2007-08-01 - 9:58 p.m. Went to see Mavis Staples tonight at Rockefeller Park. Now this is the kind of outdoor concert I love: green grass, sunset over the sparkling Hudson, kids and frisbees and the family o' man sprawled out in a festive and uncrowded manner, in a display of true New York diversity--all ages, colors, shapes, orientations, and degrees of khaki-usage, together as one joyful crowd. It would have been fun no matter what the musical entertainment, but it was Mavis! And Mavis really brought it. She did songs from her latest album (including my second-favorite song of the year, "Eyes on the Prize") as well as old Staple Singers hits, including an extended version of "I'll Take You There" that had the crowd in a tizzy. Every song is about some aspect of faith, self-respect, dignity--all joyful, uplifting, inspired and inspiring. Mavis also told stories from the frontlines of the civil rights movement, name-droppin' MLK and such. I left feeling like I'd been to a great church service. I was also pleased to discover that a bunch o' Staple Singers albums are available on Emusic. A few entries back, I made a weak analogy between my local petshop and a brothel. I think the analogy works a little better with FlexPetz, a service that rents dogs out like commodities and encourages lame-assedness in humans. Could this be a joke? thoughts? (20 comments so far) previous - next blog archive contact