University of South Carolina Libraries
THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, August 30, 2002 5 « CONTACT US THEY SAIDIT „ WOODY ALLEN: “Money is Story ideas? Questions? Comments? better poverty, * only E-mail us at gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com for reasons >> Jubilee celebrates life of Celia Mann BY KAMILLE BOSTICK THE GAMECOCK The Mann-Simons Cottage on Richland Street, once the center of Columbia’s black community and its rich culture, might re claim that distinction this weekend. In honor of Celia Mann, a slave on a S"harleston plantation who bought her freedom and re portedly walked to Columbia, Jubilee: Festival of Heritage will present a variety of black American cultural, artistic and family displays to Midlands res dents. The festival will feature reggae id jazz bands, West African ummers, dance lessons and ids-on art activities. It will also wcase the art of sweet-grass-bas making, which came with the es from West Africa and has practiced nearly the same way 0 years. hink it’s great entertainment,” tobin Waites of the Historic bia Foundation. “We have a di looking; there’s crafts and the ing, and the knowledge to quilt, iweet-grass basket and see indi g.” e celebrates the history of gen crafts in the African-American lany of the African traditions i the festival we're preserved by d down from adult to child when forbidden to read or write, id others like her, were taught hniques their African ancestors used, and, in turn, taught them to their de scendants, who finally made their way into freedom. “We’re trying to continue that lineage,” Waites said. “We want people as young as possible to come and see these traditions and even try them out for themselves.” To attract more students to the event, Jubilee, in its 24th year, is being held later in the summer. “To get an audience that is still invested in the learning process was something we were really trying to push for this year,” • Waites said. More than 1,500 people are expected to at tend. Activities at the daylong Jubilee will be appropriate for all ages. At the Mann-Simons Cottage, re-enactors will set up camp with tents, horses and gear to demonstrate the frontier life led by the leg endary Buffalo Soldiers, a group of black cowboys in the West who kept the peace, ran telegram lines and protected other settlers. Also, the Plantation Singers of Charleston will sing American Negro spirituals. Vendors, artists, printmakers, black smiths and storytellers will share their crafts and spend the day honoring the traditions they keep alive. Tours will be given of the Mann-Simons Cottage and 25 other historic sites in Columbia relevant to African American history. - • “This is a unique opportunity to see many of the traditional techniques in one place,” Waites said. “It’s a legacy of the African-American community, a great opportunity to see that lineage and to see where African-American people have come from and to see where they are today,” Waites said. Saturday’s events are free. To buy tickets to tonight’s opening gala events, call 252-7742, ext. 22. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com . PHOTOS SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Top: Two dancers perform the Big Apple Dance. Middle: Djollba Don plays his drum. Bottom: Plantation Singers get ready to sing. These and others will play, dance, quilt and make crafts at Jubilee: Festival of Heritage on Saturday. Local talent hopes to register with listeners BY HOLLY DUTTON THE GAMECOCK It’s Christmas 1986, and 6-year-old Justin Register fidgets as he waits to see whether he’s been naughty or nice this year. He hopes for the latter as he runs to the Christmas tree to see whether it was there: you know, the Red Rider BB Gun of gifts. The one he had been waiting for all year. “I just loved music. My parents gave me a guitar for Christmas, and ever since, I haven’t stopped play ing,” said Register, now in his 20s. Register sat with his two uncles and his father that Christmas, strum ming along with them on his baby gui tar. He never knew what an impact that one present would have on him. His love for music led him to Brevard College, where he majored in music. He later came home to Columbia to attend USC. “I came to the realization that I’d rather play music than study it,” Register said. “I had studied music and did band stuff in high school and played with the USC all-star jazz band for one year, but when I got to college, that was all I was doing.” As a back-up plan, Justin majored in media arts when he returned to USC, but his love for music prevailed, and he has taken this semester off to pursue his music career. “I know God has gifted me with a talent, but am I talented enough to have a music career, or should I be just sitting around in my room play ing by myself?” Register said. That’s what Register wants to know as he organizes gigs at bars and coffee shops around Columbia as well as tours of colleges throughout the state. “It’s such a weird place to be,” Register said. “You talk to people af ter a show and ask, ‘So how was ev erything?’ And (you get), ‘Awww man, I loved it,’ and that person may not know anything about music. Then, I could come across a person who says, ‘You suck,’ and they could know noth ing about music, too. I’m still work ing towards feeling validated.” “The hardest thing about it is that I have somewhat of a pretty recog nizable name in Columbia, but out side of Columbia, it’s tough to be tak en seriously since everybody’s try ing to do music,” Register said. “Growing a fan base and a name be cause I’m starting from scratch (is difficult). If you don’t know anybody, you don’t get taken seriously. It’s fun, too, because everybody I’ve talked to has been pleasantly surprised.” Register said musicians such as Sting, Dave Matthews, John Mayer and Counting Crows have heavily in fluenced him. He is also a huge Stevie Ray Vaughan fan, he says. But he “as pires to be his own person.” “There’s nothing new under the sun; everything’s been said. I’m just trying to say things differently than everybody else has.” ♦ REGISTER, SEE PAGE 6 I Justin Register, who Is taking some time off from his media arts studies at USC, will perform tonight at Jammln’ Java. The singer and guitarist, who describes his sound as “Jazzy-bluesy,” lists Sting, John Mayer, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Counting Crows and Dave Matthews as influences. PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK