Put the Big Ass park to good use. (Photo: Marcus Jones | Adobe Stock)
These days, the Flyer staff mostly produces the paper and its web content from home. We communicate on an app called Slack, which is like a never-ending group text. We can upload copy, share photos, and discuss web posts as they’re being edited and loaded onto memphisflyer.com. We can also use Slack for snark, gossip, jokes, emojis, opinions — and did I mention snark?
Sure, we have weekly in-person meetings when possible, just to make sure we’re all still breathing, but Slack is where the daily action is. Last week, Michael Donahue wrote a story for the paper about the seminal Memphis band, Big Ass Truck, which is still performing around town when the mood hits them. The band became a subject of a long, rollicking discussion on Slack, as Donahue reminisced about the first time he wrote about Big Ass Truck — which was in the early 1990s for the Commercial Appeal.
“It was the first time the word ‘ass’ appeared in the CA,” said Donahue, proudly. “I had to get permission to use it. I even wrote about that in my lede for the story.”
So there you have it, folks. Some Big Ass history. (Also, here’s a free business idea for some enterprising Memphis culinarian: Big Ass Food Truck. You’re welcome.)
Speaking of history, some recent Memphis events have reminded me of the story of Hiroo Onoda. Onoda (as at least three of you may recall) was a Japanese soldier who famously refused to surrender at the end of World War II. Instead, he retreated into the Philippine jungles and fought on until 1974, when his aging former commanding officer managed to get orders delivered to him, and Onoda surrendered.
Similarly, some Memphians seem determined to keep on fighting long after a war is over — the war, in this case, being the one to preserve Tom Lee Park as a flat, barren field designed for partying, cooking pigs, and having a big-ass music fest two weekends a year for Memphis in May (MIM). In their eyes, that park has been maliciously redesigned by the Memphis River Parks Partnership (MRPP) as a human-friendly area with trees, grass, wildflowers, playgrounds, basketball courts, walking and biking trails, picnic areas, water features, shaded seating with river views … and did I mention trees?
Some supporters of MIM have retreated into the jungles of the internet, where they lob insults and threats at MRPP and its leader, Carol Coletta, refusing to surrender, refusing to accept reality — or truce papers.
In response to its ongoing conflict with MRPP, Memphis in May announced that it is putting the Beale Street Music Festival “on pause” for 2024. The group had previously announced that it was moving the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest to Tiger Lane near the Liberty Bowl. And that was that. For a minute or so.
But there’s another group in town that makes Memphis in May seem, well, flexible. It’s called Friends for Our Riverfront (FfOR), and it claims to represent the wishes of the city’s founders as decreed in — get this — 1828. As “heirs” of those fine gentlemanly white landowners, the FfOR Ffolks have filed a legal motion to stop the ongoing construction of the new Memphis Art Museum on the bluff at Union Avenue and Front Street. They say the city’s founders wanted the bluff preserved for “public use,” which apparently doesn’t include a world-class art museum that will be free to the, er, public. For, you know, use.
It’s well past time to move on from this petty silliness. The museum is going to be built, and those opposed to it need to get over it. The park is already built, like, completed. Those opposed to it (the Tom Lee Flat Earth Society?) need to come down out of the jungle and move on.
Time waits for no man. In fact, within about 30 seconds of MIM announcing it wouldn’t hold a music fest next year, MRPP announced a deal with the Mempho Music Festival folks to put on a 2024 festival in, yes, the brand spanking new Tom Lee Park. Will it be just like the old music fest? Probably not. Can it be as good or better? We’ll find out, won’t we? At the least, it’s a better plan than everybody throwing a Big Ass hissy fit.
My 30-somethingth time seeing 311 live;
thanks, BSMF! (Photo: Shara Clark)
There was something in the air last weekend in Downtown Memphis, and it wasn’t just the smell of funnel cakes frying or Pronto Pups roasting under heat lamps. It was the magic of Beale Street Music Festival — and its long-awaited return to Tom Lee Park. The weather was about as nice as could be for the fest’s three-day stretch — sun shining, a warm breeze, and, to the surprise of literally everyone, no rain. This was not Memphis in Mud. (And the new park was pretty cool, too.) Welcome back, everyone.
My earliest Beale Street Music Fest memory is of crowd-surfing for the first time at the 1998 Green Day show. I was a teenager, and, appropriate for the time — but not so much for a festival — was sporting a pair of clunky Doc Martens. My friends hyped me up, and some friendly fest-goers agreed to hoist little ol’ me into the crowd. I distinctly recall clocking an unsuspecting fan upside the head with a flailing boot (oops) and having a few creeps grope my nethers as I floated across strangers’ outstretched arms (eek). I also vaguely remember frontman Billie Joe Armstrong stripping down to leopard print skivvies and hollering profanities (punk rock!) — and supposedly getting banned from the fest forevermore.
Every year since, I’ve attended BSMF religiously. I’ve always lived for concerts, chasing my most-loved bands across the country from the time I had a car and a job. And festivals arguably offer the best of that world, a chance to fully immerse yourself in live music, from familiar favorites to new-to-you acts. The endurance test of it all just adds to the experience.
While the memories are somewhat beer-soaked, there are standout BSMF moments that have stuck with me. In 2000, our crew stood through the entirety of a Bryan Adams set to get close to the stage for Foo Fighters, only for me to be overheating — and stepping not on the ground but on other peoples’ feet, crammed in like canned sardines — once they started playing. As I scoured the area for an escape route through the crowd, the only way out, it seemed, was up and over, and a few fine audience members once again hurled me into strange hands that shuffled me over the security railing to safety. In 2002, Stone Temple Pilots opened with a beautiful rendition of Pink Floyd’s “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” — epic. In 2006, I saw James Brown shimmy across the stage in an electric performance, just months before his passing — iconic. There have been some stellar acts through the years, too many to name. And if you’ve ever been, you surely have your own BSMF stories to tell.
After a two-year Covid hiatus and a temporary move to Liberty Park in 2022, it was a welcome return home for those of us who’ve loved the festival all these years. Were crowds smaller? Sure. Could the lineup have been better? Depends on who you ask. All in all, though, things appeared to have gone off without a hitch. The revamped Tom Lee Park was fun to navigate, with its winding walkways, hilly areas, and fenced-off newly planted landscaping. We still got that majestic river view, the notes wafting on the wind, and the energy of thousands of fest fanatics living in the moment.
I passed crowd-surfing age long ago, but I’ll never outgrow the magic of live music, the emotive nature of it. Did I dance like no one was watching? Absolutely. Did I jump around and scream-sing along until I lost my voice? You bet. (If you saw me, I apologize for nothing.) Am I still physically recovering on Tuesday? Yep, I’m definitely not a teenager anymore. Would I do it all again next weekend if I could? No doubt.
There’s something undeniably special about Beale Street Music Festival, made more so by its home along the Mississippi River. We’re incredibly lucky to have had this event here, at our back door, for so long, bringing not just our city but people from all over the world together for a big, beautiful time.
Hope to see you there next year. I’ll be somewhere up front living my best life.
Last year, it struck many as odd that the great Memphis in May tradition of celebrating the best music of our time by the banks of the Mississippi had suddenly been uprooted. Everyone presumably understood the reasoning, with Tom Lee Park still being reconstructed at the time, yet having the festival relocated in its 45th year induced a kind of transplant shock in some. Now, this May 5th through 7th, none of that applies, as the Beale Street Music Festival once again roots down by the river. In fact, having begun in 1977 at the corner of Beale and Third, it’s closer to its roots than ever. Let 2023 be known as the year the festival returned to Beale Street.
That’s because, while the main festival stages will be spread across Tom Lee Park as in the past, what was formerly known as the “Blues Tent” will now be the Memphis Tourism “Blues Stage on Beale.” Best of all, this area of the festival is free. As Kevin Kane, president & CEO of Memphis Tourism, noted in a statement, “The blues will be exactly where they were born during Memphis in May, at Handy Park on Beale Street. This extends the entertainment footprint of the Beale Street Music Festival beyond Tom Lee Park, making great use of a public venue and stage, free and open to all.”
For any music lovers who’ve struggled to hear some wistful Delta bottleneck guitar over the pounding kick drum of a headliner on the main stage, this is a positive boon. And not only will the blues get the proper respect of plenteous peace and quiet, the festival’s programmers have invested in the Blues Stage lineup in a big way. Headliners Los Lobos, Keb’ Mo’, and the North Mississippi Allstars will be complemented by the likes of Cedric Burnside, Blind Mississippi Morris, the Ghost Town Blues Band, Mr. Sipp, the Reba Russell Band, and more.
Beyond Beale, this year’s festival is rooting down in another, subtler sense. It’s not in the usual sense of tipping its hat to local artists, though with everyone from hometown hip-hop queen GloRilla to The Bar-Kays, Jason D. Williams, Dirty Streets, Tyke T, Sleep Theory, The Sensational Barnes Brothers, and Mille Manny appearing, that cohort is well-represented. It’s more in the unseen threads of Memphis influence that run through the work of three of the festival’s headliners in particular: Earth, Wind & Fire; The Roots; and Robert Plant & Alison Krauss. Though it’s hard to say how that influence will manifest during their respective sets, the invisible strings tying these artists to Memphis are powerful and profound. As you watch, listen, and dance to the music, be on the lookout for those connections to reveal themselves.
☮
Earth, Wind & Fire
The threads binding Earth, Wind & Fire to Memphis are the most obvious of the bunch, for this is where group founder Maurice White grew up. In his memoir, Time is Tight: My Life, Note by Note, Booker T. Jones takes us back to that time: “I was a sixth-grader practicing in the band room one day when Maurice, an eighth-grader, walked in and said, ‘Hello, I’m Maurice White.’ We discovered we lived not far away from one another and started hanging out at his small LeMoyne Gardens apartment or in the den at my house, usually listening to music.”
Both were destined to become legendary musicians, and they wasted no time in getting started. “Maurice was the first person of my age group I’d met who was really committed to making music and had the skill to become a virtuoso,” Jones writes. “We ended up playing live or practicing together nearly every day for what seemed like years. He was usually on drums, and I was on piano or some other instrument. As a result, we became like soul brothers, neither of us having a natural brother our own age.” The day White left for Chicago was burned into Jones’ memory. “It was 1961, an early introduction to emptiness.”
Of course, Jones’ loss was the world’s gain, as White began to thrive in the Chicago music scene, working for the Ramsey Lewis Trio and playing on sessions for Chess Records. Eventually, he enlisted his half-brother Verdine White on bass for his new 10-piece band. As he later wrote in his autobiography, “Earth, Wind & Fire would have never become Earth, Wind & Fire without Verdine. A huge part of what built EWF was our live shows. Verdine, the ultimate Leo, had the energy to sustain us.”
The band, of course, had enough mega-hits in the ’70s to release The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1 in 1978, while the compilation’s new single, “September,” became one of their biggest hits ever, propelling the album into quintuple-platinum sales. Moreover, the staying power of the band’s golden-era tracks has been undeniable; in 2018, “September” was added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry as a “culturally, historically, or aesthetically important” work.
While White seemingly never identified with Memphis much after leaving (excepting the band’s one release on Stax), those years of hits made their impact right here in the Bluff City. That’s especially clear in the recent work of a self-confessed superfan and Memphis native, historian Trenton Bailey. His book Do You Remember? Celebrating Fifty Years of Earth, Wind & Fire (Univ. Press of Mississippi), just published this year, is a formidable compendium of the band’s every move. Reading it helps shed light on how the band can carry on despite White’s death in 2016.
As it turns out, the group has been touring without him for 30 years, for tragic reasons. Even as early as the late 1980s, White was dealing with the sporadic effects of Parkinson’s disease. By 1993, shortly after a galvanizing performance on The Arsenio Hall Show, he announced that he was retiring from touring. Before long, his longtime partner and co-singer in the band, Philip Bailey, along with brother Verdine, secured the rights to tour under the band name without White. As the disease inexorably took its toll on White’s health, the band carried on White’s legacy. To this day, Verdine still holds down the bass and Bailey still fronts the band, making for live sets that continue to stun.
♥
The Roots
Though it may not be obvious now that The Roots seemingly appear everywhere as the house band for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, their ties to Memphis run deep, mainly thanks to the same man who was Maurice White’s childhood friend: Booker T. Jones. As Roots co-producer, keyboardist, and arranger Ray Angry puts it, “I did some shows with Booker T. and The Roots. He’s awesome!” And clearly it made an impression on the former head of the M.G.’s as well.
