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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

Monday, February 24, 2014

Big Star - Nothing Can Hurt Me Documentary



 A big part of Jim Dickinson's legacy is the album he produced on the seminal band Big Star, called
Big Star Third: Sister Lovers.  All three of the Big Star records were included in Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Best Records Of All Time.

View the trailer below for the great new movie: Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me.

For more information, check out http://www.bigstarstory.com/  Enjoy!  And don't miss seeing the movie in theaters near you or on Netflix.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

IBC - Search For Blind Lemon Reading by Mary Lindsay Dickinson - Jan. 24, 2014



The iconic Memphis store on Beale Street, A.Schwab  (where Jim went to Christmas shop) welcomed the International Blues Competition with a reading and presentation by Mary Lindsay Dickinson from Jim's memoir Search for Blind Lemon  on January 24, 2014.  Miles Mueller said about the reading:  "There are pictures and explanations of a time when rock 'n' roll music was being born in Memphis. Without this peek behind the curtain, no one can ever understand where we are today."  


 photo courtesy of Amy Brat


Here are four friends after the show with Richard Rosenblatt (from way back during the days of the North Mississipi' Allstar's first record release.  Richard helmed Tone Cool Records which launched "Shake Hands with Shorty" to a Grammy nomination.  Thanks, Richard.  Eric Schenkman is guitarist/vocalist extraordinaire with the Spin Doctors, Mary Lindsay Dickinson hugs BratGirlmedia's Amy Brat, who is anything but a brat with her sweet smile! Jim's son  Cody saw this pic and wrote from the road, "Four of my favorite people.  I'm missing all the fun in Memphis."



Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Reading of Jim's Memoir on Beale Street


This is the first post of 2014 for Jim Dickinson’s Legacy blog.  It is way cool to be
welcoming folks from the International Blues Competition, who come to soak up the soul of Memphis and the blues music and musicians that we adore.  It is a thrill to announce that part of the festivities surrounding the IBC include a reading by Mary Lindsay Dickinson of excerpts from her late husband’s memoirs on Friday, January 24, 2014 at 2pm, upstairs at A Schwab’s store on world- famous Beale Street.

The reading includes film, music, and pics from blues icons like the Memphis Jug Band, Bo Diddley, the Rolling Stones, Alex Chilton, and Jim’s sons, Luther and Cody Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars.  You’ll witness the birth of rock’n’roll through the eyes of Jim, who enjoyed every minute of it, even though he had to miss meeting his friend Bob Dylan at Bonnaroo… but more about that later-

As the Austin Chronicle reported last March at South by Southwest celebrating a panel on Jim Dickinson, “Whether you realize it or not, Jim had been at the heart of rock & roll from its inception until his death at 67 in 2009. Musician on historic records – his piano is on the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses" – and producer for countless more (Big Star'sThird, the Replacements' Pleased to Meet Me). 
The panel's title – called “I’m Just Dead, I’m Not Gone, his self-composed epitaph – emphasizes the truth that Dickinson always told, sometimes to his detriment.”

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Down In Mississippi by Jim Dickinson

His life was short but his art is long. Jim Dickinson's legacy thrives in Mike McCarthy's splendid video shoot at the Zebra Ranch, home of Jim's dream with Jimmy Crosthwait packing a gun, the pretty girls prancing around the flaming cross. "Down in Mississippi."  Who's that lovin' on Jim? You'll have to see it to believe it.

R.I.P. dear husband, knowing your legacy lives on. - MLD



Monday, November 4, 2013

OXFORD AMERICAN MAGAZINE SCOOP!

Jim's legacy carries on with a huge event for his upcoming book, Search for Blind Lemon. 17,000 words from his memoir will be excerpted in the December issue of the Oxford American magazine. This is the music edition of the magazine featuring Tennessee music, including Jim's song off DIXIE FRIED, "The Judgement." The issue will be available on discerning newsstands December 5. It will come with a Tennessee music double-CD. If anyone subscribes before then, they'll receive the music issue (winter 2013) as their first of four issues in 2014. This is a great literary magazine- best I've ever read, thanks to the editor, Roger Hodge and a great staff. (Thanks, Max). You can subscribe here: https://secure2.palmcoastd.com/pub/oxam/subAll.asp

Monday, October 7, 2013

Slideshow - Capturing Zebra Ranch

Last month, Brantley Catlette recorded at the Zebra Ranch and took some photos to mark the day.  The photos ooze the ambiance of the studio and the essence of Jim Dickinson as a deconstructionist, who said, "I just like to watch sh*t rot!" 

Watch the slideshow or click on any photo to go to the album.

Photos courtesy of Brantley Catlette.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Here's a video of Jojo Hermann from Widespread Panic and Luther and Cody playing on the band "Missing Cats" tour.  Cody says that Jojo is frank about Jim teaching him to play keyboards when Jim was producing Jojo's original group, Beanland, at Sounds Unreal Studio in Memphis.   It is refreshing to hear how much Jojo sounds like Jim playing piano.  His joy in pounding out those rock 'n' roll eighth notes is the same as Jim's.  This video is reminiscent of the last verse of the song Luther wrote for his dad called "Ain't no Grave" on North Mississippi Allstar's  record, "Keys to the Kingdom:'
"If I had my way, he's be here today, sit down at the piano and play...."  

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

Listen and enjoy as Jim's legacy lives on....