Stax Museum News

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

2008-06-17T07:31:00.000-07:00

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!

IT WAS A BIG WEEKEND FOR THE SOULSVILLE FOUNDATION

2008-05-21T12:40:00.001-07:00

Left to Right: Andria Lisle, Karla Redding-Andrews, Wayne Jackson, Ben Cauley.

This past weekend was filled with activity for the Soulsville Foundation, the nonprofit parent company that operates the Stax Museum, Stax Music Academy, and The Soulsville Charter School.

Friday morning, as I posted earlier, we held a press conference with AT&T to unveil the new AT&T Real White Pages with the museum on the front cover. I can't wait to see what happens when the 580,000 of them printed are distributed in the coming weeks.

The following night, we had our Stax Music Academy SNAP! After School Spring Concert, which sold out the 900-plus seat Michael D. Rose Theater at the University of Memphis. Three of the academy's ensembles performed, as well as The Soulsville Charter School Soulsville Symphony Orchestra. Special featured guests were our academy's Artist in Residence, internationally acclaimed saxophonist and composer Kirk Whalum, along with Otis Redding's sons, Otis III and Dexter Redding, who finished the concert by performing "(Sitting On The) Dock of the Bay" with the students' Stax Music Academy Rhythm Section.

During the concert, 3 Stax Music Academy students - Ricardo Canaday, Ashton Riker, and Terrell Sharkey - were presented with scholarships to the Berklee College of Music in Boston for their upcoming five-week Summer Music Performance Program, and twelve academy students took the stage to announce that they will be traveling to Australia this summer during the Stax Music Academy Summer Soul Tour Presented by FedEx.

On Sunday, the museum hosted "Conversations with the Reddings," a panel discussion/Q&A moderated by music writer Andria Lisle. While Otis Redding's wife, Mrs. Zelma Redding, had to cancel because of personal issues and his sons Otis Redding III and Dexter Redding didn't participate in the actual panel, the family was represented well by Otis and Zelma's daughter, Karla Redding-Andrews, as well as stax legend Wayne Jackson of the Mar-Keys and Memphis Horns, and Bar-Kays trumpeter Ben Cauley, the only surviving member aboard the plane that crashed on December 10, 1967, killing Otis Redding and all of the other Bar-Kays except James Alexander, who had taken a commercial flight. The discussion was full of information, anecdotes, insight into what Redding was like as both an entertainer and family man, and there were some very emotional moments as Cauley described the crash and trying to save his drowning friends.

For an objective account of the evening, check out http://www.mymidtownmemphis.blogspot.com/.

Thanks to all of you who attended any or all of these events. A good time was had by all and we couldn't do this without the support of not only the Memphis public, but also the national and international community that has such great love for Stax!

Stax Museum Graces Cover of New AT&T Real White Pages Delivered to 580,000 Area Homes and Businesses

2008-05-18T12:53:00.001-07:00

At a press conference this past Friday, May 16th, at the Stax Museum, representatives from the Soulsville Foundation and AT&T unveiled the new 2008-2009 AT&T Real White Pages phone directory with a photo of the museum on the front cover. This is part of a new partnership between the Soulsville Foundation and AT&T, which includes a sponsorship of the museum's changing gallery and other opportunities. AT&T vice president of external affairs Bill Ray said in his comments that he had been in an integrated band in high school and was drawn to the Soulsville Foundation because of the rich Stax legacy of racial harmony, as well as the work the foundation is doing with at-risk children through the Stax Music Academy and The Soulsville Charter School, citing specifically the upcoming SMA Summer Soul Tour Presented By FedEx, which will take 16 students on a concert tour/cultural enrichment trip through Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra, Australia on June 22, 2008.

We at the museum are very grateful to AT&T for this collaboration and hope that with 580,000 copies of the directory soon delivered in Memphis, Germantown, Bartlett, Collierville, Arlington, Rosemark, West Memphis, and DeSoto County, the museum will get even more exposure and visitors. So the next time you look for a phone number, know that we have it covered!

Cover photo by Terry Sweeney of Sweeney Photography South.

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

2008-05-08T09:20:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-04-18T08:12:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-09T14:22:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-28T07:51:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-03-26T12:44:00.000-07:00

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!!

2008-03-13T11:50:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-03-03T08:38:00.000-08:00

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.

MABLE JOHN: THE ENERGIZER HONEY!

2008-02-28T07:39:00.000-08:00

Dr. Mable John may be famous for being the first solo female artist signed to Motown, for being a revered Stax Records artist, for being the leader singer of Ray Charles' Raelettes singers, and for her million-selling Stax hit "Your Good Thing (Is About to End), but it doesn't look like Mable's good thing is about to end any time soon!

In addition to publishing two novels with Random House in the past couple of years, giving a more than stellar performance at the Stax Records 50th Anniversary Concert in Memphis in June last year, and continuing to feed, clothe, and minister to thousands of homeless people in Los Angeles, she is now on the silver screen in John Sayles' new film Honeydripper, which opens in Memphis tomorrow, Friday, February 29, in an exclusive engagement at Malco's Ridgeway Theater. The film has already garnered two awards: The NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Independent or Foreign Film and the San Sebastian International Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay.

Here is IMDB's synopsis of the film:

1950. Rural Alabama. Cotton harvest. It's a make-or-break weekend for the Honeydripper Lounge and its owner, piano player Tyrone "Pine Top" Purvis. Deep in debt to the liquor man, the chicken man, and the landlord, Tyrone is desperate to lure the young cotton pickers and local Army base recruits into his juke joint, away from Touissants, the rival joint across the way.After laying off his regular talent, blues singer Bertha Mae, Tyrone announces to his sidekick Maceo that he has hired the famous electric guitar player, Guitar Sam, for a special one night only gig: pack em in and save the club. On the day of the show, the train arrives and Guitar Sam is no where to be found. Tyrone is forced to take drastic action. He makes a deal with Sheriff Pugh to release Sonny, the kid who hopped off a freight car here in Harmony, and turned up in the club claiming he could play the guitar as well as any Guitar Sam.Tyrone cleans Sonny up and launches a last ditch scheme to pass off the young guitar picker as Guitar Sam just long enough to cut the lights and run off with cash box. When Sonny takes the stage and launches into his first scalding electric licks, Tyrone will learn if its lights out for the Honeydripper or if his luck has changed: he might just be another man saved by rock n' roll.Honeydripper features an all-star cast including Danny Glover, Charles S. Dutton, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Stacy Keach, Mary Steenburgen,Yaya DaCosta and Sean Patrick Thomas; as well as such notable musicians as Keb Mo and Dr. Mable John. It also introduces a major new talent, Gary Clark Jr. who makes his electrifying film debut as Sonny.

