#gospel at colonus

[negrolicity]

The Gospel at Colonus

This is the Oedipus story retold in the form of a Black worship service. The themes of suffering, death and redemption are very much akin to Christic beliefs. Enjoy!

#negrolicity #music #gospel at colonus #morgan freeman #bob telson #jevetta steele #theatre #Youtube

[positivebeatdigest]

Gospel at Colonus - Eternal Sleep

#youtube #gospel at colonus #willie rogers #soul stirrers

[finelythreadedsky]

love classical reception. love having perfectly suited soundtrack albums for reading texts in greek.

#marie christine/medea right now #hadestown pairs really well with the homeric hymn to demeter #and o brother where art thou for the odyssey obviously #and the gospel at colonus for oedipus at colonus although it steals a choral ode from antigone #the purcell opera only covers aeneid 4 though #hm you could piece together quite a bit for ovid #mine

[krispyweiss]

Book Review: “Spirit of the Century: Our Own Story” by the Blind Boys of Alabama with Preston Lauterbach

The complete and unvarnished story of the Blind Boys of Alabama is finally told in “Spirit of the Century: Our Own Story.”

The resulting 320 pages contain the fullest accounting of the poorly documented Blind Boys the world is likely to ever get, rectifying a fate befalling many black American artists. “Spirit” fills in all the gaps in membership, the lean years and the Blind Boys’ 1980s renaissance and other facts that even long-time followers would’ve been unlikely to know about before diving in to the book.

Written by the band with “The Chitlin’ Circuit” author Preston Lauterbach, “Spirit of the Century” covers the Blind Boys’ 1939 beginnings as the Happy Land Jubilee Singers at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Deaf and Blind through to the present day. Along the way, the gaping holes in the group’s story are plugged with solid research, plenty of archival and contemporary interviews and strong writing.

The Happy Lands, as Lauterbach refers to the early group, turned professional in 1944, leaving behind one Jimmy Carter, who was too young to hit the road, but would come back in the 1980s after a two-decade stint with the Blind Boys of Mississippi to form a “holy trinity” with co-founders George Scott and Clarence Fountain. Carter ultimately became the group’s third leader, after Velma Traylor and Fountain. He retained that title until his 2023 retirement and the passing of the reins to Rickie McKinnie.

In a move described as akin to Mick Jagger leaving the Rolling Stones to join the Beatles, Fountain decamped the Alabama Blind Boys in 1969 and temporarily hooked up with the hard-drinking Blind Boys of Mississippi. It was here Fountain and Carter first reconnected before the former, who had girlfriends scattered around the country and six children he denied in his will, eventually moved on to a star-crossed solo career that found him touring with horny conjoined twins and participating in a stolen-car ring with a con-man manager before rejoining his original group in the 1970s.

Fountain’s life, Lauterbach writes, was “a maze of complications that make Sophocles seem like Dr. Seuss.”

Carter eventually transferred from the Mississippi to the Alabama Blind Boys and, after the band starred in 1983’s “The Gospel at Colonus,” found mainstream success as the musical “made the Blind Boys of Alabama white-people famous.”

This led to working relationships with Lou Reed, Ben Harper, Peter Gabriel and others. The Blind Boys of Alabama picked up Grammy awards and sung for presidents but never lost their taste for their beloved “Mack Donald’s,” where they stopped on the way to perform for George W. Bush.

“So we go into the White House with a guy named Jimmy Carter and all the rest holding McDonald’s bags,” BBA’s manager is quoted as saying in the book.

Lauterbach told the story just in time. Carter, the last surviving original member of the group, is 92 and retired and while the Blind Boys of Alabama plan to continue on indefinitely, their original era is over. That’s all the more reason to give thanks to Lauterbach for uncovering one of music’s most-important sagas and for “Spirit of the Century,” easily the most-informative music biography of the past decade.

Grade card: “Spirit of the Century: Our Own Story” by the Blind Boys of Alabama with Preston Lauterbach - A

4/29/24

#the blind boys of alabama #spirit of the century: our own story #preston lauterbach #the blind boys of mississippi #mick jagger #the rolling stones #the beatles #ben harper #lou reed #peter gabriel #the gospel at colonus

[mimi-0007]

FATHER & SON: James Earl Jones with his Father Robert Earl Jones on Stage in the 1962 Production "Moon on a Rainbow Shawl."

