Memphis in May Day 2 #bsmf13 #inMemphis

Saturday we got up and had breakfast at our hotel before we headed to get Jon attired for the rainy weather. We found a Tractor Supply Store and got him some rain boots, then headed to Walmart in search of ponchos. They didn’t have any, so we settled for an emergency blanket, which ended up being super warm and got lots of compliments, as it was bright silver and everyone thought it was foil and kept saying we were geniuses. We had barbecue for lunch and got to Beale Street just as a storm blew in. Freezing cold wind was blowing us all over the road, but it only sprinkled. We tried to meet up with Brandon and company, but they’d gone back to their hotel before we got to Beale.

We went to Alfred’s and had a drink, then headed to the festival. We met up with Brandon and Ann for a minute, but they were going to a different show, so we parted ways. Jon and I went and saw Patti Smith, which was pretty awesome. About then I realized I’d lost my ID somewhere on Beale Street, though. But, we were already in so I thought we’d make the most of it while we were there. So we worked our way through the crowd to about the 10th row for Dwight Yoakam, also pretty good, although Jon hates being in the crowd and wasn’t loving it. After that, we stayed put for Black Keys, or did our best. Unfortunately, everyone brought their entitled attitudes, and stood behind us spouting the most arrogant drivel you’ve ever heard. Jon had an even harder time, since everyone was pushing to get up front and we were packed in like crushed pineapple. We stayed up front for the first 7 songs, but then we had to go use the bathroom too bad, as we’d been standing in the same place to keep our spot for the past three hours.

Getting out of the crowd was crazy! We knew there were lots of people pushing up front, but we didn’t realize just how many people were at the show until we tried to get out. I thought we’d just pop out the side of the crowd, but it never ended. We got to the fence at the side of the park, and the crowd was still packed. I’ve never seen so many people at any show at Memphis in May in all the years I’ve gone. It was insane. We finally made it out of the crowd, almost at the next stage. We got some Asian noodles and ate, and sat and waited for ZZ Top. We sat on a poncho (we’d bought one from a guy on Beale) and wrapped up in Jon’s Silver Man Superhero blanket. That was a bit warm, but the wind was punishing. I don’t think I’d gotten that cold all winter. After a few songs, we left. It was just too miserable.

Memphis in May, Day 3

Okay, so here's what happened on our last days in Memphis.