MY MIDTOWN MEMPHIS ON THE SOULSVILLE FOUNDATION

2008-02-28T07:14:00.000-08:00

If you're a Memphis Midtowner or just someone who likes to read good blogs about the Bluff City, you might be familiar with Ryan Jones' My Midtown Memphis blog. Ryan recently posted a great piece about his visit to the Stax Museum campus, deftly pointing out that it is just four minutes (!) from the Cooper-Young entertainment district, and that much more goes on here than just the museum.

Read his comments at http://www.mymidtownmemphis.blogspot.com/ and enjoy!

SOUL-PATROL.COM - NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING 'BOUT

2008-02-26T13:17:00.000-08:00

If you're a true soul music fan, which I assume you are if you're reading this blog, you need to get with it and get on board the soul train at http://www.soul-patrol.com/. This site is the brainchild and labor of love of Bob Davis, soul music expert based in New Jersey and an outstanding supporter of the Soulsville Foundation/Stax Museum. You'll see more about that if you keep scrolling down.

Bob is THE MAN when it comes to soul music - classic, neo, nu, funk, you name it. He constantly reviews albums and concerts, conducts interviews with hundreds of soul music folks and posts them on line, and works tirelessly on his soul-patrol.com newsletter, which is read by thousands of people around the world. He has an online radio show, online LP compilations, and is one of the most respected people in the world of soul music. If the man ever sleeps, your guess is as good as mine as to when that would be!

So go to his site, sign up for the newsletter, and enjoy!

As for his thoughts on the Soulsville Foundation and Stax Museum, here are some words from his newsletter today:

As you may or may not know, the Soulsville Foundation is the name of the non-profit organization that operates the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, the Stax Music Academy, and The Soulsville Charter School. They have a mission of celebrating soul music's rich legacy and mentoring the at-risk youth in our community. http://www.soulsvillefoundation.org/

As music fans we often complain about this that or the other. We complain about EVIL record labels, EVIL radio networks, EVIL technology companies and all other EVIL doers that we think are out to destroy our culture in exchange for EVIL corporate profits. Well here is something that you can personally become involved with that isn't EVIL. It's certainly Black music based. It's directly connected to our musical legacy. It aims to correct EVIL in our society( and you don't even have to leave the comfort of your own home in order to do so.....) http://www.soulsvillefoundation.org/

And even if you are a completely self centered person and don't care about correcting EVIL. Think about it this way...(it will make YOU a better person....)http://www.soulsvillefoundation.org/

Thanks in advance...--Bob Davis

IT'S OFFICIAL: SHAFT NOW ON DRAFT!

2008-02-21T13:40:00.000-08:00

Well, the word is getting out that Boscos Squared has done a great thing for the Stax Music Academy. Well, not exactly for the kids, but for a fund-raiser that will take place on Friday, March 7th at the Stax Museum. The party is called Staxtacular and in honor of this great event, Boscos has created a special beer - SHAFT ON DRAFT! You can get it now through early March, or you can certainly get it at the Staxtacular party, the Soulsville Foundation's largest fund-raiser of the year for the Stax Music Academy.

Tickets are still on sale for $150 each and you can purchase them on line at www.staxtacular.com, where you can also learn much more about the event, including auction item. If you've never seen J. Blackfoot of the Soul Children and his Street Gang Band with Queen Ann Hines, you are in for the show of your life.

Thanks much to Ryan Jones of My Midtown Memphis and Paul Ryburn of Paul Ryburn's Journal for helping spread the word!

By the way, that photo of Isaac Hayes is from the 2006 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition photo shoot at the Stax Museum. Some people just have to work so hard!!!

A MAR-KEY PERFORMS WITH THE STAX MUSIC ACADEMY RHYTHM SECTION!

2008-02-14T06:26:00.000-08:00

Back in the late summer of 2007, four members of the early Stax group the Mar-Keys came to the Stax Museum to be photographed for our exhibit (which is still up!), "STAX HERE AND NOW: Current Images of the Stars of Stax Records. The crew included Ronnie Stoots, Terry Williams (who now co-owns Fino's From the Hill with his wife!), Memphis Horns legend Wayne Jackson, and Jerry Lee "Smoochy" Smith.

It was the Mar-Keys' million-selling hit "Last Night," recorded on Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton's Satellite Records, that brought to their attention the fact that there was already a Satellite Records in California, which caused them to change the name of the company to a portmanteau of their last names, combing ST from Stewart and AX from Axton to form STAX.

Before the photo shoot, however, the Mar-Key members paid a visit to the Stax Music Academy, where they got a great dose of what goes on there by way of an impromtu jam session of "Last Night" with the Stax Music Academy Rhythm Section in what would prove to be a historic meeting of the Stax legends and the students carrying the label's legacy into the future.

See this video and enjoy seeing Smoochy Smith bang out the song on the keyboard just as he did back in 1961!!!

AND, while the Mar-Keys in the room are not shown in this video, please see the Stax Music Academy Rhythm Section performing the Averate White Band's "Pick Up The Pieces" for them!

STAX MUSEUM'S WATTSTAX EXHIBIT NOW ON DISPLAY AT RHODES COLLEGE; READ AL BELL'S SPEECH

2008-02-13T07:09:00.001-08:00

On August 20, 1972, something happened in Los Angeles that remains unmatched in American history. More than 112,000 people – almost all African-Americans – gathered in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for a seven-hour concert hosted by Stax Records. The Memphis-based label took its entire roster of artists at the time for the event, which was designed to a peaceful, astounding, and vivid celebration of self-expression and empowerment for the Watts community. It was also a for the benefit of the Watts Summer Festival, established some years earlier to raise money for community improvement projects in the wake of the 1965 Watts rebellion, during which much of the Los Angeles community was destroyed. At the time, it was the second largest gathering of African-Americans in history, second only to Dr. Martin Luther King’s march on Washington in 1963. The name of the concert was Wattstax, and for many it became known as the “Black Woodstock.”

