MIC2 === Jean Greene: [00:00:00] So I want to welcome everyone back to our podcast, Sips from the Sipp. In this episode, we're gonna be visiting with Mr. Frank Riggs. Mr. Riggs has a deep and abiding love for Utica, and he is very grounded in not only the community, but in the the school as well. He is representing today the Voices of Reason, but he's going to give us a little bit of the history of how he became associated with that group and which group he grew out of and how he's related to 'em and all of this. So I'm excited. Welcome, Mr. Riggs. Thank you for joining us to today. Frank McGriggs: Thank you for having me. Ms. Green my group The Voices of Reason which I am the founder of derived in, Iraq during the war time. But before then, I'm gonna give you a little backstory. At the tender age of 13 I [00:01:00] was called by Mrs. Kathleen McGriggs here in Utica. Jean Greene: Is she, are y'all related? Frank McGriggs: She's actually married to my cousin. Okay. So they've been married so long then now she's cousin too, Jean Greene: Yeah. Frank McGriggs: But back then I was a little boy and I just remember her from working at the local Head Start and singing around town. But she had a group the sensational Chosen Voices and they were taking on new talent and new groups to manage and as children, she called me and said, Hey, I got two kids that I practice with and I want you to come and sing with them so you all can form a group. Oh, that's And we are going to help you all out. She knew me from singing. She knew, of course my family 'cause we're merged together. Spoke with my mom about it. She and my mom connected. My mom had worked with her before at the head start and she said, okay Kat want you to be in that group. Junior, I'm gonna, I'm gonna let you go over there and see what they're about. Jean Greene: Uhhuh. Frank McGriggs: so we practiced our first rehearsal was held at St. John Missionary Baptist Church on Morrison [00:02:00] Road here in Utica. It was an older church back then. They've renovated since, and they're larger church now. But we went to St. John. We would hold rehearsals on Thursday nights. Every Thursday night I got there and the young lady she introduced me to was Maisie Jones. And Maisie now works for the Hinds County Sheriff Department, but Maisie Jones. And then to my surprise, one of my classmates was there Carl Eugene Brown. We always called him by his middle name Eugene Jean Greene: Uhhuh. Frank McGriggs: and Eugene was there, and I said you part of the group too? I knew he could sing from school. And she said, yeah, I didn't know she was calling you. And we got there and got to talking and everything. And she and her group started introducing us to different songs and putting us on harmony parts. So together the three of us had the perfect harmony Maisie's song Soprano, or in the Quartet world, we call it top. She sung top. Eugene Sung the Middle, which is Alto, and I was placed on tenor. Which was beneath them. And we started [00:03:00] singing together. The three of us had the perfect harmony. At the time, not bragging, but as children I remember sounding as good as adults did. Jean Greene: Well, That's good. Frank McGriggs: You know, we had, We had the harmony and we sounded like grown people. Of course we sung a lot of a lot of the popular quartet songs at the time. A lot of songs by the Canton Spirituals from Canton Mississippi, a lot of songs by the Williams brothers. And different just different quartet songs songs by the Lomson Sisters who moved to North Carolina. We sung different songs by Mississippi Quartet groups that were already famous. Yeah. And that's how we got our start. I was with the Traveling Voices. We were called the Traveling Voices. She named us after her group, Sensational Chosen Voices. We were her babies, the Traveling Voices. And we were in one of our hit songs that we sung was Take a Trip on that good old gospel ship. we'll go sailing through the air. So we sung that together in Perfect Three Part Harmony. That was one of the songs that we were known for in the area. Jean Greene: Uhhuh, the Frank McGriggs: Uhhuh, the three of Us. We could do [00:04:00] it like Capello or even the rendition with music with her group. We sung with them. With them managing us until we all reached driving age and back then we get our license at 15 to 16, right? Not like the children today. I was 15 and I got my license, and by the time Eugene got his license a lot of people had started calling us by ourselves not to just travel with their group. Okay. And she said, it's time to let y'all fly babies. I'm gonna have to let you all start going by yourselves sometime. 