Nashville - Music City
Trip Start
Aug 10, 2007
1
76
92
Trip End
Dec 27, 2007
Nashville,
Tennessee,
United States
Friday, November 9, 2007
We made it through without getting into a fight with a Chinese man who bumped Dad with his trolley case! We settled down for some breakfast on the flight (7am) and were given some tea and pretzels ..... welcome to United airlines.
We arrived in Nashville via Denver at 4pm, grabbed our Nissan sedan and headed for the Maximillan Hotel. We found it eventually and were happy to relax in the luxury of the very spacious room with cable television.
We got settled in and then we took Dad to Opry Mills, a massive mall which is next to the Grand Ole Opry and the Gibson guitar factory
Autographed guitar inside the Stage
. We showed Dad the Opry and we looked inside the Gibson factory as we walked into Opry Mills, looking for the big CD shop that had been there 5 years previously. Jules began to get excited as we walked past the familar Old Navy and Aeropastel department stores.
We searched but alas, no CD shop! I asked a few shoppers and found out Tower Records had gone bankrupt last year and so only the book store, Barnes 'n Noble, had CD's ....... another coconut!! This was turning out to a tropical holiday!!
So we dragged our heels and went into Barnes. Our Nashville CD hunt began with only 8 CD's being crossed off The List ....... disaster, the tropical holiday was in full flight.
So Dad drowned his sorry in a TGI Friday's beer. We had the usual good eating expierence at TGI's, although we had to convince Dad that waiting 15 minutes for a table was worth it. We had the delcious stater of wings, wedges, cheezies etc. and Dad had his customary steak, Jules and chicken and shrimps. I had a rack of ribs in honour of my nephews and nieces and it was gooooooood
Broadway street where all the pubs are
! We all enjoyed the meal, a good end to the day.An added bonus to staying at the Maximum was the Starbucks across the road from the hotel, and it was here we headed in the morning to begin our day.
After stocking up on lattes and redbush we got to the Country Music Hall of Fame at 9am. Jules and I had been here before so we found it quite easily and we began the CD search here. We thought we would check the CMHF store for CD's and then head downtown for more. So Dad pulled out The List and we helped him locate CD's. Dad was not happy as he could only find about 12 CD's ...... being in Nashville he expected to find them all. I managed to keep him from slitting his wrists by reminding him that the Roy Acuff store was close by!
We met a Johannesburg guy working in the CMHF and he consoled Dad by telling him "Roy would have all Dad's CD's", so we walked up a block to Broadway street. Broadway is Nashville's main street downtown and is filled with pubs, has the Rynman Auditorium, the Ice Hockey and football stadium all close by.
We raced into Roy's, produced The List, and began to search
Dad and I on Broadway
. We found another 15 or so, still Dad was unhappy. I was convinced David Lee Murphy was not a country singer but some phantom singer Dad had made up, but he insisted he was "real". While we were looking another fellow redneck informed us that Murphy was in fact a real live singer but had not recorded a CD for 6 years, hence the lack of his CD's on sale in any shop. So now it made more sense.Well Dad was a bit happier, but only finding 48 CD's so far was a cause of concern for him. So, in an attempt to ease his pain, we moved across the street to "Tootsies".
Tootsies is a legendary pub in country music folklore. Tootsie was an old lady that allowed country singers to sit in the pubs Orchid Lounge and write songs and perform for tips. Tootsie would feed them and keep a tab for them, which they would never pay. The country music awards show would donate money each year to Tootsie as they realised she was keeping future country stars from starving. Many many famous singers have gone through Tootsies, including Merle Hagard and all 4 Highwaymen!
So we popped in and enjoyed the live music (at 10:30am). Especially good was a young guy and we left a good tip when the tip bucket was passed around. Then we moved next door where a traditional band was playing, but we moved to "The Stage" to have lunch and listen to some more modern country.
The Stage was great with a massive mural of Waylon, Willie and Johnny painted across one wall. A signed Johnny Cash guitar etc
Dad at Starbucks Nashville
. was just one piece of memorabilia on the walls.We enjoyed a good lunch and the good music and then had to leave to get back to our hotel for the tour pick-up.
