ELMWOOD CEMETERY - Memphis

Elmwood Cemetery, conveniently located in the ghetto, close to the Stax Museum.  When Elmwood was first opened it was on the outskirts of town but is now nestled next to an interstate and the surrounding housing and industry looks like Detroit.  This cemetery has lots of huge tomb stones, statues, and family crypts.

My daughter went to tour Elmwood years ago when she was at the Bodine School.  The cemetery is on the National Register of Historic Places, so expect a history lesson.  We came to pay our respects to some of Memphis’ finest by taking the 1 hour audio tour.  The gates close at 4:30, so be sure to arrive there with time to finish the tour.  The audio tour comes with an audio CD and map. Listen carefully because it is easy to take a wrong turn and end up with the dead (and obviously miss part of the tour).  There are markers indicating where to stop.  You will learn about historic and famous Memphians (most you probably never heard of) buried at Elmwood and about some of the symbolism on the monuments.

Elmwood is chock full of colorful local leaders, entertainers and clergy from bygone eras. This works in well with Elmwood’s slogan “be part of Memphis history”.

We found the tour to be interesting although a bit drawn out at times. Although the stops were marked, the addition of numbers would have assured us that we were in the correct location and allowed us to skip certain exhibits.

Like many attractions, Elmwood has a gift ship. I was a bit disappointed because instead of the expected chazari such as key chains or personalized tombstone shaped paper weights, they had maps and books detailing the trees and graves on the grounds.  But don’t despair; there is a full service tombstone store right outside the gates.

Recommendation:  Great for history buffs.  Most kids will find this tour boring unless they are forced to go as a school field trip.

ORNAMENTAL METAL MUSEUM - Memphis

Deep in downtown Memphis, right before you get on the old bridge (I-55) to Arkansas, is the National Ornamental Metal Museum. The OMM is located on stunning grounds overlooking the Mississippi River in a former military hospital.

The OMM campus is comprised of three separate buildings. The first showcases visiting exhibits and the gift shop, the second (a white building) contains the permanent collection, and the third houses the smithy shop. We started with the visiting exhibits. As to be expected some of the art/sculptures were better than others. Some of the art was not even made out of metal-like a replica of a necklace done in Legos -go figure. The permanent collection consisted of mostly metal security gates which were OK to look at but let’s face it, in real life, how many people notice these things unless they are truly hideous? Finally, looking for some action, we walked into the smithy shop which was all but deserted except for a very friendly gray fluffy cat. Ho Hum.

Although it was cold and overcast we walked around the grounds enjoying the yard ornaments which were the highlight of the visit.

Recommendation: To fully enjoy, must be a fan of all things metal and household hardware.

GIBSON GUITAR FACTORY - Memphis

I was telling my ultra cool hairdresser about these field trips all over the Dixie. He loved the idea and as he is super hip (looks like Johnny Depp with huge eyebrows) suggested that we visit the Gibson Guitar factory.

We drove all the way to downtown Memphis and signed up for the tour. The guided tours take place every hour. While waiting for the tour to begin, we cooled our heels in this huge lobby area. No one seems to have ownership of this space, as it was super dusty under all of the pianos that were randomly on display there. I was surprised that there were no guitar displays or info about what we might encounter on our tour. The only guitars on display were in the gift shop.

The tour takes you onto the manufacturing floor – no rails to keep you safe here, only some massive eye protectors. The din from the machines made it hard to hear the tour guide. There were no accompanying text explanations and because I can’t read lips, we had to surmise what that CNC machine was doing.

Because neither my son nor I are interested in guitars or music, the tour was a nice diversion but would have meant more to someone who was an enthusiast. But my son did come up with a great idea if he does not find a job soon, he will open a factory making something random and then offer factory tours for a small fee. This way even if the product bombs, there will still be some income.

Recommendation: Only for guitar or manufacturing enthusiasts.

Click here for the Gibson Guitar Factory

SUN STUDIO - Memphis

Keeping with the music theme, we decided to visit the last of the remaining Memphis music museums.  We saw cars with license plates from exotic places such as Ohio and Pennsylvania in addition to the usual Mississippi and Tennessee. This boded well for me, maybe tourists knew something about this place that we did not (or perhaps being tourists, were visiting the tourist traps). Tours take place on the half hour, so we hustled down there for the next available tour, not knowing if we were going to see refreshing material or more redundancies. The website guaranteed an hour tour so seemed like a good bet.

