The annual Arts in McNairy Amateur Photo Contest is now accepting entries to bring exposure to the art of photography and showcase McNairy County.  The contest, which routinely draws hundreds of entries from around the state and region, is open to amateurs of all ages.  Only the judging panel and their families are barred from participation.

 

The cost is $10 for the first entry; $10 for the second entry; $10 for the third entry and thereafter $5 per entry.  All entries fees must be check or money order made payable to Arts in McNairy. 

Deadline for entry is 4:00 PM October 16 at the UTM Campus in Selmer just off of Highway 45 North.  Mail-in entries must be postmarked by 

October 12 and addressed to:

 

attn: George Souders

c/o AiM Photo Contest

U.T. Martin/Selmer

1269 Tennessee Ave.

Selmer, TN 38375 

 

Prizes will be awarded in eight categories:  Natural landscape; architectural  landscape; people; pets; wildlife or animal; digitally enhanced or computer manipulated images (any subject); McNairy County subjects and black and white (any subject).  Entrants must choose one category per image.  McNairy County category entries must be taken in the county.  In each category $50 will be awarded for 1st place; $25 will be awarded for second prize and ribbons will be awarded to 3rd place and honorable mention.  One $100 prize will be awarded for the honor of Best in Show. 

 

Downloadable entry forms are available at: www.artsinmcnairy.blogspot.com; in local papers; at McNairy Central High School Fine Arts Department; UTM McNairy Art Department or by contacting  contest organizers.  Though original forms are not necessarily required each entry must be accompanied by essential information including entrants name; address; phone number; photo title; category of entry; date and location photo was taken; and the price of the photo if applicable. 

 

Additional photo contest rules:

One of the most anticipated events on the county  cultural calendar is the  community Christmas concert.  The concert which is sponsored by the Arts in McNairy community band and chorus is typically hosted by one of the area churches in order to accommodate the seating demands of a large, enthusiastic audience.  This year's version of the popular holiday event will be better than ever!

 

Scheduled for 7:00 PM, December 3, 2009 at Selmer First Baptist Church, the concert will feature more than a hundred local musicians and singers of all ages.  Special guests this year will include, MCHS choir student Chelsea Rhodes and the group 4-Joy.  Planning is still in the early stages but organizational meetings and rehearsal schedules have just been announced.

     

The first community band meeting has been scheduled for Monday, September 14, 6:30 at Selmer Middle School band hall. Director Ronnie Brooks will provide further information about music selections, rehearsal times and the Big Band style orchestra for the AiM production of White Christmas. The community band program is open to the public and no audition is required for participation. The band welcomes musicians of all age and skill levels.  There are no fees for participation but members are required to provide and maintain their own instruments. Rehearsals are typically on alternating Monday nights throughout the season.

 

The community choir and holiday singers are organized by Pam Stackhouse.  Her first rehearsal is scheduled for 6:30 November 5 at Selmer First Baptist.  This is an advanced choir and participants must be capable  of reading and performing vocal music scores.  Due to time constraints, each member will receive their music and a CD in advance and should be familiar with it before the commencement of rehearsals.  Contact Mrs. Stackhouse for an application at 731-645-7629 or 731-645-0253 no later than September 30.        

McNairy County Mayor, Jai Templeton; Bethel Springs Mayor, Norma Smith and Selmer Mayor David Robinson, have signed an official proclamation naming next week "Rockabilly Highway Homecoming"  throughout the county.     September 17 marks the 55th anniversary of the famed meeting between Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins at a Presley performance in Bethel Springs, TN.  Many county residents fondly recall the event but admit that they were unaware they were witnessing music history at the time.  Perkins' would later note in his memoirs and various interviews that meeting Presley at Bethel Springs was a turning point in his career and it was listed as an historic American cultural event in Jay Warner's  2004 book, On This Day in Music History. 

 

It is hoped that the proclamation will further awareness about the significance of this historic date as well as other facets of McNairy County's rich musical heritage.  Significant attention has already been focused on McNairy County's Rockabilly roots with the 2008 designation of Highway 45 as Rockabilly Highway and the 2009 addition of the Rockabilly Highway Mural and Revival in downtown Selmer.  Bethel Springs is said to be considering several other ideas that would preserve the memory of this historic occasion. 

