Memphis – Blues, Rock ‘n Roll and Soul

I’ve been watching Trevor MacDonald’s series travelling along the Mississippi on ITV. It’s a little superficial, but I’ve enjoyed the episodes shown so far. Last week he visited Memphis, Tennessee and it brought back memories of my own visit in 2009. Inevitably the programme featured some of the sites associated with the musical heritage of the city – Beale Street, Sun Studios and Graceland.

Memphis played a key role in the development of popular music during the 20th Century – particularly the Blues, Rock and Roll and Soul.

During the early 1900’s, one of the main thoroughfares in the city centre, Beale Street, echoed to the sound of Blues music being played in its numerous clubs and bars, many of them owned by African-Americans. Today the street is a major tourist attraction, lined with bars and restaurants, including one owned by Blues legend B B King. It’s heaving with people out to enjoy themselves during the evening on weekends. But i found the atmosphere much more relaxed than similar areas in cities and towns in the U.K. And music is still a major aspect of the nightlife with most of the bars featuring bands and musicians busking in the street.

Given it’s importance as one of the major centres of Blues music, it’s not surprising that Memphis featured prominently in the history of Rock and Roll. Sun Studio, just outside the city centre, was where artists such as Sam Perkins, Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash cut some classic records. And of course it was where Elvis Presley  recorded his first hits.

I took the mini-bus that runs from the city centre to the studio. Visitors go upstairs to view a small exhibition before before being taken back downstairs into the studio itself. It was very small, and it was a bit of a crush, but, like many other people, I was able to stand on the spot where Elvis stood and hold his microphone.

 

You can’t go to Memphis without visiting Graceland, so I joined the throngs at Elvis’ former home, is on the outskirts of the city, near to the airport.

Graceland was much smaller than I expected – and the portico on the front made it look much grander than it actually was. It was large – but nowhere near as big as I’d imagined.

As well as the house itself there are a number of other attractions, including a museum full of cars and motorbikes owned by Elvis and his two jets.

Memphis was also a major centre for soul music in the 1960’s and 1970’s. It was the home to Stax and other labels including Willie Mitchell’s Hi Records.

A visit to the Stax museum was a real highlight of my trip. Stax records was a hotbed of talent including Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, the Staple Singers, Johnnie Taylor, Albert King, Booker T. & the MGs, and Rufus and Carla Thomas.

The studio, a converted cinema, had, tragically, been demolished in the museum together, swapping experiences of growing up with the music – me a white man from 1989. So the Stax Museum is housed in a realistic replica of the original building. As it was quite away from the city centre. I took the free mini-bus from my hotel with two other guests staying there – a New Jersey policeman and his wife. We got talking and toured the museum together, swapping stories about growing up with the music, sharing a common enthusiasm despite our very different backgrounds.

A cold day in Howth

Over the past 7 or 8 years I’ve been over to Dublin several times on business. Whenever I travel for work I usually try to add a day or two on to the trip so that I can take a look around, so I’ve got to know Dublin fairly well. During a recent visit I decided to explore a little further afield so got the DART train from Connolly Station out to Howth (pronounced so that it rhymes with “both”), a small town on the coast about 9 miles north east of the city centre overlooking Dublin Bay.

The town nestles below Howth head, a large land mass dominating the north side of the bay – you can see it from the ferry sailing in from England – which is connected to the rest of Dublin via a narrow strip of land.

Its a pleasant little town with good sea views and a harbour full of yachts. I’m told that there are good views to be had from Howth head, but, although it’s only a few miles walk around the headland, it was a cold day when there was a freezing wind blowing in from the Irish Sea, so I restricted my visit to having a walk around the harbour.

There’s a large rocky island just off shore known as “Ireland’s Eye”.  From the beach I could see a Martello tower and another building – probably a church. There are boat trips out to the island during the summer, but not on a cold winter’s day.

Martello towers are small defensive forts that were built around the coast of Britain and Ireland from the Napoleonic Wars onwards. Their design was  inspired by a round fortress, at Mortella (Myrtle) Point in Corsica. There are several around Dublin Bay including one at Sandcove, in the northern suburbs of Dublin, which featured in the opening chapter of James Joyce’s “Ulysses” and which today is a museum dedicated to the writer.