Sun Studio is housed in the original home of the recording studio owned by the legendary Sam Phillips. I saw Sam, back in ’99, in the waiting room of an East Memphis endodontist. I had just finished with a root canal and I figure he was the next patient judging by the miserable look on his face. He looked so tortured that I didn’t even say hi to him, let’s face it I didn’t feel much better than him except I was totally numbed up. The building, a National Historic Landmark, is in no way shape or form designed/ or renovated for people who need easily accessible elevators and bathrooms.

Sam Phillips opened Sun in the early 1950’s. He was looking to discover a new genera of music. Along the way he discovered many great artists and lots of great music. He also was sued for copyright infringement. Our tour was guided by a perky young woman. You are never left to your own devices here or have to do any heavy duty reading. After walking up a steep flight of steps, you arrive in a tiny room with antique recording devices, tons of photos, and memorabilia; not unlike my parents’ basement. However, we did get to watch an uncensored video of Elvis’s first TV appearance. Then we trooped down a flight of steps to the actual recording studio.

The tour of Sun Studio really just encompasses two small rooms jammed with old stuff that together would fit inside of a basketball court. What brings this museum alive is the tour guide, who pointed out special items of interest and shared cute antidotes.

The recording studio is still in use and has many real instruments on the floor that are off limits. The tour continued with more recordings of Sun Studio artists. At the conclusion of the tour, our perky guide tactlessly asked for tips.

Recommendation: Depends on your musical taste. Rock and Soul is the most comprehensive music museum in Memphis.

Click here for more about Sun Studio

ROCK and SOUL MUSEUM - Memphis

As we had already gone to Stax, it was only natural to take the drive downtown to see the Rock and Soul Museum, a Smithsonian affiliated museum. By the way, I just hate driving downtown from East Memphis. There is something about driving over the viaduct in midtown, people don’t seem to know how to drive past that demarcation line and it’s not as though the license plates are from Mississippi.

We had recently procured a 2011 Entertainment Book of Coupons, which includes a buy-one-get-one-free admission coupon. The internets and coupon listed the address as 191 Beal Street. This is a misnomer. We walked up and down Beal looking for a building that simply did not exist. Luckily, a taxi driver provided us with directions. He pointed out that the Museum was just a few doors down on General Lee Street next door to the FedEx Forum. While it was just off of Beal, it is not “on” Beal.

The museum tour starts with a requisite into video. The remaining Founding Fathers of the movement were interviewed and featured. This becomes tiresome as their quotes are recycled more than a ziplock bag at my mother’s house. These quotes are also pervasive at the other Memphis music museums. The museum focuses on the roots of soul music and is in fact similar to the Stax Museum. We were given personal headsets to guide us through the Museum. This alleviates having to do any heavy reading. It also cut down on noise and allows patrons to listen to examples of music. The Rock and Soul museum is more comprehensive than Stax because it covers more musical types.

I think that this museum would be fun for old folks who can be nostalgic about the music of their childhood. But, it is also important for those of us young enough to not remember a world without rock and roll music. One of the most interesting things in this museum for me was when the audio tape played the “first” rock song, Elvis’s “That’s All Right”, followed by the original non-rock version by some music dude of that bygone era. In the immortal words of Paula Abdule, Elvis took “That’s All Right” and made it his own.

Also on display is the required Isaac Hayes blingage. While the Stax Museum has his Cadillac, Rock and Soul has an ostentatious diamond and emerald encrusted bracelet/watch shaped like a piano. The Museum also has an old mangy fur coat from the Isaac Hayes collection.

For each musical epoch represents, a jukebox from the same era is displayed. At first I did not realize the significance of the jukeboxes, but each one has a selection of music from same time period. At this juncture, museum visitors can enter a selection into their headset and listen to the music.

Recommendation: A must see on a sunny or rainy day.

STAX MUSEUM - Memphis

Memphis is known for its music so we decided to take a drive across town to the Stax Museum. The Museum is located in the ghetto, not the Warsaw one. The Museum is reconstructed on the former plot of the Stax recording studio, and the building facade is a replica of the original marquee. I was never a fan of soul music. Even when I saw it on TV, it just didn’t appeal. My folks never were into that music, they were not hip. While soul music started as a musical genera, it eventually took on a radical political/social flavor which led to its fall from the mainstream and eventual demise (and NO this was never spelled out anywhere, I just surmise this and will have to talk to some older hipper Memphians). I did not understand its origin until I visited this Museum.

