Memphis, Tennessee is a fairly common destination for tourists, and Beale Street is the usual attraction that many want to see. Memphis does a considerable amount of marketing around the city’s music legacy, but unfortunately, Beale Street has become very much a tourist attraction, and the average visitor to it will not encounter the city’s authentic culture or traditional music.
However, down in the neighborhoods of the city, there are still local clubs, bars and juke joints where blues and soul music exist in their natural habitat. One such place is the VIP Entertainment Hall on Elvis Presley Boulevard in Whitehaven, owned by Herbert Armstead, known to all as “Mr. A,” a rough-around-the-edges-looking building that probably does not appear in the tourists’s guide books. Mr. A has been promoting blues and southern soul in the area near Memphis International Airport for at least a couple of decades. At one time, he booked all the entertainment for one of the large airport hotels on Brooks Road. These days, he holds forth from this older building bear the intersection of Brooks and Elvis Presley. By afternoon, the place might be mistaken for an abandoned building, but on a Friday, fast forward a few hours and there will be more cars than its small parking lot can hold.
Inside, people come to unwind after work, either to the music of DJ KenKen, or else to live singers, often with a live band. The music is blues or southern soul, and the patrons almost exclusively African-American. In the VIP, they can let their hair down and relax, enjoying local singers like Smooth Pat or legendary Memphis bluesman Big Don Valentine. Between the live acts, KenKen fills the dance floor with line-dancers while playing songs like 803 Fresh’s “Boots on the Ground.” Women in western wear pack the floor and click their elegant fans. Men are dressed elegantly as well. Despite the juke joint style of music and ambiance, the VIP is a place to make an impression…