Just planning my day in Memphis. Be on my way shortly.
The Pyramid, don't forget Memphis is named after the ancient Egyptian city
Heading downtown to Beale Street, home of the blues. Capture the spirit as best I can.
Then a tour round the Gibson Guitar custom shop where my ES-137 was born!
Onto the Memphis Rock and Soul Museum, pictures of the statue of Elvis.
Drove downtown and parked by the Peabody Hotel, famous for its ducks walking in and out of the lobby daily. It still happens!! Did not bother with that. Instead walked along Union Avenue to the waterfront to view the Mississippi River, which is wide!! The pyramid use to be a basketball stadium but is being converted to a huge outdoor store?!! Figure that!! The under hanging train goes to Mud Island, a park in the river.
Finish off at Sun Studios where Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis recorded their early hits.
Drove downtown and parked by the Peabody Hotel, famous for its ducks walking in and out of the lobby daily. It still happens!! Did not bother with that. Instead walked along Union Avenue to the waterfront to view the Mississippi River, which is wide!! The pyramid use to be a basketball stadium but is being converted to a huge outdoor store?!! Figure that!! The under hanging train goes to Mud Island, a park in the river.
Peabody Hotel on Union Ave
Train to Mud Island
Beale Street was quiet, mainly because it was 11 in the morning! It comes alive at night. Obviously its not the same as it was in its heyday, when it was the place to go for the blues and jazz. BB King comes from around here!!
Its mainly for the tourists now, with lots of restaurants and gift shops etc. Best shop sold toilet seats! (as well as CDs and other music related stuff)
I tried a cherry red with bigsby ES 330, but could not really justify buying it, though I have the price and card to order direct!!!
Posing by Elvis's statue before I had some real southern food at one of the restaurants on Beale Street.
Live music outside the restaurant, he was good too!!
I then headed out on Union Avenue to Sun Studios, where Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis etc recorded some of the most famous rock n roll ever.
X marks the spot where Elvis stood to sing his first recording "Thats all right". He even used that microphone!!
It is basically original, the same as it was back in the 1950s and 1960s
Sun Studios is still used as a studio. It was very unusual sharing that space with some of the most important musicians in rock n roll. Wow!! What an amazing day!!
Jerry Lee Lewis also left a Cadillac here too!!
Going to the Gibson workshop was the highlight of the day for me. Memphis is where they make all the semi acoustic and hollowbody guitars with laminated tops. This is where my ES-137 was built and hopefully a ES-330 if I get lucky!!
Posing by Elvis's statue before I had some real southern food at one of the restaurants on Beale Street.
I then headed out on Union Avenue to Sun Studios, where Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis etc recorded some of the most famous rock n roll ever.
Howlin' Wolf recorded here too.
Saturday (tomorrow) will drive to Gracelands and then to Stax Studios where Booker T and the MGs and Otis Redding recorded.
Wow! Lots to do! Then off to Nashville
No comments:
Post a Comment