Gip’s Place, Popular Southern Blues Juke Joint, Forced to Close Its Doors
Fight for one of the last blues juke joints in Deep South become a viral news story
Snapshot taken from documentary set on Gip’s Place. Bob MIller / credit
If you’re an avid learner of the history of American blues and know a thing or two about legendary bluesman Robert Johnson (who’s best known for being the blues god for The Rolling Stones and for making pacts with the devil), you are probably aware that juke joints may be the last remnants of its great oral tradition. And not too many of them exist. If they do, they are forced to adapt to the law of the lands. And the list very well includes that they act like a rogue business, get in the money-making business and bring in a bartender with large amounts of liquor. Anyone with an ounce of juke joint encyclopedic history will eye those kind of establishments as nightclubs or music bars, not as juke joints.
Clearly the city of Bessemer, Ala., a town located twenty miles west of Birmingham, hasn’t studied enough about the juke joint legend, or they simply don’t care to learn about it.
Gip’s Place is one of the few popular juke joints in the country that’s known for attracting blues’ lovers and also for its sweet Southern hospitality. It carries its own ‘Cheers’ decorum, where everybody knows your name. But lately that may not be the case as the Bessemer, Ala. has become a hot spot on the city’s map. Thanks to the renaissance of everything old and cool, the small blues shack located in the backwoods on Bessemer’s Avenue C has been chronicled by the local papers and mass media, hailed by NPR as a “blues lovers’ dream” and celebrated by the American Blues Scene. It’s also the subject of a new documentary being soldiered by Circlex Films. All of this newfound attention has made Henry “Gip” Gipson one of the surviving purveyors of the vintage juke joint tradition. And lately he’s been getting alot of attention for all the right reasons. His cozy intimate hall of blues has been home to his backyard parties since 1952. What seriously sets it apart from its competition is its down-home simplicity, its impromptu regimen and organic composure. “It’s not like going to a bar,” lead blues guitarist Lenny Madden told NPR. “It’s not like going to a club. It’s like going to your best friend’s house and putting on the newest record and sitting there and enjoying it together. Literally, there is a mix between the musicians and the audience.” And there’s so much more to the heavenly mix that makes Gip’s so special. Each evening begins with prayer followed by the reading of Gip’s guidelines, which includes no drugs, no profanity and respect the person next to you. And in case you’re wondering, racism will not be tolerated: “There is NO color at Gips Place,” their Facebook page fully affirms. As for liquor, there’s no bar there, but you can bring your own. As for its worship of the blues, it’s there. “Music represents life,” Gipson says in the unfinished documentary about his popular place. “It’s something that don’t do nothing but burn within a person to see what he could be. And that’s why I love blues because blues deals with a story to tell you.” This blues hall also features a large framed black-and-white photograph of Robert Johnson, a blown-up replica of one of the three surviving images of the blues legend. When it comes to religion, the blues is their way of worship.
But the mystery surrounding this small town wonder with the apparent talk of the town glow is now under attack as Gip’s very own neighbors are now protesting all the noise and ruckus held there. And after fifty years of operating the music haven, the city and some upset members of the community are now fed up with all the attention it’s getting. As the news stories abroad and locally have shouldered up on Gip’s hot spot, so has the traffic. College kids are tweeting and Instagraming their memories to their online buddies, instantly adding more hashtags to Gip’s hometown legend. It’s become a very popular destination for music lovers over the last couple of years, and now a damning round of politics being perpetuated by the authorities of Bessemer is doing everything it can to cut off the survival of this musical sanctuary.
