Flotte's Notes on Mobile and Baldwin Alabama Citizens

Mobile-Baldwin Visual Arts

Mobile-Baldwin Art Museums

· Mobile Museum of Art is located in Langan Park.

o The Mobile Museum of Art was founded in 1963 by the Mobile Art Association.

o In 2002, the museum underwent a $15 million expansion to triple its size. It was designed by The Architect’s Group.

o The permanent collections consist of the African and Asian Collection, the Altmayer American Gallery Collection, the Katharine C. Cochrane Gallery of American Fine Art Collection, the Maisel European Gallery Collection, the Riddick Glass Collection, and the Smith Crafts Collection. Dr. J. Rhodes and Elise Haverty of Atlanta initiated a contemporary glass collection in 2001 which now consists of over 183 pieces. - Wikipedia

o Many of the museums acquisitions are made possible through proceeds from the Annual Outdoor Arts and Crafts Fair, cosponsored by the Art Patrons League and the Mobile Museum of Art. - Wikipedia

· Eastern Shore Art Center

· Centre for the Living Arts

Mobile-Baldwin Art Galleries

· The Victorian Teal Art Gallery

· GULF ArtSpace

· Space 301 Contemporary Art Gallery is located at 301 Conti Street in the former Mobile Register building

· Chesser Studio Project (306 Dauphin St) named after its late owner, William Chesser

· Cathedral Square Gallery (260 Dauphin St) was started by Jane Shaw who modeled the cooperative after a gallery in Taos, New Mexico.

· Ashland Gallery (2321 Old Shell Rd)

Mobile Baldwin Art Organizations

· Mobile Arts Council serves as an umbrella to promote, coordinate and develop quality arts programs. It was formed in 1955.

o The Skinny Gallery on Dauphin Street celebrates local up & coming artists and students

o Mobile Arts Council Artist Directory

· The Centre for the Living Arts operates the Saenger Theatre and Space 301

· Mobile Art Association

· Eastern Shore Art Association

· Mobile Watercolor and Graphic Arts Society

· Bay Rivers Art Guild

· Coastal Clay Coalition

· Azalea City Quilters Guild

· Camera South

· Azalea Woodturners

· Sumi-e Society of America, Shibui Chapter

· Bay Area Porcelain Artists

· Mobile Rock and Gem Society

· Port City Craftsmen

· University of South Alabama Department of Visual Arts

Mobile-Baldwin Music

· Mobile & Baldwin Musicians

· Mobile Symphony Orchestra began in 1970 as Symphony Concerts of Mobile presenting touring orchestras. In 1997 the Mobile Symphony Orchestra was formed. Scott Speck became the first music director in 2000.

o Mobile Symphony Youth Orchestra

· Mobile Opera founded in 1946, is Alabama's Oldest Performing Arts Organization and the 15th opera company established in the United States.

· The Saenger Theatre is home of the Mobile Symphony Orchestra, Alabama Lyric Theatre, the Saenger Series, the Summer Movie Series, concerts, lectures, and special events.

o There are rotating contemporary art displays of Art Off Centre in the windows of the Saenger Theatre

· The Mobile Pops

· Baldwin Pops

· Mobile Chamber Music

· Mobile Piano Ensemble

· Coastal Chorale

· Pride of Mobile Chorus

· Mystic Order of the Jazz Obsessed

· Gulf Coast Ethnic and Heritage Jazz Festival

· Jazzin' the Schools began in 2006 as a pilot program funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, with support from other agencies including the Mobile Arts Council. It continues with major support from the Sybil H. Smith Charitable Trust and the Youth Empowered for Success program.

· University of South Alabama Department of Music

· Lagniappe Music

o Lagniappe Music Listings

Mobile-Baldwin Dance

· Mobile Ballet originated with the merger of two local ballet companies in 1987.

· Alabama Contemporary Dance

Mobile-Baldwin Theater

· Mobile Theatre Guild formed in 1947

· Joe Jefferson Players: The oldest continually-running theatrical group in Alabama was formed in 1947. Plays are performed in the Joe Jefferson Playhouse on South Carlen St. Jefferson was a well-known actor in the 1800s (famous for playing Rip Van Winkle) who lived in Mobile as a teenager.

