{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/iiif/cz3222rw5p/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Russ Moss oral history, 2002 July 5"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/008/original/peabody-institute.logo.large.horizontal.blue.cropped.png?1549570058","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":[" A graduate of Benedict College, Russ Moss toured with the Benedict College Choir during his college days. A camera operator for WJZ-TV and a gifted photographer, he is also active as a musician in the Baltimore-Washington area. Moss has performed with the Stef Scaggiari Trio and Annapolis Junction. Interview by Elizabeth Schaaf. (Abstract)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":[" 2002-07-05 (created)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":[" Moss, Russ (Interviewee)"," Schaaf, Elizabeth M. (Interviewer)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":[" English (Primary)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Format"]},"value":{"en":["audio/mp3"]}},{"label":{"en":["Publisher"]},"value":{"en":["Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["The collection is open for use. Contact peabodyarchives@lists.jhu.edu for more information."]}},{"label":{"en":["Source Metadata URI"]},"value":{"en":["https://aspace.library.jhu.edu/repositories/4/archival_objects/215380"]}}],"summary":{"en":[" A graduate of Benedict College, Russ Moss toured with the Benedict College Choir during his college days. A camera operator for WJZ-TV and a gifted photographer, he is also active as a musician in the Baltimore-Washington area. Moss has performed with the Stef Scaggiari Trio and Annapolis Junction. Interview by Elizabeth Schaaf."]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["The collection is open for use. Contact peabodyarchives@lists.jhu.edu for more information."]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/008/original/peabody-institute.logo.large.horizontal.blue.cropped.png?1549570058","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/117/466/small/moss_photoshop.jpg?1650139052","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 2 - pims0091_MossR_side1.mp3"]},"duration":3015.02694,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/117/466/small/moss_photoshop.jpg?1650139052","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-peabody.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/117/466/original/pims0091_MossR_side1.mp3?1624270933","type":"Audio","format":"audio/mpeg","duration":3015.02694,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["MossR_1_OHMS_20220608 [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"ELIZABETH SCHAAF: Tell us where you were born and when you were born.\n\nRUSS MOSS: Okay, I was born in Warren County, Georgia, on November 13, 1949,\ndelivered by a midwife as were my three brothers, born on the family land. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=0.0,60.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"If\nyou look at the map of Georgia [Warren County] is central, north central, 50\nmiles east of Augusta roughly, and about one hundred miles west of Atlanta --\njust to get it on the map. And red clay would be an understatement -- and lots\nof pine -- a very small county. Georgia has, I believe, one hundred and\nfifty-nine counties. At one time the license plate number, the first digit\nindicated what county that particular vehicle was from. When you saw one\ntwenty-four, you knew Warren County was number one twenty-four out of the one\nhundred fifty-nine counties. And there were probably about four thousand people,\nif you counted the chickens. So I hesitate to think what those other counties on\nthe upper end must have been in terms of population, but they must have had one\nor two folks in them.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=60.0,120.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"But anyway, it was rural. The main cash crop in that agricultural community was\ncotton. Then, of course, everyone had corn and peas and beans and livestock, and\nyour vegetables that you would expect any decent southerner to have --\nparticularly okra.\n\nGrowing up in Georgia, which was segregated Georgia at the time, my first\nexposure to music was, of course, going to church which we went to -- whether we\nwanted to or not -- every Sunday, and it was an all-day affair. And [we] sung\nthe traditional hymns, \"Amazing Grace\" and \"Fire and Brimstone,\" ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=120.0,180.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"typical\nBaptist-save-your-soul stuff. At age five I started school.\n\nMy first year of school was, literally, in one of those one-room schools because\nthe new schools for Blacks had not been built in town, so Blacks were still\ngoing to the church schools that were built near the church. And in our case, it\nwas about a four mile walk to school through pastures. But once the new school\nwas built in '56, my second grade year was at that school, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=180.0,240.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"and that was an\nintroduction to a music program all the way through school.\n\nWe had the choir, and we had music appreciation, and as soon as I could get to\nthe point where I could join the choir, I did. And, of course, that introduced a\nmuch larger variety of music than we got at church, because church was pretty\nmuch save your soul. While at the other school [we had], Beethoven and the\nanthems, and Mozart and Schubert and all of these other folks, and W.\n\nC. Handy, and Duke Ellington, and Count Basie, and Lena Horne, and Nat Cole, and\nthe history of all those people, because of Black History Month. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=240.0,300.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"We would get\ninundated by all of these different people -- that being part of the music\nprogram. We would learn songs that were significant to those occasions. And so\nbetween that and radio that we could get in Warren County, believe it or not --\nthat mixture of things.\n\nAnd I think it was probably good because we were inundated with country, whether\nwe wanted or not, because it was just kind of everywhere. But in that process I\nlearned to sort through the twang, if you will. That there were some people, you\nknow, the Patsy Clines and the Willie Nelsons and Roy Orbisons and a whole bunch\nof other people who really did some very fine stuff. And until you learned to\nsay okay, that's okay, this is okay, and between all of those, the church\ninfluence, and the public school influence. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=300.0,360.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"While singing with the choir, I got\nto do some solos which you'd have to learn -- songs in Latin and learn the Ave\nMarias and how to project.\n\nBecause it was a small county, there were thirty-one people in my graduating\nclass. At the time, I didn't quite realize it, but in most of my classes were\neight or nine people. And even in the segregated part of Georgia that we were in\n-- I should say the country, which was most of the country then -- I realized in\nmany ways I got a very good education.\n\nBecause one, we had teachers that told you from day one you had to be twice as\ngood to get half as much. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=360.0,420.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And that was just beaten into you -- that you had to\nbe twice as good and work \"twice as hard to get half as much\" in this society.\nSo you knew from day one that you were expected to work hard at whatever it was\nthat you chose, and you had a responsibility to do that and to do that well, and\nto put back into the community wherever you could.\n\nAnd so that music is kind of woven into everything that I do. I guess that's why\nit becomes harder for me sometime when people say, well, how do you define the\nmusic you do? Because I really -- I find a passion for it all. You know there\nare some days when nothing can quite hit the spot except for good classical\nmusic. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=420.0,480.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And sometimes I can listen to Luciano Pavarotti, and well up with tears\nin my eyes. And there are other times that Shirley Horne can do that same thing.\nAnd there are times that Willie Nelson can do it. And there are times that,\nfrankly, Loretta Lynn can do it.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: If it sounds good, it is good?\n\nRUSS MOSS: Right. That's what Duke Ellington said: If it sounds good, it is\ngood. And he was right. And so I guess if I had to fall into one broad category,\nit would be jazz because jazz has such a range that you can approach a large\nvariety of genres through that, and have the license or the audacity to approach\nit in your own humble way.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: What about at home? What kind of music did you all listen to\nat home?\n\nRUSS MOSS: Well, at home -- interesting. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=480.0,540.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Music, particularly growing up, you\nknow, my parents divorced when I was six months, and so my brother and I were\nkind of inherited, if you will, by a great uncle -- we left the farm, the great\ngrandfather's farm that we were born on. My mother had moved to New York, and my\nfather, well, he was -- I guess if there's character out of\n\npopular culture that would best describe him, it would be Sportin' Life from\n\"Porgy and Bess,\" and he fits that to the T. And as soon as my mother, Martha\n(who happened to be a twin -- the other twin was named Mary) left, literally\nbefore the red dust had settled, her getting out of Georgia and going to New\nYork, he had married another woman named Martha (who happened to be a twin, with\na sister named Mary).\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=540.0,600.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"So our great uncle, who we went to live with, was several miles down the road,\nand that was a sharecropping situation which was very different than being on\nyour own land. It was like ten years of boot camp, I guess, or being sent to\nslavery. That's probably the closest I can come to describing it. It was a\nworking farm, a sharecropping farm that we lived on. It was four hundred and\nfifty acres, about a hundred and fifty to two hundred were under cultivation,\nand the remainder of it was pasture and woods.\n\nAnd music there was what you heard at church. At home there was a radio, and you\ncould kind of fool around with the AM dial, because there was no FM at the time.\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=600.0,660.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"The music that I heard at school, I would bring those tunes back home in my head.\n\nAnd fortunately in 1956-57, I believe, my mother sent a television to us for\nChristmas. Of course televisions were rare. And, you know, even most white folks\ndidn't have it. She knew that if she couldn't be there for us, so in her own way\nshe did these things for us. And actually later when I went to live in Buffalo,\nI know I'm getting ahead of the story here, she developed a good taste for jazz,\nand that's when I really got to go through a jazz collection, and listen to\nJimmy Smith and all these other artists.\n\nI didn't actually go out and see them. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=660.0,720.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"So she introduced me to them later, but\nback to that part, you know, back several years later, to answer your question,\nthe music that we listened to at home was the local radio, and a lot of the\ngospel stuff on Sunday morning. It was just on in almost every black home before\nyou went to church on Sunday morning while the breakfast was cooking and the\npre-cooking of dinner because church was a whole day affair. So whatever the\nmain course was went on the stove with breakfast and kind of simmered during the\nday. And while that whole process was going on and the chores were being done\nand the milking of the cows and the feeding of the chickens and all those things\nthat had to happen every day whether it was Sunday or not. A cow doesn't give a\ndamn whether it's Sunday. You know, they got to be milked. She doesn't care\nwhether it's Christmas or whatever, you know, it's okay. I need to be milked.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=720.0,780.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And then there'd always be this radio station in the background. Or later there\nwould be this Sunday morning quartet singing on television. And so between that\nand the Lawrence Welk and the Dinah Shore shows, and there were a few shows that\nI think that really kind of -- Andy, \"Moon River Man,\" Andy Williams, and those\nwere ones that I would almost fight with my brothers to watch the Lawrence Welk\nshow. That was music and they were gonna watch some cowboy thing. We'd have to\nflip a coin.\n\nAnd sometimes my coin would win. There was just another chance to hear some\nmusic and I could just kind of go off into this dreamland that music has a way\nof taking you on.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=780.0,840.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I remember wanting to take piano lessons and guitar lessons, but there was no\none to teach you. I finally did take guitar lessons in my twenties after I'd\nbeen to college, but that's another part of the story. But there was someone to\nteach piano, but one, we didn't have a piano in the home and two, something as\nsimple as taking a piano lesson would have meant a fifteen-mile drive into town,\nand on a working farm, that just was not in the cards.\n\nAnd there was no record player at that house. Now later when I decided that at\nfourteen, okay, I've had enough of this. I've missed too many days out of school\nto work on the farm so I simply, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=840.0,900.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"at fourteen -- at fourteen -- I simply just\npacked my knapsack after working in the field all day -- I think it was\nSeptember 14, 1964, and even my brothers weren't even aware of -- I guess it was\njust one of those decisions that I've made. You know, I'm out of here.\n\nCause in Georgia, I soon noticed the difference in the way that people lived.\nPeople who I used as role models, particularly the black folks in that town --\nyou know, it didn't take long to notice that the people who were dressed better\nthan other people, who had all of their teeth, the people who dressed better,\nthe people who presented themselves better, even in the segregated system, who\nhad some self esteem, who had that something, even as a child you didn't quite\nknow what it was -- ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=900.0,960.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"but it soon became clear all the people that had that\nsomething about them were educated people. .\n\nAnd so I soon realized that, okay, your ticket out of this is school, is\neducation. And so at fourteen, and I was never ill as a child, but out of one\nhundred and eighty days and most days that ten years that I lived on that farm,\nthe most days I attended school was a hundred and twenty. And I was in school\nmore than my brothers who averaged one hundred days out of one eighty. So at\nfourteen, I attempted it. Got my books and a couple of days worth of clothes and\nI walked across the county at night, and I haven't been afraid of the dark\nsince. [Laughter]\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=960.0,1020.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I reckon that's really cause I had to walk across the county at night. We're\ntalking country roads and there are lots of snakes -- all kinds -- in Georgia.\nThere were no street lights.