Last weekend was the annual definitive Memphis musical event: the Beale Street Music Festival. The first weekend of each May a 3-day musical extravaganza takes place at Tom Lee Park located between the mighty Mississippi River and the river bluffs to the east looking high overhead. This year Leah (Lil' Sizzler) and I were lucky enough to receive full photography credentials, which allowed us the freedom to roam about with our cameras (not allowed for the general public), and even more important, got us in to the "pit" area for the first three songs of any act. The "pit" is the small gated area in between the audience and the stage. So for the first three songs of any act of our choosing, we had total freedom and plenty of space to take as many shots as we wanted. Needless to say we took full advantage of the situation. And with four main stages simultaneously cranking out the tunes, we put a great amount of effort just into figuring out who was gonna shoot who! Here was this year's impressive musical line-up. With so many shots to choose from this first post was a difficult choice, so I picked three photos of one of the more interesting musicians we ran across. This is Rich Beddoe from the Canadian band "Finger Eleven". Although their music was a bit heavy for my tastes they were excellent musicians, and this guy was absolutely amazing to watch. He constantly moved about the stage bending and twisting in totally unhumanly configurations. That in itself was a great show, but while doing so he somehow managed to play a pretty mean guitar as well. I missed the best shots because he was moving too fast. And of course the long hair and beard flying everywhere added as well to the overall visual effect. Thanks for stopping by, and if you're into this sort of thing don't forget to come back later for some more and to check out Leah's gallery too at the above link. She has some amazing Buddy Guy shots I'm sure she'll be posting. marshall