Thank You Memphis!

Donna and I just enjoyed a little road trip. Several years ago I preached in Memphis, TN for my friends Matt and Shannon Anzivino and enjoyed the sights and the sounds of the city so much,  I've wanted to bring Donna back there ever since. After months of hard work preparing for our Joi de Vivre Women's Conference and our huge Easter weekend, we felt like it was time for a break to go recharge our batteries and get some R&R! 

The week began after a six hour drive up I-55 with some good old Memphis barbecue! Barbecue is one of Donna's favorite cuisines and Memphis has some of the best! Our first taste of the smokey goodness was at Central Barbecue just around the corner from Beale Street. It was delicious! Ribs, pulled pork and brisket with potato salad and baked beans - Yum! We also enjoyed Corky's later in the trip. Corky's is now a national chain but it all started in Memphis and they didn't disappoint! Lafayette doesn't really have a great barbecue place. Our people pride themselves so much in their own barbecue mastery that restaurant fare just doesn't measure up. I guess what we need is for one of those barbecue specialists to open their own place! (I'm talking to you Beau Roy!)

Another reason to go to Memphis is to get a musical history lesson. It is known as the birth place of the blues, but it's also really the birth place of what we think of as rock-n-roll today. In the early 1950's country, blues and gospel met up in a little studio called Sun Records owned and operated by the legendary Sam Phillips. He recorded unknown artists who would go on to be musical giants. People like Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Charlie Rich, Ike Turner and B.B. King! It was the country music of artists like Elvis, influenced by the blues of the African American community in Memphis that forged the sound of Rock-n-roll. The amazing story is included in a tour of Sun Records and was one of my favorite parts of the trip. I really wish someone would make a movie about it - I find it facinating! Here's a picture of me standing at the mic that all those legends sang into back in the glory days.

When we started planning our trip, I contacted Matt and Shannon. One of the things they told me I had to see was the Memphis Bass Pro Shop. I thought, "Really?" Now I know why they insisted! AMAZING! It's HUGE! The former arena for the Memphis Grizzly's has been converted into 535,000 square feet of outdoor consumerism. It comes complete with a hotel that overlooks the entire floor of the complex including the lazy river that runs throughout with live alligators on the bank. Yes, really. Walking through the place I thought, "I have friends in Lafayette that would think they have died and gone to heaven. I actually held a Browning shotgun valued at $80,000.00. What? 

Of course a trip to Memphis isn't complete without a visit to Graceland. I'd heard all kinds of reports on what to expect - Most of which included disappointment, so I guess I was prepared. I understand where those people are coming from - Compared to today's mansions, Graceland isn't much to write home about. But when you consider the times in which it was acquired by Elvis - At age 22 mind you - It is much easier to feel impressed by the estate he put together. There is a certain sadness you feel looking at the joy and elation of the pictures and film of his earlier days knowing where it would all eventually lead. The music business works so different today. Recalling the story of his overnight success makes you realize this young man was simply in the right place at the right time and tapped into a cultural eruption of social change that made his rock-n-roll dynasty possible. Here's a picture of me with one of his famous jumpsuits considering a different approach toward my Sunday morning fashion! lol. 

The Loraine Motel is where they tried to element the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It has now been transformed into the National Civil Rights Museum - A powerful reminder of this nation's ugly past and the struggle African Americans have endured to secure civil and equal rights. Growing up in the 1960's, so much of what is included in this tribute felt like deja vu. We also visited the Rock and Soul Museum and it may seem odd to compare these two homages but the Rock and Soul Museum tells the story of the struggle that blues music was birthed out of. Being the grandson of an Arkansas share cropper and the son of parents who grew up during the years of the great depression in the deep south, I felt a familiarity with that story that seemed haunting in some way. After winding through the Civil Rights Museum's tour of suffering and brutality, documenting the small wins and major set backs the movement soldiered through, you finally end up staring into the carefully preserved room Dr. King stayed in at the Loraine Motel the night before his murder. The faint melody of "Take My Hand Precious Lord" is playing through the Museum speaker system and time just seems to stand still. It's hard to explain how I felt, but the best word to describe it is grateful. We have so far to go as a culture to truly see the dream realized, but we have come so far thanks to the determination of people like Dr. King.

What was intended simply be a few days off turned out to be a pilgrimage of sorts that touched me deeply and inspired me to do more with my life. Thank you Memphis!