It’s still a working port, and standing on the harbour wall I watched a small fishing boat heading out into the bay, past Ireland’s Eye.

There are a number of seafood restaurants lining one side of the harbour. It was too late for lunch and too early for an evening meal but I popped into one where I bought some native oysters – the first I’ve eaten. A little pricey, but worth it.

A short break in Cambridge

It was interesting to see the article in the Observer this morning about Vermeer’s Women: Secrets and Silence at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, as we’d just returned home after a short break of a couple of days in the city where we’d visited the exhibition.

We travelled down on the train last Wednesday and for a while during the journey thought we might not get there. The country was being battered with strong winds for the first few days of the New Year and the train to London was running 30 minutes late due to problems with the power lines in Cumbria when it finally arrived at Wigan. We lost some more time during the journey due to the weather conditions and then when we reached Rugby, less than an hour from London, the train ground to a halt. After a short while there was an announcement over the intercom telling us why we’d stopped. We were told that there had been a fatality on the line ahead of us at Leighton Buzzard and we were likely to be stuck for some time. I had visions of being stranded for three or four hours – no trains were moving either north or south on the main line. Some passengers even made the decision to abandon their journey and head back north via Birmingham taking a local service that wasn’t affected by the incident. However, we got moving after only an hour as the train was diverted onto a slower line so it could get past the location where the incident occurred. We finally arrived in London Euston two hours late.

There was chaos at the station as train movements on the West Coast main line had been badly disrupted. But there was no point being annoyed. It wasn’t the fault of the train operators and it has to be said the effect on travellers was a minor inconvenience compared that on the family of the person who was killed./p pA short walk took us to Kings Cross were we caught an express train to Cambridge – only 45 minutes journey.

We stopped in quite a fancy Boutique hotel – the “Hotel du Vin”, which was very conveniently located almost opposite the Fitzwilliam Museum. It wasn’t cheap, but accommodation in the city centre is generally expensive. There are plenty of places to eat and drink with restaurants, cafes and pubs which serve food.

We’d originally hoped to visit a museum or college during Thursday afternoon but our late arrival around 4 o’clock meant it was getting close to closing time. So after checking into our hotel we decided on taking a walk around the town. Being January it went dark before 5 o’clock and it seemed like it was really late as we explored the town.

I’d been to Cambridge before a few times when I was working away and staying in Letchworth which is only a relatively short drive or train journey from the city, but this was the first time I’d been able to spend more than a few hours there.

Having spent a few days in Oxford last June, it was interesting to be able to compare the two University towns. Cambridge is the smaller of the two and was more intimate. It felt more medieval – all the streets in the city centre were narrow and winding and were largely traffic free making it easy to explore – the main hazard was the bicycles which appeared silently and many of the cyclists didn’t seem to give way to pedestrians. We even saw a collision between two cyclist – an elderly man and a younger woman – and the man got a little abusive toward the woman, blaming her for the accident – an example of two wheeled road rage.

As with Oxford the town is dominated by the Colleges. There are 31 of them, most of them with a long history. Each College is an independent institution with its own property and income, and some of them are extremely wealthy. The Colleges appoint their own staff and are responsible for selecting students with teaching shared between the Colleges and University departments./p pThe town centre with its market square and main shopping streets, is surrounded by the colleges which are closed in behind their walls. In most cases it’s only possible to peer inside through a small gate, when it’s open, to get a glimpse of the privileged world inside.

The exception is Kings College where the massive Chapel and main college building dominate Kings Parade, one of the main thoroughfares in the town centre.

Most of the colleges open to the public for several hours most days for a modest entry fee (in some cases entry is free) although there is only limited access to the grounds and buildings.

The architecture is impressive in a range of styles – gothic and neo-classical and a large number of buildings from the Tudor period in the older colleges such as St John’s, Trinity and Queens. There aren’t many Tudor style buildings in the north of England so I was particularly keen to have a look at these. Many of the colleges have buildings from a number of periods, constructed as they expanded and “modernised”

One of the most picturesque parts of the town is “the Backs” – a section of the River Cam between the Magdalene Street bridge in the north and the Silver Street bridge in the south where several Colleges#160; back on to the river. The banks are owned by the colleges and access is restricted. It would be pleasant to walk along the river here. Access to some sections can be gained during college visits but a full promenade along the Backs isn’t possible. However visitors can take a trip along the river on a punt – either by hiring one (for the brave only!) or by buying a ticket for one of the “a “chauffeured tours“.

