On Friday, I went with Katie Nichols to Dr. Ethington's annual Deck Fest party. Katie's been a few years, and I got to tag along this year. As Andrew put it, "I don't know why you think I would want to go to some statistics teacher's party", but Bunty is an extremely cool lady, and I was thrilled to get in on it. Katie rode with me there, and we arrived about an hour and a half before they were all leaving to go to Blues Traveler. That was perfect because we were leaving for the same reason and meeting up with Andrew.
He met us at Bunty's house, and we drove down, parked, and walked in. There was a pretty long line, but the weather was great despite the forecasts to the contrary, and lots of people were out. We met up with Kim and Derek and headed to Blues Traveler. They were already jamming out and put on a fiery show. I was delighted to get to see them. We went to see Kenny Brown in the blues tent after that, and he was great. He had me shaking my blues booty all around until we left to see Jeff Beck. That too was excellent and great for dancing. I had no interest in staying for Widespread Panic until, during the Jeff Beck set, Andrew told me that Jimmy Herring was playing with them now (for like the last year and a half, he tells me). I couldn't believe that! I instantly had to see them after all, but had no plan to make it happen. After scheming and calling around and lots of pouting, I finally resolved myself to the fact that I had to just get over it. We left after Jeff Beck, then I went to pick up Maddie from her pal's house where she'd been hanging out. No Jimmy Herring for me (damn).
Starting about 3am Saturday morning, record rainfall began in the Memphis area as lines of thunderstorms moved east across the Mid-South, many spinning off tornadoes. I watched the weather coverage but was unwavering in my resolve to go downtown. The schedule was delayed by 2 hours due to the weather conditions, which were supposed to improve for a time before another line of storms moved through. As it turned out, it didn't really rain except for a few sprinkles before we were evacuated. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
When I got down there, I had missed the North Mississippi All-Stars (double damn!), but I hung out during the Drive By Truckers to ensure I had a good spot for Gov't Mule, who came on next on that stage. At the end of the Truckers, a radio personality announced that Alison Krauss could not make it because sections of I-40 were closed due to flooding (damn again)! I was really looking forward to that one. Also, before the festival began, it was announced that the Flaming Lips cancelled (a band member was in the hospital apparently) and were being replaced by the Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi Band. I was bummed about the Flaming Lips but stoked about the replacement. After the Truckers, the Mule came out and rocked it one of their better performances that I've seen. It's been a while since I've seen them, and it was good them still in good form. Cody Dickinson joined them on electric washboard for an awesome free-form jam.
During the break after the Mule, the wind picked up and some lighting was going off over on the Arkansas side of the river. I found my friend Stephanie and joined her crew that included 2 other Lyndsay's (dunno how they spelled their names) out on the dance floor. I think Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi had already begun playing when the tornado sirens started going off again. They had been going off for about an hour when I first got downtown around 4pm but had been quiet since. The weather didn't seem dangerous, but, at about the fifth song in, the PA silenced the music and sent out an strangely generic announcement, something to the effect of "Due to conditions that have developed in Tom Lee Park, the Beale Street Music Festival is canceled at this time. Security personnel will escort you out of the park." I guess I wasn't going to get to see Alice in Chains either (triple and quadruple damn!).
Everyone exited in a safe and orderly manner, from what I observed. Stephanie and I got out of there quickly and split up to head to our separate parking garages, promising to text each other when we each got home. As we were leaving the park, the weather became increasingly stormy, with winds gusting and with closer, more frequent lightning all around us. I felt quite vulnerable on the parking garage roof, fumbling through my purse for my car keys as the lightning was going crazy all around me and the siren deafeningly loud from the roof of an adjacent building. Once in the car, I turned on the weather coverage from a local TV station, who basically said that the threat of severe weather was overblown. Sure enough, after a short period of rain and lightning (similar to stuff I've endured at Music Fest before, and it wasn't canceled then), the weather cleared up and was pleasant for a while again before raining more over night.
All told, Memphis received 3.5 inches of rain in 24 hours, setting a record for precipitation on that date, spawning some deadly tornadoes in the region, flooding low-lying areas north of the city to a degree that boat rescues were required in some cases, flooding the Memphis City Hall lower levels, requiring the evacuation of federal prisoners from the minimum security prison in Millington, flooding sections of I-40 that required detours, and who knows how much other chaos. Other than the disruption to my musical experiences, I was minimally impacted by the event.
On Sunday, Andrew, Maddie, and I headed to Central Barbeque for lunch where we met up with Vicki and Uncle Billy, who was in briefly from New York. Kate and Jose joined us as well. We waited forever but had a great meal. Maddie went with Vicki and hung out with her and Uncle Billy while Andrew and I went to Music Fest. We met up with Kim and Derek for Booker T & the MGs, who were spectacular. They left after Earth, Wind, and Fire started, but then we found Stephanie there too. We left out a little early, however, to get Maddie and get back home for the start of the week.
So, this year, for Music Fest, it rained record amounts, delayed the schedule, caused acts to cancel, and required the evacuation of the entire park one night. Pretty soggy but pretty rockin' too.