Among the artists on hand were the Staple Singers, the Bar-Kays, Albert King, Rufus and Carla Thomas, The Rance Allen Group, The Soul Children, The Dramatics, The Emotions, Johnnie Taylor, Little Milton, Luther Ingram, Kim Weston, Isaac Hayes, Rev. Jesse Jackson, and others. Admission to the festival was just $1.00, assuring that anyone who wanted to attend could be there. Proceeds benefited the many community programs supported by the Watts Summer Festival, Martin Luther King Hospital, the Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation, and the Watts Labor Community Action Committee. The artists performed free of charge and Schlitz beer sponsored the event to offset some of the production costs. Stax Records paid all other incurred costs.

Now, Rhodes College is bringing the memory of Wattstax to life with a special exhibit on loan from the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, “WATTSTAX: I Am Somebody,” which features more than 50 large-format color and black-and-white photos of the concert, the crowd, and the making of the documentary that was released the following year, Wattstax: The Living Word. Free and open to the public, the exhibit will be on display in the Paul Barret, Jr. Library February 2 – 28, 2008 in Barrett 051. Times are: Thursdays, 5 p.m. – 9 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.; and Sundays 1 p.m. – 5 p.m.

The exhibit – which returned to Memphis in January from a four-month showing at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles, where it received rave reviews and was extended because of its popularity – was first shown at the Stax Museum in fall 2004 to coincide with the release of a newly restored Wattstax: The Living Word on home DVD from Warner Home Video.

At a February 5th opening reception at Rhodes, former Stax Records owner and Wattstax creator Al Bell gave the following speech:

February 5, 2008
“Believing and Achieving the American Dream”
Presented by Al Bell

To: Dr. Anita Davis, Dr. William E. Troutt, Dr. Russell Wigginton, Dr. Luther Ivory, Faculty members, Students, Business and community leaders, those of my business colleagues and business associates present here this evening, my family members that are present and my friends.

Please let me humbly say “Thank You” to Dr. Anita Davis for inviting me here today to speak to and fellowship with the Rhodes family. I am both humbled and honored.

I am so appreciative and thank Dr. Davis for choosing to display The WATTSTAX photographic exhibit during Rhodes College’s Black History Month Celebration. The Exhibit highlights some of the most poignant moments captured during the filming of the cultural-music film classic.

The photos reveal the enthusiasm of the participating audience; the seriousness of the event; the emotion of the performing Stax artists and lastly -- and perhaps most importantly -- the mood of a colorful collection of oppressed people peaceably expressing their determination to keep hope alive.

In my judgment, the fact that Rhodes College is choosing to highlight the WATTSTAX exhibit during it’s Black History Month Celebration serves to add additional value, credibility, legitimacy and contemporary importance to what WATTSTAX represents currently as a cultural and social "work of art" that was created 30+ years ago. Thank You!

I also want to wish Rhodes College a Happy Anniversary on your 160th year of giving service to humanity since 1848. Happy Anniversary!!!

As I began preparing for our discussion today here at Rhodes College, my mind went back to 1968 and why and how WATTSTAX came into being. What we were trying to offer that audience in that stadium overflowing with men…women… and children in Los Angeles was HOPE in the American Dream….helping them to believe that whatever they dreamed of achieving would and could be fulfilled!

What is the American Dream?

In the United States’ Declaration of Independence, our founding fathers: "…held certain truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." Might this sentiment be considered the foundation of the American Dream?

Some say, that the American Dream has become the pursuit of material prosperity - that people work more hours to get bigger cars, fancier homes, the fruits of prosperity for their families - but have less time to enjoy their prosperity. Others say that the American Dream is beyond the grasp of the working poor who must work two jobs to insure their family’s survival. Yet others look toward a new American Dream with less focus on financial gain and more emphasis on living a simple, fulfilling life.

Thomas Wolfe said, "…to every man, regardless of his birth, his shining, golden opportunity (the American Dream is) ….the right to live, to work, to be himself, and to become whatever thing his manhood and his vision can combine to make him." Is this your American Dream?

The term,The American Dream, was first used in James Truslow Adams’ book “The Epic of America”, he writes: "The American Dream is "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." (p.214-215)

Dreams of hope, equality, prosperity, recognition, and acceptance have long been the dreams of our forefathers….

In 1848, what is now named Rhodes College was founded by men and grown by men of “good will” born out of the John Calvin and Martin Luther ideals. Rhodes’ founding fathers and builders believed in something they could not see with their eyes.

Rhodes founders believed in the “fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.” Rhodes founding fathers basic ideals are that all persons are the children of one God, that all persons are related to each other, and that the best way to worship God is to be of service to people.

Born before this 1848 period Scott Joplin an African American Composer and Pianist created and became the father of Ragtime Music. He sought both legitimacy and recognition for ragtime as an art form but Joplin was doubly cursed by his dream. As a black, he lived at a time when the legal system not only left so many people of color without civil liberty, but also denigrated every aspect of our culture.
In 1938 Irving Berlin wrote the words and music to a song that says:

"While the storm clouds gather far across the sea, Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free, Let us all be grateful for a land so fair, As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.” God Bless America, Land that I love. Stand beside her, and guide her Thru the night with a light from above. From the mountains, to the prairies, To the oceans, white with foam God bless America, My home sweet home.

Those words of Irving Berlin have become the mantra for many Americans. It speaks of each of us striving in our individual ways to live in a land of peace and equality.

Twenty years before WATTSTAX, Jackie Robinson had broken the Major League Baseball color barrier (1948) when he became the first black baseball player in the U.S. major leagues during the 20th century. As an infielder and outfielder for the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League he hit a league-leading .342, drove in 124 runs, and was voted the Most Valuable Player in the National League.
In 1948 President Harry S. Truman confounded all predictions that “he could not do it” and won re-election as President of the United States of America. In 1948 he used executive orders to begin desegregation of the U.S. armed forces.
In 1948 Mahatma Gahndi made his transformation from this three dimenesional world.

Mahatma Gahndi was a major political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian independence movement. He was the pioneer of a simple, but profound philosophy that is largely concerned with truth and 'resistance to evil through active, non-violent resistance'—which led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. It was Mahatma Gahndi’s philosophy and spiritual beliefs that had the greatest influence on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr..

