The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, August 30, 2002, Page 5, Image 5
THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, August 30, 2002 5
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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