One of the best things about my job is that I get to travel around this great country of ours, attending concerts of all shapes and sizes. People often ask me if there are any specific concerts that stand out and while there are some, what I remember most are the various venues. Some are horrendous, but fortunately, more are remembered in a more positive way.

For example, one of the neatest venues that I've seen lately is in the thriving metropolis of Post, Texas. OK, that's a little tongue-in-cheek there, but I can tell you the Ragtown Gospel Theater is perhaps one of the finest venues where you'll hear a gospel concert. This is a "full-blown" theater with outstanding sound and lighting, great seating, Broadway-quality production and more.

Perched high on a Texas hillside, the theater features Christian-based productions, including several concerts by leading Southern Gospel performers each year. Ivan Parker and the Hoppers are scheduled to appear there later this year, and on the occasion of my visit, the Booth Brothers were on the program.

You can read about the entire history of the theatre at www.ragtown.com. You'll also find out about the productions that take place there, upcoming concerts, pictures of the theater's construction and much more. If you ever have the opportunity to visit the theater, I encourage you to do so, as you won't believe what you'll find sitting at the end of that winding dirt road.

Then there's the place I visited this past weekend, the Marion Civic Center (Marion, Illinois). This building is a second generation facility (the original burned down several years ago) and when the plans were made, they pulled out all of the stops. Another first-rate facility, this auditorium rivals (except in size) anything you'll find in the major cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, etc. The Truthseekers host their annual homecoming here the last week of every February, and like most previous years, an empty seat was hard to find this year.

In the past, I've written about the Memorial Auditorium in Spartanburg, S.C., so I won't go into a lot of talk about it. However, as great as the building itself is, it pales when compared to the staff that works there. Those folks there should be the poster children of "How To Successfully Run A Friendly Auditorium."

One thing that the Ragtown Gospel Theater, the Marion Civic Center and the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium all have in common is the fact of not being a "multi-purpose" center - in other words, they were built for concerts, theatrical productions, etc. It's too bad that all Southern Gospel concerts could not be held in venues like these as I personally feel that complaints about sound would dramatically fall (you try running the sound in a gym!) - just to name one advantage.

But since every promoter and city is not blessed with such a place, many promoters find themselves using multi-purpose centers that host everything from concerts to monster truck racing to rodeos to basketball games. Even in this type of venue, there are others that stand out above others. For example, the Georgia Mountains Center in Gainesville, Georgia. I'm convinced that the staff there are magicians as I've seen them strike down a bull-riding event and get the venue in shape for a concert in less than 24 hours time. The staff here is first-class and I always look forward to events held there.

There are many other fine venues of all types out there and someday, we'll talk about some of them. In the meantime, I'd like to hear about some of your favorite places to attend concerts. Just drop me an e-mail.