In 1948 I was alive. In my life and times I lived facing the painful and almost unbearable sting of segration, Jim Crow, racism and all other forms of social injustice while seeking equal rights and to be liberated.

In 1948 Big Band and Jazz Music grew popular in America and began to influence music generally.

Twenty years later after we had marched and fought for equal rights, In 1968 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the “Drum Major” for freedom, justice, equality and peace, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, was assassinated.

In 1968 President Lyndon Baines Johnson who was vice President under President John Fitzgerald Kennedy became President after President Kennedy was assassinated. President Johnson pushed through congress the civil rights legislation that President Kennedy wanted to pass, as a result of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Equal Rights Movement. President Johnson refused to run for re-election and it created unbelievable disruption in the Democrat party. I remember him saying “This old country boy is going home.”

Robert Kennedy who was the Attorney General under his brother President John Fitzgerald Kennedy decided to run for President so that he could fulfill his brothers’ dream. In 1968 he was assassinated in Los Angeles, CA.

In 1968 the “spirit” that gave rise to the creation of WATTSTAX, the attitude of Respect Yourself and I Am Somebody “was being born.”

“Believing and Fulfilling the American Dream!”

Over 30 years ago “in pursuit of the American Dream”, two men who worked with me at STAX, Larry Shaw and Forrest Hamilton, and I had the vision of taking the roster of STAX’S African American recording artist to Los Angeles, CA, - put on a concert at the Los Angeles Coliseum, - record it, - film it, - produce a documentary film titled WATTSTAX: The Living Word, - and contribute a substantial portion of the net

proceeds to an annual Los Angeles, CA African American cultural event - the Watts Summer Festival, and to varied other African American social, humanitarian and Civil Rights organizations.

We dared, or had the audacity to do this for numerous reasons. I choose, on this occasion, to highlight only ‘one reason’ because from a social, cultural and historical point of view, in my judgment, it is the most significant and the most important reason.

We believed that WATTSTAX would demonstrate the positive attributes of black pride and the unique substance found in the lives, living and lifestyle of the African American working class and middle class (this “socioeconomic group”) while revealing some insight into their internal thoughts during a time when we were still struggling to be recognized, respected, accepted as human beings and to be granted “equal rights” as enjoyed by every other ethnic group, that was a part of the larger segment of American society.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. took the position that his passive resistance “equal rights” movement would provide the forum for the rest of the world to realize firstly, that we even existed in America as a people and secondly, that the reaction to his passive resistance “equal rights” movement, by the larger segment of society, as shown via television, would allow for the rest of the world to see how America was treating us, as a people.

The documentary WATTSTAX allows for you to see and hear through words and music, how some African Americans in this “socioeconomic group” were dealing with and still reacting to that mistreatment just 4 years after Dr. King’s death.

We believed that WATTSTAX would provide somewhat of a “mirror” for us to see ourselves, and an opportunity for other Americans to peer through a small “window of our existence” and gain a better insight into the kind of caring, and sensitive, family oriented people that we really are!!!

There were 112,000 people at the WATTSTAX Concert in the Los Angeles Coliseum on a very, very, hot day and night. They were there for over 10 hours. They came from every segment of our African American society - from Ozzie Davis and Ruby Dee, the Soul Train folks and entire families to the “Bloods” and the “Crips” (so called gangs). There was not one single disturbance. No policemen were there. We had our own security, headed and managed by Melvin Van Peebles and no one had a gun. There was not one single disturbance. It was a day of Celebration. The WATTSTAX concert was an African American family affair. WATTSTAX was a Celebration!!!

This was a time when African Americans dreamed of, and desired, to merely be granted, “equal rights” thereby becoming “equal partners and equal participants” in the American Dream.

A time when we, although being disrespected and mistreated by many, possessed deep down within us a burning desire to be treated equally so that we could proudly stand among the masses with “hands up” rather than being continually suppressed, oppressed, reduced to sub-human standards and forced into the disrespectful position of “hands out.”

WATTSTAX graphically demonstrates how a people, living in the land of plenty, possessing so little, found refuge in the “spirit of celebration.”

WATTSTAX: The Living Word -------- “A CELEBRATION!!!”

When you get an opportunity to view the film we ask you to color in your mind every participant as being white, or European American, give the guitars a smooth steel sound, give the speech a twangy sound and the vocals a slight yodel sound and then perhaps, paradoxically, you will recognize that WATTSTAX is really a reflection of what was going on in the lives, living and lifestyles of the largest “socioeconomic group” of people in America, - white and black.

It is very important to realize and note that two white people, Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton, founded STAX. They did not emphasize a difference in the races, thus STAX was an integrated environment, at a time when segregation permeated American society.

It is very important to realize and note that WATTSTAX: The Living Word was financed by white and black money (and not by Hollywood) for at that time STAX Records and STAX Films were owned fifty percent by Jim Stewart (a white man) and fifty percent by Al Bell (a black man).

It is very important to realize and note that WATTSTAX: The Living Word’s Executive Producers were Al Bell (black) and David Wolper (white) of Wolper Film Productons. The number one documentary film production company in Hollywood.

It is very important to realize and note that WATTSTAX: The Living Word’s Producers were Larry Shaw (black) with STAX and Mel Stuart (white) with Wolper Film Productions..

It is very important to realize and note that WATTSTAX: The Living Word’s Director was Mel Stuart a white man whose directing, editing and finished product was guided and co-directed by a black man Larry Shaw.

As a result, the perspective of this movie was one of “truth!” Bold – sincere – undiluted!!! A unique voice captured also by black film crews, many of them shooting their first time in a big budget film. The result of this “truth” - WATTSTAX: The Living Word is a Cannes celebrated, Golden Globe nominated, and thirty years later a Sundance awarded movie.

The insight gleaned from WATTSTAX: The Living Word inspired David Wolper to later film and produce Alex Haley’s Roots.

The inspiration continued, as recent reports revealed that the noted comedian David Chappelle looked to WATTSTAX: The Living Word as a “blue print” for his contemporary hip hop WATTSTAX “event and experience” in New York City.

STAX Records and WATTSTAX personified how white and black people working side by side could make music for black people, and a documentary about how the music reflected what was going on in black lives, living and life styles, without compromising in any manner the authenticity of the presentation.

