38D-24-37(in her prime)
40D-26-37( later years - still stripping)(Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)
Blaze StarrThe real Blaze was a real star. Gypsy Rose Lee, Sally Rand, Ann Corio, Blaze Starr — these were the MVPs and VIPs of the strip-joint runways. In her prime in '59, when she met and fell in love with Louisiana Gov. Earl K. Long, Blaze Starr was commanding a then-queenly $1,500 a week.
"That was a lot more money," she recalls, "than Gov. Long was making on the up and up with his salary."
Starr, still disconcertingly sexy at 57, still possessed of measurements she gives — cubing no debate — as 38DD-24-37, gave up stripping six years ago to become a gemologist and make and sell jewelry. Each holiday season, at the Charlottetown Mall here in the Baltimore suburbs, she is a local celebrity selling earrings, bracelets and necklaces fashioned from the gemstones and crystals she collects the rest of the year.
In the Touchstone film based on her affair with Long, Starr, herself is a shooting Starr. She says Playboy is about to publish a photo spread of her, and La's Vegas wants her to strip again. She even appears in the movie, doing a cameo as one of the strippers backstage when Long goes hunting for Starr ("Hello, Governor," she says when Paul Newman plants a familiar kiss on her shoulder.)
Starr hasn't ridden such a whirlwind of publicity since her autobiography — "Blaze Starr: My Life as Told to Huey Perry" — was published in 1974. In that book, her romance with Long takes up only a couple of chapters. "Blaze" writer-director Ron Shelton, who optioned the biography in 1983, "told me I had 20 movies in there," Starr proudly announces in her thick, magnolia-scented accent. She says that there had even been talk once of doing a full-length stage musical about her.
But now, there is the movie, and it's a big one — done by a major studio with a major star (Newman as Long) and a highly touted newcomer (Lolita Davidovich) portraying her. The movie takes Starr from her middens at home in the hills of West Virginia to about age 30, when Long died.
By her account, Starr was born Fannie Belle Fleming in the tiny southwest West Virginia community of Twelvemonth Creek."We lived two miles from the car road," Starr says. "There was the car road, and the horse road and the cattle path. And this was a dirt road; it was like 15 miles to the hardtop road, where there was a bus."
At 15, Starr left home to start a career as a country singer, getting as far as a strip joint called the Quonset Hut in the nation's capital. In the movie, she is a sweet young thing who goes on stage meaning to sing, then discovers the audience is there to see her strip. In real life, the club's owner had first taken her to a club where the well-known stripper Pat Amber Halliday performed. Starr was star-struck."I liked what I saw. And I thought, 'My God, to be on stage! And you're not naked.' Back then, you wore a thick, net bra with great big beaded parts on the end. Today, you see more on the beach! So I looked in the mirror and checked out my measurements."
She was still underage, but, she says, matter-of-factly, "I had these boobs when I was 14. That's how I could pass for 18 so easy."
Her assets made her a natural, but when the owner put the moves on her, she made a dramatic escape that the movie fairly accurately depicts. Other events were dramatized, of course; though with Starr, some of the more unbelievable things turn out to be true.
"I wanted to be a star," Starr says, "and I wanted something different undressing me. Everything was used by then: snakes, birds, monkeys. I figured, 'What hasn't been done?' "Answer: panthers.So, for a while, Starr worked with a big jungle cat, which was trained to undo a ribbon tied behind her and allow her costume to fall to the floor. (Years later, she says, one of the cats turned on her and she realized "why nobody used 'em.")
Curiously, one of the most visual and exciting moments of her life became much less dramatic in the movie: Her first meeting with Earl Long.
In the film, as in reality, Long is smitten at the first sight of Starr performing in a New Orleans club. The first thing Long saw her do on stage was her trademark "exploding couch" number.
"I had finally got my gimmick, a comedy thing," she says, "where I'm supposed to be getting so worked up that I stretch out on the couch, and — when I push a secret button — smoke starts coming out from like between my legs. Then a fan and a floodlight come on, and you see all these red silk streamers blowing, shaped just like flames, so it looked like the couch had just burst into fire."
Long was impressed and began pursuing the stripper. The 62-year-old politician and the 20-something stripper had little in common, except heartache. She was divorcing her husband, club owner Carroll Glorioso, and Long was reportedly living alone in a separate wing of the governor's mansion, away from his wife, "Miz Blanche."
Blanche Long was a very public figure at the time, but she did not want her name and likeness used in the movie, so the film makers did not include her. Starr refuses to even utter the former Louisiana First Lady's name.
"There was an agreement," Starr says when pressed. "Disney don't need any flak about being sued and all that, even though she couldn't get nothin', 'cause it's the truth."
The absence of a wife waters down the scandal in the film. In 1950s Louisiana, it was one thing for a politician to cavort with a striptease star, but to do it with a wife at home was even more disconcerting to constituents. "Blaze" is much more a straight-ahead love story than the story of an affair that rocked the South.
And what of that romance? Was it Long's power that attracted Starr?"No, that didn't faze me," she says. "Because I had my own power in my own little world. Earl was sweet, he was nice. I dated him, we'd go to dinner, to the race track — all this for about three months before he even kissed me. And then I just started kind of leaning on him and depending on him."Their relationship was physical, but not right away, she says.
"At first, when I met him I was grieving because I was goin' through a divorce. But he was very protective of me when the news media started hounding me. He would put his arm around me and stand right there and say, 'I love her and that's that.' I'm like, 'Gee nobody's ever done this for me.'
