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."

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland, Ohio

Remember how I said I was a huge music junkie? Well, walking into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was like the holy grail for any music lover! The museum is packed FULL of memorabilia from so many wonderful artists who have helped shaped music in so many different ways. You are not allowed to take pictures when you go inside of the museum, so unfortunately all I have are picture from the outside and many memories from the inside! I went back in 2008 so my memories are a little fuzzy. I do remember seeing some of the memorabilia and thinking "Wow, I can't believe that they have this here!"

This place isn't like your everyday Hard Rock Café (which I do love and all of those are awesome!) The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has so many different items from musical instruments (Nirvana guitar, Johnny Cash's guitar), vehicles (Janis Joplin's Porsche), clothing items (Michael Jackson's "Thriller" jacket and "Billie Jean" sequined glove), old recording equipment (from Sun Studio in Memphis), as well as a small area dedicated to modern day music. When I was there, they had a section dedicated to High School Musical and the Jonas Brothers. The museum also will have a special exhibit for a particular recording artist or band or some other specific element of music. Back in April of 2008 during my visit, it was Bruce Springsteen.

Since unfortunately I do not have pictures of any of the exhibits inside, I can only share with you the website in hopes that you will be intrigued to visit this amazing museum! After doing some research online, I am eager to go back and visit myself!

Visit www.rockhall.com for more information including hours of operation, prices, directions, and current exhibit information.

 

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in located in Cleveland, Ohio along Lake Erie. The official address to the museum is 1100 E 9th Street. The museum is also a very short walk from FirstEnergy Stadium; home of the Cleveland Browns!

Grateful Dead House, San Francisco, California

I'm a BIG music junkie. I always have been! I love exploring new genres, bands, artists, everything! I love going to concerts and I even recently attended my first big music festival: Coachella!

So the reason for my small background in music is that you will find that I love to visit historical music sites. It could be anything from a venue to a recording studio to a grave.

Back in January of 2014, I visited the Grateful Dead house in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco! Several members of the band (including Jerry Garcia) and other associates lived here during the 60's. In 1967, police came and arrested the residents for marijuana possession on the property. Lucky for Garcia, he wasn't home at the time! The band moved out of the house in March of 1968 but not without a farewell concert performed in the back of a flatbed truck!

The house is located on 710 Ashbury in San Francisco, California. There's insignia on the sidewalk in front of the house that you can locate to help you identify the house. It's only a short walk from the main area of the Haight and Ashbury district. This is one of my favorite parts of the city and I highly recommend it for the inner hippie in all of us!!!