#008 BTW Drumline (by jdoggtn7)
The Booker T. Washington High School band marches into BTW Stadium to the cadence of their drumline, South Memphis, 8/31/12
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
music
Westwood High School Drumline at BTW
#007 Westwood Drumline (by jdoggtn7)
The Westwood High School drumlines plays a cadence toward the BTW stands at Booker T. Washington Stadium in South Memphis, 8/31/12
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
The Westwood High School Longhorn Band Marches Into BTW Stadium
#004 Westwood Drumline (by jdoggtn7)
The Westwood High School drumline leads the band into Booker T. Washington stadium in South Memphis, 8/31/12
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
MIAA Football: Westwood at BTW, Memphis
Memphis’ Booker T. Washington Stadium is arguably the second-oldest in the city after Crump Stadium, behind Central High School, although the latter has had a complete renovation in recent years. Much has changed in the surrounding neighborhood, including the demolition of Cleaborn Homes and Foote Homes, but crowds still turn out to support the Booker T. Washington Warriors, the oldest Black high school in Memphis. This year, BTW seems to have a decent marching band, with a first-rate drumline. Westwood, on the other hand, is a pathetic shadow of its former life, when, in the 80’s and early 90’s, it used to march over a hundred band members. Open enrollment, and outmigration from the neighborhood have devastated it. Still, the Longhorns have a small marching band that seems well-trained and which might become the foundation of a rebuilding. Only time will tell.Â
Leonard Bernstein-“American Dreaming” from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Bernstein – 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. – American Dreaming (by Romanov76110)
Leonard Bernstein and Alan Jay Lerner created the very operatic musical “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue” as a celebration for the Bicentennial in 1976. With financial backing by Coca-Cola, fans expected a celebratory work, but instead encountered a somber and somewhat bitter work about the difference between America’s philosophy and its actual practice. Reviewers at the time proclaimed it a failure, and Bernstein soon withdrew it, using portions of it in the Slava! overture, the Songfest and the Divertimento for Orchestra. For many, little of the wonderful music of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue would be heard until the recording of the heavily-cut White House Cantata of the late 1990’s. But much great music was excised from the cantata, including this powerful and cynical excerpt, in which the characters playing the American presidents and the White House’s main servant express a disillusionment and bitterness that seems to be pulled right from this year’s electorate. Although the Bernstein estate does not allow performances of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, there are signs that this musical might not have been “impossible” or “problematic”, simply ahead of its time.
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
Whitehaven vs. Fairley at JP Freeman, 2012
At the Whitehaven vs. Fairley game at J. P. Freeman Stadium, Memphis, 8/25/12
Whitehaven vs. Fairley at J.P. Freeman, Memphis, 2012
High school football (and the marching band battles that go with it) are a big part of the culture of Memphis, and there are few rivalries bigger than Whitehaven High School and Fairley High School. Their game this year, played at J. P. Freeman Stadium  because Whitehaven Stadium is being renovated, was a rare Saturday game and it drew a crowd as big as one might expect for a college game.The weather was perfect, the bands were great, and there were no fights.Â
The Day the Music Died (via remedial-redneck.blogspot.com)
One final perspective on the Sunflower festival, and then I’ll probably let it go. I want to also state that my point here is not to berate or destroy a blues festival, because after all, I am a blues fan. My goal is to get the festival organizers to understand that fans like us are the people who support this event, and we are not happy! We hope for a dialogue with them, but if they insist on proclaiming this past weekend’s fiasco as a “success” and continue planning for more of the same next year, then the Sunflower Blues and Gospel Festival is doomed.Â
Sunflower Blues Festival 2012: The Wall Between
The Sunflower festival’s decision to enclose a compound directly in front of the main stage for paying attendees opened old wounds related to issues of class and race in Clarksdale, as evidenced by graffiti left on the wall by festival-goers and local residents. One writer cleverly compares it to the Berlin Wall with Ronald Reagan’s famous words to Gorbachev “Mr. President, tear down this wall!” Given the fact that the area was almost completely empty while I was there other than festival staff and security, one can hope that this monstrosity will be gone next year.