All of the lucrative buzz that’s being spearheaded by social media is creating friction with the locals of Bessemer. Bessemer Deputy Police Chief Mike Roper stated to media that it was an issue of running an illegal business, but he could not comment further. Sad enough, Roper and citizens of Bessemer, including the city’s councilors, have been aware of Gip’s Place for years. One person on Gip’s Facebook page even stressed that the business has even attracted the likes of those lawmakers to its location many Saturday evenings. The prevailing problem that has been looming over Gip’s Place’s future is that the establishment was operating as a business in a neighborhood zoned for residential use. That’s according to a statement released by the city of Bessemer, which is available at their website. The statement goes on to say that “many of these homeowners are elderly. We have received multiple calls from homeowners over the last several months who say loud music from Gip’s Place has inhibited their ability to sleep. Mr. Gipson’s business, despite its popularity, is not exempt.” According to Gip and his friend Cindi McGee, they were told that if there were more than thirty people inside his venue, they would shut the place down. And that they did.
Personally speaking, I find it amazing that the city of Bessemer can close down a historic juke joint that’s been around for almost 50 years because it isn’t zoned for the area, but there’s a church literally on every corner of the city. Some of those worship edifices are big, some enormous (such as the city’s New Bethlehem Baptist Church, which continues to eat away at the residential community that surrounds it, and many no more than a 100-seater. But they pollute the vast demographic of Bessemer, Ala. and its surrounding cities. On top of that, the city also has a looming shadow of crime associated with hits high crime levels. According to statistics gathered at City-Data.com, the city of Bessemer had a major spike in crime reports in 2011 with a rate of 1115.5 combined. 301.5 is the U.S. average. Birmingham, the state’s largest city which serves a population of 212,000, has a 853 crime rate. To date, Bessemer has the second largest crime rate in the entire Birmingham/Hoover metropolitan area, with Fairfield being number one. As protesters fumed over the city’s decision to close the popular blues destination, some were quick to note that the police are entertaining petty matters while also failing to focus on the city’s deplorable crime issues. “Strange…the last time I was there, so was [Jefferson County manager, former mayor of Hoover, Ala.] Tony Petelos!!!,” Tidy Hilton, of Oak Grove, wrote. Another commenter wrote, “There are so many bad places in Bessemer! Why shut down a good, safe place?” I hope Bessemer PD finds the [people] stealing all the damn copper.”
There have been reports from concerned visitors of Gip’s Place to go ahead and develop a comfortable 700-seat venue with bar. It was mentioned in NPR’s story, but we all know that it wouldn’t be the same.
Effective today, there are a few actions that’s being organized by supporters to help save the future of Gip’s establishment. Protests on businesses in Bessemer, Ala. have been echoed across social media amongst the locals, while hundreds plan to congregate at the city’s city council meeting this Tuesday to express their angst over the city’s decisions. Some are calling city officials and some are bombarding email accounts. And there’s plenty who are turning their attention to the court of public opinion through mass media to get their point across. The list continues: So far, Gip Gipson’s Facebook page is already maxed out with friend requests; a community page called Save Gip’s Place has already been organized; an open forum for Gip’s Place on Facebook has already attracted over 3,4000 members. The outpouring of support from well wishers and faithful patrons are flooding the establishment’s Facebook pages. “Whatever the reasons the city will give, I smell greed and corruption,” one person wrote. “Gip…[has] done so much for Bessemer, multiple charities and those of us who love good blues and good times. Gip’s has probably done more for race relations in Bessemer and all of Jefferson County than anyone I can think of.”
Local entertainment e-zines Magic City Post and Birmingham Scene have announced that they are joining the fight to save the music landmark. What will happen from all of this, no one really knows. In order for it to reopen, according to the city’s statement, Gip’s Place must secure the necessary zoning, acquire licensing, or simply move to another location. Most of this seems impossible in the eyes of those who know something about juke joints. But what is becoming crystal clear right now is that Bessemer – a small city with its largely polluted franchises of religion – has had enough of the blues. If God ain’t in it and a cross ain’t on it, then the folks in Bessemer clearly don’t want it.
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To learn more about Gip’s Place and what you can do to help it:
Gip’s Place (Facebook page)
Gip – Trailer #1 (CircleX)
Gip’s Place (Vimeo)
City of Bessemer, Ala. website (w/ press statement on Gip’s Place closing)
