Memphis Music Tour

As is my habit, I shall continue blogging about topics that bring us all together. (AKA I have nothing nice to say about politics these days.) Today, let's take a trip through some of the musical highlights of my fair city!

Before we get to the music, though, let me start with a preamble: when you visit to Memphis (or if you live here), I highly recommend that you make it a priority to see the National Civil Rights Museum. If you have more time after that, then soak up some Memphis music!

Graceland

The home and final resting place of Elvis Presley, Graceland is a major tourist draw for Memphis. In case you don't know, it has a big mansion, airplanes, and other Elvis stuff. I haven't actually been inside/on a tour, but DF has, so I asked him about it. He thinks that if you are an Elvis fan, or are just interested in Elvis, you would probably like it. But he does not recommend paying full price for admission. Try to find a coupon or something because even the cheapest ticket is nearly $40 for an adult! 

On the anniversaries of Elvis' birth and death, there are special events at Graceland that allow some level of free access. Also, you can see the house and planes from the street (at least you could last time I was there - there's construction going on these days that might have changed the scene). They have an extensive gift shop for all your Elvis memorabilia needs. I got a cool "Viva Las Vegas" water bottle that I managed to hold onto for more than a year before I lost it! (that's quite a record for me)

Sun Studio

Of all the Memphis music attractions, I'd say this one was my favorite. Sun Studio considers itself the birthplace of rock and roll. Many famous musicians, like Elvis and Johnny Cash, made records there. 

When you visit, small groups of people go on a guided tour. The guide tells you about all the exhibits of recording equipment and other items. (We did this tour a couple years ago so I've forgotten the details, but I still have a positive emotional memory of the experience.) You also get to actually go into the studio where history was made and stand on the spot with a microphone where so many famous people have stood!

Stax Museum of American Soul Music

This museum is gigantic! If you're really into soul music, you could easily spend 4+ hours there. It's a self-guided tour, after you watch an introductory video. Stax Records was a label started in the early 1960s by a brother-sister team. They bought an old theater and turned it into a recording studio. Although they didn't intentionally set out to break down racial barriers (the owners were white), they wound up recording a lot of Black artists and ushering in the birth of soul music. Many artists who recorded there were Memphis locals.

For a variety of reasons, the studio went out of business and was demolished in the 80s. But it's been rebuilt and is now a museum including such noteworthy items as Isaac Hayes' custom Cadillac :)

The drum set used when recording the instrumental hit, "Green Onions"

If you are in the neighborhood around lunchtime, check out the Four Way. Their turnip greens are delicious!

Rock 'n' Soul Museum

This was my least favorite of the museums - not because there's anything wrong with it, but just because it seems to repeat stuff you see/hear at other museums. So I guess that means if you're visiting Memphis briefly and only have time for one musical stop, this would be good.

I liked that they give you a personal audio device so that you can walk around the exhibits and listen to stories and musical recordings. As the name implies, you learn about the history of rock and soul music - in Memphis and beyond. 

Gibson Tour

Memphis is home to a Gibson guitar factory. I'll just mention this one briefly because it's also downtown, close to Rock 'n' Soul. We took the factory tour awhile back and, while it was interesting, I would only recommend it if you're really into guitars...or hand-crafted manufacturing.

Beale Street

You know the song "Walking in Memphis"? 

Then I'm walking in Memphis 
Walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale

Before we moved here, I had no idea what that song even said. Now I know that Beale St. has a long and storied past. I can't really do it justice in this post. It was primarily an African-American part of town during the days of segregation. Now it's an integrated place to party, well-known for its live music and freely flowing alcohol. It's not really my scene these days, but if you're in town, you should at least walk by so you can say you've seen it.

It's the Same Old Song

Our choir is singing a song this Christmas that incorporates "Of the Father's Love Begotten," a hymn that was most likely written in the 300s. We are talking over 1700 years ago, people! I believe the melody is slightly more recent, perhaps medieval. Wow! I think it's so cool to sing an ancient song that countless generations before me have sung. 

What's the oldest song you know? Historians tell us that the oldest song in the world came from ancient Sumer and is approximately 3,400 years old. I listened to it...not very catchy. But hey, who am I to judge another culture's taste in music?

You probably know Yankee Doodle, and guess what, it's pretty old, too. I mean, not ancient, but old by American standards.

Traveling with Twins: the Good

Lest you think the whole trip was filled with crying and wailing, here are some highlights from our two weeks in Oregon.

