Every Thursday, the Spy hosts a conversation with Al From and Craig Fuller on the most topical political news of the moment.

This week, From and Fuller discuss the growing perception that the United States Supreme Court is now becoming heavily politicized and has lost serious credibility with the American public.

And in our outtake, Al and Craig talk about the legacy of Colin Powell and share thoughts on how President Biden may significantly improve his popularity with voters as it becomes more clear that Congress will pass his two significant spending bills in the near future.

This video podcast is approximately twelve minutes in length.

To listen to the audio podcast version, please use this link:

The From and Fuller outtake segment runs approximately eleven minutes.

Background

While the Spy’s public affairs mission has always been hyper-local, it has never limited us from covering national, or even international issues, that impact the communities we serve. With that in mind, we were delighted that Al From and Craig Fuller, both highly respected Washington insiders, have agreed to a new Spy video project called “The Analysis of From and Fuller” over the next year.

The Spy and our region are very lucky to have such an accomplished duo volunteer for this experiment. While one is a devoted Democrat and the other a lifetime Republican, both had long careers that sought out the middle ground of the American political spectrum.

Al From, the genius behind the Democratic Leadership Council’s moderate agenda which would eventually lead to the election of Bill Clinton, has never compromised from this middle-of-the-road philosophy. This did not go unnoticed in a party that was moving quickly to the left in the 1980s. Including progressive Howard Dean saying that From’s DLC was the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.

From’s boss, Bill Clinton, had a different perspective. He said it would be hard to think of a single American citizen who, as a private citizen, has had a more positive impact on the progress of American life in the last 25 years than Al From.”

Al now lives in Annapolis and spends his semi-retirement as a board member of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University (his alma mater) and authoring New Democrats and the Return to Power. He also is an adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins’ Krieger School and recently agreed to serve on the Annapolis Spy’s Board of Visitors. He is the author of “New Democrats and the Return to Power.”

For Craig Fuller, his moderation in the Republican party was a rare phenomenon. With deep roots in California’s GOP culture of centralism, Fuller, starting with a long history with Ronald Reagan, leading to his appointment as Reagan’s cabinet secretary at the White House, and later as George Bush’s chief-of-staff and presidential campaign manager was known for his instincts to find the middle ground. Even more noted was his reputation of being a nice guy in Washington, a rare characteristic for a successful tenure in the White House.

Craig has called Easton his permanent home for the last five years, where now serves on the boards of the Academy Art Museum, the Benedictine School, and Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.  He also serves on the Spy’s Board of Visitors.

With their rich experience and long history of friendship, now joined by their love of the Chesapeake Bay, they have agreed through the magic of Zoom, to talk inside politics and policy with the Spy every Thursday.

One afternoon in the 1970s, Chestertown real estate broker and property investor Vincent “Vince” Raimond made a discovery during the restoration of one of his houses on the corner of Kent St. and Cannon Street.

Removing an interior wall revealed a fireplace, and in it, a heavy, wadded-up lead sheet Raimond mistook for a cannonball. As he carefully unfolded it, a remarkable image of a Black woman in a high-collared black silk dress emerged. The image—perhaps an albumen print— was pasted to a five-pound lead sheet. It also looked as though part of the left side of her face had been re-touched, a common technique of scraping, drawing, or painting on the negative or directly on the print to remove blemishes or enhance angles in the face,

The mystery of the photograph is deepened by its provenance. The 111 Kent Street house once belonged to one of Chestertown’s famous Black forebears, James A. Jones. According to past research, parts of the structure probably date back to the 18th century. The house currently at the Kent Street address surely carries some of its previous colonial history.

The story of James A. Jones, a 19th-century Black Chestertown entrepreneur and political activist, is well-known. Among several political roles, as a founding member of Janes Church, and a successful business owner, Jones was one of several African Americans who confronted the town’s repressive voting laws by tactically using the same laws to acquire the vote. 

Even after the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870, Chestertown municipal voting laws required voters to own property. Jones, a fierce abolitionist, sold one square-foot sections of his property to freedmen, allowing them as landowners to vote. 

Ironically, Jones bought several properties from Judge Ezekiel Chambers, a US senator, slave owner, and fugitive slave law advocate. It’s not a far reach to imagine that the same property was used to allow free Black men to vote.

