Holiday in Memphis

Continuing our adventures in Tennessee (Nashville & Franklin) Chrissy and I ventured to the King of Rock and Rolls' eternal home: Memphis

Our first impression on arriving in Memphis was the prominence of the Mississippi River, confusion from a strange giant pyramid and how the general aesthetic was completely different from Nashville. Where Nashville appeared to us to be bright, shiny and busy our first encounter with downtown Memphis was characterised by a duller color palette and generally empty streets. I wouldn't say it was foreboding...but it wasn't far off.

However, as we started exploring the City we found many cultural gems and some distinct areas that were bridging Memphis' past, present and future. As Graceland was the reason for our trip I am glad we took the time to explore the City. We ended up having an awesome time.

Highlights for us include:

Mud Island River Park

Located a short walk, or even shorter mono-rail ride from downtown, Mud Island River Park has 

a surprisingly informative museum (including a very cool replica riverboat) and a great river-walk interpretative model. 

Cool boats viewed from the Park

The river walk is a scale model of the Lower Mississippi River indicating river depth, cities and bridges along/across the river and a huge water enclosure symbolising the Gulf of Mexico endpoint. The level of detail was really something to behold.

With our priority being expediency (so much to see!) we took the mono-rail as opposed to walking. On our return journey we had the luxury of the whole car to ourselves. 

Sun Records

Other than Graceland, the destination in Memphis I was most excited for was Sun Records.
As a fan of rockabilly, the blues, old time country...hell, as a music fan I was excited to see the spot where so many musicians got their start and where so much of modern culture through music was launched.

Like good pilgrims we bought our tickets and patiently sipped our root beers until our tour started. Our tour led us through a commemorative museum chronicling all the greats that recorded in the studio with sound clips from those sessions...Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, BB King, and of course Elvis.

Our tour ended in the actual studio space where our fantastic guide (pictured below) walked us through the Million Dollar Quartet session and invited us to invoke Elvis with an authentic old microphone.

It was an outstanding tour and almost worth a trip to Memphis on it's own.

Beale Street 

Beale Street is one of the most iconic main streets in America and is considered the heart of Memphis. With tons of great live music venues specialising in the blues I can't recommend it high enough.  Head down in the late afternoon to soak in the history, down a couple of "big ass beers" and then boogie woogie the night away.

Most memorable NSFW blues moment: At BB Kings Blues Club the headliner started a monologue about how sometimes the blues ain't a bad thing. "Sometimes when you are on the road, you just really miss your wife and you get the blues. It make you appreciate her when you get home". At this point a hype guy selling CD's of the performers came running out of nowhere towards the stage yelling, "He's going to use his tongue! He's going to use his tongue!" At which point the bluesman took his guitar to his face and started playing the guitar with his tongue with a heavy bassline behind him.

Cool!

South Main 

On our way to the Civil Rights Museum (which wasn't open the day we were in town) we ended up finding a resurgent commercial area branded South Main. Working in economic development and with business areas it was a pleasant surprise to see so many cool new shops and tactical urbanism initiatives within the area. 

As an old main street it had tons of great old buildings with lovingly restored facades offering both authenticity of it's original time but yet flashes of modern color and design.

Talking to some of the business owners you could understand that they were taking a calculated risk by being there but that they believed in the future of the area. They recognised the assets of the area and were more than happy to suggest other shops, bars or sights to see. Even the ones that were not yet 'revitalized' but still had great character.

Right in the middle of the area is the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel.
The hotel is the location of the assassination of the Reverend Martin Luther King and serves as monument to his life and the struggle of African Americans to achieve equality.  It is a powerful location that you can't help but lose yourself in contemplation of the mans life, the fight for equality and the general way that humanity treats each other.

As a celebration of MLK's life and struggle it is a macabre monument detailing the path of the bullet that ended his life and the exact location of his death (marked by a wreath).

It was a lot to take in.

Needing a respite from the seriousness, we popped into Earnestines & Hazels for their renowned soul burger and some tunes on their famous juke box. This formal brothel and current dive bar definitely earns it's reputation as one of the best in America. I could see myself beginning and ending a lot of my nights here...

AAA Baseball - Redbirds

Eventually the wife got tired of my constant desire to see what was down the next block and constantly being on the move. She decided to take a night off and give me a free pass to go watch sports. I of course jumped at the opportunity and took in a Redbirds game (AAA affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals).

As the weather was a little iffy I moved down from my cheap seats to a bit of a better viewpoint.

The home team lost - but that isn't anything some late night ribs and blues couldn't cure.

