Press
Mississippi
Son
an award winning documentary
feature film lending a voice to the people of the Mississippi
Gulf
Coast
who continue
to be neglected by the media, FEMA, SBA, and the insurance
companies as billions continue to pour into the war in Iraq
(95 min.)
Excerpts from
Featured Artist: Don Wilson
in THE BAY PRESS, 6 April 2007
Interview by Gene Coleman
You originallly came back here after Katrina
to take care of your mother. What was your first impression?
My first impression - I was blown away. The day I
got there I just stabilized everything. I had to cut some trees
down to get into and out of the house. I had a press pass and
met up with the National Guard to get past the tracks. When
I did I got a little teary eyed. I didn't know where I was
and I knew the future was in trouble. My first impression was
I was heartsick.
How long did you spend making this
film and what were some of the insightful interviews?
We started prepping in March 2006 and we're just basically
wrapping up looses ends so it's been a year - a long year.
There were so many interviews.
Tommy and Becky Luke. Becky was a girl I
grew up with and they decided to ride the storm out in their
house. They would show me where Camille was on their property
and no one thought anything would even come close. These
people rode the storm out and had a child with them and they
watched house implode and float away.
And, Mayor A.J. Holloway, he told me a story
and said when he finally got down to the coast he saw someone
who said, "Mayor, we lost everything" and he'd walk another
block and someone would say, "We don't have a car or a house,"
and he started crying. To have this stalwart of the community
start crying. I didn't know what to ask him.
Kim Hoyt, who stayed in Hattiesburg, had
a friend drive him down...he didn'y know if he could start
again, but he did.
You were originally focused on the
music scene. At what point did you realize you wanted to
address other issues?
The culture. I needed to start somewhere
and to me the coast is the food, the attitude about the food,
the nightlife we had even before the casinos...
When I stepped out onto beach drive and
knew all that was gone, I wanted to know what was next. I'm
still not sure...they're still fighting to get the grants they
were promised and fighting with insurance...
What did you find out about the
coast music scene and where do you see it going?
The place attracts musicians and there's
just something about it.
One of the cool things that happened to
us and my musician friends is that U2's The Edge has a grant
program called Music Risisng and it's part of MusiCares and
they provided frants to the musicains in our movie to get
equipment and record a soundtrack.
We re-formed the old band Heater and called
ourselves Debris. It's a cross between Gatemouth Brown and
Pink Floyd. It is pure coast musicians playing thier style
of music. And, hopefully we can begin to put a little bit
of money in these people's pockets...
A free showing in Mississippi would
be huge...
We want to give the gift to the people who
gave us this film...
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