NFL
By: Zachary Draves
It was the moment that rocked the Atlanta Olympics to its core and not in a good way.
On July 27, 1996, just a little after 1:20 am during a sold out rock concert in Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park, a pimp bomb exploded killing 2 people and injuring 110.
(Courtesy: CNN)
(Courtesy: AP)
The vibrant spirit of the games and the down home southern hospitality that Atlanta offered was stopped in its tracks.
(Courtesy: Sports Illustrated)
This attack occurred at a time when there was an ever-increasing problem of anti-government and right-wing extremist sentiment and action from Ruby Ridge in 1992 to the Oklahoma City Bombing a year prior.
As it turned out the bomber Eric Robert Rudolph, whom for years alluded authorities until he was caught in 2005, was part of that movement as he confessed to bombing abortion clinics and a gay nightclub.
But before the truth came out, it was Olympic park security guard Richard Jewell who grabbed the headlines.
(Courtesy: ABC News)
Initially, he was rightfully portrayed as a hero in the media given that he spotted the suspicious backpack in the park and managed to get as many people out as he could before it exploded.
Then he was immediately cast as the prime suspect and subsequently ostracized from society.
Even after he was proven innocent, there was still that dark cloud hanging over his head for years until he passed away in 2007.
His life was shattered for no reason and when all is said in done he needs to be remembered as being a good, decent, and honorable man who did his part to save lives.
The band that performed that night in Centennial Park brought a unique mix of soul, funk, jazz, and R&B, and they were called Jack Mack and the Heart Attack, formed in 1980 in Los Angeles.
(Courtesy: Rock and Blues Music)
By 1996, they were known for performing and producing tracks for movies and television programs including Fox TV’s The Late Show hosted by the late Joan Rivers.
To get the gig of performing during the Olympics was a big deal for them, little did they know of how much it would change their lives forever.
I had the privilege to interview one of the original founders of the group Andrew Kastner for his reflection on the performing in the park at the time of the bombing, how it impacted their career, as well as sharing a brief story that nobody has ever heard about that night until now.
What was it like to be in Atlanta in 1996?
An Amazing gig for us to get. We were hired to play 10 nights in a row on the Centennial Park stage. Every night they had a main band play around 8pm and we would play around midnight as they party band.
Describe the moment the bomb exploded
We are 45 minutes into our show and played our song “I Walk Alone” and our lead singer TC Moses was talking and the bomb went off to the left of the stage. We saw the explosion and we felt it. There was a moment of “what the f—!” We didn’t know what to do. Somebody came up and told us to get off the stage and we walked to our cars.
(Courtesy: Youtube)
Our producer that is to remain anonymous who was my roommate was at the sound tower mixing for us when the bomb exploded and it knocked him off his feet. He had an eyewitness account to the bomb and we were trying to share our story because initially it was reported that it was the PA or transformer system. Also by this time, we had met Richard Jewell. We met Richard prior and we gave him a t-shirt because he was a fan. After the bombing, pandemonium was real and because of what the producer told me he saw and that he was going to be interrogated by the police, I was asking myself “Should I go back to the hotel or go to the police with him?” I did this interview with NBC telling what I thought had happened and went back to the hotel.
How did this experience impact your life?
Two days after the bombing, we went on CNN for an interview. Then we were all over the place and our phone didn’t stop ringing Larry King, Bryant Gumbel, Tom Brokaw, Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, everyone was calling us. We were in a bit of a dilemma because we wanted the publicity but we didn’t want to exploit a tragic situation because people died and were injured.
It is worth mentioning that the music of Jack Mack and the Heart Attack was featured in the recent Clint Eastwood film Richard Jewell and provided some footage that was archived of their live performances as well two of their songs.
That night in Centennial Park foreshadowed so much of what we were faced with today when it comes to the normalization and glorification of extremism that found its way to Charlottesville, Pittsburgh, and the steps of the Capitol Building on January 6th.
May the memories of Richard Jewell, Alice Hawthorne, and Melih Uzunyol never be forgotten.
