Suavo J and the M-Town Band at Alley Dayz in Downtown Memphis
Originally, I had just planned to go downtown and see my friends Joshua McCain and the Soul Seven, who were playing at a bar called …
Art
Covington Scenes
My involvement with the Ruffin Theatre’s upcoming performance of the musical “Clue” has had me in Covington, Tennessee a bunch over the last few weeks, …
Both kinds of brew at Memphis’s Cooper House Project
Somehow I had never heard of the Cooper House Project. Perhaps part of the reason was that it is being designated a “brewery,” and I …
A Little Rock Day
Because I had to do research at the Butler Center for Arkansas History and Culture, I drove out to Little Rock early, and after completing …
In Search of Harlem Alley
In the spring of 1983, I was going to Central Baptist School in the Bartlett area, and I rode with our basketball team to Forrest …
Celebrating the Legendary Blues Researcher Axel Kustner in West Point, Mississippi
German blues researcher Axel Kustner was one of the last blues field workers to comb the southern United States looking for bluesmen, and he was …
Hot Weather and Hot Blues at the Mississippi Hill Country’s Biggest Weekend
Each year, on the last weekend in June, blues musician Kenny Brown and his wife Sarah host the North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic at Betty …
Ripley Celebrates the Burnside Music Legacy and the Hill Country Blues
R.L. Burnside’s son Garry moved to Ripley, Mississippi in Tippah County a few years ago, and since that time, he has become a major fixture …
A City of Murals
While the city of Memphis has struggled in recent years with abandonment and economic problems, one of the bright spots has been an explosion of …
Some Like It Black: Cxffeeblack Celebrates Coffee and Black Culture in Memphis
Years ago, Memphis was coffee-challenged, to say the least. After reading liner notes off my favorite Style Council album attributed to The Cappuccino Kid, I …