Saturday, July 23, 2005
Good News Update on Jessie Mae Hemphill
Friends lend a hand after she was told to leave her home.
July 22, 2005
by Bill Ellis
"Every day I call her," says Barbara Blue about Jessie Mae Hemphill. "I say, 'Hello, Sunshine.' She says, 'Hello, Morning-Glory.' "
Hill country blues legend Hemphill has reason to feel chipper these days. After getting notice to vacate her Senatobia, Miss., trailer, friends have helped the Handy-winning blues matriarch, in her 70s, find a new home in Clarksdale (it's nice to know that, for some folks at least, blues musicians surpass in value the branding of blues as tourism).
"She's still in her trailer, but we have put earnest money on a house. We just have to finish up the papers and the closing," says singer and Beale Street draw Blue, who has stepped up to the plate along with Senatobia home builder David Tollison, Memphis music attorney Bruce Newman and others.
Blue and Tollison both hope Hemphill will be in her $25,000 home within the next month. Tollison adds that some $6,000 has been raised so far to take care of the down payment and necessary renovations.
Guitarist/percussionist/singer Hemphill, the granddaughter of fife master Sid Hemphill, was recently featured in American Legacy magazine and is the author of such milestone blues records as She-Wolf, Feelin' Good and Get Right Blues, all produced by University of Memphis blues scholar/musician David Evans.
Word of her situation has spread fast in the blues community, thanks to blog and Web site postings by folks such as Catfish Keith, Ted Drozdowski and Richard Johnston, who lured Hemphill out of retirement for his 2002 album, Foot Hill Stomp, (she has rarely performed since suffering a stroke more than a decade ago). Johnston says he has raised an additional $4,880 through his mailing list.
"We had another benefit this past Monday (in Hudson, Wis.), and you can add to the total $1,500," he said from the road.
According to Newman, a New York-based nonprofit, Energie For Artist Support Group, bought Hemphill her 16 x 80 trailer in 2001 for $41,903.83. About a year and half ago, payments stopped and a Senatobia lawyer, David Adams, was retained. An eviction notice was served on May 24, giving Hemphill 10 days to vacate (she has since been given a grace period). Adams did not return a phone call.
The nonprofit's New York lawyer, Juliette Levin, gave no reason why payments on Hemphill's behalf ceased. She did say, however, that the group she represents was happy to negotiate with Hemphill and all concerned parties, extending to purchase of the trailer. "We cannot fund Ms. Hemphill," she said. "There are obligations that need to be met here."
But buying a mobile home, which can depreciate, is not an option, according to Tollison. Rather, the plan is to set up an escrow account in Clarksdale for Hemphill and organize her Social Security benefits so as to take care of the house note.
"When the government found out she was getting help from a foundation, they cut her Social Security in half," Tollison said.
Johnston, for one, thinks Hemphill will be better off after she moves.
"She is going to a place where people will appreciate her more. As far as the (blues) industry and people who will reach out, Clarksdale has a bigger awareness of who she is."
For information, contact David Tollison at 337-0368.
Copyright 2005 - commercialappeal.com is an E.W. Scripps Company website ¶ 7/23/2005 09:25:00 AM
Friends lend a hand after she was told to leave her home.
July 22, 2005
by Bill Ellis
"Every day I call her," says Barbara Blue about Jessie Mae Hemphill. "I say, 'Hello, Sunshine.' She says, 'Hello, Morning-Glory.' "
Hill country blues legend Hemphill has reason to feel chipper these days. After getting notice to vacate her Senatobia, Miss., trailer, friends have helped the Handy-winning blues matriarch, in her 70s, find a new home in Clarksdale (it's nice to know that, for some folks at least, blues musicians surpass in value the branding of blues as tourism).
"She's still in her trailer, but we have put earnest money on a house. We just have to finish up the papers and the closing," says singer and Beale Street draw Blue, who has stepped up to the plate along with Senatobia home builder David Tollison, Memphis music attorney Bruce Newman and others.
Blue and Tollison both hope Hemphill will be in her $25,000 home within the next month. Tollison adds that some $6,000 has been raised so far to take care of the down payment and necessary renovations.
Guitarist/percussionist/singer Hemphill, the granddaughter of fife master Sid Hemphill, was recently featured in American Legacy magazine and is the author of such milestone blues records as She-Wolf, Feelin' Good and Get Right Blues, all produced by University of Memphis blues scholar/musician David Evans.
Word of her situation has spread fast in the blues community, thanks to blog and Web site postings by folks such as Catfish Keith, Ted Drozdowski and Richard Johnston, who lured Hemphill out of retirement for his 2002 album, Foot Hill Stomp, (she has rarely performed since suffering a stroke more than a decade ago). Johnston says he has raised an additional $4,880 through his mailing list.
"We had another benefit this past Monday (in Hudson, Wis.), and you can add to the total $1,500," he said from the road.
According to Newman, a New York-based nonprofit, Energie For Artist Support Group, bought Hemphill her 16 x 80 trailer in 2001 for $41,903.83. About a year and half ago, payments stopped and a Senatobia lawyer, David Adams, was retained. An eviction notice was served on May 24, giving Hemphill 10 days to vacate (she has since been given a grace period). Adams did not return a phone call.
The nonprofit's New York lawyer, Juliette Levin, gave no reason why payments on Hemphill's behalf ceased. She did say, however, that the group she represents was happy to negotiate with Hemphill and all concerned parties, extending to purchase of the trailer. "We cannot fund Ms. Hemphill," she said. "There are obligations that need to be met here."
But buying a mobile home, which can depreciate, is not an option, according to Tollison. Rather, the plan is to set up an escrow account in Clarksdale for Hemphill and organize her Social Security benefits so as to take care of the house note.
"When the government found out she was getting help from a foundation, they cut her Social Security in half," Tollison said.
Johnston, for one, thinks Hemphill will be better off after she moves.
"She is going to a place where people will appreciate her more. As far as the (blues) industry and people who will reach out, Clarksdale has a bigger awareness of who she is."
For information, contact David Tollison at 337-0368.
Copyright 2005 - commercialappeal.com is an E.W. Scripps Company website ¶ 7/23/2005 09:25:00 AM
