Jacky Jack White, host of 'The Sucarnochee Revue'

The Sucarnochee Revue radio series which has entertained listeners around the world for six years will be coming to Mississippi Public TV in the Spring of 2011. Production has begun and I will be directing the initial productions for the series.

The series draws its name from the Sucarnochee Creek which meanders through an area of Mississippi and Alabama known as the “Black Belt” for the dark, fertile soil found there. The Black Belt is also a fertile area for music and its musicians are featured regularly in the series along with guests from across the southeast.

Singer/songwriter Jacky Jack White is the ringleader, carnival barker and host. White has penned songs recorded by Ray Stevens, Charley Pride, Buddy Jewell, Steve Wariner, Neal McCoy, Chip Greene, and Mark Lowery. He ushers the audience comfortably through a fast moving stage show featuring a variety of musical styles.

“What surprises people about the show is the fantastic range of musical genres,” White said. “We have blues, jazz, Dixieland, gospel, bluegrass, classical, country and more. Historically, there is an incredible amount of talent in the area.” Regulars include J. Burton Fuller, Britt Gully, Mississippi Chris Sharp and the Jangalang String Band, and Track 45. Each program also features guest artists from the Black Belt and beyond.

Programs for the series are recorded before a live audience. Initial production for the TV series will take place Friday, August 6th at 7:00 p.m. in the Temple Theatre of Meridian, Mississippi. Production for TV will continue on Friday, August 27th on the University of West Alabama campus in the Bibb Graves Auditorium in Livingston, Alabama.

I am excited to be a part of this new project which will allow me to collaborate with friends both old and new. My involvement with this production stems from the fact that my long-time friend and former work associate Tony Holt mixes the sound for the series and wanted to involve me as the director for TV. The production crew for Mississippi Public Broadcasting will be headed by Senior Producer/Director Key Ivy, who has worked for years with the popular Mississippi Roads series on MPB.

The admission charge for the live shows is $8.00 and I hope to see you there!

For more information:

The Sucarnochee Revue

Mississippi Public Broadcasting

Max Shores.

Shane Speal, King of the Cigar Box Guitar

Add a stick and some strings to a wooden cigar box and you’ve got an inexpensive musical instrument, a cigar box guitar. Each one is an original and some people say that each one has its own songs inside. These unique guitars and the people who make music with them are the subject of “Songs Inside The Box,” Sunday, June 20th at 2:00 p.m. on Alabama Public Television.

“Songs Inside the Box” was shot primarily at an Alabama event that brings together cigar box guitar enthusiasts from across the eastern U.S. The Cigar Box Guitar Extravaganza takes place each year in Huntsville. It will be on Saturday, June 26th this year. (More information below.) The event is attended by some of the more than 3,000 cigar box guitar builders and musicians who are connected through an Internet forum started several years ago by Shane Speal of York, Pennsylvania. Speal is the self-proclaimed “King of the Cigar Box Guitar” and he has united cigar box guitar hobbyists and professional musicians in a movement he calls the cigar box guitar revolution.

The revolution is all about having fun building instruments and playing music while finding some aspects of your personality that might otherwise remain hidden. Daniel Carter Beard, one of the founders of the Boy Scouts of America, published instructions for building a cigar box banjo in 1870. His programs were designed to help boys find their hidden inner savage.

“When you pick up a cigar box guitar, it’s like putting on a mask for Halloween,” says Huntsville blues guitarist Microwave Dave who appears in the documentary. “It gives you license to do whatever you want because nobody knows what to expect.”

Cigar box instruments have provided inexpensive entertainment since the 1800s and many professional musicians, including Jimi Hendrix, started their careers with cigar box guitars. “Songs Inside The Box” includes performances by more than a dozen different musicians and information about how to build and play your own instrument.

“I’ve had the opportunity to present this documentary at several film festivals,” said director Max Shores. “People in the audience laugh at the characters on the screen initially but then they begin to identify with them. By the end of the film a lot of people decide to build their own instrument and write their own songs,” he continued. “It’s an amazingly powerful way to express yourself.”

Shores is a producer-director in the University of Alabama Center for Public Television and Radio which is a service division of the College of Communication and Information Sciences providing instruction and practical experience on high quality productions to students.

For more information:

SongsInsideTheBox.com

The Cigar Box Guitar Extravaganza

Max Shores.

