The Virginia Festival of the Book, in its 22nd year, is holding events throughout Charlottesville and Albemarle County through Sunday, March 20. Read more about some of this year’s featured authors.
Click on the link below to watch our C-VILLE Live chat with Preston Lauterbach, author of Beale Street Dynasty: Sex, Song and the Struggle for the Soul of Memphis, and Jon Lohman, director of the Virginia Program for the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.
Video overview:
5:11 — Learn about Lauterbach’s main character, Robert Church, who was born a slave and became the South’s first black millionaire.
12:14 — Learn how the book’s plot evolved out of Lauterbach’s research.
13:07 — Hear how Ida B. Wells, a journalist who helped found the NAACP, “found herself” on Beale Street.
14:25 — W.C. Handy takes Beale Street to another level.
17:50 — Hear more about the Reading Under the Influence: Blues and Brews event, which takes place from 9-11pm Friday, at Champion Brewing Company.
24:35 — Learn how music first drew Lauterbach to Beale Street, a place where everything from swing to lowdown blues could be heard.
28:20 — Learn what W.C. Handy, the father of blues, and hip-hop artists today have in common.