Nashville Cats

"Play cool as country water...

Been playin since they'se babies...

Well, there's thirteen hundred and fifty two Guitar pickers in Nashville...."

That's what the Lovin' Spoonful said back in the sixties.

But today there are an estimated 30,000 songwriters living here.

Probably even more guitar pickers....
They're on every street corner in the entertainment district.
Their quality varies widely.

We went "honky tonkin" on Nashville's Broadway...

joined in on a "holler and swaller"... at Legends Corner Bar

In case you don't know, the "holler and swaller" involves a long yell and a long drink.
and
by the way,
we're definitely not in Massachusetts anymore...
We were sitting having our drink and see three kids (maybe 10 - 12 years old)
selling candy bars for some kind of fundraiser.
This in a bar! Not a restaurant!
Of course if you want to sell things and can do so to people drinking...
Later on at another place I notice a sign that children are not allowed in after 6pm.
and....
everywhere in Memphis and Nashville are signs that you can't bring your gun(s) into the bar.
very interesting that they have to post this....

They don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee

Interesting that Merle Haggard has admitted 

that he wrote this song (Okie from Muskogee) as a satire.

His son seems to take the politics more seriously.
One of Merle's latest songs says that we should stop fighting wars
and spend more time and money on fixing this country.
listen to America First.

"Merle Haggard was in his early twenties, serving a possible 20 years in prison when San Quentin guards found him, drunk off his own beer, after he'd fallen into a latrine. "They handcuffed my ass and took me to where they gas people," he said. It's one of many heartbreaking stories in Merle Haggard: Learning to Live With Myself, a new PBS documentary about the country legend. The film features interviews with Keith Richards, Kris Kristofferson, John Fogerty, and Robert Duvall, and examines the hardships of Haggard's Bakersfield, California upbringing. He lost his father at age nine, spent his teenage years escaping from youth institutions and later penned 38 Number One country classics."
from "Rolling Stone" magazine.








"Already a major country star, Haggard became a household name, and, like Uncle Tom’s Cabin more than a century earlier, “Okie” clove that house in two. So politically charged were the times that even chitchat around the dinner table, ordinarily useful to keep family values on track, could erupt into screaming matches. Nightly. America was, then as now, in the midst of a bitter cultural war, and everything got serious when names like Richard Nixon, Martin Luther King and Abbie Hoffman came up in conversation. Haggard’s song inserted him into the middle of that discussion.
By the winter of 1969 there was no middle ground, and where you stood on “Okie” firmly established which side you were on, whether you wore sandals or boots, whether you thought hippies deserved to be beaten or honored for their opposition to the Vietnam War. Haggard’s next single, the patriotically charged “Fightin’ Side Of Me”, made clear where he stood.
No, it didn’t, actually.
The reaction to his latest single, “That’s The News”, smartly selected from his latest record, Like Never Before (on his own Hag Records imprint), suggests just how complex and mercurial a figure Merle Haggard has always been. And what a gifted artist he remains."
from American Masters.





All of the above is a lead-in to this.
Sunday night, October 3, in Branson we went to see Marty Haggard (Merle's oldest son).

He does a tribute show singing his father's songs and telling stories about his life and his dad's.
It was a fun show (Merle had a lot of hits),
and he did a good job on my favorite
Merle song "If We Make it Through December" which relates to the struggles of the working class.

But Marty obviously believes in America Red White and Blue; Love it or Leave It; God's on our side.

When he sings "The fightin' side of me" (which says that you better not say anything bad about the USA) you know that he believes it.
And the crowd in Branson really loves these "patriotic" statements.

I don't want this blog to become a political one, but politics permeates everything in our lives, and I find it amazing that people don't think more about the underlying messages in the comments that are made. For example, Marty comments that Merle went "from the jail-house to the White House in 10 years" (he was honored by then president Nixon -- a pardoned criminal by the way) then says that today the process should be reversed for some of the people in the White House.





Anyway, I don't expect that you'll see the Dixie Chicks playing Branson anytime soon.

Walking in Memphis

Walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale...

Saw the ghost of Elvis...
followed him up to the gates of Graceland...

but security they did not see him...

But his spirit is certainly there.

What can you say about Elvis? If you're not a fan and you go to Graceland, you'll leave a fan.

Sure, he ended up with problems - don't we all?

Graceland was his home in Memphis, a city he loved. It was ostentatious and  a bit (no a lot) tacky - a jungle room with furniture that has animal motifs? Shag carpet on the ceilings?

But if you compare it to the homes of the rich and famous today....

Now all the people still sending flowers and posters... that's a little weird... well, maybe not.

So, we spent about 4 hours there.

And his favorite sandwich is the same sandwich that my mother used to make for me (and that I still love) - peanut butter and butter and bananas - umm umm good.

