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Stax Book by Rob Bowman

DJPrestigeDJPrestige 1,710 Posts
edited February 2007 in Strut Central
A friend phoned me last minute to tell me that the author of The Stax Story, Rob Bowman was giving a lecture at a local library tonight. Dude had a wealth of information on Stax Records, it's history, all the key players, etc. Has anyone read his book? I'm thinkin I need to pick it up.

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  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    A friend phoned me last minute to tell me that the author of The Stax Story, Rob Bowman was giving a lecture at a local library tonight. Dude had a wealth of information on Stax Records, it's history, all the key players, etc. Has anyone read his book? I'm thinkin I need to pick it up.

    It is a dense, dense history - insanely well-researched and is widely considered one of THE definitive books on soul.
  • DJPrestigeDJPrestige 1,710 Posts
    A friend phoned me last minute to tell me that the author of The Stax Story, Rob Bowman was giving a lecture at a local library tonight. Dude had a wealth of information on Stax Records, it's history, all the key players, etc. Has anyone read his book? I'm thinkin I need to pick it up.

    It is a dense, dense history - insanely well-researched and is widely considered one of THE definitive books on soul.

    thanks for the input oliver. he was so passionate about stax records. he told us about how he got linda lindell to perform at the opening of the stax museum, showed some clips from a documentary that will be aired on PBS in june, and told tale of a 6 hour interview with isaac hayes. he really broke it down on how stax was the first record labels where black and white musicians and co-workers could make music and run a business together, despite being in a severely racially divided city such as memphis in a time where race relations were unheard of. he made great comparisons on stax and motown, their business philosophies and marketing of each label, and seriously could have gone on for way longer than the two hour lecture. it was for free, and seriously worth the half hour drive. if the guy is lecturing anywhere near you strutters, i'd definitely check him out.
  • DrWuDrWu 4,021 Posts
    And to top it off dude is dude. Emailed him about so arcana a few years back. He offered to tape things and was about as nice as a person could be. The book is a must read if you dig on Stax, soul or 60s southern culture.
  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    And to top it off dude is dude. Emailed him about so arcana a few years back. He offered to tape things and was about as nice as a person could be. The book is a must read if you dig on Stax, soul or 60s southern culture.

    Yeah, there's few popp music scholars in academia more respected than Bowman. Dude is dude indeed.
  • PrimeCutsLtdPrimeCutsLtd jersey fresh 2,632 Posts
    He also says he's got a bunch of unreleased material at his house. I can only imagine there is a good amout of worthy music and video....
  • DJPrestigeDJPrestige 1,710 Posts
    something like: "so i was wading through water taking photos and finding tapes of unreleased material"...somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 hours i think...
  • faux_rillzfaux_rillz 14,343 Posts
    A friend phoned me last minute to tell me that the author of The Stax Story, Rob Bowman was giving a lecture at a local library tonight. Dude had a wealth of information on Stax Records, it's history, all the key players, etc. Has anyone read his book? I'm thinkin I need to pick it up.

    It is a dense, dense history - insanely well-researched and is widely considered one of THE definitive books on soul.

    I think "dense" does it a slight disservice in that the word implies that it is a difficult or offputting read, which it definitely isn't--one of the best and most readable books on music that I know.
  • faux_rillzfaux_rillz 14,343 Posts
    And to top it off dude is dude. Emailed him about so arcana a few years back. He offered to tape things and was about as nice as a person could be. The book is a must read if you dig on Stax, soul or 60s southern culture.

    Yeah, there's few popp music scholars in academia more respected than Bowman. Dude is dude indeed.

    Do you know if he's got any new books in the works, Oliver?
  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    And to top it off dude is dude. Emailed him about so arcana a few years back. He offered to tape things and was about as nice as a person could be. The book is a must read if you dig on Stax, soul or 60s southern culture.

    Yeah, there's few popp music scholars in academia more respected than Bowman. Dude is dude indeed.

    Do you know if he's got any new books in the works, Oliver?

    He's got this forthcoming: Head Arrangement and Improvisation in King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, which is supposed to come out on an Austrian press (doesn't look like an academic one but a music one).

    And yes, "by dense" I didn't mean "Soulsville" was a bad read but it is detailed out the wazoo.
  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts
    Does anyone know if he has a homepage or some place
    where his speaking engagements are listed? I tried
    googling for something and came up empty - and would
    be pretty bummed if he came through Boston and I didn't
    know about it.
  • DJPrestigeDJPrestige 1,710 Posts
    Does anyone know if he has a homepage or some place
    where his speaking engagements are listed? I tried
    googling for something and came up empty - and would
    be pretty bummed if he came through Boston and I didn't
    know about it.

    he said he had no webpage, but gave me his card. hit me up on the pm and i'll forward whatever info i have.
  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    Does anyone know if he has a homepage or some place
    where his speaking engagements are listed? I tried
    googling for something and came up empty - and would
    be pretty bummed if he came through Boston and I didn't
    know about it.

    I don't really think he's on a speaking tour but in any case, here's his website:

    http://www.yorku.ca/finearts/faculty/profs/bowman/bowman.htm

    There's no entry for "upcoming events" but you can probably email him.
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    I met Bowman briefly at the Ponderosa Stomp in Memphis last May...not at all standoffish, would have definitely liked to have sat down and talked about Stax with this man. If I had the time and there wasn't umpteen billion things going on, I probably could have.
  • ConcourseConcourse 26 Posts
    I endorse Bowman's book also - an excellent read, that provides a good overview of the label in political/social context.
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