Martha Pullen and Kathy Barnard

During late spring and early summer each year since 1993, studio A at the University of Alabama Center for Public Television and Radio is transformed into Martha’s Sewing Room for production of the popular PBS series hosted by Martha Pullen. It has been my pleasure to mix the sound for the past few years of production and I’m looking forward to doing it again.

Martha and her guests demonstrate heirloom sewing techniques. Here’s one of my favorites:

For more information about Martha Pullen and Martha’s Sewing Room go to:

MarthaPullen.com

Max Shores.

Richard Johnston plays his Lowebow in a Mississippi Juke Joint

Richard Johnston: Hill Country Troubadour will be screened on Thursday, April 15th in Hattiesburg, Mississippi at the Keg and Barrel Brew Pub. The documentary screening will be followed by a preview of the pilot for a TV series, Unmanageable, featuring performances by Johnston. Richard Johnston will be in attendance and will answer questions about the instruments that he plays and the history behind his music.

Johnston is a street musician who plays regularly on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee. My documentary about him tells the story behind his music, featuring him live on Beale Street and in north Mississippi where he meets with his mentors, R. L. Burnside and Jessie Mae Hemphill.

Unmanageable is a TV series produced by Johnston and directed by Jennifer Johnson. I had the privilege of running a camera for the production which took place on Beale Street last July 4th.

These special screenings are a part of a two day celebration of the Keg and Barrel Brew Pub’s fifth anniversary. Johnston will perform at the club on Friday, April 16th.

For more information:

The Keg and Barrel Brew Pub

Richard Johnston: Hill Country Troubadour

Still images from Unmanageable

Buy a copy of Unmanageable

RichardJohnston.com

Max Shores.

The 2010 Alabama Stars in Education Awards will be broadcast live Wednesday, May 12th at 7:00 p.m. over Alabama Public Television. The gala event honoring inspiring students and teachers will be held in the Wesley Hall of Frazer United Methodist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. It is hosted by the Alabama State Department of Education and Alabama Public Television. Between now and then, there is a lot of work to be done by a lot of people and I’m gearing up for my small role.

The University of Alabama Center for Public Television and Radio provides production support for the broadcast and prerecorded materials which will appear during the broadcast. I will be editing the interviews with the four finalists for the Teacher of the Year award.

For more information:
http://www.aptv.org/stars

Max Shores.

Johnny Lowebow performs at the Cigar Box Guitar Extravaganza

The 6th Annual Cigar Box Guitar Extravaganza will take place on Saturday, June 26th in Huntsville, Alabama. This is the event at which most of my documentary, “Songs Inside The Box” was shot a couple of years ago.

The event attracts cigar box guitar enthusiasts from across the eastern U. S. and is a fun outing for anyone interested in these unique instruments.

It will begin at 12 noon with a vendors market followed by a screening of “Songs Inside The Box” at 4 p.m. and live music beginning at 6 p.m. with Johnny Lowebow, Microwave Dave, One String Willie, Eric “Joker” Baker, Gerry Thompson, and Little Johnny Kantreed!

Max Shores.

DVDs of "Songs Inside The Box,” the cigar box guitar documentary are now available online through The Cigar Box Guitar Emporium, an eBay store operated by Bill Jehle. Bill demonstrates how to build a cigar box guitar in the documentary as well as discussing the history of the instrument. He is from Decatur, Alabama and is the current curator of the National Cigar Box Guitar Museum, a collection of instruments started several years ago by Shane Speal, the self-proclaimed "King of the Cigar Box Guitar."                             The Cigar Box Guitar Emporium Belly Jelly Music, Bill’s website “Songs Inside The Box” website

Max Shores.

Anti-Gambling Movement Leaders in 1952 Phenix City

Present discussions regarding gambling here in Alabama are reminiscent of a time in the state’s past when Phenix City allowed many forms of gambling and state government officials looked the other way. Phenix City’s past was the subject of my documentary, “Up from the Ashes: The Rebirth of Phenix City.” I did the documentary, which was nominated for an Emmy Award, ten years ago. There has been renewed interest in Phenix City’s story recently because the state of Alabama is currently involved in a vigorous debate regarding bingo. Higher forms of gambling are forbidden here by state law, but bingo in various forms has been allowed for several years. Bingo began in Alabama as a way for non-profit organizations to raise money, but has escalated into big business in some locations. The governor has created a special task force which has taken action to end bingo operations, but the attorney general has ruled that the bingo operations are within the law. It appears that many people in the state would like to have an opportunity to vote on the issue.

