MID-SOUTH MEMORIES

25 years ago – 1997

Barry Manilow has agreed to donate $5,000 to an ear-disorder association to settle a suit by a judge who claimed a 1993 Manilow concert damaged his hearing. Philip Espinosa, a 44-yearold judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals, said the loud music left him in ”miserable condition” with a constant and permanent screeching in his ears. The donation went to the American Tinnitus Association. Espinosa said he wanted to prevent other people from suffering similar injuries. ”Unfortunately in our society, large industries like the music business do not listen to you unless you file a lawsuit,” he said. As it happens, Manilow plays the Mud Island Amphitheatre three days later. 50 years ago – 1972

SPACE CENTER, Houston – The space agency reprimanded the Apollo 15 astronauts for “poor judgment” in trying to sell moon mail for a trust fund set up for their families. The reprimand for the three astronauts was described by a spokesman as “damaging.” He said he didn’t “think they will fly again.” One astronaut, James B. Irwin, 42, already has announced his retirement to take up religious endeavors. The others, David R. Scott and Alfred M. Worden, both 40, will be given “due consideration” for further spaceflight assignments, the spokesman said.

75 years ago – 1947

Smiling, but declaring “I feel like heck about it,” John Tucker Hurn of Nashville admitted that his being lost in a cave at Shellmound, Tennessee, was just a publicity stunt. He was photographed yesterday at the home of his sister in New York City.

100 years ago – 1922

The first fatality at the municipal swimming pool came at 9:45 last night. The victim of drowning, a young man 22 or 23 years old, had at an early hour this morning, not yet been identified.

125 years ago – 1897

LOUISVILLE – The special train which left Washington yesterday with the body of Senator Isham G. Harris of Tennessee arrived at Louisville early this morning and will be in Nashville late today en route to Memphis, where his funeral will be held.

RICHARD GARDNER/THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL FILES July 12, 1974: Nat. D. Williams, a pillar of modern Memphis music, played no instrument; however, he played a major role in ushering many rising talents into the musical world. He was host of the Palace Theater’s famed Beale Street Amateur Night and director of Booker T. Washington High School’s talent show. One of his most repeated refrains on the radio, in print and in theater, was a line made famous by W.C. Handy in his “Beale Street Blues”: “I’d rather be there than any place I know!”