'cause you all are are mature now. You can go out by yourselves. So she still, people would call him and ask for us, but she didn't have to go with us. She would send us to programs. Okay. And we would go and represent with the dignity and respect that she had taught us. We would go she and she always said. Always take care of home in the surrounding areas. If they calling you about a Utica program and they're having a program in Jackson or Edwards or in, in the surrounding areas, you make sure you take care of Utica first, Jean Greene: Oh, Frank McGriggs: take care of home And when it comes to [00:05:00] anniversaries and benefit programs, make sure you go where you're needed. Always take care of benefit program because you never know when it's gonna be your time. so she say always the benefit programs come before these regular anniversary where people are just showboating and just singing. She'll say, always make sure you take care of a benefit program or make sure you examine and know what the program is for. Go where you're needed first. Jean Greene: Can you clarify a little bit of what a benefit program is? Frank McGriggs: So, benefit programs are programs that people put on in the community for people who are maybe sick. Or have fallen on hard times. So maybe someone has a temporary illness that caused them to be off work temporarily and someone in the community will get together and form a committee and say, let's throw them a benefit or a love program. Yeah. Today they call 'em the love programs today. Okay. Back then, they would just say a benefit program. And it was just for the temporary benefit of that person who was in [00:06:00] need. And those programs were near and dear to our heart. That was instilled in us by Ms. Kathleen. And we always went to those first, but as we got older and started going to the programs on our own at the age of 17, I joined the military. Okay. I was in the Army. I was a finance sergeant when I made it to Iraq when I was called to war. I was, I made it to Iraq. I met up with some people from Vicksburg, Mississippi. Everywhere I go, I was always, taught to share your gift everywhere you go. Jean Greene: Mm-hmm. Frank McGriggs: Find your people. And when I say my people, those people who are full of the gospel and the Holy Ghost, right? Find those gospel people. Find the people that sing. Find the people that play and do what you do. Birds of a feather flock together. Okay? Jean Greene: Okay. Frank McGriggs: I knew that my feather was gospel music, so I found my people, and not just gospel, but specifically quartet. Get Jean Greene: Specifically Frank McGriggs: specifically quartet music. So I found those people. And I joined up with this choir over there called the Multinational Voices of Praise. It was made up of [00:07:00] just what the name entails, multinational forces. You had people in the Air Force, army, Navy, Marine contract workers. Anyone who was from the states over in Iraq and back Iraq at that time, we formed a choir. That choir had about 300 plus members. And then there was a band I would sometime accompany and play along with the band when they needed me on the instrument. I would play keys or auxiliary on keyboard or horns on keyboard when they needed me with the multinational instruments of praise. That's what the band was called. And, but aside from there while meeting and practicing with them, everyone had to introduce themselves and tell where they were from and what unit you were from, Jean Greene: Uhhuh. Frank McGriggs: Of course. And I let them know I was from the 230 finance detachment from Jackson, Mississippi. But I'm from Utica, Mississippi. And then I heard three people raise their hands and say, we are from the engineering battalion from Vicksburg, Mississippi. Uh Oh. Oh. And And I'm like, that's right down the road from my house. And the [00:08:00] states who would've thought it, we connected right away and aside from the choir, we started to stay over sometimes and just start playing around with music. And I would play on piano and we would start playing around with music. And from there we, we formed a quartet group. Jean Greene: Okay. There's Frank McGriggs: four of us. We started a quartet group and I named them the Voices of Reason. Jean Greene: Alright. Frank McGriggs: Voice of Reason because we were like, okay, in this cruel world, someone has to be the voice of reason in this cruel world that we live in. And at that time, during war it was a very cruel world. We know we each had different missions with our unit while we was there. Finance, we were trying to get cash off the battlefield. They had their own initiatives as well. But we know that someone has to be the voice of reason when there's times of trouble. And we said, why not us? Why not let us be the voice or together the voices of reason? [00:09:00] And that's where the name derived from. We were the Voices of Reason from Mississippi. Jean Greene: Uhhuh Frank McGriggs: didn't know that when I got back home and got in the civilian world, I was gonna get a calling up on my life even greater. Yeah. I was called into the world of education. I was sitting in church listening to gospel music. And I remember hearing the pastor say, sheep