Beale Street Part 3 - Feeling Good with the Doctor

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Sugested Listening for this Entry: Dr. "Feelgood" Potts CDs Make It Talk & Going Down to Memphis

Suggested Food and Drink: By this time, anything you can get your hands on.


Now I've been hearing a whole lot of talk going around lately about what a woman really wants in the bedroom.
Clarence Carter said he be strokin'.
Bobby Rush said he be wearing it out.
Now there's another guy going around saying a woman wants a man to stand up in it.
But let me tell you what a woman told me...
-from Dr. "Feelgood" Potts' spoken introduction to his song "Make It Talk"


In the 1980's, two songs were released that helped create a mini-genre within the Southern Soul field, the bravado song. Those songs, "Strokin'" by Clarence Carter and "Candy Licker" by Marvin Sease, led to a large number of answer songs, sequels and originals where the singer (usually a man) gets a few minutes to brag on his manly techiques and his bedroom secrets. Conversely, female performers have released songs letting their lovers know what needs to be done to get the job done, or in a worst case scenario, telling their lovers they flat out can't cut the mustard. Now, these themes are nothing new to the blues or soul, but the Carter and Sease releases were the beginning of a tidal wave of these songs as performers searched for that one career boosting song. (For those of you needing an introduction to Southern Soul, please see the note at the end of this entry.)

In the years since these releases, numerous performers have sung of their abilities, prowess and bedroom secrets. A short list of some of these songs is:
"Wearing It Out" by Bobby Rush
"I Ate You for My Breakfast" and "Sit Down on It" by Marvin Sease
"Stand Up In It" by Theodis Ealey...one of the biggest Southern Soul hits of the past few years
"Bone Me Like You Own Me" and "Footprints on the Ceiling" by Barbara Carr
and of course, "Make It Talk" by Dr. "Feelgood" Potts.

Potts' follow up to "Make It Talk" was the recently released Going Down to Memphis, which I had read was a CD of straight blues that received good reviews. Knowing the Doctor had some original material out there gave me hope we would be hearing something other than the standard soul & blues covers we had been hearing all night. Now that you've had today's music history lesson and knowing I had several Beale Big Ass Beers and Shiners before my appointment with the Doctor, you have the backstory to Ips, The Player and I walking into Mr. Handy's Blues Hall somewhere towards midnight.

The three of us grabbed a table in the Blues Hall with ease. There were maybe twenty people there, at most. The Doctor and band were playing a song from the new CD when we came in. I knew this because, between songs, he never failed to pick a copy of the CD and point out what track number the last song was and what the track number of the next song he was going to play would be. Then, I noticed there was a pretty large tip jug on the stage in front of the band. That's not always a good sign when there is no cover being charged because the band is relying more on pleasing a rather uninformed crowd to garner tips as opposed to playing for a crowd that paid a cover to specifically hear that particular band.

We listened to a couple of songs before the Beale Big Ass Beers gave me the courage to yell for "Red Onions", an instrumental from the Make It Talk CD. The Doctor broke into "Red Onions", I threw a couple of dollars in the tip jar and began thinking to myself maybe the Doctor would be glad there was someone in the place who came to hear him and not just whatever band was up on stage. This also led me to believe a few more dollars in the tip jug would get me "Make It Talk".

After watching the crowd groove to "Red Onions" and hearing a couple of more songs, I made my first request for "Make It Talk" by yelling it out. The good Doctor quickly shot back "this band doesn't know that song". I found that hard to believe.

As the set wound down and with the band still playing, Potts made his way through the crowd soliciting tips. After the set concluded, he came back through bar with copies of Going Down to Memphis for sale. I had planned to buy a copy before I ever left D.C., so I gladly forked over a picture of President Jackson for the CD. I asked again for "Make It Talk", this time in a more pleasant manner. The Doctor's response this time was he was no longer on the record label which had released the Make It Talk CD and that he was promoting Going Down to Memphis. That would have been a fair enough answer provided he hadn't already perfomed "Red Onions". The Doctor went on to peddle his CD around the rest of the bar when the guitar player came walking by us. I asked him if the Doctor would play "Make It Talk" and the guitar player's response was an honest "he won't do that here", confirming my suspicion Potts thought "Make It Talk" would offend the white bread tourist crowd. Oh well....

