Another great day in Memphis. What a trip this has turned out to be. One of us slept in yesterday while the other one was writing her blog entry. You know how I mean. I guess it gets harder to rejuvenate after a night on Beale Street.
We are beginning to see how connected Chicago and Memphis really are. It’s amazing. We tell everyone from Chicago and they each know someone up there. I never knew how strong this connection is.
Yesterday, I took notes on things. That means I might have more to say. Unfortunate for you, because you’ll have more to read. Don’t worry. I promise pictures at the end. We have an interesting practice on our trips. On something that she loves, a friend of ours tells the server, “That’s horrible. Never bring me that again.” Remember this as you read.
We headed out to breakfast at the The Little Tea Room. Darn, there are only open for lunch. I could have swore I saw breakfast in their daily servings. Oh well, guess we gotta return to the Cockadoo and those horrible, awful biscuits. Rich ordered eggs and ham with a biscuit. I could finally see that it was a drop biscuit, but it was one of the largest I had seen. I had The Shag. I posted a pictorial description of this breakfast in yesterday’s post. So I had to try it. It is a deep-fried french toast sandwich stuffed with peanut butter and bananas covered with blueberries and maple syrup with a huge line of whipped cream. I love the South! Once again, we had Mississippi Mud coffee. I tell the waitress, “Never bring me this horrible breakfast again.”
As we sat and enjoyed our breakfast, there were three gentleman sitting a table nearby. One gentleman was from Chicago and the other two were from Memphis. After they finished their breakfast, they pulled out papers and begin to work. This was a planning meeting between the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Memphis Orchestra for how their seasons would use the same people and share in music planning. Wow, we got to hear what next season would be!
Our first stop this morning was at the Rock and Soul Museum. Believe it not, we are running out of things to keep us busy during the day. We’ve seen so much and walked all around downtown. Oh, there’s more here to see and do in just downtown. Unfortunately, we don’t have an interest is some of the things. We’ve decided that we aren’t really interested in Graceland. I know, I know. How can you not pay homage to the King. Well, there are a whole lotta Kings when it comes to Memphis, blues, and music. We are trying to celebrate all of the others.
So as I said, we went to the Rock and Soul Museum. Now, I have been to a lot of Smithsonian exhibits in my day. Even with the Smithsonian name attached to the museum, I wasn’t expecting that much. I was most pleasantly surprised. The first surprise was to find that Mike working the front desk was from Sandwich, IL. He talked about Blackhawks, and I nodded my head. I know who they are, just not a hockey fan. After watching a short documentary on the development of music in the delta area, we got our headsets and wondered forth in search of Rock and Soul. The museum is arranged in chronological order. We start off in the 1700s to 1800s talking about life in the delta and the different types of music being played on front porches, churches, and fields. You move into the 1900s where blues and country were the main sources of music. Finally, all types of music blend together into Rock-n-Roll and Soul. Really takes you down the road in a great set of stories and examples. Along the way, you have a list of songs you can play to hear what they are referring to. Can you tell I really enjoyed this one?
Now I might admit to dancing a little bit in the museum. But all that walking made me hungry and it was after 1:00. We stopped into Dyer’s on Beale Street. This is a soda fountain still operating today. We ordered up burgers and fries. No shakes though. The fries were awesome. Cut straight into the grease from a potato. My favorite kind of fries.
Now we are back out on The Street. I have a bag with goodies that I purchased from the Rock and Soul Museum and it’s a little heavy. We decide to return to the hotel from another angle. It’s still the business district, but there are few people on the street. Kind of heard to believe I’m in a major city and it looks that deserted. So the Peabody Hotel is across the street from us. This is the place you really want to stay, if you can afford it. We finally found the main entrance to the hotel on the lonely street we are walking. We have yet to see the duck parade through their lobby. Maybe tomorrow.
We drop off my heavier-than-it-should-be package and decide to finally take that trolley ride around town. Now everyone says to do this first so you can see everything. We never seem to do things in the correct order. Our time is almost up and we finally jump the electric trolley. To find out information about the trolley, I stop a member of the Blue Suede Brigade. These are people stationed throughout downtown to answer questions for visitors and provide direction. You can tell them by the vivid blue jackets in the cooler temps and sashes in the summer. Our brigade member was very nice and I complimented her city.
So we step up (way up up since the step was so high) and find window seats. This is an old horse-drawn car, so the seats are very short and narrow. This is not a modern fit. The car takes off and we see Main Street and the riverfront. The Pyramid is closed these days. All sporting events have moved to a new home in the Forum. It’s pretty and shiny though. Mud Island is still out in the river beside the Visitor’s Center. I love architecture and can almost identify time periods by the types of buildings. We see an old quartermaster that is converted into lofts. At least it is getting used. There are Art Deco buildings, Federal styles and a couple of extremely modern designs that wouldn’t hold up to much snow and ice. We arrive at the top of Beale Street and jump off.
