Shirley Caesar: Thanksgiving Gospel Caravan, Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles CA

GOSPEL MUSIC, that great conveyer of soul that expresses every emotion as a joyous affirmation, has come to my rescue. Many's the time I've yearned to feel again the power of the great soul shows of the '60s — something of the shiver that Otis Redding's relentless charge sent through me, or of the pandemonium engendered by a James Brown knee-drop — and in many ways, the purity and power of gospel are all that's left for true believers. I've been Gapped, Zapped and Flashed from here to hell and back, and none among them could even shine Soul Brother #1's shoes, much less hold his cape.