· Mobile Shakespeare Company

· Playhouse in the Park youth theater is located in Langan Municipal Park

· Chickasaw Civic Theatre

· Former downtown theaters include: The Mobile Theatre on Royal Street, The Lyric Theatre at Joachim and Conti (demolished in 1950), Crown Theatre on Dauphin St. (later X-rated Midtown Theater) – Kevin Lee, Lagniappe, 4/8/08

Mobile-Baldwin Film

· Crescent Theater, 208 Dauphin Street, originally opened in 1885 before eventually becoming a restaurant. Max Morey and John Switzer reopened it in 2008 to feature independent films.

· Fairhope Film Series is held at the South Alabama Baldwin Campus Performance Center at 7 p.m. every Friday

· Mobile Film Group

· The Fairhope Film Festival began in 2008, organized by Fairhope’s Option 3 Media

· Mobile Jewish Film Festival

· Mobile is on the schedule for the Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers

· Lagniappe Film: The Reel World

· Mobile & Baldwin in the Movies

Mobile and Baldwin Artists and Musicians

Mobile-Baldwin Artists - Past

· John Gus Hines worked in Mobile, ca. 1867-1921, as a set designer for various theaters. He also designed and built floats for Mardi Gras parades and other occasions in Mobile and other cities. Examples of his drawings

· John Roderick Dempster MacKenzie (1865-1941) was born in London, England. MacKenzie and his family immigrated to Mobile when he was seven in 1872. Upon the death of his mother in 1880, MacKenzie's father sent him and a sibling to Mobile's Episcopal Church Home (Wilmer Hall). This community provided scholarship funds for training at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Returning to Mobile, MacKenzie executed portraits, landscapes, and scenes of Mardi Gras activities. He moved to Paris to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He then spent 14 years in India. In 1914, he returned to Mobile, where he executed a series of pastel drawings of steel mills. During his lifetime he was considered one of Alabama's most important artists. Other Alabama artists, including Doris Alexander, Hannah Elliot, Carrie Hill, Genevieve Southerland, and Eugene Walter, eventually studied with him either at his A School of Art at 200½ Dauphin Street, which he established in 1917, or privately in Birmingham. During World War I, he executed some propaganda projects for the United States government. Between 1921 and 1926, he did 43 pastels of the Alabama steel industry. Between 1926 and 1931, he did eight murals for the rotunda of the State Capitol in Montgomery depicting episodes from Alabama history. During the Great Depression he executed pastels of Mobile scenes for the Public Works of Art Project. In 1939 he completed a series of pastels chronicling the construction in Mobile of the Bankhead Tunnel. Mackenzie died in 1941, and was buried in Magnolia Cemetery. A large painting attributed to MacKenzie was donated to the Museum of Mobile in 2009 (Harrison, PR 6/28/09) – Sources: Paul W. Richelson, Encyclopedia of Alabama. Marlene Rikard: "Lost Treasure: The Birmingham Steel Series of Artist Roderick D. MacKenzie," Alabama Review, October 2007. Mobile Museum of Art: John Roderick Dempster MacKenzie (1865-1941): a retrospective (1997). Anil Baran Ganguly: Roderick MacKenzie: life sketch (1985); Alabama Masters

· Louise Lyons Heustis (1865-1951) was born in Mobile, the daughter of surgeon-physician James F. Heustis and Rachel Lyons. She attended a girl's boarding school in Pass Christian, Mississipp and, while living with her grandparents in Philadelphia, attended two sessions at the Philadelphia Art Academy. She studied under Thomas Eakins in Philadelphia and William Merrit Chase in New York, as well as the Academie Julien in Paris. She lived in New York and spent her summers in Newport, Rhode Island where she painted portraits. Many of her works to be displayed in Mobile were lost in a fire. - Mobile Museum of Art: Louise Lyons Heustis (1865-1951): a retrospective (1995); Alabama Masters

