 Legend of the Lounge
Published by The Eleventh Hour and Written by Kenneth Rollins
Edward Grant, Sr. ought to be a Georgia Music Hall of Fame nominee. That’s no editorial comment, but a statement that upon examination of his role in etching the city’s public face, let alone Georgia music history, rolls off the tongue, logically and cool.
Such pronouncements come easily, of course, in light of Grant’s death on March 17 at the age of 76. There is a tendency to shroud the deceased in a gentle hue, downgrading the essential matter that all people are flawed and vulnerable, with feet stuck in “the mire-y clay,” as the old hymnal goes, all needing redemption. In the face of death, triumph is preferred, perhaps, more for the living, than the newly departed. So here it goes:
In truth, Ed Grant was an earth-bound pioneer in post-segregationist Macon during the 1970s, when he became an independent businessman, which meant that he was no stranger to danger or peril.
As proprietor of Grant’s Lounge, he was a general, a behind-the-scenes tactician not unlike Eisenhower, Davis, MacArthur and Patton. Grant’s Lounge was the battlefield that helped determine Macon’s contemporary profile, the public image of a city that ultimately chose to issue its raucous, celebrated musical heritage as its calling card, not its racist, mean-spirited, Jim Crow-sodden underbelly.
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The story of Edward Grant |
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 address Macon article about Grant's Lounge, by Jessica Walden, Photography by Ken Krakow
He cut his teeth as a caddy and worked his way up to become everyone’s favorite bartender at Idle Hour Country Club. Edward Grant, Sr., had a knack for connecting with club patrons. He knew their preferences, quirks, and like any good bartender, when to lend an ear and when to offer advice. He carved a career out of it, booking additional bartending gigs at private parties and local lounges like the Barrel House in the former Ambassador Inn. Where there was Grant, it was known there would be good times, and he was so good at it, he often had his own following.
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Musical memories fill Wall of Fame at Grant's Lounge
The Georgia Music Hall of Fame may not be open in time for the Olympics, but the Grant's Lounge Wall of Fame is up and ready for visitors, both domestic and international.
 The Wall of Fame is tastefully advertised by a plaque mounted outside the door of Grant's Lounge, located at 576 Poplar St. It's been up since February, the 25th birthday of the venerable nightclub.
Owner Edward Grant made the display, covering about 40 feet of wall with promotional photos, snapshots, press clippings and other memorabilia. Some of the clippings are about the two movies filmed in Grant's: a BBC feature on Little Richard and "Bubba's Tavern", starring Burgess Meredith.
"I've been saving that junk for a long time, and it finally came in handy", Grant said. Fittingly, he's also adorned the wall with old vinyl records.
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