#44 Luther Dickinson and the Rising Star Fife and Drum Band (by jdoggtn7)
At the Otha Turner Picnic at Gravel Springs, Mississippi, August 27, 2011
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
entertainment
Luther Dickinson (@LutherDickinson) with the Rising Star Fife and Drum Band
#31 Luther Dickinson with the Rising Star Fife and Drum Band (by jdoggtn7)
Luther Dickinson performs with the Rising Star Fife and Drum Band at the Otha Turner Picnic at Gravel Springs, Mississippi, August 27, 2011
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
Sharde Thomas and the Boys perform at the Otha Turner Picnic
Sharde Thomas and the Boys perform at the Otha Turner Picnic at Gravel Springs, Mississippi, August 27, 2011
The Rising Star Fife and Drum Band with Afrissippi’s Gulel Kumba at the Otha Turner Picnic
The Rising Star Fife and Drum Band and Gulel Kumba of Afrissippi at the Otha Turner Picnic, Gravel Springs, Mississippi, August 27, 2011
Rising Star Fife and Drum Band with @LutherDickinson at the Otha Turner Picnic 2011
The Rising Star Fife and Drum Band with Luther Dickinson and other friends at the Otha Turner Picnic, Gravel Springs, Mississippi, August 27, 2011
Otha Turner’s Annual Family Picnic at Gravel Springs
The family of Otha Turner has continued his tradition of having a picnic at his old homestead in Gravel Springs between Senatobia and Como. The event features fife and drum music, Hill Country blues, good fun and barbecued goat (if you dare!).Â
Charles “Packy” Axton Album Release Party at Stax
In some ways, Charles “Packy” Axton was the forgotten man in the Stax Records saga. The son of one of the partners, Estelle Axton, he was a saxophone player in the original Stax band, the Mar-Keys, along with Don Nix and others. Exiled from Stax by his uncle, Jim Stewart (by some accounts due to drugs and/or alcohol), he recorded only a handful of sides before dying tragically in 1974, only in his thirties. But the really hip Light in the Attic Records label out of Seattle has assembled all the material they could find into one cool CD called “Late Late Party”, and the album release party at the Stax Museum was something of an all-star gala, despite the odd time of 4 PM on a Tuesday afternoon. Scott Bomar of the Bo-Keys was there, as well as Andrea Lisle, local Memphis music writer, Robert Gordon, the author of It Came From Memphis, legendary bluesman/photographer Don Nix, who had been Packy’s bandmate in the Mar-Keys, and L. H. White, who was the “L.H.” in L. H. and the Memphis Sounds, who cut four sides under Packy’s direction that would ultimately come out on the Nashville-based Hollywood label. Altogether, it was a good time with good music, and the only sad thing being that Charles “Packy” Axton never saw such acclaim during his lifetime.Â
Fairley vs. Hamilton at the Whitehaven Classic, 2011
The second game of the Whitehaven Classic was between Fairley High School and Hamilton High School. Fairley is a rather large school that usually has a band comparable to colleges in size and quality, and this year was no exception. Particularly first-rate is their drumline. Hamilton, on the other hand, is a sad shadow of its former self. For most of my youth, they were the high school band we most wanted to see at a parade or an event. In Christmas parades, they would march down the street a hundred strong, to a hard funk cadence provided by the drummers. Nowadays, they have only one tuba, only one or two bass drummers, one or two snares. Economic realities, crime and drugs have devastated the South Memphis area where the school draws its students from, and open enrollment has made it much easier for students to transfer out of district. It is all very sad to watch.
The end of the third quarter of Fairley and Hamilton was 10 PM, and I didn’t wait around for Whitehaven and Hillcrest.
The Acoustic Stage at the Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival, Clarksdale, 2011
The Acoustic Stage was at the Sunflower River on Yazoo Avenue, next door to the Quapaw Canoe Company. This stage featured such artists as Kenny Brown, Lucious Spiller and Robert Belfour, August 13, 2011, Clarksdale, MS
Drumma Boy’s Listening Party at R. Sole Memphis
Drumma Boy had the listening party for his new mixtape at a hip-hop clothing and shoe boutique called R. Sole in the Laurelwood Shopping Center, and that was really great because I wouldn’t have known about that shop otherwise. A lot of Memphis rap artists, producers and promoters were in the house, including DJ Bay and myself from Select-o-Hits, First Degree, G.K. and Li’l Pat.Â