Memphis musician billed 'mayor of Beale Street' is missing
VIDEO - Memphis police are looking for the man many call the mayor of Beale Street - Rudy Williams...
Memphis police are looking for the man many call the mayor of Beale Street – Rudy Williams.
He disappeared Saturday night – normally he’s outside King’s Palace Café on Beale Street.
He is such a fixture – his picture is on the window.
“Rudy, he’s here everyday,” Jon Shivers said. “If there’s a face of Beale Street, he’s it.”
His trumpet, voice, and music made Rudy Williams famous, but after playing his regular Saturday evening routine – Williams vanished.
Friends said he showed up at his south Memphis home then left on a walk.
He showed up at Feras Odwa’s convenience store.
“He’s a everyday customer. He comes in everyday,” Feras Odwa.
Also, where he’s such a fixture – his picture’s on the wall.
Witnesses described Williams as out of sorts at the time.
“He was acting a little weird. Something was going on with him,” Odwa said.
Williams left the save a minute market, spent a few minutes on the corner of Winchester and hermitage near that yellow bucket, and then walked down the street, disappeared, and hasn’t been seen since.
Acquaintance Richard Nixon searched the abandoned apartment buildings nearby, but found nothing.
“Hopefully, he’s all right,” Odwa said.
Friends and family say they’re worried because this isn’t like Williams to just disappear.
“I can remember countless times when he’s been sick and not feeling well but he’s still out there playing his music and entertaining crowds,” Shivers said.
