STAX MUSIC ACADEMY GEARS UP TO GET DOWN....UNDER!

Well, we’re at it again. And this time it’s going to be in the land Down Under!

This coming Sunday, June 22nd, 16 Stax Music Academy high school students and 5 administrators from the Soulsville Foundation are leaving for a tour of Australia on the Summer Soul Tour Presented by FedEx. We’ll be having concerts, workshops, cultural exchanges, sightseeing trips, and other cool opportunities in Melbourne, Sydney, and Canberra over a 10-day period.

Coming on the heels of Australia’s Guy Sebastian’s successful “Memphis Album” and his spring tour with Booker T. & The MGs original members Steve Cropper and Donald “Duck” Dunn, this will be one more great opportunity for the people of Australia to experience the soul music created in Memphis by Stax Records, as well as the students’ versions of some hits that came from Australia, including songs by AC/DC, Men at Work, The Bee Gees, and others. I just hope we survive the flight there!

PUBLIC CONCERTS SCHEDULED FOR THE TOUR INCLUDE:

• Wednesday, June 25th performance on the Main Stage in Federation Square in Melbourne (5:30-6 p.m.) followed by a special event and screening of the film “Wattstax” at the adjacent Australian Center for the Moving Image (ACMI) at 7 p.m. The film will be introduced by staff from the Soulsville Foundation.
  


• Sunday, June 29th performance at Canberra’s Llewellyn Hall (2:30).
  

PRIVATE CONCERTS/WORKSHOPS SCHEDULED FOR THE TOUR INCLUDE:

• Wednesday, June 25th concert/workshop for The Song Room Foundation in Melbourne
  


• Thursday, June 26th visit and concert at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne
  


• Thursday, June 26th concert/workshop for The Song Room Foundation in Melbourne
  


• Wednesday July 2nd workshop with Woolooware High School Sydney
  


• Thursday, July 3rd Special July 4th Celebration Concert for US Consulate General Sydney
  

While in Canberra, the students and faculty of the Stax Music Academy will be treated to tea at the United States Embassy with U.S. Ambassador Robert McCallum and his wife, followed by a tour of the embassy grounds. Ambassador McCallum is a native of Memphis, Tennessee and an avid Memphis music fan. We’re also going to pet some koala bears and kangaroos!
The Stax Music Academy Summer Soul Tour began in 2006, when 14 Stax Music Academy students traveled to Italy to open the festivities for the prestigious Porretta Soul Festival in Porretta Terme. . In the summer of 2007, a group of students went on a domestic Summer Soul Tour, performing at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio; Afro-American Music Institute in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; Sunoco Welcome America Festival in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and capped off the tour with a July 4th concert at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. This performance was also filmed and was featured on The Kennedy Center’s web site.

But none of us has ever been to Australia and this will be the first time most of the students have been outside the United States. It’s a fantastic opportunity for our students, all of whom have been working like crazy rehearsing every day and getting ready for the trip.

We’ll have a special Summer Soul Tour web site so you can keep up with us. I’ll post more details about that before we leave. In the meantime, wish us luck!