Mid-South Features

With the 2012 Summer Olympics barely eight weeks away, many U.S. athletes still need to qualify for their ticket to London… among them Mississippian Brittney Reese.

Reese is not just any Olympic-hopeful, she's also the current long jump world champion and record holder.

Training jumps are understated affairs for Brittney Reese. No dramatic spray of sand, just a dull thud and a quick word between athlete and trainer. Neither she, nor her coach, Joe Walker, is of the loquacious sort. 

When the Beatles came to Elvis Presley’s Bel Air home in 1965 for a meeting orchestrated by managers Brian Epstein and Colonel Tom Parker, John Lennon asked if Elvis had any ideas for his next movie project. Elvis said he would probably play a country boy with a guitar who meets a few girls and sings a few songs. Elvis couldn’t keep a straight face long after making that statement, and laughingly explained that the only time one of his films strayed from that format was the only time he came close to losing money on a movie.

When Atlantic Records took an interest in what was happening in Memphis at Stax, an intriguing comparison of the greenness of grasses took place. When it came to making records, there was a New York way, and there was a Memphis way.