All things Mississippi

The last post ended with our surprise at how big Tupelo is.   Because there is only one campground in the area, we didn't think the town would be much.  But they have a mall!  And a Best Buy!  You know, the things we gauge a population by.  Not that we see the inside of these places.  The only shopping we do while meandering is for groceries.
Mike guessed Tupelo to be the size of Muskegon or Bay City.   He was right.  Google told us Tupelo had over 38,000 people.  When Elvis lived here, it was half that.

On Friday we drove to Red Bay, Alabama (about an hour away) for some RV business.  On our way back, while following our route on our tablet, I noticed we were going to intersect with the Natchez Trace Parkway and I knew it ran through Tupelo so we got on it.  What a treasure!  Administered by the National Park Service, the 444 mile, two-lane road stretches from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee.  There is no fee or toll to drive it.  The word "scenic" should be in its name.  There are no billboards, few power lines, no McDonald's every couple of miles and no gas stations.  (you can find all those things in the towns the parkway goes by if you get off).  It is just nature, in all its beauty.  The signs are the kind made out of wood (as most are in our national parks) indicating a hiking trail, or overlook.  We stopped to look at some ancient Indian burial mounds.  This is a quote from the visitor center brochure:
"The Old Trace was first trod by buffalo, then American Indians.  In the early 1800's, it was the main return route for Ohio Valley traders, who, rather than fight the Mississippi currents, sold their flatboats for the value of their timber in Natchez and walked home via the Old Trace."  Think of that - walking over 400 miles!

Friday night we headed to downtown Tupelo.  When a city has all the commercial growth outside of downtown, it is always interesting to see if the actual town area is still vibrant and active or filled with vacant storefronts.  Plus when I asked a grocery store clerk for restaurant recommendations, all she gave me were the chain places by the mall (Applebee's, Chili's, Logan's, etc.)  And it seems a little snobbish to say, "We don't eat at chain restaurants" when you don't have the time to explain the whole "meandering" thing!
We walked right into a Chili Fest downtown.  For the price of admission, we got a bowl of chili, a pop, and two tickets to vote on the best chili at the numerous different booths that handed out samples. The usual service organizations had booths, along with schools, the library and the chamber, with many of them handing out freebies.  We got Memphis Grizzlies sunglasses from a radio station booth.  And there was . . . surprise, surprise . . . live music!  I cast my vote (with my ticket) for best chili to the booth that had white chicken chili.  Mike did not let his palate determine his vote.  Instead, he was taken with a little 5 or 6 year old girl.  She was wearing an Ole Miss cheerleading outfit, had "Ole Miss" painted on her cheek and her long brown hair tied up with red, white and blue ribbons.  She was manning a booth with her parents and half the booth was Ole Miss and half was Mississippi State.  Mike asked her which bucket should he put his ticket in and she handed him her Ole Miss bucket.  (nobody can say I am the only one who misses our grandchildren while we travel!)

Saturday was a total day off.  Except for laundry and preparing meals, I spent the day on the couch with my foot propped on pillows, with ice packs.  Mike watched college football from dawn until after dusk, sitting outside in shorts and a t-shirt.

Speaking of football, Tupelo is mid-way between the two main universities of Mississippi - Ole Miss in Oxford to the west and Mississippi State in Starkville to the south.  Both schools are big news right now as their football teams are having terrific seasons.  Sunday we took the west route and went to the University of Mississippi.  We enjoyed the drive around the tree-lined campus with stately brick buildings.  Downtown Oxford was charming.  The county courthouse sits in the center and the shops and restaurants and bookstores form a square around it.    We walked around the square and ate at Proud Larry's.  "Hotty Totty", the Ole Miss fight song, was on display everywhere.
The courthouse looked like the one in the movie, "A Time To Kill", based on the novel of the same name by native son,  John Grisham.  The other famous writer from Oxford is Nobel Prize winner William Faulkner.  His home is now owned by the university and is a museum, just several blocks from downtown.

