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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
I am finally able to have the Blues on Monday again!
This is a band known as "Big Jerry", they are a Memphis, Tennessee staple. Big Jerry is actually Jerry “Bluesman” Parnell, he has been rockin' Beale Street since about 1983.
In following the link above, I found that Jerry, a dyed in the wool, real deal bluesman from the Mississippi delta is actually younger than myself. That was a minor shock - most of these guys are ageless or very old. I guess if you pay your dues long enough you earn the right to play the blues.
Big Jerry was playing right there on the sidewalk a few steps up Beale from the old Daisy Theatre, across from the "Coyote Ugly" bar. (Yes, I have to admit, we did set foot in that bar - hey, give me a break - it was rainin'). It was starting to sprinkle - you might notice that there is something missing from this photograph - if you follow the the cables, there is one that goes off to the left, out of the frame. The bass player is at the end of that, standing under an awning of a store. So is the requisite CD hawker. Every one of these bands has one of these CD hawkers. Generally an old black guy, missing most of his teeth, who holds the band's recording(s) on CD up so you know where you can purchase the disc. I have a feeling that most of these fellas are homeless, or at least severely impoverished and will work for very little. Maybe they are just bored, but they all seemed cut from the same mold. It kind of looks like Big Jerry has fallen on hard times, himself. Besides the ubiquitous tip bucket that has a faded "TIPS" in not-so-indelible magic marker, he has a hand drawn sign on a guitar that says "Big Jerry's Guitar and Amp FOR SALE $200.00". In retrospect, that is a pretty decent price, I think, on this pair and I probably should have bought them just to have in my basement, in case one of these old blues guys shows up at my white-bread, suburban St. Louis home...
Anyway, shortly after this shot was taken, the band moved back under the awning between the stores, out of the rain, and continued to blast the blues to no one in particular for a while to come.
See the workshop for the CD hawker and bass player that wouldn't fit in the original! |
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