Known to everyone as Mr B, Bernard Lansky and his brother Guy carried the title of “Clothier to the King”. Elvis was different from the start; his dress style was influenced more by what the black men were wearing than his white contemporises. Lansky’s was established on Beale Street in the 1940s and soon counted great names as customers such as BB King, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and many more. In 1952 Mr B noticed a young man who kept walking past his window and he eventually invited him in. The rest is history and it has established Lansky’s as one of the most famous men’s clothiers in the world. Lansky’s moved to the Peabody Hotel 23 years ago. Famous people come from all over the world to visit this remarkable store, as did 3 young (at heart) men this morning. We sadly missed Mr B who had not been well but his Son Hall who now runs the business welcomed us. Like everywhere in Memphis with a history, it is festooned by music memorabilia and signed guitars.
6 blocks down from the Peabody is Sun records. Sam Phillips worked as a talent scout and DJ. He set up the Memphis Recording Service to record new artists. The prominent music forms of the time were Hillbilly, Gospel and Pop but Sam was a blues fan and he wanted to search out new black and white talent to bring them to public attention. No record label existed that could record this new music genre and as a result, Sam established Sun Records.
Sam recorded what is reputed to be the first ever Rock and Roll record called Rockett 88 with Ike Turner and his band. He discovered a number of fresh talents including Howlin’ Wolf, Ike Turner and BB King. All this changed when that same young man came and paid $4 to make a record supposedly for his mother’s birthday. It was not Sam who first recognised Elvis’ talent but his secretary Marian Keisker. Marion liked him and badgered Sam until he agreed to record Elvis. Sam did not want to record yet another white kid who could sing ballads. What he wanted was a white kid who could sing like a black man. It was only at the first recording session and 3 hours into the recording that Elvis and the boys played a black song called “That’s Alright Mamma”. Sam asked his friend and DJ Dewy Phillips to play it. It was an instant success. Elvis was followed by other successful acts such as Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. Standing on that recording floor was like standing on hallowed ground. Crosses on the floor marked where Elvis and his musicians stood at that fateful recording session.
How could 2 musicians come to Memphis and not visit the Gibson guitar factory. Tim and Hugh spent 2 hours in heaven, walking around with their tongues hanging out. I discovered the height of nerdism as Tim went around pointing at particular guitars and saying 335, 355, 175, 137……..!!!!! I was worried that Tim was thinking of buying yet another guitar, so Hugh and I confiscated his credit card and abducted him secretly through the backdoor. I was glad to get him to Rum Boogie Cafe for a beer and a cup of Gumbo in order to restore a sense of reality to him
Hello John, Hugh and Tim,
ReplyDeleteA great trip gets even better every day. I just bought Robert Bilbo Walker's Rock the Night, and the good people at Amazon are now beavering away to see if they have anything by this exciting Elvis Presley you came across...
Best wishes
Peter