John Oates, of the band Hall & Oates, beamed like a kid as he watched Jerry Lee Lewis from backstage at the Beale Street Music Festival. The Killer’s annual appearance is part of what makes this festival on the river a national treasure. “He’s one of the founding fathers of the genre,” Oates said. “And this is the place to come and have the full rock and roll experience. Memphis is the link between the Delta blues and rock and roll. I love coming here.” ...
With the previous night’s storms having left things in a state of confusion, Saturday’s Beale Street Music Festival proceeded in fits and starts for the first half of the day. Sets were eliminated or truncated, schedules shifted and a general sense of uncertainty lingered before conditions turned favorable for at least a few hours until a tornado warning ended the music ...
The Mississippi River was foggy and strange and the rain off and on, but the Beale Street Music Festival got underway around 4 p.m. today, with undaunted fans slogging in through the gates. Bad weather had prompted Music Fest officials to delay the opening of the festival by a couple of hours and cut most of the first round of acts. Richard Johnston is the one perennial attraction at the festival ...
Recent feature films from Iran, Algeria, South Africa, Mexico, Peru, India, Vietnam, Uruguay, Serbia and China will be screened at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art through July when the "Global Lens" series debuts May 13 ...
An eclectic lineup on the Beale Street Music Festival’s Budweiser Stage Friday night delivered a variety of sounds but shared one common goal: To get Memphis In May 2010 started with a high-energy blast of feel good music. Though New York alternative rock band the Goo Goo Dolls, whose punk-tinged hits include such moody numbers as “Iris,” threatened to bring down the mood with their night-closing set, the stage’s other two bands put a premium on light-hearted, upbeat fare ...
Memphis audiences are a notoriously tough bunch. In a city that can boast of music legends by the hundreds, local crowds can be hard to impress. But with a pedigree that includes multiple inductions to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a place among the royalty of British rock guitarists — along with his fellow Yardbirds’ alums Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page — Jeff Beck made Memphis melt, in what proved to be the unqualified standout set of the opening night of the 2010 Beale Street Music
When the Academy Award-winning rapper Al Kapone opened the Beale Street Music Festival on Friday afternoon, he continued a tradition of Memphis musicians giving props to the city that help made them famous. Those with both long and short-term festival memories can learn more about the performers who put Memphis (and Memphis in May) on the map in a new informational display near the Cellular South stage ...
A funny thing happened on the way to the deluge. When Memphis rap icon Al Kapone and band took the Budweiser Stage at the Beale Street Music Festival about 6 p.m. Friday night, pieces of the sunny sky, as seen through the scattered clouds, were as blue as the polka dots on many of the young women's fashionable yet practical boots. “I feel blessed after all this crazy rain talk. We have defied the forecasts,” said Al Kapone, whose son and fellow performer, Young AJ, was making his third