Main Street Toccoa will be honoring
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group The Famous Flames with a four week event
called “Flames Fest.” The original
Famous Flames, Bobby Byrd, Nafloyd Scott, Nash Knox, Johnny Terry and Sylvester
Keels, were all from the Toccoa area. In the early 1950’s, James Brown joined
the group, which had started as a gospel group and later became the Famous
Flames. They performed as a group from 1953 – 1968. They were inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 14, 2012.
The first concert of the series will be on February 11 and will feature
one of Toccoa’s own, Milkshake Mayfield. In 1980,
Milkshake formed the Milkshake Quintet (MSQ), known for its distinctively
smooth and silky contemporary and straight ahead jazz, with a taste of bebop
and funk. His debut CD entitled “In My Time” was released in 2002, and he
is currently working on his Gospel/Jazz and holiday CDs, that will feature the
soulfully soothing vocals of his lovely and talented wife, Christine (Tine),
MSQ’s featured vocalist. The concert will be on February 11, 2016 at 7:00 p.m.
in the Schaefer Center. Admission is $5.00 and doors will open at 6:30 p.m.
Advance tickets can be purchased at the Toccoa Chamber of Commerce and at City
Hall.
The second event
will be on Saturday, February 20 at 3:00 p.m. at the Schaefer Center. St.
Matheus Episcopal Church will be sponsoring the movie, “Selma.” The film chronicles the tumultuous
three-month period in 1965, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a dangerous
campaign to secure equal voting rights in the face of violent opposition. The
epic march from Selma to Montgomery culminated in President Johnson signing the
Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most significant victories for the civil
rights movement. There is no admission fee for the movie and it will begin at
3:00 p.m. Before the movie, there will be a Lunch With
Legends event at Shirley's Sole Food (124 West Currahee Street) beginning
at 12 p.m. Stephens County residents will be sharing about what it was
like in Toccoa and Stephens County during the Civil Rights
Movement.
On
Saturday, February 27, the Still Waters Youth Sinfo-Nia of Metropolitan Atlanta
will perform at 7:00 p.m. at the Schaefer Center. The orchestra is celebrating
25 years of instructing thousands of young talented instrumental and dance
students, as well as providing over 400 performances locally, nationally and
internationally. Sinfo-Nia is under the artistic direction of David E.
Robinson, III, a 5th generation, 32-year string teacher of the DeKalb County
School System. Sinfo-Nia performs various types of music, most of which are
arranged by David himself. “Still Waters” symbolizes the works of the world’s
greatest black composers being under-represented and under-recognized like
buried treasure beneath the sea of waters in a distant ocean. A “sinfonia” is a
short symphonic work or a small orchestra that intimately offers a variety of
music to be enjoyed by any audience. Therefore Still Waters Youth Sinfo-Nia is
a tribute to rare works by black composers such as William Grant Still.
Sinfo-Nia’s fundamental purpose is
to give talented, young artists an opportunity to perform a variety of
multicultural productions, become more proficient musicians, travel, meet other
young artisans, prepare to earn college scholarships, and consider careers in
the music/dance industry. The Orchestra has its own dance company that offers
instruction in ballet, modern, tap, jazz, African and hip-hop styles.
The concert will be on February 27, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. in the Schaefer
Center. Admission is $5.00 and doors will open at 6:30 p.m. Advance tickets can
be purchased at the Toccoa Chamber of Commerce and at City Hall.
The final concert of
The Flames Fest will be on Thursday, March 3, and will feature
Francine Reed.
Reed is an
American
blues
singer,
solo artist, and regular singing partner of
Lyle Lovett
since the 1980s and member of Lovett's Large Band. Reed has also recorded duets
with
Willie Nelson
and
Delbert McClinton and others. She was inducted
into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in October 2014. She is well known as the
one who sings Ida Cox’s song, “Wild Women Don’t Sing the Blues.” Her new CD was
released in November, 2015.
The concert will be on March 3, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. in the Schaefer
Center. Admission is $5.00 and doors will open at 6:30 p.m. Advance tickets can
be purchased at the Toccoa Chamber of Commerce and at City Hall. The concert is
sponsored in part by the Georgia Council for the Arts through the
appropriations from the Georgia General Assembly. GCA is a Partner Agency of the National
Endowment for the Arts.
