Great night and afternoon on Broadway in Nashville. Live music in a huge number of Mustang-Bar-Like venues from 2pm. Every band is worth hearing. Bands play for tips only and really give you value. Layla's place was rockin' with a high energy Swing dance group while we were there.
The main reason for dropping in the Windy City - The Million Dollar Quartet Musical in the Apollo Theatre (nominated for three Tony Awards).
MILLION
DOLLAR QUARTET is a smash-hit musical inspired by
the famed recording session that brought together rock'n'roll icons Elvis
Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins for the first and
only time.
On December 4, 1956, these four young musicians gathered at Sun Records in
Memphis for what would be one of the greatest jam sessions ever. MILLION
DOLLAR QUARTET brings that legendary night to life, featuring a score
of rock hits including "Blue Suede Shoes," "Fever," "That's All Right,"
"Sixteen Tons," "Great Balls of Fire," "Walk the Line," "Whole Lotta Shakin'
Goin' On," "Who Do You Love?," "Matchbox," "Folsom Prison Blues," "Hound
Dog" and more.
No photography of any kind allowed.
In Australia, a similar show is called 'The Ultimate Rock'n'Roll Jam Session'.
"The whole cast is just so awesome I am having trouble finding the right words. I thought Lance Lipinsky as Jerry Lee Lewis was PHENOMENAL. Gabe Bowling (Carl Perkins), Sean Sullivan (Johnny Cash) and David Lago (Elvis) just ROCKED. The music was endless - you just wanted to get up and dance! The talent of these young performers is just AMAZING! I love each and every one of them and hope to be able to see the show again."
We could not agree more. Apart from the fascinating history of the Sun Studios, the whole show rocks from beginning to end, performed by talented musicians who let you experience the magic that must have taken place on that day, 4 December 1956, as four great musicians with troubled lives and complicated careers got together to do what they liked most - to express the great joy, beauty and sadness of life in songs that shoot straight for the soul.
An unusual small town in the middle of the beautiful Ozark mountains. Entertainment is nonstop on the Highway 76 Strip, a seven-mile stretch of live music and comedy shows, numerous restaurants, theme parks, shopping outlets and myriad hotels, where over 100 music and comedy shows run daily in more than 52 theaters.
Bad choice in "Shake Rattle and Roll" -
Other shows we attended
Red Hot and Blue in Americana Theatre
Rock'n'Roll Is Here to Stay in God and
Country Theatre
Clay Cooper Country Show in Clay Cooper
Theater
Angels of Country in God and Country
Theatre
What an awesome night!!! Went to The Old and New Silver Moon site on Rock'n'Roll Highway 67. Like walking on Rock'n'Roll sacred ground.
Then attended Conductor's Reception @ Depot Days Festival. Rockin' Luke playing, great music, teriffic food, great venue and superb Southern hospitality. We were made to feel so welcome. Great event! See Perth Rocks Facebook Group for more pics.
JM VanEaton's tribute to Billy
Lee Riley @
Depot Days, Newport Arkansas
Sonny Burgess & The
Legendary Pacers
Depot Days Festival
Festival line-up:
1:30 - 2:00
Opening ceremonies with special guest Greater Morningstar Mass
Choir featuring Francine Everett singing the National Anthem
2:00 - 2:45
The Dunham Family Band
3:00 - 3:45
J.R.
4:00 - 5:00
Ace Cannon Band
5:15 - 6:15
J.M. Van Eaton with Travis Wammack
6:30 - 7:30
W.
7:45 - 8:45
Sonny Burgess and The Pacers
9:00 - 10:30 Ronnie McDowell and Band featuring
Elvis drummer D. J. Fontana.
WS Holland (Carl Perkin's and Johnny
Cash's drummer, 40 years with Cash); JM Van Eaton (Billy Lee Riley and
Jerry Lee Lewis' drummer); and
DJ Fontana - Elvis' drummer. The show also
included Travis Wammack a Sun Studios session musician who played
on recordings with most of Sun Studios greats...and Sonny and The
Pacers who had top hit records on Sun.
Great crowd, well organised
festival - one of the best ever for us!
JR Rogers playing 'Great Balls Of Fire' - a comment from the audience - 'real men use gasoline, not lighter fluid!'.
Spent a few days in Memphis, seems a bit run down compared to two years ago, and Beale Street a bit more sleazy.
Saw BB King perform live in his club, the place was packed to the rafters. The warm-up house band ok, but BB's band was in a different class altogether. BB King talked about 60% of the time, but when he played he still sounded great, he turned 85 in September.
They played in the Jerry Lee Lewis
biopic Great Balls of Fire. They performed on The Today Show,
Good Morning America, Entertainment Tonight, CNN. The band broke up
earlier this year)
Friday night attended a dance at a community hall in Amagon (population 95) with the band Jeanie and the Guys, including Sonny Burgess.
Back in Arkansas for the weekend, mainly for the Rock'n'Roll Highway Music Festival in Pocahontas. Good line-up (strangely enough quite a few country music bands at a rock'n'roll festival), but after an hour outdoors in freezing wind decided to call it a day.
Alabama Music Hall of Fame and FAME Recoding Studios
(where Percy Sledge, Aretha Franklin, Bib Dylan, Bob Seger, Rolling Stones and many others recorded their stuff).
Great evening in the Smokey's Sports Pub & Grill - Blues Jam Session hosted by Dog House - Steve Michel, Danny Michel, Larry Joe and all of the other wonderful musicians.
We were the only people not chain smoking all evening.
back again for a few days, Opry Mills Shopping Mall still closed for repairs (damage caused by flooding recently).