The Real Memphis Mike (don't settle for imitations)

To most folks, its known as Toad In The Hole . Its an old school, tradition British dish made with sausage and Yorkshire Pudding batter. Served best with a nice brown, onion gravy. Thanks to my friend Grace, it will now forever be called Snake In The Cake . If you know me, you know I love to cook...possibly even more than I like to eat. Contrary to popular belief, I like trying different stuff. When I first went to the UK, I couldn't wait to try the different, authentic, traditional dishes. Some I was not going to try. I have no desire to eat kidney. I'm not big on organ meat, as a general rule. I'd had a taste of heart, brain, intestine, etc. growing up. Some things aren't made for a repeat performance. Yorkshire Puddings One thing I fell in culinary love with in the UK is Yorkshire Pudding. Americans think of 'pudding' as a sweet, gooey, dessert mess. Chocolate pudding, tapioca, banana, etc. Yorkshire Pudding is nothing like that. Its somewhere between...

"We're going to send you to London with a hangover!" , he said half-jokingly. It came across almost like a thinly veiled threat. Leggs, w/ Crazy Cavan & Co. with big shiny records,  at a  Welsh newspaper office.  The "he" in question was my friend Paul "Leggsy" Barrett. If you're a fan of rockabilly, Teddy Boy music, that sort of thing...you owe him a hearty Thank Ye Kindly. Leggs passed away earlier today. As his missus put it, he collapsed and died. It wasn't sudden. He'd had health problems in recent years. He was 78 and had spent most of his life in and around the music business. Puts a lot of extra miles on the chassis. I could go into great detail about his life and career but you can find all of that online yourself. Instead, allow me to give you some personal memories of the Grand Potentate of Penarth. In 2002, I made my first trip overseas. My friend 2Tone had managed to drum up some interest in my music over th...

Just my seasonal silliness... THANKSGIVUS Thanksgivus: that's what she called it. The 'she' in question would be a very short, loud, middle aged black woman with retardation who I supervised for years. Her name is Omega...fitting because she truly is THE END! Omega didn't exactly have a speech problem but I think her hearing wasn't 100% on the mark, as certain words would get slurred together such as "Thanksgivus". Another fave was her version of Social Security, which often sounded more like "sociable secretary" (of which I've known a few). Thanksgivus (which is what I now prefer to call the US holiday Thanksgiving) is the last Thursday of November (this is for my overseas friends who may not be fully knowledgeable of the subject). It is the holiday where we Americans give Thanks to God for giving us BIG tasty birds, punkin pie & cranberry sauce...all courtesy of a tribe that we soon took great pains to wipe out. In short...

There are days when I'm amazed that I still do this. I woke up this morning, sore as hell. My arthritic hands...swollen. The foot that I crushed nearly 30 years ago...throbbing. The nerve damage in my legs...burning. I'll happily do this again and again. We were ON last night. Most nights we play, we are. At 52, I'm the youngest guy in the band. That often cracks me up. I know musicians half my age who couldn't put on a show like we do. Not on their best night! We know what we're doing. We can go into a song we've never done before (and I do believe we did) and play it like we wrote it. Members of the audience often ask how often we rehearse. Honest answer: We don't. This is one of the benefits of being a career working musician. You learn how music works. Once you know what key the song is in, you can probably fake your way through the average pop/rock/blues/country song. Lord knows I've faked my way through plenty. I had to fake my way through a Lion...

Another one gone. We lost the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin today. Her voice is irreplaceable. Oddly enough, this is the anniversary of Elvis' death. His passing is still felt across the globe decades later, as I'm sure the passing of Aretha will be. In recent years we've lost many of the greats. As a guitarist, BB King and Link Wray come to mind. Both were powerful influences on the instrument's place in music. Neither can be replaced. We've lost so many great musical artists. I guess the big question is WHO ARE THE NEW GREAT ONES ? I can't recall the last time I heard a mind-blowing NEW artist. Someone with a fresh new sound or approach. Its been a long time, that's for sure. Anything new that I hear (and yes, surprise surprise, this old guy does listen to a lot of new music) is usually just a retread of something older. Sure, some of it is good but its neither fresh nor exciting. While not a huge fan of rap/hip hop, I enjoyed the energy of it when ...

Most of my friends know that I have a young friend, all of 20. He's adopted me as a surrogate dad , of sorts, and he calls me "Pops". Throughout our adventures in ukulele playing, psychology, culture, humor and semi-fine dining, he has found that this old man knows how to cook. And dude loves my cooking! It's become a bit of a routine for me to take him dinner at work a few times a week. His tastes run pretty similar to mine, so its even easier for me. Yesterday, I was trying to decide what to make. I had just made gumbo a few days prior and that was going to be a tough act to follow. (if you've had my gumbo, you know this) I had some leftover peppers, so there was a start. I thawed out some chicken thighs and picked up some fresh onions....now what? Let the creativity begin! I sometimes just make up a dish as I go along. I'll take an idea from one dish or other, mix it up, add some things, change some things, just to see how it goes. I've been coo...

My grandmother was pretty funny. She had an often sly, sometimes bizarre sense of humor. Once, I brought a shy gal I was dating to meet my grandmother and great aunt. We went out for dinner and drinks. This same gal was so overwhelmed at meeting the rest of my family at the holidays that she needed a sedative. OK, most would probably want drugs to meet my family. Back to my grandmother. We were sitting having drinks and talking while waiting for dinner. My girlfriend was barely saying two words, due to her shyness. My grandmother reached across the table, took my gal's beer, took her swizzle straw out of her own cocktail and started blowing bubbles into my gal's beer. My gal was, um, a tad surprised. I was laughing like an idiot, understanding what she was doing. My auntie said to my grandmother, "Dammit Marg! What ARE you doing? That girl doesn't want your spit in her beer!" My grandmother dryly replied, "Her beer looked flat. I thought I'd help her ou...