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: And they love getting warm out there.\n\nRUSS MOSS: Yeah. And so they would stretch across the road at any time. I was\nsmart enough to put on my boots, you know, the rubber boots that you use for a\nrainy day in case one struck -- at least I had a chance. And so I walked the\nfourteen, fifteen miles across the county to my father's house, and my\nstepmother when I got there, welcomed me, wonderful woman, and I don't think I\nmissed another day out of school since. Perfect attendance. And at that point I\nwas in ninth grade.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=1020.0,1080.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Fortunately, my brothers and I were bright enough, and even missing all those\ndays out of school, once we got the books, we could take the books and kind of\nfollow along and keep up. But once you get to ninth grade, you're dealing with\nsciences, algebra, biology. You know, those are things that you really need to\nbe there for, because science is hard and you're exposed to systems of learning\nthat you really have to be there from ground up in order to comprehend it. It's\nnot the kind of thing that a fourteen year old just picks up and learns Algebra\non his own. But even arithmetic, once you got the basics down, you could figure\nout the rest, and where maybe\n\nyou would have been an A student if education had been a priority in the home.\nThey never did not want you to get an education, but it was just this had to be\ndone to live. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=1080.0,1140.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"That's just the way that it was.\n\nSo once I got to my father's house, and -- of course, he was a carpenter, so he\nworked all across the county, I mean all across the southeast and was gone much\nof the time (which was probably good because we didn't get along that well).\nAnyway, but that was when I really had a chance for the music to begin to flourish.\n\nI could join the choir, because my grades were great from that point on. And I\nreally kind of had a life and got a chance to sing from the inside and outside.\nMy stepmother was great in that if I had a difficult song to learn that required\npracticing after school, she would always make sure that I got there. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=1140.0,1200.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Or my\nmusic teacher would deposit me or bring me back and forth. And that was the\npoint that I really had a chance to stretch. And I guess perhaps that earlier\nfourteen years of life of being, you know, somewhat -- I don't like to use the\nword deprived, but not having access to education and to learning. So it's like\nmany other things. When you do finally figure out what's gonna make a difference\nin your life, and you didn't have it and you finally do get it, you know what\nyou got and you value it. To the extent that I still take the music lessons now.\nYou know, I take guitar lessons. And I still sing at whatever opportunity, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=1200.0,1260.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"and\nparticularly if it's one that I feel will further things along because I think\nthat it's a continuing process.\n\nAnd so to finish answering your question, once I got to my father's, I was\ntrying to determine whether I wanted to live with my mother in Buffalo or to\nstay with my father. So that first summer after I finished that first year of\nschool. I finished the ninth grade, and I went and spent the summer in Buffalo.\nBy this time my brothers had taken my cue and left. They left the farm in\nDecember, but they moved to Buffalo.\n\nSo I said, well, I'll finish my school year in Georgia, then go in the summer to\nBuffalo and make a decision as to which would be best for me. And, of course,\nwhen I got to Buffalo, I investigated the school, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=1260.0,1320.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"and then I realized that there\nwere a thousand students in the school and the senior class had five or six\nhundred people in it. And when I saw where I would have been going to school, I\nintuitively knew that I was going to get a better education in Georgia. So\nmother dear, I love you, I caught a flight back to Georgia.\n\nI would spend the summers in Buffalo but go to school in Georgia. And I think I\nmade the best decision. The good part about my mother's place is she was turned\non to jazz, and she had all of these wonderful jazz albums. When she passed, I\ngot some of them. My brother got most of them [laughter].\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=1320.0,1380.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"She had some really some good albums -- she had some Ella Fitzgerald, all that\nR\u0026B that you would expect. You know, Sam Cooke and Aretha [Franklin], and a lot\nof the horn players. You know, Les McCann, the piano player, and just a lot of\ngood stuff that I had not heard before, and so when I would get home from work,\nI would just listen to it. But in addition to that, in Buffalo -- this was\npre-riot time -- there were many jazz clubs, so I could go and see a Grant\nGreene, I could go and see regional and local singers in Buffalo. That was\nreally wonderful.\n\nI even took a few music lessons in the summer, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=1380.0,1440.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"then I'd come back to Georgia\nwhere I had this wonderful, insular education thing and a chance to sing in\nchurch programs and to sing a variety of music at school events. I know that was\na long way down to the question, but that set the stage for that variety that I\nstill find important. And I think that's important, cause a lot of times, if I\nsing a gospel song, a spiritual, I don't have to wonder what this lady might\nhave been going through because I have picked cotton. And I have worked from can\nsee to can't see (that's another way of saying from sun up to sun down). ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=1440.0,1500.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And so\nI don't have to imagine what it must have been like. I know. I did it, I had\ncalluses on my hands.\n\nSo in terms of the blues, I don't sing that many, but I know how they feel, and\nwhen I do sing one, I can get there. You know, I kind of believe that music, at\nleast for me, people have a different road map to get to their art or to get to\nwhatever it is that they do, but the experience informs. You know, what you\nlearn intellectually, I think if you have the two going on there, it certainly\nallows for the dots to connect.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Absolutely. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=1500.0,1560.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Now, when you went back to school, the schools\nwere still segregated in Georgia when you went back, weren't they?\n\nRUSS MOSS: Yes.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: And how long did you stay in Georgia?\n\nRUSS MOSS: Well, I stayed in Georgia, I completed high school in Georgia. I\nwould spend every summer in Buffalo after that point, and when I graduated from\nhigh school, May 29, 1967, then I moved to Buffalo. Yeah, the schools were\nsegregated. They were beginning to integrate. But you know quite frankly, going\nback and looking at it, twenty or thirty, now thirty -- August 17th I got a call\nfrom our class, from some person who does that, and asked if I could do some\nmusic for it. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=1560.0,1620.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I usually write a song for the occasion.\n\nBut at the risk of sounding like Clarence Thomas, I don't think that integration\nbore up the level of performance in the schools. I think it was good for some\nreasons -- for bigger social reasons -- because, obviously we have an integrated\nsociety, and I think that we need to, from the earliest [time] possible, learn\nhow to be an integrated society because we are whether we engage one another or\nnot. We still share the same surface. And so it just makes sense to learn to\nlive and to exchange, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=1620.0,1680.