Jimmy Rusidoff & Steve Ingle

Stax guitar hero Steve Cropper will be a guest on the first episode of Ronnie Wood's new Sky TV show. Will Michael Cohl bring the Rolling Stones to the Liberty Bowl in September?

Amy LaVere was busy this week recording new music at Willie Mitchell's Royal Studio with Cody Dickinson (from the North Mississippi All-Stars), Boo Mitchell and the Hodge Brothers.

Everyone was in the holiday spirit at the annual Creed reunion show. James Flynn, Chip Thomas, Jimmy Rusidoff, Steve Ingle and Hal Butler played before a packed house of fans, friends and family at the New Daisy theatre. There is always a great turn out and it has become a tradition for their long-time fans--why was there talk of this being the last year of the event? photos >

Jimi Jamison has reunited with the band Survivor telling jungleroom.com that "we will be going on tour with Boston and some other bands." He has finished work with Billy Gibbons on the ZZ Top guitarist's first solo album (Gibbons recorded basic tracks in Houston with Joe Hardy while Jamison did his parts at Young Avenue Sound in Memphis) just as Frontier Records released his duet album with Bobby Kimball (from Toto)--a project that placed engineer Jacob Church behind the mixing board. Jimi mentions that the new album is "pretty good" and that "everyone should check it out!" There is talk of a Target reunion in Memphis...

Valerie June

It was sad to hear that Atlanta-based booking agent Danny Capes has passed away, he took care of business in Peabo Bryson's office for several years. You will be missed little buddy...

Memphis songbird Valerie June was mentioned in last month's issue of Rolling Stone magazine. How long before she is on the cover? Look for her involvement in a "side project" with some of the best musicians in town. photos >

Joey Molland of Badfinger was in town this week working on a project with Carl "Blue" Wise. More details soon...

Look for the new album from punk-blues masetro John "Lowebow" Lowe. "I'm working on my first vinyl release: Johnny Lowebow I'm a One Man Band," he said. " It's 12 original songs all played on Lowebow instruments. I play all parts and sing live at Xanadu with studio quality. Jim Medlin is the engineer, Pat MacDonald (from Timbuck 3) chose the song order and L. Nix Mastering mastered to CD and vinyl. Billy Riley is working on the art from Combustion . All songs BMI, co-writers are Megan Owens, Heidi Spencer, Lance Lazlow, Steve Hamilton and Craig Lothson. Two of the cuts ("Trailer Park on Mars" and "The Place I was Born Is Now a Prison") are selected to be on a Bang! Records release (in France) as part of a Memphis Music Sampler album in September 2012. This will be Lowebow Records #1, as soon as the paperwork is done it will be pressed in Nashville."

The Memphis Horns will receive the Life Time Achievement Award at the Grammy Awards ceremony on 2/11/12. They have just released Perkin' It Up, a never before heard instrumental album they recorded in 2004--their last collaboration before Andrew Love's retirement.

Paul Brown is "super thrilled" to announce that Bobby Rush's album Show You A Good Time (produced at Ocean Soul Studios in Nashville) has been nominated for Best Soul Blues Album at the upcoming 2012 Blues Music Awards.

The editorial staff of Wall Street Journal and Kate Tuttle from the Boston Globe have included Preston Lauterbach’s The Chitlin’ Circuit and the Road to Rock ‘n’ Roll on their list of the best nonfiction works of 2011. Lauterbach's next book will chronicle the history of Beale Street.

Hagen Grohe (formerly of the Joe Perry Project) explains that he is "currently working on an original album with my new band 21 OCTAYNE. The album will be released in April 2012."

Claudia Lennear is preparing to launch an official web site. She tells jungleroom.com about her first professional recording: "The quick story is that I sang the lead on this song titled "One Bad Habit". I had joined a Los Angeles group called "The Superbs" when I was about 17 years old. At that time I was strongly influenced by singers like Carla Thomas, Irma Thomas, Ann Peebles, and Barbara Mason. The lyrics are a bit corny by today's standards, but the words were appropriate at the time of the recording which was performed at the Ray Charles recording studio on Pico Blvd in L.A.." She added "I passed an audition supervised by Ike Turner within a year of this recording and became an Ikette in '68." Check out "One Bad Habit"...

