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Memories
It's a long way from Klondike to Carnegie Hall, but I made it. The year was 1963, six years before we created the Singing News. The Ole Gospel Man, JG Whitfield, who owned the Florida Boys and the Dixie Echoes Quartets at the time, also was one of the major Southern Gospel Music concert promoters of the era. Whit decided to take Southern Gospel Music to Carnegie Hall in New York City. He booked the event for June 7, 1963. We spent months preparing for this great concert. Whit booked The Florida Boys, The Dixie Echoes and Hal Kennedy, The Chuck Wagon Gang, The Harvesters Quartet, The Couriers Quartet and Wally Fowler.
The crowd in front of Carnegie Hall waiting for the door to open
The day finally arrived for us to depart Pensacola and head for the Big Apple. I had never been to New York before and boy, was I excited. I traveled most of the time on the Dixie Echoe's bus with Whit because he would let me drive the bus. Les didn't enjoy me driving the Florida Boys bus that much. The Dixie Echoe's bus was what was called a Scoop Flex-it was kinda old and smaller than the big Silver Sides that many of the groups drove.
The old Scoop Flex
We got to New York in the wee hours, about 2:00 or 3:00 am. I was driving, about half way through the Lincoln tunnel when the muffler fell off. Whit had recently installed a Jimmy V-6 truck engine in the bus and when the muffler fell off the noise was deafening. Every person on the bus woke up. We made our roaring entrance into the big city, dragging our muffler behind us. As luck would have it, the first thing I saw was a NYPD officer standing on the corner with his fingers stuck in both ears. I pulled over, shut off the motor and asked him for directions to the St Moritz Hotel. He gave me directions and told me when I parked that bus don't crank again until the muffler was fixed.
The next morning, Coy Cook (who sang tenor for the Florida Boys), George Forbus (who sang tenor for the Dixie Echos) and I went down for breakfast. Before we could enter the dining room, we were sent back to our rooms to put on a coat and tie. Upon returning to the dinning room we were seated. When I started reading the menu, I knew why we had to put on a coat and tie- this was an up town place. Eggs were $5.40 each, an order of toast $4.00, coffee was $2.50 a cup and the waiter did not know what a grit was. Anyway we had a very expensive breakfast and headed out to see the Big Apple. We did all the usual things- Statue of Liberty, Times Square, etc.
Coy Cook and I outside our hotel room with the Big Apple in the background
The concert was not until the next evening, so we had the night off. We had heard about a place, called The Sweet Chariot, that featured all Gospel Music. So, we got into a taxi in front of the hotel and told the driver to take us to the Sweet Chariot. He knew right where it was and we were there in just a few minutes. Of course, we were expecting something like the Joyful Noise in Atlanta. No, No, No, not in the Big Apple. Upon entering the door we could see a small black choir all decked out in white choir robes and boy were they singing. The had a huge Wurlitzer organ, drums, sax and more on stage. You never heard so much singing from so few people. They seated us and handed us a menu. To our surprise, there was NO food, just drinks. They had given secular drinks Gospel names. There was a Satan's Punch $6.95; Angels Harp $8.95 Demon Delight $6.95, and Eve's Apple with your choice of Gin or Vodka, only $12.00. No wonder this place was jumping. It was full of the spirit-or should I say is was full of spirits. We all ordered coffee, at $6.00 bucks a cup and sat back to listen. We knew each song they sang- it was mostly church hymns punched up so to speak. The singing and the music was great, but the atmosphere and environment just didn't work, so we left after our expensive cups of coffee were gone.
We had all heard of Greenwich Village and wanted to see it. We hailed a taxi and ask if he would take us on a tour of the village. He agreed for a fee and off we went to see the village. None of us were prepared for this experience. Remember, the year was 1963 and alternate lifestyles, real live hippies, etc, were only something we had heard of down in the safe south, but had never seen. I am not sure I had even heard of some of the things we saw. A very tall man with long blond hair stopped our taxi by standing in the middle of the street at an intersection. We had the windows rolled down in the back seat and some of these unique people tried to invite us to get out. Hal Kennedy almost cut somebody's finger off trying to get his window rolled up. I think it was Glen Allred who was sitting in the front seat who yelled at the driver, "get us out of here." We returned to the safety of our hotel, never to return to the village.
Here I am age 23 all dressed up ready to make my Carnegie Hall appearance
The next day was kinda uneventful. We got dressed up for the concert and made our appearance in the legendary Carnegie Hall. I was the first person on stage and said these memorable words. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first Gospel Music Concert to be presented in this great hall. It is my pleasure to present your host for this evening, Mr. JG Whitfield." That was it. That's what I came to do and I did it magnificently. However, the applause did not require an encore.
The next morning, with muffler repaired we drove out of the Big Apple, through the Lincoln tunnel and headed the old Flex south. Once we passed the grit line-that's my name for Mason-Dixon line- we stopped to eat, assured we would find some grits and that strange people would not be a problem. The weirdest guy I saw at the cafe was a cowboy wearing his cowboy hat, boots, walking shorts and bright green knee socks. Come to think of it, compared to what I saw in the village, the cowboy wasn't that weird looking after all.
Posted by Jerry Kirksey at 3:40 PM - Send Comments -   Email This Post
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