Frank Fisher -Oral History questions

 Oral History questions - Frank Fisher

What was it like musically and socially in what I have heard the music filled streets of the Fillmore district in San Francisco?


When did you come to the San Francisco Bay Area?


What was it like?


What was Bop City like during its heyday?


What was Bop City’s house band like?


Did you know Jimbo Edwards?


What was Jimbo’s personality like?


Your thoughts on the Rise and Fall of the Fillmore district?


Thoughts on the Swing Era.


Thoughts on the chorus lines.


Who were the sidemen?


Thoughts on bebop dancing, and swing dancing.


When did you start performing in San Francisco, and the S.F. Bay area?


What other areas of California have you performed?


Where have you performed outside of California?


Where and how did you learn your music skills?


What are your musical skills?


Which artists influenced you the most?


What musical artists do you admire the most?


What was your musical experience before coming to San Francisco, and the Bay Area?


What was the Fillmore District like during its decline?


Over the years, what kept you going in regards to your consistency in performing, writing, and arranging music?


How would you describe your style?


Did you perform in the military?


Who were the regular musicians, and singers in the Fillmore music scene?


Who were the regular musicians and singers in the S.F. Bay Area?


What was the North Richmond music scene like?


What was the comradery like between the audience, community, and artists?


What impact if any do you think WWII had on the music scene, and its development?


Which clubs in the Fillmore did you frequent, and which ones did you perform at?


What were the names of the clubs in the S.F. and Bay Area that you remember most?


What streets were the clubs on?


What were the clubs like?


What was the audience like in general?


It is noted that southern newcomers, the African Americans from the south brought Jazz, and blues to the S.F. bay area?


Were the audiences mixed?


How did the audiences get along?


Were there any segregated clubs in San Francisco, and the Bay Area?


Did many of the artists that performed during the heydays of the music scene in S.F., and the S.F. area. Did they know they were geniuses?


When would you say Bebop came on the scene?


What were the differences, and relationships between the difference music genres?


What was the dancing like?


What was the relationship like between S.F., Oakland, and Richmond music scene?


We hear often that the Fillmore was thriving. What did it feel like?


How were other African American communities growing and thriving during this period? Were there Black owned business hubs in other Bay Area cities?


What was the war effort like?


What did industrialization feel like?


What was industrialization from your perspective?


The shipyards. What was your experience with the war industry?


Do you perform blues?


Which restaurants were the favorites for the musicians in S.F., and the S.F. Bay Area?



What was the after hour environment like?


What did it feel like being a part of such a creative time in history?


Tom Brokaw calls this period in history, The Greatest Generation. What is your take on this?


What was the relationship like between the other businesses, and venue in S.F.’s Fillmore restaurants, theatres, etc?


What was the food like?


What businesses operated around the clock?



The infamous Kaiser shipyards. Your take on them, your experiences, or the experiences of people you know who worked in the shipyards?


Most people living in the S.F. area know little about the fact that S.F., and the Bay Area had Black owned businesses. We rarely see Black businesses in S.F., and the S.F. Bay area today? Tell us about Black entrepreneurship?


What was the relationship between the Black entrepreneurs and the music scene in the Bay area, and S.F.?


Having extra money to spend that the war jobs created. What was that like? 


Your thoughts on Urban Renewal.


Was urban renewal a mistake, or was it planned?


Who do you think were the local cream of the crop musicians, singers, and sidemen in the area?


Your thoughts on the Jazz, Swing, bebop’s impact upon American society, and the world?


Your comments on your life training experiences? Influences, who inspired you?


What were your parents like? What did you learn from them? What was your community like in the South?

What was it like living in the South?


What was Jim Crow like?


What was racism like in California?


When you moved to Parchester Village, what was it like?


Your take on suburbia, and the housing boom in California? 


How did African Americans feel in that they were excluded from this most significant post war development (the housing boom)?


How did Black southerners transform the Bay Area?

Your take on swing bands and the military?





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Oral History Mandisa - questions

 I often find while doing Wikipedia articles that people are in need of extensive oral history types of documentation. I think that it is important that people are a part of the creation of their source documentation. When I first started doing Wikipedia articles, and learning about people and talking with people I would write a list of questions specific to that person. Many of the people I wrote articles about in the beginning were Elders. Many things about their life and history they had not thought about or talked about in years. I created this list for Mandisa Monakali.  Your childhood Growing up Your parents influences Thoughts about the community you grew up in. Influences Your thoughts about life and struggle Being a mother Your passions Your loves Your community involvements Your country involvements Your global involvements Your UN involvements Family The struggle as you see it. The African Diaspora The West Agriculture Projects that mean the most to you. The futu...
Read more

Dr Adair (sample oral history)

  Oral History (sample questions) Dr. Thelma Davidson Adair You were born in North Carolina. What was it like growing up? What was family life like? What was your community like? What are your fondest memories growing up? What was daily life like? What games and toys did you play with? What kind of work did your father do? What kind of work did your mother do? Do you have brothers and sisters? Did you grow up in an extended family? Comments on your coming of Age experiences? Your early education experiences? What values did you get growing up from your parents, family, and community? What was it like to grow up under Jim Crow? What was race relations and racism like coming north? How long have you lived in Harlem? Your fondest memories of Harlem life in the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, etc.  Whatever period you want to comment on. Your thoughts on parenting? Your thoughts and work with early childhood education? Your work with early childhood education in Harlem? Tell us about your act...
Read more

Interview Questions for Thandeka

Some Interview questions. It is so important that people create their own data online. Dear Thandeka, While working on your Wikipedia article most of the references I found were from social media. This might create some problems in regards to notability. This is not unusual when it comes to Black people.  Due to the biases of mainstream white media.  I think what our people have to do is to create their own content.   Today, I created some additional questions.  Feel free to rewrite any of the questions and pick which ones you want to use. What can be done is that after you answer whatever you want to answer we can then send it to different media outlets, etc.  DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO WITH THIS INFORMATION.  THIS IS JUST A RECOMMENDATION.   Take care. Linda Dabo ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.  Question: Most people know very little about South Africa other than what main stream media reports on. What would you like to share to give people more i...
Read more