Arkansas State University at Jonesboro is hosting Delta Symposium XXI, from Wednesday through Saturday, with a theme of "The South Goes to the Movies."
"The symposium has always been free and open to the public," says Gregory Hansen, event co-chairman and a faculty member of the ASU department of English and philosophy. "It's grown quite a bit over those two decades, and this year we will probably have a good turnout, what with a Black Oak Arkansas concert, plus we have a Johnny Cash film and a session on Bob Dylan scholarship."
Scholars, students, musicians and artists from across the nation will converge at ASU to experience the Delta's history and culture.
Most of the events will take place in the Mockingbird Room on the third floor of the Carl R. Reng Student Union, 101 N. Caraway Road, Jonesboro.
The schedule includes:
m Wednesday: Events begin at noon with a screening of films, held in conjunction with the Delta Flix Film and Media Festival. Student productions will be shown in the Reng auditorium, with the filmmakers introducing their films and answering questions.
m Thursday: Sessions will begin at 8 a.m. and will feature researchers and writers from across the nation, exploring topics that include the cinematic treatments of William Faulkner's novel The Reivers, and Elia Kazan's film adaptation of Tennessee Williams' play, Baby Doll.
Documentary filmmaker Beth Harrington will provide the keynote presentation at 2:30 p.m. She will screen and discuss her film The Winding Stream -- The Carters, The Cashes and the Course of Country Music, a documentary on Johnny Cash and the Carter family, which Cash joined when he married June Carter in 1968.
Harrington, an Oregon-based filmmaker since 1977, also made the film Welcome to the Club: The Women of Rockabilly, which was a 2003 Grammy nominee.
Other sessions will include discussions on how the culture and history of the Delta are connected to documentary and feature films.
There will be presentations on the artistry of Delta musicians Louis Jordan, Sonny Burgess and John Handcox. Their lives will be explored in a panel discussion, "Biographical Writing on Delta Musicians," at 4:30 p.m. The three musicians are the subjects of recent biographies by Stephen Koch, Marvin Schwartz and Michael Honey, respectively, who will discuss their books and answer questions about their research on the musicians.
• Friday: Honey will also screen and discuss his film Love & Solidarity: Rev. James Lawson and Nonviolence in the Search for Workers' Rights at 12:30 p.m.
Folk musician John McCutcheon, a Wisconsin-born singer-songwriter who has released 34 albums since 1975, will perform in concert at 7:30 p.m. in Riceland Hall at the ASU Fowler Center. McCutcheon will present his one-man play, Joe Hill's Last Will, about the life and death of labor activist Joe Hill; 2015 marks the 100th anniversary of Hill's execution by the state of Utah for murder.
m Saturday: Beginning at 8:30 a.m., Frances Hunter, associate professor of English, will host a presentation focusing on a long-term project that led to a new anthology of Bob Dylan scholarship.
"We'll also have a 1 p.m. architectural walking tour, led by Emmy Award-winning Mark Wilcken, known for his Clean Lines & Open Spaces film," Hansen says. "It will start at the Craighead County Courthouse and visit some of the significant sites in Jonesboro."
MUSIC FESTIVAL
The symposium will conclude with the Delta Roots Music Festival, starting at noon Saturday at City Water and Light Park, Culberhouse Street and Cherry Avenue. The festival will feature Bucksnort Hill Bluegrass Band, Zeke Johnson, Nathan Blake Lynn and Wilkinson-James, plus at 2 p.m., Black Oak Arkansas, followed by Little Rock bluesman Lucious Spiller at 3 p.m. and concluding with a performance by country musician Jesse Charles Hammock at 4 p.m.
"Black Oak Arkansas will feature its original lead signer, Jim Dandy Mangrum," Hansen says.
"The park is like a little picnic ground, and it's low-key with high-quality music, plus kids stuff. There will be food vendors, and it's a real family atmosphere."
In case of rain, the festival will move to the Reng auditorium.
Sponsorship is through the university's department of English and philosophy, along with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
For more information, call (870) 972-3043 or email [email protected].
Style on 04/07/2015