STAX MUSEUM OFFERS SPECIAL $5 ADMISSION TO CELEBRTATE NATIONAL TOURISM WEEK and THE MUSEUM'S FIFTH BIRTHDAY!!!

Come help the Stax Museum of American Soul Music celebrate National Tourism Week and the Stax Museum's Fifth Birthday with our special admission price of just $5 for everyone Sunday, May 11 - Sunday, May 18!! This is for regular museum hours: Monday - Saturday 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. and Sundays 1-4 p.m.

The Stax Museum opened on May 2, 2003. We've come a long way since then and are happy to offer this special admission price to help celebrate!

If you haven't seen our special exhibit in Studio A - "OTIS REDDING: FROM MACON TO MEMPHIS - An Exhibit from the Private Collection of Zelma Redding" - this is the perfect time!

Also see our special exhibit in conjunction with Memphis In May's salute to Turkey, "“Turkish Music Through Musicians – A Photographic Essay,” a collection of large-format color photos by Turkish photograher Atilla Durak.

For more information, please visit http://www.staxmuseum.com/.

OTIS REDDING'S FAMILY COMING TO STAX MUSEUM FOR PUBLIC EVENTS!

Left to right: Otis Redding III, Demetria Redding, Zelma Redding, Karla Redding-Andrews, & Dexter Redding.

STAX MUSEUM & STAX MUSIC ACADEMY PRESENT:

"A WEEKEND WITH THE REDDINGS!"

On Saturday and Sunday, May 17 & 18, 2008 the Soulsville Foundation will once again make history when Otis Redding's family will be our special guests and events participants on two very exciting evenings. The family includes Otis Redding's widow, Mrs. Zelma Redding, along with his three children, Otis III and Dexter Redding and Karla Redding-Andrews.


All will be special guests on Saturday, May 17th at the Stax Music Academy SNAP! After School Spring Concert at the University of Memphis' Michael D. Rose Theater. Otis III and Dexter will perform with the students. All ensembles will be featured during the concert - Stax Music Academy Rhythm Section, StreetCorner Harmonies, Premier Percussionists, and the Soulsville Swing Band, as well as The Soulsville Charter School's Soulsville Symphony Orchestra. Also starring as a speical guest is the academy's Artist in Residence, internationally acclaimed saxophonist Kirk Whalum.


The concert is at 7 p.m. and admission is just $5!


On Sunday, May 18th, the entire Redding family will be our guests for our "Conversations With The Reddings" panel discussion/Q&A, along with others who knew Otis Redding well, including Ben Cauley, the only Bar-Kay band member on board the plane to survive the tragic crash on December 10, 1967 near Madison, Wisconsin, which took the life of Redding at the age of 26. This event will take place in the Stax Museum's intimate Studio A. The discussion will not only focus on Otis Redding the phenomenal entertainer, but also Otis Redding the loving father and husband.


"Conversations With the Reddings" will take place from 5 - 7 p.m. $10 general admission and free to Stax Museum members.


This will be Zelma Redding's and Karla Redding-Andrews' first visit to the Stax Museum of American Soul Music.


THE STAX MUSEUM'S SPECIAL EXHIBIT IN STUDIO A, "OTIS REDDING: FROM MACON TO MEMPHIS - AN EXHIBIT FROM THE PRIVATE COLLECTION OF ZELMA REDDING," HAS BEEN EXTENDED UNTIL MAY 31ST.

For more information, please call 901-946-2535 or visit www.staxmuseum.com.

STAX MUSEUM EXHIBITS AVAILABLE FOR TRAVEL

As the Stax Museum celebrates its 5th anniversary in 2008, we are pleased to announce that we now have several Stax Museum-curated exhibits available for lease and travel to other museums, galleries, colleges and univerisities, festivals, and other venues. All are photographic collections that cannot be found anywhere else in the world and all respresesent a unique aspect of American culture that has worldwide influence.

Please note that exhibits can be leased in total or partial collections, and that the photographs are already framed. For more information and pricing details on these exhibits, please contact the Stax Museum's curator Carol Drake 901-946-2535 or carol.drake@staxmuseum.com.

Exhibits Available for Travel:

"THE ART OF STAX: Essential Album Cover Photographs by Stax Photographer Joel Brodsky"

An amazing collection of iconic soul music photography, including original Stax and other soul lablels album cover photos and outtakes from those photo shoots, by one of America's most influential music photographers. This is the only exhibit of Mr. Brodsky's soul music photography. Includes such artists as Isaac Hayes, Eddie Floyd, Rufus Thomas, Johnnie Taylor, Jean Knight, Gladys Knight & The Pips, the Staple Singers, and many others. For more details click here.