Recent informal reviews and discussions about the photograph by fashion historians focus on the neckline and collar. “The neckline puts (her) between 1890-1910. Black silk was every woman’s “best dress” in those days. She is dressed like a lady, and she is beautiful,” one wrote.

Another added, “No shine, no ornament, no lace. This is the first stage of mourning for a close family member, spouse, parent, or child.”

But who is she?

Was she related to James Jones? Possibly. Jones died at 91 in 1894 within the time frame of the photograph. Is it possible that it’s Jones’ wife, Lucinda? There is no direct evidence to conclude that, but the fact that the photograph was found in the Jones house and that she wore a mourning dress fashionable for that period persuades us to continue to search.

The Spy recently interviewed Leslie Raimond to hear the original story of the photograph’s discovery. Her hope has always been to find a current family connection, even showcasing it at Charles Sumner Hall for several years without any hints of her identification.

It’s possible that someone you passed on High Street this morning may be this beautiful woman’s great-grandchild. Such is the complex warp and weave of Chestertown’s history.

 

This video is approximately seven minutes in length.

 

Editor’s note: In light of Saturday’s celebration of the Uptown Community Saturday, October 9, The Spy would like to share this interview conducted by Leslie Prince Raimond.

Note from the editor of Here on the Chester. Pearl Johnson Hackett, her daughter Sylvia Hackett Frazier and their cousin, Rosie Perkins Herbert, grew up just a few steps from the Uptown Club, Charlie Graves’ is popular venue for black musical artists in the 1950s and 60s. The club on the northwest corner of College Avenue and Calvert Street, though smaller than Harlem’s Apollo Theater and Chicago’s Regal Theater, was a popular stop for black artists performing on the Chitlin’ Circuit—a loose network of jook joints, nightclubs, dance halls, bars, theaters and restaurants that flourished throughout the U.S. and especially in the South during the pre-Civil Rights era. Because of recording industry apartheid, which relegated black music to black audiences, black spaces and midnight-to-dawn time slots on radio, the Chitlin’ Circuit was critical to the economic survival of black artists who had not crossed over to mainstream audiences.

Rosie: Charlie’s was the entertainment spot of the Eastern Shore… and the Western Shore. I can remember an influx of people coming from Wilmington, and Philadelphia, however the word got out, and this would be a crowded little town.

Pearl: When he had dances the cars were packed everywhere. You had to dress to go out!

Rosie: I’m going back in the era when the Nike Base was first built, and the soldiers started coming, and you had to dress up. And the ladies looked really good. They had their hairdos; they worked all week to get an outfit for the weekend…

Pearl:… to go down to Charlie’s… Because it was a popular place. You didn’t wear your work clothes to go there.

Sylvia: Back when I could remember, Mr. Charlie Graves used to wear a suit every day, with a big brimmed hat, and a tie… because he was the owner of the Uptown Club!

Pearl: We can go back to when Charlie had only the restaurant across the street. That was first period it was across the street, on the right-hand side. And then he went across the street and built a bar and dance hall period it must have been in the early 50s.

Sylvia: I always thought it was an old saloon… as little kids, we’d walk past and peek in…

Rosie: I remember first hearing about B.B. King coming to town… and then Fats Domino, and this is in the era of them first starting, getting on the Chitlin’ Circuit. When stars came to town, I guess it got too hot in the building, and he would open the back doors and everybody would stand there and see the stars. If you weren’t old enough to go to the show, you still got to see them.

Sylvia: Even Etta James was here.

Rosie: And the Franklin girls—Aretha, Erma and one name Carolyn I think.

Sylvia: You could almost say that from the James Brown—B.B. King era all of them have at least dropped in. Even Richard Pryor.

Rosie: Gene Chandler, Sam Cooke, Clyde McPhatter, The Platters, Duke of Earl…

Leslie: Otis Redding?

Rosie: Yes! Otis Redding! It was just THAT POPULAR. They didn’t have a showcase, and they weren’t getting paid much on that Chitlin’ Circuit. But it was a wonderful time.  I remember seeing Ray Charles and Charlie always together like bosom buddies, and people saying “there go two Charlies.” Charlie Graves would be leading him. I was always an up-close person and I stood nearby and watched them. When Ray Charles died I had a great recollection of going back and seeing those times because the man came to Chester town more than once. He practically lived here.

