The rush of Christmas resulted in minimal planning for this trip. Research consisted of me reading the
Frommer’s guide to Nashville/Memphis on the plane trip down. Total air time, 5 hours 15 minutes—speed reading at its best. With only five days on the ground, we’d need an efficient itinerary.
First up, the Elvis issue.
We’re not huge Elvis fans but going to Memphis and not seeing
Graceland is like going to Pisa and not seeing the Leaning Tower. Spending the entire day with large groups shuffling through the buildings didn’t hold much appeal though so to compromise, we did a drive-by of the mansion and paid to go through Elvis’s two private jets.
Looking back, I regret not spending more time and doing the full tour… I mean, it’s Elvis for Pete’s sake: the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. What was I thinking?
But there is more to Memphis than Elvis. Lots more. Memphis is also known for the Blues, a style of music that originated in the Mississippi Delta and made its way to Memphis—Beale Street in particular—where greats like BB King, Louis Armstrong and Muddy Waters sang for their supper. Today, Beale Street has numerous blues clubs, restaurants and retail shops to cater to the masses that gravitate to Memphis’s downtown core.
Beale Street, to some, might seem over-commercialized and a far cry from its humble beginnings, but it is undoubtedly the tourist center of the city.
We avoided places like Hard Rock Café, the Coyote Ugly Saloon and the Rum Boogie Café in favour of the Juke Joint Blues Hall and the Beale Street Tap Room, two smoky, long and narrow clubs that featured some amazing blues bands whose singers looked, acted and sounded as gritty as their surroundings. I have never before witnessed anyone sing with a cigarette in his mouth until one night in the Tap Room where a fellow did just that, and did it well.
At the Juke Joint Blues Hall
At the Beale Street Tap Room – check out the smoking singer on the right. Doesn’t he look like…
The South–not just Memphis but most of the southern (and southeastern) states– is known for its barbecue. Or ‘Cue, ‘Que, or Q, as it’s also referred to. This is not meat you throw on a grill, and well, grill. This is meat (mostly pig) that is cooked low and slow over wood fires and charcoal and where guarded recipes date back generations. Southerners barbecue with pride and the end result is something us northerners can only dream of attaining.
Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas (and other nearby states) were the hotbed of the civil rights movement in the 50s and 60s. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in April 1968 changed Memphis forever.
Memphis is both battle-worn and proud. It’s beautiful, bawdy, seedy and stately. You’ll find everything from high fashion boutiques to pawn shops.
And the people? Friendly, helpful, fun-loving and willing to share a story or two whenever they can.
You can tour Sun Studios (The Birthplace of Rock and Roll) and hold the same microphone that Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins sang into.
For more music history, go to an area of Memphis called Soulsville, USA, and visit the Stax Musuem of American Soul Music on McLemore Avenue.
This is where Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes and Wilson Picket launched their careers. You can easily spend a couple of hours viewing thousands of artefacts including Isaac Hayes’s Turquoise Cadillac trimmed in velvet, fur and gold in this 17,000 square foot museum.
We spoke to many locals about how the recession has affected their city. Most agreed that Memphis is coming back and that business is improving but it’s been a hard, long haul. The downtown streets were quiet, several storefronts were empty. Sad for a city with so much to offer.
Architecturally, Memphis is a mishmash of design. The suburbs are typical of suburbs anywhere in North American: big box stores, cookie cutter houses, manicured lawns, expensive cars. But in Memphis proper, you can find yourself in a neighbourhood of elegant mansions, turn the corner and be in a neighbourhood where families struggle to survive.
Abandoned buildings are plenty. Neglected brick monsters that many cities’ residents would snap up in a heartbeat as loft unit condos, stand empty, too costly to revitalize and too common to be considered special.
While snooping through various neighbourhoods, we came across Ashlar Hall, a castle built by the wealthy Snowdon family in 1896 and now reportedly owned by Robert Hodges, an eccentric millionaire who calls himself Prince Mongo.
The “prince” operated the building as a nightclub called (what else) The Castle but after run-ins with authorities over under-age drinking allegations, Mongo closed the castle and moved to Florida. No one is quite sure of his whereabouts now. Prince Mongo alleges to be 333 years old, calls everyone “spirit”, and travels the galaxy with his invisible dog. He has an aversion to wearing shoes and a penchant for filling his various properties with toilets, sand and mannequins which he states, “continuously bring him information from his planet”—that planet being Zambodia. In one court appearance, he showed up wearing a green cape, goggles and carrying a rubber chicken. He ran for Mayor (and was defeated) three times. How’s that for a story?
Memphis is colourful, I’ll give it that, and I’d go back in a split second for more. In fact,
Memphis in May is looking pretty good, starting with the Beale Street Music Festival April 29 to May 1st, followed by the Salute to Belgium May 2 to 8 and the World Champion Barbecue Cooking Contest May 11 to 14th. Now, blues and barbecue I can understand, but I’m not sure where Belgium fits in. I would, however, be happy to explore that conundrum in person.
Previously, I posted a brief blog about barbecue in Memphis. If you’re interested in reading it, click
here, but other restaurants worth the money are:
Fourway (Soul Food)
Eat Well Buffet (in Germantown) – it’s an Asian buffet, but a surprisingly good one!
Café Eclectic – coffee shop, home-made pastries (pictured below)
I’d recommend the following places for good Blues: The Blues Hall Juke Joint, and the Beale Street Tap Room. For more on Beale Street, go
here.
And last but not least, three notable mentions: 1)
Paula Raiford’s Disco. Yes, a disco. Complete with strobe lights, mirror balls, an extreme fog machine, and a DJ that looks like a time-warped Rick James. $10 to get in, $5 for coat check, and worth every penny.
2) The
Peabody Hotel where the ducks are marched in at 11 am every morning, and marched out at 5 pm. The mint juleps at the bar are something worth stopping in for as well.
And 3) The Kooky Canuck, the brainchild of a Canadian ex-pat: if you find yourselves in search of a hockey game to watch on TV– in a country obsessed with football–the staff at the Kooky Canuck, home of the Kookamonga Burger and dang good Bloody Mary’s, will gladly find your channel.
Give Memphis a helping hand. If you’re looking for somewhere to spend a few days, head south; she’s a beautiful, charming and intriguing city!
Nice little bit of a travelogue Twyla, I enjoyed both reading that & seeing the photos. The closest I’ve come to Memphis is watching & rewatching that ’89 Jim Jarmusch movie Mystery Train with Rufus Thomas, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Steve Buscemi & the late Joe Strummer. You kind of verified my suspicions…I had somehow subconciously felt it must be a bit like that.
Oh & a somewhat belated happy new year before we get too far into it!
Darrell, Happy New Year to you as well, and thanks for stopping by!
I’ve never seen Mystery Train but now that you’ve brought it up (and I did a quick wiki read on it), it sounds like a good idea to stay indoors and rent it this weekend.
If you get a chance to ever see Memphis in the flesh, go!
Apparently you missed the golf course. 😉 Justin Timberlake’s golf course is a reason to visit Memphis from Edmonton Journal https://ow.ly/3CHr8
I’ve been to Nashville but not Memphis. Can’t wait to go one day, especially to see Graceland.
Diane…yeah, hmmm…me and golf don’t really go together 🙂 No wonder I missed that as a “reason to go to Memphis”. You will have a blast if and when you go; its a great city!
stumbles across your blog whilst looking for info on Ashlar Hall – so many of your descriptions are perfect! Exp. about the rundown buildings.
Thanks for reading, Rachel…Memphis still has a special place in my heart. I really enjoyed my visit there. Loved the people AND the eclectic jumble of buildings!