Author: Sherman Willmott

After two Pulitzer nominations, an offer from President Bush to write White House concert reviews, and an editor accusing me of being a gadfly (Will someone please tell me if that’s a compliment?), here’s a follow-up on my award-winning stories from the last six months:

1) Radio Round-up (October):

Air America joined the talk radio fray in Memphis on 680 AM. While something has been needed to quell the far right bias of the Memphis talk radio airwaves, when is enough negativity enough already? I say two negatives do not make a positive. Ban ‘em both–I’ll trade Rush and Franken for just radio static any day!

Smooth Jazz 98.9 is now Power 99, a hip-hop lite top 40 station–a bit late to the hip-hop world and without any edge at all, for sure.

Longtime Rock 103 bozos Drake & Zeke are no longer on Rock 103

. In an ironic twist of gargantuan proportions, Zeke is now bashing Rock 103 and Clear Channel on his web site “for sucking the life out of what was once one of the best rock stations in America”(!) and soon to be on yet another classic rock radio station, 98.1 (Memphis is now blessed with twice as much bad classic rock–three times if you count the Arkansas station that bleeds onto 102.3). 98.1 has a major format change coming this Friday while this week they have been playing vintage Def Leppard album sides. Oh, boy, I can’t wait.

WYPL 89.3, the Library Channel will soon begin featuring beaucoups of Memphis music in a move to bring music back to the forefront of this newly charged 100,000 watts of power station.

Satellite Radio: Five weeks after my piece on the coming of satellite radio, Mel Karmazin shocked the entertainment industry by becoming Sirius Radio’s CEO, legitimizing the new industry–at least for many in the investing community. The addition of Karmazin (as well as Howard Stern) allowed for a very successful re-capitalization of Sirius that sent Sirius on a massive spending binge to acquire the most popular radio programming available. Between Sirius and XM, new deals have since been signed with NASCAR, NCAA, PGA, Eminem & 50 Cent (Shade 45 Hip Hop channel) as well as many other entertainers and sports leagues. Both companies are furiously competing against each other and leaving traditional commercial radio to grab at the local crumbs left behind. In Memphis, Sirius has created a 24/7 all-Elvis station at Graceland, and XM has been broadcasting from high-profile special events like the Blaxploitation movie poster exhibit opening at the Stax Museum.

Savvy On the Fly readers would have gained 6% by buying XM stock in October or 41% by investing in Sirius. Sirius rose from $3.75 the day my column ran in October to $7.95 in December–more than doubling in less than two months! (Clear Channel, the biggest loser to satellite radio, is surprisingly up 8% since October).

2) Memphis’ senior photographer Ernest Withers‘ (January) new book Negro League Baseball is out, and he will be signing copies at Davis-Kidd Thursday, March 31 at 6:00 p.m.

3) Graceland (December) is still standing and is now sharing shelf space with American Idol stars. Robert Sillerman has added the American Idol show to his growing intellectual property company Sports Entertainment Enterprises (CKXE). After purchasing the rights to the King and Idol, Sillerman’s company stock has gone from 8 cent to $24.07 in three months. We pronounced this deal a major coup for Jack Soden, and Lisa Marie should be very happy with her licensing deal so far. Many shrewd Elvis fans can now make money (and have!) by investing in the King while idolizing him as well!

4) David Gest (December) continues to try to feed the hungry, although with only modest success. While Gest’s restaurant list was reduced to just the one Gus’ downtown location, on Easter he again offered free food to those willing to brave the elements. Unfortunately a rush of people into the restaurant (food fight?) caused the management to call the police and prematurely shut down the giveaway. Fans of Gest’s fabulous music productions will be sad to hear he does not seem interested in hosting another gala in Memphis. The man who originally brought Gest to town, John King, continues to add Memphis radio programs to his www.Tigeradio.com web site.

5) Viva L’American Death Ray (February) will play again April 7 at the Hi Tone. Monsieur Jeffrey Evans has briefly returned from Europe but is doubling back for the Barbican Festival in London Sunday April 3rd.

6) Memphis in May (December) did not book any crappy ‘70s rock re-treads (excepting the r&b of War and K.C. and the Sunshine Band) and focused on Memphis and roots music for their best line-up in years–albeit one with no “must sees.”

