Finding Otis Redding’s Ghost
2-10-09
This past weekend, we went to Memphis.
We went to visit my step son there and had a wonderful visit. The Memphis skies were partly cloudy but the days were beautiful. Beale Street was in full swing. Live Blues music was blowing through almost every door. The vibe was flowing through our bones. Our hotel was remodeled and like new. It was a weekend that would rank up with the best of them in my life so far.
When I was a younger boy, my little brother bought a compilation set of cassette tapes. The Complete Stax-Volt Singles: 1959-1968.
We were floored. This music spoke to my heart and something moved inside of me every time we listened.
Ever since that day, I wanted to go to Memphis to see where Stax Records was. Later in adult life that thought fell a little out of my mind, but I never forgot the music. Like many types of music, the Stax tunes were listened to for a stretch, then not. Regardless of the period of listening to the music or the music taking a back seat to other types, the Stax sound was always a part of me.
That sound and vibe will always be a part of me.
Hurricane Gustav hit and we evacuated to Memphis.
Prior to that I had almost forgotten about the Stax Museum (on the old site of the original recording studio) being in Memphis. We stopped at a tourist information station and were looking at brochures when we saw the Stax Museum flyer. I was instantly ashamed that I had not remembered it being there.
Otis help me.
We came and went and didn’t make it to the Stax Museum.
We vowed then, that on the next visit to Memphis, the museum visit would be on the agenda.
On Saturday, February 7, we drove to Soulsville USA, The Stax Museum of American Soul Music
http://www.soulsvilleusa.com/ and my heart skipped a beat. I was actually nervous. I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew it was going to be nice.
It was more than I expected.
It was a lot more.
All of the Stax artist have a place in my music heart. I enjoy some songs more than others, but every note, chord, and beat that was generated from the old converted movie theater at 926 E. McLemore Avenue hits me where it hurts (that is a good hurt).
Some we have all heard of, some lesser known. I learned of some artist just this weekend that I had no idea recorded at Stax.
Carla Thomas and her dad Rufus, Booker T. and the MGs, Sam and Dave, William Bell, The Staple Singers, Johnnie Taylor, The Mar-Keys, The Bar-Kays, Jean Knight, and Isaac Hayes are just a few of the many remarkable artist who produced that soulful sound from Stax Records. I was equally impressed with all of the exhibits and stories that reflected their lives and careers. In a word, I was simply moved.
As I walked through the museum I was held up by the old recording equipment that was displayed so gracefully there. It was as if time stood still for me. I thought about the fingers that touched the keys. I tried to put myself behind the controls as Carla Thomas or Otis Redding sang behind the microphone.
Then my wife walked up and said that coming up next is a room basically dedicated to Otis Redding.
My heart, another beat it skipped. When I walked around the corner and saw the picture of Otis on a board, a small tear tried to escape from my right eye. I held it back. Time stood still while I was in the “Otis” room (There were other items in the room, but the greater majority of the writings and plaques and pictures and documents were Otis).
I don’t know how long I was there but I do know the last thing I looked at in that room. I read Otis Redding’s death certificate.
I found Otis Redding’s ghost.
Note: When I say “Ghost” I do not mean the kind we all think of when Halloween comes around. I hope that in my writing, you, dear reader, understood the “Ghost” that I found. If not I failed you, if so, get yourself to Memphis.
Note 2: No cameras are allowed in the museum so after we exited I took pictures of the front of the building. Standing there, the tear that tried to escape in the “Otis Room” did.
Note 3: In later blogs, I would like to do a piece on the story of Stax records. Look for it whenever it may appear.
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