Issue 31: Ode to the South

COVER STORY

STAX RECORDS 50th ANNIVERSARY

Two covers and over 20 pages of soul! STOP SMILING celebrates the 50th anniversary of the legendary Memphis label STAX RECORDS with the oral history of Booker T. & the MGs, tributes to Luther Ingram and Otis Redding and features on the label’s founders, session players and essential recordings

For an additional $2, online orders will include a CD sampler of 10 Stax classics, featuring ISAAC HAYES, OTIS REDDING, THE STAPLE SINGERS, RUFUS THOMAS and more

INTERVIEWS

Photographer WILLIAM CHRISTENBERRY + New Orleans mayor RAY NAGIN + journalist KARL FLEMING + author TOM PIAZZA

FOOD

The state of Southern cuisine with chef LEAH CHASE + JOHN T. EDGE of the Southern Foodways Alliance

EXCERPTS

“Twirling at Ole Miss” by TERRY SOUTHERN + “Homo Neanderthalensis” by H.L. MENCKEN

SHORTS

DAVID BANNER, MJG and UNK discuss civil rights landmarks + five essential works of Southern literature + five essential records by outsider artists

MUSIC

SHARON JONES + KINGS OF LEON + GRAM PARSONS + JELLY ROLL MORTON + TABLE OF THE ELEMENTS + Mississippi Blues: An Abusers Guide

FILM

“Southern Films, Actual and Fanciful” by JONATHAN ROSENBAUM

PRINT

WALKER PERCY + JOHN ROTHCHILD + CHARLES PORTIS + Face to Face: ALEX ABRAMOVICH and CHRISTOPHER SORRENTINO

BARBARIC YAWPS

Poetry reviews and Q&A with MATTHEW ROHRER

BACK PAGE

“Did Something Miss New Orleans?” a poem by Andrei Codrescu

CD SAMPLER

Ten classics from the Stax collection. This mix CD is exclusive to Stop Smiling’s Ode to the South Issue. Produced in association with Concord Music Group