Previously Unreleased

By Steve Gillespie / assistant editor

October 19, 2006 12:56 am

— Were you ever involved in any of those backyard productions as a youngster when the kid in the neighborhood with a video camera, or in my day it was the kid with an 8 mm movie camera, decided to make an epic film?
If you weren’t, the opportunity has arrived. If you were, this may be your chance to make a comeback.
Lee Hughes of Meridian is calling all amateur actors, writers, stage hands — anybody and everybody interested — to be in his short films.
I know what you might be thinking because I asked him if we were talking about “adult films” and do you know what he said? He said: “What do you mean?”
I explained it to him.
He said “no” he wasn’t doing that so — there you have it straight from the horse’s mouth — it’s not a call for porn stars.
And no, this isn’t the quality of film making we grew up with as kids, when the leading lady’s wig falls off after the hero rescues her from a not-so-scary playful-looking monster, only to find out his pants were unzipped the whole time after viewing the movie at it’s premiere in the basement.
He’s a professional. Hughes focuses on sketch comedy, action and horror. He likes parody. He said he likes making fun of pop culture.
“What I would really like to do with this is get a varied group of writers or people with ideas,” Hughes said.
He’s also looking for artists interested in animation. He’s working with an illustrator, Chris “Stewy” Stewart right now and with Michael Weckesser, as a writing partner.
Hughes is a co-owner of Optik Studios, a production company that mostly does commercials here. He is 24 years old. He said he was born in Pascagoula, raised in Mobile, Ala., and has lived in Meridian for the past 13 years.
He’s been doing video production for four years.
He is working under the name WTF Productions and has a MySpace page set up that he can connect you with. E-mail him at lhughes@optikstudios.com.

Another film project

Someone else is looking for help in filming a documentary on the life and gospel music career of Don Linzy Dixon of the Dixon Singers.
I’m not familiar with this artist but I received this information about him in an e-mail from a Steve Collins of Wesson who identifies himself as the Dixons drummer:
“Dixon was born on Dec. 6, 1953 on a farm in Georgetown, Miss. The son of Rev. and Mrs. E. C. Dixon, he grew up picking cotton and singing the gospel with his brothers and sisters. They later began calling themselves the Dixon Singers.
“Linzy could elevate his voice to a very high pitch, keep it there for what seemed like forever, and finally bring it back down to a fiery preaching voice. He recorded three albums during his musical career: “He’s Alright With Me” in 1975; “One Thing the World Can’t Take Away” in 1977; and “Take A Message to Heaven,” recorded in 1979 at The Talk of the Town Studio in Jackson, Miss. This was a double volume album containing 16 songs, five of which were recorded live, making the Dixons the first gospel group ever to record a double volume album in the state of Mississippi.”
Collins goes on to write that Dixon lost his life in 1980 during an early morning hold up at a convenience store in Jackson.
Anyone who has, or knows someone who has pictures, news articles, concert tickets, flyers, videos (on any format: film, Hi 8, VHS, Beta, etc.) or any memorabilia of Don Linzy and the Dixons dating back to the early 1970s is asked to submit their material to be included in the documentary.
For more information and to submit material, please contact: Steve Collins, 10106 Highway 51, Wesson, MS 39191. Or call (601) 894-3392 or (601) 613-7413. His e-mail address is svccproductions@hotmail.com.

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