Silvia: There was something about the town that they really liked. Because in my young day when Patti Labelle and the Bluebells came to town, they would walk up the street like they owned it… walking in their curlers and their Capri shorts… standing out there in the road.

Rosie: I think Patty came here even when there wasn’t a show. (laughter)

Rosie: Mr. Graves Uptown Club was the place to go! If a holiday came up and something wasn’t happening at Charlies, well, the town was dead. And the town is still dead today the entertainment is gone.

Sylvia: I thought I was everything when I got to go in there without getting permission. They used to have those matinees. I’d make sure I got my house cleaning done so I could be there and get a table. And I’d see all these people. They came from Delaware, and everywhere: good music, good food, and, sometimes, fights.

I can remember when James Brown’s bus came up Lynchburg Street, pulled up in front of our house, backed up and parked. Mom and her friends dressed up and went to Charlie’s, and the last words out of their mouths were: “Now don’t you come around that corner.” Well… they just shouldn’t have said it, because we needed to get our little peek. So we waited until she got in there good, and we went on in, and crawled in through the crowd on our hands and our knees, got our peek and went back home.

Rosie: The entertainers, before they got really big, we’re like ordinary people, and they associated with town-people like they always knew you. Remember when Little Richard came to town and needed a hairdo? He refused to go on stage without the hairdo. So Ms. Marion Lindsey did his hair… remember? She was a beautician on Lynchburg Street and he went there and got his hair done.  Cause he’s cute now, and he was cute back then.

And when James Brown started getting bigger and bigger, and more people were coming to see him from everywhere, so they took it down to the Armory. I asked my mother a month in advance could I go see James Brown. She said no. Well “No” always meant “Yes”  to me. I was like that then, and I’m like that now. I started getting my little clothes together. You had to have the new outfit. And it has to match. It was me and five more girls; we were all going to dress alike. I think it was black and white saddle shoes, socks that matched, black skirts…

Sylvia: Sharp!

Rosie: I start buying my little stuff and leaving it at their house. And the night James Brown comes I see my brothers  getting ready. It was alright for them to go. I said umm-humm, when they go to bed I’ll sneak out and get dressed, so I snuck out, got dressed and went on down to James Brown. I did not care when I got home if I got beat, scorned or whatever. I was going! And my brothers came up to me and said, “what are you doing here? Mom is looking for you!” but I said to myself, I’m not going home ‘till the last dance! It was a great time.

Sylvia: I can remember when I was part of a local band. Charlie’d had his forty-some anniversary. Our band was Black Soul, and the girl singers were called the Blackettes. He had a great big table for his family and his brother came down from Jersey. And it was so special we went out and bought those green gowns with the back cut out. We sang our hearts out because we knew we were part of something special.

Rosie: I would base this on the Apollo… it was a culture center. It was entertainment: you saw dancing, and every once in a while the locals thought they should sing and they wanted to get up there and showcase themselves. No matter how it looked to some people, that was all we had. You have to sit back and embrace it today, ’cause there was a lot coming out of there in the form of art. I can remember those line dances.

Pearl: the Madison.

Rosie: yes, and those dance contests they had. There were guys coming from Annapolis. They were all tall men and they could step! That was the entertainment. They would push the chairs back and they would have a Chestertown group on the side, another group and maybe a Philadelphia group.

Sylvia: Back then it was hand dancing time. I remember seeing couples swinging across the floor.

Leslie: What were some of the other dances?

Rosie: There was one called Kill that Roach…

Pearl: (laughter). I don’t even remember that one.

On June 1st 1988, in the wake of a concerted palace police raid and drug bust, a bulldozer demolition wiped out the Uptown Club in a matter of an hour

 Sylvia: It was heartbreaking, when it started going way down. And then they had that great big drug bust. They had all these people lying on the floor. I was getting ready to go, because I wanted to get my last goodbye. But people were running up and saying don’t go down there. And there were helicopters flying around, and I stood there and watched them knock the place down. It hurt me to my heart it really did.

Rosie: it took something out of our town, an era that was gone. The drug epidemic came in, and the place really went down.

