Blogs from Memphis, Tennessee, United States, North America - page 17

Suggested Listening for this Entry: "Respect Yourself" by the Staples Singers. "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding. Suggested Food and Drink for this Entry: None It's impossible for one person to tell the Stax story over the course of a few blog entries. I hope you, the reader, will visit the Stax Museum if you are ever anywhere near Memphis. As a music fan, it is one of the most incredible experiences I have ever had that did not involve seeing a live performance. At one point while touring the museum, the visitor goes thru a room where a copy of every 45 RPM single and LP Stax, and its subsidiaries, ever released is on display. It's here, after hearing the Stax story, the visitor realizes the magnitude of what was accomplished ... read more

Suggested Listening for this Entry: Anything by the Staples Singers after starting with "I'll Take You There", a video of which is attached below. Suggested Food and Drink for this Entry: Catfish, Cornbread and Turnip Greens. You can pick your own beverage, but if it's some fancy coffee, you're banned from further reading. And, save room for dessert. I didn't and I regret it. Upon returning to downtown Memphis Saturday night, we decided we wanted to be at the Stax museum when it opened at one Sunday afternoon. One of the restaurants I really wanted to dine at in Memphis was the Fourway Restaurant , which was in the general vicinity of the Stax museum, so we decided to eat there prior to visiting the Stax museum. After having a dinner of a soda and a ... read more

Sugested Listening for this Entry: Dr. "Feelgood" Potts CDs Make It Talk & Going Down to Memphis Suggested Food and Drink: By this time, anything you can get your hands on. Now I've been hearing a whole lot of talk going around lately about what a woman really wants in the bedroom. Clarence Carter said he be strokin'. Bobby Rush said he be wearing it out. Now there's another guy going around saying a woman wants a man to stand up in it. But let me tell you what a woman told me... -from Dr. "Feelgood" Potts' spoken introduction to his song "Make It Talk" In the 1980's, two songs were released that helped create a mini-genre within the Southern Soul field, the bravado song. Those songs, "Strokin'" by Clarence Carter and "Candy Licker" by Marvin ... read more

Suggested Listening for this Entry: "Bear Cat" by Rufus Thomas, "Three O'Clock Blues" by B.B. King, and "How Many More Years" & "Howlin' Wolf Boogie" by Howlin' Wolf Suggested Food and Drink for this Entry: No food. Just a smooth drink of Courvoisier. Although Beale Street was created in 1841, it's influence on the American music scene began in 1905 when musician W.C. Handy moved to Beale St. from Clarksdale, Mississippi. At the time, Beale St. was the most prominent gathering place for African Americans in the country. Also at the time, Memphis was one of the most violent and crime ridden cities in the country. In 1910, a white politician, E.C. Crump, ran for mayor as a reformer against the ingrained corrupt Memphis political machine. Believing the black vote was the key to Crump's election. ... read more

Day 84- Saturday Aside from the fact that I have long wanted to visit New Orleans for it's own sake, as a unique and fascinating city, I was really imressed to to see various aspects of the Mississippi River. The location New Orleans is interesting...between the final curves of the river and the amazing Lake Pontchartrain...so extensive and with such amazing long "bridges" across. These are things that I for one can only begin to comprehend having seen them with my own eyes. And since they enter into our cultural heritage through movies and social historyI commend them to you all as well. Thus it was enlightening to travel 65 miles along the river to visit the old Creole plantation. Much of the time the actual river was obscured by the levee, about 30 feet high. ... read more