Flying
We flew Southwest, which I haven't flown in more than a decade. They have an "open seating" policy - you can sit in any open seat when you board. When you're traveling with children, you get to board fairly early in the process, and then you hope that whoever sits by you chooses the seat because they like (or at least don't mind) babies. We had friendly seat neighbors on all the flights plus very helpful flight attendants. One the last leg home, the guy sitting by Baby A and me was just over the moon about A and all his antics. He told me about his flight saga of getting delayed and rerouted then said it was all worth it to get to meet our twins. Aww :)

Visiting Family
Living so far away from family is tough. It was lovely to spend a good chunk of time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. They all were on cloud nine to hang out with the babies, and the babies seemed to like them, too. It was especially fun when DF's mom, aunt, brother, brother's girlfriend, and girlfriend's mom came down for a few days. Lots of laughter!

Catching up with Friends
The boys got to have some play dates with friends' kids, which was pretty fun. It's always nice to visit people who have known you for a long time. Nothing against my new Southern friends, of course! Make new friends and keep the old.

Not Having a Job
This is the first summer in six years that I've been unemployed, and I've got to say, it's glorious. My previous job was super busy in the summer season. I was never able to take more than a day or two off at a time. Even if I was on "vacation" or it was a weekend, I still had to be on-call, and I always got called. I very clearly remember being at a family reunion campout a few years back, standing under some trees early one morning, discussing the case of an exchange student with mumps while my relatives impatiently waited for me to get back to cooking the bacon!

Getting Some Breaks to Be an Adult
With all the extra hands on deck, I did get to relax sometimes. DF and I even got to go out by ourselves once. Whoa! We also hung out with my sister at her hipster downtown loft, and she introduced us to some of the city's new, cool spots. Incidentally, she's also blogging about her exciting life now. Check it out!

Good Food & Drink
Gotta love the Northwestern cuisine and beverage options.

Coastal Living
One of my parents' friends gave us a good deal on a beach house on the Central OR coast. We spent 3 days there early in the trip, and it was exactly what I needed to relax and reset my brain from the stress of travel. Living in Memphis, I feel so landlocked. (The Mississippi River is nice and all, but it's no ocean!) I loved being able to breathe the sea breezes and watch the sun set behind the waves.

Enjoying the Scenery & Weather
I loved seeing all the rolling hills and soaking up the non-humid sunshine of the Willamette Valley!

Cost/Benefit Analysis

To repeat a constant theme, life sure has changed since we became parents. Getting out of the house happens more often now than it used to, but it still feels like a monumental task at times.

For comparison, before kids...

As dinner time approached, maybe I'd look around the kitchen and decide I didn't really want to eat any of the food we had on hand. So DF and I would hop in the car and go out to eat somewhere. We might not even choose before leaving the house. That new taco place looks good - screeech - let's pull in there. So crazy and spontaneous!

Last night...

It was 5:30pm. I looked around the kitchen and didn't feel much like eating anything we had available. But the babies were in a weird mood after having an irregular nap schedule, so we scrounged up a meal of leftover Chinese food and frozen burritos. Then I took the kids for our nightly stroll around the neighborhood.

Dinner Decisions
Here's the cost/benefit analysis we went through, briefly, of "One of the parents goes to pick up takeout."

Pros:

• One parent gets to escape the squawking
• We eat something more exciting than what's in the fridge/freezer 

Cons:

• The other parent is stuck home with two squirrely babies
• The leftovers will still be waiting for us to eat them later
• If I don't eat now (Salmonista), it's going to mess up our walk schedule, and Baby A is already on the verge of a meltdown

And that's just the daily dinner dance! Sometimes I am better about planning ahead for meals. Not so much lately. Working on that...we have a dinner menu on the whiteboard for this week!

Choir Considerations
How about something more complicated? Like, say, should I start singing in the church choir regularly again?

The facts:

• Choir practice is each Wednesday evening, 6:15-8:00pm
• Early arrival to church required on Sunday morning for choir rehearsal & warm ups

Childcare options for Weds.

• At church (not even sure this is an option in the summer?). The boys would then go to bed at least an hour later than usual, and who knows, they might be too hyper to sleep till super late. Could result in unpleasant Thursdays...
• At home, which means DF is doing the bedtime routine solo. I know he's already tired after a long day at work, and the evening hours are usually the most intense with the babies. 