 

We took a free shuttle to Sun studio

 I sang a few lyrics on a microphone that Elvis (and Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis, and Howlin Wolf, and Roy Orbison and a host of others) probably used.

The guide said that we could kiss the mike ----
 I passed.

There will be more about Memphis, but it's time to hit the road again.
Next stop - Nashville!

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin on the River

Actually, it was on a lake.

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon we began our Branson Experience by taking a dinner cruise on the Showboat Branson Belle, which traverses Table Rock Lake. This is a man made lake created by the Army corps of engineers years ago to help stop flooding in the area. They built a dam.

(Thankfully, we didn't go near the dam with the ship.

This was not supposed to be a thrill ride.)

The cruise was pleasant, top speed around 7 knots.

Between the meal and the show we had some time

 to walk around the ship,

go on deck, 

and enjoy the mild breeze.

The show was fun 

typical variety show kind of stuff - emcee, comedian, magician, singers & dancers.

The dinner was ehh - maybe a C- certainly not comparable to cruise ship food.

(although I must admit I've never been on a "real" cruise but in general everyone raves about cruise food and gains 5 - 10 pounds.)

But, we had a good and relaxing time.

A little family time in the Ozarks

I'm falling a little behind on the posts - actually vacationing while on vacation. Saturday we arrived in Branson. Of course, all of my planning and research and I didn't realize that Branson is in the Ozarks - that's the OZARK MOUNTAINS!!!  Anyway, the interstates were fine but some of the state highways are more than a little "dicey", especially at night - no streetlights. Seems that they're also saving taxpayer money on guardrails!
Anyhow, we met Marlene's brother Steve and his wife Linda for a wonderful meal Saturday night and Sunday morning breakfast. They live in Oklahoma and drove here to meet us. We spent a few lovely hours together doing the usual family things, talking about the kids and grandkids, reminiscing about growing up and parents no longer with us, and looking at pictures. We were very happy that they could make the time to meet us.

Gydiyup Om Pa Pa Om Pa Pa Mow Mow

Gydiyup Om Pa Pa Om Pa Pa Mow Mow

My hearts on fire....

Tonight we saw the Oak Ridge Boys - they have their own theater here in Branson - put on a wonderful show - they've been performing together for 37 years - have over 35 country hits - many were #1 country hits.


And of course they performed their signature song....
Gydiyup...
Gydiyup Om Pa Pa Om Pa Pa Mow Mow
Gydiyup...

Gydiyup Om Pa Pa Om Pa Pa Mow Mow

My hearts on fire....

for Elvira!

All in all a great ending to our Branson Experience!

now...

on to Memphis.

Just a brief note - obviously I've missed a few days - took a vacation from posting you could say. I'll be adding stuff about Branson and St Louis - just not in chronological order.

Chicago Chicago That Toddlin' Town

They have the time, the time of their life

I saw a man who danced with his wife.

Actually, I didn't see anybody dancing.

But we did have a great time.

We took a river cruise that highlighted the architecture of the city.

Here's a few pictures of the buildings.

We went to the Museum of Science and Industry.

  I went down a coal mine, learned about corn,

          pigs, trains, tornadoes 

            and lots of other cool stuff.

              
    This train was the first to travel over 100 mph!

We also saw a Jim Henson exhibit (creator of one of my all time favorite shows - the Muppets)

We went to Buddy Guy's Legends Cafe

for a live blues set.

We went to the Hard Rock Cafe to look for James Young's (from Styx) jumpsuit.

They apparently moved it somewhere else.

The host said that they re-decorated a couple of years ago.

They did have the drum set behind the bar from Styx's Todd Sucherman.
This is me sitting in front of it.

Now, for anyone who wonders about the song title, here's an explanation from www.wordwizard.com about how the term "toddling" came to be used.

Hey my blog can be educational too!!!

This is an age-old question especially for Chicagoans. I believe that the answer is that there is no definite answer. Fred Fisher (1875-1942) wrote words and music (1922) for the very successful song, “Chicago (that toddlin’ town)” in praise of his adopted city (he had emigrated to the U.S. from Germany in 1900). It was originally a very popular 1920s song which was brought back by Sinatra in the 1957 movie ‘the Joker is Wild.’– the life story of vaudevillian Joe E. Lewis. Fisher had a long and successful career and wrote the music and sometimes also the lyrics for many well-known songs (including Peg O’ My Heart). As far as I could tell (and I could be wrong but don’t think so, or there wouldn’t be all the controversy), he never made clear where he got that term “toddlin’ town) and there is no record (again, as far as I could determine) of it being an expression before he put it into song. My best guess is that he wanted a word for alliterative effect and neither hustln’ nor ‘bustlin’ (which would have been more descriptive of Chicago) sounded as good to him, so he created an adjective – which didn’t quite fit the town (to walk leisurely, stroll, or saunter) – and thus the confusion for the last 80 [[now 87]] years.


On to St Louis!