Grace Askew & Richard A. Ford

The beautiful and brilliant Wendy Moten was the highlight of the evening singing "You Raise Me Up" at the 20th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Museum Freedom Awards ceremony at the Cannon Center. Moten recently completed work on a project with producer Dave Stewart (the Eurythmics, etc.) in Nashville and recorded vocals on four songs for the new Buddy Guy album.

Richard Alan Ford and friends bring some great bluegrass/americana music to the newly re-opened Daily Planet in the University of Memphis area. His special guest Grace Askew stunned the audience with her bluesy vocals and some of the most wicked dobro licks one could ever imagine. Evie Johnson often sits in on djembe and hula-hoop. photos >

If you are ever vactioning in Florida, be sure to catch Memphis drummer Kim Trammell playing with the Barry Fish Band--they are the house band at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville in Panama City Beach.

Pennsylvania songwriter Dan Robinson has some great new music posted online.

Captain Midnight

The Captain Midnight band from Nashville crash landed into Memphis with another amazing set of their 70's inspired "waterbed rock and roll" music at Newby's on the Highland strip. photos >

Everyone is talking about the tall, charismatic and strikingly beautiful Serbian girl on the University of Memphis girl's volleyball team! Jovana Barisic (the correct pronunciation is YO-vuh-nuh BAR-i-shish) is 6' 4" of badass athletic prowess and don't be surprised if Jerry Lawler recruits her for the WWE.

Marie Pizano is involved with a number of interesting projects at MVP3 Entertainment Group. The Mulch Brothers had their song "Steal You Away" included in the film Country Strong (Gwenyth Palthrow,Tim McGraw, etc.), while MVP3 artist and songwriter Billy Falcon recently opened for Bon Jovi at the Fed Ex Forum. Charles Ewing (of the Ewing Moving Service) is an investor and associate producer in “Momo: The Sam Giancana Story”--a documentary that will screen this fall. MVP3's next project in development is the movie "Pop Star", which will film in Memphis and Nashville.

Remember the 1980's Memphis group Ransom? Bill Kellon and his brother Kenny Kellon are working "on putting something together" for this spring.

Mitch McCracken remembers Memphis blues guitar great Hubert Sumlin in an atricle for the Memphis Daily News. He will serve as master of ceremonies for the Derek St. Holmes/Bobby Kimball/Joe Lynn Turner show at Minglewood Hall on 2/11/12.

Kathy McDonald (formerly of Leon Russell's "shelter people" band) says that "Facebook has given me such great reconnections, musician and past loves & friends.....but I miss Dancin with the Stars."

Lisa Bouchelle

It was Wednesday "biker night" on Beale Street and the over capacity audience melting in the ninety degree un-air conditioned New Daisy theatre waiting for Ted Nugent to take the stage could have been quite the challenge for any opening act. The brilliant and beautiful Lisa Bouchelle won over the jaded crowd with her first song--in this era of young Pro-Tools posers, she is the real deal. photos >

Stanley Sheldon is known as one of the first advocates of the fretless bass in classic rock music. He returned to Memphis for the first time since 1979 to play with Peter Frampton's "Frampton Comes Alive! 35 Tour" show at the Mud Island amphitheatre. Sheldon explains to jungleroom.com that "Duck Dunn is a huge influence on me and my early years learning how to play bass! Especially the Booker T and the MG's records "Soul Dressing" and "Hip-Hug-Her"--not to forget Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, Eddie Floyd, and Sam and Dave: we played all the stuff in my early band back in Kansas. We play a lot of funk based feels with Peter and of course you can hear the influnece of Motown, Stax, New Orleans funk all throughout our repetoir."

