5/10/08 We LOVE Nashville!
5/10/08- 11AM
Dear Friends,
I hope you are all enjoying a fabulous weekend.
Ana and I are having a fabulous time in the South! We absolutely LOVE Nashville!
It’s Saturday, and Ana and I are in Mississippi (our 19th state) right now, and just drove through Alabama (our 18th state) on the Natchez Trace Parkway. This is a 444-mile long National Park Service green roadway that runs from Nashville, Tennessee down to Natchez, Mississippi. This parkway, like the Blue Ridge Parkway, boasts no commercial development on either side for a mile or more. Isn’t that sad that this is an accomplishment? I wonder what El Camino Real in the San Francisco Bay Area would’ve looked like if the NPS protected it from development!
Anyway, Ana and I have driven on 184 miles of this gorgeous road, speeding above the speed limit because we are trying to get to Memphis by mid-afternoon.
The Natchez Trace Parkway is derived from ancient Indian paths developed by the Natchez, Choctaw and Chicksaw people. (Random fact: Chicksaw means bullshit in Japanese). The explorer Hernando de Soto visited this area in 1540 before being kicked out by the Indians. In the 18 and 19th Century this path was used by white settlers to trade with the Indians; these people were called the Kainstucks because they used rafts to bring their goods down the Mississippi River to trade and then they’d walk home on the Natchez Trace. Of significant interest to us was that Meriwether Lewis, of the great Western Lewis and Clark expedition, was returning from Louisiana on the Natchez Trace and was found dead on October 9, 1804 (supposedly by suicide).
We passed vast bright green meadows sprinkled with yellow wildflowers. The parkway is lined by deep, lush forests with tall, narrow green trees. None were in bloom because we are quite south. We saw quite a few wild turkeys including one that flew right past our windshield. We envied the joggers and bicyclists who roamed the Natchez Parkway the healthy way. This is a great place for a marathon or a century ride! We stopped for a quick walk down to Jackson Falls and to see Meriwether Lewis’ gravesite. We took some detours through country roads in Alabama and men waved to us from their tractors in the oncoming lane. We passed signs that said “Front Porch Sale,” which we call ‘Garage Sales’ in California. As we entered Mississippi, we saw deep swamps in either side of the road. We passed vultures eating armidillo carcasses on the side of the road. We passed a few Indian Mounds, burial sites from 0-1000AD. These are facinating glimpses into a prior civilization that thrived here and now there are no signs of these people any more. The Chicksaw and Choctaw people are among the “Five Civilized Tribes” who were sent to Oklahoma in 1830. How tragic. We made it to Tupelo, Mississippi, birthplace of Elvis Presley. We went to the NPS Tupelo Visitor Center and went to the Tupelo National Battlefield, a modest park demonstrating the region’s disgruntled recognition of this Union victory during the Civil War.
We are blessed with ‘tourist speed’, AKA endless energy. Ana and I are on a mission to see as much as possible during our siteseeing days, and our heads are saturated with historical and cultural facts. We can’t remember very much and are mixing up our words with mental overload! (Okay, that’s an excuse. We do that anyway.)
The last two days have been a whirlwind in Nashville. We are blessed to experience a surge in our cultural literacy regarding country music. Right now, I’m listening to a CD I bought at Ernie Tubb’s Record Store, and ‘Making Plans’ by Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton is on.
On Thursday, Ana and I woke around 8am and made reservations for last night’s Grand Ol’ Opry show, a great lifelong goal. We then headed out during a massive rainstorm to the Country Music Hall of Fame. This museum was extremely well done! The building has a piano keyboard motif outside, and an impressive dome for the Hall of Fame, with one of our favorite songs’ notes on the outside: ‘Will the Circle Be Unbroken.’
We were reminded of many of the names we’ve known but never bothered to appreciate, from Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Tammy Wynette, Gene Autry, Patsy Cline, Waylon Jennings, the Everly Brothers, Alabama, among many others. The museum had great historical descriptions of each artist’s milestones and exhibited some of their clothes, instruments, notes and other relics. We got very excited to see profiles of our favorites: Dixie Chicks, Tim McGraw, Allison Krauss, Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks, Brooks & Dunn, Barbara Mandrell, Willie Nelson (I was so into him in high school, with John Denver who was completely absent from the country music scene?!? Blasphemy…). We learned about legends that we never even heard of: DeFord Bailey, the first African American country music star, and others like Connie Smith, Roy Acuff, Roy Orbinson, Chet Atkins, Eddy Arnold, Marty Robbins, Charley Price, and so many others that were before our time and not on the airways we listened to in California. We read about the historical developments of bluegrass, honky tonk and country music. There’s a whole other universe out there! We saw a special exhibit of Hank Williams and Hank Williams Jr. and walked through the Hall of Fame rotunda where we saw the plaques for Minnie Pearl and Willie Nelson, among so many others.
