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I’m skipping Dallas details, not because it wasn’t fun, hell, Brian’s brother Paul was a great guy and I really enjoyed myself there but we didn’t do a hell of a lot and certainly nothing that would interest you readers. I didn’t even beat up a Dallas Cowboy’s fan or pee on the stadium, although I did give the stare down to an 8-year old in a Cowboy’s coat, but it was a girl, and while I have no qualms with fighting an 8-year old, I could never live down being beat up by a girl.
Three days into our stay and far too late in the afternoon we shot off north to Memphis. An uneventful drive later (yeah Bill Clinton, your state pretty much sucks, and no this time it doesn’t depend on what the meaning of ‘suck’ is) we reached Memphis. Memphis is the blackest city we’ve traveled through yet, black enough that some call it Memphrica. I say this not as a bad thing, just as a very noticeable thing, especially noticeable as we immediately get lost in an impoverished black part of town. After many circles and Brian yelling things like “navigation fuck something or other you navigator blah blah fuck” we finally pull up to Andrew’s house.
Andrew went to SCAD with us and was our roommate for a quarter before leaving us high and dry short of rent and I hadn’t seen him since. He came out grinning and I quickly remembered how much I like the guy. He certainly isn’t someone I could hang out with all time because he’s pretty quirky and a little weird and while I love knowing people like that I don’t want to be constantly around them. Guy’s like that have their own brand of humor and style and I always think my humor and style is out of place around them and it makes me feel inadequate and insecure. He had some equally weird friends over, actually these dudes were weirder and we laughed our way through a night of quirky conversations and stories. Andrews spent two years filming for the Memphis football team and with them he went to their first bowl game ever, a game they won. Pretty funny story, a story made more funny by Andrew getting a bowl ring, a bowl ring made more funny by Andrew being the most un-jock guy on the planet. Sports is to Andrew as oil is to water. The ring is huge, I would guess the thing is two inches across and weighs five pounds. It looks freaking ridiculous on him. He has another now and sometimes he wears both to campus, getting looks and nods from 300 pound offensive linemen who probably wonder for hours how the hell he got a pair of bowl rings. Anyway, I’d taken a Valium and had a few beers and fell into the most restful sleep I’ve had on the entire trip.
The boys nudged me awake and Andrew pepped me up with a cup of coffee, then it was off to some genuine Memphis BBQ. If had to write a review for this place it would probably say: ‘Cheap, Filling. Great.’ With the meal sitting heavy in my gut Andrew went to class and we went to Graceland. Brian had been before a few years back when he spent a month living here with Andrew and he loved the Graceland experience. This, to me, is pretty weird as everywhere we’ve visited Brian has some loathing remark about tourists, kitsch and Americana bullshit, which I agree with most the time but sometimes I think it’s just downright too judgmental of people who visit places for the same reasons we do; to enjoy them. But Graceland is like the epicenter all of this, one of the tackiest places in all America, but I guess since it’s pretty much advertised as such Brian can accept it and enjoy it. I, on the other hand, hate things like this and as Brian looked like a candystore kid walking up to the booth I thought to myself that Mom would cry knowing her son willfully paid money to visit a place like this. In the end it was allright, I wasn’t very enthralled with the audio tour or every single exhibit but some stuff was well worth seeing and I’m glad we stopped.
Brian needed some Mississippi footage so we jumped over to Mud Island where laying in wait we found one of the finest exhibits in all of America. It was an amazing exact replica of the river stretching 3,000 feet. It was late and there was a hell of a lot to retain so we didn’t read all the facts posted along it’s mini-banks but a more diligent sightseer could literally walk along reading info for hours and it would be highly educational and wonderful. Two-thumbs way up for Mud Island. We got kicked of the Island for a Rob Thomas concert and took the short trip to Nashville.
Three days into our stay and far too late in the afternoon we shot off north to Memphis. An uneventful drive later (yeah Bill Clinton, your state pretty much sucks, and no this time it doesn’t depend on what the meaning of ‘suck’ is) we reached Memphis. Memphis is the blackest city we’ve traveled through yet, black enough that some call it Memphrica. I say this not as a bad thing, just as a very noticeable thing, especially noticeable as we immediately get lost in an impoverished black part of town. After many circles and Brian yelling things like “navigation fuck something or other you navigator blah blah fuck” we finally pull up to Andrew’s house.
Andrew went to SCAD with us and was our roommate for a quarter before leaving us high and dry short of rent and I hadn’t seen him since. He came out grinning and I quickly remembered how much I like the guy. He certainly isn’t someone I could hang out with all time because he’s pretty quirky and a little weird and while I love knowing people like that I don’t want to be constantly around them. Guy’s like that have their own brand of humor and style and I always think my humor and style is out of place around them and it makes me feel inadequate and insecure. He had some equally weird friends over, actually these dudes were weirder and we laughed our way through a night of quirky conversations and stories. Andrews spent two years filming for the Memphis football team and with them he went to their first bowl game ever, a game they won. Pretty funny story, a story made more funny by Andrew getting a bowl ring, a bowl ring made more funny by Andrew being the most un-jock guy on the planet. Sports is to Andrew as oil is to water. The ring is huge, I would guess the thing is two inches across and weighs five pounds. It looks freaking ridiculous on him. He has another now and sometimes he wears both to campus, getting looks and nods from 300 pound offensive linemen who probably wonder for hours how the hell he got a pair of bowl rings. Anyway, I’d taken a Valium and had a few beers and fell into the most restful sleep I’ve had on the entire trip.
The boys nudged me awake and Andrew pepped me up with a cup of coffee, then it was off to some genuine Memphis BBQ. If had to write a review for this place it would probably say: ‘Cheap, Filling. Great.’ With the meal sitting heavy in my gut Andrew went to class and we went to Graceland. Brian had been before a few years back when he spent a month living here with Andrew and he loved the Graceland experience. This, to me, is pretty weird as everywhere we’ve visited Brian has some loathing remark about tourists, kitsch and Americana bullshit, which I agree with most the time but sometimes I think it’s just downright too judgmental of people who visit places for the same reasons we do; to enjoy them. But Graceland is like the epicenter all of this, one of the tackiest places in all America, but I guess since it’s pretty much advertised as such Brian can accept it and enjoy it. I, on the other hand, hate things like this and as Brian looked like a candystore kid walking up to the booth I thought to myself that Mom would cry knowing her son willfully paid money to visit a place like this. In the end it was allright, I wasn’t very enthralled with the audio tour or every single exhibit but some stuff was well worth seeing and I’m glad we stopped.
Brian needed some Mississippi footage so we jumped over to Mud Island where laying in wait we found one of the finest exhibits in all of America. It was an amazing exact replica of the river stretching 3,000 feet. It was late and there was a hell of a lot to retain so we didn’t read all the facts posted along it’s mini-banks but a more diligent sightseer could literally walk along reading info for hours and it would be highly educational and wonderful. Two-thumbs way up for Mud Island. We got kicked of the Island for a Rob Thomas concert and took the short trip to Nashville.
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