Blues Cruise Day 7 - Graceland and Beale St

OK, I now can check Graceland off the bucket list (frankly, it was never on - but, whatever!).  It is a testimonial to conspicuous consumption.  An NBA player would be jealous.  I even spotted a few wet eyes at the gravesite - nuf sed!

Gravesite visitors; a few wet eyes; are you kidding me?

My favorite photo; the exit!





The rest of the day was devoted to visiting the Stax Record Museum and the Sun Records studio.  Both were fascinating.  The Stax Record Museum was rebuilt near the original site of Stax Records.  This is the studio that gave us Sam and Dave, Otis Redding, The Staples Singers, and a lot more.  It can best be compared to Motown in that Motown created music for the masses, Stax made music the musicians wanted to hear.

The only photo I took of Stax record museum; couldn't take flash photos inside and I couldn't figure out how to take photos without the flash.

Memphis Slim's house near Stax; a good retirement project for Patti.

The Sun Studio was a lot of fun.  It is still an active studio where contemporary musicians can record in the same studio where Elvis, Howlin' Wolf, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and Roy Orbison made their first records.  It is also where Art and I auditioned for studio work.  They said they'd let us know.

Photo of Dewey Phillips; Memphis DJ who was basis for Broadway Musical "Memphis"

Using same mike that Elvis used in his first record; makes sense!

Art testing the tone of Roy Orbison's  guitar.

Finished the day on Beale Street; dining at the Blues City Grill and enjoying the music of Big Mac Johnson (no relation to Robert).  These are very young musicians covering a wide scope of material.  Just enough notes!

Blues Cruise Day 6 - Memphis

Arrived in Memphis this morning; despite national news reports of impending peril from flooding; the city was calm and not expecting major disaster.  We took the trolley to the Civil Rights museum located adjacent to the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968.  We could not take pictures inside the museum.  It was a bit depressing to revisit the the painful events leading up to the death of Dr. King.  I had forgotten that he was only 39 yrs old when he died.

Wreath marks room that MLK was leaving at time of assassination.

We left the museum to take the trolley along the river to see how high the water had risen.  The river is expected to crest today.  The riverside sidewalk and the street along the river was flooded in places but the water is not expected to reach any significant part of the city.  Frankly, I was expecting to find worse.



There is a sidewalk to the right of the large tree on the left; it is under water.



Starting to get a little messy

These trolleys are very old; mostly wooden construction.  The operators are engaged with the passengers and passersby.  Riding these are a must to see downtown.  Most go right past Beale Street.

Art talking some smack on the trolley.

Ah, next for some fried chicken at Gus' Fried Chicken.  Our trolley operator assured us that Gus has the best fried chicken in Memphis (only because Patti Weber lives in Portland).  It was good; rated bona fide!

 

No wasted calories!

Finally, Beale Street and BB Kings place for Bread pudding and Blues.  What is Blues, you ask?  Well, according to Willie Brown, it ain't nuthin' but a good man feelin' bad!  However, no one at BBs was feeling bad.  Music was by the BB King All Stars, also quite bona fide, as was the excellent bread pudding.  Damn, another good day on the Blues Cruise!!!!

Beale Street in full regalia!



 

The BB King All Stars



Entire band was excellent; the lead singer reminded me of . . . me!



Blues Cruise Day 5; looking for the Wolf

Left Greenwood for the long drive to West Point, MS, birthplace of Chester Burnett, aka Howlin' Wolf.  West Point is a small, neat, Southern town.  The town square has a plaque and statue commemorating the birthplace of "Wolf".  There is also a fading mural on the side of a building just off the main square; a small museum to the Wolf also can be found near the mural. We did not go in the museum; it is open by appointment only.

Plaque in Town Square

Vern, Casey, and me with The Wolf

The Boys with The Wolf

The Howlin' Wolf Museum



West Point Mural; you can faintly see Wolf just to the left of the right window.

 

remainder of mural

After leaving the town square, we drove to the outskirts of town to visit two old juke joints where the Wolf used to play.

While taking these photos, a car with two women (mother and daughter?) pulled up to Vern and asked "don' mean to be nosy, but what ya'll doin'?"  OOPS!  Vern politely explained our mission; the younger woman was OK with that but the older woman did not like it.  We took our pictures and left.

Casey and old Juke where Wolf once performed  

  

 

Other old juke (right across the street from above juke)

Last stop in West Point was about 5 miles out of town to the spot where Wolf was born; the house is gone and the area is overgrown.

Spot where Wolf was born.



Next stop was Tupelo to visit the birthplace of Elvis.  It is exactly what one would expect.  BFD!





Elvis' birthplace with an inconsiderate tourist.  I was overwhelmed!

We then drove to Holly Springs to spend the night; tomorrow on to Memphis.  The Days Inn had a huge cigar bar!







Cigar Room at Days Inn



Blues Cruise Day 4; Searching for Robert Johnson

Spent the day in the Greenwood, Mississippi area.  The morning efforts concentrated on visiting the 3 Robert Johnson memorials.  The first is a monument in a Zion Church outside of Quiota, MS.  No particular reason for it to be there except for the decision of some record executives.  RJ is not resting there but it is a nice memorial.



The second grave site is about a mile from this memorial in a small church graveyard.  Again, this is not believed to be the grave of RJ but there is a marker there claiming it as his resting place.  Who knows? We ran into a distant relative of Poor Eddie, Martin (no relation to Robert) Johnson.  Martin must leave his house across from this church to greet any visitors to the site to hustle a tip.  Art offered him a $5 tip and Martin's response was "What am I gonna do with fi dollas (five dollars)?" Art offered him another $5 eliciting a promise to buy himself a pint. We also ran into several of the Europeans that were attending the festival in Greenwood.

Europeans getting in the way (again)

Grave marker

Martin, me, Art, and Vern at grave marker

The third site shown below is thought to be the most likely resting place for Mr. Johnson.  There is an eyewitness who still attends this church that saw the burial of someone who was a famous singer from the area.  The current grave marker was set many years later; it is commonly believed that Mr. Johnson lies in rest somewhere on these grounds, not necessarily at the grave marker.  While we were there, a number of other Blues junkies showed up to pay respects/take photos.  My Northwestern friends were introduced to fire ants here.  One other note, my Northwestern friends were also introduced to Zero candy bars on this trip.  We have stopped several times for Zero bars and Co-colas.



Church where RJ is believed to be buried; still active.



Others visiting the site including several Europeans.



Hwy plaque at entrance to Church




Other side of plaque




The Boys at the marker; the guitar is Arts.



There has been a 100th birthday celebration in Greenwood last night and today.  Today had quite a line up including Keb Mo and Warren Haines.  Keb Mo was wonderful; Warren was LOUD and not very bluesy.



Early festival; we had great seats and the weather could not have been better.