So, all right, good evening.
Good evening, good afternoon.
Y'all sure moving mighty slow today.
We had such a packed house last night.
Where's everybody?
Well, at least I'm glad we got the money.
Thank you.
Y'all give it up for our band before you even hear
the performers.
Come on, you can do better than that now.
We got some gorgeous women for our spit singers.
I want them to just stand up and just turn around
and take a bow.
Give it up for these ladies.
Y'all sure got some dead applause.
Thank you.
All the people from Dallas Independent School District
are you in the, I want all the people from the Dallas
Independent School District employees to please stand.
Come on, give it up for DISD.
You can do better than that now, come on.
And let me tell you why.
If it were not for DISD, trust me, what you are about
to experience and what you are looking on this stage,
we wouldn't have all of this.
Is that right?
That's right.
Y'all kind of quiet right now, but I bet you
one thing,
when they get through hallelujah and gospel,
you're going to feel different.
And don't leave before you put your hand on a minimum
of a dollar up to $One,000.
Because you can't see a show like this,
but you're about to see for $1.
We got a legend in the house, Ms. Irma P. Hall,
put the spot on her.
Come on, give it up for Ms. Irma P. Hall.
Get on your feet and give it up for Irma P. Hall.
Now I tell you, if that was Bette Davis,
everybody would have been on their feet.
Now I'm going to try it one more time.
Legends are important, is that right?
When you see how people, Michael Jackson,
everybody cried all over the world,
so let me try it again.
Give it up for Irma P. Hall.
That's better.
Ms. Irma P. Hall is working hard, and she told
me last night,
you know, she just, she told me last night
she just finished a major examination for
breast cancer.
And so, hey, and she's still kicking.
Praise God.
Okay, no video cameras.
And if you, if we see you shooting with your
cell phone,
I'm going to have that red jacket usher
to come right down there and lean over there
and say, put your phone up.
And don't put it on MySpace or Facebook, Twitter.
Was it Twitter?
Twitter, okay, you say, you know, I don't do
it, right?
Twitter, YouTube, all that, don't put, none of that.
Also, we have some really special guests in the house.
There are two people, Ms. Vivian Bradshaw
and Ms. Veronica Mosley, stand up.
They coordinated a special convention.
And we remain standing, remain standing.
Keep the spot on these two ladies.
And there's a national convention.
The Washington Lincoln Alumni Association
is in the house tonight.
From California, Chicago, Houston, D.C., Miami,
all the Washington Lincoln alumni people, stand up.
I am so glad that you all chose to be with us
this afternoon.
Any city official, TBAAL board members?
Okay, well, since there are no city officials,
we can really talk about them today.
So, y'all get on the telephone because, you know,
they were talking about putting the arts under
the library.
You know, okay, and I said, I thought about it
last night.
I said, well, you can put it in the library
as long as you don't cut our funding.
Now, so I'll talk about that a little later on.
Let me see my notes here.
I think I got everything.
Let me just say one thing.
I want to read this little quote to you from
Michael Jackson.
We can't say that the arts are not important in
this world.
I pulled this out of a book.
Michael Jackson wrote, before you judge me,
try hard to love me, look within your heart,
then ask, have you seen my childhood?
So we need to be careful how we judge people.
The reality my great-grandmother used to always say,
all you got to do is go in the closet, your own closet,
and you'll be amazed how much dirty laundry
will fall out.
Amen, lights, walls, and windows.
Now, before we get about, I have to do this.
All of our young people in the Orchestra,
y'all heard them earlier.
I want y'all to stand up.
They're so short.
Stand up and hold up your instruments.
Get on your feet and give it up for our orchestra.
Come on, get up on your feet.
Come on, let's hear it.
You're going to see them play.
Y'all ready to have a good time?
Everybody say after me, hallelujah.
It's just the gospel. Hallelujah.
It's just the gospel.
All right, let's hear it, baby.
It's just the gospel.
Glory, glory, hallelujah, when I lay my burden down.
I'm going to be my dear old love.
I'm going to be my dear old mother when I lay
my burden down.
Friends don't treat me like they used to when I
lay my burdens down.
