Memphis tommorow thru Saturday (Central, Gibson: hotel, purchase, casinos)

[harpoonalt]

First time visitor. Adventurous couple in our 50's . Anything special going on? Looking forward to blues, brews, and BBQ!

[Bowyer]

You may want to do a search on the Delta Fair. It's.....well, a fair, but it may be worth checking out. Enjoy your stay.

[My_home_town]

Welcome to Memphis. Yes as mentioned there is the annual fair going on at the Ag Center. It's nice and all, but for your love of music, look to downtown. There you'll find Beale Street with it's live blues, adult beverages and food.

Other things to do:

Of course you should visit Graceland. If you like, do all the museums including his cars, his planes etc. I've lived here my whole life and have now been through Graceland 3 times. Once through all the museums. Across the street are all the souvenir shops.

Take a trip to Sun Studios, Stax Records and the Rock and Soul Museum. Check out the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel. Head over to Overton Park in the heart of the city. There you will find The Memphis Zoo, always a top 10 Zoo in the country. While there you can visit the Brooks Museum, oldest in the state, and later in the evening, depending on the night there is live music at the Lovett Shell.

Food . . . ahhhhh BBQ. While downtown you'll want to eat at The Rendezvous. Then head to The Peabody Hotel either at 11am or 5pm to watch the duck parade. My personal favorite for bbq is Central BBQ on Central. While in the area check out Cooper-Young. It's filled with food and shops and is a great place to wander. for lunch one day eat at the Young Avenue Deli in C-Y. They have been highly rated for their french fries. Yum!

Also while downtown, be sure to stop by the Gibson Guitar factory. If you can, take the tour. It's really something to see.

If you have a few bucks left in your pocket and want to gamble, you can head south about 30 minutes to the Casinos. Harrahs is the first stop. They have all the Vegas action you could want. Or, if you'd like to bet on the dogs, cross over the Mississippi River in to Arkansas and visit Southland Greyhound park and gaming.

Have a blast while you're here.

[harpoonalt]

Thanks for the info....off to the airport! See ya soon .......

[harpoonalt]

Well, we're back in Vermont and resting up from vacation. Memphis was an experience for sure. We stayed at the Westin which worked out perfect for us. Gibson factory was right next door and although the tour was short, it was great to see where my next guitar will come from and the people who build them. Graceland was fun and interesting even though I'm not a huge Elvis fan. Sun studios, rock and soul museum, and the mojo tour were great! The Lorraine Motel was very moving.Just a lot to do.
If I can say anything about Memphis, it's that your musical talent is deep. I was blown away by the amount and quality of the music. Beale street had bands playing that rival some of the best I've ever heard. The nightly music alone is a reason to visit for any music fan. What I'm not sure of is the amount of police and security we saw on Beale. We never saw anything remotely out of line and felt very safe. During the day we walked down to the Arcade for Breakfast and my wife was a bit nervous but more because of the lack of people around, not for anything else. Big fan of biscuits and gravy now, grits....not so much. Gus's chicken was good and your catfish is to die for. Chili at the Blue something cafe of Beale was excellent with tamales. Ghost river beer is good but I need an explanation as to the fascination with Blue Moon? We did find the flying saucer with 77 beers on tap which was fun on a hot afternoon. Thanks to Allison and lacey for making us laugh and pointing us towards some tremendous beer choices.
We changed some plans due to the 90+ heat while we were there. It was hot. But,
All in all it was a great trip. Special thanks to Andrea, our shuttle driver from the airport, who helped us find things and gave us great advice, the trolley drivers who made me laugh as they each had their own characters (happy retirement), Allison and Lacey who certainly know beer and were great kids as well, The superb musicians of Memphis, Big Al who got us to Megabus on time, and to Gus for some of the best fried Chicken I've ever had! I'd come back for the music alone. Thanks Memphis!

[Tigertate]

I'm very glad you all had a good time.

[My_home_town]

Nice read. So glad you you enjoyed your stay. Now about that new guitar . . . how many will that make in your collection?

[harpoonalt]

My collection after the next purchase will total 2..........lol........... I started playing about 2 years ago at the ripe old age of 52 and have an Ibanez that has served me well. My friends are rock and roll but My heart is into the blues. After the Gibson tour, I have my heart set on a nice hollow body. They were absolutely beautiful and it was cool to actually see the people who make them. Not so sure they liked my renditon of " dueling banjos" in the Gibson store though .

[bjh]

There is awesome live music to be found and you only have to walk down Beale to find it.

[My_home_town]

Originally Posted by harpoonalt

My collection after the next purchase will total 2..........lol........... I started playing about 2 years ago at the ripe old age of 52 and have an Ibanez that has served me well. My friends are rock and roll but My heart is into the blues. After the Gibson tour, I have my heart set on a nice hollow body. They were absolutely beautiful and it was cool to actually see the people who make them. Not so sure they liked my renditon of " dueling banjos" in the Gibson store though .

Hahaha! I hear ya. The last time I was in the store, I pulled down an old flattop and gave it my best, which turned out to be my worst. I'm such a guitar hacker, but I do enjoy playing music.

You'll have a nice goal ahead of you. Saving up to find the perfect hollow body Gibson. If you don't have to have one built for you here, there's plenty of nice ones priced well on ebay. Just be sure the seller is reputable. I've stopped collecting guitars for a while. Now I'm on a drum kick. "whatever it takes", right?

Good luck and again glad you guys had fun here.

Cheers, ron