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“Better recognize your brother (everyone you meet).” — John Lennon, “Instant Karma!”

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Posted on December 1, 2016December 1, 2016 by burginmathews

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Previous Previous post: The Homewood P.O., & Radical Kindness
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Burgin’s Radio Show: The Lost Child

Burgin’s Radio Show: The Lost Child

Burgin’s Book: Doc

Burgin’s Book: Doc

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An unexpected & generous listener donation to The Lost Child recently helped me score this exciting trove of albums from @fieldrecorderscollective — so much great music here, and tons of inspiration for future radio shows. I’ll play 2-3 tracks from this collection on tomorrow’s show and look forward to bringing you more of this music in the weeks and months and years to come.
#dorothylovecoates #gospelharmonettes #ninetynineandahalfwontdo #gospelmusic #gospelmusichistory #birminghamalabama #bookofancestors
Dr. D. Dix Hollis, celebrated brag fiddler of Sulligent, Alabama.
In 1967, Jefferson State Junior College expelled two students -- Robert Alexander & Roy Zachry, members of the Birmingham garage rock band The Distortions -- because they refused to cut their shaggy hair. The students sued the school, and in the case of Zachry v. Brown, U.S. District Judge Seybourn Harris Lynne ruled in the students’ favor. From Judge Lynn’s opinion: “Each plaintiff is a member of ‘The Distortions’, a band enjoying widespread popularity among the young people of this section. To establish and promote a public image the members of this band have adopted "page-boy" haircuts.... It is crystal clear from the admissions of defendants as witnesses that [school administrators’] insistence upon the withdrawal of plaintiffs from the college was motivated altogether by their dislike of what they considered exotic hairstyling. There is no suggestion that the page-boy haircuts affected by plaintiffs had any effect upon the health, discipline or decorum of the institution. Zachry was a candidate for the office of president of the freshman class and under the undisputed evidence in this case he would have been elected had he not been forced to withdraw. It may fairly be conjectured that the prospect of a young man with a page-boy haircut serving as president of his class triggered the action of defendants.”

Previous Posts

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  • Halloween Listening: Archival tales of ghosts, witches, & haints
  • Alabama Prison Swing
  • Back to School: Creative Writing 2.0.2.0
  • Sun Ra in Birmingham: A Few Ear(th)ly Artifacts
  • Aunt Bertha Robinson
  • Remembering Mamie Brown Mason (1930-2020)
  • Music Under Quarantine
  • Big Feet & Footnotes
  • “Impeach Me, Baby”: Songs of Presidential Impeachment (1868 – 2020)
  • A Fire No Water Could Put Out (Memphis, 1968; Birmingham, 1963)
  • Jumping for Joy at Bob’s Savoy
  • Draw Your Ancestors
  • “If This Ain’t Hugging, Show Me Now”: Juke Boxes & Juke Joints, Hank Williams, Jim Folsom, & Alabama Square Dance Politics
  • LISTEN! Live from Gip’s
  • The Ballad of Big Jim Folsom, Part 2
  • The Ballad of Big Jim Folsom
  • Dance-floor Intimacies
  • GREASE YOUR MOUTH & DRAW NIGH: Stone’s Famous Barbecue Sauce
  • OK, America: Your July Fourth Playlists
  • whiteboard cinema & royal alpacas
  • Sugar Foot Sam from Alabam
  • “As Ever Your Lady Billie Holiday”: Love Letters from Prison
  • The Magic Citizen
  • Instead of a Rifle, Bring a Violin
  • Some Birthdays & Obituaries & Lives Well Lived
  • Happy one hundred.
  • Talk On, Talkers (Playlist)
  • Tell me what you think.
  • Tornados & Snow (& some music)
  • Salute to Freedom ’63
  • Picturing Birmingham Jazz
  • March Around Hatred
  • Ridiculous? No! (a month of rare photos)
  • “Kiss June”: Johnny Cash’s To-Do List
  • Found Family Photos
  • Back to the Future & boxes of books
  • On Mortality & Barbecue
  • Jazz Demons!
  • Listen to this and feel good.
  • A New Zine! (Get It!)
  • Election Day Endorsements (Illustrated)
  • Blow, Lynn, Blow! (The Lynn Hope Story)
  • whiteboard cinema
  • Book of Ancestors: Juliette Hampton Morgan
  • A blues potluck. Fiddlers. The Beatles. Many hours of music. Hank Williams’s birthday. A party at The Jaybird. Video. More.
  • Listen! Choking on the Ties that Bind
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  • Alabama Road Trip (Summer 2018)
  • Tom Joad’s Last Words
  • Sunday listening: “The Legend of Buford Pusser”
  • HOT BOIL PNUTS (& other works in progress)
  • Born To Live: suggested listening
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  • This is what writing is like.
  • Voices Unearthed (some great news)
  • Jug Bands!
  • The School Week (highlights)
  • Evolution of a cardboard box (Part 1)
  • Spring! Poetry! Can-openers! Dirt!
  • Girl Scouts, Lost Heroes, & the Soul of Man
  • “Have you ever heard any music like this before?”
  • Finally, a beginning.
  • Jaybird Art: Elnora Spencer & Roger Stephenson
  • Weekend Listening: Frantz Casseus’s “Haitian Dances”
  • Create Your Own Creative Writing Exam
  • New Year’s Hankathon
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  • Blues for Sunday Morning
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  • This Is What You Shall Do
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  • Today’s playlist (illustrated)
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  • Thursday!
  • How to be a poet (drawing)
  • A Legacy Unsung: The Ethel Harper Story, Part Two
  • Hail, Hail! Viva, Viva!
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  • The Birmingham Sessions
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  • True Love & Broken Hearts: A Valentine’s Playlist, Part One
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  • Mighty Soul Women
  • A message for desolate hearts
  • Table(s) of Contents
  • A Right Gude Willie Waught, & Musical Obits
  • I’m On My Way: Singing for Freedom, Singing for Change
  • Corridos para Trump y Clinton
  • Happy Blues for John Glenn
  • Talking in traffic
  • The Homewood P.O., & Radical Kindness
  • Everybody Eats When They Come To My House: The Lost Child’s Thanksgiving Leftovers
  • Picturing the Lost Child: A Few Drawings & Posters
  • Here Is What We Do Now.
  • Happy Thanksgiving: The First Post
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