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Published: October 15th 2008
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The Player and a "Friend"
No, that is not me with the Player, although I dig the look. Suggested Listening for this Entry: To get a real feel for today's Beale St., you'll need to go hear a rather pedestrian blues / R&B bar band somewhere. The band may have a good singer or a couple of decent musicians, but nothing about the band will overly impress you because you can only hear so many covers of "Mustang Sally" and "Pride and Joy". With that said, I'll suggest you harken back to the glory days of Beale St. and listen to "Further On Up Road" by Bobby "Blue" Bland, "Drving Wheel" by Junior Parker, "Don't Start Me to Talking" by Sonny Boy Williamson II (Rice Miller) and anything by Ike Turner's Rhythm Kings.
Suggested Food and Drink for this Entry: Ditto the listening suggestion...for today's Beale St., grab the biggest Bud Light draft you can find in a plastic cup and some decently prepared southern staple like red beans & rice. If you want to go the traditional route, find the best soul food joint in your area and order up some smothered pork chops, catfish or fried chicken. Wash it down with whatever beer they serve.
After spending a good deal of the afternoon at the
The Beale Big Ass Beer
Sold at numerous refreshment stands on Beale St. Rendezvous and the Rock 'N' Soul Museum, the fellas and I adjourned to our respective hotel rooms for some battery recharging. Around 7:30, we found ourselves motoring down Main St. in a trolley headed for Beale with a whole bunch of out of towners (although one of the locals complimented Nationals Park after seeing my Nats hat). After rolling along a few blocks, our trolley came upon another that was broken down. Several of us decided to start walking as opposed to waiting for the stalled trolley to be jump started, or whatever you to do get a trolley running again. We had walked a couple of blocks when our trolley caught up with us and picked us up again. A couple of minutes later, we were off the trolley and turning the corner onto Beale St.
Lucky for me, Ips had visited Memphis before and had a feel for the Beale St. area (nevermind our search for the Rendezvous earlier in the day). Ips had already told me Beale St. was a smaller, tamer version of New Orleans' Bourbon Street. That meant our first stop was a was beer stand, seeing we could walk the street with libations
The Rum Boogie Cafe
Our first stop of the night. in hand. The Player and I each grabbed a Beale Big Ass Beer which was available at many of the bars on Beale and all of the beer stands. The going price was $5.00 for a Bud product or Miller Lite. (I hate to think the Memphis Chamber of Commerce spent its time and resources developing the Beale Big Ass Beer concept, but you never know. And, I really hope there were no advertising or marketing firms involved. It's one hell of a marketing plan and all, but it's nothing a couple of drunk guys couldn't have thought of...."Hey Player, that's a big ass beer.")
We began to wander, beers in hand, and I immediately noticed 1) the place was crawling with fellow tourists 2) there were quite a few characters, for lack of a better word, there and 3) there were a few "businessmen" hanging around who I was pretty sure would be willing to help three guys unaccompanied by women partake in any number of illicit activities.
After a first pass up and down Beale, we settled into the Rum Boogie Cafe for some food, a few beers and our first sampling of the music being
B.B. King
One of the many bars and clubs on Beale St. played on Beale. Playing that night at the Rum Boogie were James Govan and the Boogie Blues Band. According to the Rum Boogie website, the band has been playing the Rum Boogie for close to 15 years and they are currently playing five nights a week, fifty weeks a year. It's hard for a band to keep the energy level up when it is grinding out those type of gigs. But, it's better than a day job and the table full of Nordics next to us, who were smoking more than Winona Ryder after an afternoon of shoplifting, were enjoying the band. Govan was a decent enough singer but, to me, it seemed he and the band were just going thru the motions while playing the soul and blues standards the audience expected to hear. Soon enough, we had downed a filling meal (red beans & rice for me), had a few beers (Shiner) that were of higher quality than the Beale Big Ass Beer, heard the requisite version of "Mustang Sally" by the band, and were back on Beale.
Not too long after getting back on the street, we got our first taste of street entertainment. Several local
teenagers were in the middle of Beale St. (which was closed to automobile traffic), doing various acrobatic jumps and flips for an enthusiastic crowd of onlookers. Each round of the performance got more difficult and impressive until the climactic ending when one the teenagers ran up to and then flipped over several of his cohorts. It was quite entertaining to the crowd and soon after the final jump, the teenagers were working the crowd for well deserved tips.
The following portion of the entry has been written in PG form for public consumption. With a crowd gathered to watch the teenagers' performance, the aforementioned "businessmen" went to work. It wasn't long until we were approached by one. Somehow, Ips and I moved swiftly to each side of The Player so the "businessman" got the impression The Player was the one who may be interested in a transaction (when in fact none of us were). Soon, the "businessman" was talking a lady up to The Player and working it hard. After a few minutes and sensing no business was going to be transacted, the "businessman" made one last sales ploy by promising The Player he could enjoy a meeting with
the "businessman"'s female associate while "businessman", Ips and I watched. After seeing the three of us break into laughter, "businessman" got the point. Before finally walking away, he solicited us for a donation to his wine fund. At least "businessman" still had charity on his mind.
We went back to wandering Beale and going in and out of bars, occasionally stopping to check somebody or something out. One such stop was to get picture of the local Elvis wannabe. I have no clue as to what he was really up to. He wasn't singing. He just wandered around, occasionally stopping to talk to the ladies. At least he was gracious enough to stop and pose for a picture with The Player, and as far as I know, he didn't pick The Player's pocket.
Beale Street is home to Memphis' walk of stars. Among the many stars implanted there in the sidewalk on Beale was one for the recently departed Issac Hayes. Let's have a moment of silence for the Black Moses.
(Silence....more silence....and no giggle loop....more silence..ok, as you were.)
Back to wandering.....On the far end of Beale St., we did have the good fortune to catch a few minutes of a good band playing on the street and accross from Coyote Ugly (what does that tell you about Beale Street?). But, it wasn't too long before I was ready to play the last card I was holding for a chance at some good music in a club and thinking "Dr. "Feelgood" Potts don't let me down".....
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