We are here in Memphis, Tennessee and have hit the ground running. The occasion is the 20th annual Blues Ball, thrown by Memphis’s doyenne of doyennes Pat Kerr Tigrett to raise money for local charities. This year, R&B legend Sam Moore is the honoree for Lifetime Achievement, and he will be performing on Saturday night in front of 2,500 formally attired Memphians.

Tigrett’s annual event is a magnet for all of Memphis’s famed musicians, and this year is no exception. Expected tomorrow night are the creme de la creme of Stax-Hi Records-Sun Records including Jerry Lee Lewis, Al Green, Ann Peebles, Carla Thomas, Marvell Thomas and so on.

When I was here filming “Only the Strong Survive” in the summer of 1999, the lot where Stax Records once stood was an empty field of weeds. The neighborhood had gone to hell in a handbasket. It was pretty bleak.

But a couple of years later thanks to brothers Andy and Staley Cates, Stax was re-born. They raised the money to build a museum and charter school and music academy on the property. A whole campus has risen around it since then, and Stax is now a focal point for the community. It’s quite an achievement.

This morning Sam and his wife Joyce were invited over for a private tour. The museum replicates the facade of Stax and the Satellite Record shop in the front. Inside, there are dozens exhibits detailing the history of soul music. They’ve also reproduced the original studio where Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, the Staples Singers and so many other Stax acts recorded their landmark hits. When we walked into the big room, a whole gang of us, Sam immediately gravitated to the spot where he sang with Dave Prater. He pointed to a spot just behind him.

“You had to be careful and not back up while you were singing.” he said. “There was a curtain here”– he motioned to the spot. “If you backed up you heard a lot of bottles fall and clink together. Those were Otis’s whiskey bottles. We knew he’d been in here the night before!”

What we also got was something very special: a show put on by the music students at Stax. They performed a medley of Stax hits, from “Soul Man” to “Knock on Wood” and a few others. These were fourteen to eighteen year olds. They were just outstanding, and a concrete example of the possibilities of renewal and growth where once everything seemed lost and abandoned.

Meantime, all anyone seems to do in this town is eat or talk about eating. It is still the barbecue capital of the south. After all the ribs and bread puddings I hope I will fit into my tuxedo on Emmy night!

At this point, Simon Cowell may be a little worried. Wednesday night’s “X Factor” was slaughtered in the ratings. First “Survivor” returned at 8pm on CBS for its first hour. “Survivor” had 9.73 million total viewers vs. 6.62 million for “X Factor.”

Then during its final half hour from 9pm to 9:30m, “X Factor” by “America’s Got Talent.” The Howard Stern hosted competition had 11.19 million total viewers. Yikes.

Is anyone paying attention to “X Factor”? Not really. Even the “Big Brother” season finale beat it later, at 9:30pm, with slightly more eyes.

Hugh Jackman’s new film, “Prisoners,” is not ‘les miserables’ in the truest sense, but incredibly intense. In fact, there are a few times during this film about two little girls who are abducted from their suburban neighborhood when you do kind of flinch. Jackman and Terrence Howard, fathers of the missing children, exact some torture on the man they think took their kids (Paul Dano). At one point quite a few snakes slither across the screen.They are not the comedian snakes from “Snakes on a Plane,” either.

“Denis [Villeneuve, the director] actually had to cut a couple of scenes from the final version, Hugh told me at lunch yesterday at the Monkey Bar for the movie’s cast. “They were just too intense.”

Jackman, Howard and co-stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano and Maria Bello were all on hand for one of those rare great intimate New York lunches to meet the stars and chat about the film. Michael Shannon, one of Jake’s pals, came, as did Gyllenhaal’s writer-director mother Noami Foner. Some New York actor stalwarts like Bob Dishy and Dana Ivey made the scene as well. Director Tony Gilroy (“Michael Clayton,” “Bourne Legacy”) was also Gyllenhaal’s guest. He’s producing “Nightcrawler,” written by his brother Dan Gilroy, and also starring Jake.’

I was lucky to sit across from musician and actor Ruben Blades. “Everyone thinks I died,” Blades said jokingly. “I was away for five years in Panama, helping with the arts and culture infrastructure. I actually read on the internet I was dead. But I’m back, and I’m making a couple of new albums.”

Blades also has a small role in “The Counselor” with Michael Fassbender, due next month. Over lunch he and Maria Bello had a long serious talk about micro-financing–how he does it in Panama, and she in Haiti. At the other end of the table, Shannon and Gyllenhaal were talking about Syria. And you thought Hollywood types were shallow!

The life of Tupac Shakur is coming to the big screen. His mother has cut a deal with Morgan Creek, at last. The press release follows. Remember I said this: Michael B. Jordan. Just remember.

Press release:

Los Angeles, CA (September 19, 2013) – Morgan Creek Productions and Emmett Furla Films are in final negotiations to partner on the TUPAC biopic, it was announced today by Morgan Creek and EFF.

TUPAC will be produced by James G. Robinson, David Robinson & LT Hutton along with Randall Emmett and George Furla.  The film will be executive produced by Tupac’s mother, Afeni Shakur.  Production is scheduled to begin next year in Atlanta.

TUPAC centers on the life of the charismatic yet controversial artist.  Rapper, poet, actor and political activist, TUPAC shot to fame with 2Pacalypse Now, lauded for its seminal underground vibe and still an inspiration for major artists today.  Tupac’s politically charged lyrics, inspired by his parents’ activism as Black Panthers in the 60s & early 70s, condemned governmental intrusion in black communities.  Tupac’s increased participation in the East Coast-West Coast Rap rivalry became well documented and avidly followed by his fans. On September 7, 1996 he was gunned down on a street corner in Las Vegas, where he died 6 days later.  His murder was never solved.

UPDATE: Carole King was named Person of the Year. James Taylor, of course, will perform for her, as well as the Dixie Chicks, Lady Gaga, Bette Midler, Jason Mraz, and Steven Tyler. This lines up with Carole’s upcoming Broadway musical about her life with Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. So it’s no coincidence. I said earlier (below) the honoree had to be someone with an amazing catalog. Well, you could sing Carole King songs all night, for hours. For fun they should dig up Little Eva (if she’s alive) for “The Loco Motion.”

EARLIER: MusiCares will announce its annual Person of the Year today– the music honoree for its big fundraising event on the Friday night before the Grammy Awards. So many big stars have already had the honor– Paul McCartney, Elton John, Sting, Aretha Franklin, and last year Bruce Springsteen. So while we wait for the announcement, here are some choices:

Jon Bon Jovi– incredibly charitable at home in New Jersey and in Philadelphia with his Soul Kitchen, always there for any emergency

The Rolling Stones– Mick and Keith performed at the Concert for New York in 20o1, plus they recently did some Hurricane Sandy donations from concerts. Plus who wouldn’t want to listen to a night of other stars performing their music?

Lionel Richie– He did co-write “We Are the World” with Michael Jackson. And he also has a great catalog of songs for the big night.

Diana Ross– not publicly charitable per se, but she’d be a big draw.

The honoree has to be a superstar with a real catalog–because the theme of the night is lots of different performers getting up and singing their songs.

MusiCares Person of the Year is one of the great nights in the music biz. Can’t wait to see who it is. Check for updates…