7) The Memphis Music Commission (November)never did do that web site they promised back in October. They did create less transparency in their new non-profit though. Oh, well, you can’t have it all.

I look forward to much more Memphis music muckraking in the next six months. Pay attention and make some money too. An On the Fly bonus?É

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GRACELAND, 1940

In 1979 Memphis Mayor Wyeth Chandler wanted the city to buy Graceland (asking price rumored to be $10-11 million). Jack SodenÕs business partner, who handled Lisa Marie PresleyÕs estate for Priscilla Presley, wanted to sell Graceland in 1981. It is a good thing for Lisa Marie Presley that neither got their wish. SodenÕs business partner, Morgan Maxfield, died an untimely death in a private jet crash over Labor Day weekend in 1981, leaving Soden to pursue his vision of opening Graceland to a very hungry public.

When Soden took over Graceland and began the formation of Elvis Presley Enterprises, Graceland itself had hemorrhaged money. Colonel ParkerÕs ÒaccountingÓ for Vernon Presley had bled the estate dry. The IRS wanted a big chunk of change from the estate, too. Fans wanted to visit Graceland, but security costs and upkeep kept the estate finances in negative territory to the tune of approximately $500,000 a year. ElvisÕ reputation had taken a beating during the Dr. George Nichopolous trial as well as from the tawdry details of Albert GoldmanÕs book Elvis. ElvisÕ world did not look so good.

ElvisÕ chronicler Bill Burk wrote in June, 1982: ÒWhen Graceland swings its doors open Monday, it will be like the founding of a new industry in Memphis.Ó And right he was! Admission was $5.00 a head and thousands of fans (and fanatics) lined up every morning for the new tour. Graceland could handle three thousand per day, and in the first year Elvis Presley Enterprises took in $1.35 million. Cash poured through the doors

The next task Soden had was to corral all of the unlicensed Elvis products on the market and create a new paradigm for the intellectual property (trademark and copyrights) of a celebrityÕs image. Soden and company did not just re-write the book on the celebrity image business; they created the rules of the industry. There is no doubt that they were the force behind the 1984 Tennessee statute regarding Protection of Personal Rights. EPE has used its war chest and lawyers to pursue the rights of ElvisÕ image to the ends of the earth, sometimes at a major negative publicity cost. Seldom has SodenÕs team lost, and when they have, it has been over inconsequential financial circumstances. Their litigiousness has made hucksters reconsider illegally using the KingÕs image and has increased the negotiation value of the estate with any legitimate licensees.

Twenty-two years later, ElvisÕ image is restored. EPEÕs business is intact, running like a well-oiled machine and clearing $12 million a year in profit (a surprising figure, given the very few music rights available to EPE for ElvisÕ biggest hits, an unfortunate Colonel Parker legacy). EPE has just negotiated a sweetheart deal for Lisa Marie Presley. PresleyÕs new benefactor is media mogul Robert Sillerman, who made a massive fortune selling his concert company SFX to Clear Channel for over $4 billion in 2000. Presley will receive $53 million in cash; $25 million in debt assumption; and $22 million in preferred stock of SillermanÕs new company as well as 500,000 shares in common stock of SillermanÕs new company. She will still own 15% of Elvis Presley Enterprises, which Sillerman is buying.

What did Presley have to give up for this treasure trove of receivables? She keeps her fatherÕs personal effects and Graceland, which is a great p.r. move to appease the zealotlike Elvis fans as well as a physical and emotional tie to her father. She will continue to license the use of Graceland and these effects through EPE to SillermanÕs company. She merely extends the licensing capabilities from EPE to SillermanÕs company for worldwide promotion and exploitation. In effect she is giving the rights to ElvisÕ image, those that EPE has accrued and has been licensing worldwide, to SillermanÕs new company for a huge chunk of change plus approximately 15% of SillermanÕs new company. If Sillerman creates a bigger licensing market for Elvis, she will profit nicely. If not, she will have received almost 8.5 times EPEÕs net profit per year for those rights. Although all employees of EPE are listed as remaining, were he to retire after this deal, Soden could smile, knowing that he had mastered the art of the Colonel Parker deal, getting far more than ever imaginable from the use of Elvis.