· John Augustus Walker (1901-1967), born in Mobile, was a well-known artist of the Depression era who was commissioned to undertake several art projects for the Works Progress Administration. He studied at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts, but returned to Mobile and held shows in 1929 and 1933 and opened his North Royal Street studio. His paintings reflect a passion for bright colors, which he acquired from trips to Cuba and Key West. Walker’s preferred subject matter ranged from Mardi Gras, fantasy and historical themes to landscapes and portraiture. He is remembered for his murals in the old City Hall (now the Museum of Mobile), for the Smith Bakery murals on Dauphin Street in Mobile (now lost) and for his mural designs for the Federal Building Courtroom, and the Historical Panorama of Alabama Agriculture. Walker paintings also are displayed in numerous public schools throughout the state. Walker also earned an enduring reputation as a designer of floats, stage sets, and costumes for Mardi Gras. Many of the float designs, noted for their exquisite artwork, are still displayed in museums. He was a founder and original member of the Mobile Art Guild, which he also served as an instructor

· Carlos Alpha “Shiney” Moon was born in Birmingham, but joined the Dixie Artists Colony and Bayou Painters project in the 1940s. Works include Shell Road (Post Office, Coden, AL) (c. 1948-1952) and Vortices with Houses (c. 1950), both of which are in the MMOA – Alabama Masters; Lynn Barstis Williams, “Shiney Moon: From Merchant to Artist”, Alabama heritage, Winter 2003; Bhamwiki

· William "Billy" Skipper (1921-1987) was a native Mobilian dancer, choreographer, and film maker. He spent much of his life in New York and on the West Coast, but also maintained contact with artists in the Mobile area and made several films locally. Films include "As the Grass" produced by Spottswood Studios and featuring Sally Maloney and William Skipper.

· The Bayou Painters (a.k.a. Alabama Gulf Coast Colony, Coden Art Colony) was an art colony active in Coden and Bayou la Batre in the 1940s and 1950s. The Bayou Painters evolved from the earlier Dixie Art Colony organized by Montgomery artist J. Kelly Fitzpatrick. Genevieve Southerland is credited as the founder of the coastal branch of the Dixie Art Colony which would become known as the Bayou Painters. The Gulf colonies ended when Kelly Fitzpatrick, Genevieve Southerland, and "Shiny" Moon all died within 100 days of each other. Surviving members continued to paint the Bayou La Batre/Coden area over the decades. Members included Frances Elizabeth Harris, William Bush, George Bryant and Carlos Alpha "Shiney" Moon. Southerland served as Director, and Fitzpatrick and Moon were art instructors. Works include Carlos Alpha "Shiney" Moon’s Shell Road (Post Office, Coden, AL), The Blessing of the Fleet, William Bush’s Pirate’s Oak, Coden Bridge by J. Kelly Fitzpatrick, and works by George Bryant. – Lynn Barstis Williams, “The Dixie Art Colony”, Alabama Heritage, Summer 1996; Lynn Barstis Williams, “South Alabama's Art Colony 1946-1953”, American Art Review, 2/06; James Nelson, Birmingham News 10/31/04. Portersville Revival Group

Mobile-Baldwin Artists - Current

· Casey Downing Jr. was born in Tuscaloosa, the son of an attorney and state legislator, but grew up in Mobile, attending McGill and Murphy High Schools. He served in the Navy, and after training at University of Alabama - Huntsville and under sculptor Jude Johnston, he returned to Mobile. He specializes in public sculpture, including numerous sculptures outside the Mobile Museum of Art. Others include: his monument to Joseph Langan and John LeFlore installed in Unity Point, and the Small Wonder fountain sculpture in front of the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind on Government Street, the ball Vis-a-Vis at 1 Maison on Airport Boulevard; Sentinel 18 Fountain at the University of Mobile; the sign for Cathedral Square Park; two bicycle racks on Dauphin Street downtown; a large abstract at 1 St. Louis Center; the stainless steel "Departure" at the Mobile Airport; the painted steel playground at a day care center on Washington Avenue; Ahavas Chesed Synagogue; Bayside Academy; and two pieces which he designed and built in collaboration with Dentist Barry Booth: a hand holding an American flag in Daphne and a large paper clip in Spanish Fort. His thirteen-foot stainless steel Portal was installed at Cooper Riverside Park in 2002 for the Mobile Tricentennial but was damaged in Hurricane Katrina.– Alabama Masters; Thomas Harrison, PR 5/16/09; Michael Smith, Harbinger 2/20/01; Southern Artistry; Casey Downing Jr. Website.

