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“There are cool cats and there are cool Memphis cats but no one, not
Elvis, not Jerry Lee, not even the Wolf came close to epitomizing Memphis
and cool like Jim Dickinson did. He was the Top Cat Daddy, an
inspiration, a mentor and my friend.

If you knew his music and understood his role as one of the links between
black and white culture and between blues and rock and roll, you know what
I'm talking about. If he is unfamiliar to you, now's as good time as any
to get to know him, even though he's checked out of the motel.”

--Joe Nick Patoski


For more about Jim go to
http://www.zebraranch.com
http://joenickp.blogspot.com/2009/08/james-luther-dickinson.html

Thursday, July 31, 2014

CONTEST VIDEO #9

This is Jim's last performance with Mudboy and the Neutrons. Jim's performances were always "for the ages" as is seen in this video. "Hitler Lives" couldn't be more timely.  Vintage Jim and his humor- he was cracking his own band up.  Notice the guitar solo by Sid's son, Steve Selvidge.  The lineup is Jimmy Crosthwait, Sid Selvidge, Jim Dickinson, Steve Selvidge, and Paul Taylor on tub bass.  Enjoy!




Visit the Jim Dickinson's Legacy Facebook page to vote for your favorite video! One entry for each Like and one entry for each Share!

Saturday, July 26, 2014

CONTEST VIDEO #8

This video of Jim’s signature song, “Down In Mississippi,” features a cut that was recorded for his album, Free Beer Tomorrow, but never released except on an Oxford American magazine compilation. The video was conceived, directed and produced by Mike McCarthy, Memphis’ own Film Cult King. Director of such underground classics as TEENAGE TUPELO and CIGARETTE GIRL, Mike is known to be “passionate about the region he lives in, and the history, and how to honor and preserve that history…,” as director Craig Brewer described him.

This work of Mike's honoring and preserving Jim’s uniquely Southern artistry began one chilly afternoon when Jim answered the phone and Mike said, “Jim, I’ve noticed you don’t have a video of you and your music, so I’m going to make one for you.” What an adventure filming it was, horses, barefoot girls dancing around Jim in the icy mud, Jimmy Crosthwait's sinister. menacing presence cradling a Civil War era rifle, the half naked girl wearing the Confederate bra, the flaming cross.... This you've got to see.

Thank you, Mike. Jim’s legacy thanks you. This video is a labor of love and a gift to us all. Jim’s song and Mike’s vision take us deep into a world that never was.

As Jim wrote in his last words, "As long as the music lingers, I'll be there."

(With thanks to Greg Akers and the MEMPHIS FLYER)



Visit the Jim Dickinson's Legacy Facebook page to vote for your favorite video! One entry for each Like and one entry for each Share!

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

CONTEST VIDEO #7

Some fans may have seen this clip from the Maysel Brothers’ film of the Rolling Stones’ 1969 tour called “Gimme Shelter-” of Jim sitting with Keith Richards in the control room of Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, listening to the just mixed playback of “Wild Horses,” on which Jim is playing tack piano; but few of you have read Jim’s hilarious account of the set-up of the shoot. This is from Jim’s unpublished memoir, “The Search for Blind Lemon.” Sit back, put some gin in your glass. Enjoy.

“As they mixed, I couldn’t help notice the Maysel Brothers setting up two light trees pointing at the control room window from the tracking side of the glass. Available light was lacking. My vast theatrical training at Baylor Theatre led me to realize that whatever they shot with lights had more chance of making it to film. I studied the situation.
Nobody was on the big back couch where Charlie had been hiding. The lights and the camera aimed directly at it. I had the last joint. Keith knew it. As they worked on “Wild Horses,” I put the joint behind my ear and sat on the couch. Keith joined me. The light came on. Tape and camera began to roll. I was in the movie.
Two shots from the Muscle Shoals session survive in Gimme Shelter:
a shot of Mick and Jimmy Johnson behind the mixing console and the shot of Keith and me on the couch, our eyes closed during the “Wild Horses” play back. Thank you, Baylor Theatre.”




Visit the Jim Dickinson's Legacy Facebook page to vote for your favorite video! One entry for each Like and one entry for each Share!

Thursday, July 3, 2014

CONTEST VIDEO #6

CONTEST VIDEO #6:

In Contest Video #5 during the filming of "Li'l Art's Texas Bar-B-Q" broadcast from SXSW in Austin, we heard Jim telling Art, Huey, and Joe Nick about remembering a world before rock 'n' roll. He said he tried to make young musicians imagine what this was like. But as we hear in Contest Video #6, the Cramps didn't heed historical schooling. Lux Interior and Poison Ivy were building our musical future as they recorded their debut- a new genre near and dear to Jim's heart- PUNK! You can hear the crazed excitement and joy in his voice as Jim sings.

"Jim Dickinson & the Cramps- Red Headed Woman (Big Beat, recorded 1977, released 1981, at Sun Studio while the Cramps were recording the tracks for the Gravest Hits EP).

I have pretty much written what I have to say about Jim in the earlier postings, but let me reiterate, we'll never see another one like Jim Dickinson, he is one of immortals." (Thanks to The Hound Blog)



Visit the Jim Dickinson's Legacy Facebook page to vote for your favorite video! One entry for each Like and one entry for each Share!