Club Tay-May, Mason TN, Summer 1991
Back in the summer of 1991, when I was hanging out with a lot of fellow UT-Martin students who lived at Gainsville just outside of Mason, a local festival gave me the excuse to be down on the Lower End taking pictures. I had almost forgotten that I had them. I even got a picture of the legendary Club Tay-May, which burned to the ground not long after.
UPDATED: Tay-May was the big club in Mason, and had existed in several different locations, the last one being the one pictured here. Since it could hold hundreds, it routinely featured artists like Johnnie Taylor and Little Milton, and was rumored to be the place where Rufus Thomas invented the Funky Chicken! I will always be sad that I never went inside it.
The Lower End, Front Street, Mason TN, Summer 1991
Mason, Tennessee, Front Street, The Lower End, Summer 1991.
This was the summer that I was spending a lot of time in and around Mason and Gainesville, Tennessee. I had gotten some black and white film, and was having fun with my camera, and I was always fascinated by the “cafes” in Mason, as juke joints were called in those days. Of course, I had no idea back then that most of these buildings would be torn down and destroyed, so the pictures are maybe a little more important now than I had imagined.
Taken with Instagram at Rock’n’Soul Museum
The Hot Dogs (a really cool Memphis band of the early 1970’s) was led by Greg Redding, who many Memphis musicians may remember from Strings and Things.
Disillusionment on the Lower End
Every time I visit Front Street in Mason, Tennessee, it seems that another building has been torn down, burned down, or has just fallen down …
Taken with Instagram at Rock’n’Soul Museum
I remember that sign when it was still on Park Avenue in Orange Mound!
AutoZone Park: This stadium in the heart of Downtown Memphis is the home of the Memphis Redbirds, Triple-A affiliate to the St. Louis Cardinals(Submitted by bitchcalmyotitz)