Was this a miracle, or is this merely an example of what we whites and blacks can achieve in America by working together, respecting each other, and accepting each other as we really are???

It is my prayer that WATTSTAX: The Living Word will trigger thought processes that in some small way will aid us collectively in understanding how to eliminate any gulfs or perceived dichotomy that exist between us as human beings.

It is my prayer that we, people, can collectively site that part of the Declaration of Independence that states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

It is my prayer that we, people, can stand together, embrace our collective freedom and speak together in unison the “Pledge of Allegiance” with passionate emphasis on “one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and Justice for all.”

“Believing and Fulfilling the American Dream!”

God Bless Americans!!!

We have come a mighty long way in America – but we still have a little further to go!!! Change!!!

Believing and Fulfilling the American Dream!

So here we are TODAY 2008 in “A Brand New World!!!”

I come to you today as an American Citizen of African Ancestry.

From 1680 to June of 2007 (400 years after America’s beginning) historical records clearly reflect – the many incidents, laws, and changing of laws, including an amendment to the Constitution – that people of African Ancestry have earned the right to be an American Citizen. I am proud to be an American citizen.

So here we are TODAY 2008 in “A Brand New World!!!”

Today, we have a woman of European Ancestry Hillary Clinton and a man of African ancestry Barack Obama, leading the Democratic race for the next President of the United States of America.

Today, we see basketball and football team uniforms and not the players color.

Today, men and a woman of African ancestry head over 56 countries in the world.

Today, the largest democracy in the world is India and it is headed by a woman. The current President of India is Pratibha Patil, the first woman to serve in the office. She was sworn in on July 25, 2007.

The world is moving on this “gender issue” and we had better start changing.

Today, women now head up governments in South America, Africa, Asia and Europe.

Today, the world’s largest and tallest building is in Dubai. It is no longer the Sears’ Tower in Chicago.

Today, we (America) are no longer the “Financial Sun” in the Universe. We are just a planet.

Today the largest private airplane is not flown by the President of the United States it is owned and flown by His Royal Highness Prince Al Waleed. Prince Al Waleed is CEO of Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding Company in Dubai.

We have come a mighty long way in America – but we still have a little further to go!!!

Let not your hearts be troubled though CHANGE is in the air and the winds of change are blowing!!!

We have come a mighty long way in America – but we still have a little further to go!!! Change!!!

Believing and Achieving the American Dream.

In closing, I wish to share with you one of my favorite poems written by Edgar A. Guest and titled “It Couldn’t Be Done”. Hopefully, as it has always done for me, it will serve to inspire and motivate you to say “Yes We Can.” Then we must start working together to bring about a CHANGE!

Somebody said it couldn’t be done,
but he with a chuckle replied
that “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
on his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
that couldn’t be done, and he did it.

Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;
at least no one ever has done it”;
but he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
and the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With the lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
without any doubting or quiddit,
he started to sing as he tackled the thing
that couldn’t be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
there are thousands to prophesy failure;
there are thousands to point out to you, one by one,
the dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
just take off your coat and go to it;
just start to sing as you tackle the thing
that “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.

On this day I thank God for continuing to bless America!

READ COMMERCIAL APPEAL ARTS WRITER CHRISTOPHER BLANK'S ARTICLE ON IRIS ORCHESTRA AND STAX MUSIC ACADEMY

2008-01-27T10:36:00.001-08:00

IRIS rehearses with Stax Music Academy students

By Christopher Blank

Saturday, January 26, 2008

The first four notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony are easily the most iconic in classical music.

Da-Da-Da-Dummmm.

"Fate knocking on the door," is how the composer described them.

Back in 2000, when conductor Michael Stern first knocked on the door of the Germantown Performing Arts Centre, he used the Symphony No. 5 as a calling card.

That musical phrase launched the IRIS Orchestra into existence with romantic fervor.

Eight years since, Stern's hand-picked chamber orchestra has recorded several critically acclaimed albums, commissioned new works of music and created a national reputation.

But in part because many of the musicians live outside the Memphis area, as does the conductor, the orchestra had not established roots in the community. Indeed, IRIS critics still call it a pickup band, even though some players have been with the group for years.

The Memphis Symphony Orchestra, by contrast, with its resident musicians and larger budget, has numerous outreach programs scattered throughout the city.

This year IRIS found a worthy cause. On Thursday night, 45 musicians went knocking on the door of the Stax Music Academy, an after-school music program for inner-city children.

One guess how the greeting went.

Da-Da-Da-Dummmm.

"Right now, we're just trying new things to see how we can be a better participant in the community," said David DePeters, the orchestra's operations manager. "We've had players come to Stax before, but this is the first time for the full orchestra."

Many of the musicians had just gotten off their planes when a

chartered bus brought them to Soulsville on McLemore in South Memphis.

First they heard students from the Stax Charter School perform old label classics -- "Dock of the Bay," "Mr. Big Stuff" and "Theme from Shaft" -- on the school's orchestral instruments they'd earned the right to play by learning skills that collected merit points.

After a break, the choir room was rearranged into an orchestra setting. Students from the Stax Music Academy filled in the empty chairs around the musicians, peering over shoulders at sheet music as Stern struck up the first rehearsal of the Fifth Symphony, which will be heard tonight at GPAC.

"The connection here is in the spirit of what we do," Stern said. "IRIS is a group of people who come from all across the country for the love of making music. These kids come from across the city with one goal in mind, to make music. We've got a lot in common. It's a good partnership."

Packed into a tight semi-circle, the orchestra launched into the music. Stern fussed over the opening notes. A maestro has to. They constitute the most important phrase in the whole score.

Da-Da-Da-Dummmm.

"Why was that not together? Because we're not breathing together. Let's do it again." Stern raised his baton.

Da-Da-Da-Dummmm.

Miracle McGhee, 16, sat beside the clarinet player, entranced. For five years, she has studied the instrument and learned to improvise in a jazz band and to transpose notes.

The clarinet gave the shy teenager the confidence to stand up in a crowded room and be heard.

This was different. This was more intense than jazz. As her eyes kept up with the notes on the page, she realized that classical music sounds harder than it looks.

She also heard a different set of dynamics. Within every note of the symphony, whether part of the whole or a solo passage, there were so many subtleties of tone and rhythm.

"These guys must be so dedicated to what they do," she said. "You can tell they eat, sleep and breathe their instruments."