Bobby Whitlock is excited about his upcoming album with CoCo Carmel. "CoCo is just adding the finishing touches to our new CD Esoteric. We plan on it being available at the beginning of the new year. It will be a double disc CD with sixteen songs on it--eight on each disc. She is producer/engineer as well as musical partner and wife. It is just Coco and myself with Brannen Temple on drums. He is a world class drummer and has lifted our music up to where it belongs. She plays bass, sax, flute, guitar and arranged the strings and background vocals--I play the keyboards and guitar as well. It is a great achievement on CoCo's behalf and an AWESOME recording!" His book "Bobby Whitlock: A Rock 'n' Roll Autobiography" is selling very well at Amazon.com.

Kenny Lee Lewis

The Steve Miller Band accented their set of classic rock radio gems with some Stax inspired soul during their show at the Memphis Botantic Garden in Audubon Park.

The audience ignored the summer evening heat and humidity in the park as keyboardist Joseph Wooten exuded Memphis cool onstage sporting his Stax logo t-shirt while Kenny Lee Lewis was an absolute monster on bass. He pushed the other band members (acknowledged by Steve Miller and Lewie Steinberg after the show) and the boundaries of musical tightness for the Memphis crowd. Diane Steinberg-Lewis (remember her as "Lucy" from the Sgt. Pepper's movie?) is the princess of Memphis musical royality and she held court backstage with Rock and Roll Hall of Famer/Stax bassist Lewie Steinberg in attendance.

Lewis has just posted an eloquent assessment of the past decade for classic rock bands and details the future of the music business in this blog on the Guitar Player magazine website. Let Your Hair Down is the new album from the Steve Miller Band..give it a listen, it is killer. photos >

The friends of George Klein have drafted this petition requesting the induction of the "G'eeker in Your Speaker" into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Paul Brown & Rickey Medlocke

Paul Brown is busy with his new Ocean Soul Studios in Nashville. Along with five tracks being added on SiriusXM Radio from the studio’s first two releases (his dad Roz Brown and Bobby Rush), he’s been producing tracks on Stacy Michelle Plunk (from Kid Rock’s band) and tracking keys and B3 for Stacy’s fiancée Rickey Medlocke's (guitarist for Lynyrd Skynyrd ) first solo project as well as laying down some B3 organ parts for the upcoming Deborah Bonham album and producing the debut album for metal group Obstruction of Power .

Sandy Carroll’s album release party at the midtown Huey’s was a blast. Evan Leake was quite the trooper (playing guitar with Carroll's band while still on crutches) and it warmed the heart of everyone in attendance to see Jackie Johnson walk through the door.

Jennifer Reed has lost her job at WYSP in Philadelphia. Will Rock 103 please go away and die? It is an absolute shame to see a once great radio station die a slow painful death. It is horrible.

Memphis Rejects

The Memphis Rejects are Robert Kent Haines, Kim Lemser, Joey Skelton, Buddy Davis (check out his story of Jeff Beck's oxblood Les Paul customized at Strings and Things) and Frank Monteleone. Look for them to play more in East Memphis this summer...

Gary Hager and his band Work Release sounded great during their latest set at Huey's on Poplar. He channeled Paul Rodgers perfectly during their version of "Gone, Gone, Gone" while guitarist Bill Parsley (formerly of the Memphis Hurricanes, he use to write for CREEM magazine), former Target member Paul Cannon (he was the session guitarist at Steve Cropper's TMI studios), bassist Bob Tait and drummer Chuck Bratton (both were in Wyzard in the late 1970's) have never sounded better.

Another Rick Dees sighting at Memphis International Airport?

John Long was the program director at WHBQ-AM during it's late 1970's heyday. He co-founded the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame in 2007 and serves as it's president. He is semi-retired and living on the Georgia coast.

German photographer Hannah Lipowsky had an "unforgettable time and experience" capturing images of Larry Dodson and James Alexander (from the Bar-Kays), Wayne Jackson, Preston Shannon, Bobby Rush, Larry Nix, Don Nix and others for her latest project. She will continue her work at the Poretta Soul Festival in Italy this July.

