Celebrate America

Church honors July 4th with tradition, music and thanks

For the last 12 years, First Baptist Church of Denton has given the pulpit to the church’s choir and orchestra on the last Sunday of June.

It’s a worshipful gesture that expresses thanks for freedom, and religious freedom, said music minister Keith McGee.

“It’s a big deal for us,” McGee said. “It’s a 65-voice choir and a 25-piece orchestra performing during the whole worship service.”

The church’s children’s choir performs, too. All told, more than 130 people of the church work together on the free performance.

The church calls the annual multi-media Independence Day concert “Celebrate America.”

The crux of the concert, which will be during the 9:30 and 11 a.m. worship services Sunday, is thanksgiving, McGee said.

“The service is a historical reflection. It does have a chronological order, with high energy. We start with the historical and then move into the revolutionary period, and how the country was built on freedom, then we move into the colonial Williamsburg era and then into the 1800s to the current period.”

All dogs go to heaven, er, Texas

Friedman, Fromholz stage a bash to benefit Texas dogs

Today in Denton, every dog’s best friend is a Jewish Cowboy, and a Texas poet comes in as a pretty good sidekick.

Writer and musician Kinky Friedman wasn’t shy about stumping for a no-kill shelter in Texas when he was campaigning for governor — a policy that likely didn’t make his opponents’ lists. Now, the cigar-chomping singer-songwriter is putting his mouth where his gubernatorial money was.

Friedman and Texas Poet Laureate Steve Fromholz (who has Denton roots, if you didn’t know) bring their “Legends and Puppies Tour of 2008” to Denton today. The tour lands in the cozy barroom at Dan’s Silverleaf for what is rumored to be a rip-roaring fun fundraiser.

The ticket price — $40 — sounds a touch hefty for a comfortable room like Dan’s, but Friedman and Fromholz mean to make money for Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch, a peaceful spot for unwanted and rescued dogs in Medina.

•  Denton Time

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