Diane Green and Robert “Bob” Buchholz came to the Hollywood Cemetery to pay their respects to blues musicians Walter “Furry” Lewis, Frank Stokes, and countless others. To their surprise and dismay, the area was in complete disarray. “If you blinked, you’d miss it. It was unfindable. And once we finally found it, it was like a swamp. We couldn’t even get past maybe 20 feet past the gate,” says Green.
The Hollywood and Mount Carmel Cemeteries were constructed in 1909 to be the final resting places for Black Memphians. However, they quickly fell into disrepair after the final owners lost ownership and funding to preserve the space. Restoring these sites would allow people to respect and admire those who have paved the way for Memphians to have certain freedoms, like the brave men who marched at the 1968 Sanitation Strike.
Green, Buchholz, families of the deceased, and others created the Hollywood Cemetery Project to raise money to restore both cemeteries and preserve the space. Now, their One Kind Favor Show is a way to fundraise, educate, and share the work that has influenced them and others for decades. “It’ll be a good introduction for a lot of people who may or may not know what’s actually right under their nose,” Buchholz says. There are many who are unaware of the history that is in their own backyards. This show could serve not only as a history lesson, but also a celebration of how far we’ve come as a community.
Blues music has influenced Green and Buchholz in various ways, and they wish to share it with an audience. “I saw him [Furry Lewis] play so many times and heard certain songs,” Green says. “I remember hearing Furry sing one line, ‘Please see that my grave is kept clean,’ and I would shudder. ’Cause I knew that he knew, that we all knew, that that was gonna be a rough job for somebody someday.”
That moment ignited a desire to uplift the very man who predicted the troubles that were to come. A lot of work has been put in to share the artistry of these blues legends and raise awareness of the work required to restore the final resting place of countless Memphians. It’s a job that requires the help of the community.
“We can’t afford to go down there every month,” says Buchholz, who, like Green, hails from Chicago. “We’re trying to get the local Memphis community involved, either state, local, city — whatever it takes.” There are many helping with this effort, but there’s still a long way to go. “We’re looking at about a 10-year project,” Buchholz says.
The fundraiser will include performances by local musicians — like Steve Selvidge, Marcia Clifton, Dr. Dave Evans, and others — that will be recorded, pressed, and sold as vinyl to go towards the restoration fund. The ultimate goal is to bridge the gap across generations and respect the efforts of those who strove for a better community before their passing.
One Kind Favor fundraising Show, Zen House Memphis, 831 S. Cooper St., Friday, October 9, 7 p.m., $25
