NO News From Jacksonville

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Yes, sadly it appears that my hometown of Jacksonville, FL has also dropped the ball in pursuing having a PHYSICAL Southern Music Hall of Fame. There was a great deal of initial excitement and people were suggesting some great locations.

The ones really interested in working on this project have not been in touch with me for months.

Oh, well. We move on and again look for a home!

However for right now we are going to continue to update this web site with Southern Music News. It just might be that we go back to our TRAVELING Southern Music Hall of Fame under a DOME!

Hugh Simpson

MetroJacksonville & Southern Music Hall of Fame

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Yes I think that my hometown of Jacksonville is SERIOUS about pursuing the Southern Music Hall of Fame for a signature tourist destination.

Here is the article that appeared today:

Also a mover and shaker named Gloria, who is also a licensed restoration contractor, is starting to check out the old Armory building for soundness and see if the city would be willing to offer us a sweet deal:-) .

Stay tuned!

Hugh Simpson

My Hometown Jacksonville FL Relooking at SMHF

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Yes I was excited to find their is renewed interest in finally finding a PHYSICAL home for the Hall!

J’ville mover and shaker, Stephen Dare, and I had a long and productive conversation yesterday about two potential locations in J’ville. One is the old Armory that even after all these years I remember well. There had been plans to use it for a homeless shelter but evidently that is not going to happen. My “senior moment” right now has me not recalling the other one:-) .

One thing that one of the two locations offers is close proximity to the J’ville downtown monorail. Stephen said that there was also adequate parking which has been a major stumbling block in the past. We need approximately 1000 spaces daily available during the high attendance months.

I would like to see it in my hometown of J’ville because it also has a rich history of Southern music. For instance Stephen shared with me that the lady who wrote “Heartbreak Hotel” was from J’ville. The famous old Blues “chitlin” circuit played J’ville. 50s Rock n Roll crooner Pat Boone grew up in the Lakeshore area. Elvis played the Florida Theater. I attended Bolles School with the legendary Gram Parsons.

Most importantly J’ville is the Home of Southern Rock with my friend Jeff Carlisi and supporter of the Hall being an original member of 38 Special and currently a member of Rock N Roll Hall of Fame band. Then there was the infamous Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers who lived in the Riverside area.

Yes J’ville would be ideal! So let’s make it happen!

Welcome to Southern Music Hall of Fame

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So where is The Southern Music Hall of Fame?

Actually it is currently located at this blog. I have been working on this project for over 19 years with my associate/co-founder, Ron Rich. We have looked at more than a dozen locations including Atlanta, GA; Jacksonville, FL; Myrtle Beach, SC; Winston Salem, NC; Durham, NC; Macon, GA; Dalton; GA; Greenville, SC; Charlotte, NC; Chattanooga, TN and Marietta, GA. Each location had its plusses and problems with the main one being parking for as many as 1000 vehicles daily. Our research showed we needed this at any location we might select. We project at least 100,000 visitors the first year of operation.  Seeing the first year attendance numbers for the Georgia Aquarium, this projected number could go much higher.

So what is The Southern Music Hall of Fame?

It is a high tech/high touch facility telling the story of Southern Music which includes eight genres that originated in the South USA: folk, gospel, blues, bluegrass, country, rock, r&b, and jazz. Out of these eight genres over 100 more have morphed including Tex Mex, jazz fusion, zydeco, Carolina beach music, Southern rock, country rock, etc.

We plan to use video kiosks, holography and eventually augumented virtual reality as opposed to the traditional physical museum items.  We will have opportunities to bring museum items ocassionally; however, our research has shown that especially young people are not interested in static museum items.  They want interactive displays as they are accustomed to.

Recently I decided to develop a music project tied to the history of Southern Music.  It will be called Southern Nights modeled after the world famous Austin City Limits as seen for many years on PBS. It will showcase up and coming talent from all nine genres that originated in the South. I hope this new music project will lead to finding either a permanent home for the Southern Music Hall of Fame or developing a traveling show or possibly both.

We value your comments and suggestions!

Thanks!

Hugh Simpson

co-founder

Update on Southern Nights TV Show

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Yes, we had a very productive meeting with numerous parties including Eddie Owen who has taken over Duluth, Georgia’s Red Clay Theater. Also Dave Mattingly, parter with the legendary Alex Cooley and now owner of Eddie’s Attic, was there along with Tracie and Troy from Atlanta’s Crawford Media Services. We agreed that the TV series along with the Southern Music Hall of Fame Traveling Show would be excellent ways to tell this fascinating history of Southern Music especially to school children.