Maybe It Was Memphis

It's been exactly 1 month since I moved to Memphis.  One month, 4 weeks, 36 days since I finally became a Memphian.  To be honest, I'm not sure where the time has gone.  It feels like only yesterday I was unpacking boxes.

I'll do another blog on just my apartment, but for this one, I'll jot down some observations and insights I have on the area.

My apartment has a Cordova address.  To anyone who doesn't know, it would seem like I live in the suburbs, like Towson to Baltimore, Cambridge to Boston, or Long Island to NYC.  However, as I've learned, I technically live in Memphis.  I'll try to explain.  Here is a map of Memphis.  I live where the blue dot appears.

I've been to a few events that have explained the history of Memphis and here's what I've learned that will explain that.  To really understand, you kinda have to go back before the civil war.  Memphis was incorporated on May 22, 1819, mostly because of its location above the Mississippi River.  While it was still in the Mississippi Delta, Memphis was founded on a series of bluffs right along the river.  These meant that the city wouldn't flood during huge storms that sometimes wiped out cities in the lower lying regions along the river.  Around the city were cotton plantations, and Memphis became a huge commercial hub for cotton and the slave trade.  After the civil war, a huge number of freed slaves moved into Memphis for opportunities.  At the time, the city was comprised of a large number of Irish people who had migrated to escape the potato famine.  They clashed with the African-Americans and a very tenuous balance was eventually struck.  Since then, there has always been an underlying current of racial inequality that remains to this day.  

This is not me being racist, this is simply what I've been told by several livelong residents and historians about the area.  Memphis is a city bordered by Arkansas to the west and Mississippi to the south so the only way to expand was east and north.  When African-Americans moved into the city, the white people moved east.  Over the last 200 years, the African-American population would move into white neighborhoods and the white people would move further east.  Because Memphis wanted the money that the typically more affluent white neighborhoods brought in, they would annex areas further east so the border kept expanding.  While several communities (Bartlett, Collierville, and Germantown) were already incorporated towns and could not be annexed, anywhere else was fair game.  Unfortunately, this also meant that Memphis needed to provide services to all of these areas which has not always been easy.  The state legislature stepped in and told Memphis that they needed to stop annexing areas so recently, they've been de-annexing places.  

So, the point of this is to explain that I technically live in Cordova AND Memphis at the same time.  I don't really get it, but my address says Cordova...

Just like I thought, Memphis is pretty cool.  I'm really enjoying all of the festivals and things to do all the time.  For example, this week is Elvis week.  Elvis died on August 16th, so many sites in the city are having events in his honor.  The last Friday of every month is "Trolley Nights" downtown. I went on a weird, awkward date to the Trolley Nights in July, so I'm hoping to find someone not weird to go to the Trolley Night in August.  One of the bigger celebrations here is Memphis in May where there is a huge music festival the first weekend and a world-famous BBQ festival in the middle.  In between, there are all kinds of celebrations and events.  Obviously, it's not May, but they just announced their lineup for next year.  In order to eat at the BBQ festival, you have to be invited by a team and get a VIP pass.  I've decided my only goal for this year is to befriend someone on a BBQ team.  It seems like every night of the week, there's something to do and I'm excited to do some more exploring in the coming months.

My school and district are awesome.  I feel so blessed to be working where I am.  I'll do another blog post on my school a little later.