make sheep. And it dawned upon me, education is the only profession from which all other professions derived from Jean Greene: that is the truth. That is so true. Frank McGriggs: And I want to do my part. I want to do my part. I start reviewing my life. And the things that I've done everywhere I go, it seems as though I'm teaching people. In the army, I was teaching finance classes or teaching hygiene classes at TRILL or teaching teaching anything, teaching Sunday school when I was here, teaching Youth Sunday school, helping teach a Bible study. I'm always teaching or tutoring or showing someone how [00:10:00] to do something. Because I'm a bold soldier when it comes to standing up and being accounted for. So I decided to go into education. I got the calling up on my life. I went, started back here at Hinds Community College. Jean Greene: When did you come back to Hinds? Frank McGriggs: Came back in the year 2011. Jean Greene: Okay. Frank McGriggs: Came back to Hinds. And from Hinds? From Hinds. I went to Delta State because they're partnered with Delta State. Jean Greene: Yes, Frank McGriggs: They have the two plus two program. So I met a lady here in Hines who was a part of the two plus two program, and I got with them. And of course, still rooted. The Delta area is still deep in that gospel era. You have the Staple Singles up there. Oh, that's Jean Greene: Oh, that's right. Frank McGriggs: When I graduated, Mavis Staples was given an honorary doctorate at my graduation. And we know that the Staples Singers started as a gospel group before moving on to Blues General. We know a lot of the other different genres derived from gospel music. Jean Greene: I want you to talk about that, but I wanna ask you a question. When you came back to Utica, how [00:11:00] were you involved in music On this campus? Frank McGriggs: On this campus? I did join the Hinds Community College Gospel I joined the Gospel choir. I sung with the Jubilee Singers, the world famous Jubilee Singers for a little while. Until my schedule, said I couldn't, Jean Greene: I Frank McGriggs: being an education major, I had to do observations of different schools and I was sent to do a lot of field study Jean Greene: uhhuh, Frank McGriggs: and once I was sent out to do field study in different places, then I had to let the Jubilees go. But I still remained a member of the award winning gospel choir here under direction of Dr. Bobby Cooper. So I sung with them for a while. And when I came here, I still still wanted to do Quartet, had my quartet roots. I formed a little group with my cousins called the Heavenly Harmonizers. So we sung for a little while, for about four years we sung. And I went on to school with Jackson State. And when I got my teaching degree, I started teaching in the Vicksburg Warren School District. While teaching in Vicksburg, I connected with one of the original members of the [00:12:00] Voices of Reason from Iraq. Who I went to Iraq Jean Greene: Who I went to Iraq with Uhhuh. Frank McGriggs: And he and I linked back up, found two other members, and we started the Voices of Reason back up in Vicksburg. And while there singing in Vicksburg, of course, everywhere in and in Utica and in the surrounding areas I matured. I got older. Yeah. And I decided to come back home and teach at Utica. Elementary, middle school, came home and taught middle school math, and while here, the group just migrated to Utica. , Jean Greene: Wow. Frank McGriggs: One of the members of the Voice of Reason actually started teaching down here in Utica with me. Another another member started teaching in Port Gibson, and we would still rehearse here at my house in Utica. So we became Voices of Reason of Utica. Okay. 'cause when people would send us invitations in the mail, then I would give my address. Then, of course, then they would just start knowing us as the voices of reason from Utica. Because I was the founder and I'm the founding member, my wife sung with us. And so of course she's here in Utica Uhhuh. So now we are known as the of Reason from [00:13:00] Utica. And a lot of people know us by the famous song that we sing. TikTok Time is rolling on. Jean Greene: Oh, yes. Yeah. Frank McGriggs: Maybe today, maybe tomorrow. Don't know today, don't know the hour, but time is rolling on. Those are the lyrics to that song, Uhhuh. So a lot of people know us from that song, TikTok. So when they see us, a lot of people won't even say there's the voice of the reason. They'll say, there's the TikTok group, Jean Greene: there's the Frank McGriggs: the group for TikTok. Jean Greene: That's so good. Frank McGriggs: ironically then there's social media with TikTok, so Jean Greene: That's right. There's Frank McGriggs: TikTok, the platform. But we our rich roots come from right here. In Utica, founded, being founded right here. I share my vision with them all the time. We talk about why we started the group and and how we bring people closer