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Video and Audio Title: Jesco White: 60;I ain57;t asking Big and Rich for much, maybe $100 bucks and a thank you." (Big and Rich Rip Off Great Artist) Nestled back up in the hills through ten miles worth of winding, climbing road off I-64 is Hinton, West Virginia. It was 4 a.m. on a Saturday morning, August 26, when I snuck into Hinton under the cover of darkness and fog. I always feel a little bit like an invader when I drive into some small town in the wee hours of the morning, especially one so deep into W. Va., but my purposes here this weekend were pure 51; I was here for JescoFest 2006. Jescofest?! What is this? And who57;s this Jesco fellow anyway you might be asking. Plainly stated, Jesco White is The Dancin57; Outlaw. Jesco57;s father, D. Ray White, was featured on the 1986 PBS documentary, Talking Feet, where he displayed his native Appalachia dance style that combines tap and clogging. Jesco learned this style of dance from his father and has gone on to be known as the 60;King of Mountain Dancing.61; 60;My dancing is a gift from my father,61; said White. 60;He took the two things he loved the most [tap and clog dancing] and turned them into one.61; Sadly, Jesco is one of the last of his kind. JescoFest is a two-day (Aug 26-27) celebration of Jesco White, as well as a fund-raiser to help supply Jesco with firewood and coal to heat his trailer during the cold winter months. Jesco has been on disability since he was 17 and unable to work. He currently survives on $600 a month. Though the subject of two full-length documentaries and the subject of many country music songs (Jesco is mentioned in Big and Rich57;s 60;Comin57; to Your City61; and the Kentucky Headhunters 60;Jesico61;), Jesco has received very little in the way of monetary compensation for any of these endeavors. 60;All these people in the entertainment business are willing to capitalize off of my name and I ain57;t seen a dime from any of them61;, said White. 60;I ain57;t asking Big and Rich for much, maybe $100 bucks and a thank you. Really, only Hank III has done right by me,61; White said.61; Jesco and several residents of Boone County, W.Va. are mentioned in Hank Williams III's song, 60;The Legend of D. Ray White.61; The festival also puts a spotlight on the poverty stricken areas of the Appalachia. Many residents of the area face the same problems as Jesco White, living in sub-par housing, barely able to provide for their families, many with learning disabilities or mental problems for which, for whatever reason, they are unable to receive government assistance. According to the 2000 census, people living below the poverty line in W. Va. hovered around 16 percent, with the rate climbing to nearly 20 percent for those living in rural areas of the state. Jason Sells, event organizer, is a friend of the White family. It was during conversations with one of Jesco57;s cousins that the idea for a festival first came up. 60;I was talking to Katie [White] about what we could do to help Jesco get through the winter, and she suggested that we do a festival61;, said Sells. Prior to JescoFest, Sells had no experience planning an event of this magnitude, but friends of Jesco banded together to make it happen. 60;A whole bunch of folks came together and we got a MySpace account going for the festival. We got a website built and the ball started rolling,61; said Sells. Sells attributes much of the success of the festival to the social networking site, MySpace. 60;I would say 90-95 percent of the contacts and such we made with bands and what-not were through MySpace. Within a month of having the MySpace page up, we were getting literally thousands of calls and emails,61; Sells said. But as the planned day drew closer, Sells still faced the issue of no location. 60;For whatever reasons, prior commitments and such, most of the places we contacted couldn57;t accommodate us. Ron Smith suggested I speak with Ray Nutter in Hinton to see about playing there,61; said Sells. 60;If anyone could get this into Hinton, it was Ray Nutter61;, said Smith. Owner of Unkle Ray's Bar in Hinton, Ray Nutter casts a long shadow in the city. The folks of Hinton agreed to host the festival on the word of Nutter. All told, 25 bands from across the country made the trek to Hinton to play [i]pro bono[/i] for the show. While the days were supposedly divided into a rock-n-roll Saturday and a country oriented Sunday, each day featured a mix of talents and tastes as diverse as the crowd. For 82 year-old Daw Gill of Sandstone, W.Va., a chance to see the 60;Dancing Outlaw61; perform was a dream come true. 60;I57;ve wanted to see Jesco dance for about as long as I can remember,61; said Gill. 60;I was sort of afraid that he wouldn57;t be performing anymore so any chance to see him - I57;m there.61; Due to health issues and age (Jesco is fifty this year), Jesco performs on a very limited basis these days. 60;Jesco57;s gone through so much in his life, he57;s an inspiration,61; said Casey Thromeburg, who drove the nearly 200 miles from Greensboro, N.C., to see Jesco dance. 60;Through it all, he57;s remained true to himself; there aren57;t that many performers out there like him,61; Thromeburg said. Headlining Saturday57;s performance was the hip-hop act, 8-Bit. Members of 8-Bit originally hail from Boone County, W. Va., but currently live in the Los Angeles area. 60;When I talked to the guys and told them what was going on, they were more than excited about coming out and helping Jesco,61; said Sells. The band was able to get sponsors to help fly them and their equipment across the nation and perform Aug 26. For Sunday57;s performance, headliners J.B. Beverley and the Wayward Drifters made the trip from Washington D.C. to play. 60;Jesco is a true outlaw who does things his way,61; said Beverley. 60;What with the issues he57;s facing, coming down here and playing to help raise money for him is the least we can do.61; For the grand finale, J.B. Beverley and the Wayward Drifters were joined by country music performer Joey Allcorn for an inspired rendition of Hank III57;s 60;The Legend of D. Ray White.61; While the band played, Jesco kicked up a dust storm as he danced to the music while an enthusiastic crowd cheered him on. With the success of this year57;s festival, Sells wants to continue the movement into an on-going yearly event. 60;We definitely learned a lot from this year57;s festival and we57;re looking into making this a yearly event,61; Sells said. 60;Hopefully next year's will be bigger and better and, the Lord willing, we57;ll keep on keeping on.61;
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#2. To: continental op (#0)
I go I was thinkin' 'bout Alicia Keys, couldn't keep from crying When she was born in Hell's Kitchen, I was living down the line I'm wondering where in the world Alicia Keys could be I been looking for her even clear through Tennessee
#3. To: TLBSHOW (#2)
THey didn't ask his permission, Todd. Hank III will kicked their asses...
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