Friday, March 14, 2008 11:07 PM CDT
Making music and memories in Memphis and Little Rock
By Scott A.G.M. Crawford, For the JG/T-C
With Christmas 2007 just round the corner Penny and I braced ourselves for a Coles County white Christmas. The wind huffed and puffed and, indeed, dropped about 4 inches of snow. That served as our green flag and, with both cats safely housed in their vacation Mattoon country club for felines, we headed south.
A little under six hours later we were in Memphis, with not one speck of snow to be seen. We spent a spring break in Memphis a decade ago so had already made a pilgrimage to the Lorraine Motel (the site of the Martin Luther King assassination and a civil rights museum), and had visited another sort of cultural landmark, Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley.
This time around we spent a morning touring the Rock and Soul Museum, which was set up by the Smithsonian Institution Affiliation Program. Although taken aback by a $10 admission charge, the exhibits were wonderfully designed and ably supported the thesis that Memphis marks “the holy ground of American music.”
We toured the museum at our own pace and, equipped with a personal headset, we were able to tune into a dazzling array of pioneering recordings. One was able to see and hear the convergence of blues, country and western, bluegrass, soul, and rock ‘n’ roll.
It was fascinating to grasp the impact of Carl Perkins on the Beatles, or the manner in which country and western and Delta blues impacted, and shaped, the young Elvis Presley.
Visitors — more than 250,000 people have passed through since its opening in April 2000 — are able to tap into more than 100 songs nicely located in seven galleries, with three audio-visual programs. The various exhibits showcase 30 instruments and 40 costumes.
The museum chronicles a place, and times and musical movements that “affected the way we walked, the way we talked, the way we combed our hair and the way we dressed.”
Literally across the street from the Rock and Roll Museum lies the Gibson guitar factory. There are daily guided tours to let visitors watch craftsmen create works of art that translate into unique symbols of American music. We were all set to line up for a Friday afternoon tour but a security guard warned that we might have a long wait, due to the factory’s Christmas party, so we moved on.
Memphis is understandably very proud of its new state-of-the-art arena called the Fed Ex Forum. It is the permanent home to the NBA Memphis Grizzlies and the University of Memphis Tigers basketball teams.
We, however, passed up basketball and opted for listening to the Trans Siberian Orchestra. I have always wanted to travel on the Trans Siberian railway — it crosses a myriad of time zones and reaches from end to end of the former Soviet Union.
Now — to be honest — as I scratched my head I could not readily place this orchestra in my musical consciousness. Who was their celebrity conductor? Where was their home — Moscow, Stalingrad, Minsk? Which composers were they associated with?
As we packed in with the many thousands of music fans I turned to my neighbor — a mid-20s college student from Mississippi — and innocently asked her which composer was to be featured on the program. She spluttered and then had a sustained laugh. “You mean you don’t know that TSO is an American pop music ensemble more Las Vegas than La Scala?”
Happily for us, TSO played a variety of popular music, accompanied by some breath-taking guitar solos, pyrotechnics on stage and a light show that was the Fourth of July in excelsis! And they did draw inspiration with signature melodies from the world of classical music.
This rock orchestra was founded by Paul O’Neill, Robert Kinkel and Jon Oliva in 1996. Its musical style is described as symphonic rock or symphonic/heavy metal.
However, our holiday port of call was to be Little Rock, Ark., which was only a hop step and jump from Memphis. We had a lovely room on the 12th floor of the Peabody Hotel overlooking the Arkansas River.
There are only three Peabodies (Memphis, Orlando and Little Rock) and their claim to fame is ducks. In the 1930s Frank Schutt, the general manager of the Peabody, and a chum, Chip Barwick, returned to the Peabody after a duck hunting shoot in Arkansas. They had some drinks and some more drinks and…decided for a “quack” of a laugh to put their live decoy ducks (at that time it was legal to use live decoys) in the hotel fountain situated in the foyer.
The next morning the ducks were still there and became, overnight, a celebrity conversation piece. This metamorphosed into a tradition so that now, regular as clockwork, each day at 11 a.m., a mallard and four other ducks come down the elevator and, like Oscar patrons, strut the red carpet and climb into the water sanctuary of the hotel fountain. At 5 p.m. the process is reversed.
As these events are orchestrated by Duckmaster Lloyd Withrow, with a musical accompaniment to a John Philip Sousa march, the event is a glorious public relations tactic by the Peabody and — dare I say it — charming theater!
We enjoyed walking along the banks of the Arkansas River in almost springlike weather and next time in Little Rock we will climb aboard the paddle wheeled “Arkansas Queen.” The expanse of water, the flat shoreline, the wake of the steamer: it almost seemed right for Tom Sawyer and Mark Twain to appear.
The William Jefferson Clinton Museum and Presidential Center is within an easy walk of the downtown “River Market” area. It is home to the largest archival collection in American presidential history.
Well worth a visit are reproductions of the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room. I was able to catch some sunshine in the Scholars Garden that, happily, looks away from the museum.
I say happily, because the kindest thing one could say about its configuration is that it is a gray-colored, shoebox-shaped structure. Neither eye catching nor stately, the museum is overly utilitarian. Almost right as an angler’s box for a Gulliver giant!
Little Rock’s most significant place is a short drive from the River Market district. The Little Rock Central High National Historic Site represents a time and place that is singular in civil rights history.
On Sept. 23, 1957, nine students of color, representing desegregation, attempted to enter Central High School. The Arkansas governor, Faubus, sought to deny these African Americans their rights of entry — and education.
President Eisenhower called on the 101st Airborne Division, the Arkansas National Guard came under Washington authority, and Faubus capitulated. The “Little Rock Nine” today, half a century on, testify to a celebration of courage, character and commitment.
If hungry and thirsty in Little Rock, two quick tips. Get hold of a pint — or more — of Yarnell’s ice cream. Manufactured in Searcy, Ark., and family operated since 1932, the product is scrumptious. The company call their ice cream “our family secret.”
If thirsty, “Flying Saucer” is a watering hole in a million. It serves more than 200 beers, ales and ciders from every continent.
Little Rock has a charming trolley that, sedately, will take you around the downtown area for 50 cents. The round trip is a leisurely 25 minutes.
This was our first visit to Little Rock. The size and scale of the state’s capital is both warm and inviting.
And, as I look at my watch, it is 4:30 p.m. Only 30 minutes until the five Peabody ducks do their balletic promenade and exit the hotel fountain!
Want to go?
- Memphis Rock and Soul Museum — www.memphisrocknsoul.org. Check out this site for live “cuts” of Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc.
- FedExForum — www.fedexforum.com
- Gibson store and factory — 145 Lt. George W. Lee, Memphis, 901-543-0800
- Trans-Siberian Orchestra — www.trans-siberian.com/intro.hml
- The Peabody — www.PeabodyHotels.com or 1-800-42-DUCKS. They did a Christmas Day brunch that defies description. We have never had one to rival it.
- Clinton Library and Presidential Center — www.clinton-foundation.org
- Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site — www.nps.gov
- The Flying Saucer- www.beerknurd.com
- Yarnell’s Ice Cream — 1-800-Yarnell
Scott AGM Crawford is a free lance writer who lives in Charleston.
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