THE COCKTAIL HOUR: Hillbilly Lemonade

Summer's at it's hottest so we need some drinks to take the edge off of the heat.

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Here's my version of this out back, sit-by-some-grilling meat, refreshing crowd pleaser.  At only 150 calories, it also fits in with our goal of drinks that won't go straight to your gut...but still are full-service cocktails!

INGREDIENTS (one drink)

1.5 oz. bourbon (whisky or scotch can also be used)
Juice of 2 lemons
Juice of 1 lime
1 oz. simple syrup (2 tbls. of sugar can be substituted)
1-2 oz. water (optional if needed to fill the glass)

To do it right, you should have a majon jar.  If not, use a cocktail shaker.  Fill your jar or shaker about half full of ice.  Put all ingredients in and shake...put just enough water in to make sure you have a full glass.  Strain into a tumbler completely filled with ice.  Garnish with a wedge of lemon, lime, or orange.

Cheers!

-Darryl

Tennessee Touring: Welcome to Nashville

(Please read our Covid 19 Statement first - Ed) After driving halfway across the state, we pull into our hotel...the Hyatt Place Opryland...just across the street from the massive, Gaylord Opryland hotel.

We're feeling sick. I caught a cold in Tupelo and, despite my efforts, Letty and Tim caught it from me.

A little taste of the town is in order so we head downtown. My first surprise is parking.  The lots here do not advertise their rates on their signs. I find out why. A lot a block south of Broadway, after I pull in, park, unload Tim, and go to the kiosk to pay, turns out to be $25.

We head to the Johnny Cash museum around the corner. It's nice to see. A $12 AAA discounted admission for each of us gets us in.

We see a lot of his suits and dresses worn by his wife, June Carter Cash.

There are videos about his life, hand written lyrics, awards, and gold records.

His favorite guitars and paintings done by the man in black.

And ending with the mixing board used by Cash and Rick Rubin to record the American series of albums at the end of his life while a video of "Hurt" plays nearby.

I probably would have enjoyed it more had I not been sick but the place was crowded and cramped.

In fact, the whole city was crowded and cramped. Thousands had descended on Nashville because of the George Jones tribute concert that would be going on tonight at the Bridgestone Arena, up the street.

Walking down Broadway, it was chilly and crowded. All the people and neon made the city live up to it's nickname of "Nash Vegas" due to it's resemblance to Las Vegas.

I hate Las Vegas.

The sickness, crowds, cold weather, and the fast draining hole in my wallet were wearing on me.

We ducked into Ernest Tubb's record shop to get out of the cold and browse the selections.

I was beginning to think after four pretty wonderful days in Memphis that we might have made a mistake coming here for the bulk of our trip.

In the back of the store on a very small stage, an older gentleman on guitar with a younger woman singer started to play. I heard someone ask the store clerk, "is that Leon Rhodes?" The clerk assured him it was.

Rhodes is a certifiable country star. He was Ernest Tubb's lead guitar player in the band The Texas Troubadors. The woman was Anita Stapleton, a much in demand backup singer here.

We stuck around to hear them play a few songs.  In between songs, I snuck in with Tim to get the picture with the musicians you see above.

After Letty took the picture, I feel a tap on my shoulder. Maybe Mr. Rhodes could feel my blue and depressed demeanor. When I turned around, he simply smiled at me,and stuck out his hand for a handshake.

It was at that point that I felt everything would be ok.

Welcome to Nashville.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Tennessee Touring: On the Elvis Trail, from End to The End.

(Please read our Covid 19 Statement first - Ed) The 600 pound gorilla in the Memphis, Tennessee tourist agenda is of course, The King.  We've been on the Elvis Trail, starting with his birth in Tupelo, Mississippi; through to his breakthrough with Sam Phillips at Sun Studio; and now to where he lived and ended it all.

Of course, we're talking about his home in south Memphis, Graceland.

Before we left, a friend of mine said he was in Memphis but passed on Graceland because of the cost. It is kind of breathtaking that, even with the AAA discount, it was $99 for the three of us but it really is a once in a lifetime thing, so we'll bite the bullet and take it in.

Note: (prices have almost double...starting at $59 for adults before discount...since our trip - Ed)

We decided to "enhance" our experience even more by moving our last night to the Heartbreak Hotel, a themed lodging across the street adjacent to the visitor's center that is also owned by the same company.

A king suite here was just a few dollars more than the Springhill Suites we were staying at the last few nights but the hotel was a bit run down and looked as it had not been renovated since Elvis' death. The lounge (The Jungle Room) was a bit pathetic and the food choices very uninspiring. 