· Videos: Casey Downing on creating art for the public. Building an art career in Mobile, Ala. An aspiring architect embraces art instead. Why be limited to one type of art? 'It's like I discovered who I was' The childhood moment that sparked an artist Merging the worlds of abstract and realist sculpture

· Bruce Larsen creates sculptures out of “found object” junk. He has designed special effects for films, television and rock bands such as the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and Widespread Panic. He has created mechanical horses and other animals for feature films such as "The Patriot" and “Nomad: The Warrior." He created a 30-foot-high butterfly for the Mobile Museum of Art and a sculpture of Russian sprinter Valery Borzov for the United States Sports Academy in Daphne.

· Nall (Fred Nall Hollis) was born in Arab, and has resided in Fairhope. Works in MMOA include Le Chasse, 1995; Portrait of Jimmie Lee Suddeth, 1999; and Cross of Saint Francis, 2006. – Alabama Masters

· Charles Smith is a native and resident of Mobile. He produces African-inspired ceramic vessels – Alabama Masters

Mobile-Baldwin Musicians

· Mobile Musicians include composer and conductor James Reese Europe, Charles Lipskin, John A. Pope, Excelsior Brass Band, Charles Melvin “Cootie” Williams, the Pope Sisters, the Nicholas Brothers, Pomp Gaston and the Melody Masters, Onzie Steele, Fred Wesley, Sr., Edward Pratt, and the Gator Brothers, one of whom was George “Lakey” Matthews. Mary Lou Williams co-wrote the lyrics to her noted tune, “Walkin’” with Mobilian Lindsay Steele. Lil Greenwood and Cootie Williams were prominent with Duke Ellingto. Also drummer John “Jabo” Starks, trombonist Fred Wesley, Jr., Theodore Arthur, Joe Lewis, and The Lewis Brothers, Marion and Joe. – Shawn Bivens

· Excelsior Band. The Excelsior Band is a ten piece jazz marching brass band that consists of three trumpets, three saxophones, one trombone, a tuba, bass drum and snare drum. The band performs in Mobile Mardi Gras parades and other event. The group also performs as a quintet, as requested for smaller events. – PR 11/13/08

o John A. Pope founded the Excelsior Band in 1883 on the corner of Scott and Selma Streets with a group of musician friends who had gathered to celebrate the birth of his son. John A., born in Mobile in 1863, attended the Creole Catholic School in the downtown area and later became President of the Creole Fire Company. Several original members worked for the Creole Fire Company, so they often practiced their music in a room above the fire station.

o Originally, Pope's Excelsior Band had eighteen members. Among those members were people such as, "Cootie" Williams, Leo Battiste, Alex Terez, Ted Collins and the band's founder, John A. Pope who played the B-flat trumpet.

o When John A. died in 1951, the younger Pope had long since taken over the reign as director of the band.

o In 1902, John C. Pope became leader of the band at the young age of 19. In 1972 John C. Pope was recognized by the Mobile Jazz Association for his contributions to jazz music in Mobile. Pope, who owned and operated a small diner in Mobile's Southside area, on the corner of Dearborn and Selma Streets, died in 1972 at the age of 88.

o Members of the Excelsior band in 1988 included: James Matthews and Phillip Moody on drums; Ernest Coleman on tuba; Robert Petty on trombone; James Seals, Herbert Dillard, and Hosea London on trumpet; Joe Morrison, Hubert Standfield and Joe Lewis on saxophone. The band also has several substitute members, including William Burks, Ray Packer, Theodore Arthur and Leon Rhoden.

o James M. Seals, Jr., was a musician and band director in the Mobile County Public School System and at Bishop State Community College, director of the Excelsior Band, and President of the Down the Bay Community Organization. The James M. Seals, Jr. Park and Community Center in the Down the Bay community are named in his honor.