Yet dedication is why she comes to the academy. At home, her application to the Berklee College of Music is ready to go. Classical music is the next step in her training.

IRIS musicians are happy to discuss career with students.

Many of the pros play with orchestras. Others, such as cellist Eric Stephenson, perform a variety of music. At home in New York City, Stephenson works in a trio that includes a funky "beatbox flute" player.

"Kids see that an orchestra takes teamwork," he said. "Hopefully they see that we're all individuals with our own styles and backgrounds, but we still get a sense of worth playing in an orchestra."

Trumpeter Darin Kelly, of Philadelphia, spent a few minutes with Delvin Tubbs, 17, a senior from Booker T. Washington High School, discussing the trumpet's range.

"The key is to listen, listen, listen," Kelly said. "Listen to as many things as you can. Figure out what the player is doing and how they do it."

Although the Stax Music Academy doesn't focus on classical music, the school's chancellor, Cary Booker, says that mingling with other players provides a valuable experience.

"It's hard to say if this is making them better musicians," he said. "But the core of our mission is developing well-rounded people. They have an opportunity to interact with great musicians and talk about their favorite interest. It doesn't matter that it's classical music. They just love music, period."

In the dining room, after Beethoven had been played to exhaustion and its troublesome spots dissected and reworked, Stern chatted with a group of students over pizza.

"I'm amazed at the questions they're asking me," he said. "I mean, they are noticing things about conducting that I usually hear from college students."

The musicians loaded onto the bus back to Germantown, and parents arrived for their kids. Stashed away in backpacks and instrument cases was a gift from IRIS -- a recording of the ensemble's first performance, at GPAC on Sept. 19, 2000.

Should the kids ever need to know how to make a musical entrance, they can just refer to the CD.

Da-Da-Da-Dummmm.

-- Christopher Blank: 529-2305

© 2008 Scripps Newspaper Group — Online

READ BOB COMMERCIAL APPEAL MUSIC WRITER BOB MEHR'S INSIGHTFUL ARTICLE ON OUR EXHIBIT "OTIS REDDING: FROM MACON TO MEMPHIS" AND SEE HIS VIDEO.

2008-01-15T06:17:00.001-08:00

Stax Museum showcases powerful, emotional exhibit on soul legend Redding

By Bob Mehr

"Otis Redding -- From Macon to Memphis: An Exhibit from the Private Collection of Zelma Redding," opened quietly last month at The Stax Museum of American Soul Music.
Its launch was timed to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Redding's death, the result of a plane crash that claimed the life of the Georgia-born singer and Stax hitmaker, and nearly all the members of his backing band, The Bar-Kays, en route to a concert in Wisconsin in December 1967.

Unusually, there was no formal opening celebration for "From Macon to Memphis," and little attention was given to it amid the distractions of the holiday season. But the relative lack of fanfare surrounding it belies its status as a major historical exhibit -- one that's as powerful, emotional and evocative as the music of the man it celebrates.

"From Macon to Memphis" -- which will be on display at Stax's Studio A through April 30 -- is being hosted at Stax, in conjunction with the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and The Big "O" Youth Educational Dream Foundation, an arts and education organization founded by the Redding family last year.

The exhibit is somewhat misnamed, as it also includes a handful of pieces from the archive of music collector Bob Grady and several items from the Stax Museum itself. Still, the bulk of the items do come from Zelma Redding's trove of personal artifacts, many of which have never seen the light of day until now. Though it's not an incredibly large collection -- less than 100 pieces in all -- its impact is profound in several ways.

So much of what music fans hold dear about Redding has passed into the realm of myth: the
story of his unlikely discovery at Stax, arriving initially as the chauffeur of singer Johnny Jenkins; the sweat-soaked performances on the epochal Stax-Volt European tour; his embrace by the "love crowd" at the Monterey Pop Festival; and the bittersweet valediction of "(Sitting on) the Dock of the Bay." "From Macon to Memphis" certainly touches on all those triumphs, but it also adds a new depth and dimension to our understanding of Redding as a husband, father and friend.

Remarkably, it achieves this tricky task with an understated grace and a true economy of effort. The story is told in spare black-and-white photographs, documents, and brief personal correspondence -- the pieces exploring both the big tableau themes about Redding's art as well as the most trivial details of his life.

And without being overwrought, or playing up the mordant aspects of his death, "From Macon to Memphis" allows us to truly understand how Redding's tragic passing both defines and haunts our collective memory of him.

The first section of the exhibit is a brilliant burst: a mix of live and backstage photos, autographed records and show posters -- including one from a 1966 "homecoming" concert in Georgia. Taken together, they replicate the compressed feel of Redding's rise to fame, a thrilling five-year run that had him positioned, not just as the king of soul music, but an artist on the cusp of some kind of transcendent success at the end of his life.

Another aspect of the collection concerns the little-seen private Redding. The flip side of the dynamic entertainer was a reflective family man who preferred the solitude of the country to the buzz of the stage. Much of that is represented in the photos here, including shots of Redding enjoying the spoils of his success, a 300-acre farm he purchased outside of Macon. There's a real warmth in the images that find him playing the role of dedicated farmhand or frolicking poolside with his young sons, Otis III and Dexter.

Not all the photos are so happy, of course. There is an undeniably eerie quality to a pair of shots of Redding taken on his land sometime in early 1967, which find him hovering around an old Revolutionary War grave. In one, he leans up against a tombstone, smoking stoically; in another, he stands arms folded, gazing mysteriously at some unseen and, it seems, spectral presence. It's hard to view these photos and not feel a kind of chill -- perhaps that's part of the reason Redding's widow has kept the images private until now.

Though it would've been easy to skip over them, the final days of Redding's life are not given short shrift. A separate section is devoted to a series of items documenting his last trip to Memphis -- the starting point of a weekend tour that would prove fateful. They seem at first like unimportant pieces -- a car rental agreement, a hotel bill, aviation receipts -- but as you follow the paper trail, you almost feel a sense of dread. It's an emotion that's fueled, in part, because the artifacts are in such pristine condition; they look as if the ink has just dried. (Redding's widow kept the items in sealed plastic sheets for four decades).

