Beale Street manager John Elkington was in Macon, Ga., today for an open meeting on a local group's plan to develop a downtown entertainment district that would brand the city as the "Birthplace of Southern Rock." Specifically, Elkington was to "discuss the creation of an economic development plan to implement such ideas," according to a the nonprofit NewTown Macon organization.The project would make use of more than 1 million square feet of empty property and build on a musical heritage that includes native sons Otis Redding, Little Richard and the Allman Brothers, as well as the Capricorn Records label whose roster included artists such as the Marshall Tucker Band, Wet Willie, Widespread Panic and Bonnie Bramlett.
I haven't seen anything to indicate whether Elkington and his Performa Entertainment company would actually develop the Macon project. Recall that Elkington has been involved in a mess of litigation brought by the city and the Beale Street Development Corp., who claim among other things that Elkington and Performa have improperly used Beale Street funds to finance projects in other cities.
P.S.: It's interesting how much Macon's musical heritage overlaps with Memphis'. Redding, of course, was the flagship artist for Stax Records, and Bramlett -- who recorded solo albums on Capricorn in the '70s -- was one half of another Stax act, Delaney & Bonnie with late husband Delaney Bramlett. Bonnie Bramlett appeared at last month's Beale Street Music Festival.
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