o Excelsior Band Video

o Excelsior History

· James Reese Europe (1881–1919) was a ragtime and early jazz bandleader and composer. Europe was born in Mobile, but his family moved to Washington, D.C. when he was 10 years old. He was the leading figure on the African American music scene of New York City in the 1910s. Europe organized the Clef Club Orchestra, the first jazz band to play at Carnegie Hall. His "Society Orchestra" became nationally famous in 1912. In 1913 and 1914 he made a series of phonograph records, some of the best examples of the pre-jazz hot ragtime style of the 1910s. The Clef Club Orchestra and the Society Orchestra were large symphonic bands; the Clef Orchestra had 125 members. During World War I Europe saw combat as a lieutenant with the "Harlem Hellfighters", the band of which he directed to great acclaim. In February and March of 1918, James Reese Europe and his military band travelled over 2,000 miles in France, performing for British, French and American military audiences as well as French civilians. In 1919 he made more recordings for Pathé Records. James Reese Europe died after being stabbed by a member of his band. At the time of his death, he was the best-known African American bandleader in the United States. - Wikipedia

· Bill Lagman (1907-1976) developed his personal style in Dixieland and Jazz from listening to local musicians and records, especially Bix Biederbeck. By 1925, he was the leader of a band called Bill's Merrymakers which was followed by Crescent City Orchestra in 1929. The orchestra played afternoons at the Cawthon Hotel. His music was enjoyed at Monroe Park, on the Bay Queen and at ADDSCO during World War II. Throughout his career, Lagman performed for hundreds of parties, schools, organizations and civic events including America's Junior Miss. He wrote special arrangements for many Carnival societies' tableau and his orchestra was always in demand during Mardi Gras for fifty years. He is an important part of Mobile's musical history playing Ragtime in the twenties and Big Band music from the thirties through the seventies. One of Bill's original trumpets is on display at the Mobile Carnival Museum and the trumpet given to him by The Tonight Show band leader Doc Severinsen, is on display at the Museum of Mobile. He was awarded the M.O. Beale Scroll of Merit in 1968 for his “artistic contribution to [Mobile's] social and civic life.” Lagman was one of the founders of the Mobile Jazz Festival.

· Bob Schultz (1931-2006), clarinetist, formed a Swing Era big band orchestra that played at many Mardi Gras events. He was born in New London, Conn., and was buried in Church Street Cemetery in 2006.

· Catholic Boys Home Band

· The E. B. Coleman Orchestra was organized in 1955 and consisted of eighteen amateur musicians. “E.B.” did all of the band arrangements and wrote numerous original compositions. It performed at wedding receptions, conventions, parties and Mardi Gras and society balls. “E.B.” retired as conductor of the orchestra in 1993 yet continued to write arrangements for the band. At the time of his retirement, the orchestra had grown to twenty-two pieces. Hubert “Hawk” Stanfield assumed the position of bandleader and conductor of The E. B. Coleman Orchestra in 1993. The orchestra is currently under the direction of Hosea London and consists of fifteen members.

· Lil Greenwood is a Mobile jazz vocalist. She left Prichard for California in 1949. For about 10 years she made a living singing at clubs in the San Francisco Bay area, occasionally traveling to Los Angeles to record singles with bandleader Roy Milton and other groups. She was hand picked by Duke Ellington to join his tour. Ellington and Billy Strayhorn revamped her tune "Walking and Singing the Blues," and it became her signature contribution to the Ellington canon. She stayed with him until his death in 1974 and continued to tour with his son. But at the end of the decade she came back home to Prichard, to care for her mother and other relatives. In 2002, English label Ace Records released "Lil Greenwood: Walking and Singing the Blues," a collection of singles from the 1950s. In 2007, she released the album "Back to My Roots" at the age of 83. – PR 6/21/07

· Charles Melvin ("Cootie") Williams (1910-1985) was a Mobile-born trumpeter who played with Duke Ellington's orchestra from 1929 to 1940. In 1940, he joined Benny Goodman's orchestra, then in 1941 formed his own orchestra, in which he employed Charlie Parker and other young players. He began to play rhythm and blues in the late 1940s. In the 1950s he toured with small groups and fell into obscurity. In 1962 he rejoined Ellington and stayed with the orchestra until 1974. Cootie Williams was renowned for his use of the plunger mute, and is reputed to have inspired Wynton Marsalis's use of it. – Wikipedia

