Memphis Magazine: A Blast From The Past

I always look forward to receiving my "Memphis" magazine in the mail every month. I started getting this particular magazine in the mail several years ago. My brother-in-law, Bill, who lives in Bartlett, Tenn., a suburb of Memphis, sends me a subscription to the publication every year for Christmas. It's one of my favorite Christmas gifts that I look forward to receiving. Also, Bill has been sending me "Guidepost" magazine probably for the last 30 years and still is. But to me, there's no other publication like "Memphis" magazine. It's a very special magazine to me.

Since I am a native of Memphis (born in 1962) there's a lot of things in the magazine that always appeal to me. Of course, I moved away from Memphis in 1976 and moved just South of the state-line down to Hernando, Miss. I lived in North Mississippi for 11 years before I moved to Kentucky in 1987. North Mississippi is basically a suburb of Memphis. I know when I lived in Mississippi, we went to Memphis quite often for a lot of activities like shopping, dinning, entertainment and for medical purposes. But since I have lived in Kentucky all these years, I really don't know how much things have changed down there. Of course, I have visited a lot through the years. But I really know exactly how things have changed. I have heard a lot of negatives since I have been up here in Kentucky. But then again, I have heard about a few positives things also. Mainly, the magazine keeps me updated in printed form of what's going on in Memphis and the Mid-South rather than just looking on the Internet at the "The Commercial Appeal," the Memphis newspaper web-site.

One particular section of the magazine that I really like is a column call "Ask Vance." Vance Lauderdale (I still wonder if Vance is a real person or not) will take a question about something in Memphis' history and will do research and find out what happened to the person, place or thing. Here's a link to Vance's blog regarding "Lakeland" an amusement park that used to be Northeast Shelby County, Tenn., the county where Memphis is located. My parents used to take us there a lot as kids when we were growing up there in Memphis. Here's a link where Vance blogs about "Lakeland." http://www.memphisflyer.com/AskVanceBlog/archives/2010/05/04/visit-lakeland-on-the-next-southern-routes

In the latest issue (June 2010) of "Memphis" magazine, Vance wrote a long piece in his column where someone wrote in and ask about the time some people got stuck in a ride called the "Skyride" during a storm at Lakeland. They were stuck for over nine hours hanging 90 feet above a man-made lake. It happened in 1968 and I remember when they happened! Wow, my memory is good! I was only 6 years-old. I thought it was a great piece because it brought back a lot of memories for me. "Memphis" magazine always takes me back as well as keeping me up to date what is going these days in the city. Again, it's great magazine and means a lot to me. Thanks to the staff of "Memphis" magazine and to Vance (If you really are a real person :) ) for entertaining us subscribers and readers as well as informing us.

Below is a video from YouTube where the public television station in Memphis (WKNO television) does a really nice segment on "Ask Vance" for it's viewers. It's called "Southern Routes-Lakeland"