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.