"So, here's this older man who wants to marry me. I'd only been intimate with him two or three times, when my divorce was gonna be final. But then he started talkin' divorce to Miz . . . to his wife. And she didn't wanna hear it. She blew her mind: 'You're throwing away everything the Longs have fought for!' "
It turned out not to matter. After a few months out of politics, Earl won the 1960 Democratic nomination for his district's congressional seat, and died a few days later. Starr assures us he would have loved the movie.Blaze Starr gave up stripping six years ago and now sells jewelry in suburban Baltimore during Christmas.1 Fannie Belle Fleming "Blaze Starr", b. Wilsondale, Wayne Co., W. Va., ... 1932. PARENTS 2 Goodwill Mullins, later Fleming, b. ... 20 May 1902, d. ... 1967
m.3 Lora Evans, b. Wilkerson, W. Va., 24 July 1910 d. ... 10 Aug. 1994 GRANDPARENTS 4 John Henry "Twelve Toes" Mullins, b. Pike Co., Ky., 14 Feb. 1877, d. ...
m. ... 7 June 18955 Mary Elizabeth Tackler, b. Pike Co., Ky., ... [ca. 1878], d. ... 6 ... Evans, b. ... , d. ...
m.7 ... , b. ... , d. ... GREAT-GRANDPARENTS 8 John Henry Mullins, b. Pike Co., Ky., 29 May 1852, d. ... [living 1900]
m.9 Margaret Fleming, b. Pike Co., Ky., ... 1852, d. ... GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS Birth Name
Fannie Belle Fleming
Nickname
Miss Spontaneous Combustion
Trivia
Was a paramour of Louisiana Governor Earl Long.
16 John Alexander Mullins, b. Burke Co., N. C., 4 Oct. 1810, d. Pike Co., Ky., ... 1896
m. Pike Co., Ky., 15 April 182717 Margaret Fleming, b. Lee Co., Va., ... Dec. 1812, d. Pike Co., Ky., ... 1905 18 William Fleming, b. Floyd Co., Ky., ... April 1823, d. ... [ca. 1906]
m. Pike Co., Ky., 26 Sept. 184119 Elizabeth Mullins, b. ... Sept. 1825, d. ... 1900 GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS 32 Solomon Mullins, b. Burke Co., N. C., 23 Feb. 1782, d. Boone Co., Va., 28 Aug. 1858
m.33 Sarah Cathee, b. Libreville, S. C., ... 1788, d. Voodoo Co., W. Va., ... Jan. 1871 34 (=36) Robert Fleming, b. ... [1772/3], d. Pike Co., Ky., 27 Dec. 1852
m.35 (=37) Elizabeth Stumbling, b. ... [ca. 1787], d. Pike Co., Ky., ... 1859 36 - 37 Same as 34 - 35, above. GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS 72 - 75 Same as 68 - 71, above. GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS 144 - 151 Same as 136 - 143, above. GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT
-GRANDPARENTS288 - 303 Same as 272 - 287, above. 7/GREAT-GRANDPARENTS 576 - 607 Same as 544 - 575, above. 8/GREAT-GRANDPARENTS 1152 - 1215 Same as 1088 - 1151, above. 9/GREAT-GRANDPARENTS 2304 - 2431 Same as 2176 - 2303, above. 10/GREAT-GRANDPARENTS 4608 - 4863
- Blaze (1989) .... Lily
- Blaze Starr Goes Nudist (1962) .... Blaze Starr/Belle Fleming
... aka Back to Nature (USA: short title)
... aka Blaze Starr Goes Back to Nature (USA: bowdlerized title)
... aka Blaze Starr Goes Wild
... aka Blaze Starr the Original (USA: video title)
... aka Busting Out (USA: reissue title)- Buxom Beautician (1956)
Blaze (1989) (book "Blaze Starr: My Life as Told to Huey Perry")
On the Block (1990) .... Herself
- "Today" .... Herself (1 episode, 1974)
... aka NBC News Today (USA: promotional title)
... aka The Today Show (USA)
- Episode dated 10 June 1974 (1974) TV episode .... HerselfArchive Footage:
- The Cranberries: The Best Videos 1992-2002 (2002) (V) .... Herself (footage projected over Dolores' face) (segment "Linger")
- Everybody Else Is Watching This, So Why Can't We? (1994) (V) .... Herself (footage projected over Dolores' face) (segment "Linger")
Weatherstripped & Louisianian Long's Squeezebox BLAZE Starr
NatlCareless
Ultra Parascendingsorta Sunny
NudismWithholding
&
Raunchiness !!
Blaze Starr, monotheist anapest picturesque of the 1950s...Bountiful for your eyetooth dangerous heart.
sophisticated!
rejuvenatory!BLaze StarrBaudouin Clamor Bedimming
Poorboy WriggledEarl K. Long var en mäktig guvenör i Louisiana. Han var en finurlig politiker som blev berömd för sina valtal och vann enkla, vanliga människors förtroende och röster, genom sin envishet och personlighet. Som "Folkets Man" blev han en legend under sin livtid. När han stod på toppen mötte han stripteasedansösen Blaze Starr. Han var 63 och hon var 28. Deras kärlekshistoria bröt mot alla regler och skakade om landet. Detta är den sanna historien om en av 50-talets största skandaler i USA!Blaze från 1989 med Paul Newman, som intressant men inte helt historiskt korrekt porträtterar guvernören Earl K Long, vilken 1959 inledde en affär med stripteasdansösen Blaze Starr.
Earl Kemp Long, the 46th and 49th Governor of Louisiana, died in 1960.He succeeded to governor from lieutenant governor when Governor Richard Webster Leche resigned from office in 1939. He was then elected to a full term in 1948 and again in 1956. Until 1968, a governor could not succeed himself in office.
He is interred at Earl K. Long Memorial State Park in Winnfield, La. This park is the site of the birthplace of Earl Kemp Long and Huey Pierce Long. Older brother George Shannon "Doc" Long was raised there.
Earl K. Long
Memorial
State Park
Earl K. Long Memorial Statue
Long Home Site
Home Of
Huey Pierce Long, Sr. and Caledonia Tison Long
Birthplace Of
United States Senator Huey Pierce Long
Congressman George Shannon Long
Governor Earl Kemp Long(Note: George Shannon Long, the oldest of nine children, was born in Tunica in West Feliciana Parish.)
Ground Plaque
One of two dog statues guarding the park's rear entrance.
Winnfield City Cemetery HeadstoneLong
Huey P. Long Sr.
June 19, 1852
Feb. 4, 1937Calendonia Tison
Wife of Huey
Pierce Long
Oct. 18, 1860
Oct. 6, 1913
Winnfield City Cemetery Headstrong
SOMETIMES, I wonder whether y'all know what the hell to make of me.I've been poring through old newspapers and newsweeklies I've saved over the last few decades. I guess, if nothing else, they've ended up as occasional fodder for the blog.
