An Amazing Disgrace ?

Note: The Prime Minister... wholeheartedly agrees that Chicago should have its own Gospel Heritage Museum to recognize the many talented gospel pioneers from Chicago

Republished courtesy of the Chicago Sun-Times
May 28, 2006

BY DAVE HOEKSTRA Staff Reporter
Chicago Sun-Times

The world's first gospel museum, hall of fame and educational center is being planned for Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

That's like having a surfing museum in Chicago.

Chicago is the birthplace of gospel music. Mahalia Jackson came of age in Chicago. The Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey lived his adult life in Chicago after being born in Villa Rica, Ga. As the "Father of Gospel Music," he wrote more than 3,000 blues and gospel songs. Dorsey mentored Jackson, James Cleveland, Albertina Walker and many other gospel greats at the historic Pilgrim Baptist Church, 33rd and Indiana, which was destroyed by fire in January.

There wouldn't be the uplifting Chicago soul of the Staple Singers, Jerry Butler and Curtis Mayfield without Chicago gospel. R. Kelly's music teacher at Kenwood Academy was Lena McLin. Her uncle was the Rev. Dorsey.

At the center of the Fort Lauderdale initiative is gospel superstar Dr. Bobby Jones. The museum will be named the Dr. Bobby Jones Gospel Complex For Education, Heritage and Preservation. Last week, Jones began moving portions of his operation from Nashville to Fort Lauderdale. Jones is host and producer of "Bobby Jones Gospel," which has aired on Black Entertainment Television (BET) since 1980.

"Nowhere in the world do we have a home for gospel music," Jones said in an interview from Nashville. "This will be the first, and it will be quite elaborately built. This will include a (1,100-seat) theater and a production studio. Fort Lauderdale had the desire to build this. I thought it would have been Chicago first, but if Chicago wanted it, it would be there by now."

The 22nd annual Chicago Gospel Festival kicks off on Friday. CeCe Winans headlines Saturday's performances in Grant Park, and Sunday closes with "The Gospel Champions" featuring The Caravans, Doc McKenzie & The Hi-Lites, and Joe Ligon & The Mighty Clouds of Joy.

Pam Morris has been the city's gospel fest coordinator since 1989. "We're not happy about Florida," said Morris, who also hosts a weekly gospel show on WVON-AM (1450). "Albertina Walker was doing it before Bobby Jones. She's from Chicago. I'm shocked. I'm not sure this was offered to Chicago, and Chicago is the mecca of gospel music."

Morris has been meeting with the Rev. Stanley Keeble, who is trying to find a home for a Chicago Gospel Music Heritage Museum. He has artifacts such as the tuxedo worn by the late James Cleveland when he received the first of his five Grammy awards, plus uniforms from Chicago's legendary Thompson Communiy Singers. "This is a crucial situation for gopsel music," the Rev. Keeble said on Monday. "And it is crucial for the city of Chicago."

Meanwhile, Albert Tucker, vice president of multicultural business development at the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau, said ground will be broken for the 60,000-square foot Florida project next year. He hopes a portion of the Jones gospel center will be open in 2008.

"We saw the need for the industry to have a permanent home," Tucker said. "And we are one of the major tourist capitals of the country. From an economic standpoint, we put our money where our mouth was."

Church and state
Earlier this month Florida State Rep. Christopher Smith announced $350,000 had been appropriated for research and development of the gospel complex. The money is in the state's new budget, awaiting approval from Gov. Jeb Bush. Ultimately, the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau hopes to obtain between $5 and 10 million from the state. Tucker chairs the state's program for multicultural tourism.

Chicago's Rev. Keeble said, "My problem has been finding funding. Bobby didn't have any trouble finding funding. And he gets exposure from his television show."

The Rev. Keeble was a frequent performer on the "Jubilee Showcase" television show that ran from 1963 until 1984 on WLS-TV. By July he hopes to launch a Sunday morning "Chicago Gospel Jublilee" show on WCPX-Channel 38. ("Jubilee Showcase" tapes can be viewed at the Chicago Public Library Music Information Center in the Harold Washington Library.)

