St. Patrick's Catholic Church Honors Black Catholic Witness to Our Faith...

 Saturday St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Lufkin celebrated the contribution of Black Catholics to the faith with a Mass at Pitser Garrison Civic Center led by the Bishop of Tyler, Greg Kelly and with music by the Liturgical Choir of St. Francis of Assisi from Houston, Tx. Many volunteers from our Lufkin Parish worked together to provide a beautiful alter to celebrate the Eucharist, a great meal with greens to die for and hospitality for all who attended. These are the photos I made. 

The gospel Readings selected for this Mass were from Luke 6:27-38. I found them very though inspiring.

27 “But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.

32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.[e] Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

I especially like our Pastor Father Denzil's thoughts on the day as published on the local TV station web site:

Father Vithanage emphasized the unity that faith brings, particularly in today’s climate.

“Especially in the midst of racism and division, we are one. Especially when it comes to our faith,” he said.

The event was spearheaded by Father Denzil and Dr. Guessippina Bonner. Father Denzil said the event will be the first of many commemorations for Black history.

I am proud of my church and my friends for the efforts to preserve this history and the story of the people who have lived it. . 

Of course I bought their CD. 

History tells us the first Black Catholics were in Texas in the 1500s and that there have been several Black Popes. 

A great day for all people and it was right here in Lufkin. 

 

  

Wake Up Deadman...

 My music room is worth a blog post at least once a year. Actually I have two music rooms, one full of electric instruments (the acoustic instruments are all over the house since they are not beholden to amps, zip strips and instrument cables) and this one full of records and cds. If you count trombone and three string trance guitar as instruments there is some spill over between the two rooms.  

I spent a good bit of time in this room during the recent deep freeze cold snap picking out a sound track for our cabin fever. I don't know how many titles there are available but I tried to pick things I had not listened to any time recently or those that I might have completely forgotten about. I recently read the book by John Lomax "Confessions of a Ballad Hunter" about his adventures capturing blues, folk songs and work songs by recording the singers in whatever environment he found them. This reminded me I had a cd of Texas prison work songs from the mid 1960s called Wake up Deadman. I could not locate that cd to save my life.    

Generally I file alphabetically except for the records on the floor that are piled into the categories of swing, polka, exotic and George Jones. Since Wake up Deadman is a compilation of various singers there is a various artists cd section which would be a sensible place for it except it's not there. I dug all through the piles in likely spots but no luck. This search goes on a few days and then I decide to listen to Dylan and picking up a handful of cds from the "D" stack and there is Wake Up Deadman. Makes perfect sense, file it under "D" 

The story does not end here. As usual it's on to the next big thing. Our last time in New Orleans at Satchmo Summer Fest I bought a New Orleans Brass Band Compilation at the Jazz Museum. I know I listened to it once and I'm pretty sure it's burned to a USB drive we listen to in the cars but I can't locate it there among the thousands of songs or in the room stacks either. It's around somewhere just creatively filed and I can't recall the exact title to give clues on the location. I do remember it's multiple cds divided into old school traditional bands and newer, modern sounds. 

Wake Up Deadman, find that cd! 

  

      

Gumbo and Zydeco...

  Another event that's been on my radar for a couple of years and I was glad when the stars lined up and we made it to the Gumbo and Zydeco Cook Off in Lufkin Tx sponsored by the Angelina County Citizens Chamber and The Pineywoods Trail Ride Association. Prizes were awarded for the best gumbo and the best dancers. Supplying the music for the dancers was Leon Chavis and the Zydeco Flames. 

Leon comes from a fine old zydeco family. He is the great nephew of Boozoo Chavis one of the all time giants of zydeco music. I've see Boozoo at the jazzfest in New Orleans and here's a photo I made that day which I can only date as sometime in the 1990s. As you may have guessed gumbo and zydeco is hot work. 

I think one of the best shows I have seen and one of those that fall under the category of I'd see it again if I could was in 2001. Right before jazzfest time Boozoo had a heart attack while playing in Austin, Tx. The band with guitarist Sonny Landreth filling in played their gig obligation at the fest dedicating the show to Boozoo. It was a heartfelt tribute and I was glad to be in the audience. Boozoo passed a week later. 

I've seen a couple of zydeco shows this year and they all play Boozoo's tune "Uncle Bud." 

I did manage to get my photo on the Lufkin Daily News web site, taken while I waited on a bowl of gumbo and an order of beignets. Many thanks to Brock West the photographer for keeping me in the news. 

