First of all I want to apologize for my lack of contributions. The new day job has taken a lot of my free time, but I will be posting more, so please don’t forget about this little corner of the interweb.
On to the music, the Beale Street Music Festival was a great weekend of music. This was my first in five years, and I was not even disappointed that I missed the New Orleans Jazz Festival. All weekend it was a struggle to decide which band was the best, as there were always a couple of good options for each time slot. We tried to arrange a photo pass; however, Memphis in May did not want local coverage. I thought they would appreciate and support our efforts. Ironically, when I showed up on Sunday with my camera gear in hand, they allowed me to shoot all day. Time limited my shooting to three bands. Lack of a photo pass forced me to shoot from the crowd. As I entered the festival, Medeski, Martin, and Wood were playing the stage by the entrance. After their set I inched down to the next stage and thoroughly enjoyed Elvis Costello; Hubert Sumlin sitting in was a definite highlight. However, the best music of the weekend was played to close out the festival. The Black Crowes have reformed and are playing some of the best music of their careers.
This is what I witnessed on May 1, 2005 at Tom Lee Park:
