Livin': B.B. King’s - Memphis, TN
These pictures are from B.B. King's on Beale St.
From my honeymoon. Yeah, that's right.
Posted in Livin'
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Music/Livin': B.B. King - Sweet Sixteen
I learned about B.B. King from my Grandma Pearl about 30 years ago. She used to put on his records whenever we drove up to Buffalo to visit her. She's a real cool lady. Love you Gram!
The video above is from an amazing documentary someone gave me a few years back called Lightning In A Bottle.
Here's a bit about it from Amazon.com by Sam Graham:
Part concert, part history lesson, part summit meeting, and all blues, Lightning in a Bottle puts a bright spotlight on this quintessential American music. There are some heavy hitters at work here, both behind the camera (Martin Scorsese executive produced, while the film was directed by Antoine Fuqua of Training Day and King Arthur) and especially in front of it, with a superb house band and a mind-boggling array of musicians (including B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Solomon Burke, Keb' Mo', Macy Gray, the Neville Brothers, Robert Cray, and John Fogerty, to name but a few) performing at New York's Radio City Music Hall in February, 2003. The idea was to trace the music from its beginnings; thus we get an African song (by Angelique Kidjo), some early gospel blues (the great Mavis Staples), acoustic Delta blues, and so on, right up to blues-drenched electric rock and even some rap (a riveting version of Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor" by Chuck D.). Virtually all of the immortals who defined the blues (Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, and even Jimi Hendrix, whose fiery style is re-enacted by Buddy Guy) enter the picture, either through vintage film clips or new performances of their songs. One might wish for more insight into the influence of the blues on jazz (Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit," sung here by India.Arie, is a fine song, but it's not a blues tune) or country, but overall, Lightning in a Bottle is an edifying and, most important, highly entertaining portrait of the music and its heritage.
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Music/Film: Stax Records - Memphis, Tennessee
I just got turned on to somethin' special. It's a doc called "Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story." It's tells of the rise and fall of Memphis-based Stax Records. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records and renamed Stax in '61 - a mix of the names Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton, the brother and sister who co-founded it. This studio, started in a garage and later moved to an old movie theatre, released some of the most important and influential American music of all time including Otis Redding, Booker T and the MGs, Albert King, Sam & Dave, Isaac Hayes, Rufus & Carla Thomas, Eddie Floyd, and the Bar-Kays. The doc tells of the amazing musical and social ground that was broken by this little studio in the deep south. Forged in a black neighborhood by two white country music fans during a time when most of Memphis was still segregated, Stax was revolutionary. The doc covers the highs as well as the lows such as the unexamined fine print in Stax's distribution agreement with Atlantic Records which turned over the rights to classic Stax masters. It goes on to tell of the label's resurgence with the success of Isaac Hayes, blaxploitation film production and soundtracks (Shaft, Sweet Sweetback's Badass Song) and the historical WattStax show and ultimately the label's downfall behind the exorbitant spending, corrupt business associates and shady dealings. An epic American story. And the footage is amazing. I'd been to the Stax Museum a couple of times (a jewel in the crown of American culture - make the pilgrimage before you kick the bucket!), but this documentary does a superb job of telling the story through the eyes and voices of those who lived it.
