Tennessee – Jazz, Blues and more!

by Donaji on March 31, 2009

HERMITAGE TO MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE (235 miles)

Mr. Sam Phillips

So we didn’t leave as early as we wanted, but it was worth the breakfast :) We headed out to Memphis and got there early enough to take the tour of Sun Studios. Sun Studios has been around a looooong time ago–many artists have contributed to the history of this place by recording their music, some of the artists mentioned in the tour were Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Bono, and maaany more. It’s about a 30 minute tour, too quick in my opinion, I wish we could have had more time to look and read a little longer.

Before the tour started, we went down to a bar to get a quick snack and a beer, we had to rush back to the studio and got there a couple of minutes late but thankfully (and obviously) we made it.

Anyway, the whole thing was pretty cool, lots of old equipment, recording equipment, records, radios, music instruments, photos, and even personal items from the artists. VERY nice collection.

The last part of the tour is the best I think because you end up in the actual studio room, where the artists have recorded, nothing has been changed as far as structure, they say the tiles from the ceiling and walls, and even floor still are the original ones which the owner — Sam Philips with the help of his secretary put together.

With the famous mic This microphone is the original studio mic, so all the artists that stopped by to record used it, Mr. Philips donated it to the studio after a long time :)

So this old man came up to us in the parking lot and asked if we were going to the tour, he said “I’ll be in there with ya”…uh…ok! so, he asked where we were from and we told him and he said “well, I’m from Teeeeeeexas.” uh…ok! bye bye mister. This guy. Anyway, got some nice shots and was able to enjoy the rest of Memphis that evening.

After the studio, we went to Beale Street. Very famous for their restaurants, live music…this is like Blues and Jazz central! There were so many choices, we didn’t know where to go, almost every restaurant had some live act, jazz or blues, real nice. Watched a band played outside, but they def. needed a new vocalist, no doubt. Beale Street Ryan had mentioned something about going to the Peabody Mall to see the ducks line up and be escorted to the top? We asked and they actually do that, but at the Peabody Hotel, so if you ever go to Memphis, make sure you see this, apparently is pretty nice to see ducks line up and be escorted up to the top of the building? Not sure what really happens. But I wish I could have seen ‘em. Reminds me of that line from Catcher in the Rye “where do the ducks go in the winter?”….

After enjoying a giant Guinness, we went to eat to this place called “Jazz & Blues”. We were wanting to see the guy playing inside, all alone with a guitar. In the entrance there was a little old man, wearing a straw hat and Hawaiian-like shirt, playing the trumpet and improvising as people passed by…for tips. We went in and had a nice meal, Cajun…more than delicious. The man on stage was great, playing all kinds of blues and jazz songs, with his guitar, at times playing both bass and guitar at once, others with his pre-recorded bass and umm…it was great. I really enjoyed him, he tried to get the crowd into it and got an old man up to sing some Elvis P. Good job ol’ man.

The little ol’ man that was outside of the restaurant would randomly come in and improvise to whatever the other was playing he seemed sweet until…………………..we’re walking out of the restaurant, ready to head to the hotel room and I’m still with my camera recording everything I can and I find interesting and fun. So we come out and he’s singing to this lady that’s passing bye, saying stuff here and there…he sees me and sees that I have a camera so he decides to talk to us and asks where we are from, so we say from Florida, and he begins………singing for me and making some sorta story, don’t remember what because then he stars asking for a tip and I tell him I don’t have cash which is 100% true. Ryan didn’t have anything either, so he says “you come all the way from Florida and you have no cash” and I tell him that I don’t even have my wallet with me! which is also true, then he goes on and talks trash how I could not have my wallet, and here he is singing for me, blah blah blah…and in the end, he starts getting serious after i thought this whole time he was just giving us a hard time…but oh no! he was way serious…so he decides to stop and says “no no no, I’m done.” We were like “whaaaaaaaaaaaaa??????? ummm….ok.” I was in shock, I was so mad cause that was extremely rude of him to act that way and make us feel bad for not having cash, as if he’s not playing for TIPS!!!???? I mean, if you’re gonna be a street musician, you gotta take the risk, some people pay, some people don’t, some people can’t. That’s just how it goes. So don’t treat people bad…that’s like a bum asking for change and you don’t have any and then he starts calling you names…what?!?!? puh-lease. So still talking about it and thinking about it, we went back to the hotel and passed out. I was tired and was not ready to start another day.

Next stop: Hot Springs, Arkansas