Memphis’ Booker T. Washington High School began its life in the late nineteenth century as Kortrecht High School in the former Peabody School building in South Memphis between two rail yards (the current Peabody School in Cooper-Young was built to replace the one which became Kortrecht). The principal of Kortrecht was Green Polonius Hamilton, for whom Hamilton High School is named. Hamilton was one of a number of African-Americans in Memphis calling for a new and better school building, as Kortrecht’s location in the rail yards led to considerable noise and smoke. Memphis eventually agreed to build a new school, but the city’s intent to name it the Memphis Negro Industrial High School led to city-wide complaints. Black citizens asked that the school be named for G.P. Hamilton, but the city cited a policy that forbid schools from being named for living people. Ultimately the school was named for Booker T. Washington, a Black educator who met with the approval of Southern whites for advocating industrial and agricultural education, and for counseling African-Americans in the South to refrain from attempting to vote or to agitate for equal rights. The new Booker T. Washington High School opened in 1927, and notably chose the same school colors (green and gold) and mascot (Warriors) as the white Central High School. Like Manassas, BTW produced a number of great musicians over the years (most of the original Bar-Kays were alumni). Here the BTW band and drumline march down Park Avenue in Orange Mound during the Southern Heritage Classic Parade, 9/8/12
music
Beautiful Weather at the Southern Heritage Classic Parade
Beautiful parade weather, Orange Mound, Memphis TN, 9/8/12
Memphis Manassas High School Band in the Southern Heritage Classic Parade 2012
Manassas High School in North Memphis is the second-oldest Black high school in Memphis (it was originally a county school, as it was outside the city limits of Memphis). It has a long tradition of excellent music which began when Jimmie Lunceford was hired to be the band director of the school. Lunceford would go on to fame and fortune in the world of big band jazz, along with one of his former students, drummer Jimmy Crawford. Great Memphis musicians such as Emerson Able, Isaac Hayes and Howard Grimes attended Manassas High, and although the school has suffered from low enrollment in recent years, its football program was recently featured in a documentary called Undefeated. Here the Manassas High band marches in the Southern Heritage Classic Parade in Orange Mound, Memphis TN, 9/8/12
Michigan City Soul Steppers Drill Team & Drumline in the Southern Heritage Classic Parade
The Michigan City Soul Steppers Drill Team and Drumline from Michigan City, Indiana marches in the Southern Heritage Classic Parade in Orange Mound, Memphis TN, 9/8/12
The Michigan City Soul Steppers in Memphis
#109 Michigan City Soul Steppers and Drumline (by jdoggtn7)
The Michigan City Soul Steppers Drill Team and Drumline march in the Southern Heritage Classic Parade in Orange Mound, Memphis TN, 9/8/12
Spectators Dancing With the Michigan City Soul Steppers at the Southern Heritage Classic Parade
Spectators began to dance as the Michigan City Soul Steppers drumline marched down Park Avenue in the Southern Heritage Classic Parade in Orange Mound, Memphis TN, 9/8/12
Michigan City Soul Steppers and Drumline, Southern Heritage Classic Parade 2012
The Michigan City Soul Steppers and Drumline are a youth dancing and drumming program in Michigan City, Indiana. This was their first year in the Southern Heritage Classic Parade, Orange Mound, Memphis TN, 9/8/12
Big Star-Radio City (via @OneWeekOneBand)
To all intents and purposes, Radio City is a pretty strange album too. As with the later Third (which I spent enough time rattling on about yesterday), it wasn’t quite the work of a band at all. Members come and went, the sessions were irregular and erratic – a couple of the songs were even recorded by a scratch band in Chilton was the only member of Big Star actually present. They, incidentally, called themselves the Dolby Fuckers – the name allegedly stemming from Chilton’s cluelessness about certain studio gizmos (ie: “What the hell are these Dolby fuckers?”)
Yet, for all the haphazardness of its construction, it’s a damn tight bunch of performances – albeit veering far from the glistening power pop of #1 Record. Sure, Chris Bell’s fingerprints are smudged across a couple of the tracks here, like ‘Back of a Car’ – one of the only things that rocks in the same determined way as its predecessor. Otherwise, Chilton’s material – although expertly played – is surprisingly slack; ‘Mod Lang’ and ‘Life Is White’ are hazy stoned paeans to not much at all, while ‘She’s a Mover’ may be the only Big Star song that choogles.
It’s an incredible record in its own terms, and you couldn’t really pick a stand-out if you tried…save, of course, for one song in particular. You can probably guess which one I’m talking about.
[pictured above – alternate cover for Radio City. Photo by William Eggleston. L-R: Jody Stephens, Andy Hummel, Alex Chilton]