Bill C and I met in Nashville, drove to Memphis, saw Tom, drove the next day to Nashville, saw Tom, got up the next day and flew home.
Random notes scribbled in my date book:
Avis: no sedans, free upgrade to a Trail Blazer
Nashville to Memphis: 3 hrs@80mph
Gatorade Gandhi jar; torn up luggage for missing thang
MEMPHIS:
Parked, locked bags in lobby, dashed to the Orpheum
AMAZING SHOW #1
Set List:
- Singapore (video)
- Make it Rain
- Hoist That Rag
- Shore Leave
- Ain’t Going to the Well
- Yesterday is Here
- God’s Away on Business
- Til’ the Money Runs Out
- 219 (My Baby’s Leaving on the)
- Dead and Lovely
- Tango Till They’re Sore
- House Where Nobody Lives
- The Ocean Doesn’t Want Me (Bobby Darin Remix)
- Invitation to the Blues
- Whistling Past the Graveyard
- Heart Attack and Vine (with Spoonful by Willy Dixon)
- Shake It
- It Rains on Me (the Chuck E. Weiss song)
- Circus
- Trampled Rose
- Get Behind the Mule
- Murder in the Red Barn
- Going out West
Encore:
- Day after Tomorrow (short clip)
- Sins of the Father
Natty Dred panhandling dude walked with us for a couple blocks: "Akida! He go "RRRRRRRRR!" "Jap'nese dog! M'tink, RRRRRRR!!!"
Delicious beer at the Flying Saucer:
Bill - Avery IPA
Jordan - Avery Yellow Rascal
Shared - O'Hanlon Port Stout (I agree w/Doppleganger on Ratebeer)
BEALE STREET:
Bourbon St/6th St/Vegas silliness. Very little vestige of WC Handy, et al.
Ducked into a nameless hole in the wall
2 Flying Dog Doggy Styles (pale ale)
LOUD Zappa Cover band
Vendors down a side alley: shades, Shea cream, condoms and Viagra
Bikes and choppers galore
"Bill, check it out: that's the lead guitarist from the Zappa band we just saw."
"Dude, Zappa rocks!" "Uh, am I being insulted?"
Hey now, Rasta! Again! Where can we buy some beer? "Akida! RRRRRRR!"
Wandering down the dark, boarded-up streets of Memphis, no beer in sight
3am at Denny's (where white people get seated first, apparently); breakfast & int'l politics
Crash at 4
Up at 10 (to Bill's 2-packet coffee, shower)
The Sun Studios snack bar and gift shop
(Where's my camera?)
Grand (where-the-f***-are-we) tour of lovely run-aground Memphis neighborhoods (think Anacostia meets Nuevo Laredo)
Driving by Graceland, feeling sad.
Starving, discovering a delicious Mexican restaurant (that may as well have been in Laredo; the waitress spoke no English)
Here it is, drving by the front lawn of megachurch: a giant green Lady Liberty holding aloft a big 'ol crucifix. Emma Lazarus is turning in her grave. Which would be a neat trick if she was cremated.
Bill scored us a room at the Shereton.
The beautiful blonde Russian receptionist (her first day on the job, poor thing) informed us that our room wasn't "ready". Bill gave her a good-natured snarl, and she hooked us up with a penthouse Club Suite (no elevator button: member keys only). Upgrade #2.
Noice.
The room was two blocks from the Ryman.
We wrangled our heavily-guarded tix, then went into the first good beer joint we could find. Had me a hemp ale or two, bill the IPAs.
Booked it back to the room, got prepped for the concert.
AMAZING SHOW #2
The Ryman Theater
Excruciatingly excellent show. For music and history geeks like us, one of the more important acts in America. Arguably the world.
The web site www.tomwaits.radicalwacko.com said it better than I could ever:"I just wanted to add my two cents here and say that the Ryman show was unbelievable. I had really enjoyed Memphis, but this show just blew it away. The band just seemed infused with twice as much energy and everything just seemed to be lined up for a great show. Not to mention, the setting just couldn’t be better. To me, the really stand out performances were Tom Traubert’s blues and a highly comedic performance of What’s He Building in There, but really everything was great."
Set List:
- Make It Rain
- Hoist that Rag
- Shore Leave
- God’s Away on Business
- All the World is Green
- Blue Valentine
- Down in the Hole
- Cemetery Polka
- Tom Traubert’s Blues
- House Where Nobody Lives
- Cause of It All/Til’ the Money Runs Out Medley
- Murder in the Red Barn
- Shake It
- What’s He Building in There
- Trampled Rose
- Get Behind the Mule
- Don’t Go Into that Barn
- It Rains on Me
- Sins of the Father
- Goin’ Out West
Encore:
- Day After Tomorrow
- Heart Attack And Vine/Spoonful Medley
300 feet above Nashville at night. Giddy from the show and caught up in the zoomzoom of the evening, Bill went snap-happy with his camera.
I became sleepy. I am old. This was me at 4:30 when the first alarm went off. Bill's plane left at 6. Mine at 9. In the morning.
