gospel

25 may, 1996

and this saturday is a local gospel festival
literally on the other side of the tracks from davidson north carolina,
a few tents, some bar bee que, voter registration, gospel tapes for sale
some folks playing vollyball, a lot of sittin' around
nothin's happening, so ben wil and I came out in some folding chairs, shoot the breeze

turns out to be front row for drum corps - stepshow rhythms syncopated in time
there were some cheerleader arrayed dancers - not nearly as fun to watch
as the snare drummers jacked with each other, doin' tricks tossin' their sticks and catch non-chalant all the while keepin' up bad ass rhythm
soon they march off in time,
we leave for dover's supermarket where wilson used to work
buy too much orange juice, with yummy pulp
stop by another church is having a thrift sale,
wil buys a polyester for a dollar
the strains of gospel crooners wafting
we reseat in the back and enjoy
I like the shouters more than the crooners, they got that gut thang goin'
white davidson mayor knox give a speech that no one can hear
something about more unity like this - people from north south, east west, both sides of the tracks hangin' out more often
then a black hostess implores folks to register to vote

reverend parker, already spoken with ben, comes puts his hand on the shoulders of the two other white guys hangin' round
how are we fellows doing today? great, thank you, this is wonderful
glad you're having a good time.
I asked him some about going to atlanta next, where c/should I go to church tomorrow morning? I follow him inside for an address, wilson and ben follow me
cinderblock building, church office
sparse, with an impressive targeted theological library
ben had already coaxed from him 20 years in the army, duke seminary schooling
they called him killer in viet nam, with an m60
he didn't look nearly as old as he had to be, young tight energy
thirty or fourty minutes later
sharin' his pre-preachin' stories
boy he was a son of a gun
reminded me of malcom x autobio
all radical religious folk got to consort young with prostitutes, violence?
and he could preach, yeah, he started preachin us
on the deliverane of faith and the righteous power of christ
I had to say a few words about the net
he's gettin' a computer soon, got a girl up at the college goin' help them out
maybe I'd like to come back and help set up a page?
maybe I'll hook him up with jesse
soon he's met with the fbi
disturbing report: southern black churches burn again.

outside, dancin' gospel more some
I'm a-stonished, at this point it ain't professionals but folks urged up from the audience three overweight backup black women and an older fellow didn't need a mike to take that long walk to jesus
oh no lord

took out my computer and camera to download pictures
kids climbing all over me, I let them do stuff, type, play with the mouse
and then we got into taking pictures
first ben's mom snapped one of us
other folks took notice, soon there was a crowd and we turned the camera over to six year old brittany
pictured above behind mister florida marlins
and front row center in ellis's shot
brittany took this shot
then the stocky kid that we'd all noticed - a junior linebacker brick shithouse of a kid showed up and demanded the camera.
pictured above leaning back in front
and above that with his arm around donja and I
ellis took this shot
don't know if I was doing computer education, or helping anyone publish on the net (besides myself) but an older (say 20some) sibling or perhaps parent of one of the kids came over
showed her a picture of the gospel fest
"computers
she said
that's alright"

nc | destin | summer '96 | share

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