Snobbin: Beautiful Trash in the Pop Culture Gutter

I have not been to many cemeteries lately because I have been so busy teaching and writing. I am not working on any articles right now, but I have been writing fiction and teaching six classes. In between grading journals and discussion boards, I have not had the time to do much except listen to a few records and take walks. When I lived in Illinois, Amanda and John and I would go to cemeteries all the time, searching for famous and infamous people. In fact, I still have to post many of those pictures, including pictures from Showmen's Rest in Woodlawn Cemetery and the Haymarket Martyrs in Forest Home Cemetery.  I miss going on these trips with them, but now and then, Carrie and I make it to local cemeteries. We visited three this weekend, including Rose Hill, Rest Haven Memorial Gardens, and Helms Cemetery. We visited several famous local graves in Rose Hill Cemetery include Harris T. Flanagin, Arkansas State Governor from 1862 to 1864, and Reverend John McLaughlin who founded Hen...

Reading Palookaville. Arkansas past midyear. I'm waiting for fall to begin. Far away from winter snows, Metaphorically and literally. In the enduring humidity, I turn away. I'd give anything for a cold rain or a sad autumn day. I think I just wrote lyrics to an emo song, circa 1996. Don't hold that against me. 2020 needs to end.

This lesser-known Wilson Pickett song is a eulogy to lost friends and fellow entertainers that influenced him. The 1970 song is the b-side to a fun, yet lightweight cover of the Archies's "Sugar, Sugar. "Cole, Cooke, & Redding" has a slower southern soul vibe than many of his big hits and is fairly reminiscent of Redding's sound. The thoughtful lyrics and music riff on Dion's "Abraham, Martin, and John,"a tribute to Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy, and Robert Kennedy that Dion recorded in 1968 in a more upbeat manner. Dick Holler wrote the original song in reaction to the deaths of King and Robert Kennedy and is given song-writing credit for this one.  Pickett transforms the song in his inimitable style to remember these lost musical greats, referencing their lyrics and songs. In remembrance, he mentions the last thing they told him in song; for example, Sam Cooke tells him "that a change was gonna come," then...