Other Highlights

The historic Peabody Hotel has one of the strangest traditions I have ever heard of at a hotel. The hotel hosts a daily duck march from their fountain in the main lobby to their Royal Duck Palace on the roof. The march is a huge tourist attraction (all my pictures were blurred from elderly Asian ladies jumping in my way to take pictures) and good silly fun.

Avoiding the crowds we took to the roof to see the ducks in their majestic home.

We had a torrential downpour occur while walking around and took refuge under a canopy at Local Gastropub. Watching the rain hammer down and people scramble through the ankle deep water while we ate and drank gave us much amusement...maybe too much....

The crazy giant pyramid.

We had the best chicken ever at Gus's Fried Chicken. It was so simple, yet so good - Hot sauce is applied, then breading then cooked in peanut oil. I would be 400 pounds pretty quick if I had this in close vicinity to my house.

After experiencing Memphis we were finally ready for the next part of our journey - Graceland!

Holiday in Nashville

This year my hockey team decided to attend our annual travelling tournament in Nashville Tennessee. As I had never travelled to the "the South" before I was pretty excited for the trip and Chrissy was too. We decided to head down a week ahead of the tournament to experience some Southern hospitality and to explore some of the highlights of Tennessee including Nashville, Franklin and Memphis.

Nashville highlights include:

Timothy Demonbreun House

Finding a hotel within the general core of Nashville was proving near impossible before our trip so I started trolling through travel message boards and travel tips sites for Bed and Breakfasts. Repeatedly one property was singled out - Timothy Demonbreun House.

As we arrived in Nashville I was starting to get a bit giddy as our rental car got closer to our accommodations. Chrissy, who loves both old houses and hotels and was mostly unaware of our destination. Surely she was going to be excited with our home for the next couple of days. The first views did not disappoint.

We ended up in the Game Room located on the top floor. The room was outstanding! We had our own pool table, darts board, poker table and large screen TV.

Know when to fold them...

Our host, Richard, is a descendant of the "first citizen" of  Nashville and the namesake of the house was a fantastic host providing a friendly greeting at all times, tactful questions, a continual fill of coffee, travel suggestions, and even shuttle services into downtown. A true southern gentlemen.

Probably our favorite thing was our morning coffee's and evening beers on the front porch. Truly a treat for a couple of Canadians in mid April. 

Chrissy and I can't recommend the accommodations any higher. If you find yourself in Nashville, do yourself a favor and stay here.

NRA Convention

It turns out that we couldn't get a hotel in the core of Nashville because there was an NRA Conference going on at the same time. Over three days the conference drew 78,865 attendees. It was nuts.

Having both worked in Economic Development and with the Tourism industry Chrissy and I could only marvel at the breadth and impact of the conference. It truly took over the city with every bar and restaurant doing an awesome job of welcoming the delegates. 

The conference even arranged for the main drag, Lower Broadway to be closed down for a free Hank Williams Jr. concert.

Hank, aka - Bocephus, actually puts on quite an entertaining show. He possesses a strong voice and is quick to 'spin a yarn' of his 'pappy' and famous friends. My only issue was the complete pandering to the partisan crowd and the general ridiculousness of his songs. Actual lyrics include:

• ...I really, really, really, really, really, really like girls. Yeah, I really, really, really, really, really, really like girls....I really, really, really, really, really, really like guns. Yeah, I really, really, really, really, really, really like guns....

• I'll keep my freedom. I'll keep my guns...This country's sure as hell been goin down the drain. We know what we need. We know who to blame. United Socialist States of America how do ya like that name?

I kept giggling and Chrissy was worried that we would get beat up. But it was all cool. Everybody was in a good mood, and just maybe... I was packing heat. Our hypothetical belief was the threat of everyone carrying a gun kept everyone more civil.

Chrissy the pistol packing hottie

Chrissy and I grew up with guns in the house as our fathers and siblings would often fill the freezers with wild game and fowl. I've taken my hunters safety training and even popped a couple of deer in my day.  It's not that we are unaccustomed to guns, but seeing some of the displays of the vendors with the NRA Conference was mind boggling foreign to me.

At any time, why would this be necessary outside of an armed conflict?

Being in town at the same time as the NRA  was an eye opening experience.

BTW - Not everybody in Nashville was happy to be hosting the NRA.

Downtown Living Tour

While reading the paper one morning we discovered a unique opportunity put on by the Nashville Downtown Partnership: A self guided tour of 12 different residences in the downtown.

Not knowing exactly what to expect we bought a ticket and took the recommendation to visit a 'must-see' residence in Printer's Alley.