So Sillerman got taken on this deal, eh? Not exactly. Sillerman has enough resources and capital to take Elvis to the ends of the earth, where Elvis has not yet reached his potential. Translation: Graceland will still be ElvisÕ home base, but hello to Japan, China, and Europe, where Elvis is extremely well-known and his image use is very under-served. Not mentioned in the deal but certainly implicit is that Elvis the image has just become the star attraction and calling card in a new entertainment company. Sillerman will undoubtably use the Elvis image as bait to attract licenses from other celebrities (and their estates) alive and dead (ÒHey, kiddo, if itÕs good enough for the King, you canÕt go wrong with SillermanÉÓ). It would be hard to argue that the #1 entertainment image in the world is a bad one with which to begin a company. Most media buyers will take SillermanÕs calls just on the Elvis name, even if they were not familiar with the mega-entrepreneur previous to this deal. Memphis probably will not notice much difference in the use of the image, but other countries will most likely see a much higher presence of the King in all media formats

One thing concerning the deal that gives Presley watcherÕs pause is Lisa Marie herself. How has EPE built $25 million worth of debt on the basis of $12 million in net profit per year? Obviously her marriage to Michael Jackson taught her the profligate ways of Hollywood. Or perhaps this deal will merely cover some sort of massive Scientology debt she owes. Ms. Presley is approaching her maximum spending years, and if she continues to spend more than she makes, this deal would merely be a one time stopgap. Either way, once the dust has cleared on this deal, Lisa Marie pockets $50 million, erases her debt, keeps the house, and becomes a large shareholder in a company destined to succeed with the worldÕs number one entertainment image in the growing industry of celebrity licensing.

In her press release Lisa Marie PresleyÕs quote is a big disappointment, making this deal sound like it is in her fatherÕs interest: ÒMy greatest responsibility to my father is to preserve and protect his legacy.Ó Au contraire! This deal is about maximizing Ms. PresleyÕs financial interests with the prospects that visitations to Graceland may continue to slow down with the aging of the Ô50s generation of rock Ôn roll fans. Maximizing the return on Elvis and his image has been the focus point of ElvisÕ career since the Colonel got hold of him, and this deal is no different, albeit a sweet once-in-a lifetime one that the Colonel himself would be proud of.

Indeed it is good to be the king(Ôs daughter)!

In order to achieve ”Record of the Year“ status, the disc or group of songs has to reach a certain level of greatness–a mystery, a mystique, or some other level of otherworldliness. The artist must have delivered something beyond the usual–beyond both what the listener wanted and what the listener expected–taking the listener to a level of bliss.

Certainly Too Much Love qualifies as a masterpiece on those levels. On unrelated business, I happened upon the artists in the studio in August, 2003, while they were recording the disc, and they imbued an overwhelmingly understated aura both in demeanor and attitude, giving no notice of the fine tunes they had just recorded. They didn‘t seem like they were working on next year‘s coup, the likes of which most musicians could only dream upon achieving. No, in fact, they seemed as if the coffee weren‘t quite right that day, and perhaps the weather may have been a bit too hot, or maybe they weren‘t quite sure why they were there in Easley/McCain Studios that day or why they were putting such painfully open emotions on tape for posterity‘s sake.

Harlan T. Bobo‘s apparition in Memphis is still a puzzle to me. We don‘t get too many drifters through here anymore (Must have been much cheaper in the ‘60s and ‘70s). Chris Davis did a masterful job in the Flyer back in the spring explaining the intricacies of the hows and whys of the love web that caused this recording to need to be made. I cannot possibly understand the situation (nor do I care or need to). Suffice to say, Bobo‘s pain is the listener‘s joy.

The closest this record comes to sounding like a Memphis record is the ditty ”Mr. Last Week,“ which hints at Gamblin‘ Days Are Over by Compulsive Gamblers, a fine slice of Memphis music culture as there has been in the last fifteen years. I could argue for this record having been made in Arizona (pseudo-border influence) or California (a general Tom Waits‘ flavor). Beyond the number listed above, this bad boy could have been recorded in any town or studio across the U.S. It is not a Memphis record in sound nor style, but it certainly is a Memphis record in its complete non-Memphisness. The primary artist, Mr. Harlan T. Bobo, had previously been known mostly as a member of another fine Memphis band, American Death Ray, a Velvet Underground cum Tav Falco noise racket. So a side player in a relatively unknown Memphis band makes the best record of the year? Perfect for Memphis.

