BB King's Blues Club and Beale Street, Memphis, TN

"Walking with my feet 10 feet off of Beale, walking in Memphis, do I really feel the way I feel?"

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I love Memphis! It's my favorite place to go back and visit! Even though I am not a Tennessee native, I can't help but feel at home every time I go back.

Beale street is located in downtown Memphis and runs 1.8 miles from the Mississippi River to East Street. This is a significant part of the city's history and landscape as well as in music history. Beale Street is a major tourist attraction for any visitors that are looking for good music, good food, and good drinks!!

From 1920 to the 1940s, musicians like Louis Armstrong, Muddy Waters, Albert King, Memphis Minnie, BB King, Rufus Thomas, and Rosco Gordon played on Beale Street and helped create the musical style now known as the Memphis Blues. 

However, during the 1960s, Beale Street started to become rundown and many business on the street closed. In May of 1966, Beale Street became a National Historic Landmark. In December of 1977, it was officially delclared "Home of the Blues."

Today, during the first week of May, the Beale Street Music Festival brings a variety of different acts to this famous street. It has become an official kickoff for monthly festivities in the city known as Memphis in May. Located near this downtown area, there is also a Hard Rock Cafe full of Elvis memorabilia, a Coyote Ugly, the Fed Ex Forum where you can catch a Grizzlies game, Gibson Guitar showcase, and as mentioned in a previous post, the world famous Peabody Hotel!

This famous street is lined with many bars, restaurants, shopping, and of course, the original BB King's Blues Club. BB King (1925-2015) open his world famous blues club in Memphis in 1991. Since then, he has opened other locations in Los Angeles, New York City, Orlando, Las Vegas, Nashville, West Palm Beach, and Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut.

I posted this post today in honor of Riley B. King. Known by his stage name "B.B. King", he was a revolutionary blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. BB King died on May 14, 2015 in Las Vegas, NV peacefully in his sleep.

A follower of mine on Facebook posted this following statement on one of my photos and I felt that it perfectly summed up BB King:

"One of the Kings favorite quotes. When I eventually drop I pray to God that it'll happen in one of three ways; Firstly on stage or leaving the stage. Secondly in my sleep. And the third way... well you'll have to figure that out for yourself. I had the great pleasure of seeing B.B. King in concert a few times he was not only a fantastic musician but also a great storyteller. RIP B.B. King."

Peabody Ducks, Memphis, Tennessee

If you haven't heard of the Peabody Ducks, you're missing out! If you haven't seen the Peabody Ducks, then you're REALLY missing out! This is one of the most wonderful and unique things that I have EVER seen!!

The Peabody is a grand hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. It's right near Beale Street in Downtown Memphis. This luxurious hotel opened in 1925 and is a landmark in this wonderful city. The hotel is probably more known for it's 5 permanent residents than it is for anything else! There are 5 mallard ducks (1 male, 4 female) that live in the fountain in the lobby! Yes! One of the most glamorous hotels in the United States and there are ducks that live in the lobby.

So, here's the story. Back in 1930, the General Manager at the time, Frank Schutt, had just returned from a hunting trip in Arkansas. He and some friends had a little bit too much to drink and found it funny to leave their ducks in the fountain of the lobby! The next morning, forgetting about putting the ducks in the fountain, guests spotted the ducks and loved the idea thus the Peabody Ducks were born!

In 1940, an employee named Edward Pembroke volunteered to care for the ducks. He became the first "Duckmaster" and held that position until 1991. Everyday at 11AM, the ducks march from their penthouse home on the roof to the elevator, down the elevator, and into the lobby fountain! Then at 5 PM, they repeat the process and head back up to their home! Guests are welcome to view the ceremony and the duckmaster will tell the story of the Peabody Ducks.

 

My Top 5 Cities

In my last post, I mentioned that I have favorite cities that I like to visit. I've never really, truly sat down and listed out what those cities are. So, I'm going to give it my best shot to write out a list of my top 5 all-time favorite places to go. I'm going to do this without any research and see what I come up with!