The home was amaziing. It gave me my first and only ever true instance of house envy. Our pictures do not do it justice.

The actual loft is now used primarily as a filming location rather than a residence. Check out some of their promotional pictures here.

A lot of the other homes were impressive in their own right but could hardly match the eclectic cool of the first loft we visited.

Belle Meade Plantation

Just outside of Nashville is Belle Mead Plantation a historic plantation mansion whose grounds now function as a museum.

The plantation was not used for farming, but rather service enterprises such as a blacksmith shop, cotton gin, a grist and saw mill, and eventually horse breeding which it gained much of its fame from. In the original Kentucky Derby 11 of the 17 horses that raced came from Belle Meade Plantation. The equestrian legacy carries on today in the bloodlines of every horse that competed in the 2015 Kentucky Derby including 2015's triple crown winner, American Pharaoh.

The house was built in the modest Federal style and then expanded into a Greek Revival Mansion. It was noted at the time for being considered somewhat humble compared to the vast Antebellum style mansions that were present at the time. I still considered it to be pretty damn impressive so I did my customary castle pose in front of it.

A newer exhibit on the site is the re-construction of the slave quarters on the farm. Once again, my mind is boggled. This time by the sheer thought of owning another human being. 

Johnny Cash Museum

There are a lot of country music museums, venues, and locations that are significant within Nashville but the one I most wanted to see was the Johnny Cash Museum. Christina, being the great wife that she is, was more than happy to accompany me but had low expectations going in. She soon learned that Johnny doesn't disappoint.

Just a fantastically laid out, informative and dynamic museum. Lots to see, read and listen to. Easily worth the price of admission.

Live Music

Everywhere we went it seemed like there was live music - and it was fantastic! Even the worst free of charge band you may hear is still miles above the best un-ticketed band that I have seen at any live music venue back home. Many multi-level bars would have a band playing specifically for that level of the bar. I was totally blown away.

 

Some of the best performers were hustling on the street.

Predators Playoff Hockey

It's long been my goal to see a home game of every NHL team. With the Predators entering into the playoffs when we were in town it was a no-brainer that we would attend. A couple of buddies on my hockey team had the same thought process and were working on tickets directly with the Predators box office. They ended up securing us an amazing deal for Game 1 of the Playoffs against the Blackhawks = $84 a ticket with all the beer and food you could eat. 

We arrived early for the game and grabbed a rooftop patio spot to watch the crowds come in and enjoy the pre-game activities. The Blackhawks car bash was our favorite.

Leading up to the game there was a lot of buzz in the local sports talk world about how the national anthem would be sung and how to maintain the home town atmosphere in the building. Apparently at past games a large contingent of Blackhawks fans have attended and usurped the national anthem by yell/singing along to the words like they do in their home rink. This was not appreciated in Nashville. So to combat this they made the majority of tickets for sale available only locally through grocers and made the decision to not have an anthem singer but instead ask the crowd to sing along. I found all the gamesmanship hilarious.

The Nashville hockey crowd were boisterous and humorous. It was hard sometimes to judge if they were really excited for playoff hockey or a little ignorant. Case in point: When a Predators player would dump the puck in on net the crowd would cheer like it was a big scoring chance. That and the southern accent encouraging their team on or beaking at the ref gave me many chuckles.

The game had it all. The eventual Stanley Cup winning goalie pulled right of the bat, the backup tender leading a Blackhawks comeback win in double overtime with the goal being scored by the eventual Conn Smythe winner. Sweet!

With the bar being open the whole game (take note Edmonton Oilers!) we definitely got our moneys worth.

Other Highlights

The men's bathroom at the Hermitage Hotel

Wandering around the Grand Ol' Opry

High water on the Cumberland River

Remnants of a crawfish boil

Old and new buildings

Notes:

• Nashville is a party town. At any given time along the main stretch of Broadway you will encounter probably a dozen bachelorette parties.
• The Nashville b-cycles located in their downtown are a pretty sweet way to see the core area in a hurry. My only issue was that I was a hot sweaty mess afterwards.
• We never got to see a show at the Grand Ol Opry but did wander around the huge complex attached to it where a national cheerleading championship for Jr. age girls was going on. Lots of hairspray, gum smacking and round-offs.
• The fans at the Predators game have a great chant for opposition goalies who get scored on: "It's all your fault, it's all your fault".
• We hung out a bit around Belmont University, which was quite picturesque. Although we are getting to be the old folks walking around we like visiting Colleges/University campuses for the generally nice manicured landscaping, cool buildings and often reasonably priced food and drinks.

Next stop: Day trip to Franklin