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Nothing says ‘Memphis’ like the old Fairgrounds Amusement Park of Memphis memories, beautifully captured here by fan-favorite Charlie Lambert. Originally published June 2019 for both…
Read More Before Libertyland: Memories of the Old Fairgrounds Amusement Park
Words and Pictures by Ken Billett March 15, 2022 — You old radical you, Mike responded via text message. I’d just sent Mike a photo…
Read More Summertime Blues: Buttoned-down Radical
By Ken Billett Saturday, July 22, 2023—Vicki, glanced up from her phone. “Did you know today is the twentieth anniversary of Hurricane Elvis?” “Wow,” I…
Read More Summertime Blues: Hurricane Elvis Remembered
Word and photos by Ken Billett One unique advantage of living in Memphis, Tennessee, compared with other mid-sized American cities, is that everyone knows Memphis.…
Read More Elvis is My Co-Pilot
Following in the footsteps of her family and a well-known chronicler of old Whitehaven, the writer traces her roots in Memphis’s city to the south.…
Read More Tracing My Black Roots in Old Whitehaven
By Robert A. Lanier The street in Memphis where I did most of my growing up in the 1940s, from age 5 to 21 or…
Read More My Street: The home where I grew up is now somewhere under Memphis State
For this writer, when the day comes and if I have a choice of a last meal, I want it to be in a diner…
Read More Lament for a lost diner
Words and Photos by Ken Billett From overhead speakers, Jimi Hendrix’s whispery voice sings the story of “Little Wing.” The song’s slow tempo and bluesy…
Read More Reconciliation: What’s Left Behind
Word and photos by Ken Billett Birds, mostly gulls, swooped and squawked, playing in the oak trees lining 4th Avenue North in downtown St. Petersburg,…
Read More Finding Peace
Words and photos by Ken Billett January 28, 2023—On a wet Saturday night, John Nemeth and his band, The Blue Dreamers, opened their set to…
Read More Blues With a Feeling: the 2023 International Blues Challenge goes on