May 7, 2011
Beale Street, Memphis
Ok I said I wasn’t going to post any new blogs until I had caught up moving all the old ones over here to my new blog site. But I just couldn’t wait to tell you about memphis. I think what I will do is just copy all of the blogs to the new site and then spend the time matching the pictures with the stories, which is such a time consuming job.
Beale Street in Down Town Memphis is open for business. If you don’t know about beale street you’ll have to google it, I will not be able to explain it properly. I can only tell you what we did. the very fact that some of the most tallented and influentual people in music, not only the blues have walked down this street is something to think about. it is amazing to think that i was walking down the same street at bb king, johnny lee hooker, etta james, muddy waters, taj mahal, elvis presley, johnny cash, jerry lee lewis, stevie ray vaughan, oh my gosh the list goes on and on
We were going to take a tour of downtown, but it was only a 3 hour tour(….. a 3 hour tour) and then we didn’t know what we would do the rest of the day.
So we took a taxi to mid town, thinking down town was flooded. Mid town just looked like any other down town. Buildings, business, broken beer bottles, mattresses on the curb. We saw a play house was performing ‘ragtime’ thought that would be fun, but it didn’t start until 8pm that night. We decided to walk the 6 or 8 blocks to the trolley.
We stopped at a place that was advertised as memphis best pizza. Well it was good, but sure its not the best memphis has to offer. We kept walking and went into the doubliners pub. Will had a guennis and I had a pale ale. Then we walked on, finally getting to the trolley stand. Its only a dollar to ride, so everyone should do it.
One trolley goes north and south, another one goes east and west. We were thinking we would just ride both of them and then call the taxi and head back to the hotel.
One trolley goes north and south, another one goes east and west. We were thinking we would just ride both of them and then call the taxi and head back to the hotel.
Thankfully, We were so wrong. The trolley was not able to go as far as it normally does, it had to stop because of some historic flooding by the Mississippi river. So we got off and followed the direction of the rest of the riders, they must know where they’re going right? Eventually we end up at the mississippi river. Looking at the flooding with everyone else. We took some pictures of the flooding but its hard for us to notice what the difference is because we don’t know what it looked like before. There are no homes affected at this location of the flooding.We could see the tops of road signs etc. there is a place called mudd island looked like that was mostly under water.
half way through our walk~a~bout will turns to me and says, wow the sun really doesnt like you does it. i said where have you been the last 29 years? my face was all flushed, my arms were red, will thought another beer was what i needed, i said no some shade and water please.
There were a lot of neat business’ around here. A lot of up scale resturants and sports bars, since the memphis grizzleys basketball team was in the playoffs this day they were packed. We went into one place called the bluefin.
Looked like it was mostly mixed drinks and when will asked if they serve beer they gave us a beer list. So he picked killagans red (oh boy) and had two. The bathrooms were up stairs. And what a place. Fancy smancy, not sure we should have been allowed in there. Then we continued walking And next thing you know we are on the famous Beale Street. Wow.
My heart skipped a beat. I love blues music. And to be at a world famous site was really indescribable, (but I’ll try). First the buildings and the architecture was beautiful. It is amazing the amount of detail that was put into cement work. It was easy to see the history in the cement and brick buildings.
one of the first building that caught my eye was BB King’s night club.
**I am not worthy…I am not worthy**
but the line was around the corner so we thought we would try on our way back. There is no traffic in this part of town. The police have connecting roads barricaded and you can walk and drink and dance your way from one end of beale street to the other on the brick / coblestone / pavement. If you get tired of walking you can take a horse and carriage ride.
but the line was around the corner so we thought we would try on our way back. There is no traffic in this part of town. The police have connecting roads barricaded and you can walk and drink and dance your way from one end of beale street to the other on the brick / coblestone / pavement. If you get tired of walking you can take a horse and carriage ride.
one restaurant was advertising, bbq ribs, baked beans and deep fried apple pie......all i could think was HONEY, I'M HOME !!!
There was music playing everywhere. Live bands playing on corners, in the bars, and in the parks. We went into one park and sat down while a band was setting up. Got there just in time, once they started playing the place filled up. The band was the plantation all stars.
Very good. Nothing better than live blues music. We thought there were a lot of roadies for the band until we saw the manager keep shoeing people off the stage. One guy even gave the singer a beer, hung around on stage before he was taken off. He had to be told several times to stay off the stage.
When they stopped for a break we went looking for a bathroom. I wasn’t drinking but Will was, duh. We went into a place where they were selling cuban cigars??but I thought that was illegal. That was not the only illegal stuff going on. Just sitting in the park we are questionable about passing a drug test. petrulli oil does not cover the smell of everything, (take a bath and get high in your own house) Anyway looking at the sign closer it said cuban seed cigars.
We decided to eat dinner on the way out. BB King’s was still a long line so we stopped at pig on beale, pork with attitude.
I had the chicken. Not a lot of overhead. Paper plates and plastic wear, but good food.
the sign looked better all lite up at night than during the day shot.
Walking back to where we got on the trolley was fun. Will didn’t quite remember when we turn left and right and well you know I was no help. But we found it, good cause I told will I would have loved to stay longer, but I did not want to be roaming around downtown memphis late at night,looking for a trolley or waiting for a taxi. It was dark when we left, but there were still plenty of people around. We made it to the trolley, rode that as far as it would go. Then called our taxi to take us back to the hotel.
I had a wonderful time in memphis. Even though we were in between festival weekends. Last weekend was the music festival and next weekend is the bbq festival. Will was wondering what we will do next time our 34 off falls in memphis, im thinking BEALE STREET. Maybe on a weekday we can get into BB King’s.
so just to recap, if a friend or even a stranger for that matter, ever comes to you and says they have a cousin they need to help move in memphis do you want to help drive, you answer HELL YES, anyday, anytime (with an air conditioned car of course) you will not be disappointed.
I had a wonderful time in memphis. Even though we were in between festival weekends. Last weekend was the music festival and next weekend is the bbq festival. Will was wondering what we will do next time our 34 off falls in memphis, im thinking BEALE STREET. Maybe on a weekday we can get into BB King’s.
so just to recap, if a friend or even a stranger for that matter, ever comes to you and says they have a cousin they need to help move in memphis do you want to help drive, you answer HELL YES, anyday, anytime (with an air conditioned car of course) you will not be disappointed.
I cant wait to come back.
Love and miss you all
