A (con)course in music history

In busy Concourse T of the South Terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, a crew recently assembled an impressive 300-foot exhibit of rare items culled from the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in Macon. The workers “attracted a lot of attention from both airport staff and passengers admiring the objects,” says Liz Garcia, executive director of the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.

The exhibit includes eye-catching performance outfits, photos, instruments and various artifacts from Georgia’s most celebrated artists. “Over 5 million people per year will pass the exhibit cases,” says Garcia. “We wanted to showcase as much of Georgia’s rich music heritage as we could.”

Among the objects on display: the bright yellow fringe dress worn by Cindy Wilson on the cover of the B-52’s Whammy! album, Ray Charles’ black silk stage jacket, Jerry Reed’s vest from Smokey and the Bandit 2, an autographed OutKast jacket and items from Little Richard, James Brown, Lena Horne, Otis Redding, Gladys Knight, the Allman Brothers Band, Indigo Girls, Alan Jackson and even one of Ronnie Milsap’s Braille Playboy magazines. (Evidently, he actually enjoys the articles.) The exhibit is part of the Airport Arts Project and will be on display from the beginning of July until April 2005.

Because of security restrictions, the presentation was constructed during the rock ‘n’ roll hours of 10:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. “Some of us who worked during those late-night shifts are still suffering from jet lag,” laughs Garcia. “And we didn’t even get on a plane.”