Amy LaVere

The jambalaya from the Bayou Grill was fantastic and the music from Amy LaVere and her band was perfect for a Saturday afternoon in midtown Memphis at the Overton Square Crawfish Festival. photos >

Elizabeth Derringer is busy with her public relations firm in New York but she was kind enough to email a scan. If anyone needs a PR rep, she is the best.

Larry Raspberry and his band (guitarist Josh Haynes teamed with Steve Spear on bass and Bill Marshall on drums) sounded great last Sunday night at Huey's in East Memphis.

Scott Sudbury is busy playing a lot of private/corporate shows with his band Almost Famous and preparing to start work on a new album.

Roger Fisher & Phillip Rauls

Former Memphis music biz guru Phillip Rauls was ambushed by his wife Midori with a surprise birthday party in Seattle. Roger Fisher (the original guitarist in Heart) played a set that wowed the cheerful gathering of friends and family at the celebration. Fisher and his brother Michael Fisher are working together on a film project.

Jack Douglas said he "would love to come to Memphis" to record some music. Memphis needs your ears Mr. Douglas...

The local politicians are scheming on a plan to demolish the Mid-South Coliseum. Jerry Lawler and Michael McCarthy are the most prominent voices in the opposition but it appears that everything "is already rigged" and the deals have been made. It would be wiser to bulldoze city hall...

David Hull

"Pay Some Attention" is the new song from David Hull and listeners say it sounds like Memphis. Hull said "that sounds like a compliment from where I stand. Gotta warn you that the whole album is not all strictly in that style, there're a lot of different flavors in the stew. But, a lot of them originated in your part of the world." He tells jungleroom.com about his new album and tour, the Joe Perry Project, playing blues with Jimi Hendrix and Memphis barbeque. interview >

Jim Dandy Mangrum just recorded an interview with old friend Alice Cooper for a segment on the Nights with Alice Cooper radio program. The working title for the new Black Oak Arkansas album is Memphis Mean Time--it will include a guest appearance from Billy Bob Thornton on drums. Jim Dandy explained that "despite being ripped off for $4,000,000" he will offer "a little bit of levity" in the new music.

Daryl Hance

Daryl Hance (formely of Mofro and JJ Grey) showcased songs from his new album Hallowed Ground at Swanky’s Taco Shop. Chris Chew & Kirk Smithhart opened the show...

Stax artist J. Blackfoot has passed away. He was noted for his work with the Bar-Kays and the Soul Children as well as several fine solo recordings...

Donna Radle Holland told me about Carl Radle.com, a great site dedicated to her late brother. He was the fantastic bass player behind Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker, Yvonne Elliman, Rita Coolidge and many others.

Rick Nielsen

The boy from Illinois sounded great inside the Memphis Botanic Garden! It felt like 1979 again during the Cheap Trick set at the final show of the "Live in the Garden" concert series. Hats off to Sherry Misner and company for booking some great shows this year, who would have ever guessed Rick Nielsen would be playing in the old neighborhood?

Buddy Davis told me about the "Thrill at the Grill" where the Memphis musical elite are showing up for the weekly jam session on the patio of the East End Grill (located on the corner of Winchester and Hacks Crossing) every Thursday night. Everyone is waiting for George Klein to stop in for a visit.

Andy Tanas has finished writing his book entitled Thoughts From the Indie Frontlines. He tells me that "It's about my life as an indie since I left Krokus in 1985. I went from big time rock star to nobody overnight. It also covers the indie scene today, good guys and bad guys, the oncoming fall of the major labels, what the future holds, growing up in Memphis in the 60's and the slumping local music scene of the early 70's, my time with Skynyrd in 75 and my dysfunctional life in Frayser with my paranoid shizo alcoholic step father. Fun stuff, huh?"

