The day is nearly here! There is finally going to be a monument to Nina Simone in her home town!
Not long after I moved here, I discovered that, not only was this was the birthplace of this amazing woman, but that I was living in her old neighborhood. I began to look for her history here, any sign of her, and but for word-of-mouth from old friends, neighbors and relatives, there was no sign of her. How could such an important figure in the music (and political) world have come from such a small town and not be honored? It inspired me to write this poem, and that seemed to start a little spark. I was invited to various events - including the dedication of a new park in this town, specifically to read this poem. People wanted other people to hear it, including Nina Simone, but I was too scared to send it. It turns out that there was a long story behind the lack of any kind of connection between her and her home-town, and I didn't want to rock her boat. When her mother passed, I drove by the cemetary behind my house, just to see her from a distance, but I would have never stopped. (The beginning and end of my celebrity stalking career. :)  And then she too was gone from us.
When Crys Armbrust took up the banner. He began this amazing project not only to correct the lack of monument to Nina, but to do other great things in the name of Tryon's Brightest Star, including festivals, scholarships, fund-raisers, and the archival preservation of her material record.

This weekend is the dedication ceremony for the beautiful sculpture by Zenos Frudakis. There will be several events related to the dedication, and since my hubby is in charge of filming all this historical, monumental fun, I am hoping that he will need an assistant. :) I have been lucky enough to be able to help here and there, and so when Nina's daughter Simone came to visit Tryon and begin to heal the breach and bring her mama home, I was invited to come and meet her and give her a copy of my poem. This is what she had to say about that:

"Sam,

Thank you for the poem and for being unafraid to ruffle a few feathers. Mommy would be proud!

Love, Simone."

(This is Simone, who looks very like her mom, posing for Zenos so he can get the movement right.)

Crys, and all involved with moving this project forward, thank you, bless you. Thank you for proving, once again, that you CAN make a change - a HUGE change - if you really want it bad enough. In your self and in the world. I think that was the heart of the whole message Nina left us.

(Photo of Zeno Frudakis and scultpture from the Crys Armbrust collection)