On the plus side, they show Elvis movies 24/7 on the TV's here...

(NOTE: The Heartbreak Hotel has since closed and been replaced with a new hotel, The Guesthouse at Graceland - Ed)

After check-in, we head over to the visitor's center, cash in the reservation we bought online, and head outside.  We're across the street from the house so visitors board shuttle buses (which have wheelchair lifts and tie-downs) for the short trip across the street, though the famous music note gates, and up to the front door.

A quick spiel about the history of the house and then you're turned loose inside with your headphones and audio tour. This is always a bit of a pain in the butt for me because Tim can never quite punch in the right code for the proper part of the tour so I'm fixing his errors, trying to get my audio back to match his, and then continue with the tour.

We get by.

You start in the foyer (which is directly under the spot where Elvis died upstairs but they don't tell you that on the tour) and view the living room with its fifteen foot long couch on the right.

Then, it's on to his parents bedroom down the hall, past the staircase (upstairs is strictly off limits), and into the dining room.

A large, dated kitchen is after that. Now, Tim gets to wait upstairs while Letty and I take turns to go down in the basement to see the rec room and bar. Tim watches a video of the same thing in the car port.

Next is the famous Jungle Room with a waterfall, animal skins and theme. It's basically a large family room.

Outside, you go past Lisa Marie's swingset and into the offices of Elvis Enterprises where his dad, Vernon, used to take care of the business side of things.

On the end of this building is an old smokehouse that was converted into a shooting range.

Past the horse pasture is the trophy room where hundreds of gold and platinum records hang on the wall.

More exhibits about Elvis in the Army and his short marriage to Priscilla. 

The last day of his life, he played raquetball in his own personal court where it has now been converted to a large display room showing more gold and platinum records plus a selection of the outfits he wore onstage. 

Outside, by the pool is the final stop on the tour which is also Elvis' final stop...the memorial garden.

Here, he rests eternally next to the graves of his mom, his dad, and his grandmother.

Back on the shuttle, Letty comments that it was smaller than expected. Indeed, the house would just barely qualify as a mansion in some places but it was a different time with different expectations.

It's back to the hotel after touring the planes and the gift shops before heading out for dinner.

Dinner time and the pickin's are slim around Graceland. Instead, a better bet is to head back downtown for some Memphis barbecue. We're heading to Charles Vergo's Rendezvous. Walking by the Peabody Hotel, one of the city's homeless citizens asks where we're from and if we've had dinner yet.

We tell him we're going to the Rendezvous and he directs us to an alley half a block away.  Indeed, this lonely alley is the entrance.

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Our Dinner at The Rendezvous

The restaurant is mostly downstairs with another room upstairs. Nothing is at the level of the entrance. Fortunately, the hostess sends Bob the busboy to escort us to a nearby elevator where we make the journey through the bowels of the restaurant to our table.

While trying to decide between all the pork ribs, chicken, sausage and such, our server tells us they are having a special.

"You're here during Memphis Dine week. We have a special, two brisket dinners with beer for $20.13."

Sounds good. We order that plus a plate of pork ribs.  The food is indeed special, especially the brisket. It's moist...which is the problem I have with most versions, they're too dry...and have a great smoky flavor. 

I tell Bob I love them and he says he thinks the pork ribs are even better. They are very good, tender, and flavorful but I still have to give the edge to the brisket.

One more night in the disappointing Heartbreak Hotel and our too short time in Memphis is over. In the morning, we'll be heading east on Interstate 40 towards "Music City," Nashville.

We'll see you there.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: Whiskey, Women, and Song

Well, two out of three isn't bad. You can find the song over at our sister blog, "Musick's Music." The whiskey is below.

Tim and I have had requests to do a whiskey tasting for the Cocktail Hour. This week, we come through.

We're tasting four reasonably priced spirits plus a very popular guest star.

Watch the Video!

We start with Rebel Yell, a straight Kentucky bourbon from Louisville. It's smooth and tasty. We'll use that as our base to compare the other three. Rebel Yell is available from Trader Joe's in the$11-12 range.

Our first comparison is White Rabbit from the good people of Lynchburg, Tennessee at the Jack Daniel's distillery.  It's also very tasty and smooth. Smoother that the classic Jack Daniels, if I'm remembering right.

Next, it's Red and Blackie...Johnnie Walker Red and Black labels. Although the Black is aged 12 years, we didn't enjoy either as much as the first two.

As for the special guest? You'll have to watch the video above for that one.

Cheers!