Incidentally, admission is free to Shelby County residents on Tuesdays with ID. Most importantly, there is a large fenced (free) parking lot in the back – this $5 value ensures that your car and rims will be intact when you return.

Does it tell a story? I think that a museum should “tell a story”. Stax starts off by explaining the origins of soul music. It does not really explain how this musical style started in Memphis other than “it was here”, best I can gather it is because the music started in the Mississippi Delta and when people moved to the city they took their music with them. That city is Memphis. Stax does not explain what caused the downfall of soul music. The interesting phenomena is that most of the artists grew up in the neighborhood around the studio. One of my favorite things in the museum is a map of the neighborhood and the addresses of artists’ homes including photos of the houses (and their various states of disrepair).

The text explanations are voluminous- way too much to ever read. It would appear that whoever put the exhibits together was unable to distinguish what was important and what was not. Another pet peeve of mine about this museum is the noise level. Each musician has a small area with their music blaring at levels akin to that of a rocket launch. Headphones would be a much appreciated addition. Headphones would keep the ambient noise down and allow visitors to peruse the music at their own pace. The Experience Music Project Museum in Seattle, dedicated to the life and times of Jimmy Hendrix, whose grandmother allegedly lived four houses away from my family on Seward Park Avenue.

The museum has a wonderful collection of artifacts from many of the musicians and provides a great overview of the different singers and their sound.

OK, so what was my favorite thing in the museum? It was a HUGE custom Caddy in teal and 24K gold accents. This machine was given to Isaac Hayes for being Black Moses. This boat has a mini refrigerator in back. Between the front seats is “small TV”. What a high tech concept! Best of all, the car is on a rotating stand so that it can be seen from every angle.

Recommendation: Good activity for a rainy day but check out the other Memphis music museums.

http://www.soulsvilleusa.com/

MEMPHIS MUSIC MUSEUMS

Excluding Graceland, Memphis has three museums devoted to Memphis Music. Graceland is devoted purely to Elvis and his career. My father has a cousin from Sweden who made a special stopover in Memphis not to see me but to see Graceland as he always adored Elvis. Graceland is something that Fans would want to see at least once.

Memphis Music Museums are 1) Stax 2) Rock and Soul and 3) Sun Studio. A free shuttle van transports tourists from Graceland, Rock and Soul and Sun Studio. It actually took me going to all of the venues to really understand what is going on. People come in to see Graceland from all over the world. Because Graceland is geographically isolated, a shuttle service provides safe and easy transit for visitors. Rock and Soul is a comprehensive museum, covering different sounds. Furthermore, R&S’ downtown location and extended hours make it the most accessible. R&S is open even later when the FedEx Forum has events. Sun Studio is a National Landmark and still used as a recording studio. It provides a history of Elvis’ early career, the Elvis sound, and the evolution of rock and roll.

Recommendation: Don’t get me wrong, I liked the Stax museum. Stax’s focus was on Soul music where as R & S was all encompassing. If you LOVE soul music, go see Stax. Together, all of the Memphis Music Museums tell a story. But Stax is semi-redundant. If I had to limit my choices to two, Stax wouldn’t make the cut. It is less comprehensive, noisy, and in the ghetto.

COTTON MUSEUM - Memphis

Ok, so I thought I was scraping the bottom of the barrel with this one but was really pleasantly surprised. The Cotton Museum is located in the beautify renovated old Cotton Exchange Building, all the way downtown. The tour starts in a small room off of the main lobby. There a receptionist hands you an iPod and provides the tour intro. Next you go on an interesting outside walking audio tour that takes you through the ins and outs of the cotton industry. After the walking tour, you return to the Cotton Exchange Building and see the former floor of the Cotton Exchange. This trading floor has been refurbished, but still keeps the charm of beautiful hard woods and gleaming brass. The room itself is not that large but the exhibits provide a lot of punch for its size. The Museum uses audio and visual exhibits to further explain different elements of the cotton industry.

As a former Northerner, I found it interesting that one of the videos gave a candid overview of slavery and its importance to the South’s agricultural culture. Many museums in the South really dismiss the entire brutality of slavery. There is a second room that deals with the science of growing cotton - way cool. This small museum and walking tour takes about two hours. By the way, the bathrooms were also nicely refurbished.