to Christ through our music. Okay. People having bad days, a lot of people call us and say, Hey, I wanna pull up a video. Send us the video of you all singing. Or send or tell us what we can find your music at Jean Greene: do y'all have videos out on [00:14:00] YouTube? Frank McGriggs: There are some videos out on YouTube. More videos of us are out on Facebook. Jean Greene: gotcha. Y'all have a Facebook Frank McGriggs: We do. The Voices of Reason from Vicksburg. Okay. We had to change it over to Utica. It is I hadn't messed with the page, like updated, didn't edits in a while, but I'm active. We are active on the page. Jean Greene: Oh, excellent. Excellent. talk to us about you mentioned how gospel music can uplift your spirit and how you become a blessing to people through the benefit concerts that you've done. Can you talk a little bit more about what this genre, the gospel genre, especially the quartet version of it, how that can work with you in your spirit or how it can enhance the community. Frank McGriggs: Yes. I could talk about that all day. The Jean Greene: got all day. Oh, MCGs, come on. Frank McGriggs: So quartet specifically in gospel music for me, [00:15:00] it has brought me through hard times. Jean Greene: Mm-hmm. Frank McGriggs: It's personal. It's like therapy. It's like therapy. It's mental. It can become physical because it gives you, it provides a feeling all over. People who don't even have the luxury or maybe they're busy, their busy schedule don't allow 'em to even go to church to go inside of a building and fellowship. They can still hear the music and the music speaks to their spirit, their soul, and also helps them with life decisions. Gospel music itself entails of a lot. It's not just a religion. But gospel music is a way of life. It's a way of life. Even for the saved or unsaved, even if you haven't totally surrendered or given your life to Christ. Gospel music says a brighter day is coming. Jean Greene: Here you go. Frank McGriggs: It confirms that things won't always be bad. You have good days. A lot of gospel songs tell stories. They tell stories. A lot of the songs we sing share Bible [00:16:00] stories. When I think of gospel music, I think of a lot of the greats like Dottie Peoples who sings on time God and those verses. She goes back and talk about the story of of when Moses parted the Red Sea. She says, you can ask the children of Israel trapped at the Red Sea by the mean old Pharaoh and his army. They had water all around them and pharaoh on their tracks. But from outta nowhere, God stepped in and built a highway just like that. And we know that she's telling you, that he parted the Red Sea because God came in and made a way outta nowhere where they didn't even see away. Mm-hmm. They were running, they were in trouble. And God came in and He built the way. He made a way outta no way. Those type of things gives us comfort, letting us know that. Trouble really does not last always. Like the great Timothy Wright says in gospel, I'm so glad. Trouble doesn't last always. But those stories comes in, give you confirmation because it feels good to hear [00:17:00] about other people who have been through things in life. In my songs that I write, I share my testimonies. Jean Greene: Mm-hmm. Frank McGriggs: I share the times that I didn't have, I didn't have a dime and then he stepped in on time. Mm-hmm. I share the times that maybe I didn't always have the money to buy the specific food that I wanted to eat, my chosen food, but I didn't go hungry. Because God made a way. I knew that he was gonna make a way, and those songs tell stories of things of that nature. That he's going to do it, it encourages me. It will also encourage people to read their Bible. People who don't like to read. When you hear the stories, you'll say, I wanna go back and reference that. I wanna go back and check that story out. They made it sound so interested in that song, like the song of Ezekiel and The Dry Bones. My group has we sang a rendition of that song. God told Ezekiel to go down in the valley of. Bones, dry bones. That's the chorus of that song. But and it says get up, now hear the word of the Lord. But when you hear things of that nature, you're [00:18:00] like, he actually had bones from dead people down there in the valley, and I need to go read that Uhhuh. That's interesting. it gives you hope. Jean Greene: That's a, that's an excellent point. Everything you're talking about today is really in line with the themes that we wanted to discuss. Especially giving hope when we find ourselves in the community where we are. Yes. And we are going through times where we are in the middle of a food desert. You talk about not being able to get the food you wanted, but you didn't go hungry. And we have all of the. Economic depression, we have the way that our educational institutions are being subsumed or pushed down. So what can give people hope? And it is this global music. [00:19:00] It