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"because everything's the richer because we did.\n\nBut back to Georgia -- when the schools were integrated, most of the whites\nchose private schools as an option, and a lot of the best teachers. You see,\nbecause pre-integration you had the cream-of-the-crop black teachers, because\nthey had no choice. After integration the cream of the crop went to private\ninstitutions. They went to other places and to richer jurisdictions, because the\ntax base paid for education, and so for those areas that were not as wealthy\n(and Warren was not as wealthy), they ended up with the bottom-shelf everything.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=1680.0,1740.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And quite frankly, there were a few Whites that attended, but for the most part\nthe Whites that did attend the black school, as one of my aunts put it in\nGeorgia, the only ones that attended were the ones who couldn't afford water.\n[Laughter] So as a result, I think that probably the jury's still\n\nout on whether that was good. But I do know from going back and engaging the\nyoung people who were in the school system -- and there are members of my\nextended family as well as the extended family of people that I grew up with who\nare in the system -- I can say quite matter of factly, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=1740.0,1800.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"that from the\nconversation, from interchanges, from just observing, it was a step backwards,\nwhich is unfortunate.\n\nBecause there's no real integration, because the Whites opted to go elsewhere.\nAnd the education I was describing to you, that I had the opportunity to have,\nthat no longer exists\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: The situation here in Baltimore I think was very much the\nsame. The people I've interviewed describe exactly the same scenario here. It's\nvery interesting.\n\nRUSS MOSS: And the sad part about Baltimore is that, and it makes my blood boil,\nto be paying the highest taxes in the state, and Baltimore people do pay the\nhighest property taxes in the state, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=1800.0,1860.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/32","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"and we are the wealthiest state in the\nnation in per capita income, that we are, and to not have, and even during the\nheyday of the boom economy -- the dot com, before dot gone happened -- and to\nstill not have music and art in the school as a part of the curriculum, it\nborders on being criminal, and I think it is.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Well, unless you're lucky enough to get into someplace like\nDunbar or School for the Arts or Douglass.\n\nRUSS MOSS: But that's, you know, two percent of the nearly one hundred thousand\nstudents that are there. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=1860.0,1920.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/33","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I still say that if Russ Moss can have access to music\nand art in segregated Georgia thirty-five, forty years ago, in one of the\npoorest counties in the state of Georgia, why can't that opportunity be afforded\nto students in Baltimore now? It is just criminal. And every time when I see the\npolitical leadership and educational leadership, I just want to just walk up to\nthem and give them a few swift kicks in the butt. And the only thing I can say\nis that it's criminal. And there's no excuse for it, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=1920.0,1980.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/34","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"because I couldn't imagine\nhaving survived my life without the music and the art that was the salve, if you\nwill, and still is.\n\nAnd to see that people graduating from the school system whose idea of music is\nrap -- and rap in itself is not bad, and there's some of rap that's good, but\nthat's like having a meal of candy. You never get to the vegetables or the\ngreens or your proteins. And because many people haven't been exposed to a\nvariety of things, they have no appetite for anything else, and everything\nsuffers because of it.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Well, and to have all of those options, and that incredible\nvocabulary available too, that influences your music.\n\nRUSS MOSS: Yeah. And it just adds. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=1980.0,2040.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/35","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"You know, it's like going to a smorgasbord\nwhere you can appreciate or you have an appetite for all the entrees that are\nout there -- the different courses that are there.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: It makes a difference.\n\nRUSS MOSS: Yeah, it really does. It makes a much tastier meal. [Laughter]\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: So where did you go? You graduated from high school in\nGeorgia. How did you figure out where you were going to go for the next step?\n\nRUSS MOSS: Well, I remember thinking when I graduated from high school, there\nwere a couple of things. During school, the teachers sometimes polled the class\n-- what do you want to do? Oh an architect! And so she said, well, I think it's\na good idea, but, you know, there ain't no black architects. And so I kind of\ndidn't quite know. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=2040.0,2100.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/36","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I always knew I wanted music to be able to play some role in\nwhat I did, and I enjoyed art and enjoyed painting and drawing. But somewhere\naround the ninth grade, all of the artists that I read about, the Van Goghs and\nones that are popular now, but starved while they were alive! There were a few\nlike Leonardo DaVinci that were supported by the royal court or the church in\nsome instances, I was saying well, I'm trying to get out of a poverty situation.\nThe last thing I need to do is be a starving anything. [Laughter]\n\nSo I left with a question mark. It was funny. I took a photography test, one of\nthese mail-in photography correspondence courses. I filled it out for the heck\nof it, but scored well on it. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=2100.0,2160.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/37","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And literally, as I was waiting to take the bus to\nleave Georgia after finishing high school, a representative from that school\ncame by and said, you know, you really ought to consider photography for a\nliving. You did well, and blah, blah, blah. I had bought a camera as a kid, when\nI declared there wasn't Santa Claus, and so they gave me my ten bucks and said\ndo your own Christmas shopping. I bought a $9.99 camera, borrowed a quarter from\nmy brother to pay the taxes on it.\n\nSo I filled up the scrapbooks in the places that I had lived with photography.\nIt was just something that I did, and it didn't occur to me what it was\npotentially. There were no black photographers. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=2160.0,2220.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/38","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"There was only one Gordon Parks.