Memphis - Disappointment on the 4th

When I was planning out my cross country drive, I had decided to spend the 4th of July. I knew that they were holding a Red, White, and Blues celebration in Handy Park right off of Beale Street followed by fireworks. Since Memphis is the home of the blues, I had high hopes for the night.

I have been to Memphis once before with the Stanford Band for the Liberty Bowl back in 1995. I was only 20 back then, plus they were putting us up in Olive Branch, MS, so I never had a chance to hang out in Memphis for real.

The first blues band I heard was decent, but they just didn't seem all that into it. They had absolutely no stage presence - at one point the singer turned it over to one of the guitar players to solo only to find that the guitar player had left to walk among the crowd to sell CDs. I left at that point to go get dinner, walked to Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken (which was closed) and came back to eat at The Pig on Beale Street. BBQ ribs are tasty.

I made it back in time to hear the end of the second band's set. I was a little surprised by the organizer's choice of this band. They sounded like they took Billy Corgan from The Smashing Pumpkins and made him the front man for Jimmy Eat World. I was wondering where the blues were and more importantly, was wondering if anyone else noticed.

Between this band and the last band, I went to grab a couple more beers. I felt like I needed them.

The last band wasn't bad and they were definitely the best of the three to play. They were a five-piece band and played a mix of blues and rock. Their singer had a pretty cool voice - it was a terrific blues voice: kind of gravelly and throaty. Unfortunately, their soloing was mediocre and they took lots of solos. I found myself REALLY wanting Sinister Dexter to be playing especially once the band played four songs that we play (Pride and Joy, Use Me, Superstition, and Tore Down). We could have easily played there and five horns would have blown the crowd away. [Quick side note: I talked to the event coordinator and got her card. Who knows, maybe we'll play there next year!]

And then came the fireworks. Kind of. Apparently, in previous years, the fireworks are shot on the waterfront over the Mississippi River. This year, they fired them from a parking structure overlooking Handy Park. I don't know how to best describe the disappointment we all felt. You know how most fireworks shoot up into the sky and then explode in a ball of color? Yeah, they didn't have those. Instead, they just had sparklers shot into the sky and then these glowing balls of color that shot into the sky and faded out. The people standing next to me said that these were the most disappointing fireworks they had ever seen and that they might have to go to Nashville next year. The show lasted 13 minutes which was 12 minutes too long. The finale song was the William Tell Overture.

Luckily, all this was done by about 10:30pm and I still had time to chill on Beale Street and check out some more bars and music. The first one I saw was Dr. Feelgood Potts. Good band and good blues. Dr. Potts is a harmonica player who may overindulge on occasion, but he sounded good and was a fun performer to watch.

The second band I heard was called Billy Lavender and The Delta Time Band and they were phenomenal. Great blues sound, played some Clapton, some Stones, and some Jimi and it all sounded terrific. Great solos and great sound and they were the highlight of the night.



After listening to them, I went to listen to a DJ play for a bit and then called it a night around midnight. Luckily, I missed the arrests outside my hotel, but it was a pretty crazy scene - there were thousands of people out on the street all night.