At $5 a bowl the gumbo was a bargain and it was good with shrimp and sausage but next year I think we should enter Suzi Powell in the contest. 

Money from the event went to affordable housing projects in our area. 

There are many festivals for zydeco and gumbo, some with RV camping in easy striking distance just over the Sabine River in our neighboring state of Louisiana. Come spring they will be in full swing and I'll be looking for a good one. 

Leon and the boys were very good and very loud. It's been a few years since I have played the VFW and the stage has had some nice upgrades but I have never got to play that loud there. Good show guys! 

 

 

Haiti and Pete Rose, More Alike Than You Think...

 If I get a chance I always go see Haitian music. There's a lot to unpack in that music and it beats standing at a show counting a 1, 2, 3, 4 rock beat. I don't go to baseball games as much as I would like to but I take in the Astros when I can and when in Chicago have been able to see the Cubs at Wrigley Field and since the PK are on the Sox side of town I've been there also. My dad took us to Astros games in the Dome and it's possible I saw Pete Rose play as a child but I really don't remember. With Haitians in the news and Pete's passing it occurred to me how much they are alike.

The Haitian Revolution, slaves rose up against rose up against French rule to free themselves 1791-1804. It was a terrible bloody time but the French and later the British and Spanish who all came to be involved in the conflict were pretty impressed with former enslaved people's initiative and organization and American slave owners were so scared by it that they banned anyone from Haiti (some slipped into New Orleans) and by 1808 had banned importation of Africans preferring homegrown enslaved people to anyone than might cause trouble. The war probably helped the USA in the fact that the horrible losses of troops suffered by the colonial powers blunted their ambitions in this hemisphere but Haiti was left destitute when in 1825 France sent warships to demand repatriations for those that owned land and slaves. Haiti was forced to take out loans which hurt prosperity and though paid off in 1947 the country has never recovered and is rife with gangs and occupied by U.N. police forces. 

That's the history of the Haitian Revolution in a nutshell as I read in Ned Sublette's books which pile many interesting tidbits on history, culture and music together. Apparently some are still taking it out on Haiti by claiming immigrants in the U.S. fleeing the current chaos eat household pets. That's a long grudge. 

Pete Rose, the all time hits leader in major league baseball bet on baseball and as a manager he bet on his own team. He admitted these things. Pete's nickname was Charlie Hustle and by all reports may not have been all that nice of a guy having led a controversial life and baseball seems to have it in for him by basically ignoring attempts at reinstatement (hind of like Haiti) while other people have been tarnished by betting without suspension and as long as I check the box that says I'll old enough I can download an app to bet on sports from my phone. Don't tell my wife about that as she's all in for Mahomes and I don't want her that far in.   

I think we can connect the dots pretty easily between Pete and Haiti. Both are on the outs with the powers that be. The question is how do you get back in? Do we summon Papa Legba? I may be asking this myself by the time the other hand, which we are never watching reads this blog. 

             

   

     

Dictator of Taste...

We saw one of my heroes last night at the Heights Theater in Houston, Tx. Think if you rolled the Temptations, Curtis Mayfield, Archie Bell and the Drells all into one then spiked blues singers Ledbelly and Mississippi Fred McDowell's whisky with ayahuasca and you get what Fantastic Negrito calls "black roots music for everyone."  

I called this blog "Dictator of Taste" because that's what he had painted on the back of a gold flowing thrift store costume he wore. Fantastic Negrito's story is a good one and it's why he's my hero. Poised for pop success with an album out in 1996 under his given name of Xavier he suffered a near fatal car cash which left him in a coma for three weeks. The crash left permanent damage to his right hand. In 2015 he won NPR's Tiny Desk Concert contest and has since won three Grammy's. 

His stage show is very energetic and his dancing energy does not indicate that he's 56 years old. The songs are the story of a man examining his life. His experiences guide the music and he is an independent artist with his own record label for people who were told the were too old, the wrong body type or the wrong color. The backing band was treat. Everybody was a singer and sometimes there was so many parts going on vocally, high gospel harmony and low bass singing that it could be hard to keep up with.       

I did not get the guitar players name. Good playing and singing, a strong back up man, doing it all. Great costume also. A stage show, it's what we want to see. 

We enjoyed the show from the gallery balcony seating. I'd say maybe 200+ people at the show and while certainly dedicated fans our seats were good and not crowded. 

There was a great performance of Ledbelly's "In the Pines." That's a good song for me as I have an oscilloscope reading of this tune tattooed in tribal style around my left upper arm. As I say, we connect. 

