I had the honor of having breakfast with the great 93-year-old blues pianist Pinetop Perkins and his wonderful manager, Pat Morgan, today at the Barksdale.
You can read more about it in next week’s Playbook, but a few of my favorite moments include: 1. When Pinetop, while waiting for a table, sat himself on a pile of Best Times newspapers in the doorway. 2. When the lifelong smoker stepped out to have one of this three daily puffs. 3. His insistence on pointing to a head-shaven server and calling him Cleanhead, in reference to his friend, the late blues guitar player Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson.
For the record, Perkins’ set in the blues tent Saturday night was one of the highlights of the weekend. Morgan says it was because someone slipped him a caffeinated cola before going on, but his playing was sure and fast and his creative endurance, exemplified by a 10-minute plus version of the classic “Mojo Workin’” written by his old boss Muddy Waters, would have tested players half his age.
Calvin Cooke of Detroit, has been called the “B.B. King of gospel steel guitar.” Well, make up your own label, he is one awesome practitioner of the steel guitar and here’s a sampling from his stint Sunday at the Tennessee Lottery Blues Tent.
George Hunt has been doing the Beale Street Music Festival poster for 17 years. He’s got a gallery next to the Blues Tent where he’s signing posters throughout the day. And after all these years, he’s still having a great time.
Iconoclastic bluesman Richard Johnston is, in a way, responsible for the Southern Comfort Blues Shack being introduced at this year’s Beale Street Music Festival. Last year, the one-man band who plays anywhere he can around town, found a spot at Tom Lee Park during the 2007 festival and did his thing. Memphis in May didn’t get mad, it got creative and put up the SoCo shack to provide music between sets at the Tennessee Lottery Blues Tent.
Buddy Guy jumped on stage in full patriotic garb and proceeded to wow the crowd with energy and personality. Santana showed up backstage to watch the prolific bluesman work the crowd. Watch this video on how Mr. Guy does it.
Santana’s headlining set at the Cellular South stage is shaping up to be quite an event. Easily drawing the biggest crowd of the festival so far, guitarist Carlos Santana and company are whipping up a party atmosphere to battle against the increasingly chilly temperatures. Aided by a small amry of backing musicians, singers and notably, percussionists, Santana’s signature Latin-tinged blues rock is warming things up nicely.
As the announcer says, we are at the center of the blues universe. Which for all anyone knows is the center of the real actual universe. Here’s Watermelon Slim’s opening number at the Tennessee Lottery Blues Tent and you can bet it’s a slice of heaven, yes it is.
Backstage at the Blues Tent, the venerable bluesman Pinetop Perkins sits quietly and somewhat luminously as Watermelon Slim goes through his sound checks. Mr. Perkins dispenses conversation and autographs as those who know who he is stand a bit away, shyly, somewhat in awe. This is the way it went.
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