\nI didn't know Gordon then. I had a chance to meet him later on a couple of\noccasions. So photography wasn't a consideration, because there were no role\nmodels. So I ruled out architecture. So I figured okay I would go to school and\nmajor in business administration, because I figured that everything has a\nbusiness component and at least that would get me out of the cotton fields. [Laughter]\n\nSo when I left, and, oh, one other option that I had taken: They were having\nmilitary people come by the school and give the military exam. I scored well,\nand the Air Force was courting me to do the military.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: The Air Force Academy?\n\nRUSS MOSS: Right, the Air Force Academy. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=2220.0,2280.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/39","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"But, of course, I wanted my folks to\nsign me in. I was seventeen when I graduated from high school, and wouldn't have\nbeen eighteen until the end of the year. And, of course, the Vietnam War was\ngoing on. But when you're seventeen, you're not thinking of war. So my father\nwisely said, I'm not going to sign for you. There's a war going on boy!\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Thanks Dad.\n\nRUSS MOSS: Yeah thanks. So when I get to Buffalo, my mother says I'm not signing\nfor you for the military. There's a war going on! And, of course, at the same\ntime my second oldest brother was being drafted. He was shipped into Vietnam. So\nwhen I got to Buffalo, I knew I needed to work for a year to get resources to go\nto school. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=2280.0,2340.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/40","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And actually that one year between May, '67 and June of '68 is when I\nstarted the higher education, was probably the best education in the sense that\nI worked in factories. You know, I was fibbing a lot about my age then. I was\neighteen because when you're below eighteen in New York State, the most you can\nget is a McDonald's job, and I figured instead of being paid two bucks an hour,\nyou could be paid seven. And so it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that\nout. And so I worked at a couple of factories. And really, I guess by measure, I\nwas earning like two, three hundred bucks a week, and if you extrapolate the\ninflation thing, that's like eight, nine hundred bucks a week which is not bad\nmoney. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=2340.0,2400.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/41","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"But after I saved enough money to start the wheels in motion for my own\neducation, I knew that -- honest to God I just don't see how people do that dull\nwork today. You've got to applaud them. I know someone has to do it, but that\nwas worse than cotton fields. That was just the dregs, that urban labor assembly line.\n\nOn the surface it seemed like Buffalo was more pleasant and more racially\nfriendly. You know, people said, hi, Mr. Moss. How are you? But I started to\nnotice after I'd been in Buffalo about three weeks, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=2400.0,2460.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/42","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I was walking near the\nexpressway and it was about five o'clock, rush hour, and I see all this traffic,\nand I said, oh, traffic jam! I started noticing the cars. And I said I wonder\nwhere all those white folks are going? And I realized what was going on. And\nthen in the morning, I would realize they would be coming back. Then I realized\nthis is the same as Georgia. Only there they call it across the tracks. The only\nthing different in Georgia -- I remember making the comment when I started the\nbusiness school. We had a sociology class, and we were talking about racial\npolitics. Then Professor Thomas, I recall, an old portly Caucasian gentleman\nasked me, well, Mr. Moss (and in a class of about thirty people and I was the\nperson of color), what difference did I see between the North and the South in\nthat respect. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=2460.0,2520.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/43","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And I said, \"Well, in all due respect, Dr. Thomas and fellow\nclassmates, the only difference between Buffalo and Georgia is the temperature.\"\nI said, \"But the rest of it is essentially the same.\" And I told them about the\ntraffic story and other things. And I said, it's much more polite here, but\nquite frankly if I have to experience these things, I'd just have George Wallace\nstanding in the door or Lester Maddox with an ax handle, because at least you\nknow what you're dealing with. Buffalo is very camouflaged, but when you sort\nthrough, you know, the niceties, you realize that at the end of the day it's the\nsame thing.\n\nSo I worked and went to school, and I finished the business school. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=2520.0,2580.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/44","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"During the\ntime, I heard a lot of live music in Buffalo. I got to hear Dionne Warwick the\nfirst time, before her psychic connection in the late sixties, and Lou Rawls,\nand a lot of the local singers at the jazz spots. So I really got to immerse\nmyself in that. I sang with a couple of doo-wop groups that I got a chance to\nplug into. Finally, after I left Georgia, I didn't have to do the church thing.\nI figured that I didn't need to visit God every Sunday morning.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Done your time?\n\nRUSS MOSS: Exactly. That whatever concept of God, if He ain't with me or in me,\nyou know, then I can't see just going and checking in every Sunday morning. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=2580.0,2640.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/45","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"That\njust never made sense.\n\nSo that was after I finished. It was a two-year business school, and I kind of knew.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: And which school was this?\n\nRUSS MOSS: That was Bryant \u0026 Stratton Business Institute. And I knew that I\nneeded to go a bit further, and I did. I started summer school at Buffalo State\nCollege, and after that point I decided that I really didn't like the impersonal\napproach to an education. I'd say it was more like a large factory.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=2640.0,2700.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/46","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"One of my mother's friends who had attended Fisk University mentioned Benedict\nCollege in Columbia, South Carolina. And so I sent away and got an application\nand filled it out, and they accepted enough of the credits from the business\nschool that I arrived there as a sophomore. I received some scholarship money\nfor choir, and had an opportunity to travel with the concert choir every year.\n\nBenedict College is a liberal arts college. And actually now, there are about\nthree thousand students there. When I graduated there were fifteen hundred. It's\nnow the fastest growing college within the traditional black college circuit --\nand made the top ten list.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=2700.0,2760.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/47","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"The concert choir did a good variety of music. The director during my time there\nwas Mr. Wroten, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=2760.0,2820.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/48","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"and he looked like one of the boot camp instructors. And his\napproach was like no nonsense. You could never be late, and if the attire was\ndark suit, black shoes, and if anyone had on brown shoes, you didn't go on\nstage. Period. And during the rehearsals, especially the dress rehearsals, he\nwould walk around and circulate amongst the choir members. If wrong notes were\ncoming out of your lips, you didn't want to be that person that the wrong note\nwas coming out of. He was a holy terror, but we had an incredible choir. And it\nwas great.