Recommendation: A must see on a sunny day.

click here for the Cotton Museum http://www.memphiscottonmuseum.org/

TUNICA MISSISSIPPI

You may be wondering, besides all of those great casinos in Tunica what else is there to see…Well, I’ll tell you.

River Park Museum: On the Mississippi River there is surprisingly a wonderful museum dedicated to the Mississippi River. This museum is well organized and put together, really telling the story of the Mississippi. One of the best parts of the museum was decent sized aquarium tanks with native fish swimming around. There were many beautiful and interesting Native American Indian artifacts, most of them courtesy of the Pink Palace Museum. It makes one wonder what such a nice museum dedicated to the Mississippi River is doing in Tunica and not Memphis. I mean really, people go to Tunica to gamble away their social security and welfare checks, not see exhibits on Native Americans. Riverboat and air boat tours are offered in season. The grounds also contain extensive trails. All in all this was a great place to visit.

Tunica Museum: Much to our surprise there is another museum in Tunica, this one called the Tunica Museum and because it is free, we had to visit it. I really was not expecting much, I mean, c’mon, this is Tunica! It was not half bad. Lots of history and industry stuff put together in a professional manner. This place may be just a step down or two from the Pink Palace in Memphis.

Casino: What trip to Tunica would be complete without a casino visit? Any one will do as they all seem interchangeable. We visited on a weekly senior citizen day. Gray heads were there in droves. Hundreds of hungry seniors were standing in line for the buffet lunch. As we approached the steps to the gaming floor, we were almost knocked over by a senior with a walker. When the cautious security guard informed him that a handicap ramp was just to his left, he exclaimed, “I’m just so excited to be here!” Whilst on the gambling floor, we counted three walkers and two folks with oxygen. It was interesting to see grannies in their pro step walking shoes and tightly set hair gambling away their social security checks.

Recommendation: A must see, even better on a sunny day.

TUPELO MISSISSIPPI

Well, we always zoom past Tupelo at 100 mph en route to Atlanta, so we decided to drive over there to see what was going on.

Tupelo’s claim to fame is that it is the birthplace of Elvis. The Elvis museum complex has a plethora of buildings: The first, a museum, chronicles the early days and development of Elvis. As expected, all of the really great Elvis stuff is in the main shrine (Graceland). The museum building also houses a tacky gift shop with more Elvis souvenirs than you could ever want.

The second building is the shotgun home where Elvis was born. Unfortunately, none of the furnishings are original, but you do get a sense of the poverty of the Presley family.

The most interesting building the Church that Elvis attended. The building itself is nothing much to see, but screens come down from the ceiling to show a film presentation of a Baptist service much like the early ones that inspired Elvis’s music.

I would like to think that when one of my kids becomes famous, they will move my house to a park and erect a shrine.

Tupelo is home to a Baskin Robbins ice cream place and a car museum.

Recommendation: Must be a HUGE Elvis fan-save your time and money for Graceland and other Memphis music museums.

CAMDEN TENNESSEE

Did anyone know or for that matter care that two hours north east of Memphis, just off I-40, is the US of A’s largest pearl farm? Well it is!

We got up at the crack of dawn on an overcast day to join a school group for a special tour. We were randomly lumped together with a group of fourth graders from a Christian school near Nashville. Now most of you who know may say “I thought your carpool mom days were over” but I must admit that these kids were amazingly well behaved They made Jewish kids seem like a wild pack of inner-city hooligans.

The Pearl Museum is located in a huge prefab building. A collection of disfigured pearls and cheap jewelry was the main attraction. The décor also included stuffed animals, marine paraphernalia, hunting equipment, and a massive picture of the proprietor’s high school class. My favorite animal was a raccoon wearing a coon skin hat. In the education room, the owner of the Pearl Farm spoke about pearls and their cultivation. He really tailored the talk to the group, peppering his explanation with lots of God references… This was no canned experience like Disney, it was genuine.

Next off we headed to the Tennessee River, where we saw rows of oysters in the water. On the dock the owner “sacrificed an oyster for our educational benefit”. The teachers chimed in a with a quick bible lesson. They never do that at the Academy. As I mentioned, these kids were well behaved and no one ended up in the water.

Recommendation: Absolutely on a warm sunny day- be sure to hook up with a group to get the full experience.