started out local, but it became a global format. How that brings hope to the hopeless. Yeah. Frank McGriggs: Yes. Jean Greene: it can bring a comfort to people who someone who may have had their house burned down or lost someone suddenly, or who is just suffering through some sort of, was it life gonna be life? Life be lifin'. Frank McGriggs: Yes, absolutely. So Jean Greene: so the thing that really has, yeah. Touched me is the way this music, this storytelling can allow people to know that one, they're not alone. Yes. Frank McGriggs: Yes. Jean Greene: Because when you think you're alone, then who's gonna help you? That there is there is a, tomorrow there is a light. What did what there? Frank McGriggs: A light at the end [00:20:00] of that dark tunnel. Jean Greene: There's a scripture that says, suffering man, endure for a night. Frank McGriggs: But in the morning comes joy. Jean Greene: That's right. So you're giving it and that's a song too. Yeah. Frank McGriggs: Yes Jean Greene: so I, I see all of this coming together in this area. The town, the area surrounding Utica is so full of these groups this sound this ministry, Frank McGriggs: we need it. And we need it. It's despair around here because growing up here in Utica I've seen a lot. I've seen a lot in Utica growing up. We've lost a lot. There's been a lot of loss in Utica. We lost our grocery store. When I grew up a lot of people worked in the local grocery store. Those were jobs we lost. The sewing plant, the clothing sewing plant, the Bernstein plant. We [00:21:00] lost the Bills dollar store that we had in Utica. We, all of the other businesses that are thriving are on the outskirts, not inside of Utica city limits, not in town limits. And we lost I was here when we lost our bank, when we lost Bancor South. And I banked with that bank. Okay. right And then I, I remember like stating to my grandmother and she lived right downtown on Main Street. She banked there and she was like, where are we gonna put our money now? And I remember them doing different concerts and gospel gospel production shows, then just to let the town know that everything's gonna be all right. We had a little concern in town and I sung in it. But I remember when Hope Credit Union came. started with a trailer across the street from the police department. They started in a little trailer right across from the police department. They came and tried to hope, actually came to bring hope right to us, to let us know that we are gonna bring a institution. Now they're in the old bank building. And I do my business and my personal banking there with my [00:22:00] company now. But at the time we didn't, it was despair. Yeah, so we needed that, that gospel music and gospel concerts to be brought on to us. Somewhere we can uplift our spirit to let us know. You won't be in despair alone that it's something here in Utica. I remember right here on the campus the high school closed in 2014. I'm a graduate of the high school, 2005, graduate of the high school here. I went to high school here, played in the band here did other activities, played tennis and everything here on the campus, and it was thriving at the time. The, high school was thriving. Great test scores, great faculty and staff. Great activities. They even had activity buses so our parents could let us participate and didn't have to come pick us up. So it was more participation. I remember the band had about 175 people in the band. Jean Greene: Oh, that's right. At the yes, because they didn't have to, the band was so big because they didn't have to provide transportation, personal transportation, that [00:23:00] they had activity buses to take us everywhere. It was more people And take you home too. Didn't, yes. Frank McGriggs: So that's why, the choir had about maybe about 150 people. Just because they had transportation to take us home. We didn't have to rely on personal transportation to come and take us home. We needed that gospel to bring us hope. Jean Greene: Yes. Yeah. I I'm really enjoying listening to you tell the story. 'cause I remember you when you were in high school and I remember you, I'm really dating myself. I remember you when you would come back and you were involved with the Jubilee Singers. It's, it is something when. I listened to the different groups. I've listened to the, the Utica SouthernAires and some of the others. And they remind me of the music I used to hear as we were going. I'm really gonna tell you how old I am now. When we would be, go on our way to church in Marks, where Marks in Mississippi is. We went to [00:24:00] church in Marks from where I lived in Pope. And on the radio would be, all these songs from the radio station we listened to then was outta Memphis, WDIA. Okay. And all Sunday morning, Sunday was the Gospel Music Day. And I can't remember the group, but they sang a song called Touch Me. Lord Jesus, touch, touch Me Lord Jesus. That is part of the