About this project

Kay Kemble (1911-1989) is a character invented for this project. Kay sang on radio commercials as a child and went on to lead Big Bands and swing ensembles in the 30's and 40's. She worked at Scott Air Field as a WAAC enlistee and a civilian. She produced war bond rallies, and her all-female band promoted a popular shampoo brand. In the 80's there was renewed interest in Kay's musical career.

Kay informally adopted the orphaned niece and nephew of her partner Wilmetta "Teeny" Stockton, and in the early 70's the family moved from St. Louis to New Orleans. After Kay and Teeny's deaths, family members remained in New Orleans until displaced by Hurricane Katrina. In 2014, I arranged to archive, organize, and restore Kay's memorabilia. Most items were damaged due to age, hurried packing , and lack of funds for formal archiving.

I've "become" Kay in reproduction radio broadcasts, and created artifacts to represent damaged or destroyed items in the collection.



Saturday, September 19, 2020

"I don't know what you'd call that"

 "I don't know what you'd call that" was Kay's reply to an interviewer in the 1980s, who used a cassette player to play a tape of orchestral dance music from the late 1950s, about a decade after Kay had switched from a music-oriented career to her work as a teacher. 

"The album is called 'Swing Fever," said the interviewer. "Now, would you call music of this type swing?"





at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)