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Memphis In May International Festival
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Memphis in May
The Shed BBQ from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, took home top honors at Memphis in May’s World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest last weekend. Teams also took wins in contests away from the smokers, like Miss Piggy Idol and barbecue sauce wrestling matches (above).
SmokeSlam
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Smokemasters BBQ took SmokeSlam’s top prize during its inaugural contest. Music, fireworks, a Ferris wheel, and more entertained the crowds at Tom Lee Park, like rapper Tone Loc (above).
News You Can Use
Posted to kontji.com
Kontji Anthony wants to help you find a job. Among the many resources you’ll find at her website, kontji.com, is a massive list of Memphis-area jobs updated each week. The current list includes an airport shuttle driver, lawn care specialist, a tour guide, stylist, lots of jobs at Bass Pro and Graceland, and tons more. Let’s get to work, y’all!
May means barbecue in Memphis. It’s like something comes over this city. This year we have two whole barbecue festivals on the same weekend: Memphis in May’s World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest and the new SmokeSlam. (How will Memphis eat so much barbecue?) Our food writer Michael Donahue profiled two barbecue joints in his food column this week: Pollard’s Bar-B-Que and Jimbo’s Brickhouse BBQ (see page 25). He rarely ever does a double-feature, but the barbecue got to him, it pulled at him. (How did he eat so much barbecue?) And then the writers at the Flyer simultaneously started craving barbecue — like some sort of supernatural phenomenon — and all they could think about was barbecue, barbecue, barbecue. Or is it barbeque? BBQ? Bar-b-que? Our editors argued; tears were shed. Barbecue was expensed, for the sake of journalism. We had to capitalize on this madness and make a whole barbecue issue. We had no choice; we had to share what we learned. So please read about the barbecue places and dishes that have made us go mad with gluttony. Join us, won’t you?
Arnold’s Smokehouse (Photo: Bruce VanWyngarden)
Arnold’s Smokehouse
Located in the Castalia Heights neighborhood, a few blocks behind the Kellogg’s plant, Arnold’s Smokehouse is off the beaten path, but well worth the effort to find. It’s in a non-pretentious building, hard by some railroad tracks, making it clear Arnold’s isn’t about atmosphere; it’s all about the food. And the food is very good.
The owners are sister and brother Ivy and Shanon Arnold, and they have each created their own extensive menu. Ivy’s is vegan, and features creative smoked ingredients including jackfruit, cauliflower, mushrooms, grilled veggies, tomatoes, greens, pasta, gumbo, and, of course, tofu. Shanon’s menu is more traditional and meat-friendly. Both are stellar and varied, with some ambitious and unexpected offerings. But this story is about barbecue, so we went the more traditional route.
We started with the cauliflower puffs and green beans as sides, and went with the pulled pork sandwich and pulled pork fajitas as our main dishes. Everything was superb. In fact, I’d rank both the sandwich and the fajitas as among the best I’ve eaten in my 30 years here in Barbecue-Ville. Seriously delicious food, y’all.
A little logistical advice: Because of the varied menu, I suspect, our wait time was around 30 minutes after ordering. It wasn’t unpleasant. We chatted with Willie Arnold, the father of the owners, and some of the patrons and watched an episode of Martin, but next time, I’ll probably call in our order ahead of time or use DoorDash. However you do it, you’d be wise to give Arnold’s Smokehouse a try.
— Bruce VanWyngarden
2019 East Person Avenue, 901-922-5950
Payne’s BBQ Tacos at Molly’s La Casita (Photo: Chris McCoy)
Payne’s BBQ Tacos at Molly’s La Casita
Most of the other restaurants in this story are devoted to barbecue. Molly’s La Casita is not. It’s a Midtown staple, long known for its hearty Tex-Mex fare, including some of the best refried beans you will ever experience. One of the newest additions to the menus fits into the Memphis barbecue story. It’s a collaboration between two Memphis culinary institutions.
“We bought the restaurant about three years ago,” says Jessica Cornell, owner of Molly’s La Casita. “We were just ordering our pork through one of the vendors. I was like, we’re in Memphis. We have so many barbecue options that are made locally. We should try to do something with a local restaurant. Ron Payne is a regular customer. He comes in here once a week and I approached him and asked him what he thought about us using his barbecue pork for our tacos. He thought it was a great idea. So now that’s what we do. It goes in the pork tacos and our pork tamales.”
The Payne’s Pork Tacos differ from the classic pork tacos only in the protein. The dinner portion is two tacos, served with soft tortilla or crunchy shell, with a sprinkling of onion and cilantro. The shredded, slow cooked pork barbecue elevates the dish way beyond the average taco. It’s a match made on Madison Avenue, which is kind of ironic, given that Molly’s original location was on Lamar Avenue, just around the corner from Payne’s.
“Everyone loves them,” says Cornell. “We sell out of the pork all the time. Every time he [Ron Payne] comes, he has to bring us more pork.”
— Chris McCoy
2006 Madison Avenue, 901-726-1873
Eddie “Bossman” Patterson (Photo: Michael Donahue)
Bossman Pit Stop
Eddie “Bossman” Patterson’s logo is “Come Get Lost in the Sauce.” It’s on the back of the T-shirts for his Bossman Pit Stop.
And that’s easy to do. I recently tried one of Patterson’s pork barbecue sandwiches for the first time. There’s so much going on with those delectable flavors. I asked him if it had buffalo sauce in it. He says no. He uses Cattlemen’s barbecue sauce as a base and then adds his own ingredients.
A native of Tunica, Mississippi, who grew up in Memphis, Patterson tells me he learned how to barbecue from his mother and grandmother. He also learned barbecuing when he worked at the old Papa Chuck’s BBQ on Getwell Street. Papa Chuck’s later moved to the Airways location, which Patterson bought a year after the owner died.
The NBA player Antonio Burks gave him his nickname 19 years ago, Patterson says. “He said I was ‘the boss’ in barbecue. He called me ‘The Bossman.’” They both attended Booker T. Washington High School, he says.
Patterson says he barbecues every day. He goes to bed at 4 a.m, takes his grandson to school the next morning, and then at some point starts barbecuing. “I barbecue for eight hours, put it to the side, and let it do its own thing.”
The secret to good barbecue? “Cook it slow in its own juices.”
Patterson, who also does catering for businesses and events and also operates a food truck, says he eats barbecue every day. “I have to test it to make it right.”
His wife, Patricia, isn’t too happy with him not getting enough sleep, Patterson says. “She’s the ‘Bosslady.’”
— Michael Donahue
2251 Airways Boulevard, 901-743-5426
BBQ Tofu Nachos at RP Tracks (Photo: Abigail Morici)
BBQ Tofu Nachos at RP Tracks
I’ll be honest with y’all because that’s what journalism is all about: honesty. I wasn’t looking forward to this issue because I don’t eat meat; therefore, I don’t eat barbecue. So I was planning on playing hooky and just not writing anything for this cover story — not because I’m a slacker but because I’m picky (I swear I’m not just saying that to keep my job). But then I remembered that I once heard that RP Tracks had BBQ Tofu Nachos, and I eat tofu and I eat tortilla chips. Have I eaten them together? No, but, hey, I have a job to do.
So I moseyed on down to RP Tracks — which, no, isn’t a barbecue joint, I’ve been informed, but it’s a place where this non-barbecue-eater can eat some barbecue, so deal with it. To my surprise, the menu has quite a few barbecue tofu options — the nachos plus a quesadilla and a sandwich — so I had choices for barbecue which, normally, I don’t. And that was kinda nice (and they have other barbecue meat, but I don’t care about that).
I stuck with the nachos for my visit, and they did not disappoint. They came topped with cheese (good), lettuce (good), jalapenos (I didn’t eat), and sour cream (good). I got the black bean chili on the side because, like I said, I’m picky and just don’t like black bean chili, but my boyfriend does and he gave it a thumbs-up. Now, for the pièce de résistance, the barbecue tofu — the rating? Pretty dang good. Cooked just right — not chewy, not mushy, perfect, dare I say. Since I’ve never had “real” barbecue, I can’t make any comparisons, but the flavor was like barbecue chips, especially when you put it on a tortilla chip, which, duh, makes sense. (That was an embarrassingly late-in-life epiphany for me.)
All in all, with this being my first foray eating barbecue in Memphis, I’d say RP Tracks serves up a great vegetarian/vegan/pescatarian option. Try it. I did. And this picky eater liked it.
— Abigail Morici
3547 Walker Avenue, 901-327-1471
Cozy Corner (Photo: Alex Greene)
Cozy Corner
When I dine at Cozy Corner, my longtime go-to barbecue sandwich joint, I think one thing: savory. While many of the slow-cooked meats around town have flavor profiles leaning more towards a vinegary edge or a sweet edge, I feel that Cozy Corner approaches the great quality recognized by Japanese culture: umami. Yes, there is a very subtle sweetness to their sauce, balanced with an equally subtle touch of vinegar, but those are mere elements in a whole that’s far greater than the sum of its parts.
That earthy, slow-roasted whole comes through in every delectable bite of a Cozy Corner barbecue sandwich, complemented with a bit of slaw, of course. Unlike many joints offering pulled pork, the meat here is thinly sliced, but the difference in texture matters little to this diner. It’s the flavor profile that’s key. And that’s also true of Cozy Corner’s ribs.
Served (of course) with slices of the whitest of white breads, the meat on these ribs practically falls off the bone. Perhaps one key to that is the Chicago-style smoking technique they use, with the coals placed a bit further from the grill. Starting the meat on the lowest rack and then progressively moving upward increases its time in that luscious smoky environment.
Aside from their classic ribs and sandwiches, Cozy Corner is also famous for their whole Cornish hens, whole chickens, and barbecued bologna sandwiches. But it’s at Thanksgiving that they really shine: My family always pre-orders a whole smoked turkey from them that never disappoints.
— Alex Greene
735 North Parkway, 901-527-9158
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On the Queue for the Weekend
Barbecue smoke plumed blue and beautiful (and mouth-watering) over Liberty Park Wednesday and another will rise Thursday right on the river.
Two barbecue festivals do it low and slow this year in Memphis. The Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest (WCBCC) opened to the public Wednesday. SmokeSlam, the brand-new festival, was slated to open doors at Tom Lee Park Thursday afternoon.
The Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest returns to Liberty Park. (Photo: Memphis In May via Facebook)
Everyone used to just call the WCBCC “Barbecue” or “Barbecue Fest.” Time will tell what shorthand or nickname will arise with two contests in town at the same time.
One thing is the same, though. Memphis in May has attracted some of the biggest, most-winning teams in barbecue. The roster shows Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q competing in shoulder. Barbecue celebrity Myron Mixon’s Jack’s Old South team will compete in whole hog. Sweet Swine O’ Mine is back cooking shoulder.
In all, Memphis in May boasts about 130 teams from 22 states and five foreign countries. All of them compete in the traditional categories of ribs, shoulder, and hog, as well as hot wings, sauce, and “Anything But Pork.” Winners will take home a share of $150,000 in prize money.
Down on the river, SmokeSlam’s three-day event promises a “fan-first” experience. This means barbecue, of course, but also fans can shop the National Barbecue & Grilling Association (NBBQA) BBQ Bazaar, a central marketplace with a wide array of products from celebrity chefs and other curated goods. The marketplace will also feature live demos from big-name pitmasters like Carey Bringle, Thyron Mathews, Ray Sheehan, Melissa Cookston, and more.
Other high-profile pitmasters will show their stuff at the B&B Charcoal: Live Fire Extravaganza. This will feature demos and live-fire samples from pros like Al Frugoni (Open Fire Cooking), Derek Wolf (Over the Fire Cooking), and others.
The biggest buzz around SmokeSlam in Memphis has been the music lineup. It includes Tone Loc, Young MC, War, The Bar-Kays, and St. Paul and the Broken Bones. Every night ends with a fireworks show.
SmokeSlam attracted some heavy-hitting teams, too: 10 Bones BBQ from Nesbit, Memphis-loved caterers Hog Wild BBQ, and Nashville’s barbecue-famous Peg Leg Porkers. In all, nearly 60 teams will compete. They’re mostly from the Memphis region but the contest pulled in teams from South Carolina, Wisconsin, Arizona, and elsewhere.
SmokeSlam boasts the biggest purse in barbecue competition history. Teams will share $250,000 in prize money.
— Toby Sells
World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Liberty Park, Wednesday-Saturday, May 15-May 18, $15.00-$549, memphisinmay.org
SmokeSlam, Tom Lee Park, Thursday-Saturday, May 16-May 18, $15.13-$544.74, smokeslam.com
New year 2024 concept, beginning of success. Text 2024 written on asphalt road and male runner preparing for the new year. Concept of challenge or career path and change.
What do you mean it’s almost January? If you’re anything like us, the encroaching new year has really seemed to have come out of left field. The churning news cycle means that we’ve had our heads down covering the arts, a mayoral race, the Tennessee legislature, and everything in between. But despite a packed 2023, there are plenty more stories on the horizon. With 2024 just around the corner, our writers take a look at what we can expect in Memphis news next year.
Breaking News
Paul Young
Paul Young taking the mayor’s seat will be the Memphis news story to watch in 2024.
Memphis hasn’t had a new mayor for eight years; hasn’t done things differently for eight years — for good or bad. So, Memphians can expect new ideas, fresh faces, and new approaches to the city’s same-old problems (but maybe some new opportunities, too).
Paul Young (Photo: Paul Young for Memphis)
Some could argue too much emphasis is put on the mayor’s office, much like the president’s office. But that office is where the city’s business is done daily, from police and fire to trash collection and paving. Yes, these ideas are later shaped by the Memphis City Council and, yes, the mayor is expected to carry out rules formed entirely by the council. But all of that is executed (executive branch, get it?) by the mayor and his team.
Young has already named a few key staffers. Tannera Gibson will be his city attorney and Penelope Huston will be head of communications, according to The Daily Memphian. Young told the Memphian, too, that he’ll keep the controversial Cerelyn Davis as chief of the Memphis Police Department.
Memphis in May
This next year could be make or break for the Memphis in May International Festival (MIM).
It ended 2023 with a whimper. The nonprofit organization posted a record loss of $3.4 million and record-low attendance for Beale Street Music Festival. Also, its longtime leader Jim Holt announced his retirement.
MIM leaders put Music Fest on hiatus for 2024. It also moved the Championship Barbecue Cooking Competition to Liberty Park.
Meanwhile Forward Momentum and the Memphis River Parks Partnership (MRPP) announced a new three-day music festival at Tom Lee Park (called River Beat) and a new barbecue contest, both in May.
It’s unknown if these new events could supplant MIM. Speculation, though, has the future of the nonprofit in question. It’ll be worth watching.
Tennessee General Assembly
State lawmakers are hard to predict.
Last year, for example, one GOP member spent countless hours persuading his colleagues to add firing squads to the list of options for the state’s death row inmates. Another wanted to add “hanging by a tree” to that list.
However, one can easily predict Republicans will seek to make life harder for the LGBTQ community. One bill paused last year, for example, would allow county clerks to deny marriage rites to anyone they choose (wink, wink).
The little-known but hard-working Tennessee Medical Marijuana Commission may approach lawmakers next year with a plan to get a state system off the ground. Dead medical cannabis bills have become too many to count over the years. But the hope is that the group’s expertise after years of study may help tip the scales.
Easy bets are also on bills that mention “abortion” or “trans.” — Toby Sells
Politics
Oddly enough, the city’s incoming chief executive, Paul Young, remains something of an unknown despite his extensive exposure (and his consistently adept campaigning) during the long and trying mayoral race that concluded in October. Nor will the aggressive ballyhoo of his preliminary activities — parade, concert, and inaugural ball, no less! — have shed much light on his intentions in office, though his inaugural address will be highly anticipated in that regard.
Major changes may be in the offing, though so far the shape of them is not obvious. Young’s announced reappointment of police director C.J. Davis at year’s end may be an indication that, in the personnel sense, anyhow, there may well be a continuum of sorts with the administration of outgoing Mayor Strickland.
C.J. Davis (Photo: Memphis Police Department)
The newly elected council, meanwhile, is expected to be measurably more progressive-minded on various issues as a result of the election than was its predecessor.
A city task force already launched — GVIP (Group Violence Intervention Program), which involves an active interchange of sorts between governmental players and gang members (“intervenors,” as they are designated) in an effort to curb violence on the streets. It will be picking up steam as the year begins.
And follow-up readings will still be required in 2024 on an initiative sponsored by outgoing Councilman Martavius Jones and passed by the council conferring lifelong healthcare benefits on council members elected since 2015, upon their having completed two terms.
(News of that move prompted an astounded Facebook post from former Councilman Shea Flinn, who served back when first responders’ benefits had to be cut and a controversial pension for city employees with 12 years’ or more service was rescinded. Said Flinn: “Do I have this correct? Because I don’t want to be gassing up a flamethrower for nothing!”)
The Shelby County Commission, having worked in tandem with Mayor Lee Harris in the past year to secure serious funding for a new Regional One Health hospital, continues to be ambitious, hoping to acquire subpoena power from the state for the county’s recently created Civilian Law Enforcement Review Committee and to proceed with the construction of a long-contemplated Mental Health, Safety, and Justice Center.
The commission is also seeking guidance from the DA’s office on the long-festering matter of removing County Clerk Wanda Halbert from office.
At the state level, almost all attention during the early legislative session will be fixed on Republican Governor Bill Lee’s decision to push for statewide application of the school-voucher program that barely squeaked through the General Assembly in 2019 as a “pilot” program for Shelby and Davidson counties. (Hamilton County was later added.) The program was finally allowed by the state Supreme Court after being nixed at lower levels on constitutional grounds. Democrats are universally opposed to its expansion, as, for the record, are the school boards in Shelby County’s seven school districts. Prospects for passage may depend on how many GOP legislators (a seriously divided group in 2019) are inclined this time to let the governor have his way.
Also on tap will be a series of bills aimed at stiffening crime/control procedures, some of which may also try to roll back recent changes in Shelby County’s bail/bond practices.
Oh, and there will be both a presidential primary vote and an election for General Sessions Court clerk in March. — Jackson Baker
Music
No sooner does yuletide appear than it’s gone again in a wink, as we turn to face a new notch on life’s yardstick. Yet even before 2024 dawns, Memphis has great music brewing on this year’s penultimate day, December 30th, from the solo seasoned jug band repertoire of David Evans (Lamplighter Lounge) to the revved-up R&B-surf-crime jazz-rock of Impala (Bar DKDC) to Louder Than Bombs’ take on The Smiths (B-Side).
Ironically, DJ Devin Steele’s Kickback show at the Hi-Tone is keeping live music on the menu with a six-piece band alongside the wheels of Steele. Down on Beale Street, bass giant Leroy “Flic” Hodges and band will be at B.B. King’s, and the Blues City Café will feature solid blues from Earl “The Pearl” Banks and Blind Mississippi Morris.
Susan Marshall (Photo: Jamie Harmon)
While New Year’s Eve seems particularly DJ-heavy this December 31st, there are still some places to ring in the new year with a live band. Perhaps the most remarkable will be when three of the city’s most moving women in music — Susan Marshall, Cyrena Wages, and Marcella Simien ringing in midnight — converge at the freshly re-energized Mollie Fontaine Lounge. A more up-close, swinging time will be found at the Beauty Shop’s meal extravaganza set to the music of Joyce Cobb. Orion Hill’s Mardi Gras Masquerade will feature Cooper Union (with Brennan Villines and Alexis Grace), and Blind Mississippi Morris will hold court again at Blues City as a gigantic disco ball rises up a 50-foot tower outside on Beale. For that Midtown live vibe, Lafayette’s Music Room’s elaborate festivities will feature the band Aquanet.
For many Memphians, the new year will begin with a look backward as a smorgasbord of bands — from Nancy Apple to Michael Graber to Oakwalker and beyond — gather at B-Side to honor the late Townes van Zandt on January 1st. The revival of the 1970 musical Company, opening at the Orpheum the next day, also honors an earlier era’s muse, but its five Tony Awards suggest that even today it “strikes like a lightning bolt” (Variety). And the historical appreciations continue: On January 14th, Crosstown Arts’ MLK Freedom Celebration will feature the Mahogany Chamber Music Series, curated by Dr. Artina McCain and spotlighting Black and other underrepresented composers and performers; and on January 20th GPAC will host jazz trumpeter, vocalist, and composer Jumaane Smith’s Louis! Louis! Louis!, blending his own compositions with those of Louis Armstrong, Louis Prima, and Louis Jordan — three giants of the last century.
Who knows, maybe reflecting on all this past greatness will teach 2024 a thing or two? — Alex Greene
Coming Attractions in 2024
2023’s dual WGA and SAG strikes disrupted production, so 2024 should be an unpredictable year at the multiplex. Studios are currently engaged in a high-stakes game of chicken with the release calendar, so don’t take any of these dates as gospel. In January, an all-star apostle team led by LaKeith Stanfield and David Oyelowo tries to horn in on the messiah game in The Book of Clarence.
February has the endlessly promoted spy caper Argylle, a Charlie Kaufman-penned animated film Orion and the Dark, the intriguing-looking Lisa Frankenstein, and Bob Marley: One Love left over from 2023, as well as Ethan Coen’s lesbian road comedy Drive-Away Dolls.
March is stacked with Denis Villeneuve’s return to Arrakis, Dune: Part Two; Jack Black voicing Kung Fu Panda 4; Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire; and Focus Features’ satire The American Society of Magical Negroes.
Monsters will collide in Godzilla x Kong.
April starts with Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and Alex Garland’s social sci-fi epic Civil War.
May features Ryan Gosling as The Fall Guy and Marisa Abela as Amy Winehouse in Back to Black. On April 24th, we have a three-flick pile-up with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, The Garfield Movie (animated, thank God), and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. ALL HAIL IMPERATOR FURIOSA!
Anya Taylor-Joy in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
June brings us Inside Out 2, which adds Maya Hawke as Anxiety to the Pixar classic’s cast of emotions. There’s another Bad Boys film on the schedule that nobody has bothered to title yet. Meanwhile, Kevin Costner goes too hard with punctuation with Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter One. (Chapter Two drops in August.)
In July, there’s the horror of Despicable Me 4 and Twisters, a sequel to the ’90s tornado thriller that lacked the guts to call itself Twister$. Ryan Reynolds returns as the Merc with a Mouth in Deadpool 3, the first Marvel offering of the year.
In August, Eli Roth adapts the hit game Borderlands, which, if you think about it, could actually work. James McAvoy stars in the Blumhouse screamer Speak No Evil. Don’t Breathe director Fede Álvarez directs Priscilla’s Cailee Spaeny in Alien: Romulus.
September is looking spare, but Tim Burton, Michael Keaton, and Winona Ryder are getting the band back together for Beetlejuice 2, so that could be fun.
October looks a tad more promising with Joker: Folie à Deux, a psychosexual (emphasis on the “psycho”) thriller with Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga. There’s also the cheerful Smile 2, evil clown porn Terrifier 3, and a Blumhouse production of Wolf Man.
November sees a remake of The Amateur, Barry Levinson’s mob thriller Alto Knights, Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2 with Denzel Washington, and Wicked: Part One, led by Tony Award-winner Cynthia Erivo.
Then, the year goes out strong with Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim, an anime Tolkien adaptation from Kenji Kamiyama.
This time next year, we’ll be gushing over Barry Jenkins’ Mufasa: The Lion King, Robert Eggers’ boundary-pushing Nosferatu remake, and an ultra-secret Jordan Peele joint. — Chris McCoy
Memphis Sports
Here’s a one-item wish list for Memphis sports in 2024: Ja Morant videos that are exclusively basketball highlights. The city’s preeminent athlete stole headlines this year with off-the-court drama that ultimately cost him the first 25 games of the Grizzlies’ 2023-24 season. Morant’s absence was more than the roster could take, particularly with center Steven Adams sidelined for the season with a knee injury. More than 10 games under .500 in mid-December, the Grizzlies must hope the star’s return can simply get them back to break-even basketball. If that happens — and with the rim-rattling displays that have made Ja a superstar — the new year will have brought new life to the Bluff City’s flagship sports franchise.
And how about a first regular-season American Athletic Conference championship for Penny Hardaway’s Memphis Tigers? The AAC is a watered-down version of the league we knew a year ago (no more Houston, no more Cincinnati), with Florida Atlantic now the Tigers’ primary obstacle for a league crown. A controversial loss to FAU in the opening round of the NCAA tournament last March created an instant rivalry, one that will take the floor at FedExForum on February 25th. David Jones is an early candidate for AAC Player of the Year and sidekick Jahvon Quinerly gives Hardaway the best collection of new-blood talent since “transfer portal” became a thing.
Seth Henigan (Photo: Wes Hale)
With Seth Henigan returning to quarterback the Tigers for a fourth season, Memphis football should also compete for an AAC title and an 11th consecutive bowl campaign. AutoZone Park will hum with Redbirds baseball and 901 FC soccer throughout the warm-weather months, and the PGA Tour will make Memphis home when the FedEx St. Jude Championship tees off on August 15th.
But let’s hope 2024, somehow, becomes the Year of Ja in this town. The heart of Memphis sports echoes the sound of a basketball dribble. And one player speeds that heartbeat like no other. — Frank Murtaugh
Oscar Jimenez will suit up for 901 FC next season. (Photo: Courtesy USL/Louisville City FC)
Meanwhile, 901 FC can look forward to welcoming some unfamiliar opponents to the confines of AutoZone Park next season. A restructured United Soccer League means Memphis will bid adieu to the Eastern Conference and kick off its 2024 season as part of the Western Conference. That means that 22 of 901 FC’s 34-match schedule will be against Western Conference opponents, starting with a March 9th home season opener against Las Vegas Lights FC. There’s a new COO in Jay Mims, while we can expect plenty of new players to suit up before Stephen Glass leads the team out for its first game.
One thing that soccer fans will not be looking forward to, however, is a new stadium, with plans for a soccer-specific Liberty Park arena scuppered after $350 million in state dollars earmarked for sporting renovations did not include any provisions for 901 FC. — Samuel X. Cicci
Posted to Facebook by Memphis In May International Festival
Memphis on the internet.
Fest-troversy
“With a heavy heart, we share the news of the Beale Street Music Festival’s hiatus in 2024,” Memphis in May International Festival (MIM) said in a Facebook post last Thursday.
MIM attributed the move to “soaring expenses and a decline in attendance” and laid much of the blame on the redesign of Tom Lee Park by the Memphis River Parks Partnership (MRPP).
The news baffled many. Cancel it altogether? Not just move it?
Posted to Instagram by Mempho Music Festival
Clarity came last Friday when MRPP and Forward Momentum, the organizers of the Mempho Music Festival, announced a new, three-day music festival to be held in the park next year. Press releases about the move went to reporters’ inboxes, but those involved kept the news quiet on their socials.
Posted to Facebook by Tiffany Harmon
The news warmed up the MEMernet, however. Opinions and speculation flew and some dank memes (like the one above) were born.
A new three-day music festival will head to Tom Lee Park in May, organized by the producers of the Mempho Music Festival.
Memphis River Parks Partnership (MRPP) announced the news Friday afternoon. It came after Memphis in May announced Thursday it would pause its signature three-day music festival, Beale Street Music Festival, for 2024.
The new festival is a partnership between MRPP, Mempho, and a group called Forward Momentum. It is “a group of prominent Memphians focused on the betterment of our city and our music and tourism industries.” It claims its “mission is to ignite the power of live music, creating extraordinary experiences that resonate with the souls of music lovers.”
Carol Coletta, president and CEO of MRPP, said Forward Momentum was “a great fit for a signature music event in Memphis,” given its “successful track record and deep financial strength.”
“Music is in our blood, deeply connected to our Memphis community, and we aim to continue this rich legacy and history by introducing a feature destination event, with major acts and broad appeal, that will keep visitors coming back year after year,” said Jeff Bransford of Forward Momentum.
MRPP explained in a news release that Tom Lee Park is designed to host big music events as a park. The new, unnamed music festival will “dramatically reduce the number of days the park is closed to the public. The agreement states it will be closed no more than 13 days, which compares to the 36 days the park was closed this year.”
“Having Forward Momentum step up to claim that critical May weekend is more confirmation that our investment in Memphis’ riverfront has created a year-round attraction for tourists and locals alike,” said Memphis mayor-elect and Downtown Memphis Commission president Paul Young.
Details of the event are expected to be announced soon.
Beale Street Music Festival (Courtesy Memphis in May)
Beale Street Music Festival will not take place next year, and the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest will be held at Liberty Park, organizers said in a statement Thursday.
Memphis In May International Festival (MIM) said Music Fest will be “paused” for 2024, leaving an unknown path forward for years after that. MIM said it plans to “explore all options to present an event in the future that meets the standards and authenticity expected of the brand.”
The decision came after 2023 attendance ”suffered a significant decline.” Its recent annual report said Music Fest attendance hit a 30-year low this year. But MIM president and CEO Jim Holt once again laid part of the blame for the situation at the feet of Memphis River Park Partnership (MRPP) and its $63 million renovation of Tom Lee Park.
“Obviously, Memphis in May has built a very authentic brand beginning with the name and location of the music festival,” Holt said. “With a pending lawsuit and the event now un-welcomed in the new Tom Lee Park, future Beale Street Music Festivals will face fundamental challenges.”
Last month, MRPP sued MIM to recoup $675,000, which the group said it was owed to repair the park after this May’s events.
“We have proudly presented the Beale Street Music Festival as a world-class entertainment event for nearly half a century,” MIM board chair Al Gossett said in a statement. “Our board’s decision is to not disappoint or underdeliver against the high standards and expectations of fans and supporters of this city’s largest annual event and signature music festival.”
Barbecue will be held May 15th-18th in Liberty Park, which has hosted the event twice in the past.
The Great American River Run will be held Downtown on May 25th, 2024.
The Memphis opinion machine cranked up Tuesday with some blaming Memphis in May’s record losses on the Tom Lee Park redesign and others calling the Beale Street Music Festival lineup “garbage,” “out of touch,” and “ass as fuck.”
News dropped late Tuesday (well, after Flyer working hours, anyway) of a 30-year-record-low crowd at Memphis in May (MIM) this year resulting in a record-low financial loss of $3.48 million.
In its annual report, MIM blamed much of this on the redesigned Tom Lee Park. The $63 million renovation was mostly complete by the time the festival geared back up for a return to the park this year.
Credit: Memphis in MayCredit: Memphis in May
That design was tailor-made for MIM, created under a mediation agreement ordered by Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland. That means MIM’s instructions drove many of the details of the redesign.
This still did not stop festival organizers from saying the “the return to Tom Lee Park was marred by difficulties including: obtaining a lease with the Memphis River Parks Partnership (MRPP), problems with access to the park, restrictive use of essential park features, designs not meeting agreed-upon specifications, and a park with 40 percent less useable space.”
Jerred Price, a candidate for Memphis City Council this year and moderator of a Facebook page called Save the River Parks & the Festivals, laid the blame on MRPP, and especially its CEO Carol Coletta.
“The Tom Lee Park excessive redesign is hurting our festivals which create hundreds of millions in tourism dollars, business for our local small businesses, and our economy,” Price said in a post Tuesday. “MRPP violated the terms of their mediation agreement terms.
“Something must be done. Memphis River Parks Partnership needs to be held accountable. Lose the festivals, lose hundreds of millions in economic impact.”
Among the post’s 10 comments, many urged a lawsuit against MRPP.
“Time to sue the shizzle out of MRPP and Coletta,” said Ann Bridgman. “Every vendor, every employee, and every single business that took a hit Downtown this year and for years to come.
Bridgman said she walks in the park nearly every day and is underwhelmed with the money spent on the new design. She said it had no water features and wondered where were the “lasers and dancing lights.”
But MIM shared the blame when it came to low attendance at Beale Street Music Festival. There, it also listed “astronomically elevated talent costs, plus ticket sales competition from big-name artists’ concerts in the Memphis area during late first and early second quarters of this year.”
Here, Memphis Reddit users stepped in with unfiltered opinions on a post by u/mothman26, which linked to a WMCTV story on the MIM news.
“Lineup was overall subpar,” wrote u/AcanthopterygiiNo603. “Headliners were weak.
“Also, I am a lifelong hip hop fan, but acts like Finesse2tymes clearly promoting violence should be passed over. The whole scene was uncomfortable and with the crime epidemic, promoters need to be more aware of who they are choosing.”
u/Sacrolargo agreed with MIM officials that other shows in other markets likely drew attendance from Music Fest. u/Sacrolargo said Shaky Knees Music Festival was in Atlanta that weekend. U/mothman26 pointed out that Taylor Swift also played Nashville that weekend.
Some, though, said MIM officials were “out of touch” when planning its music lineup and suggested getting outside help to plan its next year.
Others, however, were happy to offer unvarnished criticism.
“Lineup was garbage, not sure it needs to be any more complicated than that,” wrote u/Typical_Control_1175.
“The line up was ass as fuck,” wrote u/Black_n_Neon.
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.
The Friday night audience dances to Earth, Wind & Fire. (Photo by Laura Jean Hocking)
The question on everyone’s lips this Monday after the 2023 Beale Street Music Festival is “Well, how was it?” The answer, from my perspective, is “It was okay.”
After the pandemic disruption was extended into a construction delay which moved the festival to the fairgrounds in Midtown, BSMF returned to a Tom Lee Park that is very different than it was in 2019. I’ve attended the Beale Street Music Festival for the better part of 30 years, and this year was unlike any other I’ve experienced.
Tom Lee Park has been transformed from a flat flood plane to a modestly hilly area spotted with with copses of trees, split by winding concrete paths. The official opening of the park isn’t until Labor Day weekend, and things were still very much under construction. Several areas with freshly planted trees were roped off from public access, and people seemed to respect the restrictions for the most part. The paths were a welcome addition to many people I spoke with, but several pointed out that being on your feet for several hours on concrete is much harder on the joints and bones than walking on turf — or more accurately to the historical Memphis in May experience, mud.
Threatening clouds over Tom Lee Park never delivered heavy rains. (Photo by Chris McCoy)
The forecast called for rain all weekend, but nothing beyond the lightest of drizzle ever came down from the threatening clouds. The newly installed turf and landscaping seemed to hold up very well under the onslaught of tens of thousands of boots and flip flops. (Seriously, don’t wear flip flops to a music festival.) But the ultimate test, in the form of a rainy weekend, never came.
But could the new Tom Lee Park handle a real crowd? On Friday before I headed down to Tom Lee for the first time, I said we’d find out the answer to that question about 8:45 p.m. on Saturday, when GloRilla took the stage. I was right on that account. Official attendance figures are not available as of this writing, but Memphis Travel’s Kevin Kane was pre-spinning low numbers to Channel 3 on Friday. But the Saturday night audience for GloRilla stretched the central Bud Light stage to its limits.
About a third of the crowd gathered for GloRilla on Saturday night of Beale Street Music Festival, as seen from the bluff. (Photo by Laura Jean Hocking).
It was GloRilla’s homecoming show after blowing up in popularity over the last year, and she got a hero’s welcome. Raw charisma is more important to a rapper than any other performing artist. There are a lot of people who can spit fire bars in a recording studio, but who wilt under the glare of the stage lights. GloRilla is a fighter. She will not be ignored in favor of your phone. Backed by a 30-foot inflatable gorilla which seemed to embody her fierceness, she surround herself with six of the best dancers in Memphis — and this is a city with a very, very deep bench of dancers. Dripping in jewels and a shiny gold outfit, GloRilla grabbed the crowd out of the gate and roared through bangers like “Internet Trolls.” When she paused to monologue about the difficulty of being a woman shut out of the hip hop boys club, and ended with “we kicked the door in!”, everyone in Tom Lee Park believed her.
GloRilla on stage. (Photo by Laura Jean Hocking)
From ground level, and later the bluff, the new park appeared to handle GloRilla’s horde of fans without much trouble. The biggest innovation in crowd movement turned out to be the walkway that now runs the length of the river bank, which served as a kind of freeway for people going from one stage to the next on the long, park. The weekend provided three great sunsets, and on Saturday, people were lined up along the path to take selfies with the river in the background.
Selfies with the sun on the new river walk in Tom Lee Park. (Photo by Chris McCoy)
The biggest challenge to the Beale Street Music Festival’s attendance may be simple timing. This year, the festival fell on the second weekend of New Orleans Jazz Fest, which, judging from its A-list lineup, is much better capitalized than Memphis In May. To make things worse, this was the weekend Taylor Swift made a three-night stand in Nashville. Since the Swiftie fandom is the closest thing we have to a monoculture in 2023, the vast majority of Memphis’ younger, musically inclined folks made the trip to the Music City this weekend rather than checking out The Lumineers in the new Tom Lee Park.
Earth, Wind & Fire. (Photo by Laura Jean Hocking)
They missed some good sets on Friday night, beginning with Memphis gospel duo The Sensational Barnes Brothers, then moving directly to The Bar-Kays. (One of my favorite things about being a long-term Memphis music fanatic is watching yet another audience lose their collective minds when The Bar-Kays remind them about “Freakshow On The Dance Floor.”) Earth, Wind & Fire paid tribute to Memphian Maurice White during their high-voltage vintage funk set. Then the crowd at the Zyn Stage swelled for 311, the ’90s cult band that has found the key to long-lasting success is just making sure you throw a great party every night.
311. (Photo by Chris McCoy)
Aside from GloRilla’s rapturous reception, BSMF ’23 never reached those heights again. The most puzzling addition to the bill was a band called Colony House who replaced White Reaper on the Volkswagen stage on Saturday. MIM had more than a week to find a new act after the lead singer of White Reaper broke his collarbone, but instead of picking up the phone and calling any one of the dozen of hungry Memphis rock acts who could kill on 30 minutes notice, they chose to spend the money on a mushy mess of warmed-over worship band music from the ritzy Middle Tennessee enclave of Franklin.
Living Colour. (photo by Laura Jean Hocking)
It didn’t help that Colony House followed Living Colour, the legendary ’90s prog-punk pioneers who haven’t lost their edge. Guitar god Vernon Reid and throat-ripping vocalist Corey Glover provide the band’s formidable one-two punch. Early songs like “Open Letter to a Landlord,” which takes on gentrification, and their smash “Cult of Personality,” which pretty much explains the Trump era of American politics in four minutes, are, if anything, even more relevant today than when they were written. The Beale Street Music Festival may have evolved, but some things never seem to change.
Allison Krauss and Robert Plant. (photo by Chris McCoy) AJRJazmine SullivanGary Clark, Jr.Lucinda WilliamsBeale Street Music Festival attendees rest on a new hillside in renovated Tom Lee Park.
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
