| THREE
DAYS AT THE HANDY'S |
BY
PETER "BLEWZZMAN" LAURO
COPYRIGHT MAY 2005
If in the beginning of the year, someone said to me "Pete,
you can do one and only one of the following things this year:
go to The Vatican for three days and attend a mass given by the
Pope; Spend three days in Washington, DC to attend a "State
of the Union Address" and be entertained by Mr and Mrs Bush;
or go to Memphis for three days and attend the W C Handy Awards,
after thinking about it for three seconds my answer would be "Watch
out Memphis here I come".
I've just returned from my sixth consecutive W C Handy Awards
and already have number seven penciled in on the calendar. Other
than hitting "Lotto", "Fantasy Five" and "Mega
Money", The three Florida State Lottery Games that are played
consecutively on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, I can't think
of anything that can compare to the Wed, Thurs and Fri I just
had in Memphis, TN.
Day One, Wednesday, 05/04/05
The Wednesday before the Handy Awards is when the Blues Foundation
holds it's Annual Charter Membership Meeting and Dinner. This
year the event took place in one of the Marriott Hotels Ballrooms
and immediately after, a jam was held in the hotels cocktail lounge.
WOW, what a party! The Jam, sponsored by Gibson Guitars and Baldwin
Pianos, attracted many Handy Award nominees as well as an abundance
of blues aficionados. The intimate setting provided a good opportunity
for some very nice elbow rubbing with many of the blues legends
in attendance.
BARBARA BLUE and her band did a magnificent job hosting the jam
and show. The band consisted of some of Memphis' hottest and well
known players. Along with BARBARA, on the vocals were guitarist
COREY OSBORN, bassist E J COLE, drummer MICHAEL BROWN, keyboarder
NAT KERR, trumpeter BEN CAULEY, saxophonist LENNY MC MILLAN, and
on background vocals were the fabulous "Backhoes", NANCY
APPLE and DEBORAH SWINEY.
Once this ensemble heated up the room with some red hot blues,
it didn't take long for some of the audience to participate. However,
this was not your typical audience and this was not your average
open mic night. One by one, WATERMELON SLIM, KENNY NEAL, POPSIE
DIXON, ALEX SHULTZ, E G KIGHT and BOB MARGOLIN - mostly all W
C HANDY nominees - took the stage and rotated singing, harp blowing
and guitar playing. In addition to this, three piano giants took
their turns tickling the ivories: MITCH WOODS, DAVE MAXWELL and
BIG JOE DUSKIN. Playing from a wheelchair, BIG JOE explained to
the crowd that he was hoarse and couldn't sing well. The crowd
just didn't want to hear it. They kept calling him back for more
and he kept it coming. What a thrill! In the meantime, none other
than WILLIE "BIG EYES" SMITH was beating on the skins.
At any other time, in any other place, a night like this would
easily be the highlight of any blues lovers year. However, this
is Memphis, and the W C Handy Awards and partying on Beale Street
were yet to come. Somebody pinch me to see if I'm awake.
Day Two, Thursday, 05/05/05
Wow, look at that date - 5 5 5 - where is a slot machine when
I need one? Oh, it doesn't matter, this is every blues lovers
lucky day - it's Handy Day.
Similar to last year, this year - the "Twenty Sixth Annual
W C Handy Awards" - ceremony was held in the Memphis Cook
Convention Center. Also similar to last year, the event was a
smash hit. Once again, kudos and big thank you's to all involved.
Everyone from the volunteers (especially the lovely and gracious
Charlotte from Southern California) right on up to honchos in
the Blues Foundation did one heck of a job.
The evening started off with another great cocktail party. This
is the place to see and be seen. As DIUNNA GREENLEAF provided
the early evenings entertainment, avid blues fans, writers and
photographers, publicists and journalists, sound and technical
people, record company big shots and legendary musicians all mingled
as peers. Lots of pleasantries, kisses, handshakes and hugs were
exchanged while many photos were being taken and lots of autographs
were being signed. Although no one offered me any contracts, who
knows, a few deals may have been signed here too.
In the midst of all of this fanfare, hoards of very efficient
servers circled the room offering a variety of tasty tidbits.
