What a wonderful day!  Last fall, Andrew Young, Amanda Brown-Olmstead, Tiffany Powell and I jumped into a Central Atlanta Progress Van and took off down Auburn Ave.

Well- ok, we didn't really took off.  We sat for a while in front of the Auburn Avenue Research Library, then drove a few hundred feet and sat in front of the Atlanta Daily World, and on and on down the Avenue.  What an experience to hear Andrew Young tell stories of walking down the street with "Mike" (Martin Luther King's childhood name and the one used by old friends), talking to preachers, numbers runners, residents and celebrities.  He shared so many great stories of moving to Atlanta, staying at the Butler Street Y, and leading the Civil Rights Movements from offices along Auburn.

Now-- I have to be honest, some of the stories we couldn't share!  It's not as bad as it seems, but there were a few stories that were best shortened or edited to make them a bit more family friendly.

We took the 2.5 hours of tape and made a script out of the stories, one that related to the stops along Auburn and would fit into a 45 minute presentation.  We checked the script with historians to make sure dates and names were all correct.  Then into the studio..

I have to say-- Ambassador Young was quite a pro.  He read the script once and we were in the booth.  We took each track one at a time and he added and edited as he spoke.  The script improved IMMENSELY with his on the fly edits.  It was really amazing to watch him as he changed phrases and reworded sentences to make them flow.  All those years of preaching really came through.

 The final touch was to get the right narrator.  Luckily, Charles Black,

an actor and leader in the student movement at Morehouse College in the early '60s was excited to help.  He provided the wonderful narration (and stay tuned, you may here his voice on future recordings!)

So-- we were ready to launch using Cell Phone and MP3 technology.  Next post will talk about the launch day! www.cchrpartnership.org

DS