The Great Western Southern Gospel Fan Festival, Thursday
Well, the latest annual installment of the Great Western Southern Gospel Fan Festival(known originally as the Great Western Quartet Convention)is off and running in my hometown of Fresno, CA....and as usual, I'm here to report on what happened on each evening of it.
Although this year, the feeling is a bit different than it has been in previous years for me, because in the past, the radio station I work for provided me and my fellow Don Smith gospel music show host Earline Starnes complimentary tickets to the box seats the station owns at the Save Mart Center, as well as parking passes for the event.
Not this year, though, which means we are just there as fellow exhibitors, and unless we are prepared to pay the parking fees at the SMC, we have to find other ways to park our cars or the event.
In my case, it meant parking about a mile from the arena, and taking a nice, healthy walk to the facility....which I don't mind at all!
But for the singing, I didn't get to see as much of it as I would have liked to, because I had to spend significant time at our booth and meet and greet the people coming by to say "hi" and check ouit what we had to show them.
I think I'll have my schedule more organized for the last two nights so far as seeing the singing is concerned....last night, I managed to catch the main artists featured...the Hoppers and Legacy Five in the first half, and the Florida Boys and the Booth Brothers in the second.
In fact, the Booth Brothers may STILL be singing "Still Feelin' Fine" for all I know...their energetic rendition of that number closed the night's singing, and had the arena rocking as people were slowly filing out to leave for the evening.
They are one of gospel music's most dynamic and talented groups, and they WERE a highlight of opening night.
As were Legacy Five...they've always gone over well in Fresno, and while the absence of Roger Bennett is DEFINITELY noticed, Tim Parton did a splendid job on piano for the group(especially during a "vintage" quartet segment of their set), and they sang well as always. NOTE: To Daniel Mount(and others wondering if Parton can fill Bennett's shoes at the keyboard)...Tim did quite well, thank you...and I think he will continue to do so with the group.
The Florida Boys again showed that they've not lost much over the years...despite baritone Glen Allred falling ill and not singing last night. Despite longtime crowd favorite Gene McDonald no longer being there(he left the group a few months ago), they showed that they still have what it takes to bless audiences with solid singing and good family Chrisitan entertainment. Derrell Stewart(as always)was a delight, as was longtime manager Les Beasley(who filled in admirably for Allred at baritone)and new bass Butch Owens, who delighted the audience for the most part singing McDonald's old bass lines. The Florida Boys have endured for 60 years now, and based on last night, they showed no signs that they will not continue to do so for several more years.
Of the western groups I happened to catch, the outstanding ones were the Herb Henry Family(as good as ANY group in the country...bar none!)and Hugo Shirley's Chosen Vision, a mixed trio that I have seen in the past opening for Dave, Duane, and Neil...among others. Hugo's group has a very warm stage personality, and Mary and Esther are quite capable singers.
The musical highlight for me was hearing Herb's group dedicate ME a song from the stage! Yes, li'l ol' me!
On one of their recent albums, they sang an old Couriers Quartet song, "I Know He Cares". Last year Herb pointed out to me that they recorded that song with me in mind. I then asked Herb to perform it...but he begged off, saying that they were not ready then to do the song from the stage. I made Herb promise to sing it this year, and he promised he would. And Herb, being a man of his word, told me when his group would do the song...and sure enough, they did it! And of course, as I knew ahead of time, the audience loved it!
Thank you, Herb, for the swell memory. I owe you one!:-)
What was even more gratifying to me than the singing was the fellowship I was able to enjoy with a number of the people I saw anew there. But since you don't care as much about that as you do about what happened musically, and also since I've got to stop typing this and get off to work, I'll share that later!
The crowd was a bit light for the first night...but I expect more people...and much more joy...in the remaining two nights. In the meantime, I can't think of a better place to be in the Fresno area last night than the Save Mart Center, where the name of the Lord was lifted up in song and deed.
More to come...
Posted on Apr 20, 2007 - 09:24 AM | [1]
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Thanks for the reports. Keep up the good work. And, please, REALLY try to have a good time!
God is good - all the time
All the time - God is good