Sunday AM thoughts

• Can we really manage to get ourselves out the door even earlier than usual on Sunday morning? 

After all that, we look at our situation and wonder, is it even worth it? What is to be gained by me participating in choir regularly? Singing is supposed to be good for your brain; maybe it will prevent me from getting dementia in my later years. DF and the boys would appreciate that, I'm sure! Also, it's fun and I like chatting with my fellow choir members. But is the social outlet for me worth all the extra hassle and potential stress with the kiddos? Then I ask myself, does anyone else in the choir have young children? I can't think of anyone...perhaps that is a sign.

Visiting Brazil, Briefly
Sometimes, we weigh the pros and cons and decide that, indeed, we will leave the house and try to do something. Everything is just so different when you do it with two babies. I think I'm still adjusting to that reality.

Example: a couple weekends ago, there was a Brazilian festival happening at Overton Park. You know DF and I are all over the festival scene! (Or at least, we used to be.) We have been itching to get out and flap our festival wings again. So we decided to attempt it with the babies. They stay awake for a good chunk of time in the middle of the day now between naps. After they woke up from their morning nap, we gave them a bottle then hopped in the van. We managed to find a parking place without too much effort. Ooh, must be a good sign! Things were going our way! We got the boys all settled in their stroller and set out to enjoy the festivities.

Within minutes, we realized it was a lot different than going to a festival by ourselves. It's hard to navigate with a long double stroller through crowds over bumpy grass. There was lots of noisy music going on, which the babies did not like. They also did not approve of the weather - it was sunny and hot without much of a breeze. We found a shady area and let them crawl around on a blanket while we ate some Brazilian food. Then we walked around and looked at the booths. Since none of the activities involved rolling around on the ground or eating Cheerios, the babies weren't really interested in the options provided. After maybe an hour, they were looking really grouchy and growing increasingly discontent. We headed home. I sang "The Girl From Ipanema" to entertain them in the car, or at least as much of it as I could remember. They were not impressed. I sang "BINGO" instead. They liked that one better.

So, was it worth it for us to go to this festival? On the one hand, we did get to try some new foods and hear interesting music. The babies didn't necessarily enjoy it, but they didn't have a total screaming meltdown, either. If we want them to be adventurous kids who like trying new things and learning about other cultures, we have to start somewhere, right? But I couldn't help but think, they probably would've preferred staying home, crawling up and down the hallway and chewing on their old, familiar rattles. Hmmm...

What I Like About Memphis

Now that I've lived in Memphis over 2 years, I'll share with you some things I've come to appreciate about this city.

The food
Oh, the food! Southern cuisine has a delicious reputation for a reason, y'all. So much fried goodness! And even some non-fried options. Among my favorite restaurants are Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken, Casablanca (Mediterranean/Middle Eastern), and One & Only BBQ. Since moving here, I've also discovered banana pudding, fried okra, and boiled greens, and they are all wonderful! I'm often glad that I'm not a vegetarian because so many items here are made with pork (ham), including veggie side dishes.

Fall
I can't say I like the weather year-round in Memphis (summers get a bit oppressive), but fall is pretty much the perfect season. The days are pleasant and sometimes crisp, the leaves change slowly and artistically, and most of the time, the sun shines brightly. There are lots of festivals and outdoor events in September/October, plus football games galore.

Southern Culture
I've really enjoyed living in a new culture within the United States. Before I moved to the South, I didn't know that many southerners and the ones I did know I mostly met in DC nearly a decade ago. Now that we've lived here for awhile I feel like I understand the South a lot better. I'm not saying I understand all of it or the centuries of history that exist here, but I've figured out how to leave a gathering, that I shouldn't try to rely on public transportation, and the many uses of y'all. I like how people are so friendly here. It's not strange to make small talk with random passers-by; in fact, it's kind of expected.

Music
We haven't gotten out to many live shows in Memphis, but the music we have caught has been great. I also love the musical heritage of this city with BB King, Johnny Cash, and all the other legends who've made a name for themselves here. We've got tons of museums to document this part of history.

Positive Attitudes
This one certainly is not universal across the region, but I like the people who have a can-do, pro-Memphis attitude. Sure, the city has its issues, but it's not without hope and bright spots. Some of my favorites are the I Love Memphis blog and Choose 901. Once I emerge from the fog of newborn-hood, I hope to get back into volunteering and do my part to help improve the city, too.


File under: NaBloPoMo Day 17