Tag: Pat Kerr Tigrett

Categories
We Saw You

We Saw You: “Uptown Funk” Microphone Presented to Nashville Museum

Lawrence "Boo" Mitchell presents the "Uptown Funk" microphone to Henry Hicks at a party hosted by Pat Kerr Tigrett. With them is Elijah Mitchell.

Henry Hicks took the microphone at Pat Kerr Tigrett’s “Moonshine at Sunset” soiree, but he didn’t break into song; he literally took the microphone — back to Nashville’s National Museum of African American Music, where he is president/CEO.

The microphone was the one Bruno Mars used to record the Grammy winning “Uptown Funk” at Royal Studios. Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell, studio owner and engineer, presented the microphone to Hicks.

“The microphone is a $100 SM57, which is normally a mike that every bar in America has got on the guitar and snare drum,” Mitchell says. “It’s a really common mike in studio and live. But what’s magic about it is it’s definitely not a microphone you use to do a vocal of any kind unless it’s all you have.

“The reason I used it is he wanted to do his vocals in the control room where the engineer sits and the speakers. And we were under such a time crunch I didn’t have time to pull out headphones and do the normal things you would need to do a vocal in the control room. What might not feed back with the music blasting out of the speakers.”

Mitchell didn’t know that would be what ended up on the record. “I was under the impression we were doing a scratch vocal and I was sure they would replace the vocal in a big studio with a $20,000 mike. But, apparently, they couldn’t duplicate the energy. So, they kept the vocal. His engineer called me about a week later: ‘Oh, the vocal we did on the SM5l7, we’re keeping that for the record.’ And that’s kind of the craziest thing I had ever heard of at that point.”

The microphone is about 15 or 20 years old Mitchell says. “What’s funny about that particular mike is that the in the studio if a piece of gear doesn’t work, I put a piece of white tape on it and the ‘F’ word not to use it. The time had it on there ‘cause I thought it was broke. But it wasn’t the mike.  It was the cable. And I never took the tape off.”

So, he presented the mike — complete with white tape — to Hicks.

Tigrett invited Mitchell to bring his entire family, which he did, to the party, which was held May 23rd. Everyone showed up except a daughter, a grandson, and a nephew, he says.

“I said, ‘I don’t care how many there are. I want your entire family to come,’” Tigrett says. And about 14 family members attended. “Including Uriah and Elijah. It was just wonderful.”

And, she says, “As these talented people bring their music to the forefront, their families are a part of that as well. It’s the discipline they have to make their music what it is today.”

A throng of Mitchell family members attended “Moonshine at Sunset.”

Tigrett met Hicks when the museum, which is slated to hold its grand opening July 17th, was under construction. She accepted the invitation when Hicks asked her to be on the museum’s board. “I saw a voice. Not just for Tennessee, but for all American talent. I recognize how important our musicians are. I still think a lot of people aren’t really accustomed to the world of music that belongs in Memphis. Our state is a long and skinny state. And if you start in the east, you realize that’s where hillbilly music started in the ‘30s, ‘40s, and ‘50s. And then you move on to the middle of the state. In Nashville and the surrounding areas is where wonderful country music was birthed. Then you move on into West Tennessee and specifically Memphis and you see how our music is appreciated globally. Rock and roll, soul, blues, rhythm and blues, and gospel were all birthed here.”

Among the guests were new Memphis transplants NBC Universal senior vice president of production Richard Ross and his wife, Deborah. Richard, who worked on Bluff City Law in Memphis, stepped up to the plate at one point to raise some money for the museum. “Richard Ross challenged everybody: ‘If all of you can sing the same song, I will donate $10,000.’ So, we all started scrambling around. We ended up singing Let’s Stay Together. It was really hilarious. Some of the worst voices I’ve heard.”

But she says, “It was amazing, of course. That’s a Royal one.”

Her party was supposed to go from 5 to 7 p.m. “They left at 11,” Tigrett says.

Memphis transplant Richard Ross at “Moonshine at Sunset.”

And “Moonshine at Sunset” lived up to its name. Tigrett served West Tennessee hooch as the sun was going down. “Of course, it was moonshine at sunset. That’s a Southern welcome.”

Categories
We Recommend We Saw You

Stumbling Santa, Jingle Bell Ball, Emmanuel Meal

CREDIT: MIchael Donahue

MIchael Donahue

This isn’t me, but I wish I’d thought of it. This is a Joker Santa at Porter-Leath’s Santa Pub Crawl. More photos follow.