As Jones writes in his memoir, “Jimmy Fallon’s a great music supporter and a great guy. I just had to have his drummer is all.” That would be Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, of course, who, like Angry, has distinguished himself independent of The Roots, but continues to thrive on playing with the band. Not only was he a co-producer with Jones on The Road from Memphis, Jones’ Grammy-winning album from 2011, he supplied all the beats while his then-bandmates Owen Biddle and Kirk Douglas laid down the bass and guitar, respectively. “Questlove’s steady drumming is inimitable and unmistakable,” writes Jones, and the proof is in the pudding of that masterpiece of an album.
The Roots’ Black Thought and Questlove (Photo: Courtesy of BSMF)
That steady drumming jumped out from The Roots’ major label debut, Do You Want More?!!!??!, in 1995, and still forms the backbone of the group today, while Tariq Trotter, aka Black Thought, continues to make the rhymes flow. From the start, they brought a jazz sensibility to hip-hop, first and foremost because they were a group of real players, making the music in real time, rather than relying on samples. Even as they embraced sampling more deeply, as in 2004’s The Tipping Point, that commitment to live playing has been a through line in the band’s long history.
Even as long ago as 2008, joining the group was a dream come true for Ray Angry. They were already legends. “One of the first sessions I did, with Joss Stone, was a gig I got through The Roots’ manager,” Angry recalls. “I was a classical pianist playing jazz, with so many different musical styles under my belt, and during this time The Roots were playing with people like Sting and George Clinton. Eventually I started co-producing songs, starting with the album How I Got Over. So on every Roots record from that point on, I was a producer, arranging strings and writing interludes. And one interlude I wrote, ‘A Peace of Light,’ Kendrick Lamar ended up sampling. So working with The Roots is pretty cool!”
Angry, best known for his 2021 single “Toyland” and with a solo piano album coming out in June, embodies the same eclecticism as The Roots generally, and he often augments his group work with individual Roots cameos. “I did just do a trio record with myself, Questlove, and David Murray. I’m really excited about that. I also work on film stuff with Questlove, and one year he and I did the music for the Oscars.” Meanwhile, he’s a secret weapon of sorts for the band’s residency on national network television. “When I first worked with them on The Tonight Show, they would have me write a bunch of cues; they call them sandwiches, because they’re short bits of music for commercial breaks.”
And speaking of sandwiches, Angry treasures his encounter with one Memphis barbecue expert in particular. “I worked on a record with Joss Stone that included Memphis legend Steve Cropper. He was telling me about his barbecue restaurant. People are really serious about their barbecue in Memphis!”
And The Roots are really serious about Memphis. Is it too much to hope for a reprise of their scintillating cover of Booker T. & the M.G.’s “Melting Pot”? Show up Saturday and find out.
🤘
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
While bluegrass star Alison Krauss is typically associated with Nashville, it’s her erstwhile collaborator, Robert Plant, who really embodies the invisible strings of Memphis. Naturally, with his supergroup Led Zeppelin having emerged from the British blues revival of the ’60s, he’s steeped in the music and lore of the Bluff City and Mississippi. That’s apparent in a story told on the band’s official online forum by former Atlantic Records promotional man Phillip Rauls about when Led Zeppelin’s tour came to Memphis in November of 1969.
“The lobby of the Holiday Inn was clearing as a parade of newscasters and camera crews packed up their equipment,” Rauls writes, “after the presentation ceremony awarding Led Zeppelin The Key to The City of Memphis. Standing at the elevator and waiting for a lift was Jimmy Page and Robert Plant when I casually approached the twosome.” And what did the celebrity rockers want most out of a visit to the Bluff City? “A few seconds passed when [Page] turned back to me and timidly asked, ‘Do you know anything about Sun Recording Studio?’”
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss (Photo: David McClister
The group’s ties to the city were even more pronounced a year later, when Page settled on Ardent Studios as the place to complete overdubs and mixes for the album Led Zeppelin III. But Plant’s connection to the city went beyond musical obsessions or work. It was personal, as was revealed last year when Priscilla Presley was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame. Who should appear to present the award to her but Plant himself, who called her “a lifelong friend.”
He used the opportunity to wax enthusiastic about the music of our region. “I’m British, and we have a fascination with the music of this specific city and its environs and farther down in the Mississippi Delta. … Here in Memphis, excitement and unparalleled expression rose above the constraints and the infamy of the times. Here in Memphis, the sounds of Clarksdale, Jackson, Tunica, and the Delta collided with unholy abandon, with the hillbilly two-step. Here in Memphis, where trailblazing Blacks and whites worked under cover of night at Sam Phillips to forge the beat that created a new world of music.”
As he wrapped up his introduction, Plant emphasized his personal connection to the place. “Like so many people from all walks of life, tonight I feel like a part of one big extended family. We’re bound together by the energy of the beat from long ago that was driven with stunning conviction and abandon by the man that you, Priscilla, knew so well.” And, for just a moment, as he looked out at the Memphis audience warmly that night, you could see those invisible strings plain as day.
Memphis Tourism Blues Stage on Beale Azmyl & the Truly Asia 4:30 Blind Mississippi Morris 6:00 Ana Popovic 7:35 Keb’ Mo’ 9:15 Ghost Town Blues Band 11:00
Saturday, May 6, 2023 Gates at 1 p.m.
Zyn Stage Myron Elkins 2:25 Jason D. Williams 3:55 Gov’t Mule 5:30 Mike. 7:10 Halestorm 8:40 Hardy 10:20
Bud Light Stage Tyke T 2:00 Phony PPL 3:20 Big Boogie 4:50 Cameo 6:00 Finesse2Tymes 7:30 GloRilla 8:45 The Roots 10:00
Volkswagen Stage Sleep Theory 2:45 Mac Saturn 4:15 Living Colour 5:50 White Reaper 7:30 The Struts 9:10 Greta Van Fleet 10:45
Memphis Tourism Blues Stage on Beale Mark Muleman Massey 1:30 Will Tucker Band 3:00 Azmyl & the Truly Asia 4:35 Mr. Sipp 6:15 Cedric Burnside 8:00 Bernard Allison 9:45 North Mississippi Allstars 11:30
Sunday, May 7, 2023 Gates at 1 p.m.
Zyn Stage Beach Weather 2:20 Moon Taxi 3:55 Andy Grammer 5:30 Young the Giant 7:00 AJR 8:40
Bud Light Stage Mille Manny 2:15 Eric Benet 3:45 Yola 5:15 Dru Hill 6:45 Jazmine Sullivan 8:25
Volkswagen Stage Dirty Streets 2:15 Shovels & Rope 3:45 Lucinda Williams 5:20 Gary Clark Jr. 7:00 Robert Plant & Alison Krauss 8:40
Memphis Tourism Blues Stage on Beale Ollie Moore 1:30 Reba Russell Band 3:00 Selwyn Birchwood 4:35 Colin James 6:15 Los Lobos 8:00 Rod Bland Members Only Band 10:00
Hopefully, by now you’ve heard: October is the new May. As the city began this shelter-in-place era, Memphis in May and the Beale Street Music Festival (BSMF) announced the postponement of the perennial gathering until this fall. For those who might feel torn between BSMF and the Mempho Music Festival, traditionally held in October also, never fear: the latter event has been postponed until sometime next year.
While many prognosticate that even October is too soon to anticipate a return to normalcy, BSMF planners are hoping for the best and getting their ducks in a row. Given the current volatility of the touring circuit, it’s surprising that most of the acts scheduled for this spring have confirmed for the later date. The final lineup will be announced in June.
In a statement released last Friday, BSMF spokespeople wrote,
Eighty-five percent of the 60+ artists announced in early February will return except the following six artists due to scheduling conflicts in October: The Lumineers, The 1975, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Liam Gallagher, Louis the Child and Toad the Wet Sprocket. Festival fans who purchased tickets specifically to see these artists perform may obtain a full refund of their festival ticket purchase via Eventbrite through April 30, or they may hold their tickets for use on the fall dates.
Memphis in May is bigger than BSMF, of course, and other related events have been rescheduled as well:
World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest: September 30 – October 3, 2020 Beale Street Music Festival: October 16-18, 2020 Great American River Run: rescheduled for the fall, date TBA International Salute to Ghana: May 1-31, 2021
The Memphis in May board acknowledges that the future is uncertain, and continues to monitor new developments.“While millions are currently impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, we are hopeful that by this fall the situation will have improved enough to allow us to present the 2020 Beale Street Music Festival in a safe environment and provide music fans cause for celebration,” said James L. Holt, President and CEO of Memphis in May. “Our fall 2020 lineup features many of music’s biggest names representing a broad spectrum of musical genres and we look forward to announcing additional artists and a killer lineup with our June announcement of the ‘Memphis in October’ Beale Street Music Festival.”
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