Rosewood Theatre

My dad took this picture of the Rosewood Theatre in Memphis, Tennessee, during the '70s or 80s. The theater as pictured is long gone.

Book a Table and the Maitre D's

McLemore Avenue
From Wikipedia:

In 1969, Duck Dunn and Booker T. Jones, in particular, had become enamored with The Beatles, especially their work on Abbey Road. The appreciation was mutual, as The Beatles had patterned a lot of what they did on the M.G.'s. John Lennon was a huge Stax fan ("Glass Onion" from The Beatles was named in honor of "Green Onions") who fondly called the group, "Book a Table and the Maitre D's." Paul McCartney, like Dunn, played bass melodically, without straying from the rhythm or the groove. It was obvious through each of their playing that they admired one another. And as the story goes, after being locked away in the Memphis studio, when the company embarked on the "Hit the Road, Stax!" tour of 1967, The Beatles sent limos to the airport and bent down to kiss Steve Cropper's ring. The M.G.'s had no idea, until then, of the impact they were having on the rest of the world.

In 1970, Jones, Dunn, and Jackson recorded McLemore Avenue, named for the street where Stax was located. Jones later taught Cropper, who had not heard Abbey Road, what to play. They covered thirteen of Abbey Road's songs, condensing twelve of them into medleys, and released a cover of George Harrison's "Something." The cover, pictured above in this article, is indeed an intentional spinoff of The Beatles' Abbey Road "street crossing" album cover.


Here's a little taste: "Medley: Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End/Here Comes The Sun/Come Together"

Track listing:

1. "Medley: Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End/Here Comes The Sun/Come Together"
2. "Something"
3. "Medley: Because/You Never Give Me Your Money"
4. "Medley: Sun King/Mean Mr. Mustard/Polythene Pam/She Came In Through The Bathroom Window/I Want You (She's So Heavy)"

Their interpretation of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" is particularly cool.

Pictures I took four years ago of the STAX Museum of American Soul Music on a crappy Kodak disposable camera

The power of Elvis

"Bush, Koizumi pay their respects to 'the king'"
(AP PHOTO) Priscilla, far right, and Lisa Marie Presley greet President Bush and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

From the article:

Amid the ceramic monkeys, floor-and-ceiling green shag carpet and animal-head armrests of Graceland's Jungle Room, the delighted prime minister just couldn't hold back the Elvis lines.

"You're a pretty good Elvis singer," the president said, in an obvious prompt to his guest. Bush knew what was coming, having previously experienced Koizumi's tendency to burst into song when it comes to the late rock 'n' roll legend who is the Japanese leader's undisputed musical hero.

Koizumi quickly complied.

Draping his arm around Lisa Marie, he went on. "Hold me close, hold me tight," the prime minister crooned.

This is interesting footage of Elvis fandom in Japan, complete with a bit of Koizumi doing a pretty decent job of singing "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You." He recorded a CD of Elvis songs that went on to have huge sales in Japan.

No access to the GracelandCam™ today:

"Elvis.com webcams will be offline Thursday, June 29 at 5:00 p.m. to Friday, June 30 at 5:00 p.m. central time."

I'll bet there's some irritated tourists in Memphis today! Oh well, go to SunStudio or the STAX Museum of American Soul Music instead.

The great, Elvis picture site, Candid Central, has new scans of rare photgraphs:


Previous Graceland posts:

Christmas time at Graceland

Washington, Jefferson, Presley

tcb

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi wears Elvis style sunglasses during his tour of Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley, accompanied by President Bush, not pictured, in Memphis, Tenn., Friday, June 30, 2006. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)