· Bernard Odum was born in Mobile and played bass in James Brown's band in the 1960s.Odum started playing with Brown in 1956 and became a full-time member of Brown's band in 1958. Odum worked in the James Brown band until the end of the 1960s, and played on such hits as "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" (1964), "I Got You (I Feel Good)" (1965), and "Cold Sweat" (1967). In 1969, Odum and most of the other musicians in Brown's band walked out on him over a pay dispute and other issues, prompting Brown to create a new backing band, The J.B.'s. In 1970, Odum briefly joined Maceo Parker's group, Maceo & All the King's Men, appearing on the album Doin' Their Own Thing. Odum died in Mobile in 2004.

· Fred Wesley Jr., trombonist, grew up in Mobile, the son of Fred Sr., a music teacher at Mobile Central High School and big band leader. He joined the Ike and Tina Turner Review in 1962. A period with Hank Ballard and the Midnighters and Army service preceded his work with James Brown 1968-70 and 1971-5. He served as band leader and musical director of Brown's band the J.B.'s and did much of the composing and arranging for the group. He left Brown's band in 1975 and spent several years playing with George Clinton’s various Parliament/Funkadelic projects, even recording a couple of albums as the leader of a spin-off group, The Horny Horns. In 1978 he joined the Count Basie Orchestra. He released his first jazz album as a leader, To Someone in 1988. It was followed by New Friends in 1990, Comme Ci Comme Ca in 1991, the live album Swing and Be Funky, and Amalgamation in 1994. In the early nineties Wesley toured with his colleagues from the James Brown band, Pee Wee Ellis and Maceo Parker, as the JB Horns. With the departure of Ellis the band became The Maceo Parker Band. Wesley was featured trombonist with Parker until 1996 when he formed his own band, The Fred Wesley Group. In 2002 Wesley wrote Hit Me, Fred: Recollections of a Sideman, an autobiography about his life as a sideman. Also in 2002 he recorded an album entitled Cuda Wuda Shuda with a group of jazz musicians calling themselves the Fred Wesley Band. Wesley currently serves as an adjunct professor in the Jazz Studies department of the School of Music at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He has completed his first book entitled, "HIT ME FRED ( Recollections of a Sideman)". – Wikipedia; Fred Wesley Website

· Cliff Nobles (1944-2008) was born in Grove Hill and grew up in Mobile, and began singing in high school as a member of a local group, The Delroys. He moved to Philadelphia and formed a group, Cliff Nobles & Co., Their second release was “Love Is All Right” b/w “The Horse”, which peaked at #2 for three weeks on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1968. - Wikipedia

· Theodore Arthur started his musical career on saxophone at age 16, playing in nightclubs in Mobile and Prichard. With the help of bass player Marshall York, Arthur was asked to play with the Junior Parker band. Arthur accompanied Bobby Blue Bland, Aretha Franklin, and Johnny Taylor during the 1960's. He moved back to Mobile and started a 14 member band. Since 1980, he handles his own bookings and controls his own record label, Castanet Records. He also has his own publishing company, Prichard Music Co.

· Billy Bang (b. William Vincent Walker) is a jazz violinist and composer. He was born in Mobile, but his family moved to Harlem neighborhood while he was still an infant. After serving in Vietnam, he returned to New York and joined the Sun Ra Arkestra. In 1977, Bang co-founded the String Trio of New York.

· Joe Lewis, a native Mobilian, has backed artists such as Millie Jackson, Redd Foxx, and in concert with Ray Charles. He has recorded with renowned trombonist Fred Wesley, the accomplished pianist Roy Merriwether and opened for Lou Rawls, Chemistry and Authur Prysock. Early in his career he was a member of the United States Air Force Band performing in the United States and Europe. He has played with the Excelsior Band for over 30 years. He is also an accomplished producer, arranger, composer, music instructor (saxophone, flute, clarinet, and piano).

· Luther Wamble is a Blues guitar player from Mobile. He has played with such musicians as Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, B.B. King, and Greg Allman.