Pearl: And Charlie was older then, too. And if he didn’t let them in, that would be a problem.

Rosie: They should have named something like a road after him. Charlie Graves Way or something.

Leslie: What were some of the segregation issues at the time?

Rosie: To know the closeness of the community that you live in is a beautiful thing. Compared to big city living this is paradise. The only thing though, looking back, about Chestertown, that was sad to me, is I did not have… not one… white friend. To look back and understand that era that I lived in, that was devastating to never know or never have any connection with someone my own age of another race. I didn’t get that feeling until I moved to this city at the age of 23 and met white friends. And I thought Oh my! What a waste.

It really was a Jim Crow town… I won’t say there was a lot of hatred then, but it was the way. By going away and coming back, I’ve picked up on some of (it) still here. And I can tell the ones who have been transplanted here. And as life goes on, layers go down and soon it will stop. And with everyone commuting now, it’s changing… that can be good and it can be bad… when you have families moving in from the cities in different parts of the world you bring in new changes. When I hear older folks talking and saying,   “I wish it was like it was” I know they were regular home people.

We were blessed to have Mr. Charlie Graves Uptown Club in our time period. The performers who are still on the circuit that we go see today, we say Oh My! And I can go anywhere and meet someone today who remembers Chestertown, someone who came to see a B.B. King concert or one of the performances.

Recently I met a man who couldn’t believe that we had seen all these artists. Not in little Chestertown… you didn’t expect that… but it was the truth! This was the Apollo of the 50s. It was a time of change, and time of Black culture, and we saw all these artists. It’s the truth! The local white people didn’t come, so white people from the cities would drop down… they were the diehards and they enjoyed it

And it was a beautiful time.

Note: this article appeared in Here on the Chester: Washington College Remembers Old Chestertown, edited by John Lang and published in 2006 by The Literary House Press of Washington College.

Leslie Prince Raimond graduated from Washington College in 1963. She is the former Executive Director of the Kent County Arts Council, now Kent Cultural Alliance.

 

Every Thursday, the Spy hosts a conversation with Al From and Craig Fuller on the most topical political news of the moment.

This week, From and Fuller talk about the climate change crisis and how it still has not gained significant momentum as a political issue with the American people nor the country’s politicians despite the repeated dire warnings of experts.

In their conversation, Craig references the Envision Resilience organization and their website can be found here.

It should also be noted that we experienced a slow internet connection with Al this week and we apologize for the poor video quality in advance.

This video is approximately thirteen minutes in length. To listen to the podcast version, please use this link:

Background

While the Spy’s public affairs mission has always been hyper-local, it has never limited us from covering national, or even international issues, that impact the communities we serve. With that in mind, we were delighted that Al From and Craig Fuller, both highly respected Washington insiders, have agreed to a new Spy video project called “The Analysis of From and Fuller” over the next year.

The Spy and our region are very lucky to have such an accomplished duo volunteer for this experiment. While one is a devoted Democrat and the other a lifetime Republican, both had long careers that sought out the middle ground of the American political spectrum.

Al From, the genius behind the Democratic Leadership Council’s moderate agenda which would eventually lead to the election of Bill Clinton, has never compromised from this middle-of-the-road philosophy. This did not go unnoticed in a party that was moving quickly to the left in the 1980s. Including progressive Howard Dean saying that From’s DLC was the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.

From’s boss, Bill Clinton, had a different perspective. He said it would be hard to think of a single American citizen who, as a private citizen, has had a more positive impact on the progress of American life in the last 25 years than Al From.”
Al now lives in Annapolis and spends his semi-retirement as a board member of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University (his alma mater) and authoring New Democrats and the Return to Power. He also is an adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins’ Krieger School and recently agreed to serve on the Annapolis Spy’s Board of Visitors.

For Craig Fuller, his moderation in the Republican party was a rare phenomenon. With deep roots in California’s GOP culture of centralism, Fuller, starting with a long history with Ronald Reagan, leading to his appointment as Reagan’s cabinet secretary at the White House, and later as George Bush’s chief-of-staff and presidential campaign manager was known for his instincts to find the middle ground. Even more noted was his reputation of being a nice guy in Washington, a rare characteristic for a successful tenure in the White House.