Check this out:
Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story (2007) DVD
The Complete Stax-Volt Singles 1959-1968 [BOX SET]
Wattstax (30th Anniversary Special Edition) (1972) DVD
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Music/Film: Black Snake Moan
Black Snake Moan is a 2006 film written and directed by Craig Brewer. It was filmed in and around Memphis, Tennessee, and stars Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci. The title of the film derives from the 1927 Blind Lemon Jefferson song, while the plot is loosely based on George Eliot's 1861 novel Silas Marner. The film centers around two main characters: Lazarus (Samuel L. Jackson), a deeply religious farmer and former blues guitarist, and Rae (Christina Ricci), a young nymphomaniac. Lazarus's wife has left him for his brother, which has left him a bitter and potentially violent man. Rae's boyfriend Ronnie (Justin Timberlake) leaves for deployment in the National Guard, and in his absence she descends into bouts of promiscuity and drug use. During one of Rae's binges, Ronnie's friend Gill (Michael Raymond-James) tries to take advantage of her. She laughs at his advances and he severely beats her. Believing her dead, Gill dumps Rae by the side of the road and drives away. Lazarus discovers Rae and brings her home to nurse her back to health. Over the course of several days, Rae, delirious with fever, occasionally wakes up and tries to flee from Lazarus. He ties her to the radiator with a heavy chain to keep her from running away. After Rae regains her wits, Lazarus announces that it is his spiritual duty to heal her of her sinful ways and refuses to release her until he does so.
Great soundtrack. Check the Black Keys' tune in the trailer. The sountrack also includes Son House, R.L. Burnside, Bobby Rush, The North Mississippi Allstars, as well as some amazin' scoring by Charlie Musselwhite and his harp. The DVD extras about the recording of the music are a must see. And even Sam Jackson does some killer singin' & pickin' (his rendition of Stack-O-Lee is a standout scene) Here's what Don McLeese has to say about the sountrack on Amazon.com
"This soundtrack is as steeped in the Southern blues as his (Craig Brewer's) Hustle and Flow was in hip-hop. The biggest surprise here is how well actor Samuel L. Jackson (who seems to have a thing for "Snake" films) holds his own as a blues singer against selections from Son House and R.L. Burnside. He sounds like a throwback to the classic Delta bluesmen on "Just Like a Bird Without a Feather," does a convincing take on the Blind Lemon Jefferson title track, and rocks the juke joint on "Alice Mae" and a down-and-dirty recasting of "Stack-O-Lee." Produced by the Bo-Keys' Scott Bomar (who also scored Brewer's previous movie), the 17-cut soundtrack features a kaleidoscopic array of blues, from the primal throb of the Black Keys' "When the Lights Go Out" and the funk of Bobby Rush's classic "Chicken Heads" to the spiritual lilt of Precious Bryant's "Morning Train" and the North Mississippi Allstars' expansive finale, "Mean Ol' Wind Died Down."
"Fighting the blues," says movie director Craig Brewer, "is like beating back the ocean tide with a stick. It's best to just ride that wave of misery and see where it takes you. When Lazarus' world comes crashing down around him he knows the routine. He swallows some whisky, pulls out his guitar, clears his throat, and opens his soul. People from all over understand pain," adds Brewer, "and sometimes you've gotta crank up the blues and surrender to that repetitive, trance-inducing beat."
Check out the movie's website. It's really good.
Check this out:
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Music/Eatin'/Travelin': Road Trip: Blues & BBQ
Last year my brother and I lit out from Austin to follow the Black Keys to New Orleans and then on up Highway 61 to Memphis. Just a couple of knuckleheads in a pick-up truck trying to capture a picture that had been in both of our minds for as long as either could remember. A southern-borne, bourbon fueled meandering through the deep south. Belly's full of brisket after a quick stop outside of Austin, we were on the road. Some Willie on the radio and some Levi Garrett in the cheek. Bliss I tell ya. Big, open sky, rolling Texas hills, the clack of the highway slabs and the warm sun through the windshield. We hadn't seen each other in a while, with him livin' outside Austin and me settled down in Florida. And these kinda trips never seem to match what was in your head pushin' you to do it in the first place. After some small talk, we both sat silently leaving the weight of our respective existences behind like each curving mile. After about an hour or so, I look over and my brother's smilin' like when we were kids. A big toothy grin, with a little chew stuck in his teeth. 'Whiskey river take my mind....' 'it don't get any better-n-this' he says. The Old Milwaukee tagline that became a half-funny, half-serious battle cry when we were growin' up. Usually right before someone did something really stupid...To be continued.
Posted in Music, Eatin', Travelin'
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