· Dennis “Finger Roll” Nelson is a guitarist that grew up in Mobile and attended Williamson High School. He landed the guitar spot with Otis Day and the Knights (in the movie Animal House) The Temptations, jazz trumpeter Tom Brown and Ray Charles. He co-wrote Bobby "Blue" Bland's "Memphis Monday Morning" and Robert Palmer’s “Hyperactive." Recordings include In the Zone (1996), Still Rollin' (1997), Back on Track (2003), Hip-Notic (2007), and contributions to Unwrapped 1-4 Finger Roll Website

· Milton Brown is a Mobile songwriter. His award-winning songs have been recorded by more than 50 major-label artists - Eddie Rabbitt, Kenny Rogers, Charlie Rich, Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, Brenda Lee, and others. He has written songs for movie soundtracks including "Every Which Way But Loose" from the Clint Eastwood movie of the same name, and "Barroom Buddies" from the Eastwood film "Bronco Billy". His Azalea Film Corporation produced “Mi Amigo” in 2002, directed by his daughter Margaret Brown.

· Linda Zoghby is a Mobile-born opera singer who has sung with New York’s Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, and Washington Opera.

· Jimmy Buffett was born in Pascagoula. His parents J.D. and Mary Loraine "Peets" Buffett both worked for ADDSCO/Atlantic Marine, and lived on the Eastern Shore until their deaths in 2003. Buffett grew up along the eastern shore of Mobile Bay. He graduated high school from McGill Institute for Boys in 1964. He began playing guitar during his college years at Auburn University and The University of Southern Mississippi, where he received a bachelor's degree in history in 1969. Buffett began his musical career in Nashville during the late 1960s as a country artist and recorded his first album, the folk rock Down to Earth, in 1970. During this time Buffett could be frequently found busking for tourists in New Orleans. Buffett then moved to Key West. 1977's Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes featured the breakthrough hit song "Margaritaville". Buffett owns or licenses the Margaritaville Cafe and Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant chains. In June 2007, Buffett, in partnership with Harrah’s Entertainment, announced plans to build the Margaritaville Casino & Resort in Biloxi. Buffett has written 3 No. 1 best sellers: Tales from Margaritaville, Where Is Joe Merchant? and the non-fiction A Pirate Looks At Fifty. Buffett also co-wrote two children's books, The Jolly Mon and Trouble Dolls. Jimmy Buffett has been involved in many charity efforts. In 1981, the Save the Manatee Club was founded by Buffett and former Florida governor Bob Graham. - Wikipedia; This Goodly Land

· Alabama Music Hall of Fame. AMHOF Mobile “Achievers”.

Mobile-Baldwin Architects

· We Built This City: Tradesmen, Builders & Architects, 1837-1940

· James Gallier Sr. moved to Mobile at the behest of Henry Hitchcock and built the Government Street Presbyterian Church (1836) and Barton Academy (1838).

· The Hutchisson Family of architects built many buildings in Mobile including: parts of the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception (1849-1895), Creole Fire House #1 (1872). C. L. Hutchisson Jr. (1902-93) was the last of five generations of a family of builder-architects.

· Rudolph Benz was a popular Mobile architect in the Victorian era. Many of his buildings remain today: Abraham Pincus Building (1891), Abraham Spira Building (1891), Scheuermann Building (1893), The Spira & Pincus Building (1899), Pollock & Bernheimer Building (1904);

· George B. Rogers built the Government Street United Methodist Church ("The Bee Hive") (1890), the Scottish Rite Temple (1921), Murphy High Scool (1926), the Mobile Public Library (1928), and Bellingrath Gardens (1927-1935)

· Edward Bishop Baumhauer was the principal of several architectural firms prior to retiring from Baumhauer-Hall Architects in 2002. He was also the son of former Mobile Mayor Charles A. Baumhauer. He won design awards for the buildings for Ryan-Walsh Stevedoring as well as the Lyons, Pipes and Cook Law Firm. Other works by Baumhauer included the building for the Little Sisters of the Poor, the contemporary glass Infirmary 65 building and the renovation of the abandoned Government Street Hotel. He had also designed the former Capri Cinema -- the city's first rocking chair theater -- on Airport Boulevard. He died in 2007. – PR 7/11/2007

