Last night was a great night for football, with the weather cool and pleasant, and I headed down to historic Booker T. Washington Stadium for the Mitchell vs. Manassas game. Unfortunately, there was no band battle, because only Manassas brought their band, but Manassas looks as if they may be on the way to rebuilding their band program. We also had to contend with annoying, dive-bombing insects of some sort that would drop out of the sky on us or at least near us. But I still had fun.
music
Charles “Packy” Axton Album Release Party at Stax
In some ways, Charles “Packy” Axton was the forgotten man in the Stax Records saga. The son of one of the partners, Estelle Axton, he was a saxophone player in the original Stax band, the Mar-Keys, along with Don Nix and others. Exiled from Stax by his uncle, Jim Stewart (by some accounts due to drugs and/or alcohol), he recorded only a handful of sides before dying tragically in 1974, only in his thirties. But the really hip Light in the Attic Records label out of Seattle has assembled all the material they could find into one cool CD called “Late Late Party”, and the album release party at the Stax Museum was something of an all-star gala, despite the odd time of 4 PM on a Tuesday afternoon. Scott Bomar of the Bo-Keys was there, as well as Andrea Lisle, local Memphis music writer, Robert Gordon, the author of It Came From Memphis, legendary bluesman/photographer Don Nix, who had been Packy’s bandmate in the Mar-Keys, and L. H. White, who was the “L.H.” in L. H. and the Memphis Sounds, who cut four sides under Packy’s direction that would ultimately come out on the Nashville-based Hollywood label. Altogether, it was a good time with good music, and the only sad thing being that Charles “Packy” Axton never saw such acclaim during his lifetime.
Fairley vs. Hamilton at the Whitehaven Classic, 2011
The second game of the Whitehaven Classic was between Fairley High School and Hamilton High School. Fairley is a rather large school that usually has a band comparable to colleges in size and quality, and this year was no exception. Particularly first-rate is their drumline. Hamilton, on the other hand, is a sad shadow of its former self. For most of my youth, they were the high school band we most wanted to see at a parade or an event. In Christmas parades, they would march down the street a hundred strong, to a hard funk cadence provided by the drummers. Nowadays, they have only one tuba, only one or two bass drummers, one or two snares. Economic realities, crime and drugs have devastated the South Memphis area where the school draws its students from, and open enrollment has made it much easier for students to transfer out of district. It is all very sad to watch.
The end of the third quarter of Fairley and Hamilton was 10 PM, and I didn’t wait around for Whitehaven and Hillcrest.
Westwood vs. Mitchell at Whitehaven 2011
Memphis’ high-school football (and band) season got underway in earnest this weekend, with Saturday’s Whitehaven Classic offering a marathon three high-school games at Whitehaven Stadium. The first game, between Westwood and Mitchell, was delayed somewhat due to the heat, but as the day progressed and temperatures cooled, the crowds increased. Both Westwood and Mitchell have truly tiny bands this year compared to what I recall from the 1980’s and 1990’s. I suppose their enrollments are down as people have relocated to Hickory Hill, Cordova, Southaven and Olive Branch.
The Acoustic Stage at the Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival, Clarksdale, 2011
The Acoustic Stage was at the Sunflower River on Yazoo Avenue, next door to the Quapaw Canoe Company. This stage featured such artists as Kenny Brown, Lucious Spiller and Robert Belfour, August 13, 2011, Clarksdale, MS
Sunflower River Blues Festival 2011, Clarksdale
From Friars Point, I drove into Clarksdale for the 24th Annual Sunflower River Blues Festival. After grabbing a cappuccino at Miss Dell’s General Store, I walked down Delta Avenue, checking out festival events in progress.
Drumma Boy’s Listening Party at R. Sole Memphis
Drumma Boy had the listening party for his new mixtape at a hip-hop clothing and shoe boutique called R. Sole in the Laurelwood Shopping Center, and that was really great because I wouldn’t have known about that shop otherwise. A lot of Memphis rap artists, producers and promoters were in the house, including DJ Bay and myself from Select-o-Hits, First Degree, G.K. and Li’l Pat.
2 Thick Records Orange Mound Block Party @ The Bear Cave 2011
Yesterday, DJ Zirk held his first annual 2 Thick Records Orange Mound Block Party, moved indoors to the Bear Cave on East Parkway, presumably because of the excessive heat warnings. Unlike last week’s rambunctious Orange Mound Block Party, this was a smaller and quieter event, with Memphis rap veterans like Tom Skeemask and DJ Care Bear making an appearance. Unfortunately, the air conditioning was malfunctioning, and the extremely crowded room was hotter than a sauna, but we enjoyed some great Memphis rap and R & B from newcomers and veterans alike.
Album Review: Colt Ford’s “Chicken and Biscuits” @coltford
The marriage of rap and country is not as contrived as one might first imagine. For one thing, if hip-hop was born in New York, that doesn’t change the fact that many of its originators were the children of African-Americans who had recently migrated from the South. Furthermore, there is a fairly long tradition of “talking records” in country, a tradition that might have been influenced by “talking blues” from Black rural communities. So what Colt Ford is doing with his sophomore album Chicken and Biscuits is not a divorce from the grand tradition of country music, but a contribution to it. Songs like “Cricket on a Line”, “Nothing in Particular” and “We Like to Hunt” celebrate the classic pastimes of the traditional South, but from a younger perspective. The title track portrays the ideal woman, comparing her to the goodness of a plate of chicken and biscuits. “Ride On, Ride Out” is a collaboration with DMC of Run-DMC, and “Hip-Hop in a Honky Tonk” deals with some of the ambiguities of country’s attitude toward rap. “Convoy” is a remake of the classic 70’s trucker anthem, which was itself a sort of rap. Ultimately, while Chicken and Biscuits may not be every country fan’s cup of tea, it is great fun, and masterfully conceived.