How Sweet The Sound: The Audience

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As they say, the crowd went wild. The audience was primarily but not exclusively African-American, and the show was the best of their religious musical heritage. The music was designed to move people and they moved.

I am the volunteer photographer for Pedal The Cure, a fundraiser for cancer research and treatment at Washington University Medical Center. The kickoff was last night and the main event, a long bicycle ride, is this morning. Pix tomorrow.

Heart And Soul

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Two more images from How Sweet The Sound. The singers in the top picture are from the New Sunny Mount Missionary Baptist Church in St. Louis. Their act (and it was a theatrical act, among other things) was based on beautiful voices, pulsing religious music, precision timing and dramatic hand and arm gestures. Silver-white gloves got the attention of the audience as the movement enhanced the message of the hymn. You can see another picture of this here.

The choir in the bottom picture is from St. Alphonsus Liguori Rock Catholic Church, also in The Lou. The judges, who I think are from Baptist backgrounds, expressed pleased surprise that a Catholic choir could rock out in praise so very well.

New Sunny Mount won the people's choice award, in which the audience got to send a text message naming their favorite. It also won the judges' grand prize, getting a lot of money for the church and a trip to Washington, DC, for the finals.

How Sweet The Sound

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It was finally time. Tuesday night I made my first venture through the media entrance of anything (our hockey arena in this case), was given a big pass to stick on my jacket and escorted to a meet and greet room. People were milling around with badges that said Event Staff, All Access, Talent or, like mine, Media. A house TV crew was ready to roll. The two main hosts of the show, Donald Lawrence and CeCe Winans, swept in for interviews and photos. I had no idea who they were. Somebody told me they were top gospel music stars.

A woman from the event's PR company reviewed what we could do. I had the run of the floor of the arena, including in front of the stage, as long as I didn't block the audience's view for more that a moment. Now, I don't look for gospel music when I turn on the radio. I'd never heard of the star hosts or judges. But the music was infectious, brilliant and bursting with feeling. Every choir was fabulous in its own way. I felt very privileged to be there, to hear and photograph it. It was exhausting too, on my feet and often crouching or kneeling for nearly four hours.

The singer in the top picture was one of the judges, Marvin Sapp. He was an electric performer who brought the audience to its feet, swaying, shouting and waving their arms. The bottom picture is one person's reaction to Winans' singing. I took about 1,300 snaps (I'm really good at taking poorly exposed and focused pictures). It's down to just over 400 in the first cut. The first to be edited are in a set on Flickr here. More on STL DPB in days to come.

Home Grown Hip Hop

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After shooting at Tomatofest last weekend, I went downtown to see what looked good in the late afternoon sun. Walking by Kiener Plaza, I found that a local radio station was putting on a show with young local hip hop artists. They were just kids but they were full of energy and could really sing and dance. Now, I don't know hip hop from a block of wood (except that Nelly is from St. Louis), although I can sing a fair amount of Italian opera from memory (Che gelida manina! se la lasci riscaldar. Cercar che giova? al buio non si trova.). Nevertheless, I thought these guys were a lot of fun.

Master African Drummers

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The dancers in yesterday's post were backed up by these drummers and their colleagues. The man above was the leader. He said that he studied and worked for many years with with the great dancer, choreographer and anthropologist Katherine Dunham, who lived for many years in East St. Louis, Illinois. He left to study dance, music and culture in tropical West Africa, then returned to East St. Louis and formed his troupe. I did not learn his name. The MC referred to him as Sun or Son. He played with ferocious intensity. That concentration and dedication has been passed on to his student, below.

WHAT GOOD STUFF IS ON FOR TONIGHT: leaving for Seattle this evening.

TOMORROW: not the last dancers but the last of these for now.

Missouri Gospel Announcers Guild

Taken in a desolate block of North Broadway. What do they mean, gospel announcers? I thought that's what preachers do. But the logo has a picture of a phonograph record and a microphone. Was this about gospel radio stations? How is it there are, or were, so many of them here in modest Missouri that they needed to organize? Why would gospel announcers feel the need to organize?

The building looked vacant to me but it turns out they are still very much in business. The letters GMWA puzzled me until My Friend Google told me that it stands for Gospel Music Workshop of America. So amen, brother.

TOMORROW: Crawl Into A Bottle