This is my one and only beloved mother, Barbara Stewart (1935-2001) playing a Gospel medley of old-time Christian hymns. These recordings came off of cassette tapes that are at least 25-years old. She recorded them at home with a standard tape player, playing on an old upright piano.
It's amazing that the recordings still sound as good as they do. I filtered out some of the background hiss with "MAGIX Movie Edit Pro 16 Plus." It's a nice video and sound editing program.
My mom used to play at Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago, and my father would preach, and I would quote a Scripture as a young boy. I remember seeing the "666 Lounge" right next door to the mission. That was the tavern's actual addresss... 666 S. State Street.
Thankfully the tavern eventually shut down and Pacific Garden Mission continued; a legendary part of Chicago's history, where the famous baseball player Billy Sunday was saved. Sadly, the wicked leaders of the city of Chicago refused to give landmark status to the mission, closing it down after over 100-years of existence.
The city left the homeless to die on the streets, and I saw firsthand that they did. My father performed many funerals of lonely Skidrow men who died on the streets, freezing to death, after being thrown out of the Star Hotel and others like it. Urban renewal came in and tore down the missions, old hotels, et cetera. I watched contractors build the 4 Presidential Towers from the ground up from the frontsteps of Chicago United Mission at 34 S. Desplaines that my dad directed for several years. The north wall of the mission was part of the infamous Legion Hotel where gangster, Al Capone used to hang out in his heyday. Demolition crews had to leave the north wall since it was a part of the mission. The hotel and mission were legendary parts of Chicago history.
In Frank Sinatra's blasphemous song, "Chicago," he sings "the town that Billy Sunday couldn't shut down" (referring to the dancing, boozing and gambling that Billy Sunday preached against). God will not be mocked!
Thank God for the tens-of-thousands of people's lives who were reached for God through the old-time Bible-preaching, heart-touching hymns and the hope that is found only in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
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