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<br /> In addition to Trice' s stories, the "I felt like I could talk to him
<br /> filmmakers include a segment of a about anything," said Hughes, re-
<br /> 4B.The News of Orange County, Hillsborough, NC, Wednesday, June 21, 20W lecture from UNC folklore profes- calling the times he spent with
<br /> sor Glen Hinson as the professor Richard. "We talked about his
<br /> Trice talks about the blues as a document growing up on the farm, that life-
<br /> of the times ( Hinson, said Hysju- style, the changes of the last 80
<br /> continued_ from 1 B VF . FV-` Too too- Into _ lien, has been extremely helpful as years , his Christian beliefs , we
<br /> IF
<br /> ag , ; . _ , a resource and in promoting his and talked about girls. . . . .he had a lot of
<br /> I TV
<br /> : :. ;r t Dalsheimer' s work), Hysjulien stories to tell. It was a great expe-
<br /> �.: s• ; .. 04
<br /> also recruited bluesman John Dee rience with an amazing human be-
<br /> k 3 ; •3 .F . . •S��S'
<br /> Holeman (who along with contem- ing.
<br /> ' toporary bluesman Scott Ainslie pro- "Without a doubt, he was a good
<br /> IF t3 4 _, . =', '4 ' vides the musical background to friend."
<br /> IF r_ F t : 7
<br /> g ,VIVO
<br /> FkAShine On) to come to the rest home
<br /> .,, ., _" , and participate in the film, demon- Dalsheimer and Hysjulien are
<br /> 11 . 3r,+J ;� . , _ - x strating the intricate fingerpicking currently trying to get their film
<br /> d an ragtime influence that is a
<br /> =•;�s _ 0 8 more exposure, sending the video -
<br /> Tf 5;:al + trademark of the Piedmont-style to festivals and review outlets in
<br /> , . . _ - blues. the hope of reaching as many peo-
<br /> However, said Hysjulien, many Y P
<br /> s
<br /> ` 't le as possible. Interested citizens
<br /> of the different blues styles of Y g may contact Kenny Dalsheimer at
<br /> ;,•W Itmuddied and cross- fertilized over 6 6 7 - 12 0 8 o to
<br /> sIF. 6
<br /> F ITt time as musicians traveled and dakhQmmdsnnne.com ,
<br /> y Y played with one another. Delta
<br /> bluesmen traveling north through While the filmmakers admittedly
<br /> ' ' • ' the Mississippi Valley eventually would like to realize some financial
<br /> , � ,� electrified the traditionally acoustic reward for their efforts, as current' `. ' '
<br /> i � + =t • music and invented the Chicago and former educators , the know
<br /> sound , while Piedmont bluesmen that their work has greater worth as
<br /> IF .,r � IT
<br /> ;
<br /> 4-` V w= fry ; , ( including Richard Trice, who lived a tool for dramatizing life, and do-
<br /> 'i= a ? <, s in New-•Jersey for a time) traveled ing it in a real and humane manner,
<br /> a I . @ both north and south, exchanging As Hysjulien puts it, there are a
<br /> t� '; � , i. t ideas and styles with other must- wealth of stories out there to tell
<br /> clans the met aloe the wa that haven' t been told; the story of
<br /> ; : t . Y 8 Y• cY
<br /> T •• " Richard claimed he actually met Richard Trice comes across, ulti-
<br /> .y�
<br /> �' �'��, - ? • �;•• .• �.-. �. < :.. Robert Johnson playing in the mately, as one of a flawed but dig-
<br /> t ` tot = , ' P. warehouses of Durham , " said nified man, searching for an answer
<br /> �. , IF
<br /> Hysjulien. when the last fair deal goes down,
<br /> F 0. 1
<br /> Eventually, though , the music " 1 want to show kids that the
<br /> w '
<br /> "% ! � ++ ,.. • , . : , .; -" - stopped . At some point in the world they live in has a history —
<br /> € '' 1950s, Richard put down his dobro, here, at one time, these things hap•
<br /> aa� 1 Y., t+- convinced that the Lord wanted pened," said Hysjulien. " if you see
<br /> TimFoot 3
<br /> `.`•� ' him to stopplaying. As . far as an the world in terns of histo The
<br /> '' t ` : . F; For
<br /> ? one who knew him can tell, he blues is a living document of where
<br /> FIT_ , r t.
<br /> :. ,
<br /> never picked it up again. we' ve been,"
<br /> Richard Trice, circa 1998. Photo courtesy of Lorraine Tipaldi.
<br /> near Carolina Friends, where Rich- " He gave up the music Comm
<br /> and helped his father sharecrop pletely — he never, played again,"
<br /> during the 1920s on the White said Hysjulien, explaining the con-
<br /> farm, the filmmakers ask Richard if nection between Trice's retirement '
<br /> IF
<br /> he ever picked much cotton. from blues music and his spiritual
<br /> "Lord, yes," says Trice, laughing conversion. "He felt he had to _
<br /> as he demonstrates the proper way change his life.... .since he was just
<br /> to pick cotton off a cotton plant. " I playing for these drinking and t '
<br /> look the other way when I see a dancing parties, in a way turning '
<br /> cotton patch." his back on the music was turning
<br /> The dearth of archival evidence his back on the lifestyle."
<br /> available to the filmmakers (many In the video, Trice talks about
<br /> of Trice's boxes of papers and per- how he shouldn ' t have quit music
<br /> sonal items. were lost when the altogether, but kept playing spiri-
<br /> moved into the rest home) meant tual music. On David Hughes'
<br /> that he and Hysjulien were essen- many visits, Richard expounded on
<br /> tially flying blind in telling Trice's this theme of the blues being some-
<br /> story, said Dalsheimer. The film- how connected to his division from
<br /> makers spent two four-hour ses- the church — but, said Hughes,
<br /> sions doing formal interviews and though Trice felt he should have
<br /> another four hours driving Trice kept playing, he never did,
<br /> around the community, to his sis- "God is using me," Trice ex-
<br /> ter's old house, to businesses in the plains in the film. "He promised
<br /> Hayti district shut down when the me he would fix my life."
<br /> Durham Freeway was constructed '
<br /> in the 1970s, to the former Shady By January of 2000, after a little
<br /> Rest juke joint near the current over a year, Shine On was finished.
<br /> Friends School . The juke joint is The filmmakers showed the com-
<br /> now a private home, but in Shine pleted project to Trice, who
<br /> On a slight smile comes to Rich- watched it all the way through,
<br /> ard 's face as he describes playing " He just said, ' That was a lot
<br /> the notorious drinking-and-dancing better than I thought it was gonna
<br /> parties during the height of the be,'" Dalsheimer recalled.
<br /> Durham blues scene in the 1930s In April of this year, one month
<br /> and ` 40s. before Dalsheimer and Hysjulien
<br /> "A lot of stuff didn 't make it into debuted the film at the Carolina
<br /> the video," said Hysjulien. "Some Theatre, Richard Trice died. David
<br /> of his longer stories didn ' t make it Hughes, currently studying envi-
<br /> in — he was a pretty religious man, ronmental science at UNC -
<br /> and he also told funny stories about Asheville, was among those who
<br /> his past." came back for the funeral.
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