I'm Walking In Memphis

After my rather tame night on Bourbon Street I woke up to some pretty heavy rain and the fact that I now had over five hours driving to go before I got to my next port of call, Memphis. Let me say that the driving is getting easier and easier. The further I get into it the better the other road users seem to be. In Texas it was anything goes, driving way above the speed limit and not using indicators. I have made an assessment on the type of drivers and have decided that if you drive a Chevy Silverado (especially if its black) then you are probably a moron. 

Your wife probably drives a silver Chevy Tahoe and you both shouldn't procreate.

If there is going to be vehicle that is doing 15 to 20 miles above the speed limit, it will be one of these two. It will sneak up on you and tail gate you until you get out of the way or just be a totally oblivious and ignorant road user. I have trained myself to spot them well in advance, its like the bully from the school bus, it is just easier to avoid them.

So I crossed out of Louisiana and into Mississippi and basically didn't see a cop car until I was about to hit Tennessee. It was gorgeous countryside most of the way, cotton fields in abundance and just lush forest like vegatation everywhere you look. Consulting Ellie's fact book I learned that Britney Spears comes from Mississippi, she must have been out. I also learned that in Louisiana it is illegal to rob a bank then shoot the teller with a water pistol. Luckily I saw that I wasn't allowed to bring a skunk into Tennessee so it was with some reluctance that I let mine go.  

Anyway the road trip was pretty tame. I stopped for gas at a little place called Durant, had some fried chicken and kept going. They had an interesting sign that kind of threw me a little, I mean there wasn't even a hill let alone a mountain.

I made it to Memphis in under six hours after a break and went straight to the spiritual home of Rock & Roll, Sun Records. I cannot praise this place enough. It is tiny but just jammed packed with excellent memorabilia, the staff are passionate and you get to walk amongst the ghosts of rock music royalty.

The studio had recorded Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Howlin' Wolf, B B King, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins just to name a few and more recently U2 and Bob Dylan had recorded there. They still have much of the original recording equipment. An old one track ampex reel to reel, the machinery to turn that track into the master that the vinyl is cut from. It was an almost spiritual experience standing in its hallowed halls.

 

You're seeing the desk that U2 recorded Rattle and Hum on and the drum kit they used. That microphone was used by all of the aforementioned greats and those guitars were left by multiple artists that still use the studio to this day. That's right you can hire it with a specialist engineer that knows how to use the old equipment for $170.00 an hour in four hour slots. Its available from 6.30pm at night, after the tours have finished and I seriously considered checking its availability just so I could sit at that piano and cut a song in this legendary place. It honestly gave me goose bumps.

From there I checked into the hotel and hit Beale Street for dinner. Man I had some of the best ribs I have even eaten in my life. 

The Blues City Cafe was awesome, you would just go for the ribs. They had a fun band called The Eskimo Brothers playing there as well. They were from Nashville and played Hillbilly music. They were a sweet three piece with a drummer who, played standing up and just owned it, an excellent good ol' boy on double bass and a cheeky, charismatic lead guitarist, they all sang. I stayed for a set but really wanted to hear the blues. I headed to The Blew Note Bar & Grill, which had the most amazing five piece blues band. The lead singer was an African American and she had a set of pipes on her that brought down the house. I was the only white guy in the place and I would have loved to stay till close but I'm going to Graceland tomorrow, I wouldn't want to see Elvis's place with a hangover.