STARK 15:2
And on the second day the lord said unto Ryan, “This day you shall not write The Territory. This day you will write a testification. And Ryan wrote a testification to the people and the land and the animals. And the people said, “Lo this blog is a little bit different”. And the land said let us get down. And the Animals sang The House of the Rising Sun. They were all funky and it was good.

Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to The testification! This day I would like to bring one of my favorite autobiographies I’ve ever read to the terri-Testification. This week I wanna talk about Mahalia Jackson. Mahalia Jackson was one of the greatest gospel singers ever and definitely the most famous. Well I had been listening to her music for years when I wondered what her story was and where that VOICE came from. So I happened across this book Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord! MAJNUTL is Mahalia’s life story written by Jesse Jackson (Yes, THAT Jesse Jackson and no, no relation) and it is the story of a woman who would not compromise to the climate of the times. Mahalia’s story is much like that of The Holland Projects fight to get an all ages venue going in a town who’s economy presupposes an anti youth mentality. Mahalia was devoted to Christianity and loved to sing. She was singing at a time that singing gospel music was becoming passe and for old folks. Mahalia went through a ton of racial, sexist and religious hardships and sang and believed through them all. She would only do all ages shows and wound up having to perform in some really odd places that she would eventually fill to capacity with people singing along. Hers is a story of triumph in the face of crippling adversity and consistanly never selling out what she thought and believed. Hardcore is the most accurate way to define the 120 page journey you take into Mahalia’s life. You can get it for cheap anywhere.

Bring it.