The Beale Street Music Festival

It was cold and rainy when I pulled out of McCook last Friday on the way to catch a flight to Memphis out of Denver, but nothing was going to dampen my spirits. I was finally on the way to hear some of the best musical talent ever assembled in one place and I couldn't wait to get there. Even when the drizzle began to mix with a little snow in eastern Colorado and the outside temperature monitor on my car dropped to 36 degrees, I was still undeterred.

I was switching my Sirius radio between ESPN News and the stations that were playing some of the music I was going to be hearing over the weekend and so the time passed remarkably fast. Before I knew it, I was in DIA, waiting for my plane to depart.

The flight was uneventful but my youngest son Will was not at the gate to pick me up when I landed. I called him on his cell and discovered he had been stuck on the Mississippi River bridge for over two hours due to a traffic accident on the Interstate. I told him I would wait at the airport for him and, not long after that, he was there to pick me up.

My other son, Michael, attended the festival with Will last year but decided not to come back this year so it was just Will and I. We drove to the Doubletree Hotel, checked in, changed clothes and headed downtown. We shared a cab with three girls from Little Rock and the cabbie was making out like a bandit. Charged each one of us $10 for the ride. The ride back to the hotel cost us $30 so we decided to drive the next two days.

The Beale Street Music Festival is not actually on Beale Street but in a huge park that parallels Beale Street and the Mississippi River. There were three huge stages, each one exactly 3/4 of a mile from each other in a straight line so the music from one stage wouldn't interfere with music from the other stage. So, it was a mile and a half walk from the first stage to the third stage and we made that walk many times over the next three days. My feet still hurt.

Friday night we listened to Buckcherry, Puddle of Mudd, Jason Mraz, Bryan Adams and finished the night with the legendary B.B. King. Will and I both agreed that Bryan Adams was the highlight of the night. His music was dead on and he played one hit after another, much to the delight of the 30,000 to 40,000 fans who were there to here him.

All three stages had continuous music, along with a Blues tent in the middle of the venue. Crowd estimates were about 100,000 people per day. Between the stages, there was an almost unending stream of concessions. Everything from flame-grilled corn on the cob to full Chinese meals and every imaginable thing in between.

Since one of the major sponsors of the event was Budweiser, it seemed there was a Budweiser beer stand every 50 feet or so. Southern Comfort also had several stands offering pre-made daiquiris and hurricanes, so there was obviously a lot of imbibing going on.

B.B. King is now 80 years old. He admitted to having a little hitch in his get-along because of his age but it sure hasn't affected the way he plays that blues guitar. He sounded as good as ever. He talked a lot to the crowd in between songs and received the biggest ovation when he told the older guys in the crowd that if they hung out with younger women, they wouldn't need Viagra. He was the Friday night headliner and when his show was over, everyone headed for Beale Street. It was blocked off for six blocks to accommodate the crowd and there was literally a sea of people as far as one could see. We settled in at Pat O'Brien's, had a couple of their world- famous Hurricanes, listened to some more good music, and made it back to the hotel about 4 a.m.

The next morning I got Will up fairly early, which isn't an easy thing to do, so we could have breakfast at the Blue Plate café, supposedly one of the 10 best "home-cooking" restaurants in the U.S.

Neither one of us was that impressed after standing in line for over an hour to get in but at least we got some food in our stomach. We went back to the hotel, watched a few of the races leading up to the Kentucky Derby and then went to Southland Greyhound Park in West Memphis to watch the big race.

First time we had ever been to the dog races and they were fun to watch. In the horse races at Churchill Downs leading up to the Derby, I had noticed that speed had not been holding and that closers were coming from off the pace to win.

So I picked a closer in the Derby and bet on Steppenwolfer to show. That's exactly what he did, so I made a nice little profit from that investment. Then we headed back to the festival.

Saturday was an awesome day musically. The Gin Blossoms, Bo Diddley, Little Richard, Three Days Grace, George Clinton, Bruce Hornsy, the Bar-Kays, John Lee Hooker Jr., Jerry Lee Lewis, and Huey Lewis and the News. Will's favorite groups on Saturday were Three Days Grace and Huey Lewis and the News.

Mine were Jerry Lee Lewis (the Killer) and also Huey Lewis and the News. For the best performance of the weekend, it was a toss-up for me between Huey Lewis and Bryan Adams. Huey put on the best show but Bryan played every hit song he ever had, including the one I dedicated to the love of my life a couple of years ago, "Everything I Do, I Do It For You."

That one went straight to my heart and made me yearn for days gone by, days that will live in my heart and my soul forever.

We passed on going to Beale Street after the Saturday festival came to an end since we had been going since early in the morning and went back to the hotel for some much-needed rest.

The final day of the festival was Sunday and things just kept getting better. We saw 10 Years, Staind, Yellowcard, Blues Traveler, Johnny Winter, Booker T. & The MG's, Chicago, and James Brown. My favorites of the day were Chicago and James Brown; Will's were 10 Years, Staind, and Yellowcard.

There were 63 bands that appeared at the festival and we only got to see a few of them but the ones we saw were the ones we really wanted to see and they didn't disappoint. The music was unbelievably cool, the fans were well-behaved, and the event itself exceeded my wildest hopes and expectations. Music is truly an international language and can bring people together to form a common bond like nothing else can. We'll be attending some other festivals this summer and I'll keep you posted.

Living life large is what I try to do because there's not a moment to waste.