More of classmate, Martha Markline Hopkins's Art

"Red Arrow"

Per Martha Ann:

"The Women's Caucus for Art announces a national call for Equilibrium: Art for a Changing World, 'Equilibrium' seeks to explore the tensions, demands and challenges inherent in living in a rapidly changing world. We are looking for art in all genres and media to express the multiple expressions of balance or its absence, which can range from abstract to representational, psychological to social, whimsical and poetic to political commentary. Artists are encouraged to interpret this theme broadly. 

My painting was one of 40 chosen from 581 for this national exhibition at Woman Made Gallery in Chicago from January 17 to February 17, 2014. Packing it for shipping next week. My work does more travelling than I do!"

WTF is this? Anybody know?

Stuckey's Bridge

Over the Chunky River in Lauderdale County, Mississippi
(Click on it for greater detail)


This is Stuckey's Bridge in Lauderdale County, MS. There are many stories about this bridge, and I don't really know what is truth and what is legend. It's been listed as being built as early as 1847 and as late as 1901. So that would mean at the very least, it's 108 years old!

There are many stories that this bridge is haunted. As the story goes, Old Man Stuckey had a hotel near the bridge site in the mid 1800s. The old man would murder his hotel guests, steal their valuables, and bury the bodies along the riverbank. He was eventually found out, caught, and was hung from the bridge. Now people claim to see an old man walking the banks of the river with a lantern at night and hearing splashes in the water under the bridge when the river is otherwise perfectly quiet.

Photo credit: Natalie Maynor

Photo Credit: Kim Hunt

Meridian's Own – Jimmie Rodgers

Royal Drive-In – R.I.P.

WLAC Radio - Nashville

Back in the 1950s, when white teenagers were just beginning to discover that Pat Boone's version of "Ain't That A Shame" was not the original, a radio station in Nashville, Tennessee, was beaming rhythm and blues and gospel music to millions of young listeners, each discretely tuning his dial to 1510 on the AM dial late into the evening hours.

It was 10:00 pm in the East, bed time for many a schoolkid. But, if the weather was cooperative and the tuner sensitive enough, wonderful sounds soon began to issue forth. Not Perry Como, not the Chordettes, certainly not Pat Boone. No, here streaming directly into our bedrooms were the strange, new, and wonderful tones of Chuck Berry, Jimmy Reed, Fats Domino, Lightning Hopkins, Muddy Waters, Little Junior Parker, The Spaniels, Sonny Boy Williamson, Howling Wolf, and Etta James.
Jimmy Reed-"Baby What You Want Me To Do?"

Here was something special, something to be shared only with your very best friends, not with those jerks at school who didn't know about it and couldn't understand it if they did. Here was something that made you wish you could soundproof the door to your room or, perhaps, buy a pair of headphones, all to insure that listening bliss might continue into the wee hours when your mother assumed that you had long been asleep.

Gene Nobles was on WLAC for Randy's Record Shop. Nothing characterized the WLAC listening experience more than the nightly program sponsored by "The World's Largest Mail Order Phonograph Record Shop" -- Randy's Record Shop in Gallatin, Tennessee. They must have done a heck of a business. No street address, no post office box ... just "Gallatin, Tennessee."

During the mid-'50s, Randy's sponsored what may have been the most listened to disc jockey show in the country. Introduced by the nostalgic tones of "Suwannee River Boogie" by Albert Ammons, "Randy's Record Hi-Lights" was broadcast on clear-channel WLAC at 10:15 pm Central Time, six nights a week--and at 11:00 pm on Sunday. And 50,000 watts of power insured that it could be heard all over the East, South, and Mid-West, probably in Canada and Mexico as well.

Gene Nobles has as much claim as anyone to being the first to play rhythm and blues records for a racially mixed audience and developing a distinctive deejay "patter." Gene called it "Slanguage" and it included such phrases as "from the heart of my bottom." Mr. Nobles passed away in 1989.

Commercials by regular sponsors: Click on to listen.

