Well, the Romanians found another ride to the mall, giving me the entire afternoon to enjoy the Center for Southern Folklore’s Memphis Music and Heritage Festival!
So for the rest of the day I bounced back and forth between the festival and the Flying Saucer. One of the pleasant surprises of the festival was Greg Hisky and his Dixie Whisky Flyers. When they took the stage I wasn’t expecting much – some men who looked to be in their 50s-60s playing classic country tunes. But they were REALLY good. They played a version of the Statler Brothers’ “Flowers on the Wall” which was every bit as good as the version The Dempseys play. Although, they didn’t jump around on stage as much as The Dempseys do. Nevertheless, I definitely plan on seeing them again when they play around town.
Speaking of the Dempseys… I ran into my favorite guitarist in the whole wide world, Mister Bradley D. Birkendahl, and his wife Anna Marie at the festival. He told me that today, he’ll be playing guitar for Jason D. Williams tonight at 10:00 on the Verizon Wireless stage. I’ll be there for that one for sure.
There was an older guy named Roy Harper playing old country music. Just wondering, is this the Roy Harper who Led Zeppelin paid tribute to on “Hats Off to (Roy) Harper” on Led Zeppelin III? Anyone know?
My friend Marilyn asked me to write a glowing review of her friend Willie Firecracker, who performed last night, and to mention his site collectionplaterecords.com. Unfortunately I was busy drinking and checking out waitresses at the Saucer around that time, and forgot to head back over to the festival in time to hear him. Sorry, Marilyn.
Today I’ll be splitting my time three ways between Sleep Out Louie’s, the Flying Saucer, and the festival. You know, it’s funny, but the act I’m most looking forward to seeing today is a puppeteer named Jimmy Crosthwait, who will be on the Trolley Stop stage at 2:30 today. Last year he had a song about a saber-toothed cat (with puppet) that was so silly that it was good. I’ve been looking forward to hearing that song again for an entire year.
All right… let’s talk about some cheap beer deals I discovered yesterday as I was walking Beale Street. Normally you can get a Big Ass Beer (28 oz. to 32 oz., depending on where you buy it) on Beale for $5. However, The Pig on Beale is the place to go for your value drinking option… Big Ass cups of Pabst Blue Ribbon for $4. PBR me ASAP!
I also saw a sign in Alfred’s window, saying that starting on the 13th they are going to have College Night every Wednesday – 5 cent pitchers of beer until 11 PM, and ladies get in free. Alfred’s has never been my favorite place to go on Beale Street, but for 5 cent pitchers and hot college girls, I may actually have to start hanging out there. I wonder if you have to show college ID to get the deal on the pitchers?
That’ll do it for now. It’s a beautiful day outside – my WeatherBug on my computer is reporting a temperature of 64 degrees. Perfect! Just warm enough to wear shorts. High 82, low 60. You just can’t ask for weather any better than that.