Afterwards, we went to Studio B, where Elvis recorded about half of his songs. Many others used that recording studio, like Roy Acuff, Eddy Arnold and Dolly Parton. While we were there on a tour, a British producer named Bob Geldhoff (sic?) came by and played on the piano that Elvis played on, among others. He produced U2 and it was just chance for someone so prestigious to come by.
After the museum, Ana and I walked to Broadway and ate fabulous BBQ at Jack’s BBQ in the “District”, the touristy area with country music clubs and restaurants. I pigged out on pulled pork, macaroni and cheese and green beans with cornbread. After our late lunch we walked around downtown to the Cumberland River edge, and then down 2nd street past the Wildhorse Saloon and Coyote Ugly clubs. Heart-pumping country and bluegrass tunes flowed out of each venue we passed. I bought some pralines at the 147 year old business“Pralines by Leon.” We walked through Printer’s Alley and then to the neighborhood where Nashville’s black businesses thrived and the civil rights movement occurred in this city. We passed the historic Ryman Theater, where the Grand Ol’ Opry was broadcasted for 30-plus years. All of Nashville was mourning the death of Eddy Arnold who passed on 5/8. Flags were at half mast and his name was posted on marquis. We bought some country music CDs at Ernie Tubbs Records where Bob Dylan had shopped a few months prior. I was absolutely mesmerized by the Johnny Cash/Bob Dylan duet of “Girl from the North Country” which was played at the Country Music Hall of Fame, so I had to get a copy. That song brings me right back to being serenaded at CF camp. Everything I know about country music I learned from Bob C. and Bob Flanagan, my musical mentors at camp. I remember back in 1987 how Bob Flanagan sang the “Phantom of the Grand Ol’ Opry” for our talent show and that was the first time I ever heard of the Grand Ol’ Opry. My counselor Idel dressed up as Minnie Pearl, whom I never heard of either.
Around 6pm, Ana and I drove to Edgehill Studios Café because we wanted to hear “Chicks with Picks,” female acoustic artists. The café was nearly empty and we stayed for an hour listening to some young musicians trying to make their break: Larisa Maestro and another young artist (a Tracy Chapman look-alike) whose name escapes me. They were strong but not too original, but it was refreshing to see non-Caucasian singers in Nashville. Then we left to have dinner back at the District. I wanted to learn country dancing at the Wildhorse Saloon, but there was a special concert that night so our plans changed. Instead, we walked through “The District” again and decided to go clubbing. First we went to Robert’s Western World to listen to a good ol’ country band, “The Don Kelly Band,” with a male lead. The stand-up bassist was banging on the strings with fervor and had such an impressive beat. The music reverberated through our bodies and brought us back to CF Camp. Nostalgia, love and rhythm go hand and hand. Seated next to us was a friendly white-haired man who drove from Lake Tahoe, and loved to dance. He had more energy than I did and swung me a round like my feet didn’t even need a floor. He made funny faces and laughed outloud. He was high on life just like we were! It would take someone like that to get me on the dance floor. I had a blast with my one Nashville country dancing experience, and so did the half dozen other women he danced with, one after another. (Too bad for Ana!) This guy just kept going and going. That’s high altitude living energy. Ana and I had burgers and a beer, and then moved on to the club next door, the Second Fiddle. There was another country band, with a female lead from Georgia, and they were absolutely phenomenal. We didn’t dance but just grooved to the music for a good hour. We could’ve stayed forever. She played one song after another by memory- what talent! After that band, I was in the mood for my favorite, bluegrass, and went next door to the Bluegrass Inn where another band played. A woman on the fiddle made me sit at the edge of my seat. Unfortunately, she and the lead guitarist played with a flat look on their faces and it didn’t inspire enthusiasm. We went to our last club, Legends Corner, and heard another fabulous group which sang more rock-style country, like Aerosmith’s “Rock This Way”. We were exhausted and went back to the hotel by 10:30pm.
