Life » Max Connections - Random Writings by Max Shores

Three Student Films Worth Watching
Campus MovieFest is a worldwide film festival which visits universities and provides basic equipment for student filmmakers to use for a week. CMF was on the campus of the University of Alabama recently and several students who work with me in the Center for Public TV & Radio participated. I am proud to recommend their films for you to enjoy. The first film is by a team led by Melissa Smith who works with me as an assistant producer. Astray Cast & Crew : Melissa Smith – Captain, Director, Editor with Andrew Carey- Actor Zachary Ponds- Boom Operator Seth Collins- [...]
The 2011 Alabama Cigar Box Guitar Festival Videos
The 7th annual Alabama Cigar Box Guitar Festival (formerly called the Cigar Box Guitar Extravaganza) took place in June, 2011 in Huntsville, Alabama and my wife and I had a wonderful time there. This is the annual event at which my documentary, “Songs Inside The Box” was shot several years ago and this year’s event included a screening of another of my documentaries, “Richard Johnston: Hill Country Troubadour.” It was through Richard Johnston that I learned about cigar box guitars and this unique Alabama event. The event opened on Friday night with a performance by Hymn for Her, a very [...]
North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic, Volume II CD Review
The North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic is one of my favorite music festivals and the recently released “North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic, Volume II” CD from Devil Down Records is a great souvenir of the 2010 festival and a good sampler to entice new fans to the annual event. The Picnic is presented each year by a non-profit foundation created to nurture and promote the unique music of the north Mississippi hills. The music of several generations is honored here. Mississippi Fred McDowell and Rev. Roy Wilkins received worldwide recognition in the late 1960s and early 1970s due in no [...]
Richard Johnston UNMANAGEABLE DVD Now on Sale
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 [...]
Rising Star Fife & Drum Band
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 [...]
PurgAtory Hill
pat mAcdonald spells his name with only one capital letter. In the 1980s he was half of the duo known as Timbuk3. Now he’s half of the duo known as PurgAtory Hill. The other half is melaniejane which is all one word and all lower case. The group name comes from the Purgatory Hill Harp cigar box guitar made by John Lowe of Memphis, Tennessee.

AlabamaInfo.com Updated

Apr 182010

AlabamaInfo.com

I have recently updated a web project I began 15 years ago. AlabamaInfo.com now has a slightly new look and is powered by WordPress, a blogging platform that can also be used as a content management system. AlabamaInfo.com was one of my earliest efforts at building a website. It began as one page and grew from there.

2010 Summer Events in AL & MS – Mark Your Calendar

Mar 162010

There are three upcoming music music events I highly recommend… The Freedom Creek Festival, The North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic, and the Cigar Box Guitar Extravaganza. Details regarding dates are here so you can make your plans to attend.

Throw it on the Ground

Mar 142010

This is a funny little music video that Myra brought to my attention. It is from Saturday Night Live.

Media Production Open House at UA

Feb 252010

This is an event held to highlight the media production classes at the University of Alabama. I teach an intro course and there are advanced courses which offer opportunities for aspiring filmmakers to produce their own films.

Older Entries Newer Entries

Latest Tweets

How Birmingham Became an Indie Rock Destination - Arts & Lifestyle - The Atlantic Cities http://t.co/PJocmGMa -- 3 hours ago
Here's Sharde Thomas and the Rising Star Fife & Drum Band in action: http://t.co/EeGNICeF -- 1 day ago
New York Times article today about Sharde Thomas and the Rising Star Fife & Drum Band: http://t.co/zrWBbFym -- 1 day ago
RT @VISION_247: The number of users streaming mobile TV on their smartphones will increase to 240m by 2014, according to a report from J ... -- 4 days ago

Copyright © 2012 Max Shores

Home | About | Contact | Photos | Web

Suffusion WordPress theme by Sayontan Sinha