Hey Walter, I trust you're keeping everyone in check at WRBL! Hey, now would be a great time to get that manuscript published. I need every cheap plug I can get for my music! LOL Stay in touch, Rusty
Virtually unknown today, "Blind Tom" was the most celebrated black concert artist of the 19th century and the first African-American to perform at the White House. An autistic savant, he was a musical prodigy that dazzled audiences all over the world, - a star and an oddity - , freed from slavery but still the property of his white guardian. Born May 25, 1849 on the Wiley Edward Jones plantation in Harris County, GA, Thomas Greene Wiggins was blind from birth, and was "thrown in" as a bargain when Col. James N. Bethune, a Columbus, GA lawyer, purchased his parents and two of his brothers at a slave auction in 1850.
From an early age, Tom craved sound. At four years old, he reproduced from memory music played by Bethune's children; at six, he began improvising on the piano and composing music. Favorable newspaper reviews of his first public concert in Columbus, GA at 8 years of age prompted Bethune to take Tom on tour, and he became a hired-out slave musician to Perry Oliver, a Savannah tobacco planter, for a three-year contract agreement. Bethune was paid $15,000 for Oliver's right to exhibit Tom, and he was quickly and deftly marketed as a freakish curiosity, an untutored "idiot," who nevertheless possessed rare and amazing powers as the "Musical Prodigy of the Age: a Plantation Negro Boy."
Protecting himself against the possible Union victory in the Civil War, Bethune convinced Tom's parents to sign an indenture agreement in 1864 for the five years following the war'
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Bibb City Ramblers w/ Wildman Steve at Broad Street Blues HOOTNANNY!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Bibb City Ramblers will be live at Broad Street Blues w/ Special Guest Wildman Steve. 9-27-08 Broad Street Blues Hootnanny!!!! Do not miss this show.....Harmonica's,Banjo's,Mandolins,Wash Boards, and more more more. Also a possibe SUPRISE Special Guest.........This is EASILY the show of the night. Wildman Steve has been a radio personality and musician for many years please tune into his station......
Because Broad Street Blues, located on the corner of Broad Street and Dillingham, boasts a unique role as both a contemporary hot spot and a welcome throwback to musical traditions of the past.
The club's smoke-free interior is anchored by art, antiques, guitars and music memorabilia.
The wall decorations, paired with plasma screen TVs showcasing blues artists in concert, keep partiers' eyes busy. Especially with the live entertainment on stage.
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