Page 18 - BiTS_08_AUGUST_2024

GA: I could fill this entire interview if I share “all about the wedding.”!!! Suffice it to say it was
more than I ever dreamed it could be. So much of my life I've lived in the closet, so it was love
made visible!! Our respective sons gave us away. Small, with just 40 family and friends. Had
there been more people, there would have been a love explosion!!

Since this is a music mag, you'll appreciate the music: The Stylistics ‘You Made Me Feel Brand
New’, entrance song, and Al Green's ‘Let’s Stay Together’ re-entry after vows, first dance to Ed
Sheeran's ‘Thinking Out Loud’. Just MAGIC! Pure JOY! God's GRACE! Can you say “HALLELUJAH?!!”

LL: So, let’s go back to your beginnings and pretend we don’t know very much about you! Please
tell us about the family you grew up in and what life was like for you in Fredericksburg,
Virginia (USA).

GA: I was born, raised and still live in Fredericksburg, Virginia – one hour south of Washington,
DC. It was totally segregated when I grew up. . . totally. I went to the black schools which had
exceptional teachers. Education was cherished. I was an only child. My parents gave me every
opportunity they could
afford.

My Dad moonlighted as a
jazz musician, and he was
always putting on and
directing shows for
fundraisers. My Mom ran
the teen canteen and
always brought the old
records home off the juke
box. Thus, my introduction
to music. Grew up dancing.
. . a lot! Made All State Band
3 years. Sat-in and picketed
the segregated stores in
Fredericksburg.
1960’s Fredricksburg Sit-ins
While I grew up with
perpetual negativity from whites, with perpetually being told that I was a lesser person, my
childhood and teen years were filled with joy and goodness in my black community.

My parents worked hard to send me to Boston to college thinking that I'd have more advantages
in a desegregated environment. The racism there was covert.

LL: What kinds of music were you exposed to in your home and what did you love to listen to?

GA: My Dad loved big band music and organ combos. He listened to Count Basie and
Duke Ellington, Jimmy Smith, Wild Bill Davis, Shirley Scott. Vocally, Ella Fitzgerald. My
Mom's favourite was Harry Belafonte. In the summer we would go to Washington to see Ella
and, separately, Belafonte perform live many times. It was at a Belafonte show that Sonny Terry
and Brownie McGhee opened, and I knew that was MY MUSIC!

But as I said, I loved to dance, so it was James Brown, Chuck Berry, Etta James, Jackie Wilson, Ray
Charles, etc., not to mention the groups – the slop, the dog, the pony, the birdland, the popcorn,
the madison, the shotgun.... you get the idea.

LL: You were in high school during the American civil rights movement. How did that time affect
you and how did you participate?