HENNING/ RIPLEY TENNASSEE

Our trip to Oxford was such a big success that we decided to take another field trip, this time to Henning. Henning was recently written up in the Commercial Appeal because a new interpretive center on the life of its most famous son Alex Hailey, author of the hugely successful book and TV series ROOTS, had just opened.

The interpretive center is a cinder block building with little personality. The mementos and artifacts in the museum consist of “reconstructions” of things that Hailey might have had. None of his awards or really cool stuff is on display. It is my contention, that his kids fought over this junk and A) pawned it or B) the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville is hording it.

There is a massive wood “bridge” connecting the interpretative center to Hailey’s grandparents’ home. An uninterested tour-guide gave us a tour of Hailey’s grandparents’ home. The guide rushed through the presentation like a Stepford Wife exhibiting very little interest for her job or the place that she was represen’. As with the interpretive center, all furnishings in the house were “reproductions” of what Hailey’s grandparents might have had in the house. The only problem was that it looked like someone had gone to an inexpensive refinished furniture warehouse and picked up whatever they could.

Alex Hailey used to visit his grandma in the summers and loved the stories that she would tell about Africa and the family history as slaves. Alex was so moved that he wrote ROOTS and is buried in the front lawn of the house. I must say that the most impressive thing about the “Hailey Estate” is the mega monument tombstone located in the front lawn.

In addition, we also visited Fort Pillow State Park. Fort Pillow, a Civil War fort and battle site location, is now equipped with a museum (with unknown hours) and poor signage (we were promised a Fort but could not find it!)

Ripley, just north of Henning, is well known for its tomatoes. The week that we went was a few weeks after the Ripley Tomato festival. We searched high and low for a roadside stand but could not find a thing. We also visited Ripley’s recently renovated Town Square which lacks the charm of Oxford.

Recommendation: Keep on driving, fast.

OXFORD MISSISSIPPI

Our first field trip took place in July. I had never ventured into the quaint little town. Oxford is a relatively short drive from Memphis and should be on everyone’s list of something to see.

Town Square: An old timey square of restaurants, bookstores and shops. The courthouse is even in the middle of the square. Soo cute! Books on the Square takes you back in town to a time before mega bookstores with no personality. Neilson’s Department Store decor is stuck in a 1970’s time warp.

Ole Miss: Intended to first stop in town square, but due to poor signage, we drove right past it and visited one of the South’s finest institutions of higher education. Speed limits were posted as 18 mph-one of my lucky numbers. Counted 15 confederate flags flapping in the breeze.

Ole Miss Museum: A bizarre collection of OK-ish paintings (did you know that Kurt Vonnegut painted?), ancient Greek pottery, and turn of the century scientific implements. The museum does not tell a cohesive story of anything in particular, but the stuff was cool to look at and is an excellent value because of free admission and parking.

Rowan Oak: The highlight of the trip was William Faulkner’s home. The house is tucked away in a residential neighborhood that even the town-folks don’t know about. After driving around for some time, we stopped at a gas station (not far from the house) for directions. The GPS kept telling us that “you have arrived at your destination”, but alas it was off by a mile. The gas station attendants did not know what I was talking about. The Mexican construction workers either did not understand English or know where the house was. Finally, a UPS driver gave me directions. Can you believe that we were 2 minutes from the place? It is clear that even though the house is open to the public, they don’t really want a lot of traffic there.

The house is well preserved with original furnishings. Lots of Faulkner’s stuff still on display. Many of his awards where there for us to see. It really gave you a sense of who he was and the life that he lived. In the end, the Mexican construction crew was working next door to Rowan Oak and had no clue that they were digging up the sewer so close to greatness.

Recommendation: A must see on a sunny day.

IN AND AROUND MEMPHIS AND THE MID-SOUTH

After finishing my Masters in Public Administration at the University of Memphis and getting my first job, I became a casualty to the economic downturn.  My oldest son also had just finished a Masters in Business Administration at Washington University and also found himself without work and activities.

I have lived in Memphis for almost 26 years.  One of my pet peeves is how many natives have never seen attractions and sights that are literally in their backyards.  Unfortunately I am guilty of that also!  Don’t get me wrong, I have seen all of the usual AAA recommended attractions in Memphis, but they are all along the main road and don’t provide much local flavor and context. With time on my hands, my son and I went off to see what Dixie had on offer.