The final portion of the exhibit, dealing with the aftermath of Redding's death, offers the saddest and most heart-rending moments. It includes a copy of Redding's death certificate, Zelma's handwritten logbook of condolence calls, and scores of telegrams from fellow soul music stars expressing their sympathy: The Temptations, Booker T. & the MGs, Patti LaBelle, The Staple Singers. Their words are moving, but often, it's the smallest, strangest details that stand out -- seeing a famous name like Nina Simone misspelled by an anonymous and unknowing Western Union clerk, for instance.

"From Macon to Memphis" concludes on a poignant note, focusing on the family Redding left behind. A shot of Zelma and her children gazing out on the family farm in 1970 is a sad echo of the image of Redding tending to his place a few years before.

The last piece in the collection, a family Christmas card, also from 1970, pictures the three Redding children alone. It's a rich color image taken against the wooded backdrop of the ranch. But there's something missing. There's a gaping empty space on the right side of the image, a place where their father might have stood.

Tremendous credit should be given to Stax curator Carol Drake for the subtle, but deliberate, way in which the exhibit flows from start to finish. But the strongest praise should be reserved for Zelma Redding herself, who understandably had a hard time parting with these pieces. To someone on the outside, the artifacts are just that. But for her they are talismans, or maybe just tangible pieces of the husband she lost and the legend whose legacy she's cared for unfailingly.
Her willingness to share these most private and personal possessions allows us to feel it all, too -- the happy memories of his life, the sharp pain of his death -- and to share a little bit more of a man we've all been loving too long to stop.

Exhibition review
"Otis Redding -- From Macon to Memphis: An Exhibit from the Private Collection of Zelma Redding" is on view at Stax Museum of American Soul Music, 926 E. McLemore Ave., through April 30.

Hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday; 1-5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $10 for adults; $9 seniors 62 +, active military and students with valid ID; $7 children 9-12. Free to children 8 and younger and to museum members.

Call (901) 946-2535. Online: staxmuseum.com.

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DOOR OF HOPE OPENS MEMORIES AT STAX MUSEUM

2008-01-09T07:43:00.000-08:00

Memphis author Ellen Prewitt called me one day in December with an idea. She volunteers here with an organization named Door of Hope, which is a daytime agency committed to forming friendships with and offering assistance to people living on the streets. Weekly, she shares her knowledge of and passion for writing by hosting writing workshops with Door of Hope guests.

When famed Memphis photographer Earnest Withers passed away last fall, Ellen had the guests write about him and his photographs. In the process, she learned that many of the guests had great memories of Stax Records and that many of them had lived in the neighborhood around Stax when it was in its heyday in the 1960s and '70s. So she wanted to bring them to see the Stax Museum. None of them had seen it yet.

She and staff member Roderick Baldwin brought several guests on a sunny day in December and we spent several hours touring the museum while the guests shared their memories of Stax Records. It was an incredible day for all of us. Not one to let a great opportunity slip by, Ellen shortly thereafter conducted her weekly writing workshop with those guests and had them write about their memories of Stax Records and their experience touring the museum.

Thanks so much to Ellen for doing this, and for all of her support and that of her husband Tom for the Stax Museum and Stax Music Academy. And here are the stories, in the writers' own words. We look forward to the guests visiting the museum again soon.

“My STAX Experience”
By Leroy “Jake” Scott

It was my first time back to STAX since it was re-opened again from the early days of the ‘60s and ‘70s.

We used to go to the back door and peep in on Isaac Hayes, David Porter, Bar-Kays, Otis Redding, the Dramatics, Temprees, Mad Lads, Rufus Thomas, Sam and Dave and many more great artists.

For some reason, my favorite artist was Isaac Hayes. He was such a dynamic individual. Bald head, long gold chains and a real deep voice with great lyrics.

I especially like the little movie they show at the start of the tour. It puts you in the mood of the original STAX movie house that was there before it turned into a recording studio.

I was knocked off my feet when I saw Isaac Hayes custom El Dorado trimmed in gold with the white mink carpet and the bar in the back, and the TV in the front. I remember when he used to drive it down the street, it was such a beautiful sight to see.

STAX
By Jockluss Thomas Payne

Taking a trip to STAX Museum filled me with a lot of nostalgia. During the heyday of STAX, I was about fifteen years old and I lived very close to STAX Records, about two blocks down the street. I was able to hang around the studio, run errands for the singers and musicians, and actually sit in on recording sessions.

What is most memorable about STAX Records is how it developed the talents of many aspiring performers who otherwise might not have become famous. STAX produced a distinctive, soulful, delta, gritty, form of rhythm and blues that became world famous and brought to Memphis a place on the world map as the home of soul. Plus the fact it was a bi-racial effort in a time of racial strife. STAX will always be remembered in that respect. It also must be remembered as a big business organization that propelled many of its performers to financial heights never before achieved in the blues delta circuits.

It would take a book to re-live all my experiences at STAX Records. But I will say that it gave a great deal of cultural, musical, and racial pride in that STAX was able to bring whites and blacks together and produce a world famous sound known as the “Memphis Sound,” my adopted home town.

“THE STAX EXPERIENCE”
By Roderick Baldwin

For a long time, I have always wanted to see and learn about the STAX history. Hearing about STAX through others made me very interested. I have heard a lot of the music, from Isaac Hayes, The Bar-Kays, Staple Singers, Memphis Horns, Sam and Dave. The music I was listening to was telling a story about life and its experience. The music touched my soul, it had sound all by itself. The emotion it brought out was a good feeling. The music told personal feelings and experience that I can experience. No color or stigmas was here; the joy that music can bring. How the STAX experience brought people together in music.

Going to STAX myself brought back the times of clothes, hair styles; a different style of music. Brought back child memory of peace and good will. All that different culture coming together, to share their life and love of music, and the messages it gives us.

The STAX experience is something we can build on to help people understand that through music we can change and bring people together.

Remembering Isaac Hayes from his sister and brother going to Manassas High – being across the street from Isaac Hayes’ grandmother. Seeing the Cadillac he drove when I was in my teens. In my life I have had the opportunity to meet Rufus Thomas and his children and Isaac Hayes – James Alexander and Larry Dodson of the Bar-Kays, some of the Mitchells - the pioneers of the STAX experience.

It was and still is an honor to have met and listen to their experience of the times we left behind – but through the STAX museum we can re-live the good times. And help touch and pass the hope and dreams of the pioneers of change and togetherness. Thank God for the STAX experience and the people who are still keeping it alive.