I'm going home to meet with Jesus when I lay my
burdens down.
Glory, glory, hallelujah, when I lay my burden down.
Now you just sitting here singing about some
burdens and you haven't even lived long enough
to know what a burden is.
But I just used to hear my grandma and grandpa
sing that song for years when I used to go
to church with them.
They say that their great grandparents used to
sing that song on the Mississippi catafield
and on the West Texas farm.
Now I don't remember none of that because I
wasn't even born.
But see I do remember my grandparents saying
songs like that used to comfort them.
Now they say that song lifted their spirit and
that they believed that one day their
burdens would no longer be a human curse.
A curse?
Yes, a curse.
See they believed that if they did what was
right it was going to be a better place for them.
Do you believe that? Yes.
You don't?
I don't know.
I said I'm not even old enough to know what a
burden is.
Well you old enough to know that we have a
black president now.
Grandma and grandpa always said that one day,
one day we would have a colored president
and that they may not be living to see it. Colored?
What color?
They said colored then but they meant black or
African American which is what folks call
us now.
Oh I see.
Well maybe we should do more songs like that.
Maybe it will solve some economic problems.
Maybe we won't have to worry about our education.
Maybe our lives will be made better like
grandma used to say, huh? Yes.
I remember grandma and grandpa would tell us
what was right and what was wrong.
They'd come up with their singing songs.
Grandpa had the songs and grandma had the songs.
Whenever she'd come up with a song she'd throw
her hands up in the air and say hallelujah
it's just the God.
That's what my grandparents used to say too.
I guess it was just one of the most things that
are passed down through generations.
I love my grandma and grandpa.
They were so wise and full of wisdom.
I used to ask them how they know so much and
grandpa with the same would always answer
just learn to listen and watch because if you
talk too much you can't hear what you're
listening to and if you can't hear what you're
listening to you can't learn and if you can't
learn you ain't going nowhere then we both say
hallelujah it's just the God.
You know I have an idea.
Let's go out and go all over this place
inviting people to sing and celebrate with us.
You know this would be a good way to remember
our grandparents since they were so wise.
Hallelujah it's just the gospel. Yes.
What is that?
It's the dictionary.
What are you going to do with the dictionary?
I'm going to look up the words hallelujah and gospel.
I mean we can't go around inviting people to
sing and celebrate if we didn't know what
they meant.
Now I think we should first start by looking up
the words hallelujah and gospel it'll give
us a better idea as to what they meant.
Well what does it say?
It says Hallelujah means a celebration of
praise and joy.
And what does gospel mean?
Hold on hold on I'm still looking.
Gospel means the Good news. Yes.
Oh I see well maybe we should do more songs.
Oh I see.
I like your idea.
I think we need to honor you.
Let's go spread the Good news with joy and
praise and if folks ask us what we're doing
we'll just tell them that we're here to go sing
and celebrate and then we'll tell them
what grandma and grandpa used to say.
Hallelujah it's just the gospel.
Let's go. Hello.
Hello everybody.
Come on out everybody.
Come on.
Come on in.
Let's go. Hello.
Come on.
Come on you guys.
Come on in.
We've been to sing and celebrate. Hello.
Let's go.
Y'all we've been to sing and celebrate yeah. Hello.
Come on out.
We have an idea.
Hey y'all come on. Hello.
I want y'all to listen to my idea.
Your idea.
Well our idea.
Y'all and grandpa had these sayings that were
passed on for generations for years when they
would tell us what was right and then what was
wrong and then they look at each other
and say hallelujah it's just the gospel.
So we decided to honor them with some of their
favorite songs and that's why we invited all
you out today to help us sing and celebrate.
Okay well let's get on with it. Sing.
Come on outta here.
Oh my God we have a song for you.
We're gonna sing.
And tell the Good news.
Hallelujah gospel.
We're gonna sing.
And tell the Good news.
It's just a gospel. It's just a gospel.
Hallelujah. It's just a gospel.
Thank you Jesus. It's just a gospel. Hallelujah.
It's just a gospel.
We're gonna sing.
We're gonna sing, we can't tell it the truth.
Hallelujah gospel!
Maybe I've been going through some things
that's really got me down.
