Free Concert Tonight As Orlando Vigils Continue In North Texas
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - North Texans, as many people across the country and around the world, are finding different ways to work through emotions about the shooting at an Orlando nightclub that left 49 people dead. For some that means stopping at a monument in the Oak Lawn area of Dallas with flowers or a note… but members of the Turtle Creek Chorale chorus are using their voices.
The 200 men in the chorale will sing tonight to mourn, remember and honor those killed in the Florida mass shooting. It was just hours after their normal concert season wrapped up Saturday night that they learned of the horror in Orlando.
For 36 years, the chorale has dedicated itself to various causes. Organizers say tonight's concert will consist of songs for healing.
Chorus Artistic Director Sean Baugh explained, "We're going to be singing a lot of songs about love. You're not going to hear songs of anger or retribution… not gonna be hearing a lot of rhetoric. It is mostly songs about love and hope."
After a standing room only celebration at a Fort Worth church Monday night, another large crowd is expected to gather for the free concert in Oak Lawn.
As hundreds filled the Celebration Church Monday night the names of the 49 people killed at Pulse nightclub were read aloud. Though Orlando is nearly 1,000 miles from Fort Worth there are North Texans personally affected by the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Among the overflow crowd at Celebration Church was a woman who told mourners her nephew is among the dead and a man who said one of the injured club patrons is the brother of an acquaintance.
Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price and members of the police department were part of the crowd. While there is grief, there is also fear that an attack could happen anywhere, but mourners said the sight of officers, as law enforcement officials and members of the community, was a reassuring to a community shaken by tragedy.
Meanwhile in Dallas, the Legacy of Love Monument, a 27-foot-tall column and surrounding garden built to honor people suffering from or who have died from AIDS, continues to set the tone for how North Texans are feeling.
The monument, now covered with flowers, ribbons, pictures, and banners of support, is a somber symbol of love.
Dallas resident Darlene Grillot is still shaken by the events Sunday morning. "It's just scary," she said. "This could have been anywhere, could have happened to anyone. It could have been me. It could have been us. Our friends."
Organizers of the "Songs for Healing – Together in Song" concert tonight in Dallas say the event is meant to help people heal.
Turtle Creek Chorale Executive Director Bruce Jaster believes in the power of music. "Something like this could happen anywhere but it should happen nowhere," he said. "The best way we can make it clear how wrong it is, is by bringing some light through music onto the event and let people know this just isn't something that should be tolerated."
The one-hour "Songs for Healing – Together in Song" concert begins at 7 p.m. and is being held at the Cathedral of Hope, located at 5910 Cedar Springs Road in Dallas. The Cathedral of Hope seats about 1,000 people and those attending the concert are encouraged to get there early.
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