Creating Neighborhood Connections Through Music

College Cultural Neighborhood residents Alesia Byrd Johnson and Wendell Johnson didn’t have plans to go out of town on Labor Day Weekend, so instead they decided to throw a party and invite the entire neighborhood.

“We weren’t going anywhere during the holiday because we don’t like to travel with so many people on the road,” Byrd Johnson said. “So why not just open it up to our neighbors and say whoever wants to come is welcome to stop by? Let’s all get to know each other.”

A party thrown by the Johnsons isn’t just any party, however. It involves several musicians getting together and hosting an informal performance that showcases everyone’s talents. Alesia, a graduate of Flint Southwestern and Michigan State University, is a classically trained musician who was the principal second violinist with the Flint Symphony Orchestra for more than 40 years and taught at the Flint School of Performing Arts for many years. She comes from a musical family too as both parents were professional musicians – her mother was a violinist and her father was the conductor of the FSO for six years.

Wendell Johnson is an artist and a mostly self-taught musician who plays piano, accordion, guitar, harmonica, and sings. He’s connected with several musicians in a “jam band” scene in Flint. They have played for years on Fridays. Locations have varied, but the commitment to getting together and playing has been consistent.

“When I worked (he’s now retired), I would just say there’s a jam on Friday unless I call you,” he said. “So you show up and you play.”

The Johnsons have performed together as a duo and also in jam band sessions, which feature music characterized by its unpredictability. Traits include improvisation, no setlists, differing band lineups and instruments, and musicians just playing off of each other, among other things. For a classically trained musician like Alesia Byrd Johnson, that setup was intimidating before she began participating. 

“I was always afraid to come, because I was the classically trained one, and I didn’t know if I could ever improv,” she said. “They finally talked me into coming and it has been fun! You learn to use your ear. I do better without having my music in front of me and just trying to figure out where I fit.”

Knowing there were several musicians and people who appreciate live music in College Cultural, they decided to open up their jam band format to the neighborhood as part of their party, posting an open invite to everyone through the CCN Facebook pages. People brought food to share, some came to participate in the driveway musical performances and some came to just watch, and the party attracted a wide range of ages – from kids to people in their 80s.

“We had quite an age range here. We had friends from Fenton come and their grandkids played, it was just fun,” Alesia Byrd Johnson said.

It also gave the Johnsons an opportunity to catch up with some friends and also make new ones, including people who live behind them who they didn’t previously know that well – “They were the first to arrive and last to leave, so we got to know them really well,” Alesia said. They also had several passersby who hadn’t seen the Facebook invite but heard the music and stopped by to listen.

“It’s nice to know your neighbors,” Alesia Byrd Johnson said. “I see a lot of people as acquaintances at various functions, but you don’t always have the time to sit and chat and really get to know each other. So having it here at the house, we had like three or four different seating areas, food was inside, so people got to have little conversations with each other, and those who just wanted to listen to the band could sit and do that too.”

The Johnsons have lived in the neighborhood for more than 20 years, even before they got married. Several traits of College Cultural Neighborhood have kept them here, but the closeness of the houses, the fact that many of the streets on the side south of Court Street dead end because of the freeway and reduce through traffic, and the many CCN residents who have lived here for years all adds to the charm.

“It just has a peacefulness,” Wendell Johnson said. “There’s not a lot of traffic, and it’s still close to go downtown and do a lot of things at the Cultural Center. It’s very convenient.”

Alesia Byrd Johnson added that it’s just “the neighbors” that she loves about CCN. “The houses are so close, you can’t help but get to know people as you’re coming and going,” she said. “And everybody seems open to it (getting to know each other).”

The number of people who enjoyed the driveway music and informally getting to know others in the neighborhood already has the Johnsons thinking about next year and beyond with their new tradition.

“We’re really hoping that we do it every year,” Alesia Johnson said. “We’re thinking about next year having it as a block party and actually blocking off the streets.”