Concept: Planting a few Seeds
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| Roxy Tickets from Various Events |
The Roxy Music Arts & Crafts Center carried out an ambitious program for a number of years in the Greenville area. As hoped from the outset, the Roxy transformed in a few different directions, including Bufort T Band, Greenville Sound Company, THE AMATEURS REGGAE BAND, Reggaeware Shops, Rock'nReggae cafe, The Latta Foundation, and Island T'ing Productions. From the community the Roxy grew out of, musicians, artists, and many others went on to enjoy notable success. We like to imagine the Roxy stretched imaginations and helped raise aspirations in those who participated.
Photo by Maurice Alcorn
"Greenville, North Carolina 1970's, our first event, we had shined up the old Roxy Theater on Albemarle Avenue and invited a couple hundred people to come and hear some music. Around ten thirty, while local legend, Jerry Thomas and his friends played blues, we got a visit from the head building inspector. With badge and gun, accompanied by two police cars and four officers, he first said that we could not be open without a permit.
We replied that we were not “open” that it was a private party and we had only taken up a collection for the rent. After a brief conversation, his words were “you can’t do this”. We replied with some humor and respect that in spite of that we were already “doing it”, it was going on around us at that very moment. Seeing it as less than a deadly serious situation the official decided to let us continue for the evening and instructed us to come to his office on Monday morning.
By One AM most of the guests were ready to go home. We counted our receipts, with which we paid our first months rent."
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| Tee Shirt from the collection of Mike Edwards (Poster Art by Sue Luddeke) |
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| "Early Sprout" - Seed Planted at the Roxy |