Darryl

Tennessee Touring: Memphis - Martin and Elvis

(Please read our Covid 19 Statement first - Ed) Previously on our Tennesse tour...Part 1 and Part 2

It's another trolley ride south on Main Street in Memphis Tennessee. After a run at the breakfast bar at the Springhill Suites, we're off to see the National Civil Rights Museum.

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Built around the Lorraine Motel, a Black-friendly lodging back in the Jim Crow days, the complex includes the motel where Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4, 1968 while standing in front of his room, and the building across the street where James Earl Ray stuck his rifle through the bathroom window to get a clear shot.

It's another sad, depressing...but important...stop travelers need to make. After years of oppression, bigotry, and prejudice, Dr. King's efforts at equality led to some remarkable remaking of southern and American society. His death here in Memphis only made the movement stronger.

Entering through a underground tunnel, you are ushered into a theater for a 10 minute introduction to Dr. King and his legacy that runs on a loop. Once you're done with that, you head upstairs for exhibits and a timeline of the events of that April 4th. At the end of the timeline, you find yourself standing at a reproduction of Ray's bedroom and bathroom.

Only it isn't a reproduction. 

Once you read the signs and get your bearings, you realize that tunnel led you into the old boarding house and you are looking at the actual bedroom and bathroom, sealed in glass, as they were left that day.

After some more exhibits about the investigation, the trial, and other assassinations, you wander back outside and visit the motel itself where you can walk up to room 306, look in, and stand in the spot where Dr. King fell, marked by a wreath.



It's sad but whenever we visit somber monuments like this, we have to focus on the good things that resulted from it.

Another trolley takes us to a happier historic site, the birthplace of rock 'n roll.

It's on the corner of Union and Myrtle, on the western edge of downtown Memphis. This small, brick building holds Sam Phillips' Memphis Recording Service, also the home of his record label, Sun Studios.

A DJ in the early fifties, Phillips would hire himself out to record things...birthday parties, weddings, funerals...much like videographers do today.  You could also come to his studio and rent time or even cut a quick demo record.

Many Black groups in the day would come in because they new Phillips loved the sound of African American blues. Ike Turner and Jackie Brenston came up from Mississippi to record. One of their amps fell off the car, damaging it a bit, on the way. Recording with the amp gave the guitar a slightly fuzzy sound and guitar distortion was discovered that day.

The song they recorded, "Rocket 88," is considered the first rock 'n roll song.

It wouldn't be long before a local teenage truck driver named Elvis Presley would come in to record and hang around which, eventually, led Sam Phillips to invite him in. Not moved by Presley's slow, melodic gospels songs, a frustrated Phillips called for a break during which Elvis, playing around with his band mates, knocked out a killer version of "That's Alright," which Sam came back in to immediately put to vinyl. 

The rest, as they say, is history.

Today, the studio is still in business. Mostly for tourists during the day and for musicians at night.  The tour itself is half accessible. The first half goes upstairs. Wheelchair users will have to wait in the lounge for that part but are not charged admission.

Upstairs, you get to see that broken guitar amp that Ike Turner used, numerous Elvis memorabilia, and some ancient recording gear.

Downstairs, the second half of the tour is exclusively a one-room shot, but what a room it is. In the studio, outtakes are played from 50's recording sessions, the tour guide points out where Elvis stood when he was recording, the "dollar in the guitar string" trick Johnny Cash used to get his unique sound, how the Million Dollar Quartet came to be, and much more.

A pickup band made up of tourists are put together to re-enact Elvis recording "That's Alright"...Tim got to be the King for that one (see it in the video, above).

At the end, the microphone used by Elvis is brought out and everybody gets their chance to pose with it.

You do really feel the history here, both at Sun Studios and the Lorraine Motel. One is a celebration of uninhibitedness, while the other is more somber but it led to some great and hopeful changes to our nation.

It's been a long day and we've been on our feet for all of it. To get a rest and relax a bit, we head to the Peabody Hotel to sit, have a cup of coffee in the lobby, and check out a real duck dynasty.

In the 1930's, the hotel's manager...after a little imbibing...thought it'd be funny to leave some live ducks in the lobby fountain.  The next morning, probably with a bit of a headache, he thought better of it and went to the lobby to retrieve the ducks.  A crowd had formed and he knew he had a hit on his hands.

A bellman who used to be a circus trainer volunteered to train the birds and, ever since, they have lived on the roof of the hotel. Each morning, they take a private elevator and are marched to the fountain.  At 5:00pm, the duckmaster...with an honored hotel guest...retrieves the fowl, marches them back to the elevator to the tunes of a Souza march, and back to the roof.

