Memphis is trying to bring Soulsville back to life - and with it the musicof the Father of Funk, Rufus Thomas. John Kelly reports.
'The world's oldest teenager died Saturday at the age of 84." And with that, the Memphis Commercial Appeal announced the passing of soul legend Rufus "Walkin' the Dog" Thomas in December.
Meanwhile in the Memphis Flyer, soulman Isaac Hayes was in reflective mood. "We should all look to him as an example," he said, "to get the most out of life and to give fully to life. When I was a young kid, he was an idol." And that's how far back Rufus Thomas goes. He was pre-BB King, pre-Bobby Bland, pre-Elvis, pre-Stax, pre-Al Green, pre-everything. And nobody knew it more than Thomas himself.
"They call me the Father of Funk," he once told me, "if you want to talk about funk you have to talk about Stax and Memphis because I was the innovator! I have acquired some things that you only get when you die. I have a street named after me and I have a monument that's erected to me too. It's a 10-foot monument, and I guess its about 15 feet wide!"
Of course, the statue isn't quite as big as that, and the street is no more than a portion of Hernando Street between Beale and Peabody, but even so . . . I last spoke to Thomas in a Memphis recording studio last August. At 84, he was still the same old Rufus; still indignant about how Sam Phillips at Sun, as he saw it, dropped all the black performers, including him, the minute Elvis Presley walked in the door. For Thomas this was a long-running Memphis bone to be picked.
But while Thomas has long been recognised as the senior Memphian and was, without doubt, the Mississippi's greatest advocate, there is a certain irony in his dying just as the city is finally getting around to dealing with its soul-music heritage - perhaps the one remaining major element of the story not yet officially celebrated.
Music pilgrims, for example, have long been disappointed to discover that all that remains of Stax Records at 926 East McLemore is a parking lot. The old Capitol theatre building is long gone and, with it, its proud marquee which once displayed the words "Soulsville USA". A small metal sign was the only indication that this was the very spot where black and white had once come together to make the music of Booker T and the MGs, Otis Redding, William Bell, Eddie Floyd, Sam and Dave, Isaac Hayes, Carla Thomas and, of course, her indefatigable dad Rufus.
But these were the days before the murder of Dr Martin Luther King at the Lorraine Motel and the subsequent demise of the Stax and the Memphis soul scene.
But now Memphis is trying to bring Soulsville back to life. And it makes all kinds of sense. The city's specifically rock 'n' roll attractions have long been obvious with Elvis Presley Enterprises seeing to it that Graceland never has a quiet day. The specifically blues heritage was successfully beefed up back in the 1990s with the opening of B.B. King's Blues Club on Beale Street and the city's adoption of the official slogan "Memphis: Home of the Blues, Birthplace of Rock 'n' Roll". And then there's the more subtle shrine of Sun Studios - clearly a must-see for fans of blues, r 'n' b, country, hillbilly, rockabilly and rock 'n' roll. But the missing ingredient in the official recipe for Memphis stew has always been soul.
The music was always there of course - and it's still more evident than anything else. Everywhere you go, you hear the music of Stax artists and see women with a high-speed motor in each buttock dancing to the music of Johnnie Taylor. But the music has never been properly emphasised, exploited, celebrated or touted as a tourist attraction.
Fair dues then to the Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum opened two years ago by the Smithsonian. And fair dues also to the current attempts to restore the long-suffering neighbourhood of Soulsville - a three square-mile area which has bred the most extraordinary music and was the literal birthplace of so many soul stars - such as Aretha Franklin.
A $20 million redevelopment programme is now well underway on the site of the old Stax studios. There will be a soul museum, a performing arts centre and a music academy for children. The museum has raised $15 million so far in both public and private funding, and the rest now seems inevitable.
THE impact the whole venture will have on Soulsville is incalculable. What it will do for Memphis generally is equally significant - a city constantly regenerating itself at an impressive rate. The government of Memphis is well aware that if it wasn't for the city's rich musical heritage, black and white, grass might be once again growing on Main Street.
Adding to the mood is the news that Isaac Hayes - known also as the voice of Chef on South Park - is moving back to the city where he co-wrote so many of the great Stax songs. He has just opened a new club on Peabody Place - another major attraction for Memphians and visitors alike, and the music will be guaranteed good. The only disappointment is that the old stager Rufus Thomas won't be around to sing in it.
But if the appearance of ghosts can be explained in terms of leftover energy, there is certainly going to be one very big ghost doing The Dog, The Penguin and The Funky Chicken every Saturday night on Peabody and Beale. And we'd all pay real money to see that.