Still in the early stage of their expedition, Captain America and the crew were in need of some inspiration. They are reminded of a children’s song that lists the only requirements for happiness in life as “A song in my heart, food in my belly and love in my family”. Not yet home sick due to a slathering of hugs, kisses and warnings to “Be Careful” from Moms and Dads, our heroes did need take in as much music and food as possible while in Memphis.
If you are anyone with a soul and functioning taste buds, you need look no further than Beale St for your pursuit of happiness. It offers 3 blocks of freedom where you can walk in the middle of the street with a 32 oz beer while window shopping for the next blues club you want to sample.
Meat fell off the bones of slow cooked dry ribs at Blues City Café for dinner and the late night menu featured a 7 piece blues jam band. Every 4 songs a new musician tagged in for someone playing the bass, saxophone, drums or guitar and drastically switched up the style of songs they performed.
BB King’s Blues Club while a tad touristy still served up great music with two blues sets we sat through. The first was a blind harmonica player and drummer duo that played while we shared a sausage and cheese plate. Their late night band was led by a 22 year old guitarist and 14 year old harmonica player.
Brendan adeptly figured out that you could walk through doors that connected all of the clubs on one side of Beale St which helped us circumvent the $3 cover at Rum Boogie Blues. The club has a rich history of memorabilia from the blues, jazz and rock musicians that all played there early in their career. To name a few the list included Elvis, Styxx, Steve Ray Vaugh, Aerosmith and Alice Cooper. Because the ‘the next big band’ was on a break between sets while we popped in for dinner, this was one of the few clubs that we didn’t get to hear live music at. However we were treated to an all star Memphis Gator Gumbo with sausage, chicken, alligator, catfish, shrimp and crawdads.
Silk O’Sullivan’s was a dueling piano bar with a huge outdoor patio where goats in a gated area while you enjoy the open air and their specialty drink called “The Diver”. Served in a yellow gallon bucket with 7 straws, this beverage is meant to be shared. The specifics of its contents are a secret but our heroes deduced it is mostly beer with a few shots of rum and cherry juice for color.
If you are anyone with a soul and functioning taste buds, you need look no further than Beale St for your pursuit of happiness. It offers 3 blocks of freedom where you can walk in the middle of the street with a 32 oz beer while window shopping for the next blues club you want to sample.
Meat fell off the bones of slow cooked dry ribs at Blues City Café for dinner and the late night menu featured a 7 piece blues jam band. Every 4 songs a new musician tagged in for someone playing the bass, saxophone, drums or guitar and drastically switched up the style of songs they performed.
BB King’s Blues Club while a tad touristy still served up great music with two blues sets we sat through. The first was a blind harmonica player and drummer duo that played while we shared a sausage and cheese plate. Their late night band was led by a 22 year old guitarist and 14 year old harmonica player.
Brendan adeptly figured out that you could walk through doors that connected all of the clubs on one side of Beale St which helped us circumvent the $3 cover at Rum Boogie Blues. The club has a rich history of memorabilia from the blues, jazz and rock musicians that all played there early in their career. To name a few the list included Elvis, Styxx, Steve Ray Vaugh, Aerosmith and Alice Cooper. Because the ‘the next big band’ was on a break between sets while we popped in for dinner, this was one of the few clubs that we didn’t get to hear live music at. However we were treated to an all star Memphis Gator Gumbo with sausage, chicken, alligator, catfish, shrimp and crawdads.
Silk O’Sullivan’s was a dueling piano bar with a huge outdoor patio where goats in a gated area while you enjoy the open air and their specialty drink called “The Diver”. Served in a yellow gallon bucket with 7 straws, this beverage is meant to be shared. The specifics of its contents are a secret but our heroes deduced it is mostly beer with a few shots of rum and cherry juice for color.
The club we enjoyed the most was called Mr Handy's Blues Hall where we sat through a few sets by Dr Feelgood Potts Band. This authentic blues band was fronted by Dr Feelgood Potts and his deep arsenal of harmonicas. They were cheered on by Dr Feelgood’s family in the front seats who shouted requests at him before, after and in the middle of their songs. The blues Doctor would run off of the stage mid song and out of the bar trying to get more people to come in and hear them perform. He had everyone screaming along with him and his sister-in-laws pulled Chris from our table to dance with them. The highlight of the second set they played was when Dr Feelgood Potts got so into the music that he danced his way into a few music cables and knocked a speaker off of a table and onto the floor.
5) No Flash Photography is allowed on the tour. The tour guide explained flash photography is bad for whiskey because it spoils the color causing it to look neon yellow like Red Bull rather than dark mahogany brown.
