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.
Of the three, CC features the most regular live music. CC is probably the largest club with local, live rhythm and blues in Memphis. Conley employs a house band who can back up soul stars Denise LaSalle, J. Blackfoot, O.B. Buchana, or Sheba Potts Wright, just as well as entertain on their own.
Conley generously applies an old trick in the nightclub owner's book: mirrors. They make the club and the crowd look huge. On a Saturday night, the MC tells the crowds it's "grown and sexy."
"At CC," Conley told us, "I don't remember a fight being here since I opened. I got rules in my club."
One of the rules is a minimum age of 28 to enter. "That one helps a lot," Conley says. "I'll bend a little for 25, but not under. I know most of my customers."
Conley says he's "doing pretty good -- making a living," as a new black stretch limousine with gold embossed initials "L.D." on its doors idles in the parking lot behind the club.
Conley plans to expand on CC Blues Club, which attracts a clientele from throughout the tri-state area. "Most of them are black, but I get a lot of mixed people from Beale Street, too. They ask [around] about blues clubs, and somebody down there sends them to CC." The crowd sits to watch and listen while the band plays. As soon as the band finishes a set, and the DJ cranks "Mississippi Cha-Cha Slide" the dancefloor gets packed. I'm not sure there's anywhere in Memphis that makes me feel whiter.
Update: CC Blues Club is the proud recipient of the 2007 Juke Joint of the Year prize, given at the Jus Blues Music Awards August 16 in Memphis. CC beat out local competitor The Boss Lounge, and held off challengers from Atlanta, Houston, and Jackson, Mississippi, among others.