Everyone got to be Santa for a night at the Porter-Leath Stumbling Santa Pub Crawl. But some people opted to be elves or reindeer.

About 3,500 people attended this year’s event, which was held December 7th. It began at Flying Saucer Draught Emporium and continued to Beale Street.

“It has grown every year,” says Rob Hughes, Porter-Leath’s vice president of development.

Guests were asked to donate toys. They received “somewhere between 3,000 and 3,500. We filled the truck.”

About half the guests brought money. They raised about $3,000, Hughes says.

For the first time in its 15-year-history, Stumbling Santa founders Bob Burditt and Roland Shapley didn’t host the event. Burditt and Shapley passed the torch to Ian and Katie Haywood.

As Bob says: “We’re a couple of old farts. We want to let the younger people do it.”


                                       SEEN AT STUMBLING SANTA:
 MIchael Donahue

ian and Katie Haywood

MIchael Donahue

Jingle Bell Ball

Jingle Bell Ball – a group of parties for children and teenagers held on the same day – celebrated its 31st anniversary December 8th.

“Can you believe anybody doing anything 31 years?” says the ball’s founder/general chairperson Pat Kerr Tigrett. “I just can’t give it up. It’s the kickoff date for the whole holiday season for me. Seeing amazing children.”

The parties, which were at the Peabody, drew about 750, Tigrett says. “That’s an awfully lot of kids in one afternoon to deal with.”

The series of parties include one for special needs children, the Cookie Party for toddlers through second grade, one for third and fourth graders, and another one for fifth through sixth graders.

Tigrett used to do a party for seventh and eighth graders. She noticed the young women were showing up in limousines with book bags. Tigrett thought they were “going to study at the Jingle Bell Ball.”

But, she says, “The book bags were full of beer. They were hiding the beer in the poinsettias. But I didn’t know that until I finally caught them.”


Michael Donahue

Jingle Bell Ball

Michael Donahue

Jingle Bell Ball

Michael Donahue

Jingle Bell Ball

Michael Donahue

Jingle Bell Ball

Michael Donahue

A turkey feast was served at Emmanuel Meal at Calvary Episcopal Church.

Emmanuel Meal – a holiday tradition at Calvary Episcopal Church – celebrated its 40th anniversary December 16th.

“Our mission at Calvary is making God’s love visible in downtown Memphis,” says Christine Todd, Calvary’s coordinator of community ministries. “So, one of the ways we do that is by inviting our homeless and disenfranchised neighbors to a lovely meal with an abundance of love and volunteers.”

This year’s event drew 387 guests, Todd says. “We had over 100 volunteers from Calvary. It took three days of preparation – not counting weeks of raising money and doing different things.”

Guests were treated to a turkey feast, a new coat, a new pair of socks, gloves, hats, and other gifts. “Macy’s and Soles4Souls donated 400 brand new coats. A lot of the people who got them had never had a new coat before.”

And, she says, “Bombas gave us 2,050 socks, but we’ve been using them all year.”
And Empty Bowls “gave us a generous donation,” she says.

Ed Crenshaw cooked all the turkeys. And Calvin Turley organized all the musicians.

Episcopal bishop Phoebe Roaf also attended. “She is a servant leader,” Todd says. “She came and greeted people with Rev. Scott Walters.”

Roaf and Walters also volunteered. “They walk the walk.”

Michael Donahue

Helario Reyna and Jenny Maddon at Calvary Episcopal Church.

Michael Donahue

Roman Darker, Margaret Newton, Darius ‘Mak’ Clayton, and Rev. Audrey Taylor Gonzalez at Calvary Episcopal Church.

Categories
We Recommend We Saw You

Morgan Freeman, Blue Angel, Heart Full of Soul, and Jarty Party

CREDIT: Trevor Benitone

Trevor Benitone

A non-Academy Award winner wearing glasses with an Academy Award winner at the Moonshine Ball. Morgan Freeman was a guest at the event, held November 22nd.


It’s always great to see Morgan Freeman at an event. The Academy Award winning actor, who’s been in so many movies, adds more than a touch of class when he attends a party. Freeman, who attended with Dr. Linda Keena, was at Pat Kerr Tigrett’s Moonshine Ball, which was held November 22nd at Graceland Exhibition Center.

I first took Freeman’s name at an event for a newspaper story when former president of South Africa Nelson Mandela was in Memphis to receive the National Civil Rights Museum’s International Freedom Award in November, 2000 at The Peabody.

I’ve run into him at restaurants, including the old Madidi, which he owned in Clarksdale, and Chez Philippe. I was at his Clarksdale club, Ground Zero, which he owns with Bill Luckett, when it opened in 2000.

Tigrett says she’s known Freeman for 10 years. “I’ve known him for quite a while,” she says. “Many years he’s been at our Blues Ball, primarily over at Gibson’s.”

She has “an adorable” photo of Freeman playing the drums at his short-lived second location of Ground Zero, which was across the street from Gibson Guitar Factory.

“He’s been (to the Blues Ball) several times and he’s been up here (Tigrett’s downtown penthouse) for cocktails with friends.”

And, Tigrett says, “We were both on a documentary being done on the Mississippi River.”

Asked how she’d describe him, Tigrett says, “A fun, smart gentleman.”

Moonshine Ball guests would agree. Freeman graciously posed for photographs with fans. He also was served chicken and dressing from The Cupboard at the Moonshine Ball buffet, which featured area restaurants.

And Freeman asked me at one point to give him my hair.

Michael Donahue

Attending the Moonshine Ball: Francine Luckett, Alston Meeks, Dr. Derek Miles, Morgan Freeman, Dr. Linda Keena, and Bill Luckett.

MIchael Donahue

If Blue Angel and I really had just wrestled at the recent La Luche Libra event, they’d still be untangling me from the ring’s ropes.

It was cool getting to interview Blue Angel at the Memphis La Lucha Libre Wrestling event, which was held November 10th at 3766 Ridgeway Road.

And Blue Angel, a Mexican wrestler or luchadore, is cool. And he kept his cool while we talked. This was after he was in two back-to-back matches, where he did backflips, front flips, tossed his opponent, Hijo de Fishman, and was thrown around.

He was fun to watch. And the crowd loved him. “I’m fortunate enough to go over with the crowds,” says Blue Angel as we talked after his second match. “I’ve been told multiple times I have an angel on my side. So, I always come out the fan favorite. And that’s a big boost for me to just come out here and put on a great show.”

La Lucha Libre is fun to watch. (See my cover story in this week’s Memphis Flyer  And there’s a video.)

Mexican wrestlers wear masks. The one Blue Angel wore had a winged design, which was made by Memphis’s own Enrique Reyes.

Reyes, who puts on the Memphis La Lucha Libre Wrestling events in Memphis, made three masks for Blue Angel. “I cherish every one of them,” Blue Angel says. “It’s hard to let go when people want to buy them. But I still have all three.”

Michael Donahue

Heart Full of Soul

Napa Cafe and Stax Music Academy teamed up for another “Heart Full of Soul,” which was held November 11th at the East Memphis restaurant.

Stax students performed during the multi-course wine dinner. So, guests were treated to some Wilson Pickett, Isaac Hayes, David Porter, and Otis Redding with their grilled swordfish and Dusty Springfield, Candi Stratton, and Elvis Presley with their pepper-crusted pork tenderloin.

Owner Glenda Hastings opened Napa Cafe for the eighth-annual Stax Music Academy fundraiser presented by Radians Inc. Bergevin Lane Winery provided the wines.

This year’s Heart Full of Soul was a tribute to the Memphis Horns.


MIchael Donahue

Heart Full of Soul

Michael Donahue

Miles Tamboli at the soft opening of his restaurant, Tamboli’s Pasta & Pizzza.

Those lucky enough to attend the October 30th soft opening of Miles Tamboli’s restaurant, Tamboli’s Pasta & Pizza at 1761 Madison, got to order from the full menu – gratis. And, as his invitation read, “All dishes will be served at full portion size, so come hungry!”

So, guests could order everything from “creamy bucatini with pecorino cheese” to “Tamboli’s famous meat lasagna” to “panna cotta with salted caramel and pistachio brittle crumb.”

Tamboli’s restaurant now is open to the public.

Michael Donahue

Markie Maloof Scott and Dave Scott at Tamboli’s Pasta & Pizza soft opening.

MIchael Donahue

Tamboli’s Pasta & Pizza soft opening.


Michael Donahue

Lindsey Burgess at Jarty Party.

Eric Bourgeois hosted “Jarty Party,” which was held behind his apartment on South Main.

Jarty Party?

They called it a “Jarty Party” because it was “jean/denim themed,” Bourgeois says Everybody was supposed to wear denim.