We were lucky with the weather. After the wild conditions earlier in the week we woke on Friday morning to a clear blue sky (although it clouded over later during the afternoon). It was relatively mild for the time of the year too with very little wind. So it made for good sightseeing conditions.

Being early January there were very few students around. Cambridge undergraduates have a long Christmas break finishing early December and not returning until late January. I was surprised at the number of tourists. Despite being out of season there were a few around besides ourselves, but despite this the town was fairly quiet making it pleasant to wander around the streets and colleges. The galleries we visited were another matter. The “Vermeer’s women” exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum was absolutely packed.

There was plenty for us to see during our short visit. We visited a number of colleges, the Fitzwilliam Museum and Kettle’s Yard. I’d have liked to have looked at the Whipple Museum of the History of Science and the Polar Museum at the Scott Polar Research Institute, but time didn’t allow. I guess we’ll have to add Cambridge to the list of places we’d like to re-visit.

48 hours in Edinburgh

Last weekend we decided to take a short break in Edinburgh. We’d had a couple of day trips to Glasgow, and I’d been up to Inverness on business twice, earlier this year, so this was the third Scottish city I’d visited in 2011.

There’s plenty of accommodation in Edinburgh, but it doesn’t come cheap, especially if you book it relatively close to the date of the visit, as we did. It isn’t as expensive as London, but still pricey compared to some other British cities. Mind you, the cost of hotels and B and B’s seems to have shot up everywhere over the last few years.

We arrived on a cloudy Friday afternoon and after we’d checked into our hotel and were setting off towards the Old Town, it started to rain. Edinburgh can look a bit grim under grey skies and it continued to rain (quite heavily at times) for most of the afternoon, but it started to clear around 4 o’clock and stayed fine, with clear skies, for the rest of the weekend, the low northern sun showing off the city to good effect. The downside of sunny days at this time of e year in Scotland is that the temperature will be low, particularly after sunset. However, wrapped up warm we were able to enjoy walking around the streets of the “Athens of the north”, a title it’s earned due to the proliferation of Classical style buildings in the New Town, built during the Georgian period. It’s a fairly relaxed city, safe enough to walk around even at night, providing you don’t stray too far off the beaten path. The people are friendly, even if some of the locals can be a little difficult to understand at times!

There’s no shortage of places to eat, a wide variety of tastes being catered for. We noticed that there were a particularly large number of Italian restaurants, reflecting the large number of Italian immigrants who settled in Scotland during the 20th Century. However, we ate in a Japanese style restaurant, Yes Sushi the first night of our stay and Turkish, at Nargile during our second night. Both on Hanover Street, not too far from our Hotel. There didn’t seem to be many Scottish restaurants, though.

As Scotland’s capital, there’s plenty to see and do – far too much for a short stay. We’re unusual in that we didn’t visit the Castle and the other most well known attractions. Instead we chose to visit the Scottish Parliament building on Friday afternoon, spent most of Saturday at the Scottish Modern Art Museum and visited the Scottish National Trust’s Georgian House on Charlotte Square On Sunday morning. The rest of the time we spent wandering round the streets of the Medieval Old Town and Georgian New Town looking at the architecture.

Impressions of Helsinki

I’ve just returned from a short visit to Helsinki. It was a business trip, but I went over a day early so that I could have a look around. The weather, at the end of October, was not that different than in the U.K – chilly, but not sub-zero. I was lucky in that during my sightseeing it it was very sunny, although it clouded over later in the afternoon. Apparently, last year it had already snowed before the end of October, so perhaps I was lucky. The snow will no doubt arrive soon, but everyone I spoke too said it doesn’t present a problem as the Finns are well equipped to deal with it.

I enjoyed my brief visit and would like to go back again (in the summer!) to have a proper look around.