Live Baby Chicks
Royal Crown Hair Dressing
Ernie's Record Mart
Randy's Record Shop
"Randy" was Randy Wood, a successful entrepreneur whose catalog boasted that his shop was "The Home of the World's Largest Stock of Recorded Music. Randy was patriotic too, offering a "10% discount to all men and women now serving in the Armed Forces." Lest we forget, these records were "also available in 45 r.p.m."

Giving Randy's show a run for the money was the program sponsored by the venerable Ernie's Record Mart, at 179 3rd Avenue North, Nashville, Tennessee. "Ernie's Record Parade" could also be heard every night. It was a one-hour show broadcast Monday through Friday at 9:00 pm Central Time and on Saturday from 8:00 until 9:45 pm. On Sunday night the "all spiritual" show began at 8:30.

The host on Ernie's show was the steadfast "John R." His full name was John Richbourg and he began working at WLAC in 1942. His distinct, deep, and sometimes gravelly voice, together with his "hep-cat" patter combined to confuse many listeners into believing that he was a black man. Actually, he was a white man who had come to WLAC following stints at other stations and a youthful attempt to pursue a career on the musical stage. John R. signed off for the last time on June 28, 1973. As late as the 1980s, Mr. Richbourg was answering letters from his fans, sending out autographed photos, and selling tapes of his programs.


Herman Grizzard

Youthful insomniacs and dedicated listener's could stay up past midnight in the East and listen to the third in the nightly series of record-shop-sponsored shows, this one brought to us courtesy of Buckley's Record Shop. Buckley's show, entitled "After Hours," was introduced by the theme song "After Hours" by Erskine Hawkins. The host disc jockey was a gentleman who seemed to be older than Gene Nobles or John R (and was). That gentleman was Herman Grizzard, who had been with the station since the '30s. Each of these record shops offered "special" packages of records available by mail order at a group price. As I recall, each 5-record special from Ernie's was offered for a period of a couple months and was called something like Ernie's "Bullseye" Special or some similar name that would distinguish it from, say, Ernie's "Blue Ribbon" Special. Five records for three dollars or so was a great deal too, as long as you didn't mind having a ringer or two in the group--some title that you probably wouldn't have otherwise purchased. I mean ... did someone really want a copy of "Gumbo Mombo" by Guitar Gable?


Bill "Hoss" Allen was yet another popular dee-jay at WLAC. After graduating from Vanderbilt in 1948, Allen began his radio career at WHIN in his hometown of Gallatin, Tennessee, hosting "Harlem Hop." Allen soon moved to WLAC, initially filling in where needed, ultimately taking over the 10:15 to midnight spot, when Gene Nobles retired.

The "Hossman" also hosted many gospel programs. Indeed, in 1981, Savoy Records released an LP (SL 14627) entitled: Bill "Hoss" Allen Presents "Let's Go To The Program." Subtitled "Twelve of America's Greatest Gospel Groups," the record includes recordings by such groups as The Swan Silvertones, The Soul Stirrers, and The Original Blind Boys of Alabama, introduced by Allen and altered to include applause, as though the performances were actually live, in concert.

Atttribution: Jim Lowe's recollections (edited for length)

I have awfully fond memories of lying in bed late at night with that faint, tiny red light glow on my radio, turned down low... just listening away to WLAC. (DNJ)

Meridian's #1 Soul Singer – Jimmy Ruffin

Another Piece Of Meridian History

E. F. Young, Jr. Hotel opened in 1946, with a barber shop, shoe shine parlor and beauty shop
at 500 25th Ave. (corner of 5th Street) Meridian, MS

The founding father of the company, Eugene Fred Young, Jr. was born about the turn of the 20th century in Russell, Mississippi. His father, Reverend E. F. Young, Sr., a minister and farmer, laid a firm foundation of honesty, integrity, and industriousness for his son to grow up under. E. F. Young, Jr. seemed like a normal, quiet, average boy, but little did anyone realize that this young man would become the entrepreneur of one of this country's finest black owned manufacturing companies.

