06/08/2026
Dear Columbia,
I grew up in the Columbia area (Hopkins) and playing music for you at Finlay Park was a great full-circle moment for me. In the 90s my mother and I were regulars, especially for the summer concerts. My first memory of Finlay Park is actually MayFest, back when it was still called Sidney Park. In honor of the nostalgia I was feeling, I intentionally played the music from the era when I was a kid running around that field. Music that was heavily requested on The Big DM 101.3 with Curtis Wilson, Vanessa Pendergass, DJ Prince Ice (my first mentor and the one who gave me the name MIDI), and I can’t forget BET’s Video Soul with Donnie Simpson and Sherry Carter.
Columbia, growing up here has not been without its frustrations, and on Friday we were coming out of a very rough week. The injustice of the Rick Chow acquittal hit so many of us like a ton of bricks. It felt good to acknowledge the disappointment and say the name we don’t ever need to forget: Cyrus Carmack-Belton.
Saying that we took a break to dance or celebrate doesn’t feel quite right. Instead, maybe we were dancing in the face of injustice. Perhaps we were celebrating the justice that’s on the way. It felt good to be amongst such a diverse crowd, and the atmosphere felt exactly like it did 30-plus years ago.
Even though I was having a full-circle moment, present-day reality soured the fairy tale. The murder of 14-year-old Cyrus is a reminder that many of us left the park and returned to neighborhoods outside the margins of consideration and under the thumb of a system that isn’t broken. Contrary to the belief that government cares for all of its citizens equally, the system is often working exactly as it was designed to.
Black music has always created spaces where people can come together, dance, and see one another’s humanity. Maybe that’s why it has always been so powerful. On Friday night, for a few hours, we shared the same space, the same songs, and the same joy. My hope is that we carry that same sense of community with us when it’s time to demand something better from the city we all call home. With that being said, I’ll see you at the polls tomorrow
Love,
Marcum