soundtrack of my youth going to and from church in Marks. All these other, the quartet groups, not these huge choirs so much, which there's nothing wrong with those, but it was the intimacy Yes. Of the quartet that during that three and four part harmony. I can remember that. And hearing some of those songs now. Bring back, memories of being in that hot car with no air conditioning, driving around. Frank McGriggs: I can only Jean Greene: [00:25:00] No, I'm telling you it is. It was a different kind of heat. Talk a little bit about where you see gospel music in this area going Frank McGriggs: right now. Where we are now, I see gospel music. Continuing on throughout the ages because as a community we won't let it die. Alright? Jean Greene: Alright. Frank McGriggs: I have found new talent with teenagers in the town the same way Ms. Kathleen found me when I was a teenager. Jean Greene: Mm-hmm. Frank McGriggs: I found new talent and I've taken them under my wing and said, Hey. Let me work with you all. Y'all can harmonize together. Y'all can sound good together and work with And started them off and everything. I've taught some of the students some of my former students from middle school who are now high school, I've taught them piano, Some of the faculty members here on campus, their children, I've given piano lessons to to try to keep the music going Jean Greene: Exactly for Frank McGriggs: Exactly. For our community. Not just abroad, but definitely for Utica. Been trying to keep it. [00:26:00] There's actually a musician's appreciation program coming up Saturday at the MB Church here in Utica. And one of my former students he's being honored. As a pianist and a drummer. And I've been doing ACT tutoring with him a little bit this summer, and I'm going to show my support with him and maybe my wife and I maybe even do a duet or we are going to form with my old group led by faith and we're gonna go by and sing too. But we are trying to keep it going because we know the importance of it. There's history, there's rich history in it, there's support in it, there's love, there's hope. There's a lot embedded in this gospel of music history that we have. So we're trying to keep it alive, trying to keep it active. And going for the ages. We want to keep it moving for the ages. It will never die here in Utica, the Utica Southernaires, the sensational chosen voices, the James family, the faith of Brandon who derived from this area, Jean Greene: Uhhuh Frank McGriggs: the Southern five. [00:27:00] Who were the Sons of Faith or the, and then the Sisters of Faith from Port Gibson who started here on this campus. Jean Greene: Wow. Frank McGriggs: We have so many groups who've derived from Utica and maybe branched off and moved to other But we will keep the Utica gospel and the quartet going for the age. My own son has learned to play drums, so now he plays for me and my groups everywhere I go. Jean Greene: Look at passing that down. And he's how old? Frank McGriggs: 10 years of Jean Greene: 10 years today. 10 years old. And starting young like his dad. When you spoke of the history, of course it's gonna remind me of Holtzclaw starting the Jubilee Singers to spread the news of Utica. The good news all through the country. So when you speak of the history of this area, it is deeply embedded in Utica and in this institution especially. And I'm gonna bring it to a close in just a second, but I wanted us to talk a little [00:28:00] bit about how the. History, a little bit about the history, but mainly about how the groups. Have you, you did a lot on that, have expanded and brought the news out and then brought it back. It's like they, you went out to Iraq, found some local folks and brought that news back. Yes. But you also shared the news while you were there. Frank McGriggs: I did. I did. And it's always just like even in education, it's a blessing to be a blessing. It's a blessing just to be a blessing, to be able to bless others. Gospel music is a gift. Everyone doesn't have that ability to share that or to engage in it. Not not with effect. And not be, not with fidelity and not with high effect. I'm thankful that I was gifted that a long time ago, by God himself. I don't have a lot of singers that [00:29:00] are closely related to me. So I know it was a gift from God. I don't have a lot of singers who are closely related. A lot of my, a lot of singers I know are distant cousins like the James family and Utica, or miss Kathleen and those chosen voices who are, who she's married to, my cousin who sings and play guitar. But like mother, sister, brother, aunt, and all of that, none of those people in my family can sing. Coming up I was like, how can I sing and how did I know? Why is harmony so easy to me? And I know it was a gift from God. I learned, later that he gives us those gift those gifts just dancing or the ability to performing the other Jean Greene: artists. Frank McGriggs: Visual art in those things. He