A couple of observations so far:
1. Everyone drives a muscle car.  In the parking lot of my apartment building, there are probably 20 cars, and at least 10 of them are of the Mustang or Charger variety.  Haven't quite figured out why yet.  On another car note (so maybe this is 1.5?) It is illegal to honk your car horn in Memphis because it's not polite and it makes too much noise.  Legitimately, you can't use your horn.  This is also a historical thing that I'm still researching.
2. My neighbors are not friendly, but everyone else in my school and church have been almost overwhelmingly friendly.  I still have a bit of "Yankee" in me as they would call it, and I'm not at all used to the attention, support, or friendliness.  I'm trying to be gracious and grateful, but I worry that my face gives me away.
3. Memphis is really trying, and I sincerely appreciate the effort.  I've gotten involved with an organization that tries to attract and retain young professionals to the area, and the Twitter/Insta handles "Choose 901" and "Bring Your Soul" are great portrayals of the positive things happening in Memphis.
4. Memphis and Nashville have a hate/hate relationship, much like the Baltimore/Washington DC relationship.  Memphians feel personally betrayed when a local place opens in Nashville.
5. Memphis is a foodie paradise.  Everyone I talk to gives me local recommendations in the form of food; "Have you been here yet?"  They then proceed to give me directions "You really should go to the one on Poplar and Madison.  It's the best."  I don't know where Poplar is yet.  I don't know where Madison is yet.  So I smile and nod.
6. Traffic here doesn't exist.  The aforementioned horrible date was to take place at 6:30 on a Friday night.  I live 25ish minutes from downtown, so I left at 5:15 because well, I'm used to DC/Baltimore/Boston traffic, and I was there by 5:50.  And then I felt like a loser.  The locals complain about traffic, but the longest rush hour traffic jam I've been in lasted 10 minutes.
7. No income tax is awesome, but 10% sales tax kinda kicks you in the gut.
8. The bible belt.  I am living in the bible belt.  Literally, 5 minutes from my house is a mega Baptist church.  It's larger than my first college campus.  And my third college campus.
9. Apparently, the Piggly Wiggly grocery stores began in Memphis.  I really wanted the Piggly Wiggly to be my grocery store just because it's fun to say, but the only grocery stores in the Memphis area are Kroger stores.  It's not like everywhere else I've lived where there is a Giant, Stop and Shop, Ralph's or Food Lion within a 1 mile radius.  Literally, the only grocery stores here are Kroger.  It's kind of a bummer.  Same for movie theaters.  Malco is the only movie theater.  No AMC's, no Regal Cinemas, only Malco.  I haven't been to a movie yet so I don't know what they're like.
10. Maybe the weirdest thing for me is that not everyone here has been to NYC.  Last night, we were having dinner and had to talk about the best city we've visited.  Two people said New York was the best and brightest.  Three people hadn't been there.  This is so bizarre.

So, that's life after my first month in Memphis.  I still kind of love it here.  I'm not sure when that will wear off.  I've started work, I've started real life, and I still dig the vibe.

I'll write more about my apartment and school soon.

Nashville Wouldn't Be Nashville Without You

For the last few years, I've toyed with the idea of moving to Nashville.  It's not like I hate Boston, not by any means, but sometimes I miss people being nice, warm weather (yes, even the horrifically humid summers), fireflies and good BBQ.

The last time I was in Nashville, it was a few months after the big flood so everything was still closed.  We ended up in the hotel eating pizza and going to sleep early.

This time, we got to see all of Nashville.  I do love this town.  The first thing we wanted to do as a tour of Nashville but the earliest tour we could get was in the early afternoon so we went to the Hermitage first.

The Front of the Hermitage

The Hermitage is President Andrew Jackson's estate.  It's located just outside of Nashville.  His major accomplishments include helping to establish the state of Tennessee, killing a man to defend his wife's honor, being one of three men who funded the establishment of Memphis and being the first to recognize Texas as a part of the union.  He was a man of extreme juxtaposition: spreading democracy to the common man while owning hundreds of slaves at the same time; adopting a Native American child as his son, while signing into law the "Indian Removal Act" that led to the "Trail of Tears."  President Jackson's inauguration party was opened up to the common people and so many people showed up that it was closer to a high school keg party than a dignified party of state.  In addition to his controversial political positions, his personal life included scandal as well.  Jackson's wife Rachel had been married before him but unbeknownst to her the divorce was never finalized.  She was technically a bigamist and they lived in sin for 4 years before the divorce was final. The eventually adopted eight children, but he did not father any of them biologically.  In 1806, he challenged a reporter to a duel and ended up killing him which gave him a reputation of being vengeful and cruel.

Weird life, huh?  I bet he had some great stories on his deathbed.  Can you imagine being his grandkid?  "Grandpa, tell me about the party in the White House where punch was served in bathtubs!"

The house is a beautiful Antebellum home on 420 acres of land.  The grounds still have the slave's quarters as well as a cotton field.  They encourage people to pick their own cotton from the fields, so we did just that.

The Back of the House 

(No, I don't think those orbs are ghosts - just reflections from the sunlight)

The Slave Quarters

This cotton field was photographed prior to our arrival in Nashville.  I didn't get a picture of the cotton field at the Hermitage. 