What major label had the audacity to release such an unknown gem? Um, actually, not the case! Surely then, some hip Memphis independent label (Makeshift, Soul is Cheap, Madjack, Archer, Yellowdawg, LamarÉ) had the foresight to release this jewel and hope that the unsuspecting public would buy a great record by a guy who couldn‘t possibly be expected to tour because his other band never really had? Uh, no, it didn‘t play that way either. Harlan T. Bobo released the record in the oldest of old school ways: printing up a couple at a time, hoping the record stores would carry them and not throw them in the dollar bin three years later–unsold and consignment period expired. Bobo even included individually created artwork on each cd he pressed out, further increasing the mystique of the record and giving the cds an unusually unique quality.

Adding further to the Memphisness of the record is the fact that it is (virtually) unobtainable. Two weeks before Christmas, the disc is available in no store, no Amazon, no Ebay, no Overstock.com, no distributors, no nothing. It‘s our little secret here in Memphis. Total market failure or just a typical Memphis thang? Perhaps that just adds to the mystery and majesty of the ordeal.

The good news is that Bobo‘s back from Europe with his ”other“ band, and he is house-sitting a la Jeff Buckley at the Hi Tone every Monday night in December (and looks like the first two in January as well!). The songs are show-stoppers that will outlive all of us, and you will be glad you went, especially since it is the only way to hear the songs these days (outside of WEVL). A great treat for a cold month ahead.

If you were bad this year, Harlan T. Bobo‘s Too Much Love will be coming down your chimney. Pray that you were bad.

No matter how you slice it, Memphis music has had many things to be thankful for in 2004. A few that came in the cornucopia this year.

1) 50th Anniversary of the Birth of Rock ‘N Roll Campaign

The most talked about music promotional campaign ever by the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau, it came off surprisingly well despite the arbitrariness of the whole plan. In the minds of musical historians, the backfiring potential of this campaign to define when rock ‘n roll actually began was definitely there. Certain media made minor mentions of other possible dates for rock ‘n roll’s origination, but for the most part, media outlets accepted the date of July 5, 1954, at face value and ran with the story. CNN even covered the concert at Sun Studios, proving that if you provide a newsworthy music event, the media will come sans bribes.

What it means: The positive media Memphis, Sun Studio, Graceland, Rock ‘N Soul Museum, and other Memphis music attractions received will increase visitations to Memphis for the next three or four years. The positive marketing for Memphis regionally, nationally, and internationally does not pay off over night since vacations have to be planned, but there will be a nice bump for Memphis in the 51st, 52nd, and 53rd year of rock ‘n roll. The trick is to continue to provide live music worthy of these new fans of Memphis music who will be coming to town for the first time.

An added bonus for this campaign was seeing the lesser-known players from the early days of rock ‘n roll–Billy Lee Riley, DJ Fontana, Sonny Burgess, and especially Scotty Moore–get their day in the Sun, making it all the more worthwhile. Kudos to Sun Studio for pulling off a super event, one which we have heard and hope will be an annual concert.

2) Rolling Stone Ranks Memphis High on Top 500 Songs & Top 500 Lps of All Time

According to this year’s Rolling Stone lists, Memphis artists, labels, or studios cut 5.5% of the best lps of all time (6% if you include Howlin’ Wolf and Robert Johnson as Memphis area artists!) and 8% of the top 500 songs of all time. These numbers are phenomenal for any one city’s music heritage.

What it means: With such mainstream popular music media recognition, Memphis is reaffirmed as one the principal music and recording centers of the world. Only New York, London, Los Angeles, and, possibly Nashville can compete with the above music pedigree.