These were my impressions

The city

• A small, compact city centre. Fairly flat and very walkable.
• Set out on a grid pattern so very easy to find your way around
• Trees everywhere – all showing beautiful autumn colours while I was there. The leaves will be gone soon, though.

• Plenty of things to see – one day sightseeing was nowhere near enough
• Extremely good and efficient public transport system – trams, buses, ferries and Metro.
• Very easy to get from the airport to the city on the Finnair bus which runs every 20 minutes from immediately outside Terminal 2 (just cross over the road to the bus stop)
• Shops open quite late – at least on some evenings. One evening when I was out for a meal shops were still open well after 8 p.m.

The people

• Everyone spoke very fluent English.
• Everyone seemed friendly enough when I spoke to them – although the Finns appear to like to keep themselves to themselves.

Eating Out

• Plenty of reasonably priced cafes and restaurants.
• I only ate out a couple of times but the food was good.
• Alcohol is expensive – good job I don’t drink it.

Architecture

• It’s a relatively new city  with the majority of buildings from the late 19th Century onwards.
• A large number of Jugendstil (“Art Nouveau”) buildings. They were everywhere.
• An interesting Russian Orthodox cathedral – one of the few in Western Europe.

• Other major buildings mainly neo-Classical, often with a Nordic twist.

Museums and Galleries

• Plenty of museums and galleries dotted around the city. Unfortunately due to my limited time there I didn’t have chance to visit any.
• At least some of the galleries/museums stay open late on some evenings. (Why do they have to always shut at 5 o’clock in Britain?)

Impressions of Budapest

We’ve just got back from a short break in Budapest. It was our first visit to the city – and our first foray into Eastern Europe. It was an enjoyable break. These are my general impressions.

The city

• A beautiful city which reminded me of Paris in many ways, at least on the Pest side of the river, with buildings of uniform height on tree lined boulevards, a cafe culture (but with more emphasis on cakes!).
• Two cities in one – the older Buda on the hills on the west bank of the Danube and Pest on the east bank – linked by a number of bridges.
• It had a safe, relaxing atmosphere.
• Lots of things to see and do – we weren’t able to see everything we would have liked to during our 4 day visit.
• It was less busy than other popular “tourist cities” such as Paris, London and Barcelona – fewer pedestrians and less traffic and fewer tourists.
• Relatively small – most of the sights are in a relatively compact area – less spread out than Paris and London
• Good, and cheap, public transport system – trams, buses, trolley buses and underground.
• Less obvious poverty visible on the streets than in many other cities (especially London and Paris), but its difficult to know how representative the central touristy areas are compared to the city as a whole.

The people

• Fluent English spoken in cafes, restaurants and most touristy places. Widespread use of English on tourist information (leaflets and even street signs) on public transport
• Very friendly and helpful in our hotel and all the cafes and restaurants we visited.
• Less friendly in shops – often quite frosty
• Although some of the staff in the museums and state owned attractions were friendly, the majority were very frosty and some very officious.
• I sensed a nostalgia for a more aggressive, imperial past. There were lots of statues of aggressive kings and warriors and there were a number of references from tourist guides and in tourist information to the times when Hungary was a larger country .

Eating Out

• Plenty of good value restaurants.
• Food generally very good
• Emphasis on meat – and more meat.
• 10% tips expected. May be included on bill (always check – ask if not clear). Don’t leave tip on table but tell waiter how much to add to bill when they bring it.

Architecture

• Mixture of styles, reflecting the history and development of the city
• The Pest side of the city developed during the 19th and early 20th century and the architecture is a mixture of styles representative of that period – neo-classical, neo-gothic, neo-renaissance and art nouveau, with a smattering of art-deco and modernist buildings.
• Relatively few post WW2 buildings and very few modern ones (1990’s to 21st Century) in the city centre.
• Lots of interesting art nouveau style (Secessionist) buildings scattered all over Pest.
• Some of the “older” medieval buildings and structures are not as old as they first appear – the popular “Fisherman’s Bastion” was actually built during the late 1800’s.
• Flying into the city we were able to see the large estates of Brutalist tower blocks in the wider conurbation. Of course, these are well outside the areas tourists visit.

