Nightlife
Nightlife > B-Sides
Words by Jeremy Dillahunt
The neighborhoods around Bourbon and Beale streets are home to some of the country’s oldest musical history, most influential musicians and liveliest nightlife hotspots.
SEPARATED by 350 miles but linked by the Mississippi River, Memphis, TN, and New Orleans, LA, share a musical history that dates back to the earliest days of the US. While such luminaries as Louis Armstrong, B.B. King and Elvis Presley have called either place home, today these cities offer a modern nightlife scene that spans all musical genres, including blues, jazz, techno, rock, hip-hop, pop, lounge and even Cajun zydeco. Best of all, this entertainment spectrum is located in two easily walkable spots: New Orleans’ Bourbon Street and Memphis’s Beale Street.
The Streets
Bourbon Street
New Orleans is still rebuilding after the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, but Bourbon Street, located in the world-renowned French Quarter was largely spared and is open for business. The ten blocks between Conti street and St. Philip Street are home to one of the largest and most diverse concentrations of nightlife the planet has to offer. Within this compact area, surrounded by marble antebellum townhouses with their trademark wrought-iron Creole balconies, you can catch contemporary jazz musicians, including the Marsalis family at Preservation Hall, which is also home to the famous Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Nights heat up in the already hot quarter at One Eyed Jacks on Toulouse Street with a variety of live music. To extend the evening into the daylight hours, stop by Club Ampersand, an ultra-stylish warehouse space that books international house, techno and trance DJs.
Club Ampersand
1100 Tulane Ave
504-587-3737
www.clubampersand.com
Preservation Hall
726 St. Peter St
504-522-2841
www.preservationhall.com
One Eyed Jacks
615 Toulouse St
504-569-9100
www.oneeyedjacks.net
Beale Street
Memphis’s Beale Street is where Elvis Presley first tried on his blue suede shoes. To call it eccentric would be an understatement. Similar in feel to Bourbon Street, the result of generations of musicians and nightclub owners following the Mississippi north in search of better prospects, Beale Street features venues such as Wet Willie’s, Elvis Presley’s and the Rum Boogie Café. Silky O’Sullivan’s hosts nightly blues musicians and features The Admiral, the most famous bar patron in Memphis, plus a piece of the original Blarney Stone. Just down the street you’ll find B.B. King’s Memphis, the legendary blues guitarist’s first club, featuring a house band comprised of the B.B. King All-Stars. Late-night partiers of all stripes are welcome at Club 152, where you can find anything from live blues bands to techno and hip-hop DJs performing on three different floors with three different décors.
B.B. King’s Memphis
143 Beale St
901-524-5464
www.memphis.bbkingclubs.com
Silky O’Sullivan’s
183 Beale St
901-522-9596
www.silkyosullivans.com
Club 152
152 Beale St
901-276-0070
www.club152memphis.com