3) Elvis Costello Heads South for 2004

Not only did Elvis Costello cut his new record down in Oxford, he chose Memphis’ Hi Tone to flesh out his new material in four intimate concerts in the spring. Having a blast at the mid-town haunt, he chose to return to Memphis and the Hi Tone for his live DVD shoot in September with Emmylou Harris.

What it means: Memphis still has the mojo soul that international superstars (Tito Jackson?) continue to seek out. As an added bonus, the Hi Tone will have its cool logo behind Costello on thousands of dvds as well as live on the BBC, where the show is slated to premiere. (Hi Tone could be a great place to start a live from Memphis tv show a la Live at Bluebird Café)

4) Hustle and Flow, First Major Hipster Movie Since Mystery Train, Shoots in Memphis

Movies reflect and refract trends in popular music. Repo Man brought punk rock into the mass media, The Blues Brothers taught a new generation about the Memphis Sound, and Craig Brewer’s hip hop struggle opus could do the same for Memphis’ most underground sounds.

What it means: If Craig Brewer’s first major film is half as good as expected, Memphis Crunk could be next year’s national hip hop rage

.5) Unknown Artists Continue to Come Out Memphis with Excellent Records

Memphis artists continue to boil over the side of the pot. Harlan T. Bobo, Half-Acre Gunroom, and the Bo-Keys (amongst others) all released stellar home-cooked records.

What it means: The well seems to be deep right now–much deeper than just the North Mississippi All-Stars and Lucero. Most cities would die just to have one of these bands, and Memphis has a whole slew of others coming on.

6) Willie Mitchell Blvd. Christened

Mr. Mitchell, who follows only Elvis in number of gold records earned in Memphis, finally got some local recognition with his street naming in front of his Royal Recording.

What it means: Memphis is recognizing who it has while they are alive. A turning point?

7) Al Green/Jerry Lee Lewis/Big Star All Resurface in Famous Memphis Studios

The Memphis Sound, with these three big acts all well-represented in the previously mentioned Rolling Stone Top 500 lists, returned to the studios that made them famous: Royal, Sam Phillips, and Ardent.

What it means: More Memphis music spread thickly nationally in 2005

.8) The Man in Black Gets the Hollywood Treatment in Memphis

While it’s great that Johnny Cash has been given the full Hollywood effect with Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix, we hope they do better than the Great Balls of Fire debacle of 1989. It could be that the ‘50s legends are so much larger than life that they do not translate to the silver screen. Why not just re-release some great Johnny Cash documentary footage?

What it means: More young fans for the greatest country singer of the 20th century.

After five and a half years of a Memphis Music Commission and more than one million dollars of public and private funds spent, specific goals achieved are hard to pinpoint.

Hindsight is 20/20 but here are a few things that could have been done with $1,000,000 to “promote a viable prolific music industry building on Memphis’ rich cultural heritage,” the stated function of the commission.

1) Give $5000 in studio time, record pressing, or equipment vouchers to 200 Memphis bands. The vouchers would be good at any Memphis recording studio, music equipment shop, or record pressing provider. The Music Commission would reimburse the businesses for vouchers tendered. Instantly, Memphis studios are working, music stores are selling, and Memphis CD manufacturers are pressing up CD’s. Ask any studio owner or music gear supplier in town how much this would benefit them.

On the creative side, more Memphis bands are making and releasing records, hiring designers to create their CD artwork, and creating a new supply of Memphis music for the marketplace. The Memphis Music Commission board members could sit and watch their good tidings overflow from both the positive economic impact from the money spent in Memphis music businesses as well as the creative energy and results of the seed money for the Memphis bands. Just imagine the P.R. the music commission could enjoy from the release of 40 more Memphis CD releases a year!

2) Stage 10 Regional festivals at $100,000 eachÑtwo each year. Mix in Memphis’ current brightest future stars like the Kelly Hurt Trio, Candice Ivory, the Glass, Reigning Sound, Kavious, and Half-Acre Gunroom with affordable regional acts that would draw well here like Bobby Bare Jr., Drive By Truckers, and Neville Bros, and you have the beginning of an economic festival model that draws music tourists to town and creates a huge regional and national buzz for Memphis’ future stars. Cut the budget for each festival in half to $50,000, and then you could have done it every quarter for the last 5 years. Fill up the hotel rooms while you build your musician and band base. That’s music business 101. Now you have the hotel and hospitality industry on your team, too. Boo ya!

