L.D. Conley, runs three nightclubs on Thomas, also known as the "real Beale" including CC Blues Club and LD's Lounge up the street from Hughes. Conley's Club Pisces is located farther north at 3987 Thomas. All three are painted in green and gold -- L.D.'s a Packers fan -- and CC features some of the finest exterior artwork anywhere in the city, courtesy of the mysterious itinerant sign painter known as Zorro.

The Worm has a special vibe that begins and ends with patriarch Wilroy Sanders. He turns 74 in 2007. As far we can tell, Sanders is the elder of Memphis juke joint blues musicians. The producers of a 1999 documentary film about Sanders enthusiastically called him and his film "The Last Real Living Bluesman."

Well, well, well. Old reliable is still jukin' after nearly forty years. Somewhere in there, white people found that they could hang out, drink, listen to music, AND feel comfortable in Wild Bill's. Bill, for his part, will take $10 out of anybody's hand at the door.

Still, Bill's has its scars. In 2006, some crackhead (I'm guessing) pushed open the front door, demanded Bill's pile of tens, and emptied the clip of his 9mm into the ceiling.

E.C. White, formerly of the Hard Luck Café tends the bar and Don Valentine and the Hollywood All-Stars play Sunday nights. Entry is $5, with $2.50 domestic longnecks and BYOB set-ups. If you're in this for gutbucket ambience, the Hot Spot isn't your place. It's a standard motel bar, decorated with phony oversized gas-lamps, and a few panels of mirror on the ceiling. Hookers might work here. I don't know for sure, but I'm just saying. On the plus side, the Hot Spot definitely has some kitsch.

This joint's tag line "music & fun" provides truth in advertising. Owned and operated by Jessie "Rabbit" Hurd for 18 years (as of early 2007), One Block North is the scene for live music on Friday night in north Memphis, right off Thomas Street, the city's "real Beale." The strongest band in the city, the Memphis Connection, plays behind a parade of talented guest vocalists including Joe Simon sound-alike Isaac Simpson, young lion Nate Dogg, and the electric entertainer known as Sugarman.

When we heard that Billy “Soul” Bonds would be coming to entertain at something called the “Players’ Ball” we thought, “this is how Christ would have wanted us to spend the anniversary of His resurrection.” Naw, it was the week before Easter, but it still brought some folks out of their caves.

Longtime Little Milton road manager Scrap Iron, blues singer Pat Brown, Captain Curtis Lee, local hustler E.C. White, and the old head who ran the Top Hat Club in Forrest City, Arkansas were all in the house.

If you don’t believe the theme meant shit, there’s something you should know. Trophies were awarded.

Roy Hughes is a flashy man, even by nightclub-owner standards. He rolls around town in a Mercedes with the vanity license plate “KINGROY.” Not exactly a guy who’s NOT trying to draw attention to himself. His penchant for flash attracted some unwanted attention, however, from the Memphis Police Department that’s left his club in limbo. "They said I incited the riot by grabbing the microphone [during a police raid] and telling everybody, 'Don't let them fuck with y'all.' I told them to wish the officers and the fire marshal a Merry Christmas on the way out," Roy explains.

But there’s more to Clarksdale than Morgan Freeman’s Club Zero. For every manufactured destination, there’s a place like Red’s, a little juke joint downtown that’s been there since the 1970s. The building dates back even farther, and from the outside, would look equally in place here or in Beirut. You’ll see tourists from all over partying alongside locals at Red’s. The place has live music almost every weekend, ranging from James “Super Chikan” Johnson, to Robert “Wolfman” Belfour, Wesley “Junebug” Jefferson, “Big” Jack Johnson (don’t expect mellow surf music), Terry “Big T” Williams and Louis “Gearshifter” Youngblood. Apparently no one escapes nickname free.