Museums and Galleries

• Plenty of museums and galleries dotted around the city.
• Complex pricing structure for entry into the various temporary exhibitions
• Staff – see above.
• Excessive attention from the staff in the galleries – you were continually watched and followed. A hangover from the old Communist days.
• The majority seemed to be somewhat behind Western Europe in the way they were organised. For example,  the displays were not always curated imaginatively, there were no guide books on the collections available, information on the displays was minimal and
• In most cases the gift shops had very little available to purchase (applies to both information and souvenirs). The Pure Arts Museum, which had a well stocked shop, was the exception to this.

Culloden

The last battle fought on British soil took place on 16 April 1746 at Culloden, a few miles outside Inverness. Here, the Jacobite rebels led by “Bonnie Prince Charlie” were defeated by the Government Army. A large part of the battlefield is owned by the Scottish National Trust and they have allowed the landscape to revert back to something like it would have looked at the time of the battle. They’ve also constructed a state of the art Visitor Centre which opened in April 2008. It was an obvious place to visit during my recent trip to Inverness.

There’s a lot of myths surrounding Culloden – the “glorious” rebellion of the Jacobites and the “last stand of the clans” in particular. But the Jacobite uprising really has to be seen in it it’s proper context as part of the wider struggle for hegemony taking place between the European powers.

The Jacobites were bankrolled by the Catholic States (France and Spain) who used them as a way of attacking the British in their own backyard. If victorious, the Jacobites would have been beholden to their paymasters. The rebels were not a homogeneous movement. They were made up of various factions, each with their own agenda, uniting around James the Pretender as a convenient rallying point, but there wasn’t really a common cause. If the Jacobites had been successful and James became king it is likely that he would have tried to establish an absolute monarchy and many of the claims of the disparate groups would not have been achieved, probably leading to further struggles and civil war.

The myth about the clans is also false. There were highlanders on both sides. And the Government and Jacobites both employed foreign allies and mercenaries, reflecting the fact that this was part of the wider European struggle.

Walking around the battlefield it was clear why the Jacobites were so heavily defeated. The original plan was to catch the Government troops, who were camped in Nairn, a small town on the coast some 12 miles from Inverness where the Jacobites were based, by surprise by attacking during the night. But due to poor organisation the plan fell through and the Jacobites ended up gathering on the moor at Culloden where Bonnie Prince Charlie decided to give battle. It was a crazy decision as the terrain was not suited to the main tactic employed by the Jacobites – the “Highland charge”. When their troops charged at the Government forces they got bogged down and were cut to ribbons by musket and cannon fire and the bayonets of the Government troops.

Source: Wikipedia

Here’s Billy Connolly’s take on the Jacobites and  Culloden – including his “re-enactment” of the battle

Today the battlefield is a popular tourist attraction. There were American, Canadian, French and Italian visitors, and probably other nationalities, in the Visitor Centre and exploring the while I was there.

There are a number of memorials to fallen Highlanders and a large memorial cairn erected by the former landowner in 1881.

There’s one small monument to the fallen Government troops.

My English National Trust Membership allowed me free entry into the Visitor Centre, although it would have been worth paying the entry fee. It was excellent, employing new technology as well as the traditional style exhibits to tell the story of the battle and its wider context. There was an “immersion theatre” where visitors are surrounded by screens displaying images from a re-enaction of the battle, which made it seem like you were in the middle of a melee. I also liked the animated battle table which gave a birds eye view of the movements on the battlefield. They also provided an audio guide for the battlefield which used GPS technology to activate the relevant section of the commentary as you reached the various waypoints.

In many ways, the best part of the visit was walking around the battlefield on a cold, wet, windy May morning. It gave me something of a feel of what it must have been like for the troops on the day of the battle.

Wasdale and Ennerdale

I was up in West Cumbria last week with work. For once the weather was great all week. Although the air temperature wasn’t that high, it was generally sunny.   Luckily I was able to finish work at around 4 p.m. (after an early start) and had the option of staying in my hotel room and working on my laptop or going out for a walk. No contest really

On Wednesday I drove out along Wasdale to Wastwater – England’s deepest lake, which is surrounded by some of the highest English mountains, including the tallest, Scafel Pike.  I parked up about two thirds allong the lake, put on my boots and headed east allong the lake and on to Wasdale head.  There were fantastic views of the Scafels, Great Gable and other mountains and I couldn’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be. The mountains were tempting, but there wasn’t enough time to climb any of them, unfortunately.

