My cousin Brad and I, arrived at the
Civic Auditorium a little early and the doors were not open yet. We waited outside for a bit, sweltering in the Knoxville humidity and gawked at the Southern Gospel legends as they stepped off of their tour buses. We were privileged to see
Eva Mae LeFevre,
Derrel Stewart,
Andrew Ishee, and
Bill Shaw, as they made their way past us to enter the venue.
Finally the doors opened and folks started pouring in. Several of the performers had product tables set up inside of the foyer that were filled with CD's, Videos, Books, Magazines, and memorabilia. This was an excellent idea, however, the space was way too small for the amount of people that were occupying it. We forged our way through the massive crowd and perused the products, deciding to return at a later time to look more closely.
At about 6:50, we made our way into the Auditorium. After a short tribute film, the concert's promoter, Charlie Waller, began introducing the gospel legends. One by one, the artists graced the stage and performed to the crowd of around 1200 people. Our ears were treated to the wonderful sounds of the Chuck Wagon Gang, Eva Mae LeFevre, the Florida Boys, Naomi and the Segos, the Dixie Echoes, the Trav’lers, Henry Slaughter, Bill Shaw, the Sunshine Boys, Tommy Atwood, Billy Todd, Southern Sound, the Un-Original Masters IV, the Grand Ole Gospel Reunion Quartet, the original Palmetto State Quartet, and my personal favorites, the Melody Boys and the Dove Brothers.
The first half of the concert was MC'd by the shows promoter, Charlie Waller. I realize that it is, "his show," (those are his exact words) but he really should leave the MC duties to someone else, as he comes off a bit cranky, which often left the audience wondering what his problem was. One example; once while he was speaking, someone was trying to turn the ringer down on their cell phone. He quickly yelled out, "Turn those cell phones off! This is MY show, and you are not going to ruin MY show. Security, if you see someone using a cell phone out there, get it and bring it to me." He then must have realized how insane he sounded and quickly tried to turn it in to a joke about his daughter calling him on his cell phone while on stage. The whole rant put a damper on the first half of the show. While I am in agreement that cell phones should be off, this could have been handled in a much more calm manner. A simple request for everyone to turn them off would have done the job nicely. Luckily, the second half was turned over to Roy Pauley, whom did an outstanding job by connecting with the audience and transforming things into a more calm Christian like atmosphere.
During intermission, Brad and I returned back to the front entrance where the product tables were set-up. I went straight to a table where there were several CD's from my all-time favorite quartet,
The Kingsmen. (Read my story about the time I met their bass singer, Ray Reese,
here.) After I bought a double CD of the Kingsmen for $10.00, I quickly made my way over to the
Melody Boys Quartet's table, where I was honored to meet bass singer,
Gerald Williams. I felt like a little kid when I asked if I could take a picture of him. Not only did I get a picture, but a very nice lady working behind the booth, directed me to come back and stand beside Mr. Williams while she took our picture together! You may think this is all silly, but these Southern Gospel singers are my Superstars. Sorta like most folks getting all bent out of shape over Pop Stars or Actors, well, I'm that way over SG singers. Go ahead and laugh, but if you know what's good for you, you will do it behind my back! I also bought one of their new CD's, "Classic Countdown," which is totally awesome, with 10 Convention classics. It was a nice addition to my vast Melody Boys collection.
After intermission, we were late getting back into the auditorium, and we missed the first part of the "Un-Original Masters 5" performance. My mother said that we missed Andrew Ishee doing an excellent impersonation of
James Blackwood. I wish that I had seen that!
Some highlights of the night included a very touching testimony from
Eva Mae LeFevre, who coincidentally was celebrating her 90th birthday. A praise to God for Joel Duncan, bass singer for the
Trav'lers, for his recovery from chemotherapy after being diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. A tender thank you to the fans from
Les Beasley of the
Florida Boys, after explaining the reasons for retiring the group this past year. Wonderful performances by the Dixie Echoes, Melody Boys, and the
Dove Brothers, whom capped off the evening with an A capella performance of "
Were You There," by their bass singer,
David Hester.
After the concert, we walked over to the Marriott, where we had "Breakfast buffet with the Stars." At $20.00 a plate, I really expected to have an actual "buffet." It was limited to 1 plate, and 1 trip per person, and they only allowed 2 pieces of bacon. The rest of the food was just the usual runny powdered eggs, store bought biscuits, fake gravy, and half-cooked potato cubes. Oh, yeah, there was fruit too, if you are into that sort of thing.
The best part was the performances by all of the singers during the meal. The sound wasn't the greatest, especially after being in the Civic Auditorium where the sound was superb. I was hoping to do a little more "elbow rubbing" but the Marriott ball room was overflowing with hundreds of concert goers, so it was a little difficult to move around.