  Fantastic calls himself a recovering narcissist. "My dog died, my cat died, how can I make this about me?" He says there a lot of steps to this journey of taking the bullshit and turning it into good shit.    

Opening band was the Houston based Mighty Orq. Great guitar sound playing electric and a wonderful delay drenched cigar box guitar and resonator used to good effect. I think he has played locally at the Live Oak Listening room and looks like he has guitar lessons on his YouTube channel  

Check out these bands and check out the Heights Theater. Be a Dictator of Taste. Turn that bull into something good. 

Cross Satchmo Summer Fest Off the Bucket List...

Satchmo Summer Fest a celebration of the great Louie Armstrong's birthday held in his home town of New Orleans is one of those things I always wanted to do but I was usually working that weekend. I retired and this weekend we booked a room at one of our favorite hotels, The Frenchman, which is right across the street from the New Orleans Jazz Museum where the fest is held and just steps away. 

Anything we wanted to do was close by from street music, clubs and dining and never required driving so the car stayed parked all weekend.   

The story goes that on New Years Eve 1912 an eleven year old Armstrong was sent to the Colored Waifs Home for firing a blank pistol in the air. He took up the cornet there and the world was never the same as he became one of the most influential figures in jazz. Louie often said that when he played he looked right into the heart of New Orleans.  

 New Orleans is a city that each person has a personal version of. I have been coming to soak up the music, food and culture since 1983. The oldest African American Parish in the country, St. Augustine dating back 180 years holds a jazz Mass each Sunday. You can hang with the drunk college boys from LSU on Bourbon St. when you visit or you can live like the people live by attending neighborhood functions. That's what I choose. There is a lot of history here from the tomb of the Unknown Slave to being the parish where Louie, Sidney Bechet and Homer Plessy attended. 

After Mass there followed a second line parade from the church to the fest led by social and pleasure clubs, brass bands and other costumed characters.   

Lots of good bands at the fest, brass bands, jazz singers, traditional and more modern stuff I would guess that with only two stages and inside venues for piano music and educational discussions and the museum exhibits I managed to see about a quarter of what was offered and even that was plenty to digest. 

It's hot in New Orleans. Like Deep Mardi Gras it's Deep Summer and one of the internet funny men I follow said all his friends were indoors with only crappy tourist from Biloxi walking the streets. I'll take being a crappy tourist in New Orleans because as playwright Tennessee Williams said, "everywhere else is Cleveland" and it is nice to know that if I can't take the heat there is a whole world of air conditioned fun to see.     

Preservation Hall Brass. 

The Onward brass band on stage

 Best I can tell I saw 17 different tuba players this past weekend. Find your own personal New Orleans.  

 

 

The Turning Point...

I must have just turned 19 years old and was living in the dorm at Stephen F. Austin State University in the spring of 1976 when the guy in the room next door, Quince, introduced me to the music of British bluesman John Mayall. Quince is still listening to good music and I know he has seen Mayall, who passed away today at 90 years old, in concert a number of times over the years.  

After hearing this news I checked the old record collection and found I had an even dozen John Mayall recordings. Most of these records I bought in the late 1970s but Mayall's recording goes back to the early 60s British Blues boom when roots American music and the people who played it were more appreciated in England than at home. Mayall's bands featured one of the most extensive who's who family trees of music with many British musicians getting their start honing chops in his groups such as Eric Clapton and members of Fleetwood Mac and the Rolling Stones. Recently Texas blues guitarist Carolyn Wonderland has been featured in the guitar chair for Mayall's music. 

At the time Mayall appealed to me, a horn player, because he used jazz horn players in big band type sections like one of my favorites trumpeter Blue Mitchell, and he released albums with unconventional lineups he called "blues without bashing' that featured flute, nylon fingerstyle guitar and violin. In these records there were no drums which was a departure from the style of blues Mayall had been playing.

For a musician to live to 90 years old and stay active as Mayall did only recently retiring is a good run. He's scheduled to soon be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He deserves it. 

 

 

   

 

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.   

 

Usher, Brass Bands, Belly Dancing, It's All Short Steps...

 I went to a kids event. One of those drop by and trick or treat things with my grandkids. As I walked across the parking lot I passed someone's Pop-Pop sitting in his car, either too scared or too selfish to come in. I think maybe it was the latter as he was blasting the rock band Led Zeppelin from the tiny speakers in the family grandkid transporter. Have you heard this band? Some of the songs are "Whole Lot of Love" and "Dazed and Confused." I felt like saying "Hey man, there's kids here!" To be fair I do own one Led Zeppelin album. It's one that came out that summer when my wife, Cathy was a teenager and she spent every free moment at the beach cultivating future skin cancers so it's like a nostalgic favorite. These days she plays it while getting ready for appointments with her skin specialists. Yeah, Led Zeppelin equals trouble all these years later. 