“We decided on a Jarty Party theme because it would be a fun departure from the normal themes – ‘80s, neon, jersey, etc. – while allowing people to be creative and have fun at the same time with something they likely already had in their wardrobe.”

They usually throw some type of big function at their place, but, Bourgeois says, “This was the first time doing a daytime party outside. My landlord recently redid the back lot behind our building, and this gave us the opportunity to bring in some talented friends for food – Glaze Hardage with the paella – and music – Ryan Haskett as the DJ.”

Hardage’s paella was delicious! And it served as a birthday cake of sorts for Bourgeois, who says the event also served as a party to celebrate his 26th birthday.

MIchael Donahue

Jon Bringle and Eric Bourgeois at Jarty Party.

Michael Donahue

Glaze Hardage at Jarty Party.

Michael Donahue

Logan Landry and Sampson at Jarty Party.

Michael Donahue

Tyler Beard and Shelby Garrison at Jarty Party.

Michael Donahue

Alice Higdon is retiring her red boa – as far as being Red Boa chair – at of this year’s event, which was held Nov. 15th at Memphis Botanic Garden. She is with Daniel Reid at the10th annual Red Boa Ball fundraiser for the American Red Cross of the Mid-South.

Michael Donahue

Red Boa Ball

Michael Donahue

Red Boa Ball

About 320 people attended the Signature Chefs Gala, which was held novz 14…..at the Guest House at Graceland. More than $100,000 was raised at the event, a fundraiser for the March of Dimes.

Lisa Ansley and Holly Mount chaired the event.

Michael Donahue

Lisa Ansley and Holly Mount at Signature Chefs Gala.

Michael Donahue

Sweet Magnolia Ice Cream owner Hugh Balthrop celebrated his birthday at the Signature Chefs Gala.

Michael Donahue

Nick Chamoun at Signature Chefs Gala.

Michael Donahue

Chef Edouardo Jordan of Seattle was guest chef in the Enjoy Aim Guest Chef Series, which was held November 17th at The Gray Canary. With him are restaurant owners Michael Hudman and Andy Ticer.

MIchael Donahue

Spencer McMillin and Kelley English from Restaurant Iris and The Second Line teamed up for the Caritas Community Center & Cafe Chef Partnership Dinner, which was held November 14th.

Michael Donahue

Chef Partnership Dinner at Caritas Community Center & Cafe.

                                        WE SAW YOU AROUND TOWN

Michael Donahue

Jerry Lawler and TorRaunce Echols at Gibson’s Donuts.

MIchael Donahue

Andrea Norsworthy and Trace Austin at Kroger.

Michael Donahue

Brandon Closson and Brantley Martin at Kroger.

Michael Donahue

Jordan Buchanan with his bread pudding at Ave Maria Home’s Assisted Living Fall Dinner sponsored by US Foods, one of its food vendors.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Pat Kerr Tigrett On the Last Blues Ball

B.B. King passed away this year, and now, after a 22-year run, the Blues Ball is going out with him.

On October 24th, the last Blues Ball will feature a lineup that includes William Bell, Will Tucker, Ruby Wilson, Susan Marshall, Jason D. Williams, Southern Halo, Memphis Jones, and others. And Lansky Brothers will be honored with an award for pioneering what Blues Ball founder and fashion designer Pat Kerr Tigrett calls “rock star styling.” The party, which is dedicated to King, starts at 7 p.m. at Gibson Guitar.

Pat Kerr Tigrett

“A friend of mine said, ‘The King of the Blues and the Queen of the Ball are leaving the building together,'” Tigrett said.

Over the years, the charity ball has raised $1.5 million for the Memphis Charitable Foundation, which supports a long list of local nonprofits.

The Blues Ball was founded in 1994, at a time when Tigrett said Memphians didn’t fully appreciate the native blues sound. But today, she says Memphis music is finally getting its due. The combination of King’s passing and the enshrining of the city’s musical history in local museums led Tigrett to the decision to end the party’s run. — Bianca Phillips

Flyer: How did the Blues Ball get started?

Tigrett: I lived in London for 20 years, and during that period, I would get in a car and the driver would say to me, “Where is that voice from?” I would say, “Memphis,” and invariably, it was like I’d given him the Holy Grail because I was from Memphis. The English really revere our musical heritage.

It was phenomenal that Memphians, at that time, were not recognizing the importance of our music industry and how it was touching others globally. I would come back to Memphis and be chairing the Symphony Ball, and everyone would ask me whom I was bringing in, like we needed to import other big bands from New York or Texas or Los Angeles. Finally, I was like, why are we trying to import people when we live in the middle of the mecca of American music?