After we left the Hermitage, we went on a tour of Nashville.  Stops on our tour included the Country Music Hall of Fame, The Ryman Auditorium, Vanderbilt University, Music Row....all of the must sees.  Most were things I'll never need to see again, but later that night, we returned to the Ryman Auditorium for Opry Night at the Ryman. 

No ghost of the man in black

No long white Cadillac

No woman standin' by her man

In the place where it all began

The Ryman is the original home of the Grand Ole Opry, and is otherwise known as the "Mother Church."  The building was originally built in the late 1892's as a revival house.  From 1943 until 1974, the Grand Ole Opry broadcast from the space due to its exceptional acoustics.  The seats are wooden pews and the windows are stained glass. This is a terrible picture, but at least it gives you the general feeling of the space.

The Ryman Auditorium

Later that night, we went to a show at the Ryman.  It was really an amazing experience.  Our artists were Larry Gatlin, John Conlee, Shawn Camp, Lorrie Morgan and Ashley Monroe (from the Pistol Annies).  

While at the show, the people next to us were talking about a tour they had been on that centered around the TV show "Nashville."  Currently, "Nashville" is one of my favorite shows and I've converted no less than two people to my side.  While talking, they pulled out their cell phone to show me where she was literally five feet away from the actors.  They told us it was in Centennial Park and encouraged us to go look it up the next day.

We woke up and headed to Centennial Park, a large park on the outskirts of town.  The park was originally used by white Nashvillians; Jim Crow laws prevented "colored" people from setting foot inside until 1960.

One of the showcases in the park is a full size replication of the Parthenon in Athens.  Built in 1897 as an exhibition hall for the Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition, the building escaped being torn down and still stands as a testament to what it replicates.  It's very out of place in the middle of Nashville, but a cool building nonetheless. 

We didn't see the set for Nashville, so we decided to go to the famed Farmer's Market.  I looked through the gates to the other side, and what did I see??  No actors (they weren't scheduled to film until 2) but I literally walked on the set of the Christmas episode of "Nashville".  One guard meandered my way, but when I asked if I could look around, he shrugged and told me to feel free.  Woah!

  

We walked through the Farmer's Market and I took some pictures, including one of my new friend Carla.  I don't have a good story about her; she asked me if I wanted to take her picture and I said sure.  She looks mischievous.  

That afternoon, we walked around downtown and saw the sights.  Second Avenue is where the bars are and there are a ton of people just trying to live their dream. We tried to go to Robert's Western World and walked back out as soon as we got in.  No thanks.  Mom tried her hand at line dancing at the Wildhorse Saloon.  We tried on hats and boots, and I almost bought a $34 guitar.  I feel like we got a good taste of the real Nashville, but left enough to be explored when I move.  :)

Just Playing for Change

Robert's Western World and Jack's BBQ on Second Avenue

Mom Line Dancing at the Wildhorse Saloon

We also visited Lynchburg and went to the Jack Daniels Factory.  While pictures weren't allowed during a lot of the tour, I took shots where I could.

The Water Used for the Whiskey

Mom and Dad: A Shot of Jack on the Rocks

Jasper Newton "Jack" Daniels.  His mother died and he hated his step-mother so deeply that he ran away from home when he was very young.  He was taken in by a preacher and distiller who taught him the secret to distilling whiskey.  His mentor had an ulterior motive in teaching the young Jasper his trade; he ended up quitting for religious reasons and put the whiskey business directly in the hands of Jack.  His blend ended up winning a taste test at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis.  Somehow, the distillery survived a local and national prohibition and still is world renown despite the actual county in which it is located being dry.

Making the Charcoal for the Distilling Process

The whiskey is called No. 7 for unknown reasons, but people speculate it was the number of girlfriends he had.  Although he never married and had no children, his exploits with those of the opposite sex are legends.  Early on, he named one of his whiskey's "Belle of Lincoln" and no fewer than eight women came forward claiming to the be "Belle."  

For such a powerful man, he was taken down by his temper.  He kicked his safe, broke his foot, developed gangrene and died.  Such a let down.  However, after my experience of tasting the product No. 7, Gentleman Jack, and Single Barrel after the tour, I became really drunk and realized why he might have been so angry with that safe.  

The Buildings Have Numbers - This One, No 1, is the Oldest Distillery in the Country

Single Barrel Club

After the factory tour, we took 15 minutes to look around Lynchburg (and get me some BBQ to sober up) and headed back to Nashville for Opry Night!

The new Opry (Opry Land) was built in the 70's; a much larger auditorium than the Ryman.  The Gaylord hotel opened adjacent to it.  We walked around the Gaylord, had dinner and then headed over to the Grand Ole Opry!

I thought my father was overkilling it by getting tickets to the Opry and the Ryman.  "Why would we need two shows?" I asked.  I'm so happy he did.  Both experiences are amazing.  The Grand Ole Opry stage was built with a circular portion of the Ryman stage inlaid on the wood.  The auditorium is massive, and you just know that history was made there.

The show is in several half hour long increments with three artists each.  Our artists included Mallary Hope, JT Hodges, Mike Snider, John Conlee, Will Hoge, and Ricky Scaggs.  Each was different but awesome.  Some artists were more rock, some were more Appalachian music from the back woods, but the were all fantastic.

Melody Hope

Hottie From That One Band

Ricky Scaggs

Nashville is a place where dreams are made and walking around the city, you almost forget that Dolly Parton, Porter Wagoner, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and Tim McGraw were once wandering the same streets just waiting for their big break.  So much of the city is about country music, it's difficult to imagine what it would be without the musical roots.

It'd be just another river town

Streets would have a different sound....

Memphis, Tennesee

My 30th birthday was quickly approaching.  One night, while on the phone with my dad, he asked what my ideal birthday celebration would be and I told him that I wanted to go to Nashville.  Ever since I was offered that job in Memphis a couple of years ago, I've been obsessed with Tennessee, and since my only stay in the state was in Nashville after the flood of 2010, I couldn't say I had seen much of it.

Dad and I chatted and I let him know that I was always bummed we never rescheduled the failed 2nd grade spring break when I got chicken pox and led us to a week of staying in Bel Air, mom and dad wallpapering the dining room while I watched 101 Dalmatians and painted Buffy so she would fit in. We had planned to go to Virginia, doing Monticello, Skyline Drive, Luray Caverns and the Shenandoah valley.  Because my dad is awesome, his response was "plan it, but I want to go to Graceland so we're doing Memphis too."

In reality, dad ended up planning the whole trip and damn, what a job he did.  Like I always do, I'll talk about each place we went so this post is mostly Memphis with a little Bristol thrown in for good measure.

Memphis.  How does one describe Memphis?  I looked for some good quotes but there were none that accurately described the vibe of this city.  The closest thing I found was a song by Marcy Playground that says "The Lord's going to save my soul somewhere in the hills of Memphis."  Even that isn't quite right.

An undercurrent of history runs through this town; from the blues of Beale Street to the rock and roll of Sun Records, the ducks at the Peabody to the Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel.  Parts of the city are frozen in time; a stunning tribute to the racial and class inequalities of the 50's and 60's where "no discrimination" is urged and "loose women" even have a special set of directions in buildings.  Elvis' name is on everything and BB King's spirit can be felt from the music in the elevators to the crooners that sing his songs in the bars.  A few blocks off of Beale Street you'll find crumbling building facades, a testament to the extreme poverty that grips the city Elvis used to call home.  But despite the poverty, there is a feeling of hope.  If legends like Johnny Cash, Morgan Freeman, Otis Redding, Tennessee Williams and Jerry Lee Lewis could make their start here, what's stopping anyone else?

At least, that's what I got from the three days we were there.

We started our trek at 6:00 on Saturday morning.  Around 1:00 pm, we were in Bristol, Virginia.  Bristol is a town that straddles the Virginia/Tennessee line.  As you can see on the sign below, the line goes right down the middle and one side sits in each state.  Surprisingly, it's Bristol, not Nashville, that is the "Birthplace of Country Music."  The Carter family, (yes, as in June Carter Cash) got their start in 1927 when a record producer held auditions to capture the local "folk" sound.  From there, "country" music took off.

While in Bristol, we were stopped by a train.  My cousin Karen is an amazing photographer and recently, she made the suggestion that I start trying to capture people in my photographs.  During this trip, I took her advice to heart and tried to get some of the local color.  It really took me out of my comfort zone to have to talk to people but all in all, I like the results.  Obviously, it's a work in progress, but as I practice, I know I'll get better.

The first subject of my reach was this homeless guy.  I thought it was so poetic that a homeless gentleman was walking along the rain road tracks.  Although I didn't speak with him, he seemed to be really wowed by the train, even stopping to study it at times.  His shoes were duct tape, and his clothes were dirty, but it was cool to see the excitement in his eyes when he was looking at the train.

From there, we continued on our journey finally arriving in Memphis around midnight.  Obviously too late to sight-see and we were too tired so we just went to sleep.

Did I mention how awesome my dad was at planning this trip?  We slept in the next morning, but then went off to explore Memphis.  He had set up a sightseeing tour for us, but we had time to do a little solo exploring before.  

While driving along the Mississippi River, we saw signs for Arkansas.  I want to get all of the states before I die and I only have 13 left - so we drove across the bridge and I got my 37th state.  Technically now, I've been in Arkansas, so I'm counting it and I don't have to go back.  (Thanks Michael and Cathy for the idea!)

From there, we found Sun Records and decided to take the tour.  Woah.  What a cool place.

It's a little known fact (or maybe a well known fact) that my dad loves Elvis.  He has for as long as I can remember.  I remember him singing "In the Ghetto" when I was little, and my mother would always roll her eyes.  Recently, I found out that my Oma and Opa were really into Elvis.  I have a ton of their Elvis LPs to prove it.  Thank you, Oma and Opa.

We learned a lot about blues during the tour of the studio.  It's pretty interesting.  Blues originated primarily in the cotton fields of the deep south, where African-American slaves would sing old spiritual songs. It became a genre passed down through generations, and the blues became known as African-American music.  Thought that was cool.

Sun Studio (formerly Memphis Recording Service) was where Elvis got his start.  Memphis Recording Service was opened in 1950 by Sam Phillips and his assistant Marion.  Sam wasn't a great businessman, and despite recording great artists like BB King and Rufus "Hound dog" Thomas, he lost money all over the place.  In 1952, he relaunched as Sun Studios hoping it would be more profitable.  

Memphis Recording Service

In 1953, a kid named Elvis Aron Presley walked into Sun Records to record a couple of songs for his mother's birthday.  Sam was off doing something, probably drinking, and Marion was in charge.  She asked Elvis who he sounded like, and he said "I don't sound like nobody."  She put the disc on Sam's desk, but he didn't want a ballad singer, he wanted a rocker.  After a little bit of time, he saw how many people liked the blues, and he wanted to find a white boy who could bring that sound to the white airwaves, so he brought Elvis in for a recording session.  The session was entirely unfruitful until Sam left the room and Elvis started "acting the fool," jumping around, playing his guitar, singing, being a dork.  Sam rushed back in to record it and three days later, "That's All Right" was played on a popular local radio show "Red Hot and Blue."  The song received such a positive response that Elvis, who was at the movies, had to leave the film to rush to the station for an interview.

Speaking of "acting the fool"

The rest, as they say, is history.  

Despite Elvis being most closely associated with Sun, other famous artists were on the label at one time.  BB King, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Conway Twitty were all acts who at one time were signed on at the label.

Elvis Presley and Sun Records

After 1969, the building sat vacant until Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash reunited and formed "Class of '55" in 1985, recording once again in the studio.  Today, such acts as U2 have recorded in the room where other greats sat.  It's just one big room with a studio booth at the far end and this microphone.

Next we went on a tour of Memphis.  Highlights included Beale Street, seeing the march of the ducks at the Peabody, Graceland, and St. Jude's Children's Hospital.  It was a fantastic tour and we learned so much.  Like, did you know that Danny Thomas was a deeply religious man?  His wife was expecting a baby and he had $15 in his pocket, so he donated $7 to the church and prayed to St. Jude that he needed 10 times that amount to make ends meet that month.  The next day, he got an acting gig paying $75.  Later in life, after he was successful, he opened St. Jude Children's Hospital, a place where children with catastrophic diseases could get treatment whether they could pay or not.  

Looking up to Danny Thomas

BB King in the Memphis Visitor's Center

That night, we ate on Beale Street.  I said on Facebook, I've been to Bourbon Street, I've been on the Vegas Strip.  Beale Street is way cooler than either of them. 

Obligatory "Walking In Memphis" picture

Beale Street

Silky O'Sullivan's is a restaurant on the corner of Beale and 3rd Street, opposite the Rum Boogie.  Silky's is know for its famous divers; a bucket full of undetermined alcohol.  Some say it's all of the leftovers from the bar.  Who knows.  Anyway, the diver is served in a yellow bucket.  In the courtyard at Silky's, there are two goats.  The Famous Irish Diving Goats.  Can't find a story behind these, but dude.  Goats.  In a bar.  What's better?

As we sat outside in the crisp (but still warm) autumn air next to the goats, drank sweet tea with lemonade (my new favorite drink), ate the best pulled pork BBQ I've ever had, and listened to a band play Otis, BB and The Temptations, I was in heaven.  Seriously.  The night couldn't have been better.  

The next day after trying again to get good pictures at the ducks at the Peabody (good pictures didn't happen), we went to the Civil Rights Museum.  It's housed in the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was shot.

Walking through the off streets of Memphis, we saw a different side of the city; more gritty, not as shiny as the marble of the Peabody.

These signs gave a taste of how Memphis used to be, and maybe still is.

No Discrimination

Fancy Women

The National Civil Rights Museum touched me in a way no other museum has.  Having grown up in a southern state, I understood the importance of the civil rights but I don't think I fully understood it until I saw everything back to back.  The video of the governor of Mississippi denying admittance to a black man who had been accepted to Ole Miss...kids being attacked by dogs and water cannons just because they wanted to go to school...buses being bombed because a black person dared to cross state lines...kids being beaten because they dared to sit at a lunch counter to get a milkshake.  I broke down in the middle of the museum.  It was completely moving.  There was even a map of Route 40 in Aberdeen, MD and the diners that refused to serve "coloreds".  My Oma and Opa owned a diner in Aberdeen, MD in the 1960's.  My dad doesn't remember them every denying anyone entrance though. 

 

Lorraine Motel

The wreath

Lorraine Motel

Another person shot.  I was trying to be sneaky, but I think they knew I was taking their picture.

Rosa Parks-esque Statues, Waiting for the Bus 

Slides from the Million Man March

Siting at the counter in Woolworth's

At the end of the museum, you turn a corner and see a bedroom.  Ninety degrees to your right, there's a huge window with a wreath and it hits you like a wall of water.  This is what you saw from outside.  This is the room MLK stayed in before he was shot.  This was the view he had of the city.  Literally two steps away is where he was shot.  I LOVE how they did that - talk about powerful.   

Outside of the hotel, a woman, Ms. Jacqueline Smith has been protesting for the last 26 years.  In 1988, she was evicted from the hotel where she worked as a maid during the middle of the civil rights hayday.  She feels that MLK would have wanted the money that was spent on the museum to be given to the needy.  Her sassy attitude is portrayed in the pictures I got of her.  I don't think she is approached much, and she didn't really seem to know what to say but to tell me that she hates how the neighborhood has become gentrified because it makes it inauthentic.  Fascinating woman.

The next day, we went to Graceland where we learned all about Elvis.  Elvis was the man.  I learned so much about him, like his leg shaking was a nervous tick, not something he did consciously.  Despite dying of a drug overdose, he was extremely anti-drug and anti-alcohol.  He took care of his parents and grandmother until they died - even having them move into Graceland.  He was very generous with his money - he bought his posse horses and trucks because of his love of the animals.  He also donated all of his pay while he was in the Army to making the conditions more comfortable for his fellow soldiers, having TVs installed in the barracks, and buying them all an extra set of fatigues.  Graceland is modest compared to some mansions today, which is also fascinating.  Definitely highly recommended if you ever go to Memphis.

Dad In Front of the Mansion

 

The Jungle Room

Vernon Presley's Warning

 

One of Elvis' planes

Overall, Memphis is more than I ever thought it would be.  One day, when I live in Tennessee, I will get back to Memphis for one of their famous festivals and aim to peel back another layer of this fascinating and complex city.