Walter Hawkins (1949-2010)

When I was a little kid, my aunt Liz used to live with us. And Liz always had a stack of gospel LPs next to the stereo. One of those albums that we used to throw on the Pioneer turntable was called Love Alive III by Walter Hawkins and the Love Center Choir.

We'd jam this rollicking choir album over and over again on Saturdays. Those days as a little kid are probably what gave me the unusual love for gospel music that I still have today. (Not that I like gospel music only out of mere sentiment.) Those were great days and I can still sing along with all those songs on the CD version I bought a few years back.

I was surprised when I heard that Walter Hawkins died last week from pancreatic cancer. I guess he had been fighting it for two years and acted very strong until his last few days. Thanks, Bishop Hawkins, for all the great choir albums. I'm not the same.

Walter Hawkins was brother to Edwin Hawkins who wrote "Oh Happy Day". And was also married to Tramaine Hawkins and had many other talented family members. This got me wondering to myself, "What is the greatest gospel music family of all time?" If you know anything about gospel, check out the new poll.

Oh, and here's a little goin' way back Hawkins:

'80s Flashback #1: Soundwave

Here's the first post of a series I may or may not continue!
I ran across this on the web today. It's the 25th anniversary edition of a toy that I thought was totally cool when I was about six. It's Soundwave the Transformer. This robot/microcassette recorder was a part of the (very, very evill) Decepticon force. He comes with his subservient microcassette robots Ratbat, Buzzsaw, Ravage. And, yes, he also comes with Laserbeak, who we all know is one of the most pivotal characters in the Decepticons ongoing war with the Autobots.

It's funny that by the time my kids know what's going on, I'm sure they'll have no idea what a microcassette recorder is. And they might ask why, 25 years after they were cutting edge, you would want a fake one for 50 dollars.

I'll tell you why. Because it's nostalgic. Because it's awesome. Because it's more than meets the eye.