25 on 25

We celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary by attending the 25th International Blues Challenge (IBC), hosted by The Blues Foundation on Beale Street in Memphis. More than 100 bands and 60 duo/solos, representing blues associations in 36 states and nine countries competed in this world's largest gathering of blues bands. Semi-finals were held in 16 different venues on Beale Street. The 10 band finalists and six duo/solos played in the historic Orpheum Theatre on Saturday for the championship. We saw 22 bands, two solo performances and seven duo acts, and about a bazillion songs. We listened our ears off and boogied our troubles away.

The King of rock and roll serenaded Pat.

We spent 10 hours watching bands in the Rum Boogie Cafe on Friday.

Of course, we put some south in our mouth. We ate pulled pork, BBQ ribs, catfish, gumbo, red beans and rice, and never saw fresh fruit or vegetables.

Beale Street on Saturday afternoon. A few hours later, it is packed with tens of thousands of bluesy folks.

Every time we go to Memphis we ride a trolley car on the river loop. It's only a buck. This is a must.

We shared a table for a couple hours with this duo. Their act is called Chicago Blues Revue. Actually, they live and perform in Warsaw, Poland. The oldest of the two is only 20 years old, and they were fabulous. It was a lot of fun to see Memphis and the IBC through their eyes. If you ever get to Warsaw, catch their act!

Beale Street on Saturday night after the IBC finals.

For our foodie daughter in a land far away: yes, we did have one fancy dinner. I enjoyed sweet potato encrusted catfish, macaroni and cheese, and collard greens.

Pat had a chef's special vegetarian plate. We had no idea what half of that stuff was.