Blogs from Memphis, Tennessee, United States, North America - page 16

Davenport, Iowa - Memphis, Tennessee Sunday 28th September (Day 34) Today we were heading for Memphis, but we still had a little time to spend with Kelly and Robbie before we left (and with Bradlee and Dustin, playing on the game cube). We went out for breakfast (somewhere - I forget, sorry) but eventually had to say goodbye, and head off back through Davenport, over to Moline airport in time to take the rental car back and catch our flight to Memphis. Awesome guys - great to stay with you in your home. Thanks for having us! We again had to fly down through Atlanta, although it wasn’t so much out of our way this time, as Memphis is down in the same general direction. From the air, Atlanta was very impressive. It seemed fairly flat ... read more

Suggested Listening for this Entry:”That’s All Right”, “Blue Moon of Kentucky”, and “Good Rockin’ Tonight” by Elvis Presley. Then go back and listen to Arthur “Big Boy’ Crudup’s original version of “That’s All Right”, Bill Monroe’s original 1940’s version of “Blue Moon of Kentucky”, and Wynonie Harris’ version of “Good Rockin’ Tonight”. Suggested Food and Drink for this Entry: Although nearly the same meal was suggested for the Rock N Soul Museum, go with one of Elvis’ favorites, a cheeseburger, fries and milkshake. With our Sun Studio tour continuing in the museum room above the actual studio, our tour guide hit the highlights of the studio’s blues and R&B days in the early 1950’s that included hearing snipets of “Bear Cat” and Howlin’ Wolf. Looking around the tour group, I could tell at least a few ... read more

Suggested Listening for this Entry: Some Little Milton from his days on the Malaco Record Label in the 1990's and the early 2000's. Start with "The Blues is Alright", "Annie Mae's Cafe", "A Juke Joint in My House" and "She Know How to Wear a Hat". (A video clip from earlier in Little Milton's career is included at the end of this entry.) Suggested Food and Drink for this Entry: Anything you can smoke and cover in barbecue sauce. You’ll soon discover why. D.C. area blues guitarist Linwood Taylor once told me “it ain’t a party unless the cops come”. Well, my visit to Jim Neely’s Interstate Barbecue with Ips and the Player made me think of a twist on Linwood’s thought, “it ain’t a trip to a barbecue joint unless you leave covered in sauce”. ... read more

Suggested Listening for this Entry: "Heartbreak Hotel", "Don't Be Cruel", "Hound Dog" and "Crying In the Chapel" by Elvis Presley. Suggested Food and Drink for this Entry: To eat, a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich. To drink, anything you think would help you wash down such a nasty sandwich. Unless you were born on the moon, you know the Legend of Elvis Presley….a poor white kid who was born in Mississippi, and spent his teen years in Memphis, combines elements of blues, country and gospel to invent rock and roll. His career explodes in the mid-1950’s, was all but over in the late 1960’s before a comeback brings him back into the public eye allowing for him to become a caricature of himself in the 1970s prior to his death at age 42 in 1977. ... read more

Suggested Listening for this Entry: "'Cause I Love You" by Carla and Rufus Thomas, "Last Night" by the Mar-Keys, "Green Onions" by Booker T and the MG's, Suggested Food and Drink for this Entry: None. The music should be all you need. The story of Stax Records began in the same manner the stories of many of the other groundbreaking record labels of the 1950s and 1960s began. A person who was a visionary, a savvy businessperson, or both, realized the breadth of musical talent around them and set off from humble beginnings to record those talented performers and present them to the public. Generally, these legendary record labels reached a creative and financial zenith for some period of time and then either fell on hard times and collapsed or were sold to larger record labels. ... read more