Robert Earl Jones (February 3, 1910 – September 7, 2006), sometimes credited as Earl Jones, was an American actor and professional boxer. One of the first prominent Black film stars, Jones was a living link with the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s, having worked with Langston Hughes early in his career.

Jones was best known for his leading roles in films such as Lying Lips (1939) and later in his career for supporting roles in films such as The Sting (1973), Trading Places (1983), The Cotton Club (1984), and Witness (1985).

Jones was born in northwestern Mississippi; the specific location is unclear as some sources indicate Senatobia, while others suggest nearby Coldwater. He left school at an early age to work as a sharecropper to help his family. He later became a prizefighter. Under the name "Battling Bill Stovall", he was a sparring partner of Joe Louis.

Jones became interested in theater after he moved to Chicago, as one of the thousands leaving the South in the Great Migration. He moved on to New York by the 1930s. He worked with young people in the Works Progress Administration, the largest New Deal agency, through which he met Langston Hughes, a young poet and playwright. Hughes cast him in his 1938 play, Don't You Want to Be Free?.

Jones also entered the film business, appearing in more than twenty films. His film career started with the leading role of a detective in the 1939 race film Lying Lips, written and directed by Oscar Micheaux, and Jones made his next screen appearance in Micheaux's The Notorious Elinor Lee (1940). Jones acted mostly in crime movies and dramas after that, with such highlights as Wild River (1960) and One Potato, Two Potato (1964). In the Oscar-winning 1973 film The Sting, he played Luther Coleman, an aging grifter whose con is requited with murder leading to the eponymous "sting". In the later 20th century, Jones appeared in several other noted films: Trading Places (1983) and Witness (1985).

Toward the end of his life, Jones was noted for his stage portrayal of Creon in The Gospel at Colonus (1988), a black musical version of the Oedipus legend. He also appeared in episodes of the long-running TV shows Lou Grant and Kojak. One of his last stage roles was in a 1991 Broadway production of Mule Bone by Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, another important writer of the Harlem Renaissance. His last film was Rain Without Thunder (1993).

Although blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s due to involvement with leftist groups, Jones was ultimately honored with a lifetime achievement award by the U.S. National Black Theatre Festival.

Jones was married three times. As a young man, he married Ruth Connolly (died 1986) in 1929; they had a son, James Earl Jones. Jones and Connolly separated before James was born in 1931, and the couple divorced in 1933. Jones did not come to know his son until the mid-1950s. He adopted a second son, Matthew Earl Jones. Jones died on September 7, 2006, in Englewood, New Jersey, from natural causes at age 96.