We had put it off long enough, so we went to Elvis' birthplace after getting back from Oxford.  There is a visitor center and gift shop along with the house he was born in and the church he attended.  We didn't pay for tickets as we could walk right up to the house, just couldn't go in, which was OK with us.
Elvis came from very humble beginnings.  A true rags to riches story.  His family moved to Memphis when he was 13.  In 1956, two years after his first recording at Sun Studios, Elvis returned to Tupelo a huge star.  He performed a homecoming concert in front of 22,000.
Again, because we aren't big Elvis fans, we didn't go to the creek where he swam, or the drive-in diner he used to eat at, or the downtown hardware store where he got his first guitar - all things on the Elvis in Tupelo suggested self tour!

Monday we kept our eye on the weather and decided we had time for the southern drive to Mississippi State University in Starkville.  It was strange seeing signs for "MSU" as we so associate those initials with Michigan State University.  The campus was nice, more modern, not quite the character of Ole Miss.
Sometimes we find our local places to eat by asking someone.  Sometimes we are walking around and just stop in, as with Proud Larry's.  And sometimes we look online, which is how we found The Little Dooey - with the Around Me app on my phone.  It was a blind pick, a few blocks from campus, but what a treat!  They had a walk-up counter to place your order (BBQ pork is the specialty) and then we had a choice of inside booths or a covered outside deck.  We chose to sit outside.  At one end was a TV replaying the Miss State/Auburn game from Saturday.  We wondered if they would be replaying it if Miss State lost!  At our end, instrumental blues music was coming out of the speakers.  This place oozed atmosphere and the food was delicious.  We bought another bottle of BBQ sauce to add to our growing collection!

The Little Dooey had a sign up that said they were closing at 2:30 due to weather.  I asked if it was because of thunderstorms and the waitress said, "No, because of possible tornadoes".    We drove back to Tupelo under sunny skies, but 1/2 hour after battening down our hatches on the RV, (bringing in our slides, putting outdoor chairs away, closing vents and lowering antenna and satellite) the storm hit.  It wasn't as bad as we thought it was going to be, but a tornado went through this area last April so they take the watches and warnings very seriously.

Another sighting of odd things - A restaurant in Tupelo advertised "Asian BBQ Tacos".  They should team up with the "Catfish Chicken Chinese" place in Memphis.  And the town of West Point, Mississippi proudly proclaimed that it was a "retirement community".  We said, "What is that, and would you want to aspire to be that?"

We said goodbye to Tupelo on Tuesday and drove 4 hours east to Talladega, Alabama.  I couldn't get a picture of the "Welcome to Alabama" sign when we crossed the state line because it was raining so hard.  I thought I could get it at the Welcome Center.  The people of Alabama must not think you need a welcome if you are coming from Mississippi as there was no welcome center.  In fact, we traveled 75 miles on the interstate and never even passed a rest stop.  We know this because we would have stopped!
We passed lots of cotton fields.  Some still had cotton on the branches, some the fields were cleared.  We have seen round rolls of hay, but now we were seeing rolls of cotton the same size.

I was working on a crossword puzzle while we were driving today (or I should say Mike was driving) and one of the clues was" a six-letter word for Elvis' hometown".  Hey - I would have gotten that even without having just left Tupelo!

I never get tired of having people say "Yes, Ma'am" or "No, Ma'am" or "Can I help ya'all?" or "Thank y'all" in that southern drawl.  And they really have it in Mississippi and Alabama.

I knew we were getting close to the Talladega Speedway when I started seeing pickup after pickup on the side of the road selling firewood.  I'm not talking about a plastic wrapped bundle you get at gas stations or campgrounds.  This is wheelbarrow loads and stacks as tall as I am.

We are here, camping right outside turn 3, until Monday.  It is dry camping - no water, sewer or electric hook-ups.  But before you feel sorry for us, we run the generator for power, filled our water holding tank in Tupelo and emptied our sewer holding tank there, too.  It's not quite roughing it!  We are looking forward to having Mike's Uncle John and Aunt Leslie join us for the weekend.

This ends our sightseeing for 2014.  From here we go to Florida where we have a rental spot in Zephyrhills for the winter.  As always, we are grateful for the blessing of being able to see more of our beautiful, interesting country.  As it says in Ecclesiastes, chapter 3 - "To everything there is a season. . "
We are thankful for this season in our lives.

                                                     The home where Elvis was born

                                                                         Elvis at 13

                               There is still much damage from the April 2013 tornado in Tupelo

                                   As their tag line says: "It's not just a race. . . It's Talladega"

Memphis Day 2

Wednesday we continued to explore Memphis and beyond.  Our first stop was a tiny recording studio filled with history- Sun Studio.  Here we took a guided tour of the birthplace of rock and roll.  Sam Phillips loved blues music and in 1950 he opened the Memphis Recording Service to help preserve the genre in its purest form.  In 1951, Jackie Brenston, recorded an uptempo version of a blues song in Sam's studio and Rocket 88 became the first rock and roll record.  On our tour we listened to that original recording.

Sam would send the recordings to a company to be pressed onto vinyl, which ended his involvement.  In 1952 he started his own label - Sun Studio to have control and copyright from beginning to end.
Elvis had been hanging around the studio and even paid $4 to record a demo.  Sam wasn't too impressed with it.  But on July 8, 1954, Elvis and the studio musicians were playing around and Elvis was singing "That's All Right" in a way Sam had never heard before.  He turned on the recorder, a DJ in Memphis started playing it on the radio and Elvis, the star, was born.  We listened to that recording, too.  Later that same year, a young man came to the studio, asked for Sam and said, "I'm John Cash and I want you to hear me play."  Sun Studio was a mecca for musicians.

The tour started on the second floor which was filled with pictures, records, recording machines and the sound booth of the famous Memphis DJ who first played an Elvis song - Dewey Phillips.  We then went downstairs into the actual recording studio.  The acoustical tiles on the walls and ceiling are original, as is all the equipment and instruments.  The studio is still used for recording in the evenings.  We were invited to stand on the spot where Elvis stood when he sang "That's All Right" (it was marked with an X) and pose in front of a microphone from the 50's.  We aren't that big of Elvis fans, so we declined.

There was a large picture of Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins.  They were called The Million Dollar Quartet.   On December 4, 1956, Carl was in the studio recording and Jerry Lee was also there.  Johnny came by to pick up his paycheck and Elvis,  a big star now under the RCA label, stopped in to say hi. A jam session broke out and Sam called the Memphis paper who sent a reporter over to take the picture.

The Peabody in Memphis is one of those old, opulent, grand, downtown hotels that most big cities have.  But what sets The Peabody apart are the ducks.  Every morning, ducks are brought down from their roof-top home on the elevator and paraded to a large fountain in the lobby/lounge area where they spend their day swimming and posing for pictures.  Every night at 5 pm, they are paraded back to their Duck Palace, all under the watchful eye of the Peabody's Duck Master.  We didn't get down to Beale street Tuesday night until 6:30, so we missed the ducks.  And someone, who shall remain nameless, didn't want to pay for downtown parking just to watch a parade of ducks, so he let me off at the front door of the hotel where I could go in, see the ducks, take a picture, all while he drove around the block.

Our next stop was the National Civil Rights Museum which connects to the Lorraine Motel.  It was on the balcony outside of rooms 306 and 307 that Dr. Martin Luther King was shot and killed on April 4, 1968.  We didn't pay to go in the Museum as there was enough for us to see outside.     There were about 5 kiosks outside with small screens that showed narrated footage of the sanitation strike that brought King to Memphis, an overview of the civil rights movement, the creation of the museum, and the history of the Lorraine.  (In the segregated South, most hotels were white-only so the Lorraine was a popular place for black musicians to stay when in Memphis)

A block over from the Lorraine, Mike noticed a guy at a smoker, cooking meat on a back porch.  We drove around to the front and it was the Double J Smokehouse and Saloon. We stopped for lunch and had the smoked pork.  It wasn't served on a bun, just piled on the plate.  I chose turnip greens for my side.  We liked it enough that we bought a bottle of their homemade BBQ sauce.  If it were the evening, I don't know that we would have stopped, being a little leery of the neighborhood,  but it was a great place for lunch in the middle of the day.  (as in most cities, you feel safer on a main street with lots of other people and traffic than venturing down side streets).

I had seen a sign for The Mississippi Blues Trail and learned that the visitor center for it was just over the state line about 20 minutes away.  So off we went into Mississippi.  It wasn't quite what we envisioned as it was like a state welcome center with brochures on all the attraction in the state.  In this case, it was brochure after brochure of the towns in Mississippi that host blues festivals.  And there are a lot of them!  There is an actual blues trail, but it is about 100 towns in western Mississippi that have  a marker designating a specific blues personality. The markers are usually in their hometown or at significant locale in the person's career.

We left Memphis on Thursday for Tupelo, Mississippi.  This may seem like an odd choice after we said we aren't huge Elvis fans.  But we need to head back east to get to Talladega, Alabama by next Tuesday as we are going to the NASCAR race the following weekend.  So, with nothing else that jumped out at us as "must see",  we picked Tupelo to spend a few days, give my foot a rest, stock up on groceries and just take a break.
Driving out of Memphis we passed the airport where Fed Ex planes were lined up on the runways. The corporation is based in Memphis.
We also passed a sign for a restaurant that advertised "Catfish, Chicken and Chinese."  Some things just strike me as funny.  That is quite a range of cuisine!

I don't know what it is back in Michigan, but we saw gas in Memphis for $2.91 a gallon.

Our weather has been great - low 80's.  (when we checked in at the campground in Tupelo, the guy at the desk warned us of possible storms in the next few days, even telling us what local TV station to watch for the best weather reports)

Driving to Tupelo, we commented that we were on roads we had never traveled before.  I think we said that as we saw a sign that said we were crossing the Tallahatchie River.   That brought a chorus of that haunting song by Bobbie Gentry "Ode to Bille Joe".  " . . . the day that Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge. . . "
What can I say?  We have been in the land of music since arriving in Nashville, so everything reminds us of a song.

All the way to Tupelo, Mike fretted that the one and only campground in town looked hilly and wooded.  Hilly is bad for us.  We have had to leave campgrounds because we couldn't get the RV level.  Wooded isn't so great either as we need room for our slide outs and clear line of sight for our rooftop satellite to work.  The campground is a little gem.  It is hilly, but all the sites are built up when needed and are level.  Water pressure is great.  Our site has trees on one side, but the slide outs fit and the other side is clear, which is where the satellite aims.  We feel like we are out in the country, but are only a mile off the main road.  The only drawback for Mike is they don't allow RV washing.  For me, that is a hip-hip-hooray!  Why he feels the need to have the RV clean, only to spend a week in a field outside a racetrack, with no water, sewer or electrical hookup, is beyond me.  It is NASCAR, not the Ritz!  But he washes it top to bottom every year when he goes to the race in Michigan, too.

Tupelo seems much bigger than we thought so there may be more to do than we think!

                                         An Elvis picture I forgot to put in yesterday

                                             Our tour guide.  Yes, she really had blue hair.

                            Blue Suede Shoes was a hit for Carl Perkins before Elvis recorded it.

                                                          The Million Dollar Quartet

                                                   A sample of the memorabilia on display

                       A sampling of more current musicians who have recorded at Sun Studio

                                                    The lobby area of The Peabody

 The ducks.  There are several standing on the edge, but their coloring blends in with the marble.

                                              A permanent wreath hangs outside room 306

                                                  Mike at one of the outdoor kiosks

       

Memphis and Elvis

We arrived in Memphis on Monday afternoon.  The main draw here was Graceland, the home of the King of Rock N Roll - Elvis Presley.  We do not consider ourselves huge Elvis fans.  We like his music, watched his TV specials, a few of his movies, but nothing beyond that. On the one hand, we wanted to see Graceland (the second-most visited home in America, with the White House in the top spot), but on the other hand, we thought it could be a little tacky.  We feared the man who did everything in a BIG way would be immortalized in a big, tasteless, showy way.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Our campground was perfectly located right across the street from Graceland, behind the Heartbreak Hotel and 10 miles from downtown Memphis.  We were on a corner spot, at the intersection of Love Me Tender Lane and Jailhouse Lane.   When I checked in at the office, they had a sign that said, "Thank-you. . . Thank-you very much."  (I know, all that right there sounds tacky).  A pleasant surprise for Mike . . good water pressure.  At our site in Nashville, the water barely trickled out of the shower head.  Here, the water came out in full force, just like at home.  Oh, wait a minute . . . we are in our home.

Tuesday was Elvis day for us.  We could walk to the ticket center for the Graceland tours, but I played the "boot card" and the campground gave us a golf cart ride right to it.  Here we had a choice of several different tours, ranging from VIP to a basic house tour.  We chose a step down from VIP but included being able to board two of Elvis' planes (a must for the former private pilot).  We were happy to be on the 10:00 tour as the crowds only grew as the day went on.
The ticket center is across the street from Graceland and we boarded a small bus (dial-a-ride size) that took us across busy Elvis Presley Boulevard, through the gates decorated in musical notes, up the drive and got off at the front door.

