Wow, what a great time in Memphis last Thurs-this Mon with Catyaq. Hot. Damn! I packed a lotta living into 5 fun days! And it was SO great to get away. Just what the head Dr. ordered. In short I:
Thurs: Was whisked from the Little Rock, AR airport (b/c Southwest doesn't fly to Memphis--what!) to my friends' gig in Memphis at a great little place not even that far from Catyaq's house! We had fried cheese, fried mushrooms, I drank 4 Crowns and Diet Coke (hey I sweated most of it out!) and sat in twice, sang, the whole shmear. I met tons of people, made tons of new friends, tons of pic's were taken, I handed out my business cards left and right, people said they'd put me to work in Memphis and I am praying they do!!!
Fri: Slept late, ahhh, then Catyaq picked me up for lunch and we grubbed seriously at the Flying Saucer. She dropped me off at Target so I could buy some necessities and I had a nice walk from Target around the corner back to her house. I went to the pool and she later joined me when she got off work. Then we went to Wild Bill's juke joint, a totally fun and awesomely down home place! It was the real deal! I got to sit in with the house band, the Soul Survivors, including Archie Turner, Cyndi Lauper's keyboardist on her latest blues album tour!!! We were there til 3 a.m.
Sat: Slept late, ahhh, then I wanted to go eat at Gus' World Famous Fried Chicken as my Houston blues peeps that are in the know have RAVED about it. We had to wait a damn hour but it was quite worth it. Oh quite. Cheap food, hot and plenny of it! W/brownie ala mode after! And a souvenir take-home tumbler to go (I LOVE those things)!
Mosey'd on over to nearby Beale St., walked up and down, took in the sights, took pic's, did some souvenir shopping (I got a cheesy flying-V lighter, yuk yuk) plus my requisite fridge magnet, then it was time to cool off w/drinks at the Peabody hotel lobby bar. It was tres elegant! They brought us snacks and we had wine and it was DIVINE.
Ended the evening on Beale at Silky O'Sullivan's where I drank something called a Silky's cupcake or a Beale St. cupcake or sumpin, but we had to leave b/c the band, while great (including a 7-string bassist!) was totally cover-bandy and cheesy and I couldn't take it after having experienced the pure and beautiful blues rawness of Wild Bill's the night before! B.B. King's had the same cheesiness factor although we did befriend a bartender there. So then we actually headed out and were home by close to midnight which was fine b/c I was ready to just lie down and rest, get some beauty sleep.
Sun: Slept late, ahhh, and it was a rainy, much cooler day. We attempted to eat at the Rendezvous but it's closed on Sun's and Mon's so we went to Blues City Cafe instead which had great ribs! Then we went to Sun Studio, where I'd never actually been (only been outside and it was closed due to inclement icy/cold weather when I was there w/my ex, M., in 2002)! Oh, what a great time. They have a buy 3-get 1 free t-shirt deal, so since I had to buy 3 t's for people mine was essentially free! Being in the studio was amazing. We took tons of pic's natch. It felt holy in there. AWESOME.
Then I actually got to attend a Memphis SLAA meeting, my 1st co-ed but it was fine. I was grateful for the opportunity, believe me.
We wanted dessert after my meeting so we went to Mud Island, specifically the Cafe Eclectic so I could have a cupcake and an apple cider w/whipped cream! We were on our way to West Memphis to see my friend's gig at the Greyhound racetrack, yuk yuk! I hate to gamble but I was convinced to sign up for a free $20 gaming card ("Hey, it's free money!") so I did and after several games I ended up winning a total of $23 on the penny slots so I stopped there, bought 1 drink, then we left after our friends' 1st set in search of fried cheese. We went back to Memphis and tried the Buccaneer but it was just a bar, so we ended up at Huey's where there was a decent blues band playing and most importantly--they had killer fried cheese AND tato skins on the menu! Grub time!!! I asked the band if I could sit in and they were friendly to me, saying "maybe", but after waiting 2 sets it got to be extremely freezing inside the restaurant and Catyaq and I ended up first going outside w/our drinks, then just taking off with them, getting in the car, turning the heat on, and going home! Yuk yuk!
Mon: Got up early to pack and go eat at the Arcade Restaurant, where Jim Jarmusch filmed a scene from one of my fave movies, Mystery Train! We grubbed HARD: chicken fried steak w/eggs and hot chocolate. I took a pic across the street in front of what I believe to be the hotel in the film (will have to confirm but pretty sure), then we headed to the Stax Museum. Boy, if I thought Sun Studio was awesome, Stax also made me equally emotional. It was a beautiful experience I had there as well. Many many pics taken! Then, it was time to drive back to Little Rock so I could catch my 4:30pm flight home.
Whatta weekend. I would love to consider Memphis to be my new home away from home, and with Catyaq's 2-bedroom apt., it is the perfect setup too! I can't wait to return. I have no free weekends until November, but I would love to return again before the end of the year.
Had a great time this past Weds. night, I got called at the last minute to play w/my friends (incl. LDB) at their weekly gig at the Continental Club and although we played to 10 1/2 people, I loved being onstage and we had lots of fun and I got free drinks and my friend took tons of pic's w/my iPhone. After that we ran over to an open mic and I did 3 of my new songs and I killed there! So much fun!
Tonight I'll be going to see Papa Grows Funk and that will be a killer good time w/Bon. (In fact we, meaning my friends I gigged w/on Weds., ALMOST got the opening set gig tonite! Oh well, maybe next time!) Gettin there early for dinner--mmmmm, cheese enchiladas!
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