One thing I really loved about the Lamplighter was seeing painter Charlie Miller sitting at the end of the bar, a cloth newsboy cap on his head as he took in the scene and nursed a cold PBR. Charlie died in February, but his magnificent painting of Elvis-as-matador still hangs above the jukebox at the Lamp…

Well, not this weekend — right now, the painting is hanging (alongside dozens more, including the landscape, above, of the Lamplighter’s exterior) at Askew Nixon Ferguson on Union Avenue, as part of a retrospective labeled “a celebration of the life and art of Charlie Miller.” The opening is tonight, at 5:30. Be there!

For more on Miller, read my piece from today’s CA Playbook, here.

Charlie Miller also appears in this Cat Power video, “Lived In Bars,” which was appropriately filmed at the Lamplighter. Robert Gordon (It Came From Memphis, Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story) produced and directed the video. Watch it now: