Tag: Beale Street Music Fest

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Memphis in May to Honor City of Memphis in 2019

CREDIT: MIM- Facebook

MIM- Facebook

In honor of the city’s upcoming 200th birthday, the 2019 Memphis in May International Festival (MIM) will honor Memphis and Shelby County for the first time in the 42-year-old event’s history.

Historically, MIM salutes a country for the one-month festival, but next year, tradition will be broken to celebrate the city’s bicentennial, festival organizers announced Thursday.

“As the Official Festival of the City of Memphis, our board of directors understood what an historic opportunity this was for Memphis in May to break from tradition and celebrate a new century for Memphis,” James Holt, president and CEO of MIM said. “Each year we celebrate the rich history and culture of another country here in Memphis, but this year we look forward to celebrating the history and culture of our hometown as only Memphis in May can.”

Next year, instead of choosing a local artist to create the official festival poster, Memphis artists will have the chance to submit design proposals. A juried panel, along with votes from the public, will determine the finalists.

Finalists’ posters will be on display at the festival’s cultural exhibits and the winning design will be available for purchase as the commemorative poster.

A new event is also slated for the 2019 festival called Celebrate Memphis, which organizers say will be “one of the Mid-South’s most spectacular events.” It’ll feature food, music, art, innovation, while showcasing individuals and organizations “from every corner of the community.”

“It’s an exciting time to be a part of our next century, and to witness in real-time the influence Memphis has around the world,” Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said. “As we celebrate 200 years of originality that has changed the world, Memphis in May choosing Memphis as the subject of its annual salute is a wonderful birthday present.”

MIM- Facebook

MIM officials also announced Thursday that for the second year in a row, this year’s festival had “record-setting gross revenue,” finishing at $10.9 million. That’s a 12 percent increase from 2017 and up 29 percent from 2016.

Much of this came from the Beale Street Music Festival, which sold 102,507 tickets, with $4.5 million admission gross, according to organizers.

According to MIM, the 2018 festival had a local economic impact of $137.7 million and contributed more than $3.5 in local tax revenues, supporting 1,300 full-time equivalent jobs.

See the 2019 Memphis in May schedule below.

Beale Street Music Festival: May 3 – 5, 2019

World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest: May 15 – 18, 2019

Great American River Run: May 25, 2019

Celebrate Memphis: May 25, 2019

Memphis in May to Honor City of Memphis in 2019

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Music Music Blog

Beale Street Music Festival 2018: Saturday

CREDIT: Chris McCoy

Nothing was going to stop the near sellout crowd in Tom Lee Park from having a good time on the second day of the 2018 Beale Street Music Festival.

Chris McCoy

Sunset over Tom Lee Park.

The day started early for Memphis music fans, with Chinese Connection Dub Embassy and Tav Falco & Panther Burns starting ten minutes apart on two of the festival’s three main stages. CCDE greeted the crowds trickling into the park with a strong beat, and they responded with an ecstatic sing along to their song “Heavy Meditation”.

Chris McCoy

Chinese Connection Dub Embassy on the FedEx stage.

We then hoofed it the quarter mile or so to the Bud Light stage where Memphis punk legend Tav Falco was holding court. The current touring incarnation of the immortal Panther Burns is a much tighter and more conventional band than the musical terrorists who set the standard for Midtown punk in early 1980s, but compared to the other acts on offer they were still bracingly raw. Sitting in on keys was Memphis Flyer music editor Alex Greene.

Chris McCoy

Tav Falco and Panther Burns tear it up on the Bud Light stage.

Falco was spry, loose, and utterly confident as he switched freely from shockabilly wildman to tango sophisticate. When he left the stage, the entranced crowd called for an encore, much to the visible consternation of the stage manager who called time as Falco returned for his victory lap. But the beleguared staffer did not know who he was dealing with. He could only look on helplessly as Panther Burns held the stage with a blistering rendition of “New World Order Blues”. Falco spit fire, poetically condemning Trump and the current state of America as the crowd egged him on. It was only the second act of the day, but already I had added to my list of all time great Beale Street Music Festival performances.

If the stage manager was worried about Panther Burns putting the show behind schedule, it turned out to be a moot issue, as Mother Nature had the last word. It had been drizzling on and off all morning, but as Calexico was about halfway through their set, more serious weather set in.

Laura Jean Hocking

Storm clouds loom over Tom Lee Park.

We sought shelter in the Beer Garden tent as the rain intensified. Then, a great gust of wind whipped through the park, accompanied by a torrential deluge and, for about five minutes, nickel-sized hail.

Chris McCoy

4:14 PM: Hail on the ground in Tom Lee Park.

It was a scary few moments as the hail poked holes in the tent where we were sheltered along with several hundred of our fellow festival goers. But just as quickly as the unexpected cell materialized, it dissipated.

Chris McCoy

4:39 PM: Blue skies over the Hernando de Soto Bridge.

Pro Tip: Always wear rain boots to the Beale Street Music Festival, even if it’s sunny and dry while you’re getting ready that morning. There were quite a few regretful women in sandals and heels getting stuck in the mire for the rest of the evening. But no one who saw Al Kapone and his posse perform as the FedEx stage resumed music was in the least bit regretful. Kapone’s set was somewhere between a Memphis music lesson and a pep rally. The climax came when he transitioned from “Hard Out Here For A Pimp” to the other Hustle and Flow hit “Whoop That Trick”, which has become something of a rallying cry for the Grizzlies. There were about ten thousand people in front of the stage, and every one of them were pumping their fists in the air.

Laura Jean Hocking

Commercial Appeal photographer Yoshi James capturing the local wildlife.

By late afternoon, the weather radar was clear, and people were streaming into the park in the tens of thousands. As All Time Low took the stage, singer Alex Gaskarth said “Wow, our stuff still works after getting hailed on!”

Chris McCoy

Artist Lauren Lazaru takes a break from working on the mural she and Curtis Glover created live on the festival grounds.

We retired to the Blues Tent to hear Eddy “The Chef” Clearwater and his crack band wail as the sun went down.

Laura Jean Hocking

Sunset at the Blues Tent.

Chris McCoy

Fans gather for Ludacris.

By the time David Byrne began his transformative set by sitting at a table and singing a song to a human brain like a postmodern Hamlet, the area in front of the Bud Light stage was packed. Byrne alternated songs from his new album American Utopia with deep cuts from his decades-long career. His twelve-piece band, playing all wireless instruments and featuring a percussion section instead of a single trap drummer, ranged freely across the blank stage, flawlessly executing both intricate choreography and layered experimental funk. New songs like “We Dance Like This” and “Everybody’s Coming To My House” took flight when liberated from the studio, and he breathed life into reconfigured classics like “I Zimbra”, “The Great Curve”, and “This Must Be The Place”.

Chris McCoy

David Byrne

At age 65, Byrne delivered the most radical and visionary performance of the entire festival by completely disregarding the conventions of the rock and pop show and incorporating new elements from Broadway, modern dance, and even marching bands. I hope some of the young performers were watching him burn down the house he helped build.

Laura Jean Hocking

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We Recommend We Saw You

The King at MusicFest

CREDIT: Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

Jerry “The King” Lawler and his fiance, Lauryn McBride, were in the audience at the Kings of Leon show Saturday May 6 at the Beale Street Music Festival.

Jerry recalled the time the band members wanted their picture taken with him. “They were first getting started,” Jerry said.

He was in Arlington making an appearance at the time. The Kings of Leon also were at the venue with their amps and musical instruments in a trailer, he said. “They saw that I was there and they came out and said, ‘We want a picture of you with your crown.’ I took the picture with them. I never thought anything about it until they became famous.”

Michael Donahue

Rick Gardner and Dike Bacon at HBG Design

HBG Design (formerly Hnedak Bobo Group) showed off its newly-designed office space at a reception May 4 at 1 Commerce Square.

The architecture and interior design firm invited friends to see the new offices, said HBG Design marketing manager Dana Ramsey. The firm moved from its old offices at 104 Front Street on Nov. 1.

“Along with our new office space, we also rolled out our new brand – a new logo, our new name and branded information,” Dana said.

Grinder, Taber & Grinder construction worked with HBG Design to create the new space. The closed office and workstations on the 23rd and 24th floors were demolished to create an open floor plan. The 23rd floor ceiling was cut through to create a stairway to connect the two levels.

Star & Micey provided music and Another Roadside Attraction prepared hors d’oeuvres for the reception, which drew about 120 people.

Michael Donahue

Marcus Bell and Romeo Khazen at Susan B. Komen

The 2017 community health care grants were announced at the Memphis-Mid-South affiliate of Susan G. Komen annual grant reception May 4 at The Westin Memphis Beale Street. “We have 10 community health care grants,” said executive director Elaine Hare. “We presented $402,000 to eight health care providers and two support groups.”

The recipients provide breast health and breast cancer services in the Mid-South.

The money for the community grant recipients is from the 2016 Race for the Cure, which was held Oct. 29.

About 75 people, including grantees, Race for the Cure sponsors and winning team captains, attended the reception.

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Letter From The Editor Opinion

Don’t Fence Me In

Bruce is on vacation this week. Y’all let the man fish.

Some thoughts on this week’s issue and more …

• Last Monday, on my walk to the Big River Crossing from work, I crossed over the pedestrian bridge near the south entrance to Tom Lee and emerged into a cage, literally. What with all the rogue beavers and bears and zoo babies and new Blue Suede Brigade, the situation was if not startling then definitely weird.

It was, of course, just Memphis in May shoring up the park and preparing for load in for this weekend’s fun. You can read all about the Beale Street Music Festival in this issue, including a trio of features about Snoop Dogg, Booker T. Jones, and Dead Soldiers and a full rundown of all the acts performing. Fingers crossed for good weather.

The Flyer‘s building happens to be very close to Tom Lee. Even with all the Memphis in May-induced traffic hassles (which promise to be worse this year with all the construction at the Brewery … already feeling pre-rage), it’s a pretty ideal location. I’ve been a vegetarian for 14 years, but one of my greatest pleasures is taking the bluff steps down to the park during Barbecue Fest and giving the park a loop-around or two. (There’s also plenty of junk to eat, so don’t you worry about me.)

One new development with Barbecue Fest this year is that Wednesday night will now be open to the public. Wednesday has been, for as long as I can remember, friends and family night, just sort of a chill evening before all the craziness. According to a Memphis in May rep, there were so many folks in the park on Wednesday already, it made sense to open it to the public.

But the new NEW development is that there is a new event. Are you sitting? Sauce wrestling. Word is, there will be an actual wrestling ring covered in a tarp covered in barbecue sauce. So gross. I love it.

• How does so much dog hair get in the fridge?

• Michael Freakin’ Donahue, everybody!

• I just saw a commercial of a lady shaving her armpits … with a huge, huge grin on her face as if swept away in the bliss of shaving one’s pits. This does not happen. Nope. Stop it.

• I finally found a 901 Rock. Is this still a thing? Is Railgarten the new 901 Rock? I was told I need to put it back in the wild, but since I found it in a semi-scary, litter-strewn alley, I feel like I earned it. Can I throw it at somebody?

• Also in this issue is a viewpoint by Martha Park. She wrote the Flyer‘s cover story on the Ell Persons lynching last year. In the viewpoint, she writes about student involvement in the Lynching Sites Project, which “shin[es] the light of truth on lynchings in Shelby County, Tennessee.” One teen said, “We learn about Martin Luther King all the time, but we didn’t learn this history” — a notion shared by others in the viewpoint. At a time when Trump was quoted as saying, “People don’t ask that question, but why was there the Civil War? Why could that one not have been worked out?,” the more hard facts out there the better.

I’m not the first person to point out the parallel stories of Civil War monuments and the Lynching Sites Project. A statement from the city of New Orleans, which recently took steps to remove its Civil War monuments, reads, “[the monuments] failed to appropriately reflect the values of diversity and inclusion that make New Orleans strong today.” Shouldn’t we able to make that same statement here?

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Music Music Blog

Beale Street Music Fest Passes Available Friday

CREDIT: Sam Leathers

Sam Leathers

Neil Young at Beale Street Music Fest 2016.

Discounted three day passes to Beale Street Music Fest will go on sale this Friday, November 18th. Tickets go on sale at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow and are available through Ticket fly.

The lineup for Beale Street Music Fest will be announced in February of 2017, but the BSMF Facebook page usually gives a good indication of who might be playing.

The first run of discounted tickets are $95, and the second discounted ticket offer will have three day passes for $105. Check out a video of Neil Young playing Beale Street Music Fest 2016 below.

Beale Street Music Fest Passes Available Friday

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Music Music Blog

Slideshow: Beale Street Music Fest 2016

CREDIT: Sam Leathers

Sam Leathers

Beale Street Music Fest 2016.

Local music photographer Sam Leathers spent all weekend at Beale Street Music Fest shooting for the Flyer. A little bit of mud couldn’t stop the party down at Tom Lee Park, and Beale Street Music Fest goers braved the elements to catch big name artists like Neil Young and Cypress Hill. Here are some of Sam’s best shots from Friday and Saturday. 

[Slideshow-1]

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Music Music Blog

Beale Street Music Fest Photo Recap: Friday

Local photographer Sam Leathers is on hand at Beale Street Music Fest 16 all weekend long. Here are a few shots Leathers Captured on the first day of the festival. Stay tuned for more photo coverage.

Julien Baker on the FedEx Stage at Beale Street Music Fest 2016.

Panic! at the Disco playing the Rockstar Energy Drink Stage on Friday night.

Julien Baker.

Neil Young headlining the FedEx Stage Friday night.

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Music Music Blog

The Complete 2016 Beale Street Music Fest Lineup

Here is the complete lineup for Beale Street Music Fest 2016. This year the lack of hip-hop and rap artists is noticeable, but big names like Neil Young, Weezer, and Beck round out an otherwise (musically) diverse lineup. Order your tickets here, and read my rundown on artists not to miss here.  

Friday, April 29
Neil Young + Promise of the Real, Weezer, Train, Panic! at the Disco, Grace Potter, Gin Blossoms, Young the Giant, Trampled By Turtles, The Struts, Coleman Hell, Walter Trout, Julien Baker, Doyle Bramhall II, Larry McCray, Ghost Town Blues Band, Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, and Terry “Harmonica” Bean

Saturday, April 30
Meghan Trainor, Modest Mouse, Jason Derulo, Barenaked Ladies, Yo Gotti, Violent Femmes, Cypress Hill, Jonny Lang, Moon Taxi, Lucinda Williams, Houndmouth, Los Lobos, The Front Bottoms, Better Than Ezra, LunchMoney Lewis, Ana Popovic, Luther Dickinson, Will Tucker, Amasa Hines, Magic Dick and Shun Ng, Jack Semple, Charles Wilson, Duwayne Burnside, Blind Mississippi Morris, and Larry Long & Reverend Robert Rev  

Sunday, May 1
 Beck, Paul Simon, Zedd, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Cold War Kids, The Arcs, Bastille, Courtney Barnett, Indigo Girls, Blackberry Smoke, The Joy Formidable, The Lone Bellow, Bernard Allison, Those Pretty Wrongs, John Primer, Alex da Ponte, John Nemeth, Brandon Santini, Barbara Blue, Leo Bud Welch, and Bill Abel 

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Music Music Blog

Beale Street Music Fest Passes Now On Sale

Beale Street Music Fest has announced that three day passes are now on sale. The music festival has changed ticket providers, opting to use TicketFly instead of Ticket Master.  Memphis in May also announced a special discounted sale of three-day passes for the 40th edition of the Beale Street Music Festival. A limited quantity offered at $85, plus service charges, will be available exclusively at TicketFly starting at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, January 15th. This is the lowest price offered for the 2016 Beale Street Music Festival and tickets are available on a first come first served basis. Three-day passes will escalate to $95 once this limited quantity is exhausted, so Beale Street Music Festival fans should act quickly.