Usher, a rap/R&B/neo soul singer who was born after that favorite Led Zeppelin album came out and recorded his first record in 1994 played the Super Bowl halftime show this year. I watched it. I thought it was good. Some comments I saw were "crappy" "ungodly" and "terrible." Since Usher has sold about 60 million albums worldwide and no telling how many streams on Spotify I'd guess there was a lot of people who enjoyed the show.

Just as Led Zeppelin has some musical roots in American blues music Usher showed some cultural roots to his music by having the Jackson State Marching Band, the Sonic Boom of the South on the field. I'm only an amateur musicologist but I will put forth the theory that the hip hop/R&B style dancing has some of it's roots in the drum majors and twirler routines and the half time shows of the Historically Black Colleges and University Bands. HBCU bands have a long history of appearances at Super Bowls. Usher was paying his dues and bringing culture, one you may not be familiar with to your living room. 

         

Once on a visit to New Orleans, our first one since Katrina, we had dinner at an Asian restaurant downstairs from the Dragon's Den club. It's no longer there but I had the best fish soup ever and afterwards we went upstairs to the club for the show. The opening act was belly dancers. Belly dancing if you are not a fan is the oldest form of dance, has been incorporated into some R&B dance routines and is considered a healthy weight bearing and strengthening exercise for all ages and abilities. Probably doesn't matter what sex you identify as either. After the belly dancers the Soul Rebels Brass Band performed. The Soul Rebels at the time were one of the modern New Orleans Brass Bands blending soul, funk, jazz, rock and the New Orleans tradition all into one blend. It was a good show and someone told me that night that all the band members had been drum majors at HBCUs. Band nerds. At break time during rehearsals they probably stand around and tell funny stories about what their music theory professor said during class when they were in college.  

   When you see a show like Usher's Super Bowl performance go a bit deeper. After all sometimes you see New Orleans Bands Performing rock covers including Led Zeppelin tunes. 

Don't be afraid, don't be selfish. Let everybody have their music. They are going to no matter what you think. 

 

Mardi Gras Galveston...

They say as you age you may be faced with lower expectations. If Mardi Gras in Galveston or as planned for next weekend in Shreveport is lower expectations compared to the good old like when me and Cathy went on our second date to Mardi Gras in New Orleans I'll take it. It certainty is easier to keep up with a grandkid on the Seawall or the family viewing area in Shreveport than on Bourbon St. 

This past weekend is considered Mardi Gras for the locals in Galveston. My son in law Tim works for Galveston County and we found a spot to watch the parade right next to one of his co workers and family. You can pay to get in The Strand area where there are food booths and live music but standing on the Seawall is good free fun.     

A crazy Mardi Gras Lady waits patiently for the parade. 

We drove down to Rose and Tim's, put the camper in the driveway, spent two nights and then all drove to Galveston with lawn chairs and a picnic lunch. Warren and Coraline had actually made a Mardi Gras in New Orleans when they were young, It was a trip when they were the only grandkids, everyone went early in the season and there were lots of walking parades and tuba players. They don't remember it. Fortunately there is a blog. 

A look up the Seawall toward Pleasure Pier. I think next year we bring the camper as there were plenty of people who did. Apparently you can set up on Thursday morning for a fee of $2 an hour during business hours which works out to similar fees in campgrounds and pay by the license plates on truck and camper from an app on your phone. You could dry camp and the Academy Sporting Goods across the street was generous with bathrooms but I think with Cathy starts cashing the Social Security Checks in May which will double our income the purchase of a generator will be on the agenda. See the guy with the political sign running for city council? he was two spaces from our set up and he cooked jambalaya to serve 200 people in an iron pot. It's that kind of party.      

Lots of good bands in the style of Historically Black Colleges and Universities bands which have a big brassy sound with blaring tubas. I made many good photos for my tuba picture collection including this guy who creatively used duct tape to continue the gig. I wonder if this is temporary or it's been like that all season.   

We stayed on and caught a second night time parade. 

We collected lots of throws and my grandson Ezra already has a pack picked out to put his beads from Shreveport next weekend. All these beads will be reused for our church Fat Tuesday Party on Feb. 13th at 6pm. There will be the Krewe of Sri Lankus Parade led by Father D, catfish plates by the KoC and I'll cook gumbo. All for $5. 

