{"id":13745,"date":"2024-09-27T16:43:32","date_gmt":"2024-09-27T16:43:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=13745"},"modified":"2024-09-27T16:43:32","modified_gmt":"2024-09-27T16:43:32","slug":"memphis-blues-beale-street-and-barbecue-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/27\/memphis-blues-beale-street-and-barbecue-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Memphis \u2013 Blues, Beale Street and Barbecue"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Fletcher Word<\/strong><\/em>
\nThe Truth Editor<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

On the banks of the Mississippi lies a treasure \u2013 a lot of treasures actually \u2013 but this particular treasure is Memphis, Tennessee. And Memphis is the cradle, if not the birthplace, for American music of all kinds \u2013particularly blues, soul and rock n roll!<\/p>\n

When you visit Memphis, stay in the downtown area, as close to the river as possible. Visitors for decades have chatted up the Peabody \u2013 the iconic, classy Memphis hotel where one can watch the ducks parade across the lobby at Happy Hour.<\/p>\n

The Peabody is delightful and the ducks are charming, but I\u2019m going to suggest that a visitor check out the Big Cypress Lodge, right on the river. The Big Cypress, owned and operated by Bass Pro Shops, is contained within a pyramid that is sizeable enough to have once been a basketball stadium for college teams. The rooms are spacious, the indoor facilities are entertaining, the rooftop restaurant is breathtaking.<\/p>\n

But after you settle into your hotel room, wherever that may be, the city of Memphis is open for a tour \u2013 a musical tour. Take a trip to the Stax Museum and see where Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Sam & Dave, The Staple Singers, All Green, Ike & Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin and a host of others brought \u201cthe sweet sound of soul music\u201d to the world.<\/p>\n

Then stop by Sun Studio \u2013 \u201cThe Birthplace of Rock n Roll\u201d \u2013 and tour the site where music legends \u201cblended blues & country music to explode in the \u2018big bang of rock n roll.\u2019\u201d B.B. King. Howlin\u2019 Wolf and Ike Turner showed up first before Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison arrived to create the dominant music of the second half of the 20th<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n

Beale Street beckons. Restaurants, bars and, above all, music, particularly the blues. Park your car on a side street \u2013 actually, you have to because only pedestrians can get onto Beale Street – and stroll down the entertainment center of Memphis, drinking in the ambiance.<\/p>\n

Head to B.B. King\u2019s Blues Club, the SugaShack, Silky O\u2019Sullivan\u2019s or Handy\u2019s Blues Hall on Beale Street, to name a few establishments. The fun is also out on the street walking from place to place, drink in hand (the only place in Tennessee where you are permitted to do so). There are few spots in the country like Beale Street for activity or excitement.<\/p>\n

If you are lucky enough to strike up a conversation during your visit with locals, ask them if they have any good barbecue in town \u2026 and stand back quick and wait for the explosion. There are, according to locals, no other place in the nation for barbecue \u2013 a Texas or North Carolina, for example \u2013notwithstanding.<\/p>\n

Memphis, you will be told, is barbecue heaven. The only question is what kind of barbecue do you want \u2013 wet ribs (with sauce, that is) or dry ribs (the dry rub recipe popularized over the decades in town and around the country by Charlie Vergos\u2019 Rendezvous Restaurant)? And it\u2019s only ribs and pulled pork that is real barbecue, you will be told, not that silly beef brisket they do in Texas.<\/p>\n

Cozy Corner or Central BBQ are several of the names that will pop up and both are worth it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Good food and great music \u2026 more than enough to make a visit to Memphis worthwhile. But there\u2019s more<\/p>\n

There are two historic and very different landmarks to attract a diverse group of visitors. Sites that commemorate iconic figures who are as different as two such figures could possibly be. The place where Elvis lived \u2013 Graceland \u2013 and the place where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. died \u2013 the Lorraine Motel.<\/p>\n

Attached to the Lorraine Motelotel is the National Civil Rights Museum. Through interactive exhibits, historic collections, dynamic speakers and special events, the museum offers visitors a chance to walk through history and learn more about a tumultuous and inspiring period of change.<\/p>\n

And the Museum is right next door to a Central BBQ restaurant where you can munch on some ribs and head back towards the hotel, walk along the banks of the Mississippi and watch the sun set before heading over to Beale Street and hear some folks \u201csinging the blues in the night.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Fletcher Word The Truth Editor On the banks of the Mississippi lies a treasure \u2013 a lot of treasures actually \u2013 but this particular treasure is Memphis, Tennessee. And Memphis is the cradle, if not the birthplace, for American music of all kinds \u2013particularly blues, soul and rock n roll! When you visit Memphis, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[255],"class_list":["post-13745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13745"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13746,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13745\/revisions\/13746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13745"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=13745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}