I'm not sure how tours used to be (I should have asked), but we were each given an iPad on a strap to hang around your neck and headphones.  We found these to be a smart, savvy move by Elvis Presley Enterprises.  The iPads contained so much more than the narration of the house and grounds by actor John Stamos (of Full House fame).  There were 360 degree angles of all the rooms that were open to the public.  There were numerous pop-up pictures to click on that displayed both the audio and video of home movies, or Lisa Marie and Pricilla relating stories.  And always there was background music of Elvis singing.  Hearing their voices was better than a live tour guide.  Some may argue that, but we really liked it.  I overheard a lady say, "Why would I want to look at the rooms on this thing instead of looking in the rooms?"  The purpose of the iPads wasn't to walk around the house with your head down, glued to the screen.  It was to give you more info than just what you could see.
We looked into the rooms while listening to the narration describing the different furnishings and pointing out unique knick-knacks you might miss.  All the rooms are in their exact condition as when Elvis lived there.  Remember when I said he did things in a big way?  The living room has a 15ft long sofa and 10 ft. long coffee table!

Once you are at the house, you aren't really part of the group you rode over with on the bus.  You tour at your own pace.  Mine is always slower than Mike's.  I often looked around to see different people than were in the last room, with Mike already in the next room or outside waiting on me.   The public is allowed on the main floor (living room, dining room, kitchen, his parent's bedroom and the family room called The Jungle Room) and the basement (TV room, billiards room).  Out of respect, the upper bedrooms are not on display.
Connected by a car port is Vernon's office, where a TV screen was playing a clip of an interview Elvis did in that office after he returned to Graceland from his 2 year stint in the Army.  From the backyard we could see the pasture that still sustains horses.  A wing of the house was called "The Hall of Gold" and was lined with all the gold records Elvis recorded in his 23-year career.  To see them all in one place makes you appreciate what a talent he was.
We then went in the racquetball court that Elvis had built behind his house.  The lounge area is intact, including the piano Elvis sat and played the day he died.  The actual racquetball court area is now displays of clothes, memorabilia, and several large screens.  You don't have to be even a casual fan of Elvis to be moved by standing in this room, surrounded by his things and see him on the screen singing a stirring rendition of "How Great Thou Art", followed by a full orchestra backing him in his slow, soulful "Dixie".  You may have to be of a certain age to do this, but close your eyes and recall that voice - "I wish I was in the land of cotton. Old times there are not forgotten.  Look away . . . look away. . . look away, Dixie land."

The tour ends at the Meditation Garden, where Elvis, his parents Vernon and Gladys, and his grandmother Minnie Presley (who outlived them all) are buried.  A solemn, serene place.  Elvis and his mother were originally buried in a cemetery in Memphis, but after a failed grave robbing incident, Vernon moved them both to Graceland.

After spending as much time on the grounds as we liked, we got on a bus for the ride back across the street.  Here there is a whole plaza dedicated to everything Elvis (and what our campground is connected to).  Again, this could have been nothing more than over-priced souvenir shops.  But the tasteful homage to Elvis carried over from across the street and our platinum ticket allowed us to enter well-designed exhibits like Elvis: Live from Vegas, or Elvis' Hawaii and the Elvis Presley Automobile Museum (with the pink Cadillac he bought for his Mom) and his custom jets Lisa Marie and Hound Dog II.  Yes, we did see many of his white jump-suits and we could have bought a replica for $2,600!

Knowing that there are those who could care less about Elvis, I promised myself I wouldn't go on and on about all we learned.  But this is my written record of our travels so I will just share the following:

Elvis bought the property in 1957 when he was 22 years old for $100,000.  The former owner nicknamed it "Grace's land" after his aunt and that got shortened to Graceland.  Elvis liked the name and kept it.

A typical Elvis living large story: He had a horse and thought all his entourage needed one so he bought 17 horses, 17 saddles and 17 pick-up trucks to get them to their horses.

Elvis' first love was gospel music, especially black gospel.  At the numerous impromptu jam sessions, it was alway gospel music that Elvis played.

