Backbeat Dive Bar Crawl: Our Favorite Memphis Dives

As part of its Memphis Loves Memphis series, Backbeat Tours will be hosting its first ever Dive Bar Crawl on Friday, March 14, from 8-11pm. The crawl is a three-hour tramp on our vintage-look bus to four of our favorite dive bars, led by singer-songwriter Kathryn Brawley. The specific bars we’re visiting is a closely-guarded secret until tour night (that’s half the fun!), but here’s Kathryn’s take on her favorite Memphis dives. Think we’ll be taking our choices from the list? Yep, that would be a good guess. The price for the Dive Bar Crawl is $10 per person. For reservations visit http://www.zerve.com/Backbeat/BarCrawl or call (901) 527-9415.

Why dive bars? Why not? I’d much prefer a grungy, low-lit room where I can hang out with my friends to getting pricey cocktails and having to put on heels to go to a swanky bar and feel uncomfortable for three hours. And there are so many great dive bars in Memphis. I’ve been told to limit this list to my Top 10, and that wasn’t easy, so if I’ve left off your favorite, tell us about it. 

1. Earnestine & Hazels. After having a few drinks, there’s nothing better than chowing down on a $6 world famous Soul Burger. (Tip: ask Steve or Keenan to put extra onions and pickles on yours). It’s a beer bar, but you’re more than welcome to bring liquor into the building. It’s an ideal place for a group hang – you can go upstairs, which used to be a brothel, and grab a table. Be sure to hit up one of the best jukeboxes in the city while you’re there. Our ghost tour guides tell me the jukebox is haunted. My favorite night to go to E&H is Sunday, for their Sunday night Jazz Jam.

2. Buccaneer Lounge. This is what I think of as a “neighborhood bar.” I’m a woman in my 20’s, but I go in, have a drink, and make small talk there all the time. This is my whiskey and coke bar. They have food, but I don’t usually eat there. By the time I get hungry at the Bucc, someone usually suggests walking to Krystal, then walking back. They also have a nice music setting at The Buccaneer, including Devil Train on Monday nights.

3. Wild Bill’s. If you like blues, THIS is where you go. I don’t care what anyone says, Wild Bill’s is a juke joint that will show you what it’s all about. It’s kind of a late night place and cash only, so I say hop in a cab and swing by an ATM before you hit Bill’s. 

4. Alex’s Tavern. This is another late-night place, but I have to admit, I’ve spent many early nights here eating a burger and getting started. Alex’s has shuffleboard, a great jukebox, and if you’re into sports, there are multiple screens they put games on. Like Wild Bill’s, Alex’s is cash only, so be prepared before you head in. 

5. Printer’s Alley. This is a REALLY late night bar –the kind of place you go to when absolutely every other bar has closed its doors. And for that reason alone, it’s awesome. I love the seating at Printer’s Alley, and they have pool rooms so you can have a game. When you walk in, there’s an overwhelmingly delicious smell of burgers on a George Foreman grill. It’s hard to explain why, but it’s pretty comforting at 5am. 

6. Lamplighter Lounge. My favorite 2-to-4-person bar. You can get a cold PBR, Shirley Burger, and shoot some pool with your friends or partner. It’s a nice bar for winding down. But no cursing! It’s a rule.

7. Poplar Lounge. One of my favorite music venues in Memphis. When the Poplar Hi-Tone closed, a lot of bands migrated to Poplar Lounge to play and I was pretty excited about that. It’s a cool little place with some of the nicest staff around. It’s definitely a family at “The World Famous Poplar Lounge”. It’s a beer bar, but you can take liquor (there’s a liquor store right across the street, in fact) inside and there are some mixers. Some old-timers around town associate some pretty heavy fightin’ with Pop Lounge, but it’s a tame place these days. 

8. Bobcat Bar & Grill. This place makes me chuckle every time I think about it. I stumbled upon Bobcat on accident one night. My boyfriend and I were grabbing Schlotzky’s for dinner and, as we were getting in the car, the sign for Bobcat Bar & Grill caught my eye. I mentioned that it was weird that there was a bar right there –it’s a very, very awkward place to have a bar. He suggested we go in for a drink and I was pretty excited about it. We go in, grab a beer, sit down, and take in the scene. At the time, it was around Christmas and there were some Christmas decorations up that made my heart pitter-patter. In the back, there was a group of stained-white collar men playing pool. One of the men walked up to us and said, “Y’all like Lobster Bisque?” I responded, “Yeah, of course”, and he told me, “Well you won’t find that here, but you can get a d____ good slice of pizza”. I decided I liked this place. 

9. The Cove. Great bartenders and food over at The Cove. I feel like the bar is easy to navigate and great for groups as there is plenty of seating and even a deck out back! They have a $2 Sunday beer bust, trivia night and a hand full of shows at The Cove, which are well-worth looking into. 

10. P&H. For me, there are days I really love going to P&H and days when it’s too crowded to enjoy. There’s a reason so many people are there though! P&H is a classic Memphis staple, the feature of director Craig Brewer’s Poor & Hungry, and everyone loves going. It’s a beer bar, but you can bring liquor. The food is EXCELLENT –some of the best bar food in town (I get the fried pickles every time), and the kitchen is open until midnight. They have Karaoke on Friday Nights, but it can get pretty crowded, so I suggest hitting up their Tuesday night trivia instead, which is some of the best in town.

Indie Memphis Showcases All Sides of the City

One of the things we love about Memphis is that it seems like every person, event and thing is deeply connected. Sometimes it’s an obvious, conscious connection; other times it’s an instinctive, unconscious connection you didn’t even realize was there. 

