Last year, public outcry saved the Bessie Smith Strut from being uprooted from MLK Boulevard and moved to the Riverfront. Yet many felt the controversy and the way the city handled beefed-up security damaged the feel of the Riverbend highlight.
But the Strut is back for 2013 on Monday, June 10 with a great line-up—so if you gave it a pass last year, get your mouth ready for turkey drumsticks and a whole lotta good music this year. Especially exciting: headliner Pimps of Joytime, that Brooklyn-based-by-way-of-New Orleans, genre-busting, just downright irresistible group of mad funksters. Haven’t heard the word? Google “Janxta Funk” and see what we’re talking about. The Strut schedule includes:
5:15 p.m. Deacon Bluz at the Trestle stage
5:30 p.m. Scotty Bratcher at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center
6:45 p.m. Eric Sardinas at the Trestle stage
7:00 p.m. Pimps of Joytime at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center
8:15 p.m. James “Nick” Nixson at the Trestle stage
8:30 p.m. Dedra Ruff and Ruff Pro at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center
Cost is $5 through June 8 (without a Riverbend pin); $10 day of (without a Riverbend pin). Those with a pin will still pay $5 to get into the Strut.
Visit bessiesmithcc.org for more information.
—Staff