“Dennis was my teacher,” Heidi Knochenhauer says of Dennis
Brooks, the tireless advocate of Memphis music and blues who died
from a heart attack last month at age 59.
Brooks was not a musician but carved a niche for himself through
enthusiasm and hustle as a key figure in the Memphis blues scene. That
scene will celebrate him Sunday, November 29th, with an afternoon and
night concert at Neil’s, the Midtown venue where Brooks promoted
concerts most often in recent years.
The concert — dubbed the Dennis Brooks Life Celebration
— was organized by Knochenhauer, a grant writer for the Arkansas
Blues and Heritage Festival who calls Brooks her “blues wingman” for
area festivals and blues events in recent years; former colleague
Chuck Porter, who hosts the “Blues Today” program on WEVL-FM
Friday mornings; and stalwart local blues musician Brad
Webb.
Starting at 2 p.m. and running deep into the night, the concert will
feature many key names in the local blues/roots community, among them:
Webb, Blind Mississippi Morris, Billy Gibson, William Lee Ellis, Reba
Russell, and Eric Hughes. There are also out-of-town musicians coming
in to pay tribute, among them Alabama’s Microwave Dave and Portland’s
John-Alex Mason.
“He was what I call a spoke in the wheel,” Webb says. “It takes a
lot of spokes to make that wheel go round. And Dennis was always there,
from booking bands to being a friend to being a reporter/man on the
scene. He would call me on Sunday nights, going, ‘Man, I’m at Huey’s
and Microwave Dave’s here, and there ain’t but 11 heads at 9 p.m.
Where’s the support?'”
A founding member of the Beale Street Blues Society, Brooks
played a role in the careers of regional blues notables such as Webb
and Blind Mississippi Morris, Daniel “Slick” Ballinger, and Richard
Johnston.
“He booked Morris and me on the first trip to Norway, before Robert
Belfour, Bill Ellis, and Richard Johnston went,” Webb says. “And Dennis
never charged too much — 10 percent, which is about unheard of
for an agent. Dennis was kind of an old-school type of guy who wasn’t
real fancy. Dennis was a friend to me. It wasn’t a business
association.”
Many musicians shared a similar kinship with Brooks, something
reflected in the large and still-growing lineup for this weekend’s
concert.
“There was never a question. It was y’all tell me when to be there
and we’ll play,” Porter says. “Everybody thought the world of him.”
“We’re still getting calls from people who just found out he
passed,” Webb says.
“Musicians were always welcomed at his home when they came through,”
says Knochenhauer, who was most recently working with Brooks on the
nonprofit Arkansas Music Preservation and Education initiative, modeled
after the Mississippi Blues Trail markers. Brooks was a board member
and “our main researcher,” Knochenhauer says. “He knew everything. He
was our encyclopedia. It’s really a loss.”
Sunday’s celebration concert will be free — “Dennis
wouldn’t have had it any other way,” Knochenhauer says — but
donations will be accepted and a silent auction will be held to raise
proceeds for Brooks’ headstone as well as a potential music note on
Beale Street, with a wide range of music-related items in the auction
donated from the likes of photographer Dick Waterman and Alligator
Records’ Bruce Iglauer.
The tentative lineup for the concert:
2 p.m. – Bill Ellis, Tomi Lunsford, Sandy
Carroll
3 p.m. – Bobby Lawson Band, David Daniels, Stan
Street, Don Cook
4 p.m. – Wampus Cats, MT Leon, Elmo
5 p.m. – The Hitmen, Sterling Billingsly, John-Alex Mason
6 p.m. – Blind Mississippi Morris, Billy Lavender,
Microwave Dave, Phil Durham
7 p.m. – Steve Selvidge, Richard Johnston, Billy Gibson
8 p.m. – Don McMinn, Davis Coen
9 p.m. – Reba Russell Band, Valerie June
9:50 p.m. – Eric Hughes Band
10:15 p.m. – Jam Session