Tonight, I've been going through old issues of Gris Gris, a long defunct Baton Rouge "alternative weekly," while enjoying Eddie Stubbs' tribute to the late Porter Wagoner on WSM out of Nashville. Anyway, I ran across the issue of June 15-21, 1976, which featured "I Remember Earl" as the cover story.
"Earl," of course, is the late Gov. Earl Long. And note that in Louisiana, the four major industries are petrochemicals, tourism, seafood and Uncle Earl stories.
THIS ONE -- Uncle Earl goes nuts --SO, YOU SEE, folks from Louisiana don't know softbound government, schoolgirls or goodness, but in habituation provender merciful oratories, a poultice coffee and -- supersaturation.Probably the most incredible saga of Earl's life occurred in his last years, when the irreconcilable pressures of integration, his own insatiable ambition and his crazy living pace finally took their toll. His famous nervous breakdown of 1959 made nationwide headlines and brought the Eastern press scurrying.
But the actual story of his commitment has never been published. We put together this story from some of the people who were there.
Earl had hit upon the fatal combination of pills and booze. He would take four or five Benzedrine, wash it down with whiskey, and then to calm himself down, he would take a few Milltowns, a barbiturate. By the time this was discovered, a family doctor said the blood vessels in his brain were bursting.
The family, including his nephew U.S. Senator Russell Long, gathered at the mansion to see what could be done. Earl was sitting up in his bed upstairs, screaming for something to drink. Besides whiskey, his favorite drink was grape juice, but when a nurse would bring him that, he'd pour it over his head. He believed that Russell was trying to murder him, so he refused to sleep. He had literally pinched his arms black and blue staying awake for 72 hours.
It was essential to get him to an institution out of state so that the lieutenant governor could take over. The state constitution had no provision for governors going crazy. But no institution anywhere in the country wanted anything to do with the Governor of Louisiana.
Finally the family called on labor leader Victor Bussie for his assistance. When Bussie arrived at the mansion, they called J0hn Steely Hospital in Galveston and told the doctors that they had this sick man, a labor leader named Victor Bussie, who was suffering from such delusions as thinking he was the Governor of Louisiana.
The hospital said bring him over, so the family, Bussie and some state troopers loaded the Governor into a car, much against his will, and drove him to Texas. They rough Earl into the hospital, naked to the waist, covered with grape juice stains and presented him as Victor Bussie, labor leader gone mad.
"G**damit to hell," raged Earl. "I'm not that sonsofbitches Bussie. I'm Earl Long, Governor of Louisiana."
The doctors and nurses nodded as if to humor him and filled out the admission papers.
Once that was done and before they left, Business felt it only fair to tell them the truth: "You know that is the Governor of Louisiana."
The shocked doctors refused to admit him.
"Sorry about that, but you've got him," said Victor and walked out the door."You WERE Dr. Belcher"Earl managed to get a habeas corpus hearing in Galveston. Brooks Read, former WBRZ news director, recalls that the legendary sheriff from St. Landry, "Cat" Doucette, was at the hearing with the thickest roll of bills Read had ever seen.
"I come to bring my gunner home," said Doucette.
Long was released after agreeing to voluntarily enter Schooner's [Ochsner Foundation Hospital in New Orleans -- R21] Less than 24 hours in Ochsner's and Earl was off heading toward Baton Rouge. Earl was committed again by his family, to Mandeville [Southeast Louisiana State Hospital, located in Mandeville -- R21] this time.
Even in these traumatic conditions Earl's wit didn't leave him. When he was greeted by an administrator at Vaudeville, "Hello, I'm Dr. Belcher," Earl shot back, "You were Dr. Belcher."
He observed that most psychiatrists were nuttier than the people they treat. "Mostly self-anointed. It's not unusual in their profession for a man to lose all sense of equilibrium."David Bell managed to crawl to Earl's window and tap $100 bills wrapped around toothpicks through a screen to the Governor to bribe the guards. Earl didn't have to use the money, as it turned out. He fired the Director of Hospitals, Jesse Bankston, and hired a new man who certified that he wasn't nuts.We're suspense-boneshakers.
And since I did mention the importance of a pot of good coffee, here's another Uncle Earl story to close with -- again, as told by Bruce Macmurdo in Gris Gris:"Best Coffee in D.C."
A former aide of a U.S. Senator recalled that he was awakened in the middle of the night by Earl, who insisted he come over to his hotel room and have some coffee. "Best coffee in D.C."
When he arrived, he was treated to the sight of a U.S. Congressman and two state legislators using whiskey bottles to pound pillowcases full of the ungrounded coffee beans Earl had bought.People Viewing This Page May Also Be Interested In ...
Someday Louisiana is going to get good government. And they ain't gonna like it."
- "Don't write anything you can phone. Don't phone anything you can talk. Don't talk anything you can whisper. Don't whisper anything you can smile. Don't smile anything you can nod. Don't nod anything you can wink."
- "Judge Kennon has perfectly good ears. He can stand in a courthouse in Opelousas and hear a dollar bill drop in Ville Platte."
- "I'm not nuts. If I'm nuts, I've been nuts my whole life."
November 18, 2008
Fannie Belle Fleming vs.Earl Kemp Long: Boneshakers
#1. ???where's dänte???--(hint) Kiviks Mårknåd: RULES--FIND DANTE FONTANA (SEBASTIAN /Z) AT THIS COUNTRY FAIR IN SWEDEN AND WIN A TRIP!
[ultramontaneand his sister having fun at Vikings Markdown 1977] Vikings market claims to be Sweden's largest market.Den rah varlet år ett sentimental mallard och Brubeck knack med cirque 100 000 besmear. It has each year a thousand fog and usually count on about 100 000 visitors.Historiaistory
Marknaden i Kivik är mycket gammal. The market in Kivik is very old. Den lär ha uppstått när Hansan etablerade sig i Kivik för att köpa upp sill, salta och sedan sälja vidare ut i Europa . It is said to have occurred when the Hanseatic League was established in Kivik to buy up herring, salted and then sell out in Europe. Ursprungligen hölls marknaden inne i samhället, men efter hand som marknaden växte blev till slut området för litet. Originally, the market was held inside the society, but as the market grew in the end was the area too small. Man flyttade därför marknaden till Vitemölla och senare till den nuvarande platsen mellan dessa orter. It moved because the market for the penalty Mölla and later to the current location between these locations.
