Memphis in May…
Otherwise known as… No wrong. Part of Memphis in May is the “Beale Street Music Festival”. Locals simply call it the Music Fest. Three days, some god-knows-how-many bands, blues, soul, rock. Bottom line: Fun! A short overview…
FRIDAY:
Missed it completely. It was raining way to hard. This is supposed to be fun. Instead BBQ at Corky’s
Saturday:
Arrived too late. Walked in during Colbie Caillat (or however you spell that). As much as I like the tune “Bubbly”, she really isn’t all that good on stage. Buddy Guy was phenomenal! Not in the least because he decided (as always) to walk into the audience and he was *THIS* (imagine forefinger and thumb less than inch apart) from where I was standing. Lou Reed? He gives the sixties a bad name. There just aren’t enough drugs to make those spacey jams interesting. He would do well to just perform his songs without the experimental crap. Left after 2 songs and went to the Blues tent. Watermelon Slim. Interesting… I thought his voice was a little off. A buddy told me his voice is ALWAYS off. Hubert Sumlin was cool, but not as cool as Pinetop Perkins. If I get to be that age and still play the piano like that. Oh wait, I don’t play piano!
SUNDAY:
Porta-potty was the first stop. Aretha Franklin was top-notch. Never mind she was a royal bitch. Poor Mike, the sound guy… “Mike I don’t pay for that buzzing”. Never mind she was just presented with a key to the city (presented by the mayor, who got boo’ed off stage). Overheard during the show: Honey, Aretha Franklin has something to say to you! Guy then held his cell phone in the air to the tune of Pink Cadillac (We go riding on the freeway of love…) Blues tent boring, one can only stand so much Fergie before having to see the Black Crowes who were giving the sixties a bad name, and they weren’t even born back then. Time to head out. Out, where we had to change a flat in one of the more unsavory parts of town, only to come home to a dog that puked on the carpet.
WHAT A GREAT WEEKEND. GONNA DO THIS AGAIN NEXT YEAR
May 5th, 2008 at 6:26 am
“Real” video is here: http://www.commercialappeal.com/videos/detail/final-day-music-fest/
May 6th, 2008 at 8:52 am
Some of my observations during this weekend:
* Is somebody really standing outside during a hail storm with a tennis ball and a golf ball to compare the size of the hail to? What if it is definitely not the size of either? Maybe a better way of measuring hail is by the depth of the dent it leaves in 70 mph winds against a car going 70 mph.
* Dogs rolls over when you tickle their tummy. Semi’s roll over when a tornado tickles their tummy.
* It takes 2 software engineers, a group of very drunken people, a cell phone, an internet connection, at least two people in remote locations that are called and a manual that isn’t in the car, to change a tire on a SUV.
* I parked in the Gibson parking lot and only had to pay 20 dollars for that. A moment I’ll never forget. Sadly the Gibson factory was not open for a tour.
* Downtown Memphis is very unsafe. The flashing lights of all the police cars at night can cause you to have convulsions (which is already easier done after a couple of beers), and fall face down in some BBQ chicken that was dropped on the street.
* If the Mississippi river had sandy beaches, the festival would have been less muddy.
* I love music and Memphis loves music, so I love Memphis.
Oh yeah, Chocolate beer tastes better than it sounds.