"WATTSTAX: I Am Somebody"

This collection of some 60 large-format photographs from the famed 1972 Wattstax Concert and the making of the 1973 "Wattstax: The Living Word" documentary capture the excitement, importance, and magnitude of the famed concert during which 112,000 people filled the Los Angeles Coliseum for an all day concert featuring Stax Records entire roster of artists at the time, along with original press releases and other memorabilia from the second-largest gathering of African-Americans in American history. For more details please click here.

"HOOKS BROTHERS PHOTOGRAPHY: 75 Years of African-American Life in Memphis"

A collection of some 80 black-and-white photographs depicting virtually every aspect of African-American life in Memphis during the 20th century, including weddings, funerals, graduations, portraits, social gatherings, and more. Located for many years on Memphis' historic Beale Street, the Hooks Brothers Photography Studio was operated by the family of former national NAACP President Benjamin Hooks, who worked at the studio as a young man. For more details please click here.

"STAX HERE AND NOW: Current Images of the Stars of Stax Records"

Stax music fans will love this collection of new photographs of Stax icons and some who worked behind the scenes, which depicts them as they are today. The photos are accompanied by detailed text panel information about their days at Stax as well as the path they are on in life now. The collection also contains a few surprises from other legendary Memphis soul music labels. For more details please click here.

"FROM THE SOUL: An Intimate Portrait of Soulsville, USA"

The exhibit consists of some 40 recently taken black-and-white photographs from the community surrounding the Stax Museum at the original site of Stax records, including such landmarks as the former homes of Aretha Franklin, Booker T. Jones (Booker T. & the MGs), Memphis Slim, Memphis Minnie, and others. The exhibit also includes portraits of longtime Soulsville, USA residents along with text panels that share their memories of growing up in the community - from what it was like to learn of Otis Redding’s and members of the Bar Kay’s deaths on the radio in 1967, to the energy in the air when Stax Records was in full swing. For more details please click here.

MUSIC & THE MOVEMENT: STAX MUSEUM AND NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM

As Memphis honors the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and commemorates the 40th anniversary of his tragic death here on April 4, 1968, we hope you will visit the National Civil Rights Museum, as well as the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, where the Civil Rights movement is also highlighted because of the integral role Stax Records played in the Movement.

Year round, the Stax Museum and National Civil Rights Museum offer a special MUSIC & THE MOVEMENT ticket package, with admission to both museums for the discounted price of $18 for adults, $16 for seniors and students with proper ID, and $14 for children age 4- 17.
Tickets may be purchased at both museums.

For more information about the National Civil Rights Museum and the many special events it is hosting, please visit http://www.civilrightsmuseum.org/.

WAY TO GO, WKNO! STAX MUSIC ACADEMY DOCUMENTARY WINS NATIONAL TELLY AWARD!

WKNO, Memphis’ television station for public programming, was recently honored with two 2008 National Telly Awards for two locally produced documentaries highlighting the Mid-South community. One of those was our own Stax Music Academy: From Soulsville to Italy.

Stax Music Academy, produced by Pierre Kimsey, follows fourteen of our young students from the Academy on tour in Italy in 2006 as they follow in the footsteps of legendary Stax musicians. This was our first ever Summer Soul Tour Presented by FedEx and it was the first time any of the students had traveled abroad and was a life-changing experience for them all. The documentary - which follows the students through Rome, Verona, Peisa, Venice, and Porretta Terme, where they opened the festivitites for the prestigious Porretta Soul Festiva - premiered on Channel 10 in August, 2007 and has aired on many public television stations across the country. WKNO and the Soulsville Foundation also hosted a private screening at the Stax Museum for the students and their families before the documentary aired.

The Telly Awards honor the very best local, regional, and cable television commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions. Since 1978, their mission has been to strengthen the visual arts community by inspiring, promoting, and supporting creativity. The 29th Annual Telly Awards received over 14,000 entries from all 50 states and 5 continents. Fewer than 10% of those entries received honors.

STAX MUSIC ACADEMY CONCERT NEXT WEEK WITH KIRK WHALUM FOR JUST $5!!

SoulSchool Spring Break Concert!

Wednesday, March 19th - 7 p.m.

Buckman Performing Arts Center

Featuring Stax Music Academy Students joined by Internationally Renowned Kirk Whalum & Music Directors/Performers from Berklee College of Music

Admission: $5






The Soulsville Foundation is happy to announce that its Stax Music Academy’s SoulSchool Spring Break Concert will be held Wednesday, March 19th, at Buckman Performing Arts Center at 7 p.m. and will feature Stax Music Academy students joined by visiting Music Directors from Berklee College of Music and Internationally Renowned Kirk Whalum.