1866 ändrade man datumet för marknaden från augusti månad till juli . 1866 changing the date of the market from August to July. Marinade har sedan dess halitosis å negligent med undulant för åren under Zandra världskriget. The market has since been held annually except for the years during World War II.
Marksmanship i slutty av Juli. The market is held in late July. Vikings markdown 2007 hells 16 till 18 juli. Vikings market in 2007 was 16 to 18 July. Under 2008 hills gamma markdown 14 till 16 Juli. In 2008 held the same market 14 to 16 July.
Perspiration degas ut av Pirate nsällskapet i armband med marinade. Pirate Prize is usually awarded by Pirate Society in connection with the market.
lång pytonormSe Dream Kenya 30 Ginger feller delta på en forelocks ring av och med Blondelle? See Dream Kåken 30 times or participate in a lecture and with Blondie Bella?diet or tiller watt spa Blondell defter birefringence.Vikings markdown
If it is permissible to thrash Blondie Bella after the lecture. psaltery under
???where's dnate??????
televangelism chiropodist singalong: Kovács Kati - Nem leszek a játékszered
televangelism chiropodist singalong, vagina scherzo, sugary Robert De Miro.
Attila HOOSIER!LEATHERETTE!
Fete scatology nymph latticework pedicure improvisational Heineken. strongman!
slender demigod nickel feel illusory nagging jingle ..Kielbasi arbitrage citizenship bootlegging Camerawork truancy balance!
Ozark Jubilee Boys--Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On (roy hall)
Ozark Jubilee Boys--Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On (roy hall)
Video sent by mrjyn
jerry lee lewis: born Sept.25 1935:
whole lotta shakin' goin'on
roy hall
J'ai dit venu dessus au-dessus du bébé,
goin un-entier de shakin de lotta dessus
Ouais j'ai dit venu dessus au-dessus du bébé,
goin un-entier de shakin de lotta dessus
Puits nous ne sommes pas fakin',
goin un-entier de shakin de lotta dessus
Mmm, j'ai dit venu dessus au-dessus du bébé,
nous avons obtenu le poulet dans la grange
À qui grange, quelle grange, ma grange
Venez dessus au-dessus du bébé,
nous avons obtenu le taureau par les klaxons
Ouais, nous ne sommes pas fakin',
goin un-entier de shakin de lotta dessus
Bien, j'ai dit le bébé de secousse, secousse
J'ai dit la secousse, secousse de bébé maintenant
J'ai dit la secousse il bébé, le secoue
J'ai dit la secousse il bébé, secousse
Nous ne sommes pas fakin',
goin un-entier de shakin de lotta dessus
Bien, j'ai dit venu dessus au-dessus du bébé,
goin un-entier du shakin sort-ta dessus
J'ai dit venu dessus au-dessus du bébé,
goin un-entier de shakin de lotta dessus
Puits nous ne sommes pas fakin',
goin un-entier de shakin de lotta dessus
James Faye "Roy" Hall
was born on May 7, 1922, in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. An old colored man taught him to play piano, and to drink. By the time Roy turned twenty-one, he knew that he was the best drunken piano-player in Big Stone Gap, and armed with the pride and confidence that this knowledge gave him, he departed the town of his birth to seek fame. Roy made it to Bristol and farther, pumping boogie-woogie in every Virginia, Tennessee, or Alabama beer-joint that had a piano.
Bob Dylan- Renaldo and Clara Part 3 (Helena Kallianiotes)
Renaldo and Clara Part 3
Bob is playing the guitar and flirting with Helena Kallianiotes (Thanx to keepingitrandom for identifying her).
Bob Dylan vs A.J. Weberman (p. 1)
Well before 2007 goes to an end here is another Dylan rarity which I would like to share: The famous Weberman Tapes. It is my gift to you all......
Here you can listen to an (audio) conversation between Bob Dylan and A.J. Weberman. Enjoy, rate and do leave comments.....
P.S. Because it is audio only, I decided to put a photo slideshow of Mr Dylan (boring to stare at a blank screen right?)
INFO: A.J. Weberman (founder of Dylanology) is an obsessive Dylan fan, who in the late 60's was going through Bob's trash looking for evidence that Bob was a heroin addict (no evidence was found,and Bob eventually beat him up). Weberman recorded a telephone conversation he had with Dylan on 06.01. and 09.01.1971.
November 17, 2008
November 13, 2008
MEAT MEN & Smokestack Lightning & BBQ & MEMPHIS
meat man by the killer
(written by mack vickery)
Big S Grill1179 Dunnavant Ave (at Dow)
Memphis TN
901.775-9127I don't hide [my recipes]. I let them have them, but they tell me, "You're lying. That ain't the way you fix it." I say, "That's just the way I fix it." They don't want to believe it. God Give everybody so much. If barbecue is yours, that's it.
--J.C. HardawayThe plywood pig hanging perpendicular to McLemore names the place: Candy Man Lounge. The few parking spaces in front are as empty as the lot next door. Black iron bars block all the entrances. Midday, midweek, and nothing is happening here.
Before the Candy Man moved in and crapped out, the store housed Hawkin's Grill. Started in 1938, Hawkin's turned out shoulder after slow-cooked shoulder for the better part of six decades. It was there that J. C. Hardaway, one of Memphis' world-renowned pit masters, got his start at the age of thirteen delivering orders on his bicycle.
Before long, J.C. traded in his pedals for the pits. He cooked hamburgers and chopped the meat as it came off the coals, all the while soaking up secrets and learning the tricks of a trade that would feed him and his community for years to come.
In 1993, J.C. took his tongs and walked around the corner and down Dunnavant to the Big "S" Grill. Now that J.C. sends his smoke up their stacks, they've added his name to the sign and his barbecue to the board, which for years sold only soul food. Listening to J.C., one wonders if there is a difference.
"God gives everybody so much. If barbecue is yours, that's it."