Sunday we got up late and Jon finished his paperwork. We hung out at the hotel a little while, even though we'd missed breakfast. I was feeling better that day, though. After a while we went downtown. I wanted to see Chris Robinson at 335, but Jon wasn't really crazy about them. He said he'd go if we got there on time, though. We went and ate lunch at Alfred's on Beale Street. It was pretty good, but not as good as Pig. Jon had a beer and then we left.
We walked around a little, but not as long as the day before. Jon wanted to get me a turtle necklace to go with the dress I'd gotten the day before, so he got one from a street vendor. Then we saw some girls on the street selling Jello shots, so he had to get one of those. We walked down to the festival after that.
It was sweltering again on Sunday, but I was wearing better clothes (no polyester!) so it wasn't too bad. We'd forgotten sunscreen, but by the time we got down there it was almost 5. We ran to catch the last ten minutes of Chris Robinson, but he'd already finished playing when we got there 10 minutes before he was supposed to be done. So we went right to Michael Franti and Spearhead.
We got up close, about halfway across the rubber mat, and thankfully, in the shade of the stage. We stood around for about half an hour. At first, we thought maybe the show wouldn't have many people there since we were able to get up so close and there weren't many people waiting. But the stage filled up by the time the band came on, and they had a pretty good audience. The band was AMAZING. I'd only heard a handful of their songs, but they were so great! Chill and groovy and cool, really fun and happy. The guitarist had this humongous grin on his face the entire time, and Michael Franti kept coming off stage and going through the audience. He pulled a bunch of people up on stage, gave a couple of them guitars, and let two little kids sing part of one of his songs. It was really cool, and I liked how appreciative of his fans he seemed and how he interacted with everyone so much. It was an amazing show--my favorite one of the whole weekend. The music was great, too.
After that, we went to get food and Jon got a chicken dish from the gyro place. We sat down and ate and waited for Herbie Hancock. But he must have been REALLY late coming on, because 20 minutes after he was supposed to start, he still hadn't come on stage. So we went down and listened to Bush for about 5 songs. Then we went all the way to the other end of the park and listened to the end of The Civil Wars, who everyone had said was one of the best bands there. They were pretty good.
After that, Alison Krauss was at the same stage, so we stayed for her. We got to the third row after the Civil Wars fans cleared out. But I was hot from dancing by then, and the crowd was pretty thick. I also got pushed by the first rude fan I ran into all weekend. Anyway, we stood around waiting for the band for a long time. Finally they came on. I've been waiting to see Alison Krauss for literally 10 years, so maybe it just couldn't measure up to my expectation. Or maybe I was just hot, and tired from standing and walking around in flip-flops for 3 days straight. Whatever it was, I just wasn't as into it as I'd expected. Jon, who hadn't really wanted to see her too much, ended up really enjoying the show, especially the rest of Union Station. After 40 minutes, I asked if he was ready to go see Primus. He said we could stay, but I really wanted to get off my feet for a while.
So we went to see Primus. On the way, we noticed all this lightning in the clouds off to the west over the river. We went and sat in the grass pretty far back from the stage. They were really loud even back there. Jon went and got a funnel cake, which they made right there while he waited. It was super hot and greasy, delicious and crunchy and gooey and sugary. I hadn't had a funnel cake in years, and it definitely beat the last one I had. We watched the lightning and listened to the band. I kind of wanted to get closer, but Jon was happy sitting back in the grass, so we stayed there. The band kept talking about the lightning. Finally, towards the end of the show, the lightning got a lot closer and the wind picked up and started blowing constant and cold from one direction. "Here comes the rain," the band said, and they went off stage without even saying goodnight.
Everyone in the entire park jetted out of there at once. The wind was gusting big clouds of dust everywhere, whipping wildly around. The last band was still playing in the blues tent, but we got out of the park as fast as we could along with just about everyone else. We walked back to the car and got in, watching the storm move in. Almost as soon as we got on the highway to go back to the hotel, the rain hit. It came down in giant sheets, washing across the car while the wind rocked us all over the place and the storm blinded us. I turned off the radio and sat there not saying a word so Jon could concentrate on driving. We kept hitting slick spots where the road was covered with water, and even going 40mph it was hard to see. It seemed like it took hours to get back to the hotel, but we made it safely through the driving rain and back to our room.
We got up in the morning and it was still raining a little outside. It took us a while to get on the road, but we finally did and headed back to Arkansas on Monday morning.

Sweatfest in May #bsmf12

So, I'm way behind on my trip, but here goes...This was Saturday at Memphis in May.

We got up kind of late, but not nearly late enough. I was still tired and felt really bad and sick in the morning. We ate hotel breakfast and then I tried to sleep while Jon did some paperwork. Eventually we got going and went down to Beale Street. It was really hot and sunny out. We walked around and decided to get lunch at this place called Pig. It was bbq, of course. I got a pork plate and Jon got a turkey sandwich. It was really, really good. The meat was super tender and great. They also had big-ass 32 oz beers for 5-6.50. We walked around on Beale after lunch and shopped at a few stores. I was wearing a jumper and decided that was a very bad choice of festival gear! I had to take the whole thing down every time I went to the bathroom, and you really don't want to spend any extra time in the porta-potties when it's 93 degrees outside. So we decided to go find a dress. Jon found one he liked for me and then we went to the festival. On the way we spotted a line of horse-drawn carriages and Jon thought we should get a ride.
Our driver was pretty cool and told us some crazy stories while we rode around downtown Memphis for half an hour. Neither Jon nor I had ever ridden in a horse-drawn carriage, so it was pretty fun. When we got back we went down to Tom Lee Park for the festival. We had missed a few of the bands we wanted to see (Son Volt and Kenny Wayne Shepherd) but that always seems to happen on Saturday. We went to see The Cult but didn't even attempt to get up close. We sat in the grass far away from the stage and rested. The show was okay but neither of us were too impressed. We walked down to see Al Green next, and caught a bit of Yo Gotti on the way past. We also did a little browsing at some of the shops and got a foot-long corndog (not too impressive).
Al Green was amazing! It was really hot out but I couldn't stop dancing for the whole show. It was tons of fun and he played a lot of old songs and some newer ones, too. The only downside was that the dress I'd gotten was polyester and stiflingly hot! It was definitely a sweat-bath that day.
After Al Green we went to see Jane's Addiction. They put on the usual epic rockband show, complete with wailing guitars, stripper/dancers, hanging devil creatures, TV screens with bondage videos, etc. It was a high-energy show, but about halfway through, the heat caught up with me and I was so exhausted I had to find a spot to sit for a while. I got back up and we stayed until the very end, after midnight, and went back to the hotel.
I was so tired I passed out cold about 1 minute after I crawled out of the shower and into bed.

