Presented by the North End Cultural Center and the Gallagher Bluedorn 

Getting That Note Out is an intimate documentary about blues guitarist Etheleen Morehead Wright and her passion for music. Born in Waterloo, Iowa, Etheleen learned to play guitar watching her grandfather and listening to radio programs. She performed with local musicians and with her band The Mixers. She joined Louis and the Blues Reviewers, a well-known band from Waterloo, specializing in the Delta-style of blues. The band was selected to perform in Washington, D.C, as part of the Iowa sesquicentennial delegation to the Smithsonian Institution’s Folklife Festival in 1996. As the only woman in the band, Etheleen carved out a space for her music and her unique guitar. She reconnects with band members to perform at the North End Arts and Music Festival. As the band rehearses in a church hall, Etheleen’s memories weave through the music, narrating a story of creativity, loss, and resilience. Getting That Note Out is a powerful story of one woman’s courage and determination.

Screening will be followed by a Q & A facilitated by "Rocki n Chaveevah," hosts of the North End Update show.

Filmmaker's Biography

Francesca Soans is an award-winning filmmaker and Associate Professor of Digital Media at the University of Northern Iowa. Her films and videos have screened at competitive film festivals, art galleries, and conferences all over the world, and been broadcast on public and cable television channels. Since 2003, she has worked on a documentary about the North End, an area associated with African American roots in Waterloo, part of her groundbreaking city project Waterloo: A History of Place. She has received several major grants from the Iowa Arts Council, Humanities Iowa, the Guernsey Foundation, and the University of Northern Iowa. Getting That Note Out was partially funded by a College of Humanities, Arts, and Sciences Faculty Grant.