singer.

I suppose it's no secret to those who know me best that it was the bass singers that first attracted me to gospel quartet singing all those years ago. Barbershop basses were OK, but gospel quartet bass singers went way beyond barbershop and R&B groups in terms of style, personality, and what they did with their voices. There was a time when I contemplated doing it myself, but I never pursued it as I might have. And of course, after I became a Christian, my interest was renewed again, but I lived in the wrong part of the country, and the only ones I knew out here might have been a bit threatened by a kid who was so enthusiastic about it, and consequently I never got a lot of encouragement in that direction.

It was while I was watching other bass singer videos today that I noticed something that has always been a sore spot with me, and I thought I'd share that with you as well.

There was a series of videos that featured ultra-low bass singers, and not just gospel ones(and not just singers). One went everywhere from Tim Riley to George Younce to Richard Sterban to JD Sumner to Ivan Rebroff to Tim Storms(the former Guinness record-holder for lowest pitch ever recorded)to Paul David Kennamer of the group Valor.

Now some of those clips, particularly those of Sumner, Sterban, and Rebroff were a joy to listen to, for these are singers who happen to be able to sing very low. Others, such as those with Storms and Kennamer, were not nearly so musical. When it comes to singing, it's not what extremes you can go to so much as it is, is your voice a pleasing musical instrument?

In the case of Kennamer, I fail to see what the excitement about him is based on. Sure, he goes very low, but he's definitely not the lowest singer I've heard, and to me he's partly a creation of his equipment. I just don't hear his singing as that musical as much as it is gratuitous, just making low sounds because he can.

I realize Sumner has been guilty on occasion of doing the same thing, but for me, for gospel singers especially, whether it's a low bass or a freakishly high tenor, or even a lead singer who is intent on demonstrating as many vocal gymnastics he(or she)can in a song is inappropriate for a gospel song. To me, the song is the star attraction, not the singer...and if what the singer does in presenting the song distracts the hearer from the lyrical impact of the song, it's not a good performance...I don't care WHAT the singer does. That's just my humble opinion, but there you have it.

I admit there have been many performances where what a bass singer does with the song does excite me, but that is always more due with how he sings more than simply what notes he happens to hit.

Now anytime the subject of who the lowest singer is comes up, I always hear from the Storms fans about how he can hit notes so low they can't even be heard by human beings.

To which I say...how do you know how low they are if you can't hear them? When told that there is equipment that can measure that, I REALLY pooh-pooh it then! If I have to have that kind of equipment to truly hear how low your voice is, what's the virtue in that? To me, Storms is not even a singer as much as he is a sideshow, and not a very entertaining one at that.

To be fair, during one of thsoe videos, Storms was interviewed, and he appears to be a pleasant, humble person who doesn't let all that hype and hoopla go to his head. But just based on what I saw, Storms is not that musical, and thus he doesn't count when evaluating who the lowest bass SINGERS are.

I have this habit(as do many of you, I'm sure)when listening to or watching music to sing along with it and participate in the joy of the performance as much as I'm able. I confess that when watching those bass videos, I nearly got a sore throat just WATCHING and listening to them.

But it did make me feel good that most of those basses didn't go lower than I can.

And yes, it did make me feel really good to watch more of Dean's vintage gospel videos.

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