Mudfest in May (Day 3)

Sunday the storms hit. We went to lunch at A&R (barbecue) where they gave us so much food I thought I’d explode. But it worked out, because I didn’t have to eat again all day. After the ribs (and Anna claiming she had a meat overdose) we went down to the festival. As we were walking to the park, huge black storm clouds piled up and the river started sloshing around with waves like the ocean and the tornado sirens went off. We got all nostalgic about last year, but not enough to go in and get drenched just in time to have the bands leave the stages because of lightning (Yes, that is exactly what happened last year). We decided to head up Beale and find shelter instead.

Our usual Peabody Place pool hall had closed, so we went down Beale to another bar. We figured it would be packed and we wouldn’t be able to play pool, but it was strangely deserted. Ryan left the festival and came up to hang out, and we played pool and talked about old times, and beat my sister and her fiancé, of course. Actually, Ryan beat them, and I cheered and played defense mostly.

When the storm had mostly passed, we went down to the park. A bunch of bands had cancelled, but we got to hear a little Ziggy Marley since he’d come on really late. Then we convinced Ryan to come to Saving Abel with us. We found an island of grass in the mud and sat on Anna’s poncho and just hung out. It was nice and relaxing, even though Ryan hated Saving Abel. Then I kidnapped him and made him go to Cee Lo Green with us.

Cee Lo was fun, but the sound on the stage was off so I couldn’t really hear the songs very well (sad face). We stayed at the same stage for Sublime, where again the sound was bad. Anna and Brad went to see a different show, and Ryan went in the crowd with his ex, so I hung out with his friend. I got my dance on even though the sound was still so bad I could hardly tell what song Sublime was playing. People got pretty mad that they played mostly new stuff. I didn’t care too much—the plastic mat in front of the stage was wet and all slippery, so dancing was super fun. Plus, everyone started leaving b/c the band wasn’t playing Sublime’s Greatest Hits, so I had a great view for once. I also met a girl who looked just like a tiny version of Zooey Deschanel. She was so cute I wanted to keep her forever. And they played “Badfish” so it was all worth it.

Afterwards, Ryan stayed with me while his friends went back to their car. We waited for Anna and Brad and then we all walked back to the car and left. I had an agonizingly slow drive back in the pouring rain and insane lightning, listened to The Shining, and got home at 6 am. Overall, a big fun mudfest trip. I can’t wait to do it again.

Memphis in May (Day 2)

Saturday morning we awoke at Super Ghetto Motel to the sounds of people yelling at their kids (and their kids yelling back). Did I mention it was an extended stay hotel? So lots of families who most likely lived there were wandering around making themselves at home, smoking on our balcony, and having fights. The room was stiflingly hot, so we’d left the windows open (they only opened about six inches) and the smoke drifted in. I tried to close the window but found someone sitting on our window ledge with his butt wedged in the six-inch opening.

I finally dragged my sister out of bed and we went to meet some friends on Beale Street for lunch. After wandering around and buying almonds, band-aids, and flip-flops at Walgreens—that’s right, I bought my shoes at a pharmacy—we found a place to eat. My sister’s fiancé met us at Silky O’Sullivan’s, where we’d eaten the previous year as well. We got ribs. Oh my wow. They were so tender the meat fell off the bone when I tried to pick it up. I met up with a friend from back home and a few of her friends, too, but they left after lunch to hang out on Beale. My sister, her fiancé, and I went down to Tom Lee Park for some more music. A little rain for a few minutes, but nothing like the torrential, siren-inducing downpour of last year.