Ed Sullivan vowed he would never have Elvis on his TV show, until his show came in second in the ratings to a competing show when Elvis appeared.

Elvis was nominated for over 50 Grammys, but won only 3 times - all for his gospel albums.

Elvis was generous to a fault.  We saw a frame filled with 20 cancelled checks.  All were written on the same day, signed by Elvis, each for $1,000 to local Memphis charities.

He was an initial contributor and major fund raiser for the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.

In 1970, Elvis was named one of the U.S. Jaycees Ten Outstanding Young Men.  Elvis was so humbled by the recognition, it was the only award ceremony he ever attended in person.  He carried the  "Hand Touching Hand" sculpture with him on all his travels after that.

His live "Elvis - Aloha from Hawaii" concert in 1973 was the first to be transmitted via satellite and was seen by 1.2 billion people.  (this concert was a charity one for cancer research)

In closing the Graceland chapter, I will say there was never a hint of the circumstances surrounding Elvis' death on August 16, 1977 at the age of 42.  The whole experience celebrates his life, his contribution to music and our modern culture.  We both said we enjoyed it so much more than we thought we would.  From the start of our tour to walking back to the RV, we spent 5 hours immersed in Elvis.  (we did take a break for an waffle cone!)  Graceland is a MUST for Elvis fans, and for everyone else, an enjoyable look at the times and life one of the most popular performers ever.

Tuesday night we went downtown to famous Beale Street.  On the way we passed the huge complex that is St. Jude's Children's Hospital.  Beale St.  is like Bourbon Street in New Orleans or Broadway St. in Nashville or 6th St. in Austin.  But no boots here, just saxophones and guitar licks.  After 6 pm, several blocks of Beale St. are closed to motorized vehicles.  Like in all the aforementioned streets, music wafts out of just about every building.  They say the blues were born in the Mississippi Delta but became famous on Beale St.  We walked around for awhile and went to eat at the Blues City Cafe, which came highly recommended.  BBQ is big in Memphis and we were told the ribs here were some of the best.  Another big thing is catfish, but we decided to stick to the ribs.
Wise choice.  They were delicious, fall-off-the-bone tender.
After dinner we walked across the street to B.B. King's Blues Club for some music before heading back to the motorhome.  The place was packed, but since we weren't eating, we found 2 seats at the bar, turned our seats around and we were really close to the stage.  The second group of the night was just getting set up - The King Beez.  I think we were suppose to be there as their very first song was "Let's Stay Together" by Al Green.  A great song for this month-long anniversary trip:
"Lovin' you whether . . . whether. . . Times are good or bad, happy or sad."
The lead singer asked if anyone was there from outside the United States.  There was a large group from France, several people from England, Norway and a whole table from Australia.  We noticed many different accents while at Graceland - a reminder that Elvis's fame was global.
The band also recognized a birthday in the audience, along with two couples celebrating their 30th anniversary  But we got a round of applause for our 40th!
We stayed until they took a break, right after a rousing performance of a B.B. King hit.

I was going to include our Wednesday adventures but realize I did go on a bit too long about Elvis so will save Wednesday in Memphis for tomorrow.

                                    

                                                                     Graceland

                                                             The iPads we used

                                            Living room, looking into the music room

                                              Pricilla and a very young Lisa Marie

                                                             Basement TV room

                                         Billards room.  Fabric covers the walls and ceiling

                                            Lisa Marie's favorite chair in The Jungle Room

                       Elvis bought this swing set for Lisa Marie.  It is just outside Vernon's office

           Pasture land out back.  We saw videos of Elvis riding his horse, Rising Sun in the front yard, stopping by the low stone fence and signing autographs.

                                                            The back of Graceland

                                     Just one of his many gold records.  This one for Love Me Tender

                                                              No explanation needed!
                               
                                                 
A letter from then Vice-President LBJ thanking Elvis for his fundraising for the Arizona Memorial

The large cross was the original gravestone Elvis had made for his mom's grave at the public cemetery in Memphis.  His friends purchased the figure of Jesus as a gift to him.

                                            Elvis' famous logo.  Taking Care of Business.  

                                                           At the Blues City Cafe

                                              The Memphis version of the Walk of Fame

                                                           Sign on Beale Street