Once the first tier of tickets sells out, the prices will escalate to $95 and then to $105. Single day tickets for the 2016 Beale Street Music Festival, priced at $45 will go on sale on Wednesday, February 24th when the line-up for the music festival is announced. Click here to purchase tickets.

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Music Music Features

Beale Street Music Festival 2015 – Lineup and Schedule for Sunday, May 3rd

SUNDAY, MAY 3

Bud Light Stage (South) …

Elle King 2:20 p.m.

Myslovitz (Poland) 3:50 p.m.

Kasier Chiefs 5:20 p.m.
Hozier 7:00 p.m.

Ed Sheeran 8:40 p.m.

FedEx Stage (Middle) …

Star and Micey 2:40 P.M.

Shovels and Rope 4:15 P.M.

Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn 5:50 P.M.

St. Vincent 7:30 P.M.

Wilco 9:10 P.M.

Rockstar Energy Drink Stage (North) …

Prosevere 2:10 P.M.

Scott Weiland and the Wildabouts 3:40 P.M.

Of Mice & Men 5:20 P.M.

Rise Against 7:00 P.M.

Cage the Elephant 8:40 P.M.

Pearl River Resort Blues Tent …

Jarekus Singleton 2:15 P.M.

Indigenous 3:50 P.M.

Will Tucker 5:25 P.M.

Tinsley Ellis 7:05 P.M.

Bettye LaVette 8:45 P.M.

MetroPCS Blues Shack …

Deak Harp-n-Lee Williams Times Vary

Blind Mississippi Morris Times Vary

THE BANDS:

Blind Mississippi Morris

MetroPCS Blues Shack (Times Vary)

Don’t miss Blind Mississippi Morris at the Blues Shack on Sunday, an artist known locally as “The Real Deal on Beale.”

Deak Harp-N-Lee Williams

MetroPCS Blues Shack (Times Vary)

Deak Harp has been playing the harmonica since he was 12 years old, and he knows all the hits from genres ranging from Chicago blues to Mississippi hill country blues. He’s also the owner of Deak’s Mississippi Saxophones and Blues Emporium in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

Prosevere

Rockstar Energy Drink Stage • 2:10 p.m.

Hard rockers, rejoice! Prosevere will be bringing the house down early when they play their blistering set of modern Memphis metal.

Jarekus Singleton

Pearl River Resort Blues Tent • 2:15 p.m.

Like the Ghost Town Blues Band, Jarekus Singleton has been nominated for multiple awards by the International Blues Foundation. Everyone from USA Today to Downbeat Magazine has heralded his latest album, Refuse to Lose.

Elle King

Bud Light Stage • 2:20 p.m.

Elle King sings about past loves in her song “Ex’s and Oh’s” and with a voice as mesmerizing as hers, it’s no surprise she’s breaking hearts across the globe. Fun fact: Elle King is the daughter of Rob Schneider.

Star and Micey

FedEx Stage • 2:40 p.m.

Another local act performing on Sunday, Star and Micey are familiar with the bright lights of Beale Street Music Fest. Hometown favorites for quite some time, Star and Micey represent the vastly talented indie rock scene in Memphis.

Scott Weiland and the Wildabouts

Rockstar Energy Drink Stage • 3:40 p.m.

Formerly of the Stone Temple Pilots, Scott Weiland is another rocker on the Beale Street Music Fest lineup who needs little introduction. With the Wildabouts, Scott Weiland sings over crunchy blues rock and his vocals are as rough around the edges as ever. It might be 2015, but one listen to the Wildabouts and you’d swear the ‘90s never ended.

Indigenous

Pearl River Resort Blues Tent • 3:50 p.m.

Indigenous is the project of Mato Nanji, a blues rock veteran of the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. Nanji has toured with B.B. King and his songs have been featured on shows like Sons of Anarchy and The Deadliest Catch.

Shovels and Rope

FedEx Stage • 4:15 p.m.

Don’t miss this “sloppy tonk” duo from Charleston, South Carolina, featuring husband and wife team Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst.