3) Start a satellite radio channel broadcasting Memphis music and promoting Memphis music events exclusively. Right now Graceland has an all-Elvis station running on-site on Sirius, and it appears that Sirius picks up a majority of the expenses. With seed money from the Memphis music commission, pitching an all-Memphis station is a perfectly timed no-brainer to either Sirius or XM, who are both hungry for new programming and could bid against each other for the rights to the station. Get a hot high-profile location like in the Stax Music Academy, next to Sun Studio, or in the Fedex Forum and you got a new tourist destination to boot.

4) Fix the Shell and give them programming money to put on bigger shows with Memphis acts involved. $100,000 a year. Solve a problem of both historical and future significance with some long needed funds.

5) For pete’s sake, put up a website! Initial cost: $25,000-50,000. Operating Cost: $20,000 a year. The least the music commission could do is have a website that lists all of the Memphis music gigs. And I do mean the very least. There has been money available to buy out former director Jerry Schilling’s contract, chase MTV around, and build Spinal Tap-esque scale models of the Fedex Forum, but no resources have been able to list band gigs for three years?

That’s a good start. Certainly more bang for its buck then what Memphis has got so far.

(Sherman Willmott is the owner of the Shangri-La record store and a frequent contributor.)

An Irish wake saved the Shell in 1985. It will take much more than that today. Friends of longtime Overton Park Shell activist John Hanrahan, who died in 1985, spontaneously formed a grassroots group at his wake, and the day after began cleaning up and “saving” the mid-town Overton Park Shell from certain death by demolition. The loss of Hanrahan was the Shell’s gain.

Since 1985 the Shell has been run by a very cost-effective, dedicated non-profit group who has kept the Shell running with little financial support from the city of Memphis. In fact, the city has given no financial support to the Shell since 1987.

Last month, Bob Fouche, the Memphis Parks Department Director, on the basis of an engineering report submitted to the Parks Department in March, 2004, ordered the Shell shut down until further notice. Fouche cited stated liability concerns as the reason for closure. The report detailed code violations that estimated $511,600 for repairs or $60,000 to tear the Shell down.

David Leonard, a Shell board member and the organziation’s founding president, believes that as a member of the National Historic Register, the Shell receives a grandfathered exemption for many of the code violations. He also believes that the Shell organization can get many of the materials and much of the labor donated for repairs that are needed, greatly reducing the city’s estimates. .

What Leonard is most excited about is the long-term prospects for the Shell. “I am excited the city is interested in working with us. We see the zoo model as what we need: a management agreement with the city. People don’t want to donate to the city, but they will to a non-profit group. We’ve been operating that deal (the Shell) for 18 years without any written agreement. Maybe we finally can.”

Leonard sees Fouche as the first city employee to offer the Shell time to create a long-range plan that can be taken to the city to permanently fix the Shell and make all parties happy. Leonard is confident that there are family foundations and contractors as well as Shell fans and supporters who will come to the table when the non-profit presents a proper long-range plan. He cites online Elvis fan clubs as one group (of many) who have already begun raising money for the effort. (Fouche did not return phone inquiries about the Parks Departments commitment to the Shell). .

Why is the Shell so important to Memphis? The Shell is a gem of an amphitheater that sits on a beautiful piece of property in Overton Park surrounded by the first class Memphis College of Art; the incredible secret of the Memphis Brooks Museum; a beautiful public golf course; the top-shelf Overton Park Zoo, which has had an incredible renaissance in the last 15 years as a public cause celebre, a party palace for the smart set, and a vehicle for regional tourism; as well as the mating fields of the Overton Park forest.

None of these Memphis institutions would be here were it not for the 1960s fight against the federal government, a lawsuit which ended with the citizens of Memphis winning thereby preventing Interstate 40 from running through Overton Park. Score one for the people. .

The Overton Park Shell hosted Elvis’ first public concert once he recorded for Sun Records. The footage of Elvis shaking his hips in 1954 that has been ubiquitous of late was shot at that concert. Other music superstars have followed in Elvis’ footsteps at the Shell: Johnny Cash, Furry Lewis, Sleepy John Estes, Bukka White, Trapeze, ZZ Top, Edgar & Johnny Winter, the Allman Bros., Deep Purple, Alex Chilton, Marguerite PiazzaÉ..