5. Paris, France
Okay, so I've only been to Paris once. However, my 4 days there were all I needed to fall madly, head over heels in love with the city! It's such a dream and it is as romantic as it seems. I went with my mom back in 2005. When I was about 5 years old, we had a foreign exchange student from Germany. My mom promised her that when she got married, we would go and visit her. So guess what shows up in summer of '05? Yup. Her wedding invitation. That August, we were on our way to Germany! My mom said "If we're going all the way to Europe, then I'm going to Paris!" We took a train from Germany to Paris and enjoyed the rest of our "European Vacation" there. Funny enough, we stayed at the Paris Hilton. It was recommended being Americans, that we stay in an American hotel. So, tip, if you are traveling international, try to find an American owned hotel! Before I started doing this "I gotta see something everywhere I go" business, it was instilled in me! I remember before we visited that I looked up where Princess Diana died. Diana crashed into the Pont de l'Alma tunnel and above the tunnel is a replica of the flame from the Statue of Liberty which is unofficially a memorial to the late Princess. When I go back to Paris, one of the biggest things that I want to see is where Jim Morrison of The Doors is buried!

4. New York, New York
I've tried so, so hard to not fall in love with this city. It's just impossible! It's so busy and there's so much to see! Every single street in this city has some kind of something to it! Whether it is the location of an infamous murder, a movie location, a scene from Sex and the City, there's just so much to see! I've been twice. Once on my own for the day where I visited the Empire State Building and stood in line for what felt like HOURS. The second time was with my family in the summer of 2013. With my family, I saw so many different sights and really amped up my tourism skills! I don't want to reveal too much, because I hope to later make the places I visited into future blog posts! Tip for traveling to NYC; Stay on the island!!! Do NOT stay in a neighboring city. My brother and I stayed in New Jersey the first few nights and it was awful. The cab fare to get back and forth to the city was ridiculous and we would of saved so much money by staying in the city and paying more for a hotel and walking everywhere. Stay in Manhattan.

3. San Francisco, California
This is the only city on my list that is in my home state! I do love visiting Los Angeles, but San Francisco has more of a hippie, techie feel, which I feel I am more than anything! The music scene was/is so big here and the demographics of the city is just so different than anywhere else I've ever been. The landmarks in this city such as the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Coit Tower and Fisherman's Wharf are just so gorgeous and iconic in American cities. I love this city and could go on forever about it. Fun fact: "We Built This City" by Jefferson Starship is about San Francisco stating that "We build this city on rock and roll!" Also, the band Journey is from San Francisco! Go Giants!

2. Memphis, Tennessee
Elvis, Elvis, Elvis! I love Elvis! Graceland! Sun Studio! Beale Street! The Peabody! The Civil Rights Museum! I love Memphis! I used to only live about 45 minutes from Memphis so naturally, I visited often! What an amazing city. I don't want to give away too much right now about Memphis because I have BIG plans to write about Memphis in the future! If you are an old, classic rock and roll fan, Memphis is for you. You can just feel the old rock and gospel in the air when you are in Memphis. You know that song "Walking in Memphis" by Marc Cohn? Listen to it. That's exactly what it's like when you are there. Fun fact: Memphis is the most mentioned city in all of music!!! Ah! Just writing this is making me so eager to go back!

1. Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is my home away from home. I love anything and everything about this city. To me, it's the most wonderful place on this earth. Yes, I've been to Disneyland. Vegas tops everything for me. Honestly, I'm not a big partier, gambler, or anything like that. I just love Las Vegas. There's not many infamous events that happen in Vegas, no one too famous is buried there, I just love this city. I try to visit at least 3 times a year. I have a cousin who lives there and I love visiting her and there have been times I've visited and not even gone on the strip. Vegas gives me this rush and so much energy when I am there. The oasis out in the desert has grown so much in the past 50 years that it's remarkable to me. To think, this little town was started by gangsters during the prohibition as a place to escape! If you ever go to Vegas and need recommendations about anything, I'm your girl! I have a few trips planned in the future and I'll post accordingly when I visit and share about some of my travels! For the record, my FAVORITE hotel to visit on the strip has to be Flamingo. Yes, Flamingo. I feel like it has that combination of the old, vintage Las Vegas feel mixed with all that is happening today in Las Vegas! Everyone should visit Vegas at least 5-6 times in their life.