Phenix City is located across the Chattahoochee River from Columbus, Georgia. It grew primarily as a bedroom community for the larger city of Columbus. The people of Phenix City worked in Columbus but were frequently the first workers to be cut when jobs had to be thinned. There just weren’t enough jobs for the people of Phenix City. Further, the town did not have a tax base large enough to support basic services. Gambling operations were proposed as a solution and they put it to a vote.

"They voted to authorize gambling to come in, illegally, of course, and they collected revenue in the form of licenses of illegal gambling operations," explains former Alabama governor John Patterson. "This was a conscious decision that the city fathers made."

The gambling operations provided jobs for the people of Phenix City and money for the city’s coffers. Since Columbus is home to Fort Benning, a large military operation, the customer base for Phenix City’s gambling was largely military men.

It started with a lottery, called "the Bug." On one occasion the building housing the lottery operation became so full of excited people that it literally collapsed. The lottery was just the beginning and Phenix City ultimately became the home of a powerful crime syndicate. The streets were lined with casinos. Alabama state law prohibited such operations, but state officials took no action either because they were paid off or because they were afraid of retaliation.

A few brave citizens in Phenix City banded together and managed to get local candidates to run on a platform opposing gambling. The gentlemen in the photo above were leaders in that movement. They were beaten outside the polling place on election day in 1952. As more people rallied to fight the crime, there were more beatings. There were bombings. And there was a murder. The murder of Phenix City attorney Albert Patterson following his election to the position of state attorney general brought national attention to the crime in Phenix City. Alabama’s governor took action, declaring marshall law. The National Guard took over the town and cleaned everything up in 1954. In 1955, Phenix City was awarded LOOK magazine’s All-America City award, given to cities that had been turned around by citizen involvement. Today it is a beautiful, thriving city.

For more about my documentary, visit http://maxshores.com/phenixcity

DVDs of “Up from the Ashes: The Rebirth of Phenix City” may be purchased for $21.00 each by calling 1-800-463-8825.

Max Shores.

Sunset over Kudzu

I was searching for a documentary topic when I called a friend to pick his brain. “You could do a documentary on kudzu,” he said and I was drawn into a field of tangled vines that hold me to this day. That conversation was in 1994 and in it I learned that my friend’s mother made baskets by weaving kudzu vines.

With the help of a student research assistant, I found fascinating people making things from kudzu, determined people trying to kill kudzu, and I unraveled the almost too strange to be true history of the kudzu plant in the US.

“The Amazing Story of Kudzu” was broadcast in Alabama in 1995 and distributed to PBS stations nationwide in 1996. I was interviewed by BBC Radio just before the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. They wanted to prepare visitors to Atlanta for the large areas of green vines they would witness. I have joked ever since about being one of the world’s leading scholars on kudzu.

The image of sunset over kudzu above was captured by cinematographer Greg McNair. I found what I thought would be the perfect spot to shoot it not knowing that Greg would have to stand in an ant bed. We used three thousand watts of light to illuminate the leaves in the foreground. The image has been used in textbooks and in brochures. It was also used as the backdrop for a conference on invasive plant species in China.

The simple web presence I created to promote this documentary remains popular today and I continue to get email questions about “the vine that ate the South.”

For more about kudzu, visit The Amazing Story of Kudzu.

Max Shores.

It was announced on December 30th, 2009 that "Songs Inside The Box," the cigar box guitar documentary won an Honorable Mention award from the Los Angeles Reel Film Festival. Despite the name, this isn’t a real film festival because it doesn’t include screenings of the selected films. It’s simply an awards competition, but I’m still quite honored that my work has been recognized.

According to the festival website:
"The Los Angeles Reel Film Festival was founded by a group of industry professionals whose aim is to seek out, acknowledge, and award the many talented independent filmmakers and screenwriters who may not get the recognition they deserve through many of the more political and commercial film festivals. The LARFF recognizes filmmakers and screenwriters who demonstrate exceptional achievement in craft and creativity. All genres of film, music videos and scripts are accepted by The LARFF and each will be judged thoroughly by accomplished award winning directors, producers and industry executives."

"Songs Inside The Box" is a really fun documentary and I’d like for as many people as possible to see it. If you haven’t yet, look for it on your PBS station in 2010. When I know dates, I’ll post them here.

The people who are in the documentary are the reason it has won several awards and I would like to thank them for sharing themselves through the documentary.

For more about "Songs Inside The Box," go to SongsInsideTheBox.com.

Pictured above: Robert Hamilton with Shane Speal, King of the Cigar Box Guitar

Max Shores.