gives us those gifts and once we recognize them, then that's our job to enhance those To study and enhance those gifts. And that's what I did. I was never taught piano Jean Greene: Mm-hmm. Frank McGriggs: I just picked it up by ear. And I started playing, and then later I started to formally train myself. After the technological enhancements of the age we live in now, I [00:30:00] started to look at videos and start to enhance my playing, but I started playing as a result of me singing, we branched off by ourselves even though we sounded good. Some musicians didn't know our music and we were writing songs at a young age, and they would make us sound bad because they wouldn't play the songs and the key and the correct key, or they wouldn't transition with us. The transitions between the different parts of the song wouldn't go with what we were trying to do. And, I immediately start to pick up the piano so that I can at least, if not play for us, when we go somewhere, I can tell them the chord changes or the number system. I learned the number system for the guitar. Jean Greene: I Frank McGriggs: say, Hey, we're gonna start at the one and then we're gonna move to the three. We're gonna move to the five. We go back to the one, Jean Greene: I can Frank McGriggs: can be able to talk 'em through it or hold up numbers when we're singing. Okay. So that musicians could take us to where we are trying to go. Help us deliver the message appropriately at that time. Gospel music with us. [00:31:00] Wow. I can't say enough. It's changed my life so much. It provided a way out, a way out. If I didn't sing as a teenager it wasn't a lot to do in Utica. we didn't have recreation programs. So either, either you played sports or you sung You did sports and music. You in the band, or you sung Uhhuh. And that's what I did. I sang and I sang until heaven got the news. You know, Jean Greene: Till Heaven got the news? No, Frank McGriggs: was no shutting me up. I was gonna sing until heaven gets the news. Bringing it and then bringing it back here. Always, even though I'm sharing it other places, bringing it back here, Utica was so important to me. Even though I taught other places, I moved other places. I've lived in other places. I've lived in Ridgeland Mississippi. I've lived in Jackson, I've gone other places. I've been in Wisconsin for a little while. But to always know in my mind that I was gonna eventually come back in, live here in Utica with my family like I do now. And I was gonna make sure [00:32:00] that my gift was shared with Utica. Right now, God has blessed me to be the CEO and founder of my own educational consultant firm. Being the CEO and founder of Choices Education Services, where there's always a chance when you make the choice thank God he's financially blessed me where I don't have to necessarily charge for my gifts. So I can play a funeral in the community, when they don't, when they can't find a musician, they say, Hey, let's call Mr. McGriggs. Maybe he'll play for us. And I'll say I don't normally play traditionally anymore, but if you need me, I'll be there. No charge. Jean Greene: Oh yes. Frank McGriggs: Oh. The local funeral home West Haven, they have my card on their desk. If they don't have their own musician, they'll call me, say, Hey, can you come do it? And I'll play and sing. Sing solos there for free. When they're having church programs, because I can play by ear. I can come and be the house musician and play for everyone who gets up to sing, and I'll do it free of charge just because I just like being around the gospel music. Jean Greene: Uhhuh, Frank McGriggs: just [00:33:00] like being around it. It lifts me up, Uhhuh, it gives me a push and say you can make it through another day. Especially being in these different school systems that I'm in it, it says, okay, all children, not bad, Mr. McGriggs because. There's hope. song says, yes, there is hope. We've seen that gospel song that says, yes, there's hope. People are dying every day and things are happening, but as long as Jesus is alive, yes, there is hope. So just going, hearing my spirituals and listening to gospel on the way to work, listening to gospel on the way to the store. Listening to gospel as I'm completing tasks, as I'm planning to go into different school districts, I'm listening to gospel songs and it's uplifting me and giving me enthusiasm about going and provide the service. Jean Greene: Excellent. Listen I could as you said, we could talk about this all day. And I want to formally open an invitation for you to come back if you can get your group together and to do us a an acoustic acapella. [00:34:00] Concert that we can also provide to our our listeners. That would be awesome if you can find the time in your schedule to make that happen, that would be awesome. Thank you for joining us today, and I look forward to listening to the concert. Frank McGriggs: Thank you for having us. Jean Greene: right.