Memphis Barbecue, Elvis & MLK

Tennessee Rocks! First Memphis and then Nashville in two bang-bang visits back-to-back. So much so, each city is going to get its own blog. First Memphis! Where we hit three different barbecue places, surprisingly loved, loved, Graceland and between MLK and Beale St. it was a real winner.

The first half day that we got into town we hit Beale St. It was still early when we got there around three in the afternoon. We wanted to hit BB Kings place but they were having a private party so it was closed to the public. We walked both sides of the street, up and down. We were digging the vibe. We stopped in Jerry Lee Lewis' Cafe Honky Tonk and Club Handy for a cocktail in each. We hung out and listened to the live bands in both places. It was fun and let's face it... when is day-drinking not fun?

We stayed in the Graceland RV Park and Campground which was right next door to it's namesake. Convenient aye? We spent five hours there. We couldn't believe how entertaining this place was. Between Presley Motors, his two airplanes (Graceland Air), all the museums with 100's of his costumes and personal history it was action-packed.

TCB above, stood for "taking care of business". One of Elvis' monikers and you thought it was a Bachman Turner Overdrive, thing! The piece-de-resistance was the last stop on the Graceland tour and that was of Graceland itself. Both of us aren't huge Elvis fans. I would call us more admirers of his celebrity and contribution to Rock'N Roll more so than fans. It was thrilling to go through Elvis' family home, property and racquetball court. Yep, he built his own racquetball court. Brad only wishes he played him...and then had a few beers with him after. Elvis did build a nice lounge overlooking the RB court (see below). We gave the tour to you below in the same order it was shown. to us. The outside front of the mansion, his living room, dining room, pool room, kitchen, parents bedroom, den/barroom (with 3 tv's), the jungle room, his staff office, racquetball court and lounge. Enjoy! We're saving you $70 bucks.

Below is the back of the mansion, the outside grounds, his pool, horse corals and where his family and Elvis are all buried. This was the last part of the tour. There was a family museum made out of one of the additions Elvis later put on to his complex. It had a lot of the families history and personal belongings.

Okay, let's get into this Memphis Barbecue thing. First, thanks to our friends Jeanne and John Goroff for recommending all three of these joints. We fact checked all three of their recommendations and boy-oh-boy were they on point. Our first bbq stop was at Charles Versos' Rendezvous. It was underground in a back alley part of downtown. It was on a street named after the owner. That was cool. We both had a 1/2 rack of dry rub ribs that were so tasty we preferred them without their homemade bbq sauce. For dessert we had a side order of sausage. Uh-huh, and believe it or not...that was a great call.

The second place was Central BBQ. It was right next to the National Civil Rights Museum. We had to wait in line to get into this place for about 15 minutes and it was well worth it. Their sausage was the absolute best and their ribs even better than Rendezvous. We sat at the counter and they advertised local beers and they advertised Yuengling as a local beer (check out the 5th pic in). Brad goofed on the counter guy/waiter/food runner/cashier that it wasn't local. Brad told him Yuengling is from Pottstown, Pa. and he was from Pa. Philly to be exact and the dude said "And I thought you were just wearing that Phillies jersey to be cool". Ha!

Last, but probably the best bbq place we went to was Germantown. Commissary. It wasn't in Memphis but about twenty minutes out of town in Germantown. Food-wise this place was the tastiest. True bbq gold! Thank you Goroff's. Three bbq home-runs!

We were going to go to a festival along the riverfront but instead we detoured to a Bass Pro Shop. This store was different than any other Bass Pro Shoppe because it was in a Pyramid. That was the attraction. They had an elevator (2nd pic below) that led to an overlook of the city with a restaurant (called the Lookout) at the top. Both were cool and this Bass Pro Shoppe even had a hotel in it.

After, we went to Mud Island which was across the river from Bass Pro Shoppe. After scouting it out by car we decided it would be an awesome place to take a bike ride the next day. The bike trail was along the waterfront. It had some awesome sights other than the steamship floating the river. The steamship terminal and the view of the bridge crossing over the river were a couple of the highlights. It also had some spectacular neighborhoods with beautiful homes, condos, and apartment buildings. Running into the Memphis sign was a bonus plan.

Before we get to the second highlight of our week long stay, we want to briefly mention our stops at the Old Dominick Distillery and Gus's Fried Chicken. Both were downtown and when we pulled up to the distillery we saw about twenty people waiting outside of Gus's. We talked to some very nice local people at the bar about nearby food offerings. We picked their brains about Gus's and they recommended it. After our whiskey tastings we decided to do Gus's the next day. Figuring a Monday wouldn't be as busy as the Sunday. The plan worked. Hot chicken is a Memphis staple and it was an awesome addition to our ever-growing local culinary experiences.

Our visit to the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel was compelling. The museum is the site where Martin Luther King was assassinated. The complex is attached to the hotel and the balcony where he was shot. It is now a staged monument to his assassination. We got to walk by his hotel room and the room of where his three civil right associates stayed that night. It pulled at our heartstrings and was a bit eerie at the same time..

The museum itself was all about the history of the civil rights movement. Along with the behind the scenes actions, meetings, conscience, trials and tribulations of the civil rights story of MLK and his nationwide network of change makers.

After, we went across the street to the Legacy Museum, which is the space that James Earl Ray laid in wait to assassinate MLK. It was spooky but yet engaging and fascinating to hear and see how this killer, planned, escaped, and tried to get away with murder. Below is the room he rented, and the bathroom that he stuck his rifle out the window of, to fire the shots that killed MLK. The museum had his rifle, passports, handwritten notes, binoculars, a handgun and tons of incriminating evidence of his murderous trail. The last picture below is the view from James Earl Ray's room, overlooking the balcony where he shot and murdered MLK at the Lorraine Hotel.

We closed out our Memphis visit by rock'n the Rock and Soul Museum off Beale. It was an audio tour with countless artifacts, costumes and history of the music of Memphis. From Jerry Lee Lewis to Duke Ellington and from Elvis to Johnny Cash it was an interesting and fun way to kill a couple hours. The third pic below is not a furnace. It's an old-time concert amplifier...boy have times changed.

Memphis rocked our soul. Get It? How we spun that...We're loving on Tennessee and we can't wait to get to Nashville. Thank you for following our journey. If you want to get ahead of our Nashville blog you can go to our YouTube channel at https://youtube.com/channel/UCvDSnxNwLNYcx5g3mCXh1wg

Peace, love and Soul train! Kathy and Brad