The Greyhound to Memphis was long. Really bloody long. And
those Greyhound buses aren’t the most comfortable of things either. I was met
in Memphis by Carlos, a 20-something Marines Reservist. I was a little nervous
about staying at his place, being my first Couchsurfing experience alone, and
the fact that he was a big Marine type. As it was he was sound as fuck, and a
great laugh to be around.
Driving back to his apartment, I dumped my stuff by the bed
I was staying in, and returning to the kitchen was presented with an opened
beer. Straight away I knew I would get on with Carlos! Hanging out in his
apartment playing Xbox, drinking beer and exchanging stories we were joined by
one of Carlos’ friends (really awkward I can’t remember his name…) and we
headed out into downtown Memphis for a couple of drinks. We went to two or
three bars and sat around chatting and drinking away (always a good night
there!), exchanging stories and me asking about Memphis and the places to go and
see (ever the tourist!). Crawling back into bed around 2am, I was knackered. As
per usual for spending all day on a bloody coach….
The next morning Carlos had to work early (well 10am) so I
slept in a bit and left for downtown Memphis around 12.30pm. It was a bit of a
trek, walking around a mile to the tram stop and then a 15mins or so on the
tram into downtown. Needless to say I was rather worried that I would a) be on
the wrong tram and b) get off in the wrong place and be in a sketch part of
Memphis. Thankfully the accent worked out well for me and the tram driver and
an incredibly old black man (who I had no idea what was saying) showed where to
get off. Downtown Memphis was a pretty cool place, with trams running around
the place and the usual smattering of Southern style housing. It was quite
touristy, but I wasn’t surprised by that at all. Kicking off my lone tourism in
style I headed towards the Mississippi river. Simply because one has to see it
really! From there I wandered down the rover and back round, and into the
downtown area before heading towards Beale Street. This is where all the jazz
and blues clubs are located, and is definitely a very fluorescent part of town!
I visited the Rock and Soul Museam located just of Beale Street, and it is definitely
worth a visit if you are ever in Memphis. Charting the history of blues through
to rock and roll and modern day influences, I found it fascinating, and also
found some great artists to download when getting home! It also had a cool feature on the audio tour
where you could listen to blues through the ages. Which wondering around I did
as it was sure more interesting than listening to some tour guide harp on about
working in the fields.
 |
| Wandering around Memphis |
From the Rock and Soul Museum I caught the free bus to Sun
Records, where many famous artists like and the one and only Elvis
Presley were discovered and recorded. Before going in I went on quite a walk
through the Victorian District (where lots of amazing Victorian style houses
were located) and around 2miles out of my way to find a bloody cash machine. In
the searing heat. Fantastic… However, upon eventually returning to Sunset
Studios I was able to afford to join a tour. This again was a fascinating tour,
with lots of history and artifacts including original instruments and
recordings. The tour itself was just under an hour and again I was in my music-loving
element listening to old school Blues and Rock and Roll.
 |
| The Famous Sun Studios |
Leaving the Sun Studios I headed back to Carlos’ place,
stopping off to get him a case of beer as a thank you for allowing me to stay
with me (gotta be polite and all!), and then onwards with him to the number 1
BBQ place in Memphis; Central BBQ. To those of you that don’t know, BBQ is pulled
pork, slow cooked and served with a based sauce. I have to say, despite being a
fairly naive BBQ eater (I wasn’t a big fan of the stuff in the dining hall at
UNC) I absolutely loved the BBQ there. It was amazing! I remember from a class
at UNC that I took that BBQ varies from state to state and even regions within
the state, with each area being fiercely proud of their BBQ. Apparently NC BBQ
is predominately vinegar based, where as in Tennessee it was Ketchup based.
Interesting bit of useless knowledge there for you!
That evening was spend chilling out and playing Xbox (being
all lad-y and all!), and the next day I was leaving Memphis. I had a great time
in the short amount of time I was in Memphis, despite being on my jacksie for a
lot of it. The city was definitely a cool place and had a great vibe to it, and
I would love to got back and experience it a little more. I am incredibly
grateful to Carlos for putting me up and being such a nice guy and joker (scary
Marine stuff aside!)
From Memphis it was time to head back North-East to where my
home was in the States: North Carolina and more specifically Chapel Hill.
 |
| Image from: setlistkaraoke.com |
No comments:
Post a Comment