About SoulSchool Spring Break:

When the Stax Music Academy began programming at Stafford Elementary School in the summer of 2000, before there was a Stax Music Academy building or the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, the people behind the Soulsville project knew they were onto something. Some 225 children spent six weeks at Stafford in the Stax Music Academy SNAP! Summer Music Camp and had their first Grand Finale concert at the University of Memphis on July 14, 2000.

Since that time, of course, the Stax Music Academy and Stax Museum of American Soul Music, along with The Soulsville Charter School – all under the umbrella of the Soulsville Foundation – have opened and have reached thousands of lives of the community’s primarily at-risk young people.

So popular has the academy been among its students, that in 2006, the school had to create a program for them during what was their spring break from their regular schools. When most students were thrilled to have a week out of the classroom, the Stax Music Academy students wanted to do something special during that week instead.

That year, the academy created a program named SoulSchool Spring Break, and opened it up to students from throughout Memphis and Shelby County with a paid tuition fee, but still offered scholarships to those in financial need. The academy conducted an intense three-day workshop for a group of students, and brought in music producer, writer, and performer Philippe Saisse, a graduate of the Berklee College of Music, who had worked with everyone from Tina Turner to Billy Joel, Luther Vandross, Rod Stewart and dozens of other music icons. The students learned all original music in the three-day workshop and performed a concert with Saisse at the Buckman Performing Arts Center. They has Saisse back year for a repeat performance, this time with then-new Stax Artist in Residence Kirk Whalum, the internationally known saxophone player, composer, and performer who is also a one of Memphis’ favorite hometown sons.
Now, in its third year, next week’s Stax Music Academy SoulSchool Spring Break will bring more Berklee alums, as part of a new and active partnership the Stax Music Academy has forged with the prestigious music school in Massachusetts, where, by the way, two Stax Music Academy alums began attending last fall.

Two of the Berklee Music Directors who will conduct the workshop are Nichelle Mungo and Winston Maccow. Mungo is a voice instructor who has worked with Natalie Cole, Andrae Crouch, Patti LaBelle, and host of other famous singers. She is a three time winner of Showtime at the Apollo and is an accomplished singer, choral director, performer, and certified music instructor. Maccow is an assistant ensemble professor who has appeared with Nancy Wilson, Urban Renewal, Flying Elephants, and many others, and is s guest speaker and clinician at two conservatories in Denmark.

As part of the Stax Music Academy’s mission of mentoring students through music education and unique performance opportunities, both Mungo and Maccow will teach the students about more than just music.

According to Maccow, “What I try to get out my class is leaders. Everyone’s supposed to lead,
Everyone. I put people on the spot just to see how they’re paying attention to things. I’ll say, 'Okay, next week, I want you to lead.' Or I don’t even say that. I just say, 'You’re going to lead today.' In my class, you’re always on your toes. It’s the only way to develop leadership. You’ve got to be on yourtoes in the real world.”

For more information, please visit http://www.staxmuseum.com/ or call 901-946-2535.

TAKING STAX FOR A RIDE!

Now, here is a true Stax/Atlantic Fan! Jason Taylor from the UK recently contacted me to show me his customized Staxed-Out Vespa scooter he’s been working on for years and I think it is so cool that I had to post something about it here on the blog. I’ll let Jason tell you about it:

VESPA PX200 - 1990 model
Originally, it was standard scooter in white. I bought it in 1998 for £800 sterling, and then took it to a friend’s shop to be stripped down and customised a bit!!!

The paintwork (no stickers or vinyl, it is ALL hand painted) was done by Simon Clarke of Colchester, England. The engraving, which was all done by hand, was by Adrian Clark also of Colchester, England (no relation to the painter!) Modifications to the body and some unique parts were done by a couple of people called Gary Simpson and "choppy." The gold plating (24carat) was done by a company called quality chrome in Hull, East Yorkshire.

The seat, which also boasts a Panasonic CD player built into it, was covered in leather by Tony Archer’s seats in Huddersfield, west Yorkshire.
It took approximately 4 years from start to being able to ride her on the road properly. Yes, it is a fully road legal, rideable machine as well as being a stunning work of art – not that she goes out much as the weather here in the UK isn't always that great!!

I have taken her to numerous custom shows and won many trophies, currently around 40 trophies including numerous "Best of Show."The biggest question I get asked is "How much did it cost?" which I honestly don't mind answering because people are usually surprised when I tell them. I watch American Chopper quite often and I am amazed at the costs of things over there, hundreds of thousands of dollars for a teutal chopper??? They're great but why so expensive? In total my Vespa, including the cost of the machine, is around £10,000.00 sterling (ten
thousand) which would work out at around $19,500.00 US which is a total bargain!!

THANKS, JASON, AND HAPPY RIDIING!

Photos by Dave Pattison.