The tour got off to a good start .... we headed to Opry Mills. Dad noticed straight away that we had been here the day before, but it was ok as we had the steamboat ride to look forward to!
We could not go inside the Grand Ole Opry as it was closed, but don't worry - the Opry shop is open! So we stood outside the Opry, looked at the doors etc. and then headed into the store. Dad found 2 or 3 CD's but 2 were not on The List, so they didn't count.
We then went 300m to the Opry Mills Hotel. We were told to wait while the tour guide got our steamboat tickets .... yeehaw! The steamboat goes into the downtown area along the riverand so we wondered if we would be picked up in the downtown area - well we needn't have worried. While we stood waiting inside the Opry Hotel, Dad noticed there was a man made indoor stream with Marina Glen type boats going through the 1m deep water on a rail under the water
Dad going into Tootsies
. "I hope we are not going on this piece of crap", proved to be famous last words as, you guessed it, our small rowing boat was called the "Delta Steamboat"!We ambled along the stream with a guide telling us all about the Opry Hotel convention centre - how much glass in the roof, when the hotel built etc. riveting stuff ....... need I say it - another coconut, we had quite a collection by now!!
The most interesting thing about the trip was that the hotel had sent out vials all across the country, which were filled with water from rivers across the USA and then returned to be deposited into the river.
After our steamboat trip we had a good double thick hagen das milkshake to cheer us up, and that it did! Jules and I had been looking for a cowboy hat to buy Dad that was appropriate, i.e. not to big to take back to SA and not to expensive, and we found one in the Opry Hotel store.
We had to give it to Dad right away as we could not hide it, and we all had a good laugh with Cowboy Trev.
Then we went to the Willy Nelson museum and I got excited as the General Lee was parked outside in all it's glory
Dad in his Christmas present!
. The General Lee is the orange mustang from the TV series Dukes of Hazzard - "just good ole boys, trying to have some fun", which always makes me think of Waylon, Willie and Johnny.The museum was next to another Roy Acuff CD shop and Dad found a four disc Waylon box set that was one of the most important CD's on The List! We walked onboard Roy's tour bus which was great, and Willy's museum waas great, so the day ended well .... with the Grand Ole Opry show still to come ...... no coconuts in sight!!
We had a quick dinner in the hotel resturant and then Jules drove Dad and I downtown for the Opry show. We found a park and as we walked towards the Ryman Auditorium we realised the queue was stretching all the way round the block, onto Broadway street. So we picked up the tickets (ordered via the web) and went and stood at the back of the long queue. We were actually standing in front of The Stage pub, that's how far round the corner we were ............... I could see the tropics beginning to come into view and yes, soon we had a coconut situation .......... the guy behind us was talking too loud and Dad wanted to tell him to keep quiet. Luckily the queue started moving and some people pushed in, so we had something else to distract us as coconuts began falling all over the place!
Dad points to the performance we went to
!The queue moved quickly once it started moving and within 15 minutes we were seated. The Grand Ole Opry show is broadcast live on the radio and it was an expierence to watch how it gets produced.
The show is split into 4 sections, each sponsored by a different product and each segment has a different singer who introduces the acts. The first section was introduced by a very old guy, Little Jimmy Dean, who really was very very short. He was dressed in his huge ten gallon cowboy hat and rhinestoned jacket with many tassles. He was a bit of a croaker, but Josh Gracin was a young guy who sang his two songs very well (each act gets to sing two songs).
In between the announcer would do radio ads like :"at the end of a good Sunday meal why don't you try some of Laura's all American Aple pie. It is the perfect way to end a meal as Laura's pies contain only good American ingriedents and will satisfy your taste buds" etc. The ads seemed to come froma different decade (50 years ago!) and it was like being in a time capsule!
It was some to expierence and we did enjoy the show, especially Lonestar who sang "Amazed", Lorrie Morgan, Raul (the Cuban Express), the line dancers and Hal Ketchum
Dad with the "Heroes" guitar in Broadway Street
. I had teased Dad that Hal looked like an old f**t that couldn't sing, but he was very good and ended the evening singing a brilliant song about the civil war in the USA, which seemed appropriate with the adverts!! We caught a taxi home and went to bed tired, but satisfied after a long day in Music City ..... the city of 1 000 000 hit songs!