The bands were running late and we made it in time to see half the Sick Puppies show. Afterwards, my old friend from Junior High texted me and said they were there, too. We’d pushed up front for Hinder, but thanks to a pink snakeskin cowboy hat waving in front of us, my old friend and his new friends were able to find us. I hadn’t seen him in about fifteen years, so it was crazy to catch up again (Thank you, Facebook, for bringing old friends together haha).

We watched Hinder and they were, well, Hinder. Same as always. I didn’t know most of their new songs, but they played a pretty good mix of old and new, and I knew all the old ones. Then we all went down to Mumford and Sons. We sat on the grass, ate, drank, hung out, etc. Ryan had his uncle and friend with him, and we all chilled and listened to the band, which was awesome.

After Mumford, we went back to the previous stage for Ludacris. Wow. What a madhouse. The stage was surrounded by an ocean of people. I swear I haven’t shrunk since last year, but it seemed like everyone in Memphis this weekend was 6 foot 6! I couldn’t even see the stage. We were far back, and as far as shows go, that was the most disappointing of the weekend. He played about 30 seconds to two minutes of each song. Hard to get your dance on when the songs keep stopping abruptly halfway through. Ryan and one of his friends stuck with us and we worked our way up for Ke$ha, but again, we couldn’t see the stage even though we were close. Part of the time she went up onto a platform, but the rest of the time I could have been listening to a CD, since I couldn’t see her at all. But I was pretty impressed that she didn’t lip-synch and actually sung all her songs. It was a fun show, complete with lots of pervy comments from the guys I was with.

After the show, we all decided to call it a night again, and went home. Since we only had one bed, I was exiled to the smoke-permeated, scratchy, midget couch where I slept with my legs dangling off the side or sticking over the arm. Totally worth it, though. The bad hotel is part of the whole experience. Last year it smelled like Indian food. The year before, the shower wall had hairs clinging to it and the table fell over when I put my purse on it.

Beale Street Music Festival (Day 1)

So this past weekend was Memphis in May, and I went for the second year in a row and the third time overall. It was awesome! Much better than last year, when many of the bands cancelled because of flooding and the park was evacuated on Saturday night so many other bands didn’t get to play. This year we had two whole days of music before the rain set in.

On Friday, I met up with my sister and we drove the five hours to Memphis. We got to our hotel (Super Ghetto Motel, ask if you need directions). It was really hot but the AC in the room didn’t work. Also, we discovered when we arrived that we had a room with one “full” bed instead of two queens. Oh, well. It was cheap. It smelled like smoke even though it was a non-smoking room, and we soon discovered smoke drifting in through the window while people smoked on the balcony and yelled at their children. Big fun.

We went to the festival and on the way got pulled over by a cop when my sister ran a red light (the sun was RIGHT in our eyes. I have no idea how anyone could see that the light was red). The cop asked us both for ID even though I wasn’t driving. Then he proceeded to ask us what bands we were going to see and then blocked off the intersection so we could make a left turn and get to the parking area we wanted. Why aren’t all cops so helpful?

We went in and caught part of Cake, who I’d seen a few times but was still fun. Then we saw B.o.B, which was WAY awesome and better than I expected. It turned out to be my favorite show of the whole weekend, especially when he started free-styling at the end. Amazing energy, great view, and I loved all the songs, most of which I’d never heard.

I kept trying to hook up with a couple different groups of friends who had also come for the weekend, but I didn’t get hold of any of them. We went to see Stone Temple Pilots, which was a little bit disappointing. They were okay, and they played a lot of old stuff and a lot of new stuff. But it was just meh. Something lacking. Or maybe I just expected SO much because I love them so much, so of course it couldn’t live up to my expectations. We left the park and went to bed ‘early’ that night, which means 1 or 2 a.m. in Memphis in May time.