Everything ended around 1:00 am and we headed back home. I am looking forward to tonight's concert, which starts at 6:00 pm. I've got to get off of this computer and get prepared or I'm gonna end up being late. I'll try to post some more tomorrow!
Anonymous said...
Thanks for your review. I felt the exact same way about Waller's MC work- let someone else do it. He does not come off as a very nice guy, although I would guess he is. I also agree on the breakfast. For $20, you would think you could have more food. I think the setup in Knoxville is much better than it was in Greenville. There is a reason there are no more young people there. The entire program is catered toward older folks. I am young and I enjoyed it, but I happen to know there was a spiked haired bass player that was told he could not play on the show with his hair spiked. Like Charlie said, it is HIS show.
8/13/07 8:59 AM Bill said...
I appreciate the review you gave and I felt the same way and I'm an old guy.I live in Dandridge (just outside of Knoxville) and went to the reunion too. It's funny that everytime I go to one of these, there is a bunch of talk about how nobody is attending anymore or everybody is old that attends. Let me fill everyone in on why that is. 1. I did not hear one single advertisment for this thing on any tv or radio station. Back when the Mull's were doing concerts in Knoxville they always advertised heavily and the shows were sold out. 2. Even though it was Charlie's show he needs to realize that we are coming to hear the groups sing, not hear him tell about how great he is or down everybody and make digs at Bill Gaither or the NQC. 3. All of the "old" jokes from the stage gets, well, old and the younger crowds don't want to sit through four hours of that.These days everyone expects for there to just be a bunch of us old timers at these things and I guess that's what is happening.All of that is of course my opinion and you know what they say about opinions...
8/13/07 10:31 AM Gayla said...
Hidee,I enjoyed reading your thoughts about GOGR! This was my 19th year. I only missed the first one because I did not know it was happening. I appreciate your positive comments about Gerald Williams and The Melody Boys Quartet! Gerald is my favorite bass singer and TMBQ is my favorite Quartet! I think Charlie Waller is one of the greatest promoters of our times, and he truly loves these ladies and gentlemen. Thanks again! Gayla
8/13/07 1:40 PM Anonymous said...
The GOGR was wonderful this year as usual. I read your post over on the sogospelnews.com forums too. I agree with everything you said but don't be so hard on Charlie, he only seems gruff, he's really a big old teddy bear.
8/14/07 1:44 PM sogospelfan said...
I used to attend the GOGR pretty regular but I got tired of hearing Waller's negative comments from the stage. Like you said, he should turn the MC duties over to someone else. It's not that I'm ungrateful that he is bringing these groups in for us to hear, but I don't want to listen to him bragging about it the whole time.
8/15/07 9:41 AM Byron Chesney said...
All: Thanks for the comments thus far. I wasn't intending for this to be a Charlie Waller slam post, I was just giving my personal views and the views of the 6 other people that I attended with. I'm sure Mr. Waller is a wonderful person and he is obviously a great promoter. Without him we wouldn't have these terriffic concerts and for that I am thankful. Having said that and after reading your comments, it seems that he may want to seriously consider letting someone else handle the MC duties. Perhaps with that and a little better advertising, the GOGR could be bigger and better than ever. But I'm not a promoter, so what do I know? ;)
8/15/07 10:04 AM Anonymous said...
Enjoyed your post. I had an AWESOME time at Grand Ole this year and thought that Charlie produced one of his best shows yet. Charlie really is "Tha'Man". As far as the cell phone talk is concerned, well....whoever it is shoulda cut the dang thing off. I sat next to someone who wouldn't shut up on their cell phone while I was trying to watch the Kingdom Heirs the other day and therefore I applaud Mr. Waller's comments. For those that don't know, Waller is not only a great producer, but under that gruff exterior that folks seem to think he has, he possesses a heart of gold. ~A.K.
8/15/07 2:19 PM Linda said...
I was really excited to find this blog on the internet. I too am a huge fan of the Grand Ole Gospel Reunion. I love it. I love Charlie. His rough exterior is part of his charm. I've had several experiences with him that show him to be a man of his word, loving and compassionate.There are areas that need to be improved, but what's nice about this event is the warmth, love, and family reunion atmosphere. here
8/18/07 10:13 AM Anonymous said...
I enjoyed reading the review as well. I wasn't able to make it this year, but last year I did a remote broadcast from the lobby of the Marriott, and interviewed several of the legendary performers who were there.Someone posted earlier that they didn't hear any adverisements about the GOGR...we ran quite a few of them leading up to the event. Looking forward to next year...Mike in the Morning
8/23/07 1:00 PM 
Bad news for Knoxville Southern Gospel fans. It was announced this week that the Grand Ole Gospel Reunion is packing up it's bags and heading back to Greenville, SC.
