Friday, July 28, 2006

On Assignment: Memphis, Tennessee... Beale Street

First things first... Memphis in the summertime is hotter than Hell. My assignment tonight was to shoot some of the night life action on Beale Street. I walked up and down the street for two hours shooting the touristy stuff that I needed, no problem. Then I decided that I needed to have a personal assignment: Find a resounding echo of the Memphis Blues.

My ears ended up following the raspy voice of a Delta Bottom Man, a slide guitar and a dancing bass line coming from the Blues Hall Juke Joint. I walked in and fell in love with the place. The music of "The Dr. Feelgood Potts Band" felt real and perfectly in place. I shot away. Eventually someone started buying beers for me. I made friends and had a great time listening and shooting great music.

Tonight was incredible and I have fallen into love with Memphis. The smells of BBQ on the street and spilt beer on the sidewalks and music coming from every alleyway and summer sweat trickling down my brow. It was a good night to be alive and with a camera in my hand. I went to Beale Street and found the blues.

Here is a serious of shots.

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"One" by Wes Aldridge

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"Two" by Wes Aldridge

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"Three" by Wes Aldridge

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"Four" by Wes Aldridge

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"Five" by Wes Aldridge

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"Six" by Wes Aldridge

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"Seven" by Wes Aldridge

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"Eight" by Wes Aldridge

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"Nine" by Wes Aldridge

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"Ten" by Wes Aldridge

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"Eleven" by Wes Aldridge

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"Twelve" by Wes Aldridge

5 comments:

susanne said...

Wow! Such a great series!!!
Mostly I like the third one with the little monkey.

Yesterday I've talked with a musician about Blues and I thought it would be nice starting again playing Blues on my piano. Seems that Blues is in the air...

Anonymous said...

wes....you have captured the "blues" and Beale street.It looks like a "dive" but that seems to be where you find good things.I know you "fell" right in with this crowd.You do that so easily.

Anonymous said...

Wes,I really enjoyed the series of shots from Beale Street. Blues is good music in the right setting and I think you captured that nicely. You never cease to amaze me with your talent and compassion.--fa

BB Logan said...

Nice work, brothah. I could almost hear the music coming out of these photos.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the great photos!!
I'm the bass player, "Ice Lady" Chiemi, from Dr. Feelgood Potts Blues Band.
Do you mind if I save some of those pics for my collection?