The former hippies of mid-town (and the suburbs beyond) have an appropriate nostalgia for the late 1960s and early 1970s at the Shell as well. The Shell’s history is incredibly noteworthy, but what makes reviving the Shell so important is the present and future of Memphis music.

The Shell remains one of the few entry points for live performances for current Memphis musicians. In the last 15 years, there are few Memphis bands that have not played at the Shell at some formative point in their career. The Shell is a great place for young performers to cut their teeth in a forgiving, laid-back atmosphere that has the cache of hosting the King of Rock ‘N Roll at a similar early point in his career. If Memphis is to continue its legacy in the world of popular music, Memphis must create an atmosphere that already exists at the Shell. .

Those who wish to get involved with the latest imbroglio involving the Overton Park Shell may donate by calling (901)274-6046 or visiting www.overtonparkshell.com .

Another Overton Park landmark: Plaque in honor of the late Jeff Buckley, music great and, in 1997, when he succumbed to a Mississippi River tide while swimming, a zoo enthusiast.

Memphis lost one its brightest, most eclectic female stars last weekÑCordell Jackson, a lady who out-punkrocked them all with her octogenarian Hagstrom attack. She even kicked Brian SetzerÕs ass, admittedly not a difficult thing to do. With the loss of Ms. Jackson as well as MemphisÕ first lady of soul Estelle Axton in February, it has not been a good year for the ladies who helped create the mystery and magic of Memphis music (Where are the made-for-tv movies or Biography specials on Estelle Axton and Cordell Jackson? Certainly Ms. Axton was one of the most influential females in popular music of the 20th centuryÉbut I digress). This is not an obituary; Cordell Jackson had a great life and a great run, especially as inspiration to a current generation of roots rockers in the 1990s. This is a wake-up call! Memphis has lost too many stars in the last ten yearsÉRufus Thomas, Fred Ford, Sam Phillips, Junior Kimbrough, Othar Turner, Son Thomas, Charlie Feathers, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash and many others (Only the enigmatic Jerry Lee Lewis, who has definitely made a deal at the crossroads, is still sitting by the pool playing the piano) to not take notice.

Do something today for Memphis musicians–those famous and those not yet so. Your gesture can be small or big. Book a Memphis band for your next bbq, party, or wedding. Take a Memphis musician to lunch, as Jim Dickinson likes to say. If you work at a radio station, play their music (on the air!). If you work at Memphis Convention and VisitorÕs Bureau, start promoting current acts like South Filthy, Lucero, and Half-Acre Gunroom in your brochures before they get Dolly Parton-sized. If you work at the Memphis Arts Council, open up your vast budgets to current Memphis Music, which is an art and should be treated like other branches of the arts. If you work at or own a hotel, have a Memphis band play your cocktail hourÑa good portion of your guests have come to hear the Memphis Sound. If you drive a cab, play Memphis music for your fares. If you work at the City Council, continue to honor heroes like Willie Mitchell by naming a street after them; people come from the ends of the earth to have their picture taken on Willie Mitchell Blvd. If you are a mayor, next time you give a billionaire from out of town a monopoly concert business and a free $250 million corporate headquarters, make sure you put in the contract that he has to hire Memphis musicians to be the opening act at all of his events.

Make Memphis musicians feel important and used (in the commercial sense) while they are alive. Do not wait until they are gone. Do not wait on the Memphis Music Commission to come to the rescue. And do not look at these actions like charity. Look at them as an investment in Memphis. People come from all over the world to this city for its music and music heritage. They buy meals from your restaurants, shop in your t-shirt shops or antique stores, ride on your trollies, rent your cars, sleep in your hotels, and buy airline tickets from your travel agents. Musicians have taken a pay cut to live in Memphis and spread the goodwill of Memphis all over the world. If you want to have Memphis music icons in the next generation and if you want this music heritage (i.e. this commerce) to continue, you have to create a musical atmosphere that is more conducive than a subsistence gig once a month.