Fiesta Belmont:
Nashville's Latin Music Street Fair
A Celebration of Food, Music & Culture
Una Celebración de Música y Comida
Saturday April/Abril 1, 2006
Location: Belmont University Center Campus
17th Ave South & Wedgewood Blvd.

For more information visit:
http://latinstreetfair.com/

Posted by Sarah Koop at 10:39 AM on March 23, 2006 | Permalink

I Can’t Stop Loving You: Ray Charles and Country Music
Exhibit Opens on March 10, 2006

I Can’t Stop Loving You: Ray Charles and Country Music Sponsored by SunTrust, presented at the invitation of Ray Charles Enterprises (RCE), will provide an overview of Charles’ remarkable career with a central focus on his country music influences and his contributions to the growth and ennoblement of the genre. From the earliest known photograph of Charles through his final televised performance, the media-rich exhibit honors Charles as “one of the most revered and recognized musicians in the world.”
I Can’t Stop Loving You will include artifacts, instruments, song manuscripts, costumes, photographs, computer interactives, recorded sound and moving images to tell a country music story about an impoverished blind child who grew up listening to the Grand Ole Opry, became known as the “genius of soul” and simultaneously redefined the cultural value of country music by recording dozens of country standards, making frequent appearances on national country music television shows and regularly appearing alongside country music stars.

I Can’t Stop Loving You Programs

Friday, March 10
Lecture and book signing: Michael Lydon
12:30 p.m Community Room
Michael Lydon, author of the biography Ray Charles: Man and Music (Routledge, 2004), will discuss Charles's place in country music. A New York-based writer, Lydon was a founding editor at Rolling Stone. His knowledge of Charles is based on years of research and interviews. Among his other books on music are Flashbacks: Eyewitness Accounts of the Rock Revolution, 1964-1974 and Rock Folk. Free. Following the lecture, Lydon will sign copies of his Ray Charles biography in the Museum store.
Saturday, March 11
Curator’s Exhibit Tour
11:00 a.m.
A museum curator offers a guided tour of the featured exhibit I Can't Stop Loving You: Ray Charles and Country Music.
60 minutes. Included with museum admission. Free to museum members.

Songwriter session: Mike Reid
12:00 p.m. Ford Theater
Mike Reid, Grammy award winning songwriter of “Forever’s as Far as I’ll Go” (Alabama); “Stranger in My House” (Ronnie Milsap); “I Can't Make You Love Me” (Kenny Rogers, Tim McGraw, Bette Midler, Wynonna Judd and Bonnie Raitt); “There You Are” (Willie Nelson) and songs recorded by Bering Strait, Glen Campbell, The Judds, Shelby Lynne, Lorrie Morgan, Lee Roy Parnell, Collin Raye, The Statler Brothers, Doug Stone, Tanya Tucker, Shania Twain, Conway Twitty, and many more. Included with museum admission.

Modern Sounds: Ray Charles Embraces Country Music
1:30 p.m. Ford Theater
This panel discussion will focus on the creation and legacy of Ray Charles's landmark 1962 album, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. Panelists include Charles's longtime manager, Joe Adams; saxophonist Hank Crawford; country artist and songwriter Vince Gill; and arranger and conductor Gerald Wilson. Containing classics such as "I Can't Stop Loving You," "You Don't Know Me," and "Born to Lose," Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music audaciously validated the music of the southern white working class during a time of turmoil and racial divide in America. The album topped the Billboard charts for fourteen weeks and had a huge impact on country songwriters and publishers. Included with Museum admission. Free to Museum members.

Musical performance: Hank Crawford
3:30 p.m. Ford Theater
Saxophonist Hank Crawford, who achieved national prominence as Ray Charles's band director in the late 1950s and 1960s, will lead a jazz quartet in a set including both the music of Ray Charles and Crawford’s original compositions. Musicians include bassist John Birdsong, drummer Marcus Finnie, and pianist Richard Doron Johnson. Included with Museum admission. Free to Museum members.
Sunday, March 12
Film Screening: Ray Charles on Voice of America (Live at the Newport Jazz Festival)
2:00 p.m. Ford Theater
In celebration of the opening of the new exhibit I Can’t Stop Loving You: Ray Charles and Country Music, the museum will screen Charles’ outstanding performance from the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival. Appearing with a big band and the Raeletts, Ray Charles led this 45-minute concert with favorites such as “Let the Good Times Roll,” “What’d I Say,” and many more. The screening will include footage of an interview of Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun from 2005. 60 minutes. Made possible by Iron Mountain Film and Sound Archives. Free.
Saturday, March 25
Family Program: Jerk and Jive Dance Workshop
1:00 p.m.
Learn the monkey, the pony, the jerk, the monkey, the swim, and other dances done to the R&B classics of Ray Charles! Dance instructor Linda Everett teaches participants some basic dance moves from 1960s. Ages 6 and up. Reservations required at 416-2096, as space is limited. $5.00 per child (free for museum members) with up to two accompanying adults admitted free. A light snack will follow the workshop.

Sunday, March 26
Film Screening: The Willie Nelson Special with special guest Ray Charles
2:00 p.m. Ford Theater
Recorded at the Austin Opera House in 1984, Willie Nelson and Ray Charles sing together on The Willie Nelson Special. Old friends and recurrent duet partners, Nelson and Charles sing together on the country classics “Seven Spanish Angels,” “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” and “Georgia on My Mind.” Guitarist Jackie King also appears on the program. 60 minutes. Made possible by Iron Mountain Film and Sound Archives. Free.

Posted by Sarah Koop at 01:10 PM on February 22, 2006 | Permalink