Jason McCullough
11-30-2006, 08:27 PM
This country rules (http://theodicy.blogspot.com/2006/09/big-mac-with-little-gospel-on-side.html).
McDonald's restaurant on the South Side of Chicago might be an unlikely spot to catch the Holy Spirit.
But for the last three years, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, soul-stirring gospel music has filled the parking lot, the dining area, even the bathrooms of the Golden Arches at 47th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue.
The grainy, full-throated contralto of Mahalia Jackson's 'I Will Move on Up a Little Higher'--could it be coming from the larger-than-life cutout of Jackson in a faux recording booth in the back of the store?--complements the aroma of Big Macs.
A mural tells the story of gospel music and photos of gospel artists decorate the dining area. A glass display case brims with porcelain African-American angels.
Choirs come in for live performances, or even the occasional worship service. Employees punctuate sales with 'Have a blessed day,' and customers are saying 'Amen' to the Gospel McDonald's.
Since franchise owner Yolanda Travis transformed this fast-food sanctuary, she has enjoyed a double-digit increase in sales and, by all accounts, changed the vibe of a notoriously rough corner that straddles the border between the Bronzeville and Hyde Park neighborhoods.
The BBC had a feature on it tonight - the best part was where the owner segued from the glories of christ into how sales were doing.
McDonald's restaurant on the South Side of Chicago might be an unlikely spot to catch the Holy Spirit.
But for the last three years, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, soul-stirring gospel music has filled the parking lot, the dining area, even the bathrooms of the Golden Arches at 47th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue.
The grainy, full-throated contralto of Mahalia Jackson's 'I Will Move on Up a Little Higher'--could it be coming from the larger-than-life cutout of Jackson in a faux recording booth in the back of the store?--complements the aroma of Big Macs.
A mural tells the story of gospel music and photos of gospel artists decorate the dining area. A glass display case brims with porcelain African-American angels.
Choirs come in for live performances, or even the occasional worship service. Employees punctuate sales with 'Have a blessed day,' and customers are saying 'Amen' to the Gospel McDonald's.
Since franchise owner Yolanda Travis transformed this fast-food sanctuary, she has enjoyed a double-digit increase in sales and, by all accounts, changed the vibe of a notoriously rough corner that straddles the border between the Bronzeville and Hyde Park neighborhoods.
The BBC had a feature on it tonight - the best part was where the owner segued from the glories of christ into how sales were doing.