Susanne and Pat Taylor

Susanne Jerome-Taylor and husband Pat Taylor were backed by Paul Taylor on drums, keyboardist Tony Black and guitarist Jack Rowell at the Levitt Shell. Pat said they will be "playing more and more 'cause we’re having an absolute blast!"

Blues vocalist Lara Price is the best kept secret in the San Francisco area. Will Price and her band make a return visit to Memphis? "I have had the pleasure of playing at B.B. King's and the Rum Boogie Cafe," she said, "We are due to come back through!"

Remember 1970's band Detective (they made a couple of killer albums for Led Zep's Swan Song label)? Jon Hyde explains that "I'm still playing drums in several different projects, the main one being a band with Bobby Pickett, the bass player from Detective. We're rehearsing right now and should be out playing around LA within the next month."

Joe Perry @ the Gold Strike

Joe Perry extended a gracious endorsement of the Rendezvous (it's founder, Charlie Vergos had passed away that morning) during his show at the Gold Strike Casino. I had the chance to speak with Hagen Grohe before the show--you can bet the world will hear more from this young man now that Aerosmith has regrouped.

"Miss O'Dell: My Hard Days and Long Nights with The Beatles, The Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and the Women They Loved" is the new book from Chris O'Dell. She explains that "I came to Memphis on many tours, as well as lived there for a few months. That was in the 70's. But my best time was in 2000 when I came with my son and a friend and her son. We went to the MLK museum and Graceland and it just felt like really being there. I loved the feeling of the downtown and that really old hotel, what's it called? It just is a very special city."

Don Nix, Bonnie Bramlett, Klaus Voormann

Klaus Voormann was in Memphis to work on his upcoming album with his old friend Don Nix at Ardent Studios. Bonnie Bramlett flew into town to sing on covers of "Mockingbird" and "My Sweet Lord" backed by Muscle Shoals bassist David Hood, Memphis studio session drummer Joel Williams, keyboardist Rick Steff, guitarists Kelvin Holley and John Fohl. Voormann had a camera crew from Germany film the session as mixing engineer Jason Lattner worked the board. Paul McCartney, Carly Simon, Cat Stevens, Dr. John, Don Preston and others contributed on tracks for the project.

Rusty Burns told me about his days in Memphis and the new Point Blank album. "This is the first studio record that we have put out in 27 years so we are really stoked to get to lay another bit of musical strata in our discography. It is also the first studio record that we didn't record in Memphis...bummer! I own a recording studio these days and record a lot of artists ranging from gospel to metal to country. The band likes the sound and vibe of the room, so we decided to do it here. There is an instrumental song that I wrote for my father two days after I buried him titled "My Soul Cries Out" which adds another element to the direction and depth of the band." He explained "I do have some very fond memories of Solomon Alfred's, The Breaks (great band!), Earl's Hot Biscuits and some vey good music/musicians. Strings and Things built the guitar that I still play today. I love Memphis and really miss it! We are working on doing some dates in the USA soon after our return from the European/Scandinavian tour."

Edgewood

The members of the legendary early 1970's Memphis band Edgewood reunited for a "one time only" show as the special guests opening the "Jimi Jamison and friends" concert at Minglewood Hall. Pictured (left to right): David Beaver, Steve Spear, Jimmy Tarbutton, Joel Williams, Josh Haynes, Pat Taylor, (kneeling) Gary Hager and Donna Wolf. Despite not having played together in years, they sounded great tackeling some intricate material. David Beaver said that "We selected six original songs from two unreleased albums Edgewood recorded. One song we recorded at Dan Penn's Beautiful Sounds Studio on Highland in 1969 and the other five were recorded at Ardent studios when it was located on National about 1970. I would put them in a progressive hard rock category. We hope to take the audience back to the days of free concerts at the Overton Park Shell." It would be interesting to have them get back together for more music, they would be perfect for a late summer/early fall date at Levitt Shell concert series. Later in the evening, Hal Butler (the keyboardist from Creed) played in Jimi Jamison's band and Jamison had his old Target bandmate Buddy Davis join him onstage for a few songs.

