Renardo Ward and friends at King’s Palace Cafe, Memphis, 11/02/12 (at King’s Palace Cafe)
Restaurants
Rock N Dough Pizza Company at the River Arts Fest 2012
Rock N Dough Pizza Company (@RocknDoughPizza) is a popular new food truck in Memphis offering wood-fired pizzas, and at the River Arts Festival downtown I discovered why they are so popular. Like them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Rockndoughpizzaco or follow them on Twitter at https://twitter.com/RocknDoughPizza. After all, with them being a food truck, you never know where they might show up next!
Slim Goodies Diner, Uptown New Orleans
Slim Goodies Diner on Magazine Street in New Orleans’ Uptown neighborhood is a great place for breakfast, 10/22/12. Like them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/slimgoodiesNOLA.
Breakfast at the All Good Cafe in Deep Ellum, Dallas
Dallas’ All Good Cafe is a nice breakfast restaurant in the famed Deep Ellum district east of downtown. From the looks of things, it’s also occasionally a live music venue, so visit them frequently at http://www.allgoodcafe.com/ for upcoming events.
Nancy Apple and special guest Redd Velvet Live at Central BBQ
Last Sunday, the blues singer Redd Velvet and I headed down to Central Bar-B-Que in Midtown Memphis to check out an outdoor performance by Memphis folk/rock artist Nancy Apple and her band. It was great food, great fun and great music. 7/8/12
Turtle Landing, Pearlington MS
Turtle Landing is a relatively recent waterfront bar and grill at Pearlington, MS 7/6/12
Hansen’s: Where New Orleans’ Famous Sno-Balls Were Invented (Maybe)
Supposedly, New Orleans’ love affair with sno-balls began here at Hansen’s on Tchoupitoulas, more than 75 years ago. If the stories are true, this is where the shaved-ice machine that makes New Orleans sno-balls different from snowcones was invented. Across the street is McKeown’s Books and Difficult Music, one of the city’s best used book stores.
Jerry’s Sno-Cones, Memphis
With the kind of weather we’ve been having in Memphis, Jerry’s Sno-Cones on Wells Station is a very popular place these days. Of course it’s also a civic institution, and just about the only place of its kind in Memphis. 6/30/12
Memorial Day in Oxford
On Memorial Day, I drove down to Oxford, Mississippi to do some shopping at Square Books, and, I thought, to eat at Soulshine Pizza Company. Unfortunately, the pizza company proved to be closed due to the holiday, and I ended up driving to Tupelo for dinner.
Evening on the Square in Oxford, MS
On Friday, 4/27/12, I drove down to Oxford to pay a visit to the new End of All Music record store, and as it was the kickoff evening for the Double Decker Arts Festival, I parked near the square and hung around for awhile. The upstairs balconies that give the festival its name were full of people, as it was a lovely evening outside. Walking into Square Books, I found an interesting book by Elijah Wald about the history of the African-American verbal ritual the Dozens, and then I grabbed a dinner at Soulshine Pizza Factory before heading back to Memphis for my jazz gig at the Westin Hotel.