In 1927, E. F. Young, Jr. finished school from Haven Teacher's College. It was there that he received an extensive background in Business and Chemistry. Being black and with very little work experience, he found it extremely difficult to secure a job or start a business. While in school, however, he started to work part-time in a barber shop and as a cab driver. He later decided to pursue a fulltime career as a barber. E. F. Young, Jr. married Miss Velma E. Beal in 1927.

In 1931, after having had worked in the barber shop for four (4) years, he purchased it from the owner. He noticed while working in the shop that there was a need in the marketplace for a maintenance line of products for Black hair. E.F, Jr. began to formulate and manufacture samples at night in the privacy of his kitchen. During the day he used and sold his preparations to customers in the barber shop. The demand for his products became so great that he was forced to go into the manufacturing business.

In 1933, E. F. Young, Jr. Manufacturing Company received its official trademark from the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C. By this time, however, thousands of satisfied customers were spreading the word about the new revelation. The company grew and prospered and by 1945, E. F. Young, Jr. products were household items to hundreds of thousands of people. The demand for the product line was so great that E.F. Young, Jr. opened a second manufacturing location in Chicago, IL.

In 1950 tragedy struck, E. F. Young, Jr. died after a long terminal illness. It was at this time that his wife, Velma Young, had to assume to responsibility of the business because her oldest son, Charles, Sr. was only 19 years old and still in school at Tennessee State University.

Downtown Meridian

From a very good photographer identified only as Rebecca B.

Her description:

Front Street Meridian, MS

Front Street. Not much left downtown but if you are downtown Meridian

and like old fashioned home cooking, you have to eat at Jean's restaurant.

It's packed at lunchtime, practically a landmark. There are several vintage

and antique shops to poke around in. And Amy's (the purple shop with

the green awning) always has great gift items. I like wandering around

and seeing all of the old buildings being put to good use again.

An Inspiration.

Midnight, Mississippi

Yes, there is a Midnight, Mississippi.

Midnight is an unincorporated community located in Humphreys County, Mississippi. Midnight is approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Louise and 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Silver City along Mississippi Highway 149.

Although Midnight is unincorporated, it has a zip code of 39115. Population in 2010 was less than 200 people.

Meridian's Chris Ethridge - Bass Guitar

Nice tribute to a Home Boy, Chris Ethridge.

Gone: 4/23/12. Rest In Peace, Chris. Ave Atque Vale

Chris Ethridge (born 1947 in Meridian, Mississippi) is an American country rock bass guitarist.

Jacky Jack White hosted a tribute to local legend Chris Ethridge at the Sucarnochee Review on July 2, 2010 in the historic Temple Theatre, Meridian, MS. Chris’s mother attended and Chris’s brothers, Tommy and Joey, also musicians, performed with their groups.

Career

Ethridge began playing in local bands in the South before moving to California aged 17, having been spotted in Biloxi. He played with Joel Scott Hill before joining Gram Parsons in ISB. He played with Parsons after the end of ISB, and again after Parsons left The Byrds, before cofounding the Burrito Brothers with him. He played bass and piano on The Gilded Palace of Sin, but left before Burrito Deluxe. When Parsons left the Burritos, Ethridge played with him again, touring with Byron Berline, Emmylou Harris, Clarence White, Gene Parsons, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, and Roland White.Ethridge left the Burritos again in February 1976, returning to session work. He has been a session musician throughout his career, recording with many leading country-tinged acts, including Judy Collins, Johnny Winter, Ry Cooder, Leon Russell, Randy Newman, Linda Ronstadt,The Byrds and Jackson Browne. He also toured with Willie Nelson's band for almost eight years and later played with the Kudzu Kings.

With the Flying Burrito Brothers. Chris is at the far right. Click on.

Eudora Welty- also a photographer.

Before she was a writer she was a photographer.
Photos are titled: "Sunday Morning", "Underwear" and "Kite"..

More of her work shown here.

We all know this.

FYI

Meridian's own, Paul Davis.

1966 or '67 (?)

April 1948 – April 2008 R.I.P.




Singer/songwriter Paul Davis, who had a hit with the 1977 song “I Go Crazy” died in Meridian, MS. on April 22, 2008.