I need someone, somebody to help me stop and
turn my life around.
I can't explain it, I can't obtain it. Jesus,
your love is so, it's so amazing.
It gets me high up to the sky. And when I think
about your goodness, it makes me wanna stomp.
Makes me clap my hands, makes me wanna dance
and shake, stomp.
My brother, can't you see, I've got the
victory, stomp.
Maybe I've been going through some things
that's really got me down.
I need someone, somebody to help me come and
turn my life around.
I can't explain it, I can't obtain it. Jesus,
your love is so, it's so amazing.
It gets me high up to the sky. And when I think
about your goodness, it makes me wanna stomp.
Makes me clap my hands, makes me wanna dance
and stomp.
My brother, can't you see, I've got the
victory, stomp.
Oh yeah, we had a victory on November. Oh yeah,
we had a victory on November.
I promise you the stomp, the whole stomp.
Nothing but the stomp.
Life is like a mountain railroad Oh, with an
engineer that is so brave
It was made like a road to success Oh, from the
cradle to the grave
Oh, we've got to watch The curve fill the tunnel
And never, never fail Keep your head up on the throttle
And your eyes up on the rail Oh, blessed Savior
Oh, thou with guide us Till we reach, till we reach
That place for sure
For the angels, for the angels They will join us
And in thy praise Forevermore
Oh, blessed Savior Thou with guide us
Till we reach, till we reach That place for sure
For the angels, for the angels They will wait
for us
And in thy praise Forever, forevermore
Oh, in thy praise Forevermore Forevermore
Now that was my granddaddy's beloved song. I
hear it all the time. Everybody says, boy, he
ain't gonna make it. But one day I asked
granddaddy to sing it out and he did. I mean,
granddaddy could sing. He said that song was
his life's testimony.
Sorry, gotta take my pants off.
You look at me and I'll be gone
I'm going to a place where there'll be nothing
to do Just walk around Heaven all day
When I get to Heaven I'm gonna sing and shout
Nobody will be able to put me out
My mother, she'll be waiting And my father, too
And we'll just walk around Heaven all day
Oh Lord, oh my love Don't you hear, hear me pray
Walk right by my side
Oh, hold my hand When my way gets so cloudy
I need you Lord, I need you for my God
Every day will be Sunday
Sabbath will have no wind
We'll do nothing but sing and pray
When he says, when he says well done And my
race has been won
We'll just walk around Heaven all day
Now that's what I say about the gospel.
Hallelujah is just the gospel.
Oh Lord, oh my love Don't you hear, don't you
hear me pray
Walk right by, right by my side
Oh, hold, hold, hold my hand When my way gets
so cloudy
I need you Lord, I need you for my God
Oh, every day will be Sunday
Oh, Sabbath will have no wind
We'll do nothing but sing and pray
And Lord, when you say well done
And my race has been won We'll just walk
around, walk around Heaven all day
She always sing in the church, but you know, I
never heard her sing in the church, unless it
was at a funeral.
Yeah, what difference does it make?
There was another song I used to hear at
funerals too, but they kind of docked it up the
music. It wasn't so slow and sad.
What was the name of the song?
Well, it went like this.
Lord, give me wings, I want wings Wings of
faith to fly away, to be at rest
Lord, give me wings, I want wings So I can fly
away somewhere, to be at rest, to be at home
Oh, some glad morning, when it's all, life is
over, yeah Yes, I'm children, I'm going to my home
When joy shines every morning, yes I am Oh,
tell you what, I'm going to fly away
Oh, glory, I'm going to fly away, yes I'm going
to fly away
Oh, Jesus, you said I got the dark Hallelujah,
if I
I'm going to fly away, yes I'm going to fly away
Lord, give me wings, I want wings Wings of
faith to fly away, to be at rest
Lord, give me wings, I want wings So I can fly
away somewhere, to be at rest
Hey, hallelujah, to be at rest Are you coming
with me? Hallelujah, thank you Jesus
I'm going home, to be at rest, yes I am
Hallelujah, I'm coming soon
I'm coming home, yes I am Jesus, hallelujah, to
be at rest
Jesus, hallelujah, to be at rest