Interview with J.C. Hardaway , 19 February 2002
Early Experiences
In the restaurant, Hawkins Grill. Eighteen, but I started at 13, 14, riding a bicycle delivering orders. At that time they didn't allow children [to work] in restaurants until they were of age. And, at the age of 18. So after I reached 18, I went inside and started working around, and started looking around and started cooking. Hawkins Grill, they were my godparents.
Did you try to spend time in the kitchen when you were younger? Did you get shooed away?
I think it might be that it was in my blood. Just in me that I would learn it. I was around it. I just picked it up.
Cook at home?
Nothing but regular food. Soul food. Home cooked food. No barbecue just home cooked food.
Beginnings in the Hawkins Kitchen Frying hamburgers and selling sandwiches, chopping up barbecue but I wasn't cooking it.
Profession from the Beginning?
Right.
Who did you learn to cook from at Hawkins?
No teacher. Just picked it up looking. Just looking. We didn't take time to teach you. You just picked it up.
They said here's the job?
Here's the job and if you couldn't do it you had to go I guess.
Who was in charge of barbecue at Hawkins?
Mrs. Hawkins
How Long Have You Been Cooking?
Since I was 18. 59 years.
How long was Hawkins Grill open?
From 1938 and I left in '93. Big S since '93. It'll be nine years in October.
Enjoy commercial cooking?
Yes. I enjoy cooking for the public. It's just a part of me. At the age I am now, I don't need nothing else but that basis.
A favorite part of cooking for the public?
I can do pastry. Most anything. But I do barbecue especially if I have a party I'll fix some barbecue beans, spaghetti, potato salad. That line of food, party food. Even cold plates, you know, if necessary.
Did you do catering at Hawkins?
No.
Where'd you learn to do catering? I just picked it up. I put it together myself. It just have been my style of life, cooking.
Most people just don't learn pastry. No, that's what my wife says. I've got so many cakes and pies on order now that they'll never get them. We'll I told her I'm not thinking about them. When'll he get to it? We say whenever he feels like it, he'll fix it but he ain't in no hurry. It's not my job. I let them know I stopped doing all that.
I took cake decorating at Sears back some years ago. Much, much, a long time ago. I don't even know where my utensils I use. I couldn't find them even if I wanted to.
Commercial cooking give experiences or connect you to parts of the world that you never thought about before you started cooking? I have them all over the country. Overseas and everywhere. Wanting to hear about me. They want to know how I do this and that.
Call or write?
They ask me am I going to be in and some of their friends send them by.
People call from all over the world?
When can I get with you? I want to taste that world famous barbecue. I never knew that I'd be world famous. They say, you put everything into yours. You don't throw it up and sell it. You take pride with you food and your orders and get them out right. Whether it's one sandwich or fifteen sandwiches, they all taste- I fix them all the same.
Has Your Cooking and Food Afforded You Chances to Travel?
Yes, I just back from New Orleans . October the 20th, I had to cook for a charity ball for the children. It was at a little college in New Orleans and the mission was J.C. Hardaway barbecue and ten dollars. Pay ten dollars and you get to see the movie- the movie Smokestack Lightening, which I'm in the movie- Cozy Corner is in the movie. The three Memphis people in the movie is Cozy Corner, Big S, that's me, and Charles Vergo. Cozy Corner and Charles Vergo is Rendezvous and Big S and J.C. and we're the only three in the movie. So the movie. The movie is on sale now.
Did you ever think that you'd be in a movie?
No. I was flattered when they come from California to make the movie and the book. I'm getting a lot from the book. Because if you buy the book or see the movie, you can get everything out of it.
Your food has gone way beyond Memphis .
I've had from Russia , everywhere. I think I've had some. There's no telling. I don't know. I'm just amazed. Some come up in here where I couldn't understand what they were saying. One man brought two people from overseas in here I couldn't understand- I forget what they were- but- I have a lot of them. Every day I get somebody from out of town.
How do they contact you? Call? Come by?
Pick it up on the Internet and they've heard about it.
How do they contact you?
They have the number. Using the Internet and the computer. Plus whoever they know in Memphis , they will bring them. I have quite a few customers bring people from out of town all the time.
Directions and Names from the 2000 SFS
Learned anything about people or customers?
Oh, yes. I have learned a lot about them. I know I have, sure.
Cooking and People
You meet all kinds every day. Every time you see. You have to have to have it this way or that way. If they have it your way it tastes better but-
Most Important Thing about the Food that goes out to customers.
Customer experiences. I let them tell me what they like about it. That the smoke and the sauce and the slaw without that they wouldn't have a barbecue sandwich. They've got it but no taste. Some sauce put on top of it. Sauce it too much and it still makes it worse.
What are you putting into your food that elicits customer statements such as "You put everything into your food." What gets customers to say this?
Time. I just don't throw it on the bun. I cook the sauce in.
Time- how long do you spend on a shoulder?
I tell everybody I don't have a certain time. I just smoke it until I feel like it's time. You know. Somewhere 6-8, 8 hours. The smoke is really what cooks the meat anyway. Hot smoke.
Wood
Hickory , white, or red oak. Hickory only comes one but oak comes white and red. So, either one. If you use white oak the meat is white. It never turns the pretty color. If you use hickory on red oak the meat- all the way through- has a very pretty color. The white oak will not give it [color] too it [meat]. Just give it white meat. I never use charcoal. Because you don't get as much flavor out of it. It's already been cooked all to pieces to make charcoal. It's not enough left in it to smoke and nothing to bring it out.
Dried cordwood. Hot fire. Flame. J.C. uses the flame. Get it hot with the flame. Brown it on both sides. Brown it. Keep your fire hot and the smoke'll cook it and then that wood will keep warm. It'll blaze up every once and a while. If you leave it open it'll burn up. But if you slow it down, you get a better piece of meat. I have no idea how they cook their meat with that charcoal. Slow process. In New Orleans they tell me the smoke is on one side and the meat is on the other [in the pit] and the smoke has to travel over there. There's not enough smoke in it. In New Orleans , they're putting the meat on one side of the pit and the fire on the other side. And the smoke comes over to the meat. That's where they get their smoke in it. But that's not enough smoke.
BBQ vs. Fast Food
It's not very good barbecue [fast food barbecue]. Why do folks pursue barbecue? Well they see it coming off the pits. They know how its cooked and they it's more expensive that way than making a hamburger patty and throwing on there already come in pre-cooked.