THEATRE

1945 The Hasty Heart (Blossom) Hudson Theatre, Broadway

1945 Strange Fruit (Henry) McIntosh NY theater production

1948 Volpone (Commendatori) City Center

1948 Set My People Free (Ned Bennett) Hudson Theatre, Broadway

1949 Caesar and Cleopatra (Nubian Slave) National Theatre, Broadway

1952 Fancy Meeting You Again (Second Nubian) Royale Theatre, Broadway

1956 Mister Johnson (Moma) Martin Beck Theater, Broadway

1962 Infidel Caesar (Soldier) Music Box Theater, Broadway

1962 The Moon Besieged (Shields Green) Lyceum Theatre, Broadway

1962 Moon on a Rainbow Shawl (Charlie Adams) East 11th Street Theatre, New York

1968 More Stately Mansions (Cato) Broadhurst Theatre, Broadway

1975 All God's Chillun Got Wings (Street Person) Circle in the Square Theatre, Broadway

1975 Death of a Salesman (Charley)

1977 Unexpected Guests (Man) Little Theatre, Broadway

1988 The Gospel at Colonus (Creon) Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, Broadway

1991 Mule Bone (Willie Lewis) Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway

FILMS

1939 Lying Lips (Detective Wenzer )

1940 The Notorious Elinor Lee (Benny Blue)

1959 Odds Against Tomorrow (Club Employee uncredited)

1960 Wild River (Sam Johnson uncredited)

1960 The Secret of the Purple Reef (Tobias)

1964 Terror in the City (Farmer)

1964 One Potato, Two Potato (William Richards)

1968 Hang 'Em High

1971 Mississippi Summer (Performer)

1973 The Sting (Luther Coleman)

1974 Cockfighter (Buford)

1977 Proof of the Man (Wilshire Hayward )

1982 Cold River (The Trapper)

1983 Trading Places (Attendant)

1983 Sleepaway Camp (Ben)

1984 The Cotton Club (Stage Door Joe)

1984 Billions for Boris (Grandaddy)

1985 Witness (Custodian)

1988 Starlight: A Musical Movie (Joe)

1990 Maniac Cop 2 (Harry)

1993 Rain Without Thunder (Old Lawyer)

TELEVISION

1964 The Defenders (Joe Dean) Episode: The Brother Killers

1976 Kojak (Judge) Episode: Where to Go if you Have Nowhere to Go?

1977 The Displaced Person (Astor) Television movie

1978 Lou Grant (Earl Humphrey) Episode: Renewal

1979 Jennifer's Journey (Reuven )Television movie

1980 Oye Ollie (Performer) Television series

1981 The Sophisticated Gents (Big Ralph Joplin) 3 episodes

1982 One Life to Live

1985 Great Performances (Creon) Episode: The Gospel at Colonus

1990 True Blue (Performer) Episode: Blue Monday

#james earl jones #black tumblr #black literature #black community #black excellence #blackexcellence365 #actor #robert earl jones #stage actor

[twwpress]

Weekly Press Briefing #64: September 10th - September 16th

Welcome back to the Weekly Press Briefing, where we bring you highlights from The West Wing fandom each week, including new fics, ongoing challenges, and more! This briefing covers all things posted from September 10 - September 16, 2023! Did we miss something? Let us know; you can find our contact info at the bottom of this briefing! 

Challenges/Prompts:

The following is a roundup of open challenges/prompts. Do you have a challenge or event you’d like us to promote? Be sure to get in touch with us! Contact info is at the bottom of this briefing.

@callixton is hosting The West Wing Pride Week (@twwpride here on tumblr) September 17 - 23. More details here! 

Photos/Videos:

Here’s what was posted from September 10 - September 16:

Amy Landecker posted photos of herself and Bradley Whitford with their friend Arian Moayed at the Creative Coalition luncheon, where Brad presented Arian with a humanitarian award. 

Bradley Whitford posted photos of himself with the directors and cast of The Gospel At Colonus, put on at the Getty Villa by the company of Chicago’s Court Theater. 

Dule Hill posted reflections on the news that his show The Wonder Years has been cancelled. 

Marlee Matlin posted a photo of herself and her friend Alexis Kashar sporting LOVE SIGN ASL shirts for their rival football teams. 

Marlee Matlin posted photos of herself with her son Brandon, along with a sweet birthday wish, for his 23rd birthday. 

Marlee Matlin posted in honor of National Sober Day, saying she is grateful for her 36 years of sobriety. 

Mary McCormack posted photos of her family saying goodbye to her daughter Rose as she goes off to college for the year. 

Mary McCormack posted a photo of her youngest daughter with a wish for her 12th birthday.

Melissa Fitzgerald reposted a photo from her friend Jon Lovitz taken when he was helping her run lines for her upcoming performance of Love Letters at the Kennedy Center with Martin Sheen.  

Peter James Smith posted a cute childhood photo of himself with some of his siblings. 

Rob Lowe posted a photo of his dog Daisy. 

Bird York posted a photo of herself with Dave Hodge. 

Donna Moss Daily: September 10 | September 11 | September 12 | September 13 | September 14 | September 15 | September 16 

Daily Josh Lyman: September 10 | September 11 | September 12 | September 13 | September 14 | September 15 | September 16 

No Context BWhit:  September 10 | September 11 | September 12 | September 13 | September 14 | September 15 |  September 15 (2) | September 16 

@twwarchive:  September 10 | September 11 | September 12 | September 13 | September 14 | September 15 | September 16 

@bestofcjtoby:  September 10 | September 11 | September 12 | September 13 | September 14 | September 15 | September 16 

Editors’ Choice: 

This week, we’re sharing some of our favorite stories that take us on an emotional roller coaster. Enjoy our recs for fics tagged “angst with a happy ending”! Be sure to share your favorites, too.

no one won the war by mmousik | Rated T | Leo McGarry & Toby Ziegler (No Pairings Listed) | Complete | “What happened?” “The war happened, Toby,” Leo said it like it were obvious, but Toby heard the blank, conceded tone as clear as day. “And serving my country was something every man did. It wasn't noble nor heroic to read from pages when there were people getting shot and crawling through dead bodies. I wanted to protect my county, not read about it. There was a time for reading and studying and writing, and it had long passed by the time I had enlisted myself.” Toby and Leo have an emotionally charged conversation about war.

