Submitted by Tommy Thompson
In December 2008, the Savannah Morning News/Spotted team asked me to photograph The Blind Boys of Alabama concert at Café Loco, on Tybee Island. The concert was great; a packed house was mesmerized by the Blind Boys huge musical talent, their obvious love of entertaining and the room literally rocked with their Southern gospel, soul, blues, music.
The Blind Boys of Alabama are a world famous Southern gospel group of musicians, formed at The Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in 1939. To appreciate The Blind Boys success its important to understand that these Boys are black, blind men, some in their seventies, some with diabetes, that not only make inspiring award winning music, they tour the world, have performed in Broadway plays, Hollywood movies and won Grammy Awards for the past three consecutive years…!
Booking The Blind Boys to play at such an intimate venue, as Café Loco, was a coup pulled off by its owner Joel Solomon after another scheduled BBofA gig had cancelled.
The Blind Boys travel with a sighted manager and other staff to facilitate setting up and leading the musicians to and from the stage. Watching them file in, single file into Café Loco, with their hand on the shoulder of the musician in front of them, was a “mantra” moment for me that I have reflected on many times since that evening.
Now by “mantra” moment I’m not referring to an ancient Vedic chant, but an involuntary voice from somewhere deep inside, which is prompted by seeing someone that, although physically challenged, is living a creative, productive, successful life. My “mantra” sounds like:
“get moving, stay focused, look how lucky you are, how much easier it is for you to get around and live up to your potential, compared to him or her.” In October of 2009 I traveled to New York City for a photography expo and was having a lousy day. My flights had been delayed, it rained all day, taxis were impossible to hail and when I finally got to my hotel, their computer reservation service was down and they couldn’t assign me a room…!
The front desk clerk at the Ace hotel, young, hip and energetic, suggested that I take a seat in the lobby, listen to the music, have a glass of wine and they would come find me when they had a room ready.
So, I’m sitting in this majestic, artfully renovated building, with a three-story high ceiling, supported by massive columns, feeling tired, wet and I thought, justifiably frustrated. Then who should walk into the hotel, but The Blind Boys of Alabama. In they came with smiling faces, filing in, single file, hands on shoulders, just like they had at Café Loco on Tybee Island, about a year earlier.
Once again the BBofA had triggered a “mantra” moment. Sure, I had languished in airport terminals for hours, walked the streets of NYC in the rain and was sitting a hotel lobby instead of a room, but compared with the difficulties a seventy year old blind man would have had negotiating his way around NYC, my day was a walk in the park…!
Immediately, I relaxed, became absorbed into the ambiance and energy of the hotel lobby and melted into the over stuffed leather chair.
When I got back to Tybee, I printed out the photo of The Blind Boys with their arms on each others shoulders, entering the Café Loco concert, framed it and put it on my desk. Now, that occasional “mantra” moment has been replaced by the conscious use of that photo as inspiration to get moving, stay focused and try to make creative, productive use of my mobility and senses everyday…!
Do you have some “mantra”, “token”, “amulet”, “good luck charm”, “quotation”, “artwork”, “special routine”, etc., that helps you get moving, stay focused or reach higher…? Tell me about it, send me an email at: thomasfstop@gmail.com
The latest CD by The Blind Boys of Alabama is “Duets” and includes performances with: Bonnie Raitt, Randy Travis, Susan Tedeschi, and others. If you would like to hear their music, buy some of their CD’s and/or just learn more about The Blind Boys of Alabama, go to their website: http://www.blindboys.com