According to his cousin, James Edwards, Davis died of a heart attack at Rush Foundation Hospital. Edwards said Davis had come back to the city he grew up in to retire, after living in New York and Nashville.

Davis also had hits with "A Little Bit Of Soap", "65 Love Affair", "Sweet Life" and “Ride ‘Em Cowboy.”

May be from the South...

Sarah McLachlan

Lake Okeechobee, Fl- Fishing w/Son.

 Photos: #1 At dawn, #2 9lbs.10oz, #3 Snowy Egrets

Nelva Court & Restaurant

Click on to enlarge.

Above Nelva photos attribution:

Ginger Brook @deepfriedkudzu.com

"Copyright, DeepFriedKudzu.com.

Used with permission."

There is little or no information about many of our old places. The Meridian Star is provides very little help. I had to dig to pick up these diary entries from a dead lady.

This diary is now the property of Ohio State University.

A LIFE REVEALED:

THE DIARY OF GLADYS BOLON COOPER

(1939-1989) 345 pages. This is from Volume IV

JANUARY 1,1967 to DECEMBER 31,1975

Page 14

THURSDAY, MARCH 23,1967 Left motel (after breakfast there) at ten 'till seven. Weather like summer, redbuds in bloom. Ate lunch roadside table. I drove 55 miles. Country not very interesting. Drove to Meridan, Mississippi. Stayed at Nelva Hotel, where we stayed last November. $8.50 after Charles told her what AAA listed. She had charged us $9.00. Had dinner at Nelva Restaurant. $1.60.

Page 77

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1968 Beautiful day. We had breakfast at Ackleys. Margaret packed us a lunch. Left at ten of eight. Got mixed up and drove about 10 miles out of our way. Bought rolls at Birmingham and ate lunch in the parking lot there. I drove 43 miles. Got to Meridian. Motel, Nelva at 4:30. $9.00 and tax. Had been warm driving but heater in motel felt good. Had a good chicken dinner at the Nelva Restaurant! $1.50. $2.36 total.

Steve Forbert, another Favorite Son

Steve has had a long and successful career as a singer/song writer.

He is best known for his song "Romeo's Tune", which reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1980.

An autobiographical song (below) about his New York City experiences upon moving there in 1976 at the age of 21.


An excellent Bio


Steve Forbert's website

More of Martha Ann's Art

I really appreciate classmate Martha Ann's paintings and sculptures

"One Wire,"
My piece chosen for the exhibition "Bare Essentials: Minimalism in the 21st Century" at Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, IL, Nov. 4 - Dec. 22, 2011. Note that though it shows masculine austerity and uses industrial materials, it also has expression shown through the history of other movements of the wire. The addition of expression is a quality I expect to see in many if not all of the works in this upcoming show.

Click on for the exhibition, including Martha Ann's work below, at the Woman Made Gallery running from 11/04/11 to 12/22/11.

"One Wire," 12" x 12" x 2, Canvas on Board painted with Rabbit Skin Glue, Wire, and Tacks. (Click on image to enlarge.)

Changes Will Have Occurred

One Hundred Things Kids of Today Will Never know About.

Rayner's Drug Store

From the Meridian Star – edited for length.

July 30, 2006

Rayner Drugs owner finishes a chapter

By Georgia E. Frye / staff writer

In 1947, Ben Quintana moved to Meridian to work as a pharmacist at Rayner Drugs on Front Street. The McComb native bought the store in the early 1970s. Since then, he and his wife, Sarah, have run the business.

Quintana remembers when high school boys on bicycles used to deliver medicines each day, and he remembers giving discounts to his regular customers.

But those days are coming to an end. Rayner Drugs plans to close its doors on Monday after more than 80 years in downtown Meridian.

The 84-year-old said he tried to keep the business open, but no one was interested in buying it. He said large discount stores are making it harder for independent pharmacies to keep up, and he believes the days of independent pharmacies are numbered.

“A lot of my older customers have died off and I haven’t been able to replace them because of the discount stores,” Quintana said. “Big corporations are able to buy drugs cheaper than an independent pharmacy.”

