Several years ago I directed a documentary about Richard Johnston, the Beale Street one-man-band who draws his inspiration from the hill country of north Mississippi. It won several festival awards and many people have contacted me to ask how they can get their hands on a copy. Unfortunately we can’t sell it, but now there’s a way you can get video of Richard playing on Beale Street. Richard Johnston has just released a DVD which he is offering for sale from his website. It is titled, UNMANAGEABLE. I had the privilege of running camera for this production. My wife and [...]
That’s me on the right with the video camera. My wife and I made our annual pilgrimage to the hill country of north Mississippi for the 5th annual North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic on June 25th and 26th, 2010. Cindy took some still pictures and I shot some video. The Rising Star Fife & Drum Band put on a wonderful performance with Sharde Thomas singing and playing the fife. Ms. Thomas is the granddaughter of the late Otha Turner of Gravel Springs, Mississippi. African-American fife and drum music was heard across the Southeast at one time but Rising Star is [...]
The North Mississippi Allstars perform at the 5th annual North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic in Potts Camp, MS on June 26, 2010. The Allstars are a trio but bassist Chris Chew could not be a part of this performance, so they were billed as the NMA DuoLuCo with Luther and Cody Dickinson performing. (Cody Dickinson plays the bass line on a keyboard while also playing drums!) Here’s the opening of their set: A the end of the set, the Allstars invited guitarist Kenny Brown and members of the Rising Star Fife & Drum Band to join them for a medley: [...]
My office on the University of Alabama campus is near Bryant-Denny Stadium so I frequently park near the stadium. As I was walking to my car not too long ago, a car stopped and a young man asked through the window, “Where can I go to see the coach?” The young man was in the passenger seat and I suspect the driver was his mama. They were probably attending orientation prior to the beginning of the Fall semester. I’ve worked at the University for 25 years (I recently got a commemorative key chain to prove it.) and I can attest [...]