This year, we felt a special connection to the Indie Memphis Festival as many of the movies touched on the music and history of Memphis, subjects that we’re more than a little bit passionate about. In its sixteen years, the festival has grown quite a bit, and it’s a fantastic opportunity to see not only quality independent films by nationally known directors, but also locally made movies that show us so many different facets of our own city, and bring out connections that we might otherwise have missed.

With 50 feature films, 82 shorts, and numerous panels, parties, and events, the excitement in the air surrounding Overton Square last weekend was palpable. If you needed to get around, they even had bicycles to borrow, the kind of hip touch we’ve grown to expect from this out-of-the-box festival. 

Of course, what we love the most are the hometowner movies, particularly the ones that highlight what’s exceptional about Memphis. If you missed the festival, try to rent some of these when they come out on DVD; we’re sure Black Lodge Video will have copies. 

Here they are, in no particular order:

I Am Soul. This documentary film, directed by Johnathan Isom, tells the story of Tonya Dyson, a maverick in the neo-soul music movement. We grew to love Ms. Dyson when she led a Dishcrawl through Memphis soul food on the Backbeat bus. Small world!

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Meanwhile in Memphis: The Sound of a Revolution. This documentary, directed by Nan Hackman & Robert Allen Parker and winner of the Hometowner Film Audience Award, chronicles the underground Memphis music scene from the 1970’s through the early 2000’s. Featured in the documentary are Jim Dickinson of Mud Boy and the Neutrons, Gangsta Blac, Al Kapone, The Grifters, Tav Falco’s Panther Burns, and the North Mississippi Allstars. What makes Memphis underground music so special? The determination to create something new, exciting, and uncompromising, profitable or not. (You listening to this, Nash-Vegas?)

Orange Mound, Tennessee: America’s Community, directed by Emmanuel Amido and winner of the Southern Soul of Independent Film Award, celebrates and explores this historic neighborhood, one of the first in the nation built by and for African-Americans. Like Harlem, its sister and rival in the north, Orange Mound was once home to middle class, multi-generational families, a tightly-knit community with a strong collective sense of pride that nonetheless has fallen on harder, more challenging times. Despite that, the community still has plenty of heart, plenty of hope, and plenty of good people who simply won’t give up.

Mabon “Teenie" Hodges: A Portrait of A Memphis Soul Original. This short documentary, directed by Susanna Vapnek and winner of the Documentary Short Audience Award, tells the story of “Teenie” Hodges, songwriter for Hi Records, who together with legendary producer Willie Mitchell, wrote hits like Love and Happiness and Take Me to the River for Al Green. During a live audience interview after the film, Teenie described what makes the Memphis music scene different in one sentence: “We know we’ve got to work for it.”

The Invaders. In this documentary, the Indie Memphis secret screening on Saturday, producer Craig Brewer tells the story of the grass roots, militant civil rights group that played a significant role in the events of the Sanitation Strike of 1968, the months-long upheaval that ultimately claimed the life of Dr, Martin Luther King, Jr. The rocky, sometimes contentious relationship between the militant Invaders and Dr. King’s nonviolent movement was left unresolved when that fatal shot rang out at the Lorraine Motel, but each in their own way were striving to be catalysts of much-needed change. Check out the trailer here!

And there you have it. We have Indie Memphis to thank for showing us what a fascinating, complex city we live in, a city of a million stories (at least!) where practically every street corner has its own unique, beautiful – sometimes heartbreaking – history. The neighborhoods we drive through and the people we come across every day – in line at the Mapco, or the bank, or in that car next to you at a red light – have rich stories that should make us all proud to be Memphians. Hats off to the Indie Memphis Film Festival for showing us, through the magic of filmmaking, just how closely connected we are.

Indie Memphis Peep Show

Two things happened for the first time last night. 1. I went to the new Hi-Tone on Cleveland. 2. I attended Craig Brewers Indie Memphis Peep Show, which is the opening event announcing the films being presented at this year's Indie Memphis Film Festival.

First off the new Hi-Tone is a really great space, but you have to make sure to not miss it when driving by. In Crosstown on Cleveland, they don’t have a big sign up yet so you have to make sure to really look for it. When you’re heading North on Cleveland, it’s right past the Jehovah’s Witness Assembly Hall.

The Indie Memphis Film Festival connects and inspires indie filmmakers and film lovers. In its 16th year the festival will show over 45 movies. The festival runs from October 31st to November 3rd. Last night, Craig Brewer (director of Hustle & Flow and Black Snake Moan) debuted sneak peaks of the movies showing at the festival. They ranged from movies that are generating Oscar buzz to Hometowner movies directed by locals. In between the announcements there were performances by the Memphis Belles. These burlesque dancers were the perfect mix of sultry and sensational. My favorite part of the performances was when Craig compared these dancers to the Vaudeville act of Blossom Ceily, whose performance was so hot it literally burnt Memphis's Grand Opera House to the ground in 1923.

The movies I am most excited about include the Friday Gala Screening of August: Osage County and Sunday’s Gala Screening, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. Take a look at the trailers:

Exciting right? I also can’t wait to see the Hometowner film Orange Mound, Tennessee: America's Community,directed by Emmanuel Amido. Orange Mound was developed for African-Americans in the 1890s and is one of the first communities where they could build and own property. The movie celebrates this historical community.

For ticket information check out the Indie Memphis Website. What movies are y'all excited about seeing during the festival?