The key element in gospel coming to Fort Lauderdale is the bi-annual International Gospel Industry Retreat, hosted by Jones. Three years ago Jones, 67, moved his retreats from Las Vegas to Fort Lauderdale. Earlier this month, the 18th biannual retreat was held at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla. The next retreat will be Dec. 4-6 in Fort Lauderdale. Tucker said each retreat results in nearly $1 million for the local economy.

"He brings in just about all the major gospel artists for educational summits as well as television tapings," Tucker said. "Last time he had Yolanda Adams, Kirk Franklin, Shirley Caesar." That three-day retreat drew 1,100 people daily, according to Tucker. "It's really focused on the industry," he said. "The numbers have gone up in the education component where youth participate. At one point it was only for artists and label people."

Geography vs. unity

Lifelong Chicagoan Darius Brooks appears at 5:40 p.m. Saturday in the Jay Pritzker Pavilion as part of this year's Chicago Gospel Festival. His mother, Ethyl, played piano for Cleveland and Mahalia Jackson. Brooks was the songwriter and producer for the late Rev. Milton Brunson and the Thompson Community Singers. Brooks bleeds Chicago gospel, yet he understands Jones' initiative.

"Everybody in the gospel industry knows Bobby Jones," said Brooks, 43. "Any attatchment to Chicago would be awesome for him. The detatchment from Chicago would make eyebrows go up. Because of gospel, I would support him. I believe in unity. But there should be a museum in Chicago, and maybe this will open it up."

In 1989, a Jazz-Blues-Gospel Hall of Fame opened in the Chicago Public Library Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington. The project was led by Charles Suber, former publisher of Down Beat magazine from 1955-62 and 1968-82. Initital inductees were Jackson, Dorsey, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon. The "hall of fame" moved to the Harold Washington Library when it opened in 1991 and is now available as part of the library's archival collection.

The Rev. Keeble's Chicago Gospel Music Heritage Museum idea has its roots in a computerized history kiosk at the DuSable Museum. This week the kiosk will be moved to Grant Park in conjunction with the gopsel festival. The Rev. Keeble has played with Inez Andrews and Jessy Dixon. In 1968, he formed his own gospel choir, the Voices of Triumph.

In the fall of 2002, the Gospel Music Heritage Museum was ready to launch out of a donated building at Michael Reese Hospital. But hospital president Steven Weinstein, who offered the space, was transferred to Washington, D.C., and the musem never opened.

"I'm looking at various sites," the Rev. Keeble said. "I don't know their avalibilty."

'This is going to happen'

The International Gospel Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Detroit was founded in 1995. That effort includes a Web site (www.igmhf.org) with a digitized history of gospel music. A "Wall of Time" tracing gospel music from 1865 and the museum's touch screen exhibits can be seen inside the Dorohn Records studio, a gospel label at 18301 W. McNichols Rd. in Detroit. The group is also seeking funding for a permanent museum.

"There's no real building in Detroit," Jones said. "There's concepts all over the country."

Jones' television show is produced in Washington, D.C., and that will continue. He said he will also continue to use Nashville as the base of rehearsal for his choir. Jones also will book gospel talent for the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. The prestigious Stellar Gospel Music Awards has a hold on the 2,700-seat Au-Rene Theater at the Broward Center for its 2007 awards show.

The Fort Lauderdale gospel hall of fame will have inductions like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame. Tucker said, "I've already talked to individuals from the Gospel Music Workshop of America [founded by James Cleveland], the Praise and Worship Conference. We have word out to Bishop [Kenneth] Moales in Connecticut who worked with Thomas Dorsey.

"This is going to happen," he continued. "There is nothing like this anywhere for gospel. Our convention bureau put in $100,000 for the feasibility study, and we continue to support the efforts of the retreats. We want to make sure that Dr. Jones not only has a location, but a true team around him, supporting him."