Sunday, October 11, 2009

On The Road With Roberta & Kasey - Day 5 of the Excellent Adventure

On the road again... just can't wait to get on the road again...67 degrees, some sprinkles, but then sunny and 70's! Headed out to Memphis this morning... over 4 hours to get there.







We didn't stop at many places, but we took an exit to Tuscumbia, Alabama to find an art museum there, which was closed on Sunday... dang!

But right across the street was the birthplace of Helen Keller (which was also closed on Sunday).

This was a statue in a park nearby, a tribute to Confederate soldiers of Colbert County. And of course, another giant rooster along the way... what the heck is with ALL these roadside roosters or chickens?? *L*















Finally arrived in Memphis at 3:30, found a visitor center, drove past Graceland (don't ask me who that man is by the gate, Kasey just snapped the photo as we drove past) and past Sun Studio - originally called Memphis Recording Service, sharing the same building with the Sun Records label business. Reputedly the first rock-and-roll single, Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats' "Rocket 88" was recorded there in 1951 with song composer Ike Turner on keyboards, leading the studio to claim status as the birthplace of rock & roll.
Blues and R&B artists like Howlin' Wolf, Junior Parker, Little Milton, B.B. King, James Cotton, Rufus Thomas, and Rosco Gordon recorded there in the early 1950's. Rock-and-roll, country music, and rockabilly artists, including unknowns recording demos and others like Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Charlie Feathers, Ray Harris, Warren Smith, Charlie Rich, and Jerry Lee Lewis, signed to the Sun Records label recorded there throughout the latter 1950s until the studio outgrew its Union Avenue location.


We decided to stay downtown near Beale Street instead and checked into our hotel (Holiday Inn Select downtown) right across from the famous Peabody Hotel, and were able to get in on the twice daily famous Peabody Duck March. *L*








All the ducks have names, and have their foot imprints on the sidewalk outside the hotel. There was even one duck named Elvis Presley! *L*




After that excitement... which Kasey called a lame duck experience, we came back to the hotel, did a quick photo edit & posting, and are heading out to Beale Street to see some cool sights, bands, and eat dinner... More photos of that to come later!

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And for your reading enjoyment, some interesting things on the Peabody Hotel Ducks ....

The Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee is famous in many ways as a local landmark, but the one thing that stands out above all others are its ducks that swim in the lobby fountain. This started as a lark, and (perhaps regrettably, for some hotel guests) has turned into a packed-house spectacle for tourists, with shows twice daily. The tradition has become very widely known as The Peabody trademark, and accordingly, the hotel does not allow any duck dish to be on their restaurants' menus.

The ducks were introduced to The Peabody in the 1930s. General Manager Frank Schutt left to go duck hunting in Arkansas one weekend, and his friends thought it would be funny to place some of their live duck decoys (it was legal back then for hunters to use live decoys) in The Peabody fountain as a joke for when he returned. When the three English call ducks were let loose, they were met with great enthusiasm by the hotel guests and employees. Ducks have been swimming in the fountain every day since.

In 1940, a bellhop named Edward Pembroke volunteered to care for the ducks. A former circus animal trainer, Pembroke taught them to waddle in procession into the lobby, initiating the famous "March." Pembroke was named Duckmaster, and served in that position until his death in 1991. Today, the mallards are cared for by a local farmer, and live in the lavish "Duck Palace" on The Peabody's Plantation Roof.

Every day at 11AM, they are led by the ceremonial Duckmaster down the elevator to the Italian Travertine marble fountain in the Grand Lobby. Red carpet is unrolled, and the music of John Philip Sousa begins to play from overhead speakers as the elevator descends. One