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.