My apologies to everyone who emailed me news last week — the CA blogs were down temporarily while they were relocated to a new server, and I didn’t get the memo! Everything is back to normal now — hope you had a good Valentine’s Day in the meantime. 

Last Aug. 10, Isaac Hayes died of a heart attack inside his house at 9280 Riveredge Drive, in Cordova. Now, the 7,205-square-foot home, built in 1996 and purchased by Hayes for $1.35 million in 2002, has been foreclosed upon and is due to be sold, according to this article in today’s CA. The Black Moses had bankruptcy issues since the early 1970s, when the crash at Stax nearly destroyed him. Too bad the money issues are still occurring after his death — and causing problems for his last wife, Adjowa, and their 2-year-old son, Nana Kwadjo.

According to this piece from the Washington Post, uber producer Quincy Jones has called for a petition for President Obama to appoint a U.S. Minister of Culture.

Folk art specialist William Ferris, a one-time Memphian (and former National Endowment for the Humanities chairman) is, reports staff writer Jacqueline Trescott, also pushing “for unification of the government’s efforts under one office.”

From the article: “Whether you call it a minister of culture or not, it would be wonderful to have someone with a policy role to coordinate arts education, cultural diplomacy and support for arts organizations. Those activities are not coordinated but divided among many offices,” said Michael Kaiser, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

“We need a voice that looks broadly,” said Robert Lynch, president of Americans for the Arts, a national lobbying group. He is advocating a senior position, not necessarily a Cabinet post. “We are calling for a person at the executive office level who understands there is a National Endowment for the Arts, but also understands the arts portfolio in the Education Department, the State Department — and in addition to the nonprofits arts, is looking at cultural tourism, broadband access and trade through records, movies and videos.”

Last month, 15 organizations joined Americans for the Arts in petitioning the Obama-Biden transition team to stop the fragmentation of cultural policy. The establishment of a Cabinet office would take the approval of Congress. A dedicated office in the West Wing would be up to the president.

To sign an online petition that Jaime Austria, a bass player with the New York City Opera, has started to request a Secretary of Arts, go here.

And be sure to vote in the Memphis Music Confidential poll, on the right.

Here’s a little personal FYI to everyone who’s wondered about the inconsistent number of posts in the last few months:

In early October, my beautiful lil pit bull Beulah had to undergo surgery for a benign hematoma on her spleen. She went into cardiac arrest during her spleenectomy, but my wonderful vet managed to bring her back. Unfortunately, she had some neurological damage and she was seriously paralyzed. She made it home, and I was enthusiastic about therapy, but she quit eating and drinking and I had to let her go a week later…

Then, in November, Mingo, my 11 1/2 year old feist dog, began drinking a lot of water and showing major signs of old age. He had 3 seizures in one night, so we went back to the vet — found out he was diabetic and had a heart murmur. Because he suspected something more was going wrong, the vet took an x-ray while he had him all day to test his glucose curve, and we discovered a very enlarged liver and lymph nodes… i.e. cancer. Lil Mingo was having trouble breathing because the lymph nodes were pushing down on his windpipe, and then, last week, his liver began failing, so I took him to the vet one more time on Wednesday, and made the decision to say goodbye.

This has been a tough year — we had my daddy’s funeral on Jan. 2, and I’ve had several friends w — and I am ready to turn the calendar page to 2009. As far as the blog goes, few of the giveaways and stuff I’d planned for last month happened, because I was so busy and weighed down with anxiety.

I am doing okay — really, I miss my dogs, and couldn’t fathom life without them, but I wouldn’t have kept either alive when they were in so much pain. And I plan to get a new pup soon. But when I watched “Snoopy, Come Home” on ABC-Family yesterday afternoon, I cried and cried when Snoopy left for Lila’s house, leaving Charlie Brown all alone to sing this soliloquy:

Go see Harlan T. Bobo at the Hi-Tone tonight. Eat lots of turkey and dressing tomorrow. And tell all your loved ones how thankful you are… see ya’ll next week.

