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One Night In Memphis

Saturday, October 26, 2024 @ 8:00pm



Grunin Center
1 College Drive, Toms River, NJ 08754

One Night in Memphis is a rocking concert tribute to legendary Sun Records recording artists Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley. Over 90 minutes of rockabilly, country, gospel, and pure 1950s rock and roll music performed live and backed by an authentic and energetic rockabilly backup band. Created and directed by John Mueller from the highly acclaimed show, “Winter Dance Party,” this show has met with the same accolades, sell-out shows, and audience standing ovations.

Be a witness to a rock and roll royalty jam session with the music and talent that has stood the test of time. Enjoy true American music featuring the hits “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “Whole lotta Shaking Going On,” “Shake, Rattle and Roll,” “Don’t Be Cruel,” “Hound Dog,” and many, many more with acclaimed national talent, all performed live without tracks and guaranteed to get any audience rocking and rolling!

On December 4th, 1956, music history was made. This date found Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis Presley together at Sun Record’s studio in Memphis, TN. A jam session ensued, which seemed to have happened by chance. Perkins, who by this time had already met success with “Blue Suede Shoes”, had come into the studio that day, accompanied by his brothers Clayton and Jay and by drummer W.S. Holland, to cut some new material, including a revamped version of an old blues song, “Matchbox”. Sam Phillips, the owner of Sun Records, who wished to try to fatten this sparse rockabilly instrumentation, had brought in his latest acquisition, singer, and piano man extraordinaire Jerry Lee Lewis, still unknown outside Memphis, to play piano on the Perkins session.

Sometime in the early afternoon, Elvis Presley, a former Sun artist himself but now at RCA, dropped in to pay a casual visit. At the time, he was the biggest name in show business, having hit the top of the singles charts five times and topped the album charts twice in the preceding 12-month period. Less than four months earlier, he appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, pulling an unheard-of 83% of the television audience, estimated at 55 million, the largest in history up to that time.

After chatting with Philips in the control room, Presley listened to the playback of Perkins’ session, which he pronounced to be good. Then he went out into the studio, and the jam session began sometime later. Sun artist Johnny Cash, who had recently enjoyed a few hits on the country charts, popped in at some point during the session. Cowboy Jack Clement was engineering that day and remembers saying to himself, “I think I’d be remiss not to record this,” So he did, and the night became rock and roll music history. Many famous artists, such as Bob Dylan, recall listening to and being tremendously inspired by these recordings.




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FEATURED EVENTS

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The MAC players at the Middletown Arts Center present "Hairspray"

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The Mallard

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EVENT PREVIEWS

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Without a Clue Productions presents "Mrs. Roper Romp" and "A Golden Girls Murder Mystery: A Family Affair" at Resorts Casino Hotel

(ATLANTIC CITY, NJ) -- Without a Cue Productions heads to the Jersey Shore this summer with two cult classics coming to Atlantic City. Come for the caftan muumuus and stay for the Janet and Jack Tripper cocktails, as Mrs. Roper Romp brings the wild 70s fun to Resorts Casino Hotel. Don your best Mrs. Roper costume (and red curly haired wig!) and win fun prizes as you play party games and dance to Yacht rock inspired by the iconic hit show Three's Company. From the 70s to the 80s and early 90s, get ready to celebrate your favorite Golden Girls.



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Brookdale Summer Shakespeare presents William Shakespeare's "Macbeth"

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Monmouth University Center for the Arts presents National Theatre: Broadcast in HD - "A Streetcar Named Desire"

(WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ) -- Monmouth University Center for the Arts presents the National Theatre: Broadcast in HD of A Streetcar Named Desire on Thursday, August 7, 2025 in the Pollak Theatre. From visionary director Benedict Andrews, this acclaimed production was filmed live during a sold-out run at the Young Vic Theatre in 2014. Showtime is 7:30pm.




 

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