By Della Hasselle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN WEST — The Deep South came to visit the Big Apple Tuesday.
TNT brought the sounds and flavors of Memphis to Columbus Circle with a free festival to promote their new detective series “Memphis Beat.”
New Yorkers enjoyed Memphis-style barbeque and two blues bands, courtesy of the network. Representatives estimated that between 3,000 and 4,000 pulled pork sandwiches were passed out during the event.
“They’re really good, and I eat a lot of barbeque,” gushed Austrian tourist Suzanna Baranowitz, 25.
Passers-by also posed by a parked vintage Memphis police car and danced to the sultry music.
“Essentially, we are trying to recreate Beale Street here in New York,” network representative Kat Bradbury said.
The bands, John Paris Blues Band and Acapella Soul, both appear at B.B. King Blues club on Monday nights, and attribute their style to their Southern roots.
“If you look at the roots of all the good music you see in New York today, it all started in Memphis and Mississippi,” band leader John Paris, 61, said.
The new show that premieres at 10 p.m. Wednesday features a detective knighted “the keeper of Memphis,” and is described as “reverential of the city’s history and deeply rooted in its blues music scene.”