i’ve got a blank space baby (and i’ll write your name) by sam_writes_fics for JessBakesCakes | Rated M | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete | No one knows how or why the marks started appearing – some say it’s a physiological phenomenon brought on by evolution, others say it’s divine intervention – but the world changed seemingly overnight into a place where the stars align for those brave enough to ask for it. // soulmate au

let my love fix you up (when you're coming undone) by JessBakesCakes for hufflepuffhermione | Rated T |  Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete | The Gaza Arc reimagined: what if Sam flew to Germany to make sure his friends didn't miss their third chance?

hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have- but I have it by IreneSpring | Rated T | C. J. Cregg/Kate Harper, Danny Concannon/C.J. Cregg | Complete | C.J. ends her relationship with Danny and begins a new life in California.

but i could only look down by smallandblueandloud | Rated G | C. J. Cregg/Toby Ziegler, C. J. Cregg/Andrea Wyatt/Toby Ziegler | Complete | “CJ,” he says, bracing himself for the big guns. “CJ, tell me you don’t love us and I’ll drop it. Tell me you left because you didn’t love us anymore, and I will walk out of this room and we can never speak of this again.” “Toby-” (or, it's been years since cj walked out on toby and andy, and he's ready to ask her to come back. things don't go to plan.)

Everything Else by piperset | Rated G | Danny Concannon/C.J. Cregg | Complete | The aftermath of "Institutional Memory."

It looks like we're stuck with tumblr's new post word limits for the foreseeable future, but stay tuned for our reblog with this week's fics and chapter updates!

#the west wing #tww #tww fandom #josh lyman #donna moss #tww fic #west wing #cj cregg #sam seaborn #toby ziegler #weekly press briefing

[lboogie1906]

Robert Earl Jones (February 3, 1910 – September 7, 2006), sometimes credited as Earl Jones, was an actor and professional boxer. One of the first prominent African American film stars, he was a living link with the Harlem Renaissance.

He was known for his leading roles in films such as Lying Lips and for supporting roles in The Sting, Trading Places, The Cotton Club, and Witness. He was the father of actor James Earl Jones.

He was born in northwestern Mississippi. He left school at an early age to work as a sharecropper to help his family. He became a prizefighter. Under the name “Battling Bill Stovall”, he was a sparring partner of Joe Louis.

He became interested in the theater after he moved to Chicago. He moved to New York by the 1930s. He worked with young people in the Works Progress Administration, the largest New Deal agency, through which he met Langston Hughes. Hughes cast him in his 1938 play, Don’t You Want to Be Free?

He entered the film business, appearing in more than twenty films. His film career started with the leading role of a detective in Lying Lips, and he made his next screen appearance in The Notorious Elinor Lee. He acted mostly in crime movies and dramas after that, with such highlights as Wild River and One Potato, Two Potato.

He was noted for his stage portrayal of Creon in The Gospel at Colonus, a Black musical version of the Oedipus legend. He appeared in episodes of Lou Grant and Kojak. One of his last stage roles was in a Broadway production of Mule Bone. His last film was Rain Without Thunder.

Although blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee, he was honored with a lifetime achievement award by the US National Black Theatre Festival. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[drdavidhuxley]

I’m watching the Hercules reunion and John Musker said they suggested doing gospel music to Alan Menken because Howard Ashman told him and Ron Clements to see The Gospel at Colonus years before.

#his influence

[nigmos]

Why don't you give me shelter All I need is a resting place!!

#Spotify

[singeratlarge]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to pedal steel guitarist Joe Alterio, composer John Antes, Dave Appell, Roscoe Arbuckle, J.S. Bach’s BRANDENBURG CONCERTOS (1721), Joseph Barbera, the 1980 Beatles RARITIES LP, Beethoven’s MISSA SOLEMNIS (1824), Laura Flynn Boyle, Sharon Corr, Don Covay, Fanny Crosby “Queen of Gospel Songwriters,” Klaus Dinger (Kraftwerk), Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gorgeous George, the 1988 musical GOSPEL AT COLONUS, civil rights activist Dorothy Height, Connie Hines (Mr. Ed), Patterson Hood (Drive By Truckers), Harry Houdini, Yanks Janis, Carol Kaye, Mike Kellie (Spooky Tooth), Krisdayanti, Kelly LeBrock, Pacemaster Mase (De La Soul), Steve McQueen (got that song waiting for you), Malcolm Muggeridge, Nivea, Lee Oskar, Paradox Thought, Joseph Priestley, cellist Hank Roberts, Klavdiya Shulzhenko, Billy Stewart, Dorothy Stratton, Sylvester the Cat, Dougie Thompson (Supertramp), Fred Vail, Boogie Bill Webb, Tommy Wilson, and the great singer-songwriter, producer, and entertainer Nick Lowe. If you collected all the recordings he’s produced, played on, and/or wrote songs for (plus the cover versions), you’d have an amazing, well-rounded record library par excellente. He’s intersected with Johnny Cash, Elvis Costello, Dave Edmunds, and a galaxy of other notables. Seeing him with Rockpile (twice) left an indelible impression on me in terms of stage presence and entertainment value. When his PURE POP FOR NOW PEOPLE LP came out, it became required listening in my social circle. I read that Nick never does live performances of his song “I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass” (allegedly a comeback to a Blondie song). So here’s my take of it, live at the Cellblock (opening for The Badlees). Meanwhile, HB Nick!

