[Vision2020] Mavis Staples at Rendezvous

[Bruce and Jean Livingston]

Allow me to forward public notice to the list of a great, iconic soul and gospel singer's appearance in Moscow at Rendezvous in the Park in eleven days.  Bruce Livingston

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Mavis Staples, a soul and gospel legend and an ardent defender of civil rights, is appearing at Rendezvous in the Park at East City Park on Saturday night, July 21, 2007.  

Mavis came from a Mississippi family that comprised a well known gospel group, the "Staple Singers."   The Staple Singers participated significantly in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, touring the South with Dr. Martin Luther King and singing at many of the protest marches.  

Mavis' most recent album, "We'll Never Turn Back," was released in April of this year.  It is a powerful civil rights album in its own right, reprising some traditional songs from the 60s civil rights protest marches, (e.g., "Eyes on the Prize"), while containing new songs that address Mavis' concern about the "much to be done" still today.  "We'll Never Turn Back" was produced by Ry Cooder. One of many extremely positive reviews of this album can be found here: http://www.anti.com/artist.php?id=44 .  An interview on national Public Radio's "Morning Edition" can be heard here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10253859

Although Mavis and the Staple Singers moved on to secular R&B music and huge commercial success in the 1970s ("I'll Take You There," "Respect Yourself" and "Do it Again"), she never stopped writing about improving the human condition.  Mavis moved on to a solo career in the 80s and 90s, reprising her gospel roots in an acclaimed tribute to Mahalia Jackson in 1996.  Mavis then exploded onto the blues scene in 2004 with her Alligator records debut and first blues album, "Have a Little Faith," which won three W.C. Handy Awards (the Blues "Grammy").  

Links to web sites discussing her career follow, focusing on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, her biography, and her penultimate album (Have a Little Faith):
  http://www.mavisstaples.com/article.cfm?id=239&type=24  (her acclaimed 2004 blues album)
  http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/the-staple-singers  (Hall of Fame -- Staple Singers)
  http://www.rosebudus.com/staples/TheBestOf.html (history)
  http://www.mavisstaples.com/bio.cfm  (bio)
Tickets for this living legend are $25, though purchase of the Rendezvous "button" for $50 will gain you entry to all four off the Rendezvous concerts.

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