Maybe we would have had a different impression of Memphis if we had been able to see more of the city besides downtown earlier on the trip. Because of Chris’ conference we stayed pretty close to downtown most of the time. Downtown is kind of rundown. They are in the process of trying to clean it up. Some panhandlers. Get off of Beale St. if you can. Beale St. is just for tourists. We were there mid-week, so maybe that’s why we didn’t get to see any good blues acts. I also expected the food to be better there too. (See my comments on Corky’s BBQ the best! and not on Beale St.)
The Peabody Hotel was nice. There’s a long tradition of the hotel keeping ducks in their hotel lobby fountain. It started as a prank in the 1930’s, but proved very popular with the guests. The duck handler parades the ducks in and out of the lobby every day at 11am and 5pm. People stand all over the lobby taking pictures. If you’ve ever been to Vegas and seen the volcano at The Mirage or the fountain in front of The Bellagio you might want to skip this attraction. The ducks don’t explode or sing. They just waddle around on a red carpet and into the fountain.
Like I said, “Get off of Beale St.” There are some cool bars away from the downtown area. We got to go to one the day before we left. Young Ave. Deli is about 10 minutes away from downtown. New artists play here all the time. We missed Shooter Jennings playing here by about 3 weeks. The crowd here is mostly college aged. Go to www.youngavenuedeli.com for more info.