Then off to BB Kings Blues Club for live music. The BB King Allstars were playing. They were all expert mucisians in the instrument they played and had their own bands but join together to play at BB Kings. Really great show. Then back to room to collapse!
This morning we started off with a tour of the Gibson Guitar Factory. No photos allowed so I can not show how painstaking the process it to make one of these fine instruments. It is like watching the Greatest Catch...I will never complain about the price of Alaskan King Crab legs. So we will never question the price of a Gibson Guitar!
Then off to The Rock and Soul Museum a block away. We learned about the history of Memphis and its role (ha ha) in the birth of Rock and Roll. Our older kids are learning to appreciate this older music and probably enjoyed seeing how this music was seen as radical to our parents.
We then had lunch at Ground Zero Blues Club which is owned by the actor Morgan Freeman. They encouarge patrons to write on the walls. This was a wonderful form of entertainment for Fiona while we waited for our lunch! Pat wrote "Go Terps!"instead of his signature. Neil did his name and his "logo" that he started using on all his projects. The food was great once again. And I had my first taste of turnip greens and sweet potato fries...YUM!
Then to the National Civil Rights Museum. This is a very moving tribute and I wish I could have really spent more time here. But alas, Fiona had already been to three places and her attention span, which on a good day can be hit or miss, was VERY LOW. Patrick and I both agreed that it was one of the best museum exhibits we had ever visited. It is like traveling in a time warp when you see the Lorraine Motel site with the motel rooms and the cars outside of the balcony.
There was a second portion to the museum, but by this point all the kids and Patrick (and me!) were pretty museumed out. There is only so much information that a brain can absorb in one day! We road the trolly (roughly 95 years old) back to our hotel where we checked out the ducks splashing around in the fountain. The older kids and I were determined to get one last Memphis Music experience checked off of our to do list. Patrick offered to drink cold beer and watch the Ducks leave the lobby at 5PM with Fiona, while we visited Sun Studios. He was tired and we all knew that Fiona would not make it through another tour. This is when the storms rolled into town. The four of us had not idea that there were tornado warnings etc. Pat relayed this information when we returned from our Sun Studios visit. He and Fiona had returned to the room and he was watching all of this on the national and local news. Our one disappointment was that we got to Sun Studios too late to record a CD. Tierney had looked forward to this experience. But she was a good sport and I at least got to take a photo of her in front of the same microphone that Elvis used over 50 years ago! The studio was tiny. This too was a really informative tour. We have noticed that all these great tours dump you right into a store so that you can buy things that you really do not need but feel you must have! BB King's Club made you exit via a store! Brilliant marketing!
For our final meal in Memphis, we dined at the City Blues Cafe. AMAZIING! Again, this was artery hardening food that tasted soooooo great! The hostess looked like the Queen Latifah character in Hairspray! We proceeded down Beale Street one more time so we could catch some live music. What a treat we encountered (once again accidentally) a guy playing a beat up set of drums in his bare feet and a guitar made from a cigar bos and broom sticks. I am hoping Neil got some good video clips to post. I took photos. Fiona was asked to dance up front and it was pretty hilarious! And this guy proceeded to drink shots of whiskey (which he told Fiona they were Cod Liver Oil) in a rapid succession. WE of course then had to buy some of his CDs once we heard all his great music. He had a great bass player with him (who I must also add allowed me and the girls to use a bathroom in the theater which they were playing in front of). I must post the pictures for you to really grasp just how unusual this scene was! He was set up in front of a little theater and there was a sidewalk beer stand (I even had a beer - no wine for sale- which the kids found amusing). It was quite memorable and it is just plain funny how you can stumble upon some really great things sometimes. And for our final event of the evening there were two guys doing continuous handstands down Beale Street! I sadly had shoved my camera in the backpack and the settings had changed and so I did not capture this on camera. I am hoping that Neil got something we can post. These guys work for tips and I wonder what they can make in one evening.
So by now you are thinking that you have better things to do than read my ramblings! There was just so much to tell and this is becoming a journal of sorts for us. I am not going to be offended if you stopped reading a few paragraphs ago!
Captain Pat wants to get on the road by 8. I will try to post some photos and hen I have to get to bed so I am ready to assist in our departure.
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