Writer and cultural historian Preston Lauterbach is the guest on this week's installment of The Chauncey DeVega Show. Preston is the author of the great new book Beale Street Dynasty which examines the intersecting lives, fascinating personalities, the power of the color line, and self-made men in the post-Civil War South. In all, Beale Street Dynasty is an amazing work that reveals a great deal about sex, song, and politics in Memphis, Tennessee, and America, more broadly.

Preston does some great sharing and teaching in this week's episode. Chauncey and Preston talk about Elvis Presley and race, day-to-day life for black entertainers on the "Chitlin' Circuit", politics and life in the post war South, navigating freedom and slavery, and the life of the amazing black politician-gangster-entrepreneur-arts patron Mr. Robert Church.

During this week's episode of the podcast, Chauncey talks about Donald Trump and professional wrestling, offers up his own conspiracy theory about the death of Antonin Scalia, and complains about impending decrepitude and his irritated skin.