The chicken on a stick was so good, I think I personally ate enough
to build a log cabin with the sticks. Speaking of eating, lets
go inside. The ballroom doors are opening and it is now dinner
and show time.
MITCH WOODS is already at the keyboard as the crowd enters the
hall. What a tasteful entrance. Eventually in the time it took
to fill the room, DAVE MAXWELL and JON CLEARY also took their
turns at the very colorful pianos supplied by Baldwin. Considering
the large amount of dinners that needed to be prepared and served,
all within a relative short period of time, the servers did a
noteworthy job and the food was excellent. Believe it or not,
the buzz around my table centered around the potato salad. It
was unanimous that it was the best we had all tasted. If anyone
reading this knows that recipe, please contact me - seriously.
Once dinner was over, it was all about the music. Although the
purpose of this gathering was the presentation of the awards,
they some how got a bit lost in the shuffle. Bouncing back and
forth several times throughout the night, between presenting a
few awards then watching a few performers seemed, in my opinion
to cause a slight bit of confusion. I think it was around Midnight
when I was questioned by someone at my table as to who had won
a particular category. As of that point, they still hadn't announced
it. Nevertheless, this slight and easily solvable problem took
nothing away from the night.
Just as last year, when BETTYE LAVETTE gave her speech and there
were not many dry eyes in the room, this year also had it's emotional
moment. After winning a Handy Award for "Acoustic Blues Album
of the Year", Mr KENNY NEAL gave a heartwarming speech as
to how it was, along with his remaining family members, the music
and the fans that kept his drive going during a horrific year
in which he lost three of his loved ones. The crowds response
was thunderous and I'm sure those loved ones of KENNY'S heard
us all.
Getting back to the music, the nights performances were 'pop'
- 'pop' - 'pop', like corn popping in a pan in rapid succession.
One right after another, current and future legends of the blues
put on a several hour spectacle. Even just a few sentences on
each would take pages, so I'll just run through some names and
mention a few of my own personal highlights.
As dinner was winding down, things got off to a blaring start.
CALVIN OWENS opened the show with some serious big band blues.
And I do mean big band. There were so many people there that between
trying to count them and keeping my eyes open for any left over
potato salad on my table, I kept losing count.
By far, the highlight of the evening was the musical chairs-rotating-piano
orgy. MITCH WOODS, BIG JOE DUSKIN, ANN RABSON, DARYL DAVIS, MARCIA
BALL, JON CLEARY, and DAVE MAXWELL took turns bouncing back and
forth from one piano to the other until they ultimately had six
players simultaneously using 12 hands to lay down some of the
coolest boogie woogie these ears have ever heard.
Another moving moment was just watching Miss MARCIA BALL escort
the nights Guest of Honor, Mr. PINETOP PERKINS to the stage. No
words had to be spoken, no notes needed to be played. The audiences
reaction told it all.
Another one of my personal highlights, and truthfully it came
as somewhat of a surprise, was the stunning performance by WATERMELON
SLIM. This mans few moments on stage gave me a thirst for more,
which ultimately led me to interview him and see his Friday night
show on Beale Street.
It was also good to see the reemergence of GREG PICCOLO. His absence
from the scene over the past few years had definitely left a void.
GREG seems to be back with a vengeance though - this night he
performed with at least four different ensembles. One of those
was with Miss E G KIGHT who closed the show at 2:00 AM. Unfortunately,
by now about 80% of the crowd was gone, but E G had that small
crowd sounding like a sold out crowd at Madison Square Garden
as they howled for more.
It was also a joy to see Mr. BOB MARGOLIN being handed a Handy.
Why wait, just give this man the Lifetime Achievement Award now
and get it over with. What BOB does for the blues goes beyond
words. He is a virtual blues employment agency. His tours keep
some of the older legends busy and his jams propel some of the
future legends into the limelight. A big congrats from me to you
BOB.