I decided that I would found something exclusively for Memphis musicians. We are the only annual ball in America that has, for 22 years, been exclusively for Memphis musicians. We’ve had as many as seven stages and 16 groups playing each year. That’s included B.B. King, Al Green, Isaac Hayes, Jerry Lee Lewis, Rufus Thomas, Little Jimmy King, and Carl Perkins.

Memphis takes its musical heritage pretty seriously now. How different was it back then?

In 1977, I was living in London, and I had brought our son Kerr home [to Memphis] for his three-month check-up. I was meeting a friend of John [Tigrett] at the Pier for lunch. When I walked in, this lady asked me if I was okay. I said, “I’m not. I just heard Elvis died.” I’ll never forget it — she looked at me and said, “Who cares anything about that redneck truck driver?” That was the attitude during that time.

What was the first Blues Ball like?

The first year was at the Peabody in 1994. We sold it out, but I wouldn’t tell anybody who was going to play because I knew they wouldn’t buy tickets. I just told them it was a surprise, and you’ll regret it if you don’t come. But [later that night], people were standing on the tables because they were so excited about our unique Memphis sound.

So why are you ending the Blues Ball?

Timing is everything, and 22 years ago when we started this, just about the only [similar event] occurring in Memphis at the time was the Symphony Ball. And there was a smaller Opera Ball, but there was nothing celebrating Memphis music. Now, we have at least four wonderful museums that feature our great Memphis musicians.

What will you do with your spare time after the last Blues Ball?

I want the Blues Ball legacy to be chronicled in a documentary. We have 22 years of professional videos documenting everything. I think 50 years from now, it will be an important component of our continuum of Memphis music heritage.

Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

Letter From the Editor: Blues, Balls, and Memphis Legends

When I moved to Memphis in the early 1990s, my first job at this company was running the special-publications division, helping put together magazines for customers needing a promotional or informational print product. One of my first customers was a woman named Pat Kerr Tigrett, who had an idea for a big party called the Blues Ball.

She wanted to create a colorful, magazine-type program for the party and have it bound into Memphis magazine’s October 1994 issue — which is where I came in.

If you look up the phrase “force of nature,” you will see a picture of Pat Tigrett. If you’d looked up “bumfuzzled” in 1994, you’d have seen a picture of me, trying to keep up with Pat, who was simply bursting with ideas and to whom the words “final deadline” meant “the day we might possibly think about starting to wrap this up.”

Every day there was a new idea, a new story to write, new (or old) photos to find, new people to call and schedule for interviews or pictures. I spent so much time at Pat’s downtown condo working out details, people were starting to talk.

“Just call Sam at home. Here’s his number. He’d love to talk to you,” she’d say.

“Sam?” I said.

“Sam Phillips, you know, Sun Records, the man who discovered Elvis?”

“Uh, okay.” And Sam was happy to talk, a lot. In fact, I felt like I needed a translator to parse his stream-of-consciousness rap.

And when Pat mentioned calling Isaac, I soon realized she was talking about Isaac Hayes. In fact, she was seemingly on a first-name basis with every living Memphis music legend: Rufus Thomas, Willie Mitchell, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Al Green, Booker T. & the MG’s, the Bar-Kays, David Porter, the Memphis Horns, B.B. King, Sam and Dave, Sid Selvidge, Jim Dickinson, Big Star, the Staple Singers, etc.

As a new guy to Memphis who grew up listening to most of these icons, it was thrilling to be able to meet them and, in some cases, get to know them a little bit.

After a few years, the program got so big it wouldn’t fit in Memphis magazine, so our company got out of the Blues Ball business.

And I hadn’t been to the Blues Ball for a few years, but last weekend was the 20th anniversary of Pat’s big party, so my wife and I went. My, how it has grown. Outside dinner seating in downtown Memphis for a few hundred people, anyone?

This year’s honoree was Sam Moore, of Sam and Dave, whose performance at the Obama White House this spring may end up being noted by historians as the highlight of this president’s second term.

At 77, Moore hasn’t lost a thing. Backed by a stellar group of Memphis session men, he transported us all back to the glory days of Stax. It was transcendent, and I am grateful to have been able to experience it — and proud to be able to say I live where so much musical greatness was spawned.

And so, in this issue, when we talk about the “Best of Memphis,” just remember, that’s really saying something.

Bruce VanWyngarden

brucev@memphisflyer.com