Products in the gift section of Rayner Drugs, which was managed by Mrs. Quintana until recently, are on sale. They include gifts such as 1st Edition Cabbage Patch Dolls, other collectible dolls, decorative fans, greeting cards and gifts.

I never see photos of what was, but is no more, without this song forming in my mind. A lot of truth in it... for lots of folks.

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How Hollywood sees Mississippi.

(excerpted from the Washington Times)

Hollywood’s Mississippi remains a brutal backwater.

No matter how state changes, images of bigotry, violence, ignorance endure Mississippi stereotypes persist.

If, as Michael Medved contends, Hollywood hates America, then it really, really hates Mississippi.

A long line of films — from “In the Heat of the Night” to “Mississippi Burning” and “A Time to Kill” — have cemented the state’s image in American culture as a brutal, benighted backwater teeming with violent bigots.

A steady stream, decade after decade, of screen images of hooded Klansmen, burning crosses and Yankee actors butchering Southern drawls while drenched in sweat have overwhelmed the occasional scenes of remarkably ordinary contemporary life that visitors to the state are far more likely to witness.

On Friday, Hollywood extends its rich tradition of Mississippi-bashing with the national release of “Straw Dogs,” director Rod Lurie’s remake of auteur Sam Peckinpah’s controversial 1971 thriller about a nonviolent academic interloper pushed into violence by the invasion of his home by resentful locals.

While the Peckinpah original was, like the novel upon which it was based, set in rural England, Mr. Lurie has transplanted the story to southern Mississippi, where bullying Deep South rednecks conveniently step in for the resentful British working-class barbarians who torment Dustin Hoffman as David Sumner, a privileged outsider.

Current hit “The Help,” starring Viola Davis, gives a more balanced view of the state, with sympathetic characters both black and white. (Disney via Associated Press)
Mr. Lurie, credited as a co-writer as well as director of the remake — shot in Louisiana, standing in for Mississippi — told the Miami Herald that he chose the setting to “plant these characters in a community where the lifestyle is violence.”

There is no denying or defending Mississippi’s role as a bastion of resistance to racial integration and equality during the civil rights era. But in addition to being a historical signifier, it also happens to be an actual — you know — place, where actual people continue to live and work. But in the imagination of Hollywood, Mississippi has long since ceased to be a place and become instead a facile metaphor for violent racial bigotry and hostility to outsiders.

“If you look historically at films, even if there’s a sort of ‘My Dog Skip’ story set in Mississippi with a sentimental vibe, Mississippi tends to function as the worst of the South concentrated,” said Ted Atkinson, an assistant professor of English at Mississippi State University who is working on a book about the state’s representation in American culture.

There are exceptions, of course, to the prevailing stereotype. The current hit “The Help,” a civil rights drama set in the state, presents a view of Mississippi that includes sympathetic characters — both black and white — with commendable morals and motives alongside the grim realities of segregation and racial prejudice. Another example of a positive mainstream portrayal is “The Blind Side,” the 2009 box-office smash that stars Sandra Bullock as a wealthy Mississippi woman whose family takes in a black football prodigy.

For all its faults, Mississippi has an incredibly rich artistic history whose lasting effects on American culture have been partly obscured by the inescapable stereotype. It’s the birthplace of artists ranging from Elvis Presley to Robert Johnson, the homeland of William Faulkner, often considered the 20th century’s greatest novelist, and Eudora Welty. The small towns and dirt roads often portrayed on-screen are overshadowed by towns such as Oxford, where portraits of Faulkner hang in fast-food restaurants, and the capital, Jackson, host to the USA International Ballet Competition.

Melanie Addington, a director of the Oxford Film Festival, said she has seen firsthand how negative depictions of Mississippi have conditioned visitors to expect the worst. “Every year I have filmmakers that nervously arrive for the festival expecting to be thrust into a scene from ‘Mississippi Burning.’ They are always pleasantly surprised that instead Oxford is an artsy little town with people from all over the world making it home.”

“The idea of Mississippi has functioned in the American imagination as a kind of holding bin for negative things about the nation,” said Kathryn McKee, an associate professor of Southern studies at the University of Mississippi, about the persistently unflattering film portrayals.