It was sad to hear that Dale Hawkins (he wrote the song "Suzy Q") passed away. I remember him telling me a couple of road stories at Cousin's Exxon in Holly Springs a few years back.

Chris Pickering

Australian singer/songwriter Chris Pickering has just finished recording new music in Memphis with producer Don Nix at Ardent studios. His manager Leonie told me they are "back in Australia now with a brilliant new record. The recording process was a lot of fun and Chris loved working with Don and the guys at Ardent. We can't wait to get it 'out there'!"

Bobby Lawson played with the Memphis Blues Society for the Blues Jam Thursday night at Neil's. He is in the process of cutting a "mostly blues" disc with Steve Wright at his Three Flights Up studio.

Ninuszka Pietruszka is a 21 year old singer from Berlin, Germany. She has a cover of "Circles" (my favorite Alvin Lee song) on her youtube site that is just priceless.

The fabulous Down2 Five played during the half time of the Memphis Grizzlies vs. Philadelphis 76ers game. You can catch them most weekends at Wrangler's or the Bel Air club. Come out, eat, have a beverage, and see some old guys continue to fight off the effects of aging.

Bill Marshall (he was the drummer in Target before spending 23 years with Hank Williams Jr.'s band) has a "great classic rock band" with Tommy Cathey (his old bandmate in Target). Check out Almost Famous around town and at the casinos.

Derrick King, Gene Simmons, Dustin Starr

Dustin Starr told me about meeting Gene Simmons on Beale Street. "I was hanging with my buddy Derrick King. We are friends with Kevin and Bethany Paige. We were watching them at Alfred's. Kevin and Bethany know Gene from way back and wanted to go say hello. So, they were taking a break from the stage and we went out of the back door of Alfred's and down the street to meet him. There he was. We talked for a few moments and I remember that he was one of the most famous rock stars of all time. So, I reached out as he was walking away and grabbed him by the arm and asked for a quick picture. Boom. There ya have it. It was a brush with greatness, I guess you could say."

Check out the new Voice of Golden Eagle website...

Ron Williams, Willie Mitchell, Carl Wise

Memphis producer/songwriter Carl "Blue" Wise of Highway 51 has released a new album of songs co-written with Bobby Maxwell and recorded at Royal Recording. Willie Mitchell mixed and produced a track for the project. Wise was recently profiled at Soul-Treasures.com.

Memphis singer/songwriter Keith Sykes was fantastic at the Levitt Shell. Reba Russell and Susanne Jerome-Taylor sang background vocals with the band.

My favorite new find is the Plunk Chronicles. Quite a bit of music in the family bloodline. Mike Plunk toured Europe with James Burton last June. His singer/songwriter cousin Carol Plunk played at Dru's Place in midtown on Valentine's Day and Stacy Michelle Plunk is a background singer with Kid Rock.

Sad to hear from a mutal friend that Chips Moman has suffered a stroke, but he is recovering at home in Georgia.

Bill E. Burk (a/k/a "007"), the music columnist for the Memphis Press-Scimitar, has passed away. I'll never forget "007" telling me about blackmailing the Scorpions at the Peabody.

Jo Jo Jefferies is on guitarist Randy McFarland's new album Age of Zero. She co-wrote "We Dream" and added vocals on others tunes. Jefferies has started singing with the Memphis Jazz Orchestra (at Alfred's every Sunday) and is still with the Monday Night Sirens (an acoustic singer/songwriter project with three other female artists) every Monday at Neil's.

Mike Simpson lived in Memphis in the 80's playing drums with Roy Howell in a band called The Actors. Later, he worked in the group Avenue with Jerry Dean, Freddie Kirksey and Chuck Jones. Simpson tells me that he is "living in Ohio now, having just celebrated 22 years with FedEx. I flew down to Memphis last year, to play a gig with Freddie, Chuck, and Jerry, and have to say it was probably the most fun I've had since I left!"