This may be lowered expectations compared to some New Orleans extravaganzas of the past but I'll take  it. As the Neville Brothers say, Mardi Gras to the world!

 

 

Mardi Gras Parade Shreveport...

I've been to Mardi Gras in a few places besides New Orleans and this was my first time for a parade in Shreveport and it was a fine one. Here's the Captain of the Krewe of Centaur, Byron who happens to be the husband of a high school classmate of mine, Bobbie. You can spot Bobbie on the passenger side of the float with the sliver dot of the spotlight shining in her face. We had a great place to stand and after seeing everyone set up with BBQ, grilling and boiling pots we might be back with our full equipment next year.  

I think our last Mardi Gras parade might have been in Galveston just as COVID was (not that it's ramped down, probably know 20-30 people who had it the last couple of weeks) ramping up. Cullen, who caught on to bead catching quick was not even born. Mine and Cathy's second date was Mardi Gras in New Orleans and she caught on to bead catching quick also. 

Note the campers in the background. Maybe we will bring ours next year as I asked a sheriff what the rules were for campers along the parade route and he said anything not blocking the road or hurting anyone is ok. I mean it is Louisiana after all.   

Parker has seen a couple of Mardi Gras and knows what to do. 

Plenty of good throws to be had. The parade reported a million strands of beads and 200,000 go cups to toss from floats. Actually we were on a mission as we plan on using the beads we collected to decorate for the St. Patrick's Catholic Church Mardi Gras Party. I'll be cooking the chicken and sausage creole for that event.  

Ezra loads the wagon. 

Mary and Matt catching beads and running down errant children. 

Speaking of children, left to right Ezra, Cullen, Luca and Parker, the real Zulu Kings. 

 

An Old Cassette Tape and the Memories...

 

We've been decluttering. I know everyone does that and you thought I was way cooler than to worry about the krap the kids find in my drawers, cabinet drawers that is, and way too cool to do something everyone else is doing so I'll talk about lost treasure found.

In a pen holder, office desk krap holder, you know what I mean on the kitchen counter near the old phone jack when you had a phone on the counter and needed something like this to take down a note instead of just consulting the information from the text you received Cathy found an old homemade cassette tape labeled Harlem Jazz. I still have a cassette deck as a part of my home stereo and the tape plays well to be probably alomst 40 years old.  

I remember this tape well. It was made from a friend's album and back in the days when I cruised around in the Rockett 88 it was in heavy rotation. There is no track listing so I can only guess at the artist but I'll go out on the limb and say maybe the 40s because it swings, there's no bebop and I've listened to some cuts from an album on youtube called Harlem Jazz 1930 and it's a later style than this. 

If you recall an old blog post I did visit the National Jazz Museum in Harlem on a New York City trip in 2019 so I have been to the source.

  I don't have photos on this cassette so it was possibly made from a collection of albums. I don't recall all these years later but I would say these are all African American singers and players. 

I have written many blog posts on my collecting of thrift store records. One particular category that is easily and cheaply collected with the records being in good shape is the Readers Digest Box Sets. I look for the 20s, 30s, 40s, swing and polka sets but there is something in the collection for everyone. Well most everyone. Seems if you were to like, let's say Harlem Jazz, in my collecting ventures I've found none as part of this series.  

Now I know Readers Digest is not know for a particularly edgier style of journalism so we should expect nothing different from the records but where are the records by the black jazz musicians? Sure there might be a Duke Ellington or a Billie Holiday or an Ella Fitzgerald  here and there on a 9 record set but certainly nothing like this:

Or this:

From record collecting I can tell when a family member has died. The bins at the thrift will be full of all the records made by the country singer they like the most and the family brought them by the box to the drop off. . Or when someone's mom decided it was time to clean out Jr's room and tossed all his Grand Funk records. I would imagine there is some who easily fill out incomplete collections like this but maybe some people don't discard the old records. They stay in the family collection. Hopefully that's where the Harlem Zazz records are but I would not mind finding at least one old compilation disc.  

Those were fine days driving in the Rockett 88 or listening on the big home unit with a state of an art tape deck. Today Sirus Radio called and I did not pick up because I use the USB drive in my cars and I made a new drive today. It has 4500 songs on it. If you bring a zip drive over I'll make you one also. We call it Carl and Cathy Radio.  

Don't worry I'm not tossing the records. Someday someone at the thrift store will wonder what kind of guy had all this? 

