It was an afternoon that offered food for body and soul: The inaugural Justice Concert, to benefit Grace! Church in Lyons, with an assist from folks at Rural & Migrant Ministry. While the two have been co-sponsoring their monthly Justice Celebration of food, fellowship, storytelling and performance for some time, this was the first of what Grace! and RMM hope will be quarterly concerts at the Church.
More than 50 people turned out on Feb. 24 to hear talented local musicians and feast on Latin food: Tacos and tamales, courtesy of the cooking cooperative Las Chefs Latinas, which is co-owned by Juana Cruz and sisters Norma and Lulia Castillo.
A trio called MoonFlower, made up of students from Hobart and William Smith Colleges, played a selection of jazz standards, followed by the mighty gospel group Sons of Legends.
Playing under the Church’s apse, the stained-glass windows aglow with the late afternoon sun, MoonFlower deftly performed standards including “Take Five,” “Autumn Leaves,” “Take the A Train” and “Black Orpheus.” Bandleader and guitarist Will Argueta, 21, of Los Angeles — sporting a Hobart Mom sweatshirt — also sang a Spanish ballad, “Sabor a Mí.” Guitarist Felix Beltre, 22, and drummer Ivan Malcolm, both of New York City, round out the trio. Playing together for the past three years, they rehearse every week and play four to five gigs each month, Argueta said.
Sons of Legends, on the other hand, have been an ensemble for nearly 20 years, with a CD and a demo under their belts and playing gigs as far away as Ohio. The gospel group is made up of six gentlemen in their 50s and 60s, all from Syracuse, with the exception of leader Grady Kemp, who is Pastor at Music of Life Ministry in Utica. The vocal ensemble includes Paul Rivers, who also plays electric guitar; brothers Donald and Dwight Coker; keyboardist Shawn Seals (the group’s newest member, at nearly five years); and Puba Powell, who played on the jazz kit of MoonFlower drummer Malcolm. Together, they performed a selection of original gospel tunes, including “Give the Lord the Praise,” “Leaning on the Lord’s Side” and “Son of David,” with Pastor Kemp rousing the crowd.
RMM’s Executive Director, the Rev. Richard Witt, reminded everyone of the purpose of the concert.
“There’s a lot of walls in our world,” Witt said, quoting the words of his friend Betty. “There’s a lot that seeks to divide us. There’s a lot that seeks to pit us against one another.
“[Betty] then went on to say that the movement for justice requires all of us at the table,” he continued, as RMM’s Western New York Regional Coordinator Wilmer Jimenez interpreted in Spanish. “Some of us are Christian. Some of us are Jewish. Some of us are Muslim or Hindu. Some of us are Unitarians and Universalists. We need one another, and at RMM and at Grace! we celebrate those differences as we gather at this table of justice.”
Witt thanked the Worker Justice Center of New York, the New York Immigration Coalition and Wayne Action for Racial Equality, all of whom attended the concert. He then held up the achievements of RMM’s Justice Organization of Youth, whose members led the charge to keep the Sodus School District from banning books; JOY also persuaded Wayne County officials not to declare a state of emergency that was designed to keep out asylum-seekers and refugees.
Beth Ares, RMM’s Western New York Community Liaison and a Grace! Board member for nearly 10 years, said the money raised at the Justice Concert would go toward food and entertainment for the monthly Justice Celebrations that take place in the adjacent Parish Hall. Grace! is also home to RMM’s Liturgia Rural Worker Education Center, which runs a host of programs for rural and migrant farmworking adults and youths.
“Grace! and RMM are like Siamese twins,” Ares said, lacing her fingers together. Like the people each serves, she said, “We exist in partnership, and we make each other stronger because of it.”