The CA’s music critic and the Eagles rocker traded heckles in the pages of the Commercial Appeal last week, making for some scintillating reading. First up: Mehr’s preview of the Eagles’ FedEx Forum concert.

Henley popped off some barbed one-liners, including “If having astute management and conducting business in a smart, professional way is a crime, then we plead guilty;” “Well, if I’m not a lifer already, then I don’t know who is… I’m not quite ready to sit around and whittle;” and “We couldn’t care less about what the critics think or where we “rate” in the rock canon, if such a thing even exists.”

Queried about his future goals, Henley retorted, “Burning ambition? Them’s pretty strong words, Hoss.”

Mehr zinged him right back in this review of the Eagles’ “uneven” performance on Sunday night.

His opener: “How, or more accurately, why would anyone bother criticizing the Eagles at this point? Four decades and 120 million albums into their career, they’re a group that has thrived on the slings and arrows directed at them by the press and their haters, actually reveling in the fact that they’ve been demonized far and wide for their rock-and-roll excess and success. Even the laid-back Dude, the protagonist in the Coen Brothers’ ‘The Big Lebowski,’ famously ranted ‘I hate the (expletive) Eagles, man.’”

Mehr noted that “the Eagles took the stage in suits, dressed like bankers, and occasionally played with all the enthusiasm of a group of bored loan officers.”

Then he nailed Glen Frey, writing that “you had to wonder if 14 handicap golfer Frey was already thinking about his morning tee time when he congratulated [Eagles bassist Timothy] Schmit with a strangely detached and robotic: ‘Thanks, Timothy… that …was … great.’”

Other words used to describe the show: “Ham-handed and po-faced,” “flabby” and “ironic.”

But in the end, it’s a draw.

As even Mehr concluded, “By show’s end, as the four Eagles lingered onstage, soaking up the applause and scooping up bouquets of flowers, it was hard not to be won over — if not by their music, then by the sheer unwavering self-belief that’s carried them this far.”

Right now, the Obamas are in Denver, along with Ted Kennedy and Joe Biden, plus a wealth of Democratic-leaning musicians, including Alejandro Escovedo, Kanye West, Cyndi Lauper, Willie Nelson, and more.

Memphis’ own Scott Bomar was on hand in Denver Sunday for a screening of Giancarlo Esposito’s new film Gospel Hill (Bomar scored the project), along with stars RZA, Angela Bassett, Danny Glover and Esposito, seen above L-R.

Saturday, from 6PM to midnight, the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art turns into Andy Warhol’s Factory.

From the press release:

Think back to 1960s New York City, when Pop Art was exploding and everyone was “world famous for 15 minutes.” Think Marilyn Monroe, Liz Taylor, Campbell’s Soup cans, Mylar balloons, Brillo boxes, flashing lights, paparazzi, the Factory, heavy eyeliner, silkscreens. Think Andy Warhol!

Expect 3-D dance floors, go-go dancers, Wii room, the Warhol exhibit, plus food, cocktails, and live music.

From the Mississippi Development Authority: The Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau, along with the Tourism Division of the Mississippi Development Authority, have recently launched a one month moving promotional campaign involving the famous black cabs one sees in London, England. The campaign consists of 120 taxis (90 in London and 15 each in Manchester and Glasgow). The exterior of the taxies display various images of Mississippi along with the web address, www.visitmississippi.org. Additionally, each taxi carries tip seats panels in the interior of the taxi, which communicate to a captive audience in the back of the taxi for an average of 16 minutes.

Craig Ray, director Tourism Development, Mississippi Development Authority said, “We are excited about this different approach to traditional advertising and promotion. This is literally a moving billboard that constantly is delivering a message to a huge international audience. International visitors from the United Kingdom constitute the third largest number of travelers to Mississippi. United Kingdom visitors represent 15.8% of the Top Ten registrants at the highway welcome centers.”

