Wofford College - From The Archives

Rock at Wofford

Maybe there aren't many people around the campus now who know who Kris Kristofferson is.  So a blog post about a concert he put on in Andrews Fieldhouse in October 1971 might have an appeal only to a certain generation.  Perhaps best known as the author of "Me and Bobby McGee" and "Help Me Make It Through The Night," Kristofferson was a singer-songwriter, and later an actor.  He's not your typical modern musician. 

 A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Pomona College in 1958, Kristofferson went on to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, taking an MA in English literature there in 1960.  He went into the army, becoming a Ranger and a helicopter pilot.  He resigned from the army in 1965 as a captain to pursue a music career.  He was at a high point in his career in 1971, having won two major songwriting awards the previous year.  Many of his songs were performed by other artists who made them more widely known. 

When Kristofferson played Andrews Fieldhouse in 1971, here's what Old Gold and Black writer Andrew Delaplaine had to say

On Sunday last Kris Kristofferson gave a concert in Andrews Fieldhouse which about 1500 people attended. 

The performance given was straightforward, unhurried, easy, and there were no frills, no gimmicks, no nonsense -- just singing, and he sang almost all of his known songs, as well as a few new ones and some which were not his. 

"Me and Bobby McGee" was sung near the end; this is the song that perhaps more recording artists have recorded than any other Kristofferson song.  "Help me make it through the night" "The Law is for Protection of the People" and "Duvalier's Dream" were all given, each interrupted at the beginning by heavy applause.

... Kristofferson's songs can create instant mood; the music is all subdued and pretty much the same.  It follows what lyricism there is in the words and derives most of its melody from the rhythms of the words. 

One of his best songs in terms of poetic images has got to be "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down," which is so full of the images of emptiness and loneliness of the character involved that the intention of the poet is immediately made apparent.  The character feels a sudden distaste for Sunday mornings that he can't exactly explain except to say that people only feel that particular way on Sunday morning; there is something special about Sunday morning.  One of the points of the songs is to show what Sunday and really the rest of the week too, is like for someone who has no God.  It's lonely, it's purposeless and shiftless. 

It probably warrants more time to talk about Kristofferson and God.  His songs constantly refer to Jesus, God, etc.  Usually he laments the lack of importance we give God in our lives and shows how a people pay for senseless living.  But he gives a dimension to the lives of sleazy characters in barrooms and whorehouses, nobodys and liars, and all the people with broken dreams or hopeless attitudes toward life that is genuine and sincere.  And he does this with some pretty good poetry... 

This brings me to his lyrics, which are superb in general and in particular.  Kristofferson's music is nice and catchy, but its source has already been identified. Kristofferson, who looks a little like Lloyd Bridges with a beard, cannot sing.  That's why I don't talk on about how he builds up to a climax of emotion and sound, as Streisand always does, and then caps it off with a little reprise of the last sixteen bars.  Kristofferson can't even pretend to sing.  The only reason you can have for liking his low droning is that he actually sounds in every song like he just woke up on Sunday morning and wants an excuse for going to Sunday school. 

As I said, there are no gimmicks in Kristofferson's show.  He comes out, sings, and leaves.  He is a great ad-libber, and his songs are constructed such that he has plenty of opportunities to get in some funny lines, which are funny only because they are juxtaposed with unusually different lyrics.  When the fellow operating one of the spots flicked on a blue filter to add variety, Kristofferson looked up at him and gave a chuckle as if to ask, what the hell did he think he was doing?  Blue lights didn't change the song.  Also, when the audience started clapping time to one of his songs, Kristofferson stopped singing and told the audience to quit, that he couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time, which was to say, you can't hear the words and think about them if you clap at the same time.  Plus it disturbed him a little.  But he was amused by these things.  His show is stripped of all unnecessary gimmicks or selling features.  It's an honest show, and I liked it. 