            

The Marian Anderson String Quartet at The Museum of East Texas...

I wrote about how there is so much music and so little time in my last blog. I finally made it to the Museum of East Texas to see one of the Sights and Sounds Series performances. These concerts feature performances sponsored by the Musuem and the Angelina Arts Alliance by jazz classical and bluegrass musicians and coming up in may is the polka group Brave Combo which is always a good time. The group I saw was the Marian Anderson String Quartet.

The Quartet takes it's name from the famous contralto singer Marian Anderson. She sang opera to spirituals and was influential in leading the way to recognition for African American artists.

I have often thought that we leave too much history to be written by the politicians, the generals, the scientists or the very rich. I think we would do better if we let the artist write the history through their lens of understanding. The Marian Anderson Quartet presents folk music influenced by folk music, old spirituals, western swing, European classical and pieces that drew inspiration from the songs of Native Americans. The groups' outreach is education and if we believe there is a place in history to tell the story of all people why not use music to do it? If anyone does not agree to the beneficial aspects of music they are not going to agree to anything. 

Check out the Sights and Sounds Series. It's bringing good things to our town. It's free but there are contributions you can make to help further education and excellent events such as these. 

You can bet I'll be there to see Brave Combo. 

              

  

 

Looking Back Through Time Today...

 I pursue a little family genealogy from time to time. It does not go to the extent a few friends and relatives efforts do where they travel and look up old records in court houses and graves in cemeteries. It's just a rainy day type thing that I do using ancestory.com when I can't play outside. Maybe one day when I can't play outside so well at all I'll check out the genealogy room at my local library which will probably have a staggering amount of info on my people who started coming to the area in the late 1830s and 40s. 

One particular person I have been curious about is someone who never made it to Angelia County. His name is Aqullia Nerren. I think I have picked up some vibe, maybe it's from the unusual name or the sparse information I have but it's cased me to look a bit further. I can't really call it all a proud history because it involves my people owning people and living in infamous places but it is an interesting history.  

Aquilla was my 4th great-grandfather. He was born in 1780 in Abbeville South Carolina. and passed away in Lafayette County, Mississippi in 1848 and was a slave owner. This is all I knew at one point so to flesh him out a bit I looked up Abbeville County. Before his birth Indian Treaties had been signed there and the native people had moved on. By the Civil War the area was a hot bed of succession activity. From 1882 to 1919 there were nine documented lynching's in the county. It's a poor county with median family income reported in 2010 at $33, 143. Lafayette County, Mississippi is thought to be the model for William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County which was where he set his famous gothic southern novels.  

Here is an online photo of someone's research into Aquilla with more details you can read for yourself.  

Aquilla was my 4th great grand father. His was John, who made it to Angelina County in 1848 with his family in a covered wagon and settled at Marion's Ferry running a ferry until his murder in 1850. If you read the document you will find mention of a slave, Solomon. You probably can't look up Solomon's genealogy very well since he was willed like property by John to youngest son George Nerren but apparently was so instrumental in the ferry which crossed to Nacogdoches that after the Civil War it became know as "Sol's Ferry." This is interesting because once I was fishing with a friend on the Attoyac River branch of Lake Sam Rayburn and he showed me an unofficial campground in the woods where old hairy county people came to camp and fish and he called it "Sol Bridge." I don't know if there is a connection.     

John was my 3rd great grandfather. His son George who owned Solomon was born in Yalobuscha County Mississippi in 1845, and passed in Angelina county in 1900. George had two sons B.F. Nerren who figures in the history of Angelina as a former sheriff and my great great grandfather John Quiller Nerren, the father of my grandmother Gladys Nerren Wallace. Quiller as they called him was born in Lufkin in 1869 and passed away. in 1946 in Granny's old house on Jack Street in Lufkin. I have a picture of Quiller around here somewhere but I can't find it. 

Let's see if I can get this right:

Aquilla was married to "Emilly" "Emelia" or Emily Learwood.

John Nerren was married to Elizabeth Mooney

George Nerren was married to Nancy Jane Needham and "had a relationship" which produced children with Julia Ridgway.

Quiller Nerren was married Aliza Lydia Albritton and that's why all Albritton's in Angelina County are related to me. 

There's a lot to learn from this history here. It's how we got here and it's how we move on. More information will come to light and we will adapt and add it to the record. As Faulkner said, "The past is not dead. It's not even past."  

Here's photo of Granny with my dad and uncles. left to right Sammy, Leonard, Bill, Don, Granny and my dad, Gene.