Terry Manning

During his return visit to Memphis, producer/recording engineer Terry Manning played a brilliant set of music at the Hi-Tone on Poplar. Featuring songs from his recently re-released Home Sweet Home album from 1970, it was his first public performance in years. Don Perry has posted photos from the show.

I asked Bob Tait if he remembered playing at Peaches Records with a group named Wyzard. "You are the you the first person I've heard mention that band in years," he said. "Wyzard was Debra Preston (who later became Debra Dejean) on vocals, Delmar Preston on guitar, myself on bass and Chuck Bratton on drums.We opened for Meatloaf at the Ritz on Madison avenue the first time he appeared in Memphis on the "Bat out of Hell" tour. We opened for a lot of bands coming thru memphis and bigger bands from here. Today, Bob plays bass with the Memphis Hurricanes, and on and off with Chuck Bratton in the Killer Minks.

Delmar Preston told me "the Peaches show was a great time! I played on after Wyzard with Meatloaf for three years and then I played a while with Babara Mandrell and Roy Orbison for a few shows, until he died. I got out of the music business, I've owned a couple of companies and am now 'retired' living in St. Petersburg, Florida with my third wife, hah!"

After thirty years, Debra DeJean has obtained the master tapes from the original DeJean album. She is currently "talking to lawyers, etc." to try and market the release on an official website.

Jim Gaines, Rick Steff, Sandy Carroll (with Lulu), Dave Smith, Evan Leake

Sandy Carroll has finished work on her new album. She enlisted guitarist Evan Leake, keyboardist Rick Steff, drummer Steve Potts ( from Booker T. and the MG's, Wynonna Judd, etc.) and bass player Dave Smith to record tracks with producer Jim Gaines (he has recorded Santana, Steve Miller, Huey Lewis, Stevie Ray Vaughn, etc.) behind the board. The title is Just As I Am.

It was great to hear from guitarist Bobby Bell. He told me about his former band Prodigy, who played around Memphis from 1979 until the early ‘80s. "The original band lineup was myself and John McGrory (guitars), Robbie Schupe (bass), Richard Butler (drums) and Steve Gaines on vocals. John McGrory left the band early and the spot was filled by Phil Crittendon, a great left-handed guitarist (and Michael Schenker look-a-like) and eventually Steve Gaines was replaced by Jerry Browning. We were basically a ‘70s British influenced hard rock band covering tunes by bands such as UFO, Rush, Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest, The Babys, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Eddie Money, etc. We played various rock clubs around town and all of Bobby Kizer’s places on the Highland strip (New Horizon and it’s earlier name, but I can’t think of it), Poets, and others, opening frequently for Target, Handmade, Thumbs, and others, as well as occasionally headlining (with opening acts such as The US Kids from NYC). I remember opening for Creed when they had their big coming out party after cutting their first album for A&M. It was at Poets and the place was packed and rocking with a fair number of local music celebrities and few A&M executives in attendance. Richard Butler was a good friend of Chip Thomas (the drummer for Creed) at the time which helped getting us in with Bobby Kizer (famous or should I say infamous local promoter) and getting our start. I left the band around ’81 to concentrate on school (at Memphis State) and was replaced by a great guitar player who played in a mid 70’s Memphis band called Nova." Bell added that he "still actively plays Christian contemporary and worship here in town and am enjoying every minute of it. Those were some great rocking days with some great memories of seeing some fantastic musicians and bands."

Memphis T is a fantastic rockabilly/blues band from Toulouse, France.

It was great to hear from guitarist Ric Moore last week.

Kyle Aylor has opened River Walk Multimedia, a new audio mastering studio in Memphis. Contact him at 901-531-8238 or rwalk@midsouth.rr.com.

The political maneuvering within the Memphis Symphony Orchestra has created extremely hard feelings over the "re-audition" issue. It is obvious someone is ready to leave Memphis and has intentions on granting favors that will help them land a job in another town.