Walkin' In Memphis

Rudy was a smash hit in Memphis today. He gained several new names including "Scruffy Scruff" and "Tiger." Everyone seemed to approved of his Elvis-like toothy sneer.


We had a really good day of walking around the city. It's a weird place to wander during the day because there are really no people around. It's a huge place with tons of businesses and you would think the sidewalks would be teeming with people but they are not. It's fine by me... it's that much easier for me to take photos when I am not waiting for bodies to move out of the frame. I was most taken with the colorful architecture of the place. You'll see that in my series of pics I am posting here.

We ate at a place called Cafe 61... Billy had a catfish po' boy and I had a grilled cheese with portabella's and pears on it. There are tons of restaurants to choose from that all looked great but this place had an outdoor patio which allowed us to bring Rudy so it was the winner. We stopped in at a few galleries and checked out both the old historic district downtown and the midtown district. I unexpectedly (for me) wowed a guy working at the American Apparel shop when I bought something there. He asked my name to enter into their customer database and when I said "Orbison" he really flipped out. I guess if there was ever a town to try to make a big deal out of having a relation to Roy it would be Memphis. It was my biggest "Orbison" moment ever. We stood and talked for a few minutes and I did my best to WOW him with my celebrity family status (yeah...I know) and he gave me some suggestions on where to eat and whatnot.

Around 5 o'clock we decided to pack it in and get Chinese take out to bring back to the trailer. What a couple of wild animals eh? We are in Memphis on a Friday and head home at 5. We even have VIP passes to get in to BB King's bar for free which were given to us by a gallery owner who we had a Santa Fe connection with... Somebody really should send out an Elvis caravan of intervention counselors for our Premature Geriatric Syndrome. We are so freakin' boring. Oh well... maybe we will go downtown tomorrow night and drink whiskey and listen to the blues til we puke catfish and cajun fries out our nose (that's for you Ray.)

Here's my little photo essay from our day... it's lots of random stuff I found interesting to look at. The last image however is of The Lorraine Motel with Martin Luther King was shot. The place has been built on to and is now a Civil Rights Museum. It was truly an intense feeling to stand there and look up at that balcony... it's such a recognizable image that to see it in person blows your mind. Remember you can click on the pics to see them in a larger format.

The first pic here is merely a suggestion... and it's up to you if you think you want to trust either one of these guys or not. I may trust one or the other of them on any given day, but the two of them together? No way... they must be up to no good.