Looking east along Wastwater towards Wasdale Head

Great Gable - my favourite English mountain

Scafel Pike and Scafel

I passed the pub at Wasdale Head, one of the most remote in England. In the past I’d have stopped for a pint, but, alas, I can’t drink any more and its not much fun sitting in a pub nursng a diet Coke or glass of water! so I carried on past.

As the sun started to go down behind Yewbarrow the temperature started to drop and I headed back to the car.  I walked for a couple of hours, probably about 4 or 5 miles in all without stopping other to take in the views and take some photographs.

The next day I drove over to Ennerdale, the most westerly of the lakes and one of the least visited. Again it was a beautiful day and the views along Ennerdale Water and the valley were stunning. I donned my bots and decided to circumnavigate the lake – a walk of about 10 km which took me just over 2 1/2 hours walking at a fairly leisurely pace.

Ennerdale - Pillar can be seen in the distance

English mountains and like might be tiddlers compared to those found in other countries, but on the right day they are as beautiful as any.

All the way to Memphis

I left my six stringed razor at home and flew out via Amsterdam. It was a long flight and I was tierd when I arried. But I needed to acclimatise to the time zone so rather than going off to bed I went out to have a wander and explore.

Memphis isn’t a very “high rise” city. There are only a relatively small number of tall buildings, which are  hardly “sky scrapers”. Looking out of my hotel bedroom window I could see most of them.

Memphis skyline

Probably the main thing that struck me about the city cetre was how dead it was. Beale Street, the historic entertainment district, was incredibly lively, especially at night, but other than that there isn’t much activity. There are very few shops – everything seems to be located on out of town shopping malls. There wasn’t even a book shop to browse in! There were only a few cultural attractions in the centre too – the Orpheum theatre, the National Civil Rights Museum and the Belz museum of oriental and Judaic art – other than the music related attractions around Beale Street. Unless there are other galleries and theatres elsewhere in the city, cultural life in Memphis must be pretty limited.

Traffic, too, was relatively light, especially when compared to similar sized cities in Britain. During my visit, the wide roads were hardly busy, even during the daytime. This was probably a reflection of the lack of activity in the city centre.

Beale Street

Beale street was a hub of activity. I got there about 7:30 on a Thursday evening and it was already pretty lively and it became more so as the the sun set and night drew in. There were throngs of people wandering around between the bars and restaurants and it was even possible to buy drinks to consume on the street. Most of the bars seemed to have a live act and there were street performers too – acrobats at the top end of the street and musicians at the bottom end. There was quite a strong police presence, obviously needed to keep things in order, but I felt that the atmosphere was fairly relaxed and didn’t seem threatening.

Dublin Writers Museum

Dublin Writer's Museum

On the last day of my visit to Dublin, I managed to find an hour to visit the Dublin Writers Museum, in a restored Georgian mansion at 8 Parnell Square at the top of O’Connell Street on the north side of the Liffey. At one time this was the fashionable part of the city, but when the wealthy inhabitants moved south of the river the north side declined and most of the grand mansions became slums. Today some of the older buildings have been renovated and 8 Parnell Square seems to have survived relatively unscathed as the previous owners appear to have taken reasonable care of it.

Ireland has a literary heritage far out of proportion to the size of it population and the museum is a celebration of this. The exhibition, which covered two rooms, mainly consisted of information panels on individual writers and Irish literary history, with a relatively limited number of books, paintings, sculptures and artifacts. An audio guide was provided to listen to during the tour. Although interesting, and I learned something new, I felt that the information could have been just as well presented in a book, and I’m sure that with a little imagination a visit could be made a more visual experience – although I guess that’s not so easy when the subject is writing and writers.

The main attraction for me, though, of the visit was the building itself. The interior still had many of its original features and modifications made by various owners prior to the 20th Century. The stained windows on the staircase, although a later modification rather than an original Georgian feature, were impressive as was the ceiling, plasterwork and decor in the main room, the Writers’ Gallery, upstairs. Unfortunately it was not permitted to take photographs, although I did fid a picture on the net here.