Craig has called Easton his permanent home for the last five years, where now serves on the boards of the Academy Art Museum, the Benedictine School, and Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.  He also serves on the Spy’s Board of Visitors.

With their rich experience and long history of friendship, now joined by their love of the Chesapeake Bay, they have agreed through the magic of Zoom, to talk inside politics and policy with the Spy every Thursday.

Robert Patterson has learned to forgive the public for interpreting his work as interesting household trays, but as an artist with decades of experience and experimentation with wood and art, it remains an ongoing task to explain that his work is a freestanding object, not a surrogate for anything else.

In fact, he makes this a central theme for his website with a header that proclaims that Patterson’s work is “making things that aren’t something else.”

Perhaps this is the reason that Robert Patterson’s pieces have gained a tremendous following over the last ten years. During that time, his unique wood objects have been award-winning ones in some of the most prestigious crafts shows in the country, including the Smithsonian Craft & Design Show and the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show.

That fact certainly influenced the leaders of the Academy Art Museum’s Crafts Show this year when they selected Patterson as the Visionary Artist for this increasingly popular fall event scheduled for October 15th to the 17th in Easton.

The Spy talked to Robert via Zoom from his Milton, Georgia studio about his work as he prepares to travel to the Eastern Shore to be part of what promises to be one of the most exciting crafts shows the AAM has produced over its 24-year history.

This video is approximately two minutes in length. For more information about the Academy Art Museum’s 2021 Crafts Show or to purchase tickets please go here.

 

If you got a whiff of sweet, BBQ-scented smoke downtown on Saturday, expect more. With the scissor-snip of a blue ribbon, Ward 1 Councilmember Sam Shoge and business owner William Holland officially opened Phat Daddy’s BBQ and Catering at the former Ellen’s Coffee Shop location in Philosopher’s Terrace plaza.

 

For Holland, the new location represents a counterpart to his decades-long mobile smoked food operation in Anne Arundel County and brought to the Eastern Shore in 2010 when he and his wife, Michelle, moved to Millington. Michelle operates Speedy Tax Services in Galena.

 

“I started out with informal cookouts for family and friends, then a few community and church events which eventually led to large catering opportunities like the Homeowners Association,” Holland says. From there, the business grew into larger catering events and he soon began traveling throughout the State as his brand grew more popular.

And all this while holding down a full-time job with Comcast and Atlantic Broadband and at one time as a booking officer with the Anne Arundel PD, an experience reflected by his business motto, “Securing the Flavor, Protecting the Taste,” a slogan credited to longtime friend Roslyn Hill.

Then the pandemic hit, the world closed, and businesses struggled to find ways to survive. Luckily for Holland, his mobile vending business became a go-to solution for people wanting restaurant style meals. 

 

Holland says that he reached a turning point after losing his full-time job and decided to look around for a permanent location for his BBQ business.

 

With a hand from Kent County Economic Development Director Jamie Williams and a PPP grant, along with  his life savings, Holland decided to take a leap of faith and open Phat Daddy’s BBQ and Catering. Except for electrical and plumbing, he and a few friends renovated the old coffee shop, even using deconstructed wooden pallets to repurpose as wall siding for a rustic feel.

 

“I bet on me,” he says. I didn’t want to be dependent on the ups and downs of the corporate world. I want to be part of this great community. I’ve always been service-oriented and want to find creative ways to participate and support the community.”

 

Holland looks forward to growing the business through special events like Ravens Game Night and is looking forward to a coming up with creative ways to celebrate Thanksgiving and other occasions. He expects to have a beer and wince license by the end of October

 

Oh, and the name? “When my daughter was a child I was trying to come up with a name for the business. One day she called out to me ‘fat daddy’—and that was it,” Holland says.

 

And yes, there is a secret recipe involved.

 

 

Phat Daddy’s menu includes Italian sausages, pulled pork sandwich, pulled chicken sandwich, smoked barbecue ribs, smoked barbecue chicken, fish and chips. For his complete menu, see the Phat Daddy website here.

 

Holland also wants to get the word out that he’s looking for experienced wait staff and front counter employees.

 

Phat Daddy’s is open Thursday through Sunday, 11 am-7 pm. 443-282-0028