My Mentor And Biggest Fan, Don King Of King's Recording Studio. Don Hired Me On As An Apprentice When

My mentor and biggest fan, Don King of King's Recording Studio. Don hired me on as an apprentice when I was 12 years old. I worked in his studio until his death in 1972. He was perhaps the finest man I have ever known. More of a father to me than my father was. He believed in me. ~ Trabue Gentry

One of several smoking pipes I decorated w brass inlay and plaster relief. Age 18. Circa 1968. ~ Trabue Gentry

Hot Coffee is an unincorporated community in Covington County, Mississippi, celebrated in local Mississippi lore. It is sometimes assigned the same zipcode as nearby Collins. 

The community was established at the crossroads of two popular travel routes: the north-south Jackson's Military Road, and the east-west Natchez to Fort St. Stephens Wagon Road. An inn was built, and in 1870, L.J. Davis built a store and hung a coffee pot over his door, advertising "the best hot coffee around". His coffee was made from pure spring water and New Orleans beans, and molasses drippings for sweetener. He never served cream with his coffee, believing it ruined the taste. Local politicians would visit Davis' store and buy coffee for constituents and passing travelers. The popularity of Davis' coffee led to the name of the community. ~ Wikipedia

A bit of darkroom darkroom fun. I know, who w a darkroom hasn't done this? Nevertheless, the cliche doesn't negate the simplistic beauty of this fairly primitive technique. For those who don't know, this image was made by holding a carnation on an unexposed sheet of black and white photographic print paper, turning on the darkroom light briefly, then developing the paper. It's a hit and miss process as far as length of exposure and development is concerned. Yes, those are my fingers holding the carnation. Circa 1981 ~ Trabue Gentry