Sunset… right now. Backstage, as Aretha is tearing it up.

One of the day’s most anticipated acts is onstage at this very moment. Wearing a white gown and wrapped in a blue feather boa, Aretha Franklin took the stage to one of the largest crowds of the day. She also has one of the biggest musical ensembles with her, including a handful of backing singers and a large brass section.

Backstage, the Queen of Soul indeed received royal treatment as fans, volunteers, and local luminaries gathered to watch her make her way to the stage. Mayor Willie Herenton was carrying a bag containing the Key to the City — to be presented shortly. Also backstage: Memphis mafia member and television show host George Klein and Coach Cal of the Memphis Tigers. 

Overheard backstage was the Mayor saying he’d like to reclaim her legacy from Detroit where she grew up and recorded. Franklin is a Memphis native. 

the contest for “who can have most women dance on stage with him.”

Usually that honor goes to a rapper.

I guess it doesn’t hurt if you play 10 or 12 shows.

Whatever, he still wins.

Rockabilly pioneer Billy Lee Riley, 74, returned to the stage Sunday at the Memphis in May Beale Street Music Festival for his first performance since a third hip replacement operation and quintuple-bypass emergency heart surgery in February threatened to silence the Sun Records legend forever.

(more…)

Internet, I’ve discovered why I don’t care so much for jam bands. I was watching Umphreys McGee just a bit ago, and I was really enjoying all the pasty white folks doing their swaying pasty white folk dance (you know the one), when it occurred to me that I had been listening to the same song for at least ten minutes. Except that it sounded nothing like the song that I had begun listening to and in fact could have become three or four different songs but was still the same godforsaken song that it was ten minutes before. And then I began to wonder if the song was ever going to end, or if UM just plays one incredibly long song per show. And then I started to get stressed out. Because don’t they need to take breaks so they can reach up and wipe the sweat from their brows? What if a bee landed on the drummer’s nose? What if they picked a song to play for their one-song set and no one liked it? What if people left before the end of the one and only song? How would they ever know how it ended? WHAT ABOUT CLOSURE?!?

This is why people drink at these festivals: KILL THE BRAIN CELLS, KILL THE STUPID THOUGHTS.

First you get an expert like Tony Thomas who has done it half a dozen times before for Jerry Lee Lewis. Here he reveals a few other tricks to keep on rockin’.

Just a few weeks ago rockabilly pioneer Billy Lee Riley had a hip replacement followed by multiple bypass surgery. If you know him, you’d know that wouldn’t stop him from making yet another BSMF appearance. He gives us the exclusive lowdown here.

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.

Tom Lee Park is a fragmented mess of smelly mud and trampled grass today. I’ve seen lone flip-flops left behind, stuck in the mud — annual sacrifices to the outdoor festival gods. Where do all the abandoned flip-flops go? I’m sure they just chuck ‘em with the rest of the random crap people leave behind, but I’m thinking there’s a higher calling for them. (A good flip-flop is a terrible thing to waste.) Something akin to One Cold Hand. We’ll call it One Muddy Foot. And all the abandoned flip-flops from the previous MusicFest will be on display the following year in a tent next to George Hunt’s art. Are you listening, MIM organizer people? Call me. I’m full of horrible ideas. And I’ll give most of them to you for free.

I’m sitting here in the air conditioned media trailer beside videoblogging genius Jon Sparks, who’s chowing down on some BBQ, beans, and coleslaw and crafting his next piece. He will probably kill me for telling you that (I plan to run away before he finds out), but sometimes I like to hold the curtain back so the people know what really happens behind the scenes at these things. I mean, besides all the boozin’ and torrid backstage love affairs between twentysomething journalists bloggers and the rock stars they blog about.

I’m sad that I missed the action yesterday; I was at my cousin’s wedding (live long and prosper, Keri and Randy!). So I didn’t get to see my girl Cat Power and my girls Tegan and Sara. But today I’m psyched to see my girl Aretha. Actually, I have to remark that this year’s festival has been a good one for female acts. Of course, I’ll be lining up to see Fergie so that I can mark the exact moment that she sets the movement back.

Oh, I kid because I love.