"Graceland"

Not up so early today, just a little too much to drink made us sleep a little too well. Anyway this town doesn't do early. The music at the Blues City cafe was excellent and they serve some very good cocktails. Once up it was off to find somewhere for breakfast, need to start the engine again and clear the pipes.

Find this little place, all revitalised now...

Same place at night, great neon signs here

Our first stop of the day, a must when in Memphis, not too busy either.

What a front room...

The Jungle room.... A lot the rooms have carpet on the wall & ceilings...

Took lots of pic's but taking forever to download to the Blog !!!

On the way back from Graceland, it blew just after this pic was taken...

Our next stop, this where it all started.... Mixing of Blues & Country to get Rock and Roll...
This place well worth a visit, music still being made here and the decor hasn't changed since the 50's

The young lady was showing us how Johnny Cash got that drum rhythm effect (drums were not seen as being fitting then, how things have changed), he would wrap a dollar bill around and through the strings, can be seen in the film Walk the Line.

Though it has seen better days the Mic that the King recorded those early hits on

Busy ole day we have, next the one place I wanted to visit, this place is in the middle of Memphis, but where another great sound came from (One of the Greatest...) and mainly made up local talent, the Soul sound, this is Soulsville...

Isaac Hayes Cadillac...

This is a relative new museum on the original site, it is a big covering not just STAX output but all soul (Motown etc). Well worth a visit, just one observation, they need to either have guided tours or audio, there is a lot of reading to do and it does jump from one bit to another and then back again. They have the best selection on gifts than anyone else, spent some money here...
Also adjacent to the museum is new school / college to promote music in general including Soul, a well needed boost for the area as it is a little rundown (an understatement), but don't let that put you off. The people in Memphis have been some of the nicest, even the beggars are very polite.

What a day, back to the Hotel before the evening starts...

If anyone didn't know this Hotel is famous for its Ducks, the daily routine for them, which has become a show in itself.
In the morning the Ducks are escorted from their nighttime home (top of the Building) to the lift, they walk, should I say waddle, they go down in the lift to the lobby where they walk across a special red carpet (just for them) to the indoor fountain where they spend the rest of the day paddling around. Then in the evening it is reversed, a bit of a tourist attraction, we try and see it but we miss it, oh well can't win them all...

This place has been recommend to us by the women who served us coffee at the Oak Tree coffee house & Bistro.

All to do with fishing, excellent food, we both go for the Catfish & Shrimp Combo's.

And I'm afraid we end up at the same place as previous night, the music is excellent, same band, same Johnny Cash numbers plus the history behind them. Again a large amount of

Consumed...

As Alan Jackson says "it's Five o'clock somewhere" "pour me somethin' tall and strong, make it a Hurricane" and so thats What we drank all evening, listening to some mighty fine music.

Tomorrow Nashville....