If you want to get to the roots of what Robert Palmer was talking about in Deep Blues, you have to be at this year’s Sunflower River Blues and Gospel festival, August 12-14, in Blues Mecca, Clarksdale, Mississippi. If you are looking for what some call the blues, as played on $1500 guitars on Beale Street, this probably isn’t the festival for you. This festival is about the Deep Blues, rooted in the Delta and it’s culture, some raw and gritty stuff. It is always sweaty, sticky, hot. There are lots of impromptu performances around the Downtown Clarksdale Area, and there are some interesting places to grab Bar-B-Q, delta tamales and a cold beverage. Be sure and drop by Ground Zero.
It’s an easy drive (about 1.5 hours) down Legendary Highway 61 from Memphis. Click here for information and lineup. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Elvis Presley
Zippin Pippin finds appreciation in Green Bay
Take a Ride on the Memphis Zippin Pippin
reads a headline on a spiffy new website dedicated to the famous roller coaster. It seems that Green Bay, Wisconsin appreciates the Memphis Vibe and the Elvis connection more than we Memphians do. The excitement about the ride’s opening, complete with the Elvis and Memphis references was reported in yesterday’s Commercial Appeal.
I am happy this piece of history has what seems to be a permanent home, but please tell me just one more time why WE couldn’t do something with it? And why do we feel so comfortable bulldozing our history and heritage or selling it to the highest bidder?
Here’s the way things were looking in Memphis back in February, 2010:
But I guess I shouldn’t complain. London Bridge has been in Arizona since 1971
Oh, and one more thing: What happened to the Merry-go-round and the Fairgrounds time capsule?
Musical history was made at Hotel Chisca
Musical History was made here
On July 7, 1954, Memphis disc jockey, Dewey Phillips, changed the course of music history with the first ever air play of an Elvis Presley record, “Thats All Right (Mama)”. Phillips’ WHBQ studio was housed at the Hotel Chisca on the south corner of Main and Linden, Memphis, TN.