While the Doctor and I were talking, The Player had found himself in the company of a rather attractive girl who had strolled in...alone. And believe me, she didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the crowd. Other than interrupting their conversation long enough to snap the picture you see to the right, I let nature, or in this case, the free enterprise system, take its course. A few minutes later, the young lady was gone. I didn't get very many details from The Player, other than him telling me when asked the young lady what line of work she was in, she responded "I'm an entertainer". By my buzzed calclulations, the "businessmen" and "entertainers" of Beale St. were O for 2 in their sales pitches to The Player. Great display of moral fortitude on The Player's part, if I do say so myself.

A short while later, the Doctor "Feelgood" Potts Blues Band was back on stage. The first song of the set was another rendition of "Red Onions", the one song the band seemed to know from Make It Talk. By this time, the crowd in the Blues Hall was feeling pretty good. Somehow (I say somehow because I don't remember how the conversation started) I began talking to the group pictured at beginning of this entry. All during the evening, Potts had been asking members of the crowd where they were from while he was playing, then trying to play up to their city to up his tips. Each member of the group pictured, had been saying they were from the far corners of the U.S., Sacramento, Miami, etc. When I asked them where they from, they fessed up to being from the Memphis area (some of the few locals on Beale that night, I guess). From what I could gather from talking with them (and Ips, who doesn't drink, remembered the same thing) it was the guy on the right's birthday, the blonde was his mom and the guy was dating one of the sisters pictured. On paper, or in this case on a blog, that sounds like a pleasant of enough way to spend your birthday. But in person, things were definitely weird as the guy spent an equal amount of time dancing...and making out with all three of the women, including the one purporting to be his mother. Maybe we got the story wrong and the blonde was the mother of the two sisters, but in any case, that would make their behavior strange too. Better for the guy, but still strange.

We spent time talking to this group until the Doctor stopped playing around one a.m. After he finished, I talked to Potts again. This time he was the one asking the questions. He was interested in what radio station I listened to the blues on here in D.C. I told him WPFW and that the DJ who was most likely to play the Doctor's music was the Gator, WPFW's Saturday afternoon DJ. The Doctor thanked me and said he was going to have to remember the Gator's name. Then, Potts asked me if I had heard his latest single, "My Inlaws", on WPFW. I had to confess to him that I hadn't heard it on the station, but I did tell him I had heard his older music on the station. He walked away again saying he needed to remember the Gator. I really hope he made it home with that piece of information still in mind, although I have my doubts.

When things wound down in the Blues Hall, we headed back out onto Beale Street. I have to admit things started getting hazy after that. But, I know we were in and out of several bars, including an extended stay at the outside bar at Silky O'Sullivan's where, all of the sudden, I didn't find a cover band so offensive. I guess there was a Memphis miracle wrapped up in all those Beale Big Ass Beers.......

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A note on Southern Soul from SouthernSoulRNB.com:
Southern Soul music--with its own stars, its own audience and day-to-day hits--is the resurgence of that verse-and-chorus, story-telling tradition. Southern Soul descends from the classic R&B of the sixties. In addition to Motown, Memphis, Philly and Chicago-style rhythm and blues, Southern Soul borrows freely from country, gospel, rock, pop and many other influences. It is not simply the "blues," with which it is often confused, and which traces its roots through a decidedly narrower, less danceable, lineage. But you won't find today's Southern Soul performers in "Billboard," unless someone is fortunate enough to break through on the blues chart. Sadly, Brook Benton's "Rainy Night In Georgia" and Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" were among the last mainstream Southern Soul hits.

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Photos

Having a Good Time on Beale
There was something funny going on with this group, but to this day I can't figure out what.

"Red Onions" Gets the Crowd Dancing
...but if you really want to please a woman, you gotta make it talk.

Business Meeting?
It seems the young lady was trying land a client for her "entertainment" practice.

Comments

[Luisa]

Same Dr. at a different time
Loved the blog...just visited the Dr. a few months ago and had an equally entertaining experience...especially as he walked up and down the bar between songs with the giant tip jar! I saw the pics and it's the same bar, with the same sign that was there when my friend and I visited. We walked in because he called out to us from the stage as we passed by on the sidewalk and of course when got in he made a big announcement and introduction right in the middle of his song! Memphis is one of my favorite towns and I've been several times but the Dr. is one of my favorite memories!

[the player]

Late night at Silky O'Sullivans
I'd like to add that you know Shed has drank alot of Big Ass Beal Street Beers when he hits the dance floor. It takes alot of beer to get Shed shaking. The last place we hit on Beal Street was Silky O'Sullivans, an outdoor open patio with a dance floor. I knew Shed was lit up when I saw him with his arms wrapped around a pretty, full bodied red head grooving to the seductive soul music coming from the Band. It was a nice way to end the evening.