STAX
By Radio

I just want to say I enjoyed the ride there, and I enjoyed the people, the music, the sound. I will like to go again real soon. I just want to thank the people that invited us.

STAX
By William Lawrence Hogan, Jr.

On Fast Quick. I’m Your Boxer.

Janet Jackson needs to come to Memphis Tenn to born or help give us Letoya her sister report. Clock Period.

READ WHAT THE ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION REPORTS ON THE STAX MUSEUM'S SPECIAL OTIS REDDING EXHIBIT

2008-01-09T06:59:00.000-08:00

The heart of a soulman
Otis Redding's recording studio on display at Stax Museum
By DREW JUBERA
The Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionPublished on: 01/09/08

When Deanie Parker stepped into the Stax Museum of American Soul Music in south Memphis to view the Otis Redding exhibit for the first time, it was as if she'd seen a ghost.
The exhibit, "Otis Redding: From Macon to Memphis," is set inside the museum's replica of Stax Records' Studio A — reconstructed on the studio's original McLemore Avenue footprint, sloping floor and all — where Redding recorded such R&B classics as "Try a Little Tenderness" and "(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay." The latter was recorded just days before he died, in 1967, in a plane crash.

"I walked into the studio and looked up and it was almost as if Otis' spirit was right there," said Parker, who arrived at Stax in 1963 and stayed — as singer, composer, secretary, publicist — until the family-run record label went belly up in 1975.

"Once again, he's back in his space," added Parker, now a museum complex board member. "In Studio A, where he used to prance back and forth as he was recording and teaching the musicians the arrangements to the songs."

The Stax exhibit is a state-line-jumping continuation of a similar Redding exhibit that opened this fall and is still running in Macon, at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. Both exhibits commemorate the 40th anniversary of the artist's death at age 26. Both are dominated by memorabilia provided by Redding's widow.

"When you walk into either exhibit, you'll know what Otis Redding was about and the legacy he left," said Zelma Redding, 65, and still living near Macon. "But everyone tells a different story. When you go to Stax, the story is more about their history. They've worked so hard to tell the story of that room. And it's a great part of the story."

The Stax exhibit centerpiece is a collection of rare photographs of Redding on the 300-acre ranch he purchased in the rolling hills of Middle Georgia, about 25 miles outside Macon. Taken two weeks before his death, they show an offstage Redding patting cows, baling hay, playing with his kids.

It also includes telegrams Zelma received after his death from fans, musicians (the Temptations, Nina Simone) and politicians, including one from Jimmy Carter sent later, when a bridge in
Macon was officially named for Redding.

Other artifacts: receipts from the hotel Redding stayed in with his pilot and crew just before his death, and a poster from what became known as "the concert that never was" — the Madison, Wis., show (with opening act Grim Reaper, later morphing into Cheap Trick) that Redding was headed to when his twin-engine Beechcraft dropped into icy Lake Monona, just outside Madison.

But more profound than any relic is the context of where the exhibit is housed. Stax Records was R&B's rawer, sweatier parallel universe to the smooth, hard-waxed sounds of Motown. With a name that combined brother-and-sister founders Jim Stewart (the "St") and Estelle Axton (the "ax"), Stax was run inside a converted movie house like an integrated soul family in the heart of the South. The lettering for years on the old movie marquee: Soulsville USA.
The label produced more than 400 hits on the pop and R&B charts before it filed for bankruptcy in 1975. Artists included Booker T. & the MGs, Rufus and Carla Thomas, Sam and Dave, the Staple Singers and Isaac Hayes.

But boss hog was Redding. Stax became what Zelma Redding calls "his second home," a place where "they produced and made all those hits but, first and foremost, it was the family of Stax Records. It was love first and hits second."

He arrived there from Macon in 1962 as the driver for Johnny Jenkins & the Pinetoppers, who came to record a single. With a half-hour of studio time left, Redding, who occasionally performed with the band and who'd begged all day for a chance to sing, was allowed to record a ballad he wrote called "These Arms of Mine." It wasn't long before he became the label's biggest star.

And it all came out of Studio A. The original Stax building was razed in 1989, but a replica was built on the same site four years ago as part of a Soulsville USA complex. The studio was re-created right down to the sloping movie house floor and random Billboard magazines littered around the furniture. "From Macon to Memphis" is the first exhibit hosted inside the space.

"His presence was a lot like Elvis Presley and Billy Graham — one of those guys who when he walks into a room, the room changes," recalled Wayne Jackson, a member of the Memphis Horns who backed Redding on many hits. "He was the same in the studio as he was on stage — he marched up and down that room, just like he marched up and down the stage, and he'd sing the horn parts to us and get in our face until we were frothing at the mouth. He could instill that kind of excitement.

"He knew in his heart he didn't have long to discharge all this genius," added Jackson, now 66 and living in Nashville. "And when I say genius, I mean touched by God. He walked into that studio knowing the song and everything in it — the rhythm section, the drums, the horn lines.
"He drove a wedge in the world of music, and all of us fell into it," Jackson said. "When he was killed, we dispersed. It was all over for Stax."

What little is left is now at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music until April 30.

ABOUT THE EXHIBIT
"Otis Redding: From Macon to Memphis" is at Stax Museum of American Soul Music, 926 E. McLemore Ave., Memphis, through April 30. $10. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays; 1-4 p.m. Sundays. , 901-946-2535.

IF YOU GO
Getting there
• Driving: Memphis is a seven-hour drive from Atlanta.
• Flying: Expect to pay about $250 round trip from Atlanta to Memphis.

Pau Gasol and STAXTACULAR '08!

2008-01-04T07:35:00.000-08:00

You've heard the buzz. You've waited for months. At last, we are proud to announce:

STAXTACULAR returns on Friday, March 7, 2008!

The city's wildest "soul-shakin' throwdown," hosted this year by Brian and Danielle Cardinal, Pau Gasol, Rudy Gay and Mike Conley from the Memphis Grizzlies, is back, bigger and better than ever--and now YOU have the opportunity to buy tickets before they go onsale to the public!

Call 901-261-6385 now to purchase your tickets before they are available to the public. Tickets are $150 each, and as always, all the proceeds will benefit the life-changing music education programs of the Stax Music Academy.

Click here to learn more about the Stax Music Academy and click here for more information about STAXTACULAR '08!