CITY UNVEILS REDDING STATUE
HUNDREDS BRAVE WET WEATHER TO HONOR SINGER FROM MACON
Ellen Lord, Telegraph Staff Writer

Best known internationally for "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay," Otis Redding is now memorialized in Macon, sitting at the foot of a path, symbolic of an effort to do in his hometown what Redding accomplished with his music: draw people together.

A disparate crowd of hundreds --- from a university president to homeless men --- gathered Sunday for the statue's unveiling at Gateway Park, the trailhead for the new Ocmulgee Heritage Greenway. The park and the path, which runs across and down the river for about a mile, represent perhaps the most visible efforts of a central city revitalization project led by NewTown Macon.

"One of the reasons NewTown was so interested in doing this was because he brought people together," said Conie Mac Darnell, president of the organization, which raised more than $50,000 for the statue. "That's how this city is going to move forward --- by working together."

Bronzed in a 7-foot pose, the music giant plays his guitar seated on a dock. The Ocmulgee River drifts behind the statue, an appropriate backdrop for the man whose life was washed away abruptly but whose music rolls on.

Phil Walden, Redding's former manager, said the "black Renaissance man" wrote his most popular song in 1967 while living on a houseboat in Sausalito, a few miles from San Francisco.

Redding told him he was trying to cut a song that went beyond his previous groove records "that would not forsake his black audience but would also cross over to other audiences," Walden said. He died in a place crash three days later.

Despite an alternating soft drizzle and dripping humidity, Redding had no problem drawing hundreds Sunday in a town where sports teams can't find an audience and museums are lacking customers.

Much of the crowd of various skin colors and accents seemed to want a picture with Redding, and many pressed his children for autographs. Some danced or wiggled as Redding's music bounded from speakers, and others chomped free hot dogs, nodding to each other and strolling about the park.

The B-52s singer Kate Pierson said she came because the emotion of Redding's songs reached her as she grew up listening to him. "He makes you feel like you know him," she said.

Hampton Swain, who deejayed for WIBB when Redding was getting his start, said Redding had that effect in person, too.

"He could flash that million-dollar smile and make you think he had known you for a million years," he said.

Walden said Redding, who grew up and remained in Macon in between tours, had a standing rule to let anyone from his hometown back stage.

"He would greet this person like long-lost friends," Walden said. "I would say, 'Where'd you know him from?' and he'd say, 'I don't.' ''

Redding's appearance and the musical performances of this weekend headline a week of free concerts commemorating Macon's steeped musical heritage. A tribute concert to Redding will be held Dec. 7, the 35th anniversary of the recording of "Dock of the Bay."

Redding, who would have been 61 this year, died at the age of 26. His recording career lasted less than a decade, but a 1992 best-of collection still sold gold.

The statue was created by the father and son team of Bradley Cooley and Bradley Cooley Jr. in Tallahassee, Fla.

"Today, he would say, 'I finally got all the respect I deserved,' '' said Zelma Redding, his widow.

--- To contact Ellen Lord, call 744-4347 or e-mail elord@macontel.com.

Macon Telegraph, The (GA)

September 16, 2002

Section: A

Edition: HOME

Page: 1

Copyright (c) 2002 The Macon Telegraph