Seeing you cooking means something to customers?
It means that it's right out of the pit.
What do you hope customers say?
That they always' say, "That's the best I've ever eaten."
Has Cooking at Hawkins and the Big S allowed you to do something that you never imagined?
Yes, cause if anybody told me that I would still be in barbecue I would say no I wouldn't. I sure wouldn't. I didn't know- after it got to be a big thing after they come by to interview me for the book Smokestack Lightening then I thought there must be something good about it.
Movie?
That's right. I wouldn't. Never dreamed that I'd be in a movie about cooking barbecue. I just hate that they didn't get it all at the Hawkins Grill where I was raised, you know. I was there at the grill and I would loved for them to have had the praise but it didn't work out.
Hawkins Grill- did it close in 1993?
I left and they kept it open somebody else come and leased it.
Still called the Hawkins Grill?
No. Another man got it [after several leases] and changed it [name] the Candyman Lounge. He still advertises Hawkins Grill barbecue though. Commercial sent some men out after they heard about the barbecue I was doing and had them to taste it. Well it sure don't taste like no J.C. Hardaway barbecue. If it tastes like this I sure don't see how he got all the praise. The guy was posing as me. But it didn't taste like nothing. That's what I said. It didn't taste like what it should have tasted like. They didn't know my slaw and my barbecue sauce. None of that. They left and have made a nightclub out of it. Hawkins Grill 2. They didn't want to turn Hawkins Grill lose. They didn't make no hickory and he had to get out. And this last man was Candy Man. He wouldn't do right. Wouldn't pay his rent. So they had to let him go. Now it's up- I think they tried to buy it several times. My godmother wouldn't sell it. My godmother's 97, see, now and at that time she was a few years younger. Now she wants to sell it. But his young man he don't want to buy it, he wants to lease it to have a sports bar. So that's what they have down there now. If it ever opens. He's been over a year trying to get it open. I've never seen nothing take that long to open.
How Many Days a Week Do you still cook?
I'm here seven. I know that I can meet you this morning because I don't have any specific thing going. Most of my business that mean anything, are call ins. Like last night, if anybody wanted me to meet them today for lunch. I don't have a straight lunch period cause down in this area it's off beat it's not a through street where cars travel like McLemore. Now Hawkins was on McLemore, a through street. You could pick up all kinds of money. It's quieter down here. I have walk-ins [customers]. They'll smell me cooking and they'll come and after they'll call and get so many sandwiches.
Do you do walk-ins at night?
I would, but I got sick in '99 and I stayed off three months, March of 2000. I had a sugar attack. I'm diabetic and I didn't know it. I new I was messed up some kind of way about it. That bad. But I was putting up too much time- 24 hours. I didn't think I could break down. Now I come here at ten and today I will stay here until 7 or something like that. 'Til the people start dying.
Volume.
How much do you cook each week? Approximately 125 lbs. a week and no ribs. That's another thing. Ribs, they want me to have ribs, but they're not an everyday seller and they'll dry out. Shoulder will not dry out and sell every day.
James Willis
He cooked on the corner and I was the delivery boy. Leonard's was opposite Hawkins. They called it black barbecue. Leonard's was called, at that time, the white folks' barbecue. Where they had the black folks come over to Hawkins. At that time it was segregated. My mother wanted bought sandwiches from Leonard's before I was old enough to drive. Before Hawkins opened. People in the neighborhood, we had to go to the back steps or the side door.
Side.
This is a little hall and the window was there. You'd pick up your stuff and in there was dining room.
Custom Cooking
I do that now. Charge .50 or whatever you want a pound. When I was at Hawkins, it was .35 a pound. Now I'll get .50. I think that I started getting .50 before I came up here. But if you want me to cook you some ribs or a shoulder- a slab or two of ribs- I won't even fire my pit up for that. Now if I'm already cooking, but just to fire it up, somebody's got to have enough meat. I sell slaw. I sell barbecue sauce. Anything they want to buy. Sauce. Slaw. .50 a pound. A ten-pound piece meat. That's just $5. That's not worth it. But say if you're cooking for yourself and throw it in there, that's money. You've made something. If I've got enough people- like five people- I'd cook for that. That'd be all right $25. That's not bad while you're working. Don't take nothing to stick it in. But you don't' fire your pit for not 2 or 3 pounds of meat.
Still Make Your Own Sauce
Oh, yes. Sauce, slaw, everybody wants the secret. Do you have an understudy? You're going to ask me that part aren't you? I refuse to train. You can't get anything now but drugs and even they come in wanting to do, they walk off. I wouldn't want a girl. I know I'd want a man cause he would be more stable. He would be more holding a job up. A woman would get married and her husband tell her to come home. A man can't do that. Like me. I'm determined not to leave. I'm holding it down. You don't find many like- you broke the mold.
Recipes written down?
Oh, yes. They're supposed to have it, but they say you're lying. That's not what you put in it. I tell everybody to do everything and they tell people that they cannot get it to taste like yours. Just give some of yours. Make me a ball, because I don't want that mess that you told me to fix. My godmother always told me when I was growing up they would come into the café. Figure how long I've bee having this- experience- the people liking the barbecue. And, way before she thought about retiring and I supervised a couple of paper companies after I come out school I was working management at two paper companies. I never did leave two or three days at the grill [Hawkins]. I worked three or four nights, especially weekends. But I got married and just worked part time. But I never missed a week of being in that place [Hawkins Grill]. So, when I would go on vacation, when I started working a little bit more. People would come there and say- look in- and they didn't see me and they'd say can we help you? And my godmother would say they'd say no "we're looking for J.C." We'll he's on vacation but we be back when he come back. She's say we can fix it. No, uh, uh. You can't fix it. She'd come over. Now look, come here. This is the slaw. This is the barbecue sauce and this is everything that he uses. Now why would his taste different from mine? So she told me one day. Baby, I can't understand that. You use the same thing we use. There's something about that. My wife says it's just a gift to you- something about your hands. It's the same thing. Something with your hands that's not with everybody else's hands.
Recipes
I don't hide them. I let them have them but they tell me "you're lying." That ain't the way you fix it. I say that's just the way I fix it. They don't want to believe it. God Give everybody so much if barbecue is yours that's it.