“Mississippi just has that cultural baggage and stigma,” Ms. Atkinson said. “It just keeps perpetuating because these Hollywood representations tend to follow that heritage and continue that narrative. It just becomes hard to overcome that.”

With every major film that recycles the familiar images of rampant poverty, ignorance and pointless violence, of course, the popular stereotype is reinforced. Ultimately, it becomes self-fulfilling prophecy, scaring away potential investment and tourism from the actual Mississippi — black and white, rich and poor — deepening the isolation and depressing the economy of a state that already ranks near the bottom as measured by most key social and economic indicators.

Coop Cooper, a Mississippi-based film critic who runs the website Small Town Critic, argues that despite decades of progress in the state, some would be content to see Mississippi remain as it is in the cultural eye. “Things are changing for the better,” he said. “I’m sure a lot of people, including folks from Hollywood, would like to keep that from happening. They need to have some sort of state to lay these stigmas upon, and Mississippi is easier than most.”

Davis Grill Menu – 1950. And interior from???

Click on for larger readable text.

"Bastard Blue" by Murray Dunlap

Over the last year I discovered a friend. I also discovered a writer whose stories soar. I'm referring to Murray Dunlap. The stories he has pulled together in his newest book of stories, "Bastard Blue", had me reading many over several times. They are that good. Most of them are themed from his experiences growing up in south Alabama, but they are not simply regional. They cast a much wider net than that and the textures of the lives he writes about are palpably universal.

"Bastard Blue" is available at Amazon– in both hard copy and the Kindle edition – and bookstores everywhere.
What those who know are saying:

High Praise...
“Forged with a poet’s attention to cadence and rhythm, a storyteller’s devotion to character, and tension that just keeps ratcheting up, Bastard Blue is finally a love story, between a young man and the place that made him, the southern culture that proves to be both a blessing and a curse. Murray Dunlap is a brave writer, and an honest one; the lives he portrays here are as heart-stoppingly authentic as his prose is dazzlingly beautiful. He serves up everything I want in a story: compassion, humor, substance and style.”
Pam Houston, author of Cowboys Are My Weakness

"Yes, Bastard Blue is a first book but there’s more than promise on display within its pages. This collection introduces us to a fully realized talent. Murray Dunlap’s voice is confident, his characters richly drawn, his sense of place as vivid as you will find in fiction. Sentence for sentence his prose is crisp and direct, edged somehow with both menace and hope. He has a knack for creeping up to sentiment in his stories without crossing the line, leaving only genuine, well-earned emotion on the page. This book is so fine somebody should offer a money back guarantee."
-Michael Knight, author of The Typist

"If possible, read Murray Dunlap’s Bastard Blue in a Louis XV style chair, near a subtle fire, or in an Adirondack chair, between peach and dogwood trees. Reading his stories is about as close to having a storyteller there—present, in the room--as I know. This collection is full of heart, mischief, and sly winks. What a grand triumph."

-George Singleton, author of The Half-Mammals of Dixie
Murray's recent history is a tribute to his courage, tenacity and strength.
Murray on Murray: I was very nearly killed on 6-7-08 in a car wreck, so I'm trying very hard to put my life back together. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a complex injury with a broad spectrum of symptoms and disabilities. The impact on a person and his or her family can be devastating. And my memory-loss has to be the most frustrating component of this entire disaster. It is as if I woke up from a dream of a life to a nightmare of a reality. But, as we all do, I keep focused and build a new life.

Murray Dunlap's work has appeared in about thirty magazines and journals. His stories have been twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize, as well as to Best New American Voices, and his first book, "Alabama," was a finalist for the Maurice Prize in Fiction.

Miner Saw, Inc

New Yorker Cartoon

Graham Transfer & Storage

Graham Transfer & Storage Co.

2108 A St Meridian, MS 39301

Began business in 1932

Camp Binachi

I well remember scout camp. There were Troops 2 and 6 – maybe others too – there each summer sitting around the campfire, the Tenderfoots, pretending not to be afraid the first time they were were told the legend of the evil "mossback"

Click on to Read more