Melt your face off with the guitar greats of Jacksonville. In the 1960s, the electric guitar became for boys what Barbie was for girls. Legions of bands formed, composed of teens making a ruckus in the garage. But who could have guessed how many world-renowned greats would arise from the clangor? Guitar gods came forth from Los Angeles, London, Chicago, Nashville. But there is a southern city often overlooked, an unlikely incubator that produced more than a dozen greats. Legends such as Di...

The enduring achievement and legacy of a rock movementFlorida Book Awards, Bronze Medal for Florida NonfictionThe Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd helped usher in a new kind of southern music from Jacksonville, Florida. Together, they and fellow bands like Blackfoot, 38 Special, and Molly Hatchet would reset the course of seventies rock. Yet Jacksonville seemed an unlikely hotbed for a new musical movement.Michael FitzGerald ...

“‘Kickbacks from government vendors, jobs for cronies, sweetheart deals for contractors’ were commonplace—‘It may have been the most corrupt city in America.’”What happened when greedy promoters ran radio stations and the local concert scene? They brought the Beatles to Jacksonville, but they also brought payola, greed, and corruption.This article appears in the 2011 Music issue of Southern Cultures.Southern Cultures is published quarterly (spring, summer, ...

The American Indian has figured prominently in many films and television shows, portrayed variously as a villain, subservient friend, or a hapless victim of progress. Many Indian stereotypes that were derived from European colonial discourse—some hundreds of years old—still exist in the media today. Even when set in the contemporary era, novels, films, and programs tend to purvey rehashed tropes such as Pocahontas or man Friday.In Native Americans on Network TV: Stereotypes, Myths,...

The enduring achievement and legacy of a rock movementThe Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd helped usher in a new kind of southern music from Jacksonville, Florida. Together, they and fellow bands like Blackfoot, 38 Special, and Molly Hatchet would reset the course of seventies rock. Yet Jacksonville seemed an unlikely hotbed for a new musical movement.Michael FitzGerald blends eyewitness detail with in-depth history to tell the story of how the River...