Weeks after a federal judge said Isaac Hayes’ estate could pursue its copyright infringement lawsuit against President Donald Trump, the same judge issued a new written ruling dismissing some claims from the complaint while upholding the allegation Trump “personally selected” the song “Hold On, I’m Coming” for use at rallies. …
Read More »Isaac Hayes Estate Demands $3 Million for Trump's Unauthorized Use of 'Hold On, I'm Coming'
Donald Trump is guilty of many crimes (starting with at least 34 felonies, to be exact), and one of them is questionable taste in music. We say “questionable,” not “bad,” because while the song choices at his campaign rallies are often fine in themselves, the former president has the nasty …
Read More »'It's a Big American Story': Inside the Rise and Fall of Stax Records
Stax: Soulsville U.S.A., Jamila Wignot’s four-part HBO documentary about the legendary Memphis record label that produced Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, and others, offers incredible first-person stories. At one point, Booker T. Jones sits at a piano and shows exactly how he stumbled on the chords that became the 1962 chart-topper …
Read More »'Stax: Soulsville U.S.A.': 7 Things We Learned From New Music Doc
You don’t have to be an expert on classic soul and R&B to recognize the American music monuments that emerged from Stax Records in the Sixties and Seventies. Sam & Dave’s “Soul Man,” Otis Redding’s “Respect” and “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay,” Isaac Hayes’ “Theme From Shaft,” and …
Read More »'Stax: Soulsville U.S.A.' Trailer Shows How Label Thrived at Beginning of Civil Rights Movement
A new docuseries, Stax: Soulsville U.S.A., will look at the radical history of the groundbreaking Memphis label, which has been home to Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Sam and Dave, Booker T. and the M.G.’s, and the Staple Singers, among others. A trailer for the four-part series, which debuts with two …
Read More »Jim Stewart, Stax Records Co-Founder, Dead at 92
Jim Stewart, co-founder of R&B label Stax and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, died on Monday, longtime staff Stax songwriter David Porter confirmed on Monday. Stewart was 92. “No way a poor kid from a housing project’s picture in Memphis would be on a bus rolling through Memphis if …
Read More »Mable John, Motown's First Female Solo Artist, Dead at 91
Mable John, the first female solo artist signed to Motown (then Tamla) Records, a Stax singer and longtime Ray Charles collaborator, has died at the age of 91. John died Thursday at her home in Los Angeles; no cause of death was revealed. “We loved her and she was a …
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