Many in Starkville know lifetime resident Charles “LaLa” Evans and his late wife, Louise, who passed away in 2011, as a loving and generous couple — they worked hard to make a good life for each other and loved to jitterbug on Friday nights.
They hosted high school graduation parties year after year and were always active in the Needmore community. The high school sweethearts married at the tender age of 18.
“I have to say, even at 18, it was love at first sight,” Evan said. “We had 59 years and 11 months and the last thing she told me was, ‘I love you.'”
Now, with the release of the new music video, “Monument,” by the New Orleans rock band, MUTEMATH, and an upcoming appearance by Evans and the band on “The Ellen Degeneres Show,” the rest of the country and world will get a chance to know and appreciate Evans, who is 82.
The show is scheduled to air on CBS at 4 p.m. Monday.
MUTEMATH, a Grammy-nominated group, will perform and share the story of how Evans inspired the song, “Monument.”
The song’s video focuses on LaLa and Louise’s life together by showing poignant moments in time through Evans’ old home movies and photographs; present-day footage of LaLa at his Starkville home, where he dances to “Monument” while doing dishes; images of him strolling through his Umbrella Grove; and reminisces about days gone by while relaxing in the museum he calls “LaLa and Louise’s Place,” which is a shrine to his late wife’s memory.
“You just sit out here and, man, it just brings back — so many memories,” Evans said. “You can get teary-eyed sometimes just looking at your past.”
The band discovered LaLa Evans through Starkville native Jordan Mattison, a video and music producer in Nashville. While visiting Starkville a year ago, several of Mattison’s friends took him to meet Evans and the rest is history.
Mattison, video director Israel Anthem and MUTEMATH lead singer Paul Meany returned several months later and filming began.
“Everything he does just begs to be in a music video or something — someone has to show this off somehow,” Mattison said. “If you meet the man, spend more than two minutes with him, you’re gonna take something from that experience that you’ll carry with you for the rest of your life.”
Upon completion of the video, Mattison and Anthem returned to Starkville last month to personally give Evans a sneak peak premiere of “Monument.”
As he watched, Evans dabbed tears from his eyes while quietly repeating the words “wow” and “awesome.”
LaLa Evans summed it up best when he said, “It’s all about love. Love is the key. It’s all good!”
Online
■ MUSIC VIDEO: View the music video for the song, “Monument,” featuring Starkville resident “LaLa” Evans at bit.ly/1S0RZYQ
On TV
■ CBS: The Ellen DeGeneres Show featuring “LaLa” Evans airs on CBS at 4 p.m. Monday.
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