#804 Columbians In NJ; Images/Imagenes

It would. Greg.

Where do you want to take your company. If necessary I want the world to hear what Alex started. He started this group about a year and a half before he died. He just went. Around the city of Newark seeking people that loved to sing whatever form of art they were interested in. He got them together. And he had such great plans for them he wanted to just let the world see what he had discovered. And it has worked because a couple of the people that are in our creative movement are now in the Broadway production of your arm's too short to box with God. So it has sort of been a stepping stone. We have a couple people. One young lady Jean she did. It's so nice to be civilized which was on Broadway. And it's been a proving ground where as people can come and see their craft. And then if they needed what they were giving they could take them on to higher places. So that's what we want to do we want to keep it moving. We're getting new young people in and it's just it's it's good it's really good.

When you include them into that kind of look about when they sing Gospel and they have the type of sincerity that you're looking for. Sometimes. They have it. We have a couple people in our group. That had never sung gospel. But they were so carried away with it. And they wanted to learn more about it so they just sort of good gospel singers. My daughter for instance never wanted to say it seems. All of a sudden she's singing and now she's the only first brand I have in the group. The other two girls are all from college so gospel singing as I said is a growing factor. It's a really cool if you're interested in music and if you like. Good good music. I think it's the best. Saying that way of writers everywhere just we have totally exhausted I mean of that night we had a good time. It was so funny because all that day it was so very warm hot.

And I said oh dear lord. The kids are going to be too tired to before going to get cranky and. They came out they're just regenerated and they were just reading from the word go. Very professional. Yeah I. Was proud of that. I sort of feel that Alex is with them and each form of. The first one we did as a matter of fact after his death. I was a little worried about that. I think they worried about me. It was sort of a double interest there. But. They got caught up in it. And it just went and it was as though we were doing it for him. And it's been all right ever since. Right. Yeah. I just wanted to mention again we talked about. Gospel that anyone can hear gospel to it. Yeah. OK. We were in Europe as I said doing left Nativity and

that was what you call a stop down gospel show. We did the hard gospel in that. We took it to countries like Finland Germany and Italy. These people could not understand what we were saying per se but it was a universal story it was a story of the birth of Christ. As told in gospel song form. One night we were in Berlin. And the show had just gone. It was great. It was really great. So we did our curtain call and everybody I was playing piano at that time everybody went offstage and the organist and I were the last to leave. So we finished and we picked up our things and went on downstairs to the dressing room. You could hear the Germans just dumping their feet just wanting. And we went on everybody got dressed. And this was like maybe a 25 minute period that they were still sitting there and yet stomping. We had to go back onstage in our street. It was just so fantastic and by this time they had all rushed down to the stage and they were just standing there and just

just going. You know. We. Can do that to people because there's something I said as I said it comes from the heart. And it actually reaches people. Yes. OK. You know I can record the negativity of the cutaways right wing Relax I'm just going to do some cutaways which is from my from the back and we can just go interest which is that you know that's a really it's really nice. The last thing you know the last statement about not using it. I mean I'm just amazed at how I keep finding people relating to that music like I have. But I've heard some gospel me isn't it it's not sought after and I get to hear and see people on the Curragh on the television just kind of everyone was

responding to you know that's not a death that's what happens every time we do anything. Studio wise TV or recording. There's one recording that Alex and I did. We're down to Nashville Tennessee and. That was the first time to playing for him that we didn't use the group. It was just the two of us. So this particular Thomas Dorsey number that he did and Mr. Dorsey is in his late 80s or 90s now he's still our foremost gospel songwriter. So Alex was singing and it was just me on the piano. We were going to be on later strings and everything you know we finished a couple who was just crying. The producer said I wouldn't touch that with him. Betts Yeah so the record is out and it's just the piano and Alex thing. That's really where it gets very rare that they won't you know. No. I mean everything's now just mask Yeah yeah that's what I like

about it. You can beat the rhythm with your feet and you can feel that in a song without having to listen and to hear that's one of the messages behind words words.