Six years ago, folk singer-songwriter John Prine died following complications from COVID-19. But soon his memory will return to one of his favorite spots on St. Pete Beach.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow Lucky Can One Man Get,\u201d a rare concert documentary about the folk singer, will be shown Friday, April 10 and Saturday, April 11 at the Beach Theatre. Due to a licensing arrangement with Warner Music, only about 10 screenings will take place around the United States across 2026 and 2027. This may be the only event in Florida. The film is not available on streaming and likely won\u2019t be for several years.<\/p>\n
Prine lived part-time in Gulfport for years. According to his wife, the Beach Theatre was the site of many beloved dates for the couple.<\/p>\n
\u201cJohn said it was some of the best popcorn he\u2019d ever had,\u201d Fiona Prine said over the phone. \u201cThe first person that I thought of when it reopened was John.\u201d<\/p>\n
A few years ago, Fiona finally felt ready to go through John\u2019s physical and digital archive. She found \u201cHow Lucky Can One Man Get.\u201d The edited concert film just needed some enhancing and updated credits.<\/p>\n
The project was directed by Jim Shea, a photographer who created music videos for Prine as well as Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Joni Mitchell and James Taylor. It consists of previously unreleased footage of Prine\u2019s May 2010 concerts at his hometown high school in Maywood, Illinois.<\/p>\n
While Prine was a \u201creluctant student,\u201d according to his wife, he returned to his alma mater to throw two concerts to benefit the Maywood Fine Arts Association.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s just a thrilling little film. It\u2019s John up close and personal on stage telling the stories behind most, if not all of the songs on his first record, talking about the geographic locations, about the people, the references in the songs,\u201d Fiona said. \u201cHe\u2019s just in his element. He\u2019s so happy being there on stage with his community.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Maywood concerts were part of the inspiration behind the Hello In There Foundation, a nonprofit that Fiona created in 2021 to honor her husband\u2019s spirit of generosity.<\/p>\n
\u201cJohn took time to help people. It wasn\u2019t a thought or a must,\u201d she said, remembering how he often stopped to give a $20 bill to people in need on the street. \u201cI just thought, \u2018Well, we\u2019ve lost him, but we have his music, and we have the memory of his kindness.\u2019 And so I wanted that to stay alive too.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Nashville-based organization takes its name and mission from the song \u201cHello in There,\u201d which Prine wrote in his early 20s while walking his mail route in Maywood. The group aims to \u201coffer support for people who are marginalized, discriminated against or, for any reason, are otherwise forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n
It has distributed $1.4 million in grants, said Celine Thackston, executive director of the foundation.<\/p>\n
This includes $230,000 in post-hurricane disaster relief to local groups like the Gulfport Senior Center, the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Tampa Bay, and Feeding Tampa Bay following Helene and Milton. The Hello in There Foundation also partnered with First Contact to distribute individual relief grants to 222 Tampa Bay hospitality gig workers, 51 seniors with emergency needs and 31 families.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe take our inspiration from John\u2019s music, thinking about his songs and the things he cared for in his life,\u201d Thackston said. \u201cWe support organizations working with veterans, people who are experiencing homelessness, immigrant refugee communities, women who are in recovery, people in recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pinellas County \u2014 especially Gulfport and St. Pete Beach \u2014 was a special place for the Prines. According to his wife, Prine started visiting the area in the 1970s; His friend, rock \u2018n roll promoter Johnny Green, lived in Tierra Verde.<\/p>\n
Later, the Prines started a tradition of bringing their small children to the Gulf beaches on spring break, staying at the Don CeSar. The family ended up purchasing a cottage by the water in Gulfport, which Fiona still owns. She has fond memories of breakfasts at Stella\u2019s and shopping for antiques at local thrift stores. In the years following Prine\u2019s death, locals have continued to honor him with annual concerts.<\/p>\n
\u201cGulfport was home. We may not have lived there year-round, but it absolutely was home,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the last true Americana kind of places and John was very much drawn to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
VIP packages for the Beach Theatre screening will include a pre-show meet and greet with Fiona Prine. She looks forward to meeting with fans and sharing memories.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuite often people will look at me right in the eyes and say, \u2018It really affected me when John passed.\u2019 And I believe them,\u201d she said. \u201cI got to experience John always stop and talk to a fan if they wanted to say hello or have a photograph … He never forgot that. And now we get to extend that onward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Six years ago, folk singer-songwriter John Prine died following complications from COVID-19. But soon his memory will return…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[15783,97409,97408,596,202,2149,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-213201","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-documentary","9":"tag-how-lucky-can-one-man-get","10":"tag-john-prine","11":"tag-pinellas-county","12":"tag-st-pete","13":"tag-st-pete-beach","14":"tag-st-pete-headlines","15":"tag-st-pete-news","16":"tag-st-petersburg","17":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","18":"tag-st-petersburg-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}