“We anticipate a significant increase in our international visitors. The weakness of the dollar presents a great value for them. Their vacations usually consist of several weeks. We know theyhave visited the major metropolitan cities and when they return to the United States they are looking for the authentic Southern experience, Mississippi offers just that,” added Ray.

According to David Nicholson, European representative for the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Mississippi Tourism division, “Targeting all adults in London, Manchester, and Glasgow we are aiming to reach a total potential audience of 7,929,000.”

Neil’s, the cavernous watering hole at the corner of Madison and McLean — known to all as the place where “the fat man rocks” — is quickly gaining ground as a viable venue for local and touring bands. Heck, a few years ago, A Flock of Seagulls played there! In recent weeks, the Tearjerkers, Ultracats, Snake Eyes, Hi Electric, Jeffrey & the Pacemakers, and more Midtown groups have graced Neil’s Music Room, which is actually a great-sounding alternative to Murphy’s, the Hi-Tone, and the Bucc. Tonight, it’s Memphis power poppers the Everyday Parade (featuring ex-Crime bosses Rick Camp and Jeff Golightly), Mike Dees, and Brandon McGovern’s turn to rock the house. Admission is $5; show probably starts around 10 p.m.

Of course, my eyes and ears will be glued to the stage at the Hi-Tone, where onetime Germantown resident Tony Joe White performs tonight.

I got a chance to catch up with the legendary Louisiana-born songwriter earlier this week, who dished about hanging out with Elvis — “He treated me good — it was just like talking to a friend or a brother,” White recalls — and narrowly escaping Clive Davis’ attempt to “mush up” his swamp rock sound. Said White: “I’d written some love songs that had a beat to ‘em, and Clive said, ‘Choose who you want to cut with.’ So me and Duck Dunn and Steve Cropper and Booker T. (Jones) and Jeff Porcaro met up in L.A. I thought, ‘Well, golly, we can surely bring this off,’ and we cut four or five cool, funky tracks. Three weeks later, I get this package in the mail — Clive had sent the tape of the mixed product. He’d taken it to Miami and had Arif Mardin put string arrangements on it. I said, ‘What did you do to that raw funk we had? We had some good stuff cut before you put the mush on it.’ And Clive said that his plan all along was to make me the white Barry White!”

Go here to read the rest of my interview with TJW.

There’s also Cedric Burnside and Lightnin’ Malcolm at the all-new Ground Zero Blues Club, Will Graves at Cafe Soul, Van Duren at Central Barbecue East, Early Maxwell at the Full Moon Club, and Julie Odell at Otherlands.

Before making the club rounds tonight, be sure to stop off at Goner Records for saxophonist Suzy Hendrix’ art opening, Buggery, enamel-on-glass renderings of cockroaches, cicadas, fleas, and other insects. Hendrix will also perform with her burlesque-esque band the Humper Show, which includes Jonathan Kirkscey, Tommy Trouble, and J.D. Dutton. For more about the event, check out CA music scribe Bob Mehr’s preview in today’s paper.

There’s plenty more music to choose from on Saturday. My picks include Hattiloo Theatre’s block party (free, from 4-7 p.m.) with James Robinson, Carmen, Will Graves, Valerie June, Stephanie Bolton, and Tonya Dyson; Snake Eyes and the Tearjerkers at the Hi-Tone; the Christmas in “July Ho Ho Ho Show” — starring Susan Marshall, Reba Russell, and Kim Richardson — at Otherlands; a Stevie Wonder “Hotter than July” tribute at the New Daisy; J.D. Reager and friends at Neil’s; and Chris Pickering and Korby Lenker at the Young Ave Deli. My money’s on the Stax Music Academy’s SNAP! Grand Finale concert at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts, which is sure to be a sell-out performance.

On Sunday, rising soul guitar star Teddy Presberg rolls into the EP Delta Kitchen on Beale, while shoegazers Twin Pilot play Murphy’s.