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Riverboat Cruise & Road Trip - March-April 2014
Memphis, TN
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
When we arrived at the motel in Memphis, Rodeway Inn, we wondered if we had made a good decision, from the outside it did not look like much. We were pleasantly surprised by the room. It was probably the largest, best furnitured room of any place we have ever stayed. It also turned out to be extremely convenient to all the places we planned to visit in Memphis.
Day 1: Sun Studio
Our first day in Memphis we visited the original "Sun Studio". This is the place that Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and many blues and rhythm & blues artists got there start in recording. It was a very interesting and informative tour. The story is that Sam Phillips, the founder of Sun Studio, "discovered" Elvis Presley. Technically, Elvis was "discovered" by Marion Keisker the receptionist at Sun Studio. At the time Sam Phillips stated business was recording anyone and anything. Elvis had come in to make a recording, he later said was for his mother but it is speculated that he was hoping to meet and work with Sam Phillips. Though usually no copies were made when someone came in to make a personal recording, Marion kept a copy of Elvis to play for Sam, Sam was not really impressed. After coming in a few more times, Elvis was finally working with a couple of other musicians to make a recording and Sam was ready to throw him out and tell him to not come back. The other musicians were packing up their instruments when Elvis started jamming on a blues number he loved, the others took their instruments out and started jamming with him. When Sam heard them he came into the studio from the control booth yelling at Elvis for having wasted his time for a year with the ballads he had been playing when he could do this. They recorded "That's All Right" and Sam signed Elvis to a recording contract. As they say "the rest is history."
The first person to play an Elvis record on air was Dewey Phillips. Though not related to Sam they were good friends and Sam would bring new recordings to him. Dewey was a colorful character, if he did not like a record he would take it off the turn table mid-song and smash it on the corner of his desk so it could be heard on-air. The story is that the first time he played "That's All Right" by Elvis he liked it so much he played it 14 consecutive times.
Sam Phillips knew he could not promote Elvis as he should be promoted, he sold his contract to RCA. Elvis would stop by occasionally just to visit. One day when Elvis dropped by Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis were there. Sam called his latest new recording star Johnny Cash and had him come in. There was a photographer there who took a picture of them together and put it in the newspaper with the caption "Million Dollar Quartet". They did not record together, but Sam Phillips recorded them jamming. He could not release any of the recording because Elvis was under contract with RCA and he did not tell very many people about the recording to try to avoid trouble with RCA. In the early 2000's Sam's estate release some of the recordings.
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When we left Sun Studio we went to Beale Street hoping to find a place to eat lunch that had live entertainment. Most places do not have live entertainment until 5:00 PM, but we found one place (more accurately Michael outside the place found us). Flynn's has live music starting at 10:00 AM. We had a good lunch, but the main reason we mention this place is the singer was great. His name is Chris Gales, check out his website. There are many signs along Beale St dedicated to people and places that helped make it important in the music world.
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Day 2: Graceland
The next day we went to "Graceland". In case there is someone who does not know, Graceland was the home of Elvis Presley from the mid-1950's until his death. We were both surprised to discover that Graceland is not way out in the country, we went a few hundred feet from the motel, turned right, and drove 5-6 miles. The tour included his house and grounds, a museum of cars and other motorized vehicles Elvis owned, a museum containing his gold/platinum records and other awards, a museum dedicated to Hawaii (personal trips, concerts, movie locations), a museum dedicated to his 1968 TV special, and a walk-through of the two planes he owned.
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Day 3: Memphis Rock N Soul Museum
The third day we went to the "Memphis Rock N Soul Museum". This is a very interesting museum. The first part of the museum has displays about life in the Memphis area that lead to combining many cultures and music forms into Blues, Rhythm & Blues, and Rock & Roll. There was an extensive display of artists in the different genre that got their start in Memphis. There are many areas where you can listen to songs from different genre. Near the end of the tour was an area dedicated to the "Memphis Horns". The final configuration of the Memphis Horns was Wayne Jackson on trumpet and Andrew Love on tenor sax. This duo were studio musicians that backed up many artists at Sun Studio and many other places around the world. It is thought that they have performed on more hit records than any other musicians. As back-up musicians they received a life-time achievement Grammy.
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After our visit to the museum we spent a few hours on Beale Street. We went into a few of the buildings, listened to some groups playing in a park, and saw the "March Madness Marching Band" in the street. This band is hard to describe, they were wildly dressed, did not march in precision, had the usual marching band instruments, and some dancers/performers doing some "interesting" routines. They were fun to watch.
(Pictures from our first 2 visits to Beale St)
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Day 4: Moving Day
The next day was moving day, from the motel we could afford to the Sheraton where a one-night stay was included in the riverboat cruise package. Though it would have cost more than twice as much as the motel room, the room at the Sheraton though nice was not nearly a nice as the one at the Rodeway Inn. We started the day with a visit to a laundromat, then we made a test drive from the parking garage where we would be leaving our car while on the cruise to the rental car return location, one more visit to Beale Street and it was late enough to check-in at the hotel.
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Day 5: Last Day In Memphis
It was now the day to board the American Queen riverboat for our cruise. We had a very nice complementary buffet breakfast at the hotel, checked-out of the hotel, took our car to the garage where it would stay until we drove a rental car back to Memphis from New Orleans after the cruise, and rode the circuit of the Riverfront-Main Street trolley. After finding a place to have lunch we boarded the trolley to return to the hotel. We got on the cruise bus and boarded the riverboat.
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jul 13 2015