\n\nWe traveled and raised money for the college and were ambassadors for the\ncollege. And it was just a wonderful experience. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=2820.0,2880.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/49","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"We would open the concerts with\nsacred music: Lachrymosa, Kyrie Eleison, and Ave Marias and the Lord's Prayer.\nUsually about mid-program we would do some contemporary music, whatever was\ncurrently popular. If it was Burt Bacharach, or during the time I was there,\nsome of the Fifth Dimension tunes, \"Up, Up, and Away\" and \"What The World Needs\nNow,\" that kind of stuff. We always finished with traditional spirituals, a\ncapella, which still remain my favorites. There's nothing quite like it. When\nthirty-two voices are recalling the history of what the people have gone through\nand still going through, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=2880.0,2940.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/50","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"and when everything was stripped away, that was it! And\nthat was always the way that we ended the program.\n\nAfter I finished Benedict, I would do a little bit of popular music, some\nsinging in some clubs. I graduated from college in '72, I think on May 22nd, and\non May 23rd I started working at the television station in Columbia, South\nCarolina, the very next day.\n\nI had turned down a job with an insurance company. You know, the business\nconnection. I had applied three times at this television station during the\ncourse of my college because I had to work part time, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=2940.0,3000.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466/transcript/38444/annotation/51","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"and I just thought it\nwould be interesting.\n\n[END PART ONE]","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117466#t=3000.0,3060.0"}]}]},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 2 of 2 - pims0091_MossR_side2.mp3"]},"duration":1693.04816,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/117/467/small/moss_photoshop.jpg?1650139061","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/content/2/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-peabody.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/117/467/original/pims0091_MossR_side2.mp3?1624270934","type":"Audio","format":"audio/mpeg","duration":1693.04816,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["MossR_2_OHMS_20220608 [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"RUSS MOSS: When Benjamin Hooks, who I believe was President Nixon's appointee\nfor the Federal Communications Commission, FCC -- I guess that's it, determined\nthat the broadcasters across the country and the media needed to in some way\nreflect the community they were serving. of course, before that time there were\nvery few black faces in the television station unless they were on the clean-up detail.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: On either end of the camera.\n\nRUSS MOSS: Right. Either end! ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=0.0,60.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And so there were two positions that were going to\nbe available. I knew the placement director at the college, and I had done some\nart work and sold some paintings to him. So he said, Russ -- because I was going\nto take this job with an insurance company that would be paying three fifty a\nweek, which was pretty good money for '72 -- he said, do you know anyone who\nmight be interested in an internship at WIS-TV? I said, yeah. Me! [Laughter] So\nhe gave me the information, and I filled it out and I went -- ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=60.0,120.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"that's one thing\nabout the business school, it taught you how to present yourself. So I Brooks\nBrothered, and went down. I remember taking to the interview a term paper that I\nhad used photographs, and I took a yearbook -- the college yearbook that I had\ndesigned the cover for and done some of the layout work for. And I took one of\nthe school newspapers that I'd done cartoons and writing and other things for --\nthat was just kind of an afterthought, along with the resume, of course. There\nwere two people chosen out of two hundred applicants, and I managed to get one\nof those two slots.\n\nThe news director at the time was Dick Edwards. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=120.0,180.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I was curious later as to what\nhad influenced him to hire me. He said, well, you know, you brought something to\nshow. See, of course, traditionally, even now, if you apply for a television\njob, you take your audition reel, a sample of what you've done. But, of course,\nthat's like a Catch 22. You can't take what you've done if you haven't had a\nchance to do a damn thing. So what I had had an opportunity to do was those\nthings that I mentioned. I remember saying during the course of that interview,\nI've dealt with images. I haven't done the television, the sound portion or the\nmotion portion, because I haven't had that opportunity. But I think I can do\nthat. Give me an opportunity to learn.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=180.0,240.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"The six-month internship was a probationary period. After two months, I had my\nfirst work on the air. And it was sixteen millimeter sound. That was the stock\nwe worked with. I remember practicing in the dark threading the camera because I\nknew that if I could thread it in the dark, it would be no problem to thread it\nin the light in a hurry. Because if the president is coming off the plane or in\nthe middle of a speech, you can't have all day fumbling. You've got to get the\nfilm magazines loaded. You got to get the stock back in the camera and get\nrolling, and speed was a crucial part of it.\n\nI worked in South Carolina at that station for five and a half years, and during\nthat five and a half years I took graduate courses at the University of South\nCarolina in broadcasting, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=240.0,300.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"simply because they were paying for the courses, and\nit was right down the street. I could walk right there.\n\nOne of the ones [performing groups] that stands out in mind was the group of\nLee, Connie and Jim, and later Russ. And it was a folk venue, and I played the\nconga drum, which I had played during college. I had bongos and a conga. And I\nreally kind of enjoyed that, but it got to the point\n\nthat it wasn't the kind of thing that you could play alone. You had to have an\nentourage, at least another instrument in order to make it live.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=300.0,360.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I learned to appreciate Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez and Bob Dylan and all those\nfolks that I probably had never paid much attention to. And one of the members\nof the group was Lee Bell. He's a great song writer, wrote some really good\nsongs. And that inspired me to start taking guitar lessons myself, which I\nstarted in my twenties and I still take them.\n\nDuring that same period I would play congas for a gospel group occasionally. And\nfor the time that I was in South Carolina and whenever I could, I would play\nwith them because they were kind of fun. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=360.0,420.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I started to take guitar lessons and\nsinging with a group called Keystone Coyote, which was a jazz fusion group. They\nwere really into the Chick Corea and that fusion thing. And it was a different\nkind of place, and it was fun to do that.