“ROAD TO MEMPHIS”
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The Shawn Curle & the 44’s caravan (Shawn/Susan, Pat/Karen. Mark/Jill, And Cliff) left Pensacola on Wednesday, Feb 4th for Memphis. Long drive up Highway 55. We got in later than excepted so we bunkered in for a night of rest and decided to miss the meet & greet/kick-off concert. Later we would be glad we got this extra rest. Thursday morning Shawn & Pat met up with Reese and went to registration then they went by the Gibson factory (I am glad we got them back cause you know Shawn & Pat could get lost in there!). We all hung around the rooms until Shawn & Pat represented the band at the 3pm orientation, which was intense and informative. They were honored to be among the world’s best blues musicians in one room! The bands were informed of their venue for both nights and Shawn Curle & the 44’s were placed to perform at the Hard Rock café on Beal Street. Lucky for them they brought their guitars to orientation and were able to go directly to the Hard Rock café. Cliff, Rick(/Tori), and Mark met them there at the 4:30pm dead line. Because Shawn & Pat arrived early to the Hard Rock they got a personal tour of the back rooms of the club by the stage manager Dustin. Shawn & Pat were offered to play any of the guitars donated to Hard Rock by Gibson. We can’t tell you how welcomed we were received by the staff at the Hard Rock.
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The first night’s set was: Bad Boy, Chest Pains, Poverty Line, Sweet Little Angel....
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It was so nice to see Reese & Carolyn and John & Debbie King there to support the band!
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The competition was just that a competition and very humbling, these bands were hot. We met so many people and please take a minute and look them up! Tillamook from Italy, Mike Milligan & the Alter Boyz, Delta Generators from Boston – they won the Hard Rock Venue and went to the finals (Shawn can’t stop singing Hand Me Down Blues)! Very deserving…these guys…I love them and Lynn too! Inner City Blues Band, Perfect Bedlam Band - we hope to get them to visit us here in Florida soon! Valentino & the Piedmont Sheiks.
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So Friday afternoon Shawn & Susan went down to Beale Street to check out the FedEx International Showcase featuring acts from Australia, Croatia, Canada, France, Israel, Italy, Norway and Poland. We got to the venue in time to see Cek (guitarist and singer from Pisogne on Lake Iseo, Italy. We also saw CG & the Hammer – Israel’s leading blues band and the only CD Shawn purchased! We saw the first band to compete from Quebec, Racine and got to see our friends from Italy again, Tillamook. We talked to these guys a lot, they were so cool! They jammed at the Hard Rock on Friday night with Shawn having never played in an American Blues jam.
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But the high light might have been when Shawn & I went to see some of the kids playing in the Smokin’ Bluz Youth Showcase. VE Paul, 15 years old, has mastered the art of slide guitar and Piedmont-style finger picking. Then we went across to Club 152 and saw Tallan “T-Man” Latz and the Young Guns. Guitarist and vocalist Tallan aka T-Man at the age of 9 is the youngest “old Soul” we have ever come across bring a tear to Shawn’s eyes! Later at the Hard Rock Friday night jam, Alex Hamberger, Bassist from the Young Guns showed everyone that T-Man was not the only talent on that stage.
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The second night’s set was: Tore up, Poverty Line, Sweet Little Angel, Mark’s Boogie in E Major.....
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Friday night we were ready to go and had a good set. We stayed around and cheered everyone on but did run down to hear Jeff Gilkman, Pensacola’s solo act.
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After all the bands, Shawn, Rick, and Stoney from Stoney & the House Rockers hosted a jam session at the Hard Rock. We got word the Delta Generators won the Hard Rock venue while listening to Bob Margolin who was playing at the Rum Boogie. So after many congratulations to the guys from Boston we went to the hotel to go to bed…..
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Saturday afternoon Shawn & I went to try the ribs at Rendezvous – a Memphis tradition! So everyone said. Reese and his new bride were already there and we ran into Rick and Tori outside so it must be good!
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The 10 finalists started at the Orpheum Theatre at 2pm. And then we got word the 44’s were chosen by the Hard Rock Café as the favorite house band and asked to compete at the New Daisy Theatre in an unannounced competition against the other 9 venues favorite bands. Shawn and Pat took off, missing the finals, to see if they could play. They were very honored to ask the Young Guns to back them up. Alex, Dave, Dan added so much to the set with bass, drums, and keyboards. We were very disappointed the jam that was planned did not occur due to the management changes. We know a lot of musicians hung around to play with them and we are sorry it didn’t happen.
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I stayed and watched the finals – it was awesome. Please check out the winner, JP Soars & the Red Hots! Some others I thought were hot: The Boogie Boys from Poland, MonkeyJunk from Canada (3rd place in the Finals), The Roger Girke Band, Ty Curtis Band (2nd place in the Finals).
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Sunday it was time to go home, so Shawn and I took the long way and went by his birthplace in the Mississippi Delta, Tchula. Very interesting, we passed it and turned around. It is very close to the birthplace of many famous blues musicians.
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