Up early for breakfast, a really sunny day in Memphis. Breakfast was good, ham and eggs, coffee and OJ.
We decided to go to Sun Studios. When we were last in Memphis we couldn't do this tour as we ran out of time.
As it was such a nice day we decided to walk the few blocks from the hotel. We arrived at Sun Studios, booked the tour and waited in the diner attached to the studios. It is exactly the same as it was in the 50's when Elvis, Jerry Lee, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins played here.
It was really busy, our guide led us upstairs where there was lots of exhibits from the early years of Sam Phillips and Sun records. Sam was a guy who believed in soul and blues music and wanted to record it.
Some of the equipment used then looked so dated it was a wonder they managed to record anything at all!
They even recreated the radio studio at the station where a local DJ, Dewy Phillips, no relation, started to play Sam's artists.
It was nearly destroyed when the building it was housed in was demolished but the studio managed to rescue it and put it in the museum.
She went through the early years of the company and then led us down to the studio.
It is exactly the same as it wad in the 50's. This was the very studio recorded his first song, it wasn't a hit. He persevered, as did Sam, and eventually recorded "That's alright Mama". Sam took the record down to Dewy at the radio station and he had so many requests to hear it again after the first playing that he played it 14 times in 2 hours!
It was an instant hit and the rest is history!
Some time later after Elvis left Sun records he returned to the studio one night when he was in Memphis. Jerry Lee Lewis was already there and both Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins came in and they started jamming.
Sam left the recording equipment on and it was only released a few years back due to copyright issues.
The studio is a museum by day and an actual working studio at night. Lots of bands have recorded here including U2, who recorded Rattle and Hum here. They have even left the drum kit there.
They have the microphone that Elvis used to record his songs as well.
It was really wierd being in the room where so much influential early music was recorded. It sends a shiver down your spine, that's for sure, especially when you grew up with that music!
After the tour finished we had a Coke in the diner, bought some souvenirs and decided to walk to Beale St for lunch.
It wa still really hot but we took a leisurely stroll and had a look in A Schwab's, a kind of dept store that sells some really weird things.
We had some lunch I'm one of the bars and then went to the Peabody hotel to watch the "duck ceremony".
This dates back to 1933 when as a joke after a Jack Daniels fuelled hunting trip, the General Manager put some ducks in the fountain in the lobby. Expecting them to not be there in the morning, he was surprised to find them still there. More importantly a crowd had gathered to look at them. When he tried to remove them the crowd went mad and demanded they stay as long as they wanted.
The hotel then built them a place to stay overnight on the roof and each morning they are brought down in a lift. They walk along a red carpet and up a set of steps into the fountain where they stay until 5pm where the process is reversed.
They have a Duck Master who oversees the whole thing. The ducks are wild and the hotel change them every 3 months to ensure they do not become domesticated. The same duck farm have been supplying ducks for the last 53 years.
The lobby gets mobbed, it is a real Memphis tradition. We got there early and ordered a drink. We thought the ceremony was at 4pm but it didn't start till 5pm, so by the time it started we had had a few!
The Peabody hotel is the best hotel in Memphis, very luxurious, similar to the Dorchester or Grosvenor in Mayfair.
We staggered back to our hotel, thankfully it was opposite, showered changed and went out for the evening.
We decided to eat in B.B.Kings club. Good food and music. We got a table close to the stage and ordered our food. The band playing were the B.B.Kings Allstars, they are the resident band and are really good. The singer was belting out Stax soul songs and we had a really great time.
We left there about 1am, well fed, well watered and well happy!
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