Others putting on memorable performances, or scheduled to anyway
(it gets hard to keep track while taking pictures, asking for
autographs and drinking a lot) were ANDRA FAYE, BOB MARGOLIN,
BOBBY RUSH, BOB STROGER, CHARLES WILSON, CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE,
DAVID "HONEYBOY" EDWARDS, GARY US BONDS, GUITAR SHORTY,
HUBERT SUMLIN, JANIVA MAGNESS, KOKO TAYLOR, LURRIE BELL, MAVIS
STAPLES, MICHAEL POWERS, MOOKIE BRILL, NORA JEAN BRUSO, PAUL OSCHER,
ROBERT LOCKWOOD JR, SAM CARR, SAM LAY, SMOKIN' JOE KUBEK, TAD
ROBINSON, ALEX SCHULTZ, THE HOLMES BROTHERS and WILLIE "BIG
EYES" SMITH.
All this for a $100 ticket. This is by far the best value your
blues dollar will ever see. It was indeed, one heck of a memorable
night and I am already looking forward to next year's event.
Day Three, Friday, 05/06/05
Of course, Friday afternoon found us hovering around Beale street.
And I do mean hovering. Still buzzed from the two previous nights
entertainment extravaganzas combined with a few of those frozen
drinks from Wet Willies and we were on automatic pilot.
As we strolled into W C Handy Park we enjoyed a pleasant afternoon
of listening to a street band called "THE JUKE JOINT ALL-STARS.
These guys were hot. They did it all and did it all well. They
played any style of music: soul, jazz, pop or blues. You named
it - they played it - after you threw some money in the jar of
course. Our good friend PAT PEPIN, an accomplished sax player
herself, was with us and it wasn't long before she worked her
way to the stage. With all this going on and Wet Willies right
across the street, there was no need to wander.
Friday night found us back on Beale Street. Where the heck else
would you be in Memphis on a Friday night? For us the party started
at the Rum Boogie Cafe. While enjoying a delicious dinner, we
caught a show billed as the "Harmonica Showdown with BILLY
GIBSON and special guests". We saw several of the areas finest
young harp players who one day may be Handy nominees themselves.
As the band took a break, we didn't. Across the street we headed
to see a set by Wednesdays Jam Mistress, BARBARA BLUE. She apparently
left off right where we remember seeing her a few nights ago.
As it turned out, we also got to see PAT PEPIN jam for a second
time today. BARBARA had invited PAT to join in for the evening
and a rockin' evening it was.
It was getting late, and almost time for what we had labeled as
our main event of the night. Having interviewed him earlier, I
knew that it was getting close to the last set of WATERMELON SLIMS
show. This, we did not want to miss. I don't know how to describe
the effect that SLIM had on me and apparently everyone else that
filled the standing room only crowd at Blues Hall other than to
say it was hypnotic. Putting shaking to the music aside, no one
moved. For over an hour, no one came in or out of Blues Hall.
Those who were in didn't want to leave and those who were out
couldn't get in.
SLIM is marvelous to watch and listen to. He plays a mean harp
that should start getting him noticed for a possible nominee in
that category one day and his vocals are gritty and witty. However,
it is more of his characteristically chaotic performance that
makes him mesmerizing to watch. He reminds me of "Sach"
playing the blues (Sach was a zany TV character played by Huntz
Hall). Sorry, but you'll have to be old enough to remember the
"The Bowery Boys" a.k.a. "The Dead End Kids"
to be with me on this one. SLIM'S band this night, which he claims
will be his band for a real long time because they are the best
band he has ever had, consisted of IKE LAMB on guitar, MICHAEL
NEWBERRY on drums and CLIFF BELCHER on bass.
WATERMELON SLIM, had told me earlier that this was his first time
at the Handy Awards. He claimed he had no reason to come because
he had never been nominated before. My blues instincts tell me
SLIM will have reason to be in Memphis this same time each year
for many years to come.
Conclusion
If you are reading this and you have never been to the W C Handy
Awards, hopefully this little rant of mine will be the push you
need, because you really do need to go. Early planning and a bit
of budget shopping and a trip like this can be enjoyed for about
$1000 for two. So the next time "Dubbya" asks you "would
you'd like to sleep in the room JFK slept in" or the Pope
says to you "he mein Freund, warum nicht, kommen Sie zum
Vatican und sorgen sich eine Masse, die ich geben werde",
tell them both that ya can't make it 'cause your Memphis bound.
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