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DAY 25
Wednesday April 25th
Memphis Tn
As far as the musical content of this journey is concerned, this has to be the best day yet. The problem is that my head is so full of everything I've seen and done that I'm going to find it hard to write about.
I set off early in search of the Stax Museum, but couldn't find it. So I drove back to the Rock and Soul Museum, and had to wait 35 minutes for it to open. I used this space to grab coffee and cake in Starbucks and, as the day turned out, it's a good job I did.
From the Rock and Soul Museum I headed straight for Sun Studios, and from there to the Stax Museum, for which I had acquired excellent directions. By 4.30 I was back at the hotel, feet aching, head swimming with all the musical detail it contained.
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I have stood on the spot where Elvis recorded "That's Alright, Mama", and kicked the whole thing off. I am left with the overwhelming impression that Memphis is a city which integrated its music scene while the society outside was still brutally segregated. Guys would play music together all day, and then go off to eat dinner in separate restaurants.
Each of the museums was splendid in its own way. The Rock and Soul Museum is a brand new customised building, the Sun Studios are largely unchanged since Sam Phillips started them in 1950 (the actual studio still has the same flooring and ceiling tiles – you can see where the spike on the end of the double bass made a hole), and the Stax Museum is renovated on the site of the original studio, in an area which has little else going for it.
Memphis is a city where I could easily spend longer – there is also a Gibson guitar museum, a Civil Rights Museum, and many other things. The music of the city is so inextricably linked with the civil rights movement that it's possible to see how Martin Luther King's shooting, at a hotel much frequented by Stax musicians, changed the whole shape of the city's music!
Tired and hungry, I set out in search of food. Not wanting to drive, I trudge through the first real rain of my trip and find Neil's Bar and Grill, a no nonsense establishment. I have so far resisted starters, due to the size of the main courses, but I am fascinated by deep fried pickles, so they have to be tried. Thin slices of pickle, lightly battered, and deep fried, served with a dip. And then ribs, a huge slab with beans and two salads, and piles of bread, which I leave untouched.
I make a comment to my server about the generous size of the portions.
He assures me, "We don't play here!" |
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