\n\nAfter I accepted a job offer to come to Baltimore, to work at Channel 13, that\nwas October 3, 1977, I started working in Baltimore. I got a call out of the\nblue from the assistant news director at 13 asking me if I were under contract\nand would I like to consider Baltimore. I said, oh sure. So, you know, took the\ntrip up, and sure enough, the first assignment that I had in Baltimore was with\nOprah [Winfrey]. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=420.0,480.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"It was funny when I walked in -- I looked over and I said who\nis that sister over there? And what's she doing with that damn head rag on her\nhead? See they sent her out to get a make over and all her hair fell out. Well,\nI was entering the scene just as -- her hair was too short even for a TWA, we\ncall that a teenie weenie Afro, even for a low cut, and that wasn't the fashion\nthen. So they had to take it all the way down to the scalp. And so she wore\nscarves until her hair grew back.\n\nThe recommendation to come to Baltimore was from Rod Daniels at WBAL. He and I\nhad worked together in Columbia, South Carolina. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=480.0,540.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"He had come from New York, and\nhe had this Puerto Rican woman that looked white. And I was saying, Rod, you\nknow, man, it's survival 101 -- keep a low profile.\n\nSo we got along because we were kind of like in this island and in this new\nprocess, and we both kept supporting one another and thriving. And so he went to\nMilwaukee about a year or so earlier with the Hearst Corporation that still\nowned WBAL, and 13 was trying to hire him, and they were looking for a\nphotographer too. And so he recommended me and so that was how that connection came.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Well, how did Baltimore impress you when you came up here in\nthe seventies?\n\nRUSS MOSS: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=540.0,600.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"First of all, I remember, Baltimore was depressing. My first\nimpression of it was, this is a good opportunity professionally,.and I knew that\nin order to have a career, I needed to move on from South Carolina because I had\naccomplished what I could accomplish there. But Baltimore itself was -- first of\nall, when I saw the row houses so close together, being a country boy, I was\ngoing like, my God! But beyond that, the place was just so dirty. And I could\nsee the row houses, because some of them are quite attractive and they can be.\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=600.0,660.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"You know, when you're in China you do the Chinaman. But it was just such a\ndowntrodden place.\n\nMy first couple years here I lived in the county, because the city was almost\nfrightening. And I'm not a person that's easily frightened. But I didn't know\nthis city. I figured, well, let me work and get to know the lay of the land, and\nthen after a couple years at least I'll see. I lived in Baltimore County,\nRandallstown, that has some of the same problems as Baltimore City. I left my\nRandallstown apartment after the end of that two-year lease. I moved to\nAnnapolis, which was a dream, a three year dream. The only nightmare was the commute.\n\nI lived two blocks from the Maryland Inn, and at that time they had an\nincredible music program, and a membership card that you could get I think, for\nfifty or a hundred bucks a year you had unlimited admission. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=660.0,720.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"So I could walk up\nthree nights in a row if I had time, and hear Charlie Byrd whom I probably\nlistened to a hundred times, and Ethel Ennis and Laurindo Almeida and Herb Ellis\nand Bennie Carter, and Earl Hines. I really got to sit at the foot of the\nmasters and watch them do what they do. Eddie Fat Head Newman -- just\nincredible. And a lot of local and regional performers. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=720.0,780.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"But Baltimore, after\nthree years of commuting, I just said okay brother, at this point it's time to\nmove to the city. I lived in Mt. Vernon Place, right behind Peabody, on East\nBranch Lane, in one of the carriage houses for a couple of years in '84. I\ndecided, okay, the interest rate's down low enough, it's time to shop for a\nhouse. I shopped Federal Hill, Fells Point, Bolton Hill, Charles Village. For\ndifferent reasons, parking or the houses too small, or they were overpriced for\nwhat you were getting, I chose Reservoir Hill. And I still see Baltimore like a\nbeautiful human being that just needs a bath [laughter] and a fix-up.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=780.0,840.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I mean all of the things are there. It just needs to clean house. And it could\nbe an incredible city, and it doesn't understand what it has here. You know, the\none problem, like Annapolis, you understand that they're fierce about protecting\ntheir history, as it should be. But Dan Henson [then Baltimore City Housing\nCommissioner] tore down more in one afternoon than Annapolis ever had.\n\nAnd so, and that's the best part, the city's got probably one of the best stocks\nof period housing in the country for an inner city, and it doesn't market it.\nThe only place in the world I've ever seen boarded-up property on a park front.\nI just didn't think that was possible. But it doesn't know how to market. It's\ngetting a little bit better, but it really doesn't know how to market what it has.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=840.0,900.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Well, you've been so instrumental in what's happened in\nReservoir Hill Reservoir Hill and the changes that have taken place here. How\nlong have you lived in your house on Park Avenue?\n\nRUSS MOSS: Eighteen years, coming up eighteen years.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: You've headed up the community organizations. You've done the\nsanitation committee, organized garden tours, and hectored people into pulling\ntheir act together.\n\nRUSS MOSS: Yeah, but that is just kind of what you're supposed to do. You know,\nyou're just supposed to do that.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: And work full-time as a camera man and have another career as\na musician.\n\nRUSS MOSS: Right. [Laughter] But, you know, but I believe that these things I\nsaid -- that when you're alive, you're supposed to be active. You got plenty of\ntime to do nothing when you're dead.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: You're right.\n\nRUSS MOSS: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=900.0,960.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And the other part too, Benedict College, one of their mottos is to\nbe a power for good in society. That's what we're supposed to do. And in terms\nof taking on things, I remember the role models that my uncle, the great uncle,\nRobert Moss -- even though I walked away from that place, in retrospect I know\nthat he was doing the best that he could, the best that he knew. Because his\nfather was a slave -- Crawford Moss. And so, he was raising us basically as his\nfather had raised him. But even so, when there was something that needed to be\ndone in the community, if someone got burned out, he would just say, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=960.0,1020.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"okay, you\nall, pull out your clothes. Somebody needs shoes your size, or a shirt your\nsize. And he expected you to pull out the best stuff you had, not the worst! So\nit's just following that example.\n\nAnd just the fact that he took us in after our parents' separation -- you just\nstep up to the plate and you do what you're supposed to do. That's just the way\nthat it's supposed to be. And if you're in a community that's got trash, well,\nyou get in there and you do something about the trash.