Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Catching Up with Mr. Thomas
Four-time San Diego Music Award winner Earl Thomas started singing in a Pentecostal church while growing up in Pikeville, Tennessee.
"They spoke in tongues and rolled on the floor," says Thomas. "We didn't handle snakes, but we did everything else.... I used to love going to church. I loved everything about it -- the music, the fellowship, hanging out with my relatives and friends, the food after church."
Yet, Thomas balked last year when his friend asked him to sing at a Lutheran church in Minnesota.
"I refused to go into a building where people are going to call me names," says Thomas (who is gay). "Their opinion of what God wanted didn't work for me.... I grew up knowing that I was equal to everyone except when I went to church."
Thomas eventually agreed to sing at the Lutheran church.
"It was a paying gig. When I got there and actually sang, I got this tremendous feeling of joy; everything that Christians are always telling you you can get, like joy and peace -- I got it. I really got it. People started crying and so did I."
The experience moved Thomas to record Plantation Gospel, a 17-song collection of 300-year-old spirituals.
"We only used instruments that would have been found on the plantation, like violin, banjo, piano, acoustic guitar, and human voices....
"The only sadness I have is that my mom and grandma never got to hear me sing this music. My grandmother wanted me to be a gospel singer. I hadn't sung in church since 1985, at my grandma's funeral. This music has brought me peace. I made peace with my whole life. It's not about religion; it's about peace."
Earl Thomas, who divides his time between San Diego and Northern California, appears at his CD-release concert at the Stephen and Mary Birch North Park Theatre on Saturday. He'll perform blues and gospel songs.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Catching Up with Mr. Thomas
Catching Up with Mr. Thomas
Four-time San Diego Music Award winner Earl Thomas started singing in a Pentecostal church while growing up in Pikeville, Tennessee.
"They spoke in tongues and rolled on the floor," says Thomas. "We didn't handle snakes, but we did everything else.... I used to love going to church. I loved everything about it -- the music, the fellowship, hanging out with my relatives and friends, the food after church."
Yet, Thomas balked last year when his friend asked him to sing at a Lutheran church in Minnesota.
"I refused to go into a building where people are going to call me names," says Thomas (who is gay). "Their opinion of what God wanted didn't work for me.... I grew up knowing that I was equal to everyone except when I went to church."
Thomas eventually agreed to sing at the Lutheran church.
"It was a paying gig. When I got there and actually sang, I got this tremendous feeling of joy; everything that Christians are always telling you you can get, like joy and peace -- I got it. I really got it. People started crying and so did I."
The experience moved Thomas to record Plantation Gospel, a 17-song collection of 300-year-old spirituals.
"We only used instruments that would have been found on the plantation, like violin, banjo, piano, acoustic guitar, and human voices....
"The only sadness I have is that my mom and grandma never got to hear me sing this music. My grandmother wanted me to be a gospel singer. I hadn't sung in church since 1985, at my grandma's funeral. This music has brought me peace. I made peace with my whole life. It's not about religion; it's about peace."
Earl Thomas, who divides his time between San Diego and Northern California, appears at his CD-release concert at the Stephen and Mary Birch North Park Theatre on Saturday. He'll perform blues and gospel songs.
Comments