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BARBECUES, BLUES AND MISSISSIPPI
(May, 2001)
It would be hard for me to write about my Southern trip this spring
without gushing (you've been warned :)))) Memphis is about 400 miles from Tolono, Illinois or about 7 hours drive from my
friend Sally's house which is my homebase for this entire month of May . Sally and I left shortly before 7 a.m. and set off
with a thermos of black coffee, packs of cigarette, and her collection of Everly Brothers, Credence Clearwater, and a lot
of 60s music --some of which we sang along with. After four hours of driving, we crossed the Mississippi river which separates
Illinois and Missouri. Sally then warned me, "okay, be prepared to see nothing" funny when Missouri is supposed
to be the "Show-Me State" but there was really nothing much but flatlands-- not even a single mountain or hill in
sight.
Our hotel was located in West Memphis, Arkansas which was a 15 minute-drive from downtown Memphis. After
we unloaded our luggages, we didn't waste time to explore the city known worldwide as the "Home of the Blues and Birthplace
of Rock n'Roll" and some musicologists call "the holy ground of American music." There's so much to be said
about that claim; Memphis produced more than 120 Top 20 hits!! Our first stop was the Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum located
in the Beale Street entertainment district. In partnership with the Smithsonian institute, the museum offers a century-long
retrospective on the origin of blues, soul and rock 'n' roll. I was amazed at the dazzling chronology of rebellious hearts
and echoes that shaped the "Memphis sound." While there, Sally and I listened to the original music (hand-written
lyrics), saw the genuine instruments (B.B. King's famous guitar "Lucille" which is a hollow-body Gibson; the piano
where the famous R&B, soul musician Ike Turner first learned how to play, etc) and countless artifacts (Grand Ole Opry
memorabilia) for music that changed the world. So, there I was donning a headset (which were provided to guests by the museum)
completely unprepared but pleasantly surprised to be treated to a whole raft of tuneful discoveries as I ran across them,
including the hillbilly music, as country music was called then--the same tunes that musicians used to play at fiddler's contests,
tent shows, parties, fairs and on street corners in the 1920s. Also, at the museum, you can actually listened to even the
most rare of songs by Elvis Presley, Ottis Redding, B.B. King, Jerry Lee Lewis and all the other musical legends. I had to
control myself not to sing out too loud while listening to Al Green's "Let's Stay Together"-- one of the songs which
Roel and I used to listen to and sang along with on one of those lazy Sunday afternoons at my old apartment in Cebu.
The vintage jukeboxes were fascinating, too, which Sally pointed out were synonymous with the soda fountain, hamburger
stand and teenagers in the 50s. Funny because my association with jukeboxes is always with that carenderia which is easily
metarmophized into a bar at the corner of P.del Rosario and Don Pedro Cui streets which is now an office/school supplies store
beside the Sun.Star building.
From the museum, we headed to the most historic, musical street in the world--Beale
Street, home of the blues (they get more than 4.5 million visitors a year) and was surprised at how short a stretch of a road
it actually is. It's probably about only a block and a half long. I thought it was much longer than that. But the nightclubs,
shops and restaurants were there alright. And oh yes, the live music. Sally and I walked up and down the street and camera-freaks
that we are, probably took about a hundred pictures from each nook and corner. It was all so fascinating and sometimes beyond
description--just standing there, listening to the southern-raised blues and jazz performers playing the music of their souls
straight from their guitar or saxophone case. Oh, it was a real magical experience.
We finally ended up at the
far end of the street, to the Rum Boogie Cafe which is supposedly famous for their "down home cookin' and down home blues."
The place was very crowded even as early as 5 o'clock in the afternoon when we sat in the bar and ordered us some beer. I
was impressed with their extensive drinks' list but we wanted something a little different, so I asked for a Rolling Rock
beer, supposedly an extra pale premium beer and Sally had a beer called Cider Jack. We were both a little disappointed because
it didn't really taste anything. Anyway, there were these two guys who were seated next to us who started a conversation and
before we knew it, they were buying us our drinks. But that will be another story there. But Sally got her Miller Light and
I got my Corona :))
We did enjoy the sampling of the southern cookin' :)))) Sally ordered some fried catfish which
were so good and I had BBQ ribs which were slow-cooked outside over hickory wood --equally yummy! Later in the evening, we
listened to a blues band but stayed in our seats as we had nobody to dance with. But really, the Rum Boogie was something
else. It houses some of Memphis' most prized music memorabilia and a lot of autographed guitars from some of the great performers
in the music industry that include Stevie Ray Vaughan, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top and other musical greats that I am supposed
to know but don't :))
The following day, we did the Graceland tour and visited all the attractions for three hours.While
I am not much of an Elvis fan, I still enjoyed it: the mansion, Elvis custom jets, his auto museum. etc, Equally fascinating
and informative was the trip to Mud Island River Park which can be reached through a Swiss-made monorail. After reading and
listening to songs about the Mississippi river, it was exciting to finally get to experience the river's history and culture.There,
at the island, is a permanent outdoor exhibit of the river with an exact scale model of the lower Mississippi River(the third
longest river in the world next only to the Nile and the Amazon!)
From there, we took to the highway again through
the rich flatlands, into historic river towns and onto Tunica, Mississippi. I wanted to make a sidetrip to Oxford (about
an hour drive away) to see the stately home of novelist William Faulkner but Sally pleaded tired from all the driving so we
had to cancel that :(((
In Tunica, we made a beeline for a $10 buffet. I feasted on more barbecues and corn bread
and southern cook fried chicken and made a few rounds at the casino. And guess what, reluctant gambler that I am, I hit it
big with a $500 winnings from a penny slot machine! I didn't really want to waste anything to that machiine but Sally shoved
a handful of tokens and the first time I put those coins in there--wow, voila ---500 bucks!! Is that good luck or what!
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