Of Mice & Men

Rockstar Energy Drink Stage • 5:20 p.m.

Heavy metal band Of Mice & Men provide another chance to bang your head when they take the stage on Sunday evening. Fans of Linkin Park should be sure to catch these Rise Recording artists.

Kaiser Chiefs

Bud Light Stage • 5:20 p.m.

Indie-pop masterminds Kasier Chiefs found stardom behind hits like “We’re Coming Home” and “Ruby.” Taking cues from bands like the Strokes and Oasis, Kasier Chiefs should be on the radar of any fan of radio-friendly rock.

Will Tucker

Pearl River Resort Blues Tent • 5:25 p.m.

Another local who’s played the Beale Street Music Festival, Tucker can regularly be found playing one of many clubs on Beale Street. Don’t let his baby face fool you, this seasoned guitarist can shred with the best of them.

Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn

FedEx Stage • 5:50 p.m.

Husband and wife duo Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn will both showcase their banjo skills when the two perform Sunday. On their self-titled debut, Fleck‘s and Washburn’s different playing techniques made for a memorable album that NPR called “welcoming and calm.”

Hozier

Bud Light Stage • 7:00 p.m.

Don’t miss Hozier. End of story.

Rise Against

Rockstar Energy Drink Stage • 7:00 p.m.

Seven albums into a hiatus-free career, Tim McIlrath and company (including founding bassist Joe Principe) have used the template of melodic hardcore (in this case, a somewhat rougher cousin to pop-punk) to gain a massive following and the band’s strongly held concerns (animal rights and PETA being foremost among them) haven’t seemed to waver over time or due to fame. Rise Against’s last four full-lengths have been produced by Bill Stevenson of the Descendents and ALL, the most recent being last year’s The Black Market.

Tinsley Ellis

Pearl River Resort Blues Tent • 7:05 p.m.

Blues rocker Tinsley Ellis has thousands of live shows under his belt and has shared the stage with everyone from Stevie Ray Vaughan to Widespread Panic. His latest album, Tough Love, was released earlier this year.

St. Vincent

FedEx Stage • 7:30 p.m.

Anytime a Grammy Award-winning guitarist comes through town, you should make plans to be there. St. Vincent has become a household name behind the tireless work ethic of Annie Clark, who‘s made an album with David Byrne and toured with everyone from the Black Keys to Death Cab for Cutie before blasting off to superstardom.

Ed Sheeran

Bud Light Stage • 8:40 p.m.

British mega-star Ed Sheeran brings his collection of pop hits to Tom Lee Park Sunday. Sheeran’s been a star abroad for years but recently picked up momentum in the United States after appearing on Taylor Swift’s album Red. Simply put, Sheeran might be the biggest rising star at Beale Street Music Fest this year.

Cage The Elephant

Rockstar Energy Drink Stage • 8:40 p.m.

Cage the Elephant have some major hits under their belt including “Cigarette Daydream” and “Shake Me Down.” Their 2014 album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Top 200, and they’ve toured with everyone from the Black Keys to the Foo Fighters.

Bettye Lavette

Pearl River Resort Blues Tent • 8:45 p.m.

The Detroit soul scene was just beginning to percolate in the early 1960s, when 16-year-old Bettye LaVette made her first recordings for Atlantic. “So many people have asked me, ‘What was it like to cut a record when you were only 16?‘And I tell them that in 1962 in Detroit that‘s just what you did,” LaVette told the Memphis Flyer in advance of her first appearance at the Beale Street Music Festival. “Everybody had a record or was cutting a record.” LaVette’s most recent recordings have found her experimenting with classic British rock and folk songs à la Marlene Dietrich. Critical accolades and a revived popularity following the release of Scene of the Crime contradict the old saw about the absence of second acts in America.

Wilco

FedEx Stage • 9:10 p.m.

These Grammy Award-winning alt-rockers are no strangers to headlining music festivals. Fresh off a 20th anniversary tour, Wilco should be primed and ready to close out the 2015 Beale Street Music Festival with a career-spanning performance.