This is known as the Peabody March of the Ducks and we're here just in time for it.

If you get a table in the lobby like we did, the staff make sure to keep your view clear. Other, less fortunate visitors have to squeeze in by the elevator behind velvet ropes. Children are allowed to sit in front on the floor. People in wheelchairs, like Tim, are ushered to their own privileged front row viewing area.

It doesn't last long but it's still a hoot to see.

As the ducks go, so do we. Next time, we'll have some great barbecue and continue our journey along the Elvis Trail.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved 

ACCESSIBLE ATTRACTIONS: Memphis, Tennessee

Our ratings are...

Fully Accessible - You can access all of the attraction, with no problem, in any type of wheelchair.

Mostly Accessible - You can access most of the attraction, and all of the important parts of it, with your wheelchair.

Partially Accessible - You can access a good deal of the attraction but some parts are inaccessible and some important parts you'll miss.

Inaccessible - Kind of speaks for itself, avoid if you're in a wheelchair.

Here's Memphis, Tennessee...

Trolleys - Fully Accessible. We enjoyed Memphis a bit more than Nashville and the old trolleys are accessible, making it very easy to get around.

Sun Studios - Partially Accessible. Wheelchairs can't go up to the upstairs displays but as a consolation, you get to wait without the crowds in the tiny recording studio that launched the careers of Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Ike Turner, Jerry Lee Lewis, and many more. This was our favorite attraction of our entire Tennessee trip.

Graceland - Partially Accessible. You'll see most of the house but you'll have to skip the basement rec room and the Jungle Room. The planes on display at the ticketing center are also not accessible.

Civil Rights Museum - Fully Accessible. This must see and moving museum complex at the motel where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated is very friendly to wheelchair users, including a purpose built ramp up to the balcony of room 304.

Peabody Hotel - Fully Accessible. Not for the rooms but make sure you come here at 5:00pm to see the March of the Ducks. Wheelchair users are escorted to the front of the crowd for the best seats in the house.

Beale Street - Mostly Accessible. The clubs here are great for live music. Do not miss.

Darryl
Copyright 2015 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved.

Tennessee Touring: Dining and Drinking in Memphis

(Please read our Covid 19 Statement first - Ed) Now that we're properly settled in to our comfy room at the Springhill Suites in downtown Memphis, it's time to do a little exploring.

Tonight, we're catching the old, wheelchair accessible trolley from the front of our hotel and heading to Beale Street.

Watch the Video!

Actually, we could have walked. It's only six blocks but being after dark in a strange city, it seemed prudent to take transportation instead.

Beale Street is justifiably world famous for all the bars and nightclubs lining a three-block stretch in downtown.  Live music is the norm here and each club has speakers out front so you can hear what the band sounds like before you go in. It's like auditioning each club before you commit.

First, we need to eat. Tim had heard about Dyer's and stipulated we must eat at least one meal there.

Dyer's is your basic diner. Although they sell balogna sandwiches, hot dogs, salads, and more, it's the burgers that are their claim to fame.

Actually, strike that...it's their grease that is their claim to fame.

Open 101 years at the time of this visit in 2013, they have never thrown away the grease and continue to use it each day. At the end of the evening, the grease is filtered, put in a metal can, and locked in a safe. The next day, it is taken out, put in a large frying pan, and put to use frying the different meats here.

The burgers are deep fried in that grease.  Yes, its sounds gross and is not the healthiest thing you can put in your body but this will be a once-in-a-lifetime event for us.  

The patties are small so Tim and I double up and get double cheeseburgers. I opt for some deep-fried onions on mine also.

They are very juicy or greasy, depending on your view, but they are also very delicious.  We have some fries on the side, which are not cooked in the old grease, and they were just mediocre.

Two doors down is Alfred's on Beale where we drink a few brews and listen to some great, classic rock and roll from a duo that is part of a larger group, Freeworld.  I throw some requests and tips their way which they handle with great musical aplomb.

Between sets, one of the musicians...his name is Andy...comes over and sits at our table. We talk Memphis and Los Angeles music with him for the entire break before he goes up for the next set.

Leaving Alfred's and Freeworld, we cross the corner and end up at Rum Boogie, which has hosted the likes of Billy Joel, AC/DC, Kenny Loggins, Marty Stuart, and many more. Tonight, it's Darren Jay and the Delta Souls pumping out some great blues while we sip some more of Beale's finest.

As we watch til the end of the set, it's a great night of greasy burgers, rock 'n roll, and some great Delta blues.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved