Memphis

Beale St

After a quick flight down from LaGuardia, we finally started “Walking in Memphis” and it was raining. We headed straight for Beale st. It was about a 10-minute walk down Main st. Not main really, consisting of tram lines and a couple of chain restaurants, a couple of shops, and a record shop closed. Beale st is a traffic-free zone, which is a good thing because when we got there everyone was drunk or high. Any action takes place over 3 small blocks, that’s it!

Now Memphis is big on BBQ, everywhere you go you can smell it. We found Ghost Island Brewery and had a few drinks there, before heading to BB Kings Jazz club for their world famous BBQ Ribs. They didn’t have any but still wanted a $10 cover charge.

So we tried Rum Boogie instead. It is dark and a little musty. I have never seen so many guitars in one building in my life. They are hanging from the ceiling, on the walls, some with celebrity signatures, (genuine? Debatable). Even the lampshades are graffitied. 2 solo acts and a blues band, all excellent.

I did get my slab of ribs at Rum Boogie. Now I don’t mind using my fingers with ribs etc. But a plastic knife and fork to separate the ribs was a step too far. Well cooked and tasty too.

The Studios/Museums

Deciding to walk to Sun Studio was a mistake. Google said it was 30 minutes, but having to cross a dual carriageway and negotiate numerous homeless people wasn’t too much fun. Taking a car with Uber or Lyft would have been better. However, when we got there it was all worthwhile. It was a fun and interesting tour and was conducted by a musician who had worked at Sun Studio for upward of 30 years. Not only had he worked directly for Sam Phillips but had met many of the artists who had recorded there. The photos below speak for themselves. Note the wannabe celebrity at Elvis’s mic!

Stax Studio and museum is even further out of town so we took a car this time. Stax has been reinvented and is huge. The tour is a headphone trip down memory lane and needs at least 90 minutes. There is a fair bit of space dedicated to two of their most successful artists, namely Otis Redding and of course Isaac Hayes. Check out my little homage to The Black Moses on my facebook page.

Memphis Rock and Blues Museum is just a block from Beale St and is even bigger than the first two. A few overlaps occur here, but it is still worth a visit. Again a headphone tour after a short documentary, and a lot of reading is involved. Here are Jukeboxes on every corner offering a range of music relating to the artifacts nearby. So you can bop around in your own little musical world if you wish.

The Food

Memphis is big on BBQ. So apart from Rum Boogie, mentioned above, there are loads of good food joints I recommend Central BBQ for authentic Memphis barbie and beer. If burgers are your bag, we also went to Hueys a large noisy diner-style eatery. Both places are easily accessible. Central BBQ is near Central Station, which is worth a visit, at least The Central Station Hotel is. This is the old station converted into a hotel, and what a grand job they have done to the interior. Have a look at the pictures below.

The Trolleys

As there are three trolleys it was a bit disappointing that only one was working. This was the yellow one, which runs down main street to Central station and back quite regularly. Named the Madison line and running across town wasn’t working at all. The Loop (green line) had a bus running instead. Trolleys are cheap to ride and you can jump on and off. A bus we took runs around the town and along the river frontage. So for the first time on this trip, we saw the mighty Mississippi. Below: Memphis Trolleys.

The Suburbs

All BBQ’ed out we looked for something different. We had met some people on the plane who recommended Cafe Ole, which was in a chic little suburb called Cooper Young. BeingMojito Monday we went there. It was in a chic little suburb called Cooper Young. There is also an amazing record store there called Goner records, if you are into vinyl like I am it’s a must-visit.

The Peabody

As a top hotel in Memphis. and is a very colonial-looking building, reminiscent of The Original Raffles Hotel. The Peabody is square with a grand courtyard and fountain in the middle. They have a family of Ducks living on the roof. Every day at precisely 11.00 am they lay a red carpet down between the lift and fountain. With much pomp and ceremony, they bring the ducks down in the elevator and march them along the red carpet and into the pool around the fountain. Return journey for the ducks takes place at 5.00 pm. A Peabody Hotel tradition, you can’t visit Memphis without seeing this.