Gerald Ford visits Wofford

Every four years, South Carolina’s “first in the South” presidential primaries draw national attention to the Palmetto State.  Since 1988, the state has been particularly popular with Republican candidates, though the Democrats have competed in some years as well.  Many candidates have stopped in Spartanburg over the years, with almost obligatory stops at the Beacon.  Some have come to the Wofford campus and others have spoken nearby, and students have had the opportunity to see many of them up close. 

College records indicate that three future or former presidents have spoken from the platform in Leonard Auditorium.  Woodrow Wilson came before he was president, George H. W. Bush came while he was running for vice president in 1980, and former president Gerald Ford spoke at Wofford in 1980 as well.

President Ford came to Wofford on April 14 and 15, 1980 as part of the college’s Mayfair Lecture series, a program established by Mayfair Mills President and US Secretary of Commerce Fred Dent.  Ford’s trip to Wofford was arranged through the American Enterprise Institute.  On Monday night, he addressed a private dinner in the Burwell Building, where he argued that President Jimmy Carter’s “catastrophic economic problems have caused the American people to lose confidence in him.”  Ford predicted that Republican candidate Ronald Reagan, or any Republican, “would have a good chance against Carter.” 

On Tuesday, he spoke to two classes in Shipp Hall Lounge and addressed the student body at a campus convocation.  He also held a press conference in Leonard Auditorium.  At the campus convocation, Ford was greeted by a standing ovation.  In his address, he called for improvements in the economy, increasing the size of the military, and called for implementing an effective energy policy.  With the country experiencing economic hard times, and with the Cold War still very much a part of American life, Ford called for increases to the M-1 missile program and the Trident nuclear submarine fleet.  His energy independence proposals called for increased oil drilling and coal mining, expanding conservation measures, greater use of nuclear energy and exploring alternative sources of energy. 

The audience applauded Ford’s defense of his decision to pardon Richard Nixon, and when a student asked his views on legalizing marijuana, they applauded his opposition. 

Ford’s visit resulted in five articles in the next Old Gold and Black, including one about the Secret Service presence on campus and another about the college’s efforts to make the campus attractive before Ford’s visit.

Photos - President Gerald Ford is escorted by Wofford President Joe Lesesne; Ford addressing the campus in Leonard Auditorium.  Documents include the two-day detailed schedule prepared for President Ford. 

George Washington Carver's 1923 visit

When I asked the communications office if I could have a blog, it was largely because I come across items from time to time that are too good not to share with the community. When I found these two letters a few weeks ago, buried in a stack of crumbling files from the early 1920s, I knew instantly that these were special.

At first glance, the letters don’t appear that important. A speaker writes a college president to thank him for inviting him to speak on the campus, and the president writes back to thank the speaker for sharing an hour with the students. It seems like a routine exchange of cordial letters. It’s certainly how I read them as I quickly shuffled through them. But then I looked at the top of the stationery and noticed “Tuskegee Institute.” And then I noticed the address on Snyder’s reply. Professor George W. Carver. George Washington Carver? Indeed.

The 1920s are sometimes referred to by southern historians as the “nadir of American race relations.” Throughout that decade, African-Americans left the South in droves, seeking better working opportunities and an escape from racial violence. Rigid segregation of most every aspect of public life was the order of the day.

But here, we have a cordial exchange of letters between two academic colleagues. Snyder addresses Carver as “Professor Carver.” Carver thanks Snyder for “the very warm reception” that he “shall not soon forget.” Carver has clearly addressed the Wofford student body, most likely in a Chapel service in Leonard Auditorium. Snyder says that the students “felt greatly instructed by the experience of the hour which you gave them.” Carver invites Snyder, if he ever were to be in the area, to visit Tuskegee.

You’d never know, without recognizing names of persons or institutions, that the correspondence represents an exchange of letters across the color line.

We don’t really know what happened on that day in December 1923 – we don’t have the Old Gold and Black for that year, and the Journal is silent. We don’t know what Carver said to the students. No doubt being addressed by an African-American scholar was an unusual experience for Wofford professors and students alike.

But I’d like to think the experience was a positive one for all parties.

Click on the letters for larger images.