 

The official Rockabilly Highway Homecoming proclamation reads: 

 

Whereas, American cultural icons Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins met for the first time in Bethel Springs, McNairy County, Tennessee on September 17, 1954; and
 
Whereas, this meeting is universally acknowledged as a significant event in the history of American music; and
 
Whereas, Tennessee House Bill #2489 and Senate Bill #2546 have designated state highway forty five throughout it's length in McNairy County, "Rockabilly Highway" in an effort to call attention to the musical heritage of Southwest Tennessee; and
 
Whereas, Bethel Springs, Selmer and other McNairy County communities played an important role in the development of Rockabilly Music and are geographically situated on Rockabilly Highway, and
 
Whereas, the people of Bethel Springs, Selmer and McNairy County Tennessee value their rich musical heritage and desire to preserve and promote it in meaningful ways; and
 
Whereas, Thursday, September 17, 2009 marks the fifty fifth anniversary of the aforementioned Presley and Perkins meeting;
 
Now Therefore We, McNairy County Mayor, Jai Templeton; Bethel Springs Mayor, Norma Smith and Selmer Mayor, David Robinson do hereby proclaim the week of September 17, from this day forward as
 
Rockabilly Highway Homecoming
 
in Bethel Springs, Selmer and McNairy County Tennessee and call upon the people thereof to observe this date with all appropriate programs, activities and ceremonies.  
 
In Witness Thereof, we have hereunto set our hands this eleventh day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine.
 
 
Jai Templeton, County Mayor  
 
Norma Smith, Bethel Springs Mayor   
 
David Robinson, Selmer Mayor
     

The W.S. Holland Band headlined the, first ever, Rockabilly Highway Revival in Selmer last June.  In the Revival photo at left, Holland relates his memories of another momentous "first" associated with McNairy County; his first sight of Elvis Presley at Bethel Springs High Shcool in September 1954.  As a friend, and soon to be drummer, for the Perkins Brothers Band, W.S. or "Fluke" as his friends called him, came with the brothers to check out the young, dynamic Presley's act.  That meeting is now the stuff of legend primarily because it lead Carl Perkins to believe that a Sun Records contract might be in his future.  A week or so later, Perkins approached Holland with a proposition:  "Get a set of drums, we've got a date in Memphis to see a man named Sam Phillips," Holland recalls Perkins saying.  It was an unusual request since Holland wasn't a drummer at the time.  When he mentioned this small detail, Carl, undeterred, said he had noticed Fluke keeping time and slapping out rhythms on the upright bass as the Perkins brothers played some of their up-tempo songs.  Surely, he reasoned, anyone who could do that could play drums.  While it might not be as simple as that, Carl Perkins was certainly right about W.S. Holland.  And boy, could he ever play drums!   

 

The rest is, by now, well known music history.  Holland borrowed a set of drums and taught himself to play.  A month after the Bethel Springs meeting, Carl Perkins had signed his own Sun Records contract.  Holland played on all of Carl Perkins Sun Records releases including the immortal "Blue Suede Shoes."  He was also the drummer for the Sun Records Million Dollar Quartet Sessions that included, Presley, Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash.  As the sun began to set on the Rockabilly era, Holland answered a call to play two weeks worth of engagements with his old friend Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Three.  Those two weeks turned into almost forty years of touring, recording and acting as the Man in Black's road manager.  During that time Holland, again, made music history playing with Cash at the legendary Folsom Prison and San Quentin shows and recording on such mega hits as "Folsom Prison Blues," "Walk the Line" and "Ring of Fire." 

 

It was Cash who gave Holland the title "Father of the Drums" and it is no exaggeration to say that Fluke was the first Rock-n-Roll drummer.  Perkins was the first of the Sun artists to regularly use drums in live and recorded music and Holland created a back beat that defined the early Rockabilly and Rock-n-Roll sound.  Later, with the Cash trio, he would go on to pioneer what has become known, among drummers, as the "Holland Shuffle;" a driving, yet delicate, rhythmic figure on the hi-hat that evokes a train in motion.   Holland's style has influenced at least three generations of drummers and his musical legacy can be felt and heard in many contemporary Pop, Rock and Country recordings. 

 

W.S. Holland's list of accomplishments is too long to give a full accounting here.  He is truly a pioneer of modern music and a legend in his own right.  Arts in McNairy was honored to have him headline the 2009 Rockabilly Highway Revival and even more pleased that he is an enthusiastic supporter off all efforts to preserve West Tennessee's unique musical heritage.  We look forward to having him again at the 2010 Rockabilly Highway Revival.  Learn more about the man and his music at: www.wsflukeholland.com.