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=1020.0,1080.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Now back to your career as a musician. Your job actually\nabsorbs a fairly significant part of your life, but you're still out there\nperforming. Now you're playing at Annapolis at the same Maryland Inn that you\nused to go and where you used to listen to Charlie Byrd.\n\nRUSS MOSS: Well, I think that I mentioned that I've been taking guitar lessons,\nbecause for many years at Channel 13 I was the low man on the totem pole. So now\nI'm one of the senior photographers. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=1080.0,1140.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I've gotten older, but along with that I\nhave enough time in, so that my schedule is now stable enough to have a\ncommunity life and a music life. And so that was one of the advantages of\nstaying put in one place, so that those things could happen.\n\nBut equally important, during that time when my schedule was fluctuating, I took\nthe guitar lessons, and worked to do the music where I could, when I could.\nMaybe in some ways I think that probably if some of the things that are\nbeginning to develop now had happened earlier, I think like many of the other\nmusicians, I probably would have burned out early or would have taken some\nself-destructive route. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=1140.0,1200.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"So I figure that whatever fortune that the music brings\nnow, one, there's a level of maturity that certainly wasn't always there, and I\nthink that now I've had the chance to really spend some time and work on it, and\nto kind of get to know who I am, and get comfortable within my own skin.\n\nAnd incidentally, another point too, I like the community work. A lot of this I\ndidn't quite realize it at that time, but, you know, there's an old expression\nthat you can't out-give God. And I never quite knew what that meant, but I\nremember one of the most difficult things for me, it wasn't necessarily to sing\nthe songs, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=1200.0,1260.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"but early on, it was like after you finished the song, then there was\nthis level of discomfort between -- you know -- communicating with the audience,\nand having that comfort level to just talk. Because the song -- I could go\nthere, but then connecting with the people. After fifteen, twenty years of\nReservoir Hill and leading them [the community groups],\n\nsometimes you know they get right unruly so you have to put all that stuff\nbehind you and learn how to just be there and deal with the moment.\n\nI guess, probably my gift out of that, has been that sense of comfort, a comfort\nlevel that's just talking off the cuff, and if something goes awry, which things\nwill do in a live performance, you roll with the punches and land on your feet\nand just deal with it as it happens. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=1260.0,1320.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And most of all, to have fun with it.\n\nAnd that's something that's come from the volunteer work and community work --\nthat was kind of a gift back. And I kind of realized it after some point.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: You were getting back, too.\n\nRUSS MOSS: Right. [Laughter] Because that was kind of the gift, you know, the\npersonal growth gift. And I never did [hold] with the idea of enhancing the performance.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: So you were saying about how giving to the community has given\nback to you and actually influenced your music and its performance level.\n\nRUSS MOSS: Right. It's given me a comfort level. Because so much of when you\nmake music, then the other part is connecting in a comfortable way with people.\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=1320.0,1380.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Because I think that's an important piece of it. I can name a few, or maybe I\nshouldn't, singers that-- Well, I will.\n\nLike in Baltimore City, I think probably of the women singers, no question about\nit, Aleta Greene is no doubt, I think, the best voice in Baltimore. But Ethel\nEnnis is the best entertainer. And that comes because Ethel knows how to reach\nout there and just stroke the folks.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: She can pick up a house in the palm of her hand in a second.\n\nRUSS MOSS: Right. Exactly. And that's kind of what I'm getting at. And that\nelement, being able to just kind of reach out there and embrace the people and\ncaress them, and roll all of that into the music.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=1380.0,1440.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Right.\n\nRUSS MOSS: As I understand it, it is an important part of it. And I didn't quite\nknow how to get there, but I knew that it was important to get there and I mean,\nyou could always keep getting closer to there, but now I'm much closer to there\nthan I was. And I think the ticket was I noticed that years of community work\nand yelling at Miss Minnie and telling her to shut up.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: I wonder whatever happened to Miss Minnie? [Laughter]\n\nRUSS MOSS: I hope it wasn't my fault. To give you an example, I was doing a show\nat the Maryland Inn a few months ago, and this guy comes up the street about\nhalf tanked. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=1440.0,1500.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I'm right in the middle of a song, and he walks up, right into the\nperforming area, and he's singing off key. So without missing a beat, I said\nwelcome. I'm glad you could come, but you're gonna have to get your own\n\ndamn show. I said, you're welcome to sit down and listen, but if you want to\nsing, you got to get your own damn show. And so the audience applauded and the\nguy kind of shrank and he just kind of disappeared.\n\nBut fifteen years ago that would have been a derailment.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: So thank you, Miss Minnie.[Laughter]\n\nRUSS MOSS: Yeah, in that sense. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=1500.0,1560.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"As for the song writing, the Baltimore Song\nWriters Association, and the years of working on the guitar, I'm at a point now\nwhere I think I'm really writing some of my best pieces, some of my best songs.\nAnd after I finish this CD, Live at the Maryland Inn Project, the next project,\nI know, will be solo voice and guitar. And it will be called \"Simply Russ,\"\nincluding some of my original songs. And after that, I want to take the best of\nmy songs and fold them into a musical set. You've got to have another goal down\nthe road. But the song writing is becoming an important part. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=1560.0,1620.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I don't know, I\nthink between Georgia and Buffalo and Carolina and the media work, and just\nliving in general, I've seen a lot, I've experienced a lot. And I think there\nare a lot of songs in there. Investing in the time to have the tools needed to\ncraft those songs, to extract them from your imagination, from the maker that\ngives them, and to create that emotional road map for other people to get\nwhatever out of it that music can do -- I think it's just part of that -- part\nof using the gift that we're given.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=1620.0,1680.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467/transcript/38445/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"So that's kind of where things are at this point.\n\n[END OF INTERVIEW]","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44158/file/117467#t=1680.0,1740.0"}]}]}]}