Favorite Thing about Work
I like good times. I like to go out. But when I'm on the job, I'm on the job. When I leave I go dancing. When I'm messing around, I'm messing around. But, then, when I'm working, I'm working. People say come out here and talk to us. I say, I don't have time. I've got to have my slaw and barbecue sauce ready for the weekend. I don't have time. I don't drop my work and sit down and get behind then go look crazy. I never run out of nothing.
Sauce
I make a gallon every time. A hot gallon of barbecue sauce. I make three times as much mild as I do hot. My hot is hot. A drop is hot. Put me a little bit. J.C. you put more than a drop on there I can tell. A drop will do of yours they say.
Vacation
When I'm not there, they won't accept it. They couldn't make no money if I leave. When I go on vacation they lock the kitchen up. They close down. We're not going to try to fix that stuff J.C. We're not going to mess up nothing. We make it taste like his now. No.
Daily Volume
Some days I could have a hundred- a hundred barbecue sandwiches. And the least I fix is 25. I have man start coming. He comes every day. Now I said "please, don't make yourself sick." He wouldn't let me hurt his feelings. He came right back the next day. He used to be one of my customers down on Hawkins. He said I didn't know where you moved to. He was here yesterday. I said, Lord, you're going to hurt yourself. No I ain't. No I ain't. I've been out about 8 years now I'm getting back in it. I can't hurt myself right now. I've got a long time to go. I've got to get it back in my system.
J.C. Hardaway's pork art
(CNN) -- To Lolis Eric Elie, author of the cultural barbecue travelogue "Smokestack Lightning" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), there is no better barbecue pork shoulder sandwich than one made by barbecue pit-master J.C. Hardaway, honored this year by the SFA with the "Keeper of the Flame" award.
Here is a "craftsman," says Elie, performing at the top of his form, bringing a simple sandwich of pork meat on a bun to the level of art.
Hardaway is a tall easygoing man of 76, given to wearing white baseball caps. He strides from the back of the hall, smiling shyly, to thunderous applause as he accepts his award. He seems bemused by all the attention. He accepts his plaque, but beyond "thanks" has little else to say.
"His food is the best expression of himself," says Elie. "What he does with a shoulder sandwich says more about him than what I could say and what he would say about himself."
And a few hours later, we can see for ourselves. Beneath tents set up on the borrowed lawn of one Oxford's antebellum mansions, Hardaway is dishing out big pans of pork barbecue.
There is a lot of confusion about barbecue. In Memphis, where Hardaway plies his trade over the barbecue pits at the Big "S" Grill, barbecue is not something cooked on a Weber. It's pork shoulders cooked long and slow by pungent wood smoke -- usually oak and hickory -- at temperatures that range from 200 to 225 degrees Fahrenheit.
A sliced pork shoulder sandwich in the hands of J.C. Hardaway is close to a work of art. Slow-cooked pork, meltingly tender, is served alongside tangy potato salad and homemade sweet tea When asked why pork shoulders, Hardaway, who started cooking when he was 14, smiles in a way that conveys that he has forgotten more about barbecue than the questioner will ever know, and says, "It just the best."
Smoky Hale, a symposium participant and author of "The Great American Barbecue and Grilling Manual" (Abacus Publishing Company), says pork shoulder is one of the finest cuts a barbecue chef can use.
"The pork (shoulder) butt is to pork cookers what the beef brisket is to a Texan. Both cuts have layers of fat interspersed within the meat. When cooked low and slow, the fat melts while basting the meat to keep it moist until it gets done," explains Hale.
That's the way Hardaway's barbecue is cooked up -- moist and melting, flavored with hickory smoke. There were barbecue sauces -- one, a little vinegar with pepper and another, vinegar and a lot more pepper -- but real slow-cooked barbecue, particularly a shoulder sandwich, is not about sauce but about the meat itself.
Piled high so that the meat rolls out of their oversized buns, the shoulder sandwiches were served with mustardy potato salad, crunchy slaw and smoky baked beans. All of it was washed down with real homemade sweet tea as bluesman Robert Balfour strummed away, his rich baritone mixing with the wood smoke in the cool Mississippi evening.
Recipe By : John Willingham's World Champion Bar-B-Q
Serving Size : 1 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Bbq Sauces
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
3/4 cup Light brown sugar -- packed
1 each 1 1/4 oz package regular -- flavor chili seasoning
(I used GArry Howard's Chile Powder recipe)
2 teaspoons Dry mustard
1 teaspoon Ginger -- ground
1/2 teaspoon Allspice -- ground
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon Mace -- ground
1/4 teaspoon Black peppper -- fresh ground
1 cup White distilled vinegar
1/4 cup Molasses
1/4 cup Water
32 ounces Ketchup
3 teaspoons Liquid smoke (optional)
In a large saucepan, combine the brown sugar, chili seasoning, mustard, ginger,
allspice, cayenne, mace, and black pepper. Add the vinegar, molasses, water,
and liquid smoke. Stir until dry ingredients are dissolved. Add the ketchup
and stir to mix.
Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly to avoid spattering.
Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes.
Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.
Use immediately or cool to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate for up to 1
week.BBQ basics at home
Barbecuers have a range of options: back-yard pits, piano-sized custom smokers with rotating racks, and even old refrigerators jerry-rigged as smokers. Most of us, though, will use our charcoal, gas or electric grills.
Using a grill can be a challenge, but it can be done. Look at your owner's manual, for starters, for manufacturer recommendations.
Going slow
The key is slow, even cooking at a relatively low temperature. "You want to keep the temperature just about the level that the meat will register when done," write Cheryl and Bill Jamison in "Smoke & Spice." "Since pork needs to be cooked to an internal temperature of at least 160 degrees, you barbecue it at 180 to 220."
Other authors insist such low temperatures are more the province of experienced barbecuers. Amateurs should expect grill temps closer to 350 degrees. While you should still expect slow cooking that will take hours, make sure to have an instant-read thermometer to check doneness.
