Bridgid Ferguson
I walk into the jumbled log-cabin interior of McB's and see Bridgid Ferguson setting up with the Chris Gill Band. In a few minutes they've started playing their first hour, kicking off with "No Woman No Cry." Ferguson sings backup. So far, so good. The band then plays Three Dog Night's "Never Been to Spain," and Ferguson belts it out like she's channeling Loretta Lynn, Etta James and Aretha in one, and it's clear why she aims to go solo. Her voice pretty much necessitates it.
Holly Perkins
Holly Perkins has always liked art, but it was a family-weekend adventuring trip with her parents and older sister Katie that changed the almost-a-teen-ager forever. "Maybe two years ago, we went to Vicksburg, to The Attic Gallery. I loved that place," Perkins told me emphatically, sitting on her daybed in her vivid, eclectically decorated room. "It was so cool. I had not been taught that art can be not perfect and still be good. It opened up a whole new door."
Michael Burton
Michael Burton's music takes him, top to bottom, all across the continent of North America: Montreal, Canada, Bermuda. This week, Burton's travels bring him home to Jackson to share his "soul jazz" when he plays Hal & Mal's on July 6. Burton, 26, graduated from Indiana University with a bachelor's degree in jazz performance and a master's of music degree in jazz studies. At Hal & Mal's, he will share the stage with other musicians of the same caliber, fusing together elements of jazz, soul, hip-hop, gospel and R&B. Burton is a product and true portrait of Jackson Public School's Academic and Performing Arts Complex (APAC) music program.
Phyllis Robinson
Photos by Jason Jarin
Originally from Kosciusko, Phyllis Robinson, now in her 40s, has lived in Jackson for over 25 years; she now resides with her husband, two sons, and stepdaughter. With a paralegal degree, she has worked in the bankruptcy court system since 1989—but she's a case administrator who goes by "Peaches" on the runway.
Audrey Dabbs
Audrey Dabbs, 75, the mother of three, grandmother of six and great-grandmother of four, has painted, done ceramics, made wire-wrapped rock jewelry and acted with the Terry Station Players. She's organized and become queen of a Red Hat Ladies Society—The Red Hat CLASS (Charming, Lovely, Ageless, Sassy Sisters)—and got together a monthly domino club. She's collected rocks for 30 years. Almost all of them are on her 26 acres in Simpson County, in a bed of pea gravel just for them. Soon they'll make the move to Byram, like she did in March.
Marianne Hill
While discussing politics and the economy with senior economist Marianne Hill, 58, I feel privileged to be sitting next to such an intellect. Hill earned her bachelors in economics from the University of Maryland. After graduating, she attended the London School of Economics to pursue her masters. She furthered her education with a Ph.D from Yale.
Richard Kubow
Multi-talented musician-businessman Richard Kubow, is the owner of Richard's Music, a man who can play any instrument and sing any note. In 2003 a blaze set fire to his studio, which had been open since 1981, but Kubow got back on track. He and his staff teach many different music lessons to the public everyday in theMaywood Mart complex.
Anne Friday
As I admired the various portraits of jazz, blues and rock 'n' roll artists that hang on the walls of Hal & Mal's, I was greeted by Anne Friday, 34, of Jackson. Then this amazing woman took the time to sit down and share with me a few experiences in her life that have made her who she is today.
Eddie Gates
For most young people who aspire to a career in music, the trend is going into a studio to make beats. But one local Jackson State student chooses a more traditional form of music. Eddie Gates, a 22-year-old junior from Jackson, has been playing piano since age 6.
C-Bone Jones
Note that in the print edition, the author says in this story that C-Bone Jones will appear May 28. That is an error; he will be at Santiago's Thursday, May 26, and Sunday, May 29, as stated in the calendars.
Taiwo and Kehinde Gaynor
Taiwo and Kehinde Gaynor, 26, are twins from Brooklyn, N.Y., who moved to Jackson when Taiwo, then 18, was working with the Algebra Project, a non-profit organization for math literacy in urban neighborhoods. He came to Jackson for a month to help the group design their own education materials. One month turned into a year. He soon convinced his twin brother, Kehinde, to come down, too.
Lucky Osborne
Lucky Osborne, 61, leads an artistic life steeped in history. When the native Mississippian isn't working on miniatures for exhibits at the Old Capitol Museum, he's working in pen-and-ink or pastels. Osborne didn't study art formally—he calls it self-inflicted—but it did run in the family. "My mother was quite artistic," he mused.
Aven Whittington
Aven Whittington's can-do attitude personifies these Johnny Mercer lyrics: "You've got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch onto the affirmative, and don't mess with Mister-In-Between."
Farrah Gray
Farrah Gray's book "Reallionaire" (HCI, 2005, $12.95) starts off with a powerful couple of sentences: "I'm a nineteen-year-old African American male who grew up in a single-parent household. And if you believe in statistics, I'm supposed to be either in jail or dead."
Denise Gonsalves
At Millsaps, she's everyone's mama. It doesn't matter how old you are, what race you are or even how weird you are—Denise Gonsalves, 42, is going to be your mama.