EDWARDS: In Search of Jackson's Black HeritageIT WAS JUNE 26, 1966, when the "March Against Fear," a protest walk from Memphis to Jackson organized by James Meredith to repudiate violence against blacks who tried to vote, reached its destination in downtown Jackson. This date has shared …
LADD: Hoofbeaters Make It Real<i>Remember the reception to honor the Murrah Hoofbeat staff Tuesday, March 4, from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center (downtown at 528 Bloom Street). Come have cookies and punch, and congratulate these young …
WIGGS: From Contrails to CommitmentIn the two days before the shuttle Columbia disintegrated and traced that awful sparkling arc across the Texas sky, I'd already been thinking about space. On Thursday, I'd read a Harper's article about the unthinkable catastrophe a relatively small asteroid …
Music Makes Me SmileI was taking a night off, lying in bed at 12:30 a.m listing to Muddy Waters when a thought occurred to me: It's time to bid farewell to the Subway Lounge—as we've known it. The world was about to be …
Early, Early Music"Early music" in Mississippi really started with a birthday party. Dr. Ernst Borinski, a professor of sociology at Tougaloo College since 1947, threw elaborate annual birthday parties throughout the 1970s to bring together many of the progressive elements in Jackson. …
Cotton Is King, by Steve CheseboroughEddie Cotton Jr. doesn't see any reason to leave Jackson. "Man, this town has been good to me," says the 32-year-old blues singer-guitarist. "They show appreciation. If you get to a place that's bigger, there's just more of nothing to …
Feeling the Indie Pulse, by Herman SnellThose of us old enough to remember W.C. Don's, Midnight Sun, Inez's, The Mosquito and the University Pub recall these ground-breaking Jackson music establishments with a nostalgic sigh of passing. In Jackson over the years I've seen The Strokes, Smash …
SPANN: The Wacky Professor Strikes Again"Sweetie, what do you think of all these corporate scandals?" "Well, management guru Charles Handy would posit that …" Uh-oh! The Wacky Professor strikes again!
MUSIC: Sultry and Soulful, by Courtney LangeIt's another sultry Wednesday night on Northside Drive. Women dressed to the nines and men wearing slick suits and hats sit casually at bistro tables drinking fancy, colorful drinks. Red lights filtered through cigarette smoke create a ruby haze under …
Hoops HeavenBasketball fans, your time has come. The MHSAA Boys/Girls State Tournament begins its 2-week run at the Mississippi Coliseum on Monday, Feb. 24 (schedule). Sixty teams, 12 days of action at the Big Barn ... Dr. S says check it …
Another Brand Of Football (Or Should We Blame This On ESPN?)Remember Australian Rules Football? That was a staple on ESPN back in the early 1980s before the network got rich enough to show college football, college basketball, NFL, NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball, etc., etc. 24/7 and had to expand …
True StoriesYou need to meet C.P. Ellis, a Klansman turned civil-rights activist. And Emma Knight, a jaded, feminist Miss USA. ("The only beauty queen in history that didn't cry when she won.") And a certain wise Puerto Rican bellhop. And a …
EDWARDS: Finding My RootsIt was 1961 when my father, then 19, moved from Mound Bayou, Miss., to Milwaukee, Wis., to live with his older brother Willie. Mound Bayou was offering few if any jobs, and the last thing he wanted to do was …
Growing Pains<i>Here's the thing: Jackson actually has a thriving music scene, filled with phenomenal, under-appreciated musicians and people who are working hard to give them opportunities to play. </i>
Jimmy KingWe sit on the concrete steps that protrude out of the grass on an empty lot near the corner of Pearl and Minerva, I on a white handkerchief that Jimmy King has put down and he on the cold concrete. …