Letter from Memphis

Some places truly are special. Sun Studio in Memphis is one of them. The same floor and ceiling tiles still exist from the days when Elvis did his first hit recording. Not to mention most of the classics by Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison and many others. The place felt like being in St.Peter's Basillica in Rome but cooler. For some reason I was getting chills in the place and I'm not even a big fan of these guys. Blinding hot white sun was pouring into the foyer as I spoke with Charly the tour guide. She mentioned that some of the bands leave gear behind. U2 left the drum kit so I got an Aussie tourist to take a snap for me. The microphone by the piano is the original one used in all those recordings. In the evenings the studio is rented out (with an engineer) for the reasonable price of $75 an hour. I bought a Johnny Cash CD of his hits from Sun Studio. I listened to that at night on my drive back. "I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die." Good times Johnny!

Went on a tour of the Gibson guitar factory. It was a little disappointing as they only made the semi-hollow bodied electrics there. All the cool guitars are made in the Nashville factory.

I finally had a decent dinner. On Beale street the night before I ate blackened catfish and spicy seafood gumbo while I watched a live blues quartet. Food with spices! And garlic! And flavour! Not sure it exists in Oklahoma as the only place I can find fruit is at Walmart. Seriously.