Mobile & Baldwin in Movies and Videos

· Mobile Film Office

· Movies filmed in Mobile:

o Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), War and Rememberance, The End of August (1980), Backroads (1980), The Hunt for Red October, Under Siege, Executive Decision (1996), The Insider (1999), Love Liza (2003), Hometown Legend (2006), The Saints of Mt. Christopher (2009), USS Seaviper (2010)

o Close Encounters of the Third Kind was filmed in the Bankhead Tunnel, in a large hangar at Brookley Field (alien mothership arrival) and some exterior shots near the hangar, and in a West Mobile suburb (exteriors at the Neary residence). Bay Minette stood in for Moorcroft, Wyoming in the rail-station evacuation scene.

o In The Insider, Mobile doubles for a night scene in New Orleans where Lowell covers another story while taking Jeffrey's call about receiving a death threat.

o The Hunt for Red October was filmed on the USS Alabama and Submarine Drum.

o Most of the Steven Segal movie Under Siege was filmed on the USS Alabama.

o USS Seaviper was filmed aboard the USS Drum

o Final Destination 4 was partially shot at the Mobile International Speedway in Irvington

· Ken Burn’s documentary The War highlights Mobile during WWII.

o Mobilians in the documentary include Maurice Bell, Glenn Frazier, Tom Galloway, John Gray, Herndon Inge, Dwain Luce, Clyde Odum, Emma Belle Petcher, Katharine Phillips Singer, Sidney Phillips, Ray Pittman and Willie Rushton.

· Film Production Companies:

o Scott Lumpkin produced Love Liza and Hometown Legend among others. Producer Scott Lumpkin (IMDb)

o Fighting Owl Films has produced a number of short genre films. It is led by writer-director Thomas Smith, with actors including his wife Erin Lilley Smith.

· Shorts:

o Down Mobile Way (1935)

o Welcome, Business and Industry, Relocation, Shopping & Dining, Healthcare, Tourism, Workforce

o Stephen Hedrick: Joeabb the Frog The 3 Legged Chicken

· Directors:

o Margaret Brown is a film director and native Mobilian. Brown’s work includes:

§ Be Here to Love Me (2005), a documentary about the late singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt. Full movie at Snag Films

§ The Order of Myths (2008), a documentary about Mobile’s Mardi Gras which was selected for presentation at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Brown acknowledges that the film addresses race issues as part of its "observational" look at Mobile's mystic societies. Her mother Margaret Wilson Luce, the daughter of Margaret and Dwain Luce and wife of Milton Brown, reigned as queen over Mardi Gras here in 1966 with King Felix III, Angus Royal Cooper, II.– PR 12/4/07. MBT

· www.theorderofmyths.com (includes trailer)

o Milton Brown wrote and directed Mi Amigo (2002), a drama filmed in southwest Alabama in 1999 which was is available on DVD from ThinkFilm.

· Screenplays:

o A Love Song for Bobby Long (2005) was based on the novel Off Magazine Street by Fairhope author Everett Capps. The soundtrack was performed by his son, Grayson Capps and starred John Travolta and Scarlet Johanssen.

o Barry Munday (2009), in post-production, is an adaptation of Frank Turner Hollon’s novel Life is a Strange Place

· Mobile in Music: “Mobile” by Julius Larosa; “Mobile” by Marcia Ball; "Guitar Man" by Jerry Reed, Elvis Presley; "Let It Rock" by Chuck Berry; “Mobile" by Randy Newman; "Mobile, Alabama" by Curtis Gordon; "Mobile, Alabama Blues" by Milton Brown; "Mobile Bay" by Dave Kirby, Curley Putman; "Mobile Bay Magnolia Blossoms" by Dave Kirby, Curley Putman; "Mobile Blues" by Mickey Newbury; "Mobile Boogie" by The Delmore Brothers; "Mobile Serenade Polka" by Tim Eriksen

Revised 8/17/08

Disclaimer: These Notes are not original. They are complied from various sources, primarily the Press-Register (PR), Mobile Bay Times (MBT), Lagniappe, The Harbinger, and websites. Citations are being added retrospectively. These Notes are for personal, educational use only. Address all comments and corrections to: admin@flotte2.com

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