#nicklowe #breakingglass #johnnyjblair #singeratlarge #thebadlees #cellblock #williamsportPA #concert #soloacoustic #blondie #elviscostello #johnnycash #daveedmunds #rockpile

#Nick Lowe #breaking glass #Johnny J Blair #singer songwriter #singer at large #The Badlees #Cell Block #Williamsport #Pennsylvania #Blondie #Elvis Costello #Johnny Cash #Dave Edmunds #Rockpile #Bandcamp

[tamaharu]

my theater class suuuucks lmfao last time he talked about citations for half an hour + this time we watched gospel at colonus (adaptation of oedipus at colonus in the style of black gospel preaching; cool!) w bad audio quality/no subtitles (less cool)

#luckily i found a copy of the script on archive.org cuz we gotta do a report on it 😭 lmfao #i made sure to fill in my classmates so hopefully it helps LOL #prof was just like i see a lot of laptops i hope everyone is paying attention -_- ...... dude we cant understand!!!!!! #THANK YOU ARCHIVE.ORG!!!! IM SO LUCKY IT WASNT LOCKED OFF LIKE HALF THE OTHER BOOKS I TRY TO READ FROM THERE!!!!

[playbillz]

“The Gospel at Colonus” (Court Theatre) @ Getty Villa - Los Angeles - 9.16.2023

[positivebeatdigest]

Gospel at Colonus - We Will Never Drive You Away.wmv

#youtube #soul stirrers #blind boys of alabama #clarence fountain #gospel at colonus #pbs

[matildazq]

#Chicago #Chicago Theater #Chicago Theatre #Theater #Theatre #Theater Review #Theatre Review #Talkin' Broadway #Court Theatre #Sophocles #Musical Theater #Musical Theatre

[krispyweiss]

Gospel Musician, Former Blind Boy of Alabama Sam Butler Has Died

- “He was also our dear friend,” the Blind Boys say of their one-time guitarist

Gospel musician Sam Butler, who played guitar with the Blind Boys of Alabama and Clarence Fountain’s solo group, has died, the Blind Boys said in a statement.

“(Butler) was a lifer of gospel and gospel quartets,” the band said. “He was also our dear friend. We want to extend our condolences to his family and all of his fans.”

Butler had been suffering from health issues. His age and date of death were not immediately available. His funeral is scheduled for Jan. 6, 2024.

Butler was exposed to gospel music at age 4 when his father, guitarist Sam Butler Sr., took his son on the road with the Blind Boys of Mississippi. The younger Butler eventually linked up with Fountain and the Blind Boys of Alabama, playing an “instrumental” role in getting that band into the musical “Gospel at Colonus,” which expanded BBA’s popularity after decades of relative obscurity.

In addition to his guitar playing, Butler was “probably the greatest singer I’ve ever had the privilege to sing with and play music,” folk singer Eliza Gilkyson said in a statement.

Butler appears on Keith Richards’ Talk is Cheap LP, has recorded with Donald Fagen and released his solo debut, Raise Your Hands!, in 2015.

“Such a great man,” Revival Music Co. said of Butler.

“He will be sorely missed by all. His smile, his laugh, his sense of humor and his immaculate voice will never be forgotten.”

12/24/23

#sam butler #blind boys of alabama #blind boys of mississippi #keith richards #donald fagen #the rolling stones #steely dan #revival music company #eliza gilkyson

[themotherlove]

Ellis Hall is the declared protege of the legendary Ray Charles and was signed to Charles' Crossover Record label. Hall has written over 4000 songs and counting.