Yesterday, Friday, we went to historic Franklin, about 20 minutes from Nashville. When we parked by the post office, we saw men in black and white striped outfits working on the lawn. These were inmates just out of the movie, “Brother Where Art Thou.” Ana dared to take their picture! We walked around the quaint downtown and had a warm conversation with Les, a kind gentleman at the visitor center. Ana and I then visited the Carlton House, site of the Battle of Franklin, one of Tennessee’s bloodiest Civil War battles. We learned that nearly 6500 Confederate soldiers and 2500 Union soldiers lost their lives on this small battlefield that was literally covered with bodies in 2 hours in the afternoon of November 30, 1864. We saw the bronze busts of several of the 15 Generals who were killed that afternoon. Most of them were 29-37 years old! I reflected on learning that Allison Krauss is my age, that Meriwhether Lewis died at age 35, Elvis at 42, Dr. Martin Luther King at 38, and that these prominent people reach their prime (and demise) in their mid-thirties! So much can be done in 3 decades! Those who’ve died were so young, with so much potential, yet so much accomplished. Life is really about quality, not quantity. Nowadays, dying before 40 seems so tragic. Even if CF killed me at 32, I would’ve still lived a full life according to these lifespans. How grateful I feel to still be alive at 36.
After Franklin, we then drove to the famous tourist trap the Loveless Motel and Café on Highway 100. We were starving and had a huge southern lunch: fried chicken, caramelized sweet potatoes, fried okra and their famous biscuits with jam. Ana had grits and greens, and we shared our southern treats. We also consumed a record number of enzymes. For dessert we had ‘steeplechase pie’ also known as pecan with chocolate chips. Some of you know how vocal Ana and I are about food, and we truly enjoyed every bite of this meal. We ate til we almost burst! What a treat to taste local flavors, without regard to calories and health…
After the Loveless Café, we quickly drove to the Grand Ol’ Opry east of Nashville. We rushed to make it to the last tour at 3:30. We learned of the history of this radio show from 1925 until present day. We learned about the change in venues over the years until the show was settled into this huge Disneyland-style entertainment complex back in 1974. This theater holds 4400 people and the stage includes a piece of flooring from the original Ryman Auditorium. The chairs were designed like church pews to commemorate its beginnings in a church. We saw backstage and the dressing rooms. We learned what it took to become a Grand Ol’ Opry member, and that each member had a PO Box inside the opry. We learned all sorts of random trivia, such as the fact that Minnie Pearl’s tag on her hat was a freak accident that the crowd loved so she kept it.
After the tour, we went to the G.O.O. museum and learned about more of the music stars like Roy Acuff and Marty Robbins. Our brains were on overload and we went to check into our luxurious Radisson hotel across the street. We heated our leftover crock pot meals and enjoyed them for dinner in our room. Though exhausted, at 7:30pm we headed back to the Grand Ol’ Opry for our much-anticipated Friday night concert. We didn’t know a single person on the list, but they were older classics like Jimmy Dickens, Jean Sheppard, the Whites, George Hamilton IV, and other oldies-but-goodies. The audience consisted of mostly older people on tours who sang along to many of the songs like ‘Abilene’ and ‘Keep on the Sunny Side.’ Jimmy Dickens was hilarious. He is 87 years old and told jokes about ‘you know you’re 87 when… (your wife says let’s run upstairs and make love and you tell her I can only do one’ or ‘you bend down to pick something up and then ask yourself what else can I do while I’m down here,’ or ‘a pretty girl passes by and your pacemaker goes bezerk’) His funniest joke was: “I went to the doctor and he checked my ears. He said, ‘Jimmy, you’ve got a suppository in your ear.’ ‘And I said, ‘Oh by golly, now I know where my hearing aids are.’’ He would say stuff like, “I’m gonna sing a song from my most recent album, that came out in 1964.” Anyway, I am just sharing his funny jokes so you can feel like you were there too!
I personally loved the bluegrass bands like the Del McCoury Band more than these oldies, with the speedy mandolin, banjo and stand-up bass. The fast pace sound really gets me excited! I loved the young up and coming country star, Jimmy Wayne from North Carolina. We’ll see him around, I’m sure.
Overall, I think I am glad I went to the Grand Ol’ Opry for the experience but only about half of the music was extremely fulfilling. A lot of the older singers were heavy smokers and their voices were way past their prime. I am sorry to be discriminatory about this but I have my grudges against smokers. I have to admire their courage for being so strong and courageous to be singing in public at their ages. Good for them!
Anyway, Ana and I were pleased we stayed in Nashville one more night for this experience. We went back to the hotel and crashed with exhaustion. We knew the next day would be busy- onward to Memphis!
Speaking of which, right now we are almost in Memphis so I better go…
I will sign off for now. Ana says I am a blog hog so she will write about Memphis.
I wish you all the good food, good sites and sounds back home that we are enjoying on the road.
Love to you all,
Isa