We re planning to spend the weekend from May 4th to 6th in Nashville and Memphis, but haven t quite decided on when we make the transition from country to blues. Thus, we might have either one or two days to spend here.
Memphis is the where the blues was born, and with Louis being the up and coming king of Norwegian blues, the visit to Memphis will be in the spirit of music.
(Almost) coincidental, the takes place in Memphis from May 4th to 6th - you re right, that s the weekend we re spending in the area! Unfortunately, this will probably mean that the place will be packed with people, but on the other side: It ll probably be even more great music than usual as well.
One day or two, festival or not - here are some of the things we might check out while in Memphis:
Neon Lights on Beale Street, courtesy of
Lined with clubs, it s the heart of entertainment in Memphis. Among the , the is probably a must-see.
The home of Elvis Presley is located at (duh!), and self guided audio tours of the estate (including the Automobile Museum and tours of this two jets) are available every day. Why not make sure this stays the second most visited private residence in the United States (behind the White House).
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was hired as a talent scout to search the Beale Street clubs for new talents, and among his findings was his own girlfriend, Anna Mae Bullock - better known as . , , and are just some of the other famous artists who were signed to Sun.
Sun Studio is located ten minutes walk east of Beale Street, at .
Stax went bancrupt in 1976, but is relaunching this year (today, actually - with the release of Stax 50: A 50th Anniversary Celebration) with Isaac Heyes and Angie Stone as signed-on acts.
Today the Stax Museum of American Soul Music is located at the original site of Stax Records, and pays tribute to the artists who recorded there as well as other well-known soul artists.
The Peabody Hotel is located at .
B. King and Nat King Cole. Partly because of its historical importance to the black community of Memphis, Dr.
Martin Luther King chose to stay at the Lorraine during the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers strike. At April 4th 1968, Dr. King was assassinated outside room 306 of the Lorraine Motel.
One alternative is the Beale Street Baptist Church, located at , which was the first and largest African-American Missionary Church, built just after the Civil War. In the 1890s, used the basement of the church to publish the Free Speech and Headlights newspaper, one of the first newspapers written specifically for an African-American audience. Ulysses S.
Grant and Theodore Roosevelt are among the U.S. presidents who addressed the congregation at the historic black church.
The movie features shots from Sun studio, Chaucher, Beale and Main Street, on Beale, , the statue of Elvis - among other Memphis sights (and a couple of references to Lansky s).
We'll start from Newport on the Oregon Coast, and drive further south. Hopefully we'll get down to the - and maybe even further down into California.
We're travelling from Seattle, Washington to Key West, Florida:
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