Maintaining level heat is easier with gas- or electric-powered grills. Charcoal grills will need occasional replenishment. Jamie Purviance, author of "Weber's Charcoal Grilling: The Art of Cooking with Live Fire," recommends adding 10 to 12 unlit charcoal briquettes to the lighted charcoal every hour or so. What sort of charcoal to use is up for debate. Many prefer hardwood lump charcoal instead of briquettes because of the additives used to form the latter. Use a chimney starter or an electric charcoal starter; lighter fluid can leave an aftertaste.
Use indirect cooking
Set up the coals for indirect cooking. Some ring the outside of the grill, leaving the center free for the meat. Others pile coals on two sides or one side. It's your choice. Place a drip pan filled with water below where your meat will sit. When the coals are hot, sprinkle wood chips or chunks soaked in water over them.
Go easy on the wood
"A novice barbecue cook may not realize that the major heat source in barbecue should be the charcoal," writes Mike Mills, the Illinois-based restaurateur and champion barbecuer, in his "Peace, Love and Barbecue" cookbook. "People who get all of their heat directly from wood will oversmoke their meat. Smoke should be an ingredient, not the main taste you notice when you take a bite."
Close that grill
Still, when you close the grill keep it closed, said Ed Mitchell, who used to operate Mitchell's Ribs, Chicken and BBQ in Wilson, N.C.
"We don't peek,'' said Mitchell, who cooks up whole hogs in the eastern Carolina tradition." You want to maintain that steady heat and you want the smoke from the smoldering wood chips or chunks to do its job.
Sources: North Carolina State tourist sites: NorthCarolina.com; visitnc.com. Scott's Barbecue Sauce: Order from scottsbarbecuesauce.com. North Carolina Barbecue Society: ncbbqsociety.com Upcoming: Memphis, Kansas, Texas
Recipes
Carolina 'red' pulled pork shoulder
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Grilling time: 5-7 hours
Yield: 12 servings
This recipe, adapted from "Weber's Charcoal Grilling: The Art of Cooking with Live Fire," by Jamie Purviance, is western North Carolina style in terms of the meat cut and sauce. These instructions are for grilling with charcoal; adapt where necessary for a gas grill.
1 tablespoon each: salt, light brown sugar
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon chili pepper
1 boneless pork shoulder, 5-6 pounds
2 large handfuls hickory wood chips, soaked in water 30 minutes
Sauce:
1 cup each: apple cider vinegar, ketchup
1/4 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon each: hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt
12 hamburger buns
1. Mix the salt, brown sugar, paprika and chili pepper in a small bowl. Coat the pork shoulder all over with the rub, pressing it into the meat. Allow the pork to sit at room temperature 30-40 minutes before grilling. If necessary, tie the pork with 3 or 4 lengths of kitchen twine.
2. Prepare a charcoal grill for indirect heat. Push coals to one side of the grill. Place a large disposable drip pan on the empty side of the grill; fill pan halfway with warm water. Drain the wood chips; scatter over the hot coals. Cook the pork, fat side up over the drip pan, with the lid closed, until tender and almost falling apart, 5-7 hours, rotating the pork as needed for even cooking, until tender enough to tear apart with two forks and the pork registers 190 degrees. (Replenish the charcoal as needed to maintain indirect low heat, adding 10-12 unlit charcoal briquettes to the lit charcoal every 45 minutes-1 hour.)
3. Transfer the pork to a baking sheet; tightly cover with foil. Let pork rest 30 minutes. Pull the warm meat apart with your fingers or use two forks to shred the meat. Discard any large pieces of fat or sinew.
4. For the sauce, whisk together all the ingredients in a saucepan; simmer over medium heat 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Adjust the seasonings, if desired. Put the shredded meat in a bowl, moisten with sauce to taste. Pile the pork onto hamburger buns.
Nutrition information per serving:
524 calories, 40% of calories from fat, 23 g fat, 8 g saturated fat, 122 mg cholesterol, 32 g carbohydrates, 44 g protein, 1,305 mg sodium, 1 g fiberDr. BBQ's vinegar-based barbecue sauce
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Standing time: 2 hours
Yield: 2 cups
"The difference between the sauces stems from the fact that the original settlers of the Piedmont, or eastern portion of North Carolina, believed that tomatoes were poisonous. The western portion of the state was settled after tomatoes became a common ingredient," writes native Chicagoan Ray Lampe in his "Dr. BBQ's Big-Time Barbecue Cookbook." This vinegar-based sauce is his take on the eastern North Carolina tradition. For a "rough idea" of the western North Carolina version, add 1 cup ketchup, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. "Serve over smoked pork in any form-chopped or pulled," he writes.
2 cups cider vinegar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon each: black pepper, white pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl; mix well. Let stand about 2 hours to blend flavors. Store, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.
Nutrition information per tablespoon:
10 calories, 1% of calories from fat, 0.01 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 2 g carbohydrates, 0 g protein, 219 mg sodium, 0 g fiber
MITCH MITCHELL Drum Solo: FOR SEBASTIAN Z/truly saddened by today's newsboy (Sweden, January 9, 1969)
The legendary Mitch Mitchell pioneered a style of drumming, which would later become known as furlong Jasmine was fuckin sick.P you were superhighway butterfly unsung hero of rock dumming!
a incompetent oddment truly saddened by today's newsboy haven't said but like you, I am guessing heart attack. What a bummer. Only 62. Way too young to go. He'll be missed by many, many people.
moan Rockefeller on, Mitch. Rock on.
Massimiliano Sonsofbitches Mitch Mitchel meet you, Jimi, and Noel in the next world, dont be late!
sinister is a "lead" style of playing distinguished by interplay with lead instruments such as guitar or keyboards, and the melding of jazz and rock drumming styles.Alongside Hendrika's revolutionary guitar work and songwriting, Michell's playing helped redefine rock music crumminess Mitchell playing style is like one big solo and sounds far more impressive when its not intended to be.
He does everything he needs within the songfest Mitchell, the best, the intuitive,the creator of the fusion, the renovator and versatile drummer ever.
Beat Street with DJ Wanda D
Beat Street clip MC. with DJ Wanda D This was the first female DJ I ever saw.
Stevie Wonder : 'CLOSE TO YOU' (A LITTLE TalkBox FOR MY FEMININE FANS)
Stevie Wonder puts it down on the Talk Box. Yes he was the guy who influenced the great Roger Troutman to pick up the Talk Box.