Easy Like Sunday Morning

Nothing could have prepared me for the abrupt transition to life on campus this semester. 5 courses, including three 3-hour seminars are helping me understand that I've never really been academically challenged until last week. With hours upon hours of studying a day, random meetings, impersonal Americans, and über-cold weather, it's sometimes difficult to get a piece of mind in the City of Brotherly Love. That's when I have to provide my own escapes...

**Fade to Mount Vernon Hospital Parking lot, circa early 2000's**

Not exactly everyone's idea of a dream vacation getaway, right? Well, speak for yourself. See, although I grew up with both parents and a sister, members of the household went their separate ways on Sunday. While my Mom and sister visited New Rochelle's Holy Family Catholic Church and honored my mother's tradition, Dad and I were regulars at Mount Vernon's Grace Baptist Church, home to Westchester's largest black congregation. (I'm about to bring it home, ya'll. Stay with me.)

As a physician at Mount Vernon hospital (located about 4 blocks from our church sanctuary) my father works 7 days a week and usually makes his rounds after church around noon. Once I was old enough, he'd let me stay in the car by myself and wait from 20 minutes to an hour, depending on the needs of his patients that Sunday. Normally, this would be frustrating and tedious for a self-absorbed teenager bred in the "me" generation of instant gratification. In my case, however, I could always count on Hal Jackson & company to wait in the car with me week after week.

Every Sunday afternoon, "Hal Jackson's Sunday Classics" would keep me company in Dad's Jeep while I perused the latest church bulletin, still clad in suit and tie. The show's theme song, Miles Davis' take on "Someday My Prince Will Come," came to sound like a letter from home, as I was greeting by the familiar tune at the opening of the show each Sunday at noon. Jackson, who plays the essential rhythm & blues, jazz, and soul records from across the decades, became an anonymous friend of sorts, and I'll always look back fondly on those Sunday afternoons.

During my listening sessions, I also had my weekly post-church brunches to look forward to, a rare moment when my Dad and I would get to catch up one-on-one, break bread and reflect on the sermon. Brunch was usually the next stop after the hospital, and this special few-hour stretch most Sundays was often the highlight of my week. Even since I've left home for college, the routine often continues when I come home for break. After hearing a familiar tune on my iPod the other day, I've been revisiting those Sunday afternoons that became such a formative stage of my musical experience and education. Below is a sample playlist* of a few tracks you're likely to hear if you tune into 107.5, WBLS on Sundays from 12-4. Here's to you, Mr. Jackson.




Funny, it doesn't feel that cold anymore.


*You can stream 30 second clips on the playlist above, however if you sign up for a free imeem account (which I highly recommend) you can play them in their entirety once you log in.