The Langston Hughes Project at The Pines Theater....

When I was a kid my brother and I often went to the movies on Saturday morning at the old Pines Theater in downtown Lufkin, Tx. The line for tickets snaked out the door, along the street and bent back into the ally just north up First Street from the entrance. I remember it being a big deal and a disappointment when I turned 13 years old and the price for entrance went to 50 cents. What should have been a big deal and a disappointment was at that time in my little southern town Black people couldn't drink out of the same water fountain as whites and if they had 50 cents to attend the Pines they could only sit separately in the balcony. This was such a "this is the way it is" moment in time that while I saw the drinking fountains with the white and colored labels I never noticed the location of the entrance where Black people bought their tickets and entered the theater.      

 The Pines is nicely redone after all these years and the Angelina Arts Alliance hosts some very nice shows there including last night's "Ask Your Mama, 12 Moods for Jazz" by the Langston Hughes Project. This was a great performance and jazz combo headed by Dr. Ron McCurdy, a music Professor at USC and a fine trumpet player. It's a multi media project of spoken word poetry, live music and visual projections to accompany poet Langston Hughes's epic early 1960s jazz poem detailing the struggle for artistic and social freedom. Hughes never saw this work performed. It's a good show. 

Dr. McCurdy also conducted a workshop at Angelina College earlier that day and as an opening several local poets, accompanied by the jazz trio of piano, bass and drums read their works. I am sorry I did not get their names.  

 My ticket for this show cost closer to $50 than 50 cents but it's was not a big deal. There were probably others in the audience that attended those same Saturday morning shows I did back in the day. We all sat together in the main part of the theater. I don't think any balcony seats sold. We've come a long way and I'm up to keep traveling.