We realize that those burgers didn’t hold us and we are hungry again. We decided to snack a little and head down to a little place called Silky’s Oyster Bar. Now I’m not too keen on oysters, but Rich thinks this is good idea. We get to the door and the little lady on duty has company. We ask if this is entrance for oysters. The young man opens the door and asks how many he can shuck for us. We get a table and order a couple of pale ales. There is a blues duo playing on stage. We are the only people in here at the moment. It’s like a private concert. Oysters arrive on the half shell. Am I adventurous enough to try one? OK. It’s not bad and so fresh, but Rich only has a half dozen and he starts guarding them. Rich tells the waitress, “Never bring me those horrible things again.”
The duo on stage finds out that Rich likes Freddie King and Howlin’ Wolf. So all of their music becomes centered around everything that Rich wants to hear. One after another, we hear the kings: B.B. King, Albert King, Freddie King. Rich is getting really spoiled here. Everyone wants to please him with their music. He knows that ends here in Memphis, doesn’t he?
Back out on the street, we walk around some more listening to music and watching everyone getting ready for the evening’s entertainment at each of the clubs. Now, each establishment has a person out front from the time they open until they close. These people talk to the crowd and try to get you into their joint for food, drinks, and music. Some of them are very interesting. We’ve had a couple of great conversations along the way. You can’t escape them, they are right there as you pass by, even if you out in the street and not on the sidewalk.
It’s late afternoon now. We decide to head back for a well deserved rest and wait for Rendezvous to open. Now this is the premier BBQ joint in town. It is conveniently located right behind our hotel, in an alley. Yep, an alley. A lot of business started out sharing a building so there is an entrance on the front street for the top and one in the alley for the bottom. Most of the alley businesses wouldn’t think of using the front street entrance these days, even though they have the entire building! Kokomo Joe says this is the place to eat. The Rolling Stones go here whenever they are in town. Just gotta try it.
Now Memphis BBQ is a dry rub on the meat with no wet ingredients. So it relies on the best cut of meat to cook up its own juices and soak in the flavors that are coating the top. I didn’t know if I liked Memphis style or not. Rich, of course, knows the differences in all the BBQ styles and then there is his own. We went down to eat and the alley is full of cars. People are milling around and walking up and down the alley. This isn’t a big street, mind you. It really looks like an alley. To be precise, this is General Washburn’s Escape Alley by name. We go into the restaurant and go downstairs. This would have been their original entrance and building layout. We get seated and the menu is under glass on the table top. Your choices are limited. Ribs, chicken, pork shoulder, and lamb riblets. Rich orders a rack ribs and I get pork shoulder. That way we can share. The food comes right out since they spent all morning cooking it. The cole slaw is mustard-based and kind of yellow. The beans have meat and BBQ sauce in them. Needless to say, that didn’t take long to eat. It was wonderful. Gotta admit though, I prefer Rich’s BBQ. Still my favorite.
The hotel is on the way back to Beale Street, we stop to get dolled up and decide what kind of jacket to wear. Evening temp is supposed to be 44. Not too cold, but still chilly in the breeze. Off we go back to The Street. We arrive without a definite plan. We find out that The Bluesmasters don’t start until 8:00 at Mr. Handy’s. We wonder around listening to the music. At B.B. King’s, we decide to go in. The band, Memphis Jones, is about to go on stage. We get drinks and get seats right in front of the dance floor. These three nerdy looking guys in the almost impossibly straightest leg jeans I’ve seen appear on stage and mill around. What the heck was I about to see? This looks like Green Day coming on stage. They play their first song and then introduce themselves. They are dedicated specifically to Memphis music. OK, let’s see. We listen for an hour. They play everything from B.B. King, Ike Turner, Elvis, and other great Memphis artists. Not bad, but the electric guitars, jumping around, and screaming were getting too much.
Back out on The Street, we wonder down to Mr. Handy’s Blues Hall. Opening the door, the place appears to be packed. We find seats at the bar and listen to some great old blues music. I realize the lead guitar is the same guy from last night. Cool! He was pretty good. The singer is pretty good also. They walk around with their tip bucket and I throw a couple of dollars in. Next set, they shift to soul music and we move to a table. Some of is pretty good, but some I don’t recognize. Can’t say I’m a soul music enthusiast. At some point, a couple of older guys come in the door. The singer sees them and introduces them as two original members from the BarKays and having worked with Otis Redding. We just read about these guys today in the museum!
We listen for a while and just can’t keep up anymore. We give up our table by the wall and head out into The Street. Things are still jumping out there and people are milling around. No more for me. We walk back to the hotel and talk about what we’ll do on our last day in Memphis. We have a plan. Now to sleep. “Don’t bring me anymore of that horrible music and food from The Street,” we say.
Goodnite, Memphis.
