Fierce early evening storms mark abrupt end to Bessie Smith Strut

Staff Photo by Angela Lewis Foster/ The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 6/08/15
People raise their umbrellas as the rain begins Monday during a Deacon Bluz performance on the Bessie Smith Hall Stage at the Bessie Smith Strut.
Staff Photo by Angela Lewis Foster/ The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 6/08/15 People raise their umbrellas as the rain begins Monday during a Deacon Bluz performance on the Bessie Smith Hall Stage at the Bessie Smith Strut.

A few minutes before he took the stage Monday night, local self-professed "bluesologist" Clark White - aka Deacon Bluz - was feeling optimistic about the prospects of kicking off the Bessie Smith Strut.

"I'm looking forward to this whole thing because all the elements lined up for me tonight," he said, his all-white-clad bandmates warming up behind him on the Bessie Smith Hall Stage.

A Chattanooga native and frequent performer at the annual festival honoring the Scenic City "Empress of the Blues," White's words proved lamentably prophetic. About 30 minutes into his 6 p.m. set - about an hour and a half after gates opened - a fierce squall swept along Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Within minutes of the storm's arrival, the downpour gave way to lightning strikes and wind gusts, forcing festival officials to pull the plug on both stages as the sparser-than-usual crowd scurried for whatever cover it could find.

A last-ditch effort by organizers gave birth to an impromptu concert inside Bessie Smith Hall by Jarekus Singleton, Theodis Ealey and Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials, but the weather effectively ended the street-side celebration long before the traditional street sweep, which had been delayed this year to 11 p.m.

"We managed to salvage everything we could," said Friends of the Festival talent and production coordinator Joe "Dixie" Fuller. "The vendors lost out pretty big. Sometimes you get the bear, and sometimes the bear gets you when you're dealing with weather like this.

"But there's music being played at the Hall right now. We went the extra mile and got the artists to hang with us and play the blues. That's what they came to do, and that's what they're doing."

Despite its abrupt end, the Strut began promisingly enough.

Even though the skies began to darken earlier in the day, a sparser-than-normal crowd merely unfurled its umbrellas. Their spirits seemed as high as ever as they honored strutting tradition by wandering up and down the M.L. King Boulevard to the cacophonous appeals of sidewalk vendors hawking everything from jumbo turkey legs to fruit drinks served in hollowed-out pineapples.

There was some grumbling to be heard, however, from attendees who were disappointed by the increased ticket price. Since introducing a gate fee to the formerly free event in 2012, Riverbend pin/wristband holders have been offered a 50 percent discount off the $10 ticket. This year, all guests were charged full price.

"I got in the back end when it was a free event, and I'm kinda disappointed it's not free anymore, but for $10, you can't beat the ambiance of it," said graphic designer Kacey Carlos, who attended his first Strut in 2011 after moving to Chattanooga from Cincinnati.

"I'm not going to let $10 prevent me from having a good time," he added.

Others were less understanding of the changes to the event, noting the chilling effect imparted by the fencing and security checks that were introduced in 2011.

"I think the whole thing has been screwed," said Lazarus Z. Hellgate, a local performance artist who works the Strut as an employee of M.L. King Boulevard-based music venue JJ's Bohemia.

"I do get it, but the whole purpose of the Strut is ruined by it," he added. "It's not the same thing. I'd rather it be dangerous and fun than this watered-down and lame."

To the merchants whose businesses line the boulevard, however, the Strut is a chance to capitalize on greater through-traffic than normal. JJ's Bohemia hosts a post-Strut concert every year, and venue owner John Shoemaker says the event is typically his busiest night.

Down the street, Telaine Nicholson watched crowds passing by her restaurant, Wafflez Factory, with a beaming smile on her face in stark contrast to the increasingly gray skies.

This year was Nicholson's first Strut following her business's grand opening last fall, but it was also her first time to attend the event in almost a decade. In 2003, her nephew, Tory Hardy, was shot and killed on the corner of 10th and Fosters streets just after the Strut ended.

Nicholson said she was pleased by the changes in the last few years that were enacted to increase security, despite the polarizing response to those measures within the community.

"I think it would [have made a difference]," she said. "Before, you had a lot of teenagers unsupervised and different things going on. This year, when we were going to our meetings [with Strut organizers], they told me it's more structured now. We'll see. We're here until 11 p.m."

Despite the weather curtailing the event, Nicholson's patience paid off as stragglers continued to wander in her doors at 9 p.m. as officials began opening streets to traffic.

"We're still here," she says. "It was kind of bad thing, but we'll hang tough and see what happens. We'll be here next year."

Contact Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6205. Follow him on Twitter at @PhillipsCTFP.

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