http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/talkingamerica/2008/09/if_youre_going_to_see.html en-gb 30 Fri 01 Jan 2010 00:41:43 GMT+1 A feed of user comments from the page found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/talkingamerica/2008/09/if_youre_going_to_see.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/talkingamerica/2008/09/if_youre_going_to_see.html?page=18#comment12 rwbennett, I work next to a 63 year old black man who grew up in Arkansas with segregated schools until he was 13 (It's only been 50 years since schools there were segregated). He lived through REAL legally enforced racism, as did many other Americans that are still alive today. Racism in America isn't as far in the past as you'd like to convince yourself.Jon,If you do end up sending me that IRN BRU I requested earlier could you please throw in a crunchie bar too? :P Mon 29 Sep 2008 19:51:33 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/talkingamerica/2008/09/if_youre_going_to_see.html?page=16#comment11 On the matter of the post title:"Subpoenaed in Texas, Sequestered in Memphis... I'm getting pretty sick of this interview."Jon – have you been listening to "Hold Steady, Stay Positive"? Great song, but I hope you’re not getting sick of your interviews yet. You’re posts are far too much fun.On the matter of Elvis:I had thought all Elvis Impersonators were dead... until I took the kids to a weekly free concert in the park only to be surrounded by dancing gray haired ladies being swooned by an older gentleman in a black wig and sequined bell-bottoms. We stayed at the show with our sons. It was a valuable learning experience.On the matter of the American Dream:We have awoken and smelled the Starbucks... or the Dunkin' Doughnuts... depending upon your political position. Mon 29 Sep 2008 14:00:16 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/talkingamerica/2008/09/if_youre_going_to_see.html?page=15#comment10 rwbennett, I think that you're taking Jon Kelly'spost the wrong way. The South is a completelydifferent place now than it was in the 50's, andJon was describing conditions under whichculture functioned in that era.No one can debate that things are completelydifferent now than they were then, but the cultureand achievements of that era showed how Americans of every background overcame theircircumstances to excel in their fields. Mon 29 Sep 2008 05:38:42 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/talkingamerica/2008/09/if_youre_going_to_see.html?page=13#comment9 You seem to be implying that Elvis was born in Memphis but his birthplace was actually Tupelo, Mississippi. Mon 29 Sep 2008 03:27:01 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/talkingamerica/2008/09/if_youre_going_to_see.html?page=12#comment8 This sounds like framiliar SOS trite Roman Catholic classism, prejudice, and racism, to foster antiAmerican guilt---not a travel log. RACE, RACE, RACE. Yes, America does have a special problem about race, but you shouldn't keep pointing the finger at white people alone, most of us never had anything to do with slavery and conditions here now, they are more the result of CHOICES made by individuals in groups, blacks are as much to blame. We have had 50 years of FORCED racism in America and it has created many of todays problems. Pointing out all the past problems does not help either, why not glory in the music created by all people? Besides this, NONE of you coming to America, EVER seem to mention the great harm and injustices done to whites, and there are many---just feel the pain of this economic blow out and ask yourselves WHY it ever happened. I am also sick to death of this foolish, prejudiced attitude about music and race. There would still be all kinds of great, beautiful, wonderful music if there had never been a Black person born on Earth...they did not invent music! Mon 29 Sep 2008 02:10:02 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/talkingamerica/2008/09/if_youre_going_to_see.html?page=10#comment7 The American dream is NOT fraying around the edges, the beautiful thing is that, the edges have always been "frayed."It is a dirty mix, and its immigrants a tattered frock by their nature.America is a muckity muck of great artistic accomplishment through its suffering and its'cultural freeedom. As an American, I find that aspect the most endearing quality of my nation and I think foreigners feel that too. Mon 29 Sep 2008 00:32:30 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/talkingamerica/2008/09/if_youre_going_to_see.html?page=9#comment6 "...Booker T and the MG's."Jon, MG stands for "Memphis Group". Mon 29 Sep 2008 00:13:12 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/talkingamerica/2008/09/if_youre_going_to_see.html?page=7#comment5 #5, you read my mind. Sun 28 Sep 2008 23:51:01 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/talkingamerica/2008/09/if_youre_going_to_see.html?page=6#comment4 This post has been Removed Sun 28 Sep 2008 20:51:57 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/talkingamerica/2008/09/if_youre_going_to_see.html?page=4#comment3 Don't leave Memphis without chowing down on those 'dry-rub' ribs!Eating a big 'mess' of catfish and hush puppies.And you simply must visit Bellevue Baptist Church, 25,000 something membership--one of the epicenters of the Southern Baptist mega-church movement. You can't miss it, right beside the huge cross eastbound on I-40. It's too strange to describe, you must see for yourself(grin!!). It has its own marching band--no kidding!!Memphis(or as we say 'Maeowhmfus') is a world unto itself.Welcome to Tennessee, and I hope you come to love it as much as we Tennesseans do. Sun 28 Sep 2008 18:56:27 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/talkingamerica/2008/09/if_youre_going_to_see.html?page=3#comment2 Jon, in Memphis, did you drink Tennessee whiskey or Scotch (whisky)? A popular way to drink "Jack" in the United States is with "Coke," which I've always thought an indication that Americans don't take whisk(e)y very seriously. Sun 28 Sep 2008 17:59:29 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/talkingamerica/2008/09/if_youre_going_to_see.html?page=1#comment1 Halberstam, in his book the Fifties, writes that when Elvis was first interviewed on the radio, by Dewey Phillips, he was asked where he had gone to high school, which was a coded way of telling the listening audience that he was white. Sun 28 Sep 2008 17:54:30 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/talkingamerica/2008/09/if_youre_going_to_see.html?page=0#comment0 I've lived all over the US but Memphis has been my home for the past 12 years. This city has its problems, but the people are down-to-earth, informal, friendly and generally all clases and races share this common bond with the music (blues, soul, rock-n-roll). Over the years, musicians have come here for inspiration....to find the roots of the music that they enjoy. On the surface, Memphis doesn't look all that attactive, but after you spend some time here, you can't help but enjoy it's gritty character. Because that gritty character is what makes the music authentic.....and in Memphis, it's all about the music. Sun 28 Sep 2008 16:37:08 GMT+1