City needs museum
To the Editor:
Concerning your Music Issue [April 30th], a Grammy museum is listed as an example of the “city’s increasing willingness to exploit its past and to brighten its future.” Strange to say, it would seem that such willingness does not yet embrace a plan for a museum dedicated to what, in the same issue, you so rightly call “one of our greatest cultural assets.”
Could it be the plan is for the proposed Grammy museum to incorporate Memphis music? If so, an unmitigated travesty is in the making, for Memphis’ illustrious and singular place in music history emphatically demands to stand alone, not relegated to a mere division of a Grammy museum.
At least Memphis has, for the past seven years, had the benefit of John Montague’s awesome collection of Memphis artifacts. This collection, on display at the privately funded Memphis Music Hall of Fame (97 S. Second), is the only such museum in Memphis, the cradle of American music. …
By contrast, other but far dimmer stars in music history have impressive music museums in operation. One example is the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in Macon. The state of Georgia put $6.5 million into the start-up of that facility. Alabama, too, has a music Hall of Fame addressed to its indigenous music, as does Texas in the form of its Gulf Coast facility. Not to mention Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame, now enjoying a $28 million expansion.
Shouldn’t Memphis be putting a high (i.e., ahead of the Grammy museum) priority on the establishment of a music museum commensurate with its world recognition as both the home of the blues and the birthplace of rock-and-roll? Seemingly, the grotesque loss of the rock museum to that Ohio city has not stirred up any plan to establish a Memphis music museum.
Hopefully, the new music commission, or some other entity, will take up this cause. Would that such happen soon, too, before some other city decides to build a Memphis Music Museum.
Don P. Hassell
Memphis
On A Roll
To the Editor:
Roy Brewer’s thoughtfully written history of Local 71 was outstanding! [April 30th issue]. When I see my own name on the Local 71 roll it’s sad to realize how Brewer’s words rang true when he wrote, “the union’s membership list looks more and more like a historical artifact, full of names that are simply loyal vestiges of yesteryear.”
John Lux
Member of Local 71 since 1978
e-mail (Memphis)
The Festival Blues
To the Editor:
To say that I was disappointed with the Beale Street Music Festival would be an understatement of extreme proportion. It is obvious that the sole intention of this festival was to generate a profit and nothing else. I have never seen a more disorganized and inept function presented anywhere else in my life. If I had not purchased three-day tickets in advance, I would not have gone back after Friday, and you can bet I will not be there next year.
All I can say is that as far as next year, instead of Memphis in May, it will be N’awlins in April.
Darren Amos
e-mail (Memphis)
To the Editor:
I went to the music fest last evening and followed the don’ts you had published [Music Issue, April 30th issue]. When I got to the gate, you couldn’t take in a “plastic cup.” This was no big deal; I generally have two or more of the overpriced foamy beers. My complaint was “NO FOLDING CHAIRS ALLOWED” yet there was a vendor there selling folding chairs for $35. This is really sad to rip off Memphians in this way while someone lines their fat pocket!…
Linda Webb
e-mail (Memphis)
Unbelievable
To the Editor:
Although I am myself an atheist, I could not bring myself to be offended by Leonard Gill’s opening sentence in his book review last week [Books, May 7th issue]. Rather, the only reaction I could muster was a nagging sort of confusion as to the meaning of his statement, “Even your most dyed-in-the-wool atheist has to admit that there are days when God works in mysterious ways. ...”
Obviously, Mr. Gill was trying to be clever, but his attempt falls flat. Not only is it by definition untrue that atheists have to admit anything about a God that is to us as real as the Tooth Fairy, but this ill-inspired oxymoron fails to provide any insight at all into the book being reviewed.
Mr. Gill’s strange assertion represents the optimistic belief of many Christians that atheists actually do believe in God, but we just don’t want to admit it. In the same category is the idea that there are no atheists in foxholes. According to Christians who ascribe to this point of view, atheists are really just Christians who like to sleep in on Sundays.
Well, Mr. Gill, I want to set the record straight. As ridiculous as it sounds, atheists actually don’t believe in God. No, not even a little bit. To us, God is like Wonder Bra-induced cleavage: It would be nice if it were for real, but there’s nothing there when it counts, so why bother getting excited?
When you think about it, the bewildering claims of Mr. Gill only serve as proof that it is not God, but the Christian mind, that works in mysterious ways.
Jonathan C. Cook
e-mail (Memphis)
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