Apollo
I went with several other people to see Sumana's performance in the Apollo Amateur Night. It was horrifying -- not her performance, but the behavior of the audience. They were encouraged to boo, and they took full advantage of their power. Even the Golden Overtones were booed off the stage before they got underway. If you've ever heard the Overtones, you know this is a great absurdity.
There was an incredibly self-confident gospel rapper (Ashlei Williams) who seemed talented but whose lyrics I found impossible to understand. She didn't get booed at all. I know of three theories about this. One is that she was young and people were asked not to boo young performers. Another is that she spoke quickly and left no pauses in which booing could build up. The last -- endorsed by the Amateur Night's host -- was that she was religious, and most of the audience either endorsed her message or felt uncomfortable about booing an expression of somebody's religious beliefs. She was definitely not a "cultural" gospel singer; she was more of a "win souls for the Lord" gospel singer.
The students were discoursing glibly (as my example had instructed them) about some matter or other -- the intricacies of Milton's verse, or the import of his allusions to Virgil -- and I without thinking burst out, "No, no, he doesn't want your admiration; he wants your soul!"(Stanley Fish; also reprinted in his The Trouble With Principle)
Hearing the gospel rap (and the host's claim that nobody would want to boo God) set my mind wandering back through the question of counterevangelism -- we could ask both why there is an impulse to counterevangelism and why that impulse is considered rude or immature. One of many interpretations of Socrates is that he behaved counterevangelically, insisting that many charismatic founders of schools did not know whereof they spoke and were unworthy of belief. The execution of Socrates would then suggest that counterevangelism was not especially popular.
Remind me to tell the story of the trilemma picket.
Anyway, the behavior of the audience prevented us from hearing Sumana's act. Fortunately, she performed it for us privately a little later on. Unfortunately, The Golden Overtones didn't grant us the same privilege.
