IN MY OPINION On Rock Hill's Main Street, Linh Le is a doer.
One moment the Duke grad and former beauty queen, 24, is waiting tables at her mother's restaurant, Thi's Place on Main, and the next she's on the sidewalk on her cell phone negotiating a booking fee with an entertainer's agent in Nashville.
Or working backstage across the street at the Freedom Center, pouring coffee and making sure things are running smoothly at one of the concerts she's promoting this spring through her company, Back Home Entertainment (www.backhomeentertainment.net).
"I've got two words to describe Linh (leeng): determined and tenacious," said Willie Lyles, executive director of the Freedom Center. "Linh is one of the jewels of downtown and a force in bringing people together to make something happen down here. She has talent beyond her years."
Her most recent concert with bluegrass legend Tony Rice drew nearly 300 people on a Monday night at the Freedom Center.
But perhaps her most ambitious project to date is this Thursday: "Part of The Rock's Arts & Music Festival" with art, alcohol and food vendors behind the Gettys Center, followed by a concert at the Freedom Center.
In a city not known for its taste in avant garde music, Le has reached deep into her promoter's bag of tricks for Future Man & the Black Mozart Ensemble.
The show's poster features Roy "Future Man" Wooten, a Grammy Award-winning percussionist, in an 18th century costume with a tri-cornered hat. He's shown with a group of classically trained musicians. The concert is described as "what happens when classical music meets hip-hop."
In one continuous roll of her tongue, Le explains that Wooten plays with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, and how he became obsessed with a black 18th century composer named Joseph Boulogne Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-99) in Paris, a man known as the Black Mozart.
Wooten will lead the ensemble with some of his own music as well as Boulogne's compositions.
Le pauses for breath and continues:
"It's some amazing music, and I love his progressive approach to art and music; it's like he really is the future," Le says, as she stops to pose a toothsome grin for a photographer. "Future Man's whole mission is to bring good music and the arts together, and that's what we're trying to do on Main Street."
Since graduating with a degree in English in 2005, Le returned to her hometown to help her mom run her restaurant and simply wanted to bring some culture and diversity to Main Street.
"I mean, basically, that's how all this began. I came back home after college and started Back Home Entertainment," said the former senior class president at Northwestern High School.
Le started with a Katrina benefit concert with Delfeayo Marsalis and another show at the Cotton Factory.
Rock Hill artist Jay Thompson was impressed with the professionalism of Le's shows and agreed to partner with her to do three concerts this spring at the Freedom Center -- the two earlier shows featured The Occasional Milkshake with Danielle Howle and the Tony Rice Unit.
"Linh is a go-getter. She has drive and initiative and she's dedicated to putting her hometown on the map for arts and music," said Thompson, who drove with her to Nashville last fall to meet with Wooten.
"It's hard to convince people that Rock Hill can put on high-quality musical acts; but if anybody can make Main Street come alive with arts and music, it's Linh. She won't give up."
Le's mom is a Vietnamese refugee who came to America when she was 16. She has worked three jobs to put her four children through Harvard, Notre Dame and Duke.
"Linh's had this raw talent and energy since she was a little girl. She's living the American dream," Thi Le said.
"She's going places, I can feel it."
IN MY OPINION
Want to know more?
Tickets for Future Man and the Black Mozart are $15 advance and $18 at the door. Tickets are available at Thi's Place on Main and other Rock Hill locations. The Arts Festival is 5-8 p.m. Thursday in the parking lot behind the Gettys Center. Admission is free. Vendors will have food and drinks for sale. The concert is at 8 p.m. at the Freedom Center at 215 E. Main St. Details: 803-417-4509. Dan Huntley
