Backbeat in Heaven
The great musician Lionel Hampton died at about 6:15 a.m. EDT Saturday, August 31, 2002, in New York City’s Mount Sinai Medical Center.
Quincy Jones said, “Heaven will definitely be feeling some backbeat now.” (AP story)
Hampton himself said, “I learned all that in the sanctified church.” (N.Y. Times story)
Can we hear an AMEN?
Yes, we heard an amen… Live from Lincoln Center on PBS from about 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. EDT tonight (Sunday, September 1, 2002), in a live broadcast of the final performance of the musical “Contact.”
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Theology was made visible by Colleen Dunn, who appeared as Grace (the girl in the yellow dress). Christ himself was present in the form of a CD of “Do You Wanna Dance?” held aloft by a priest (the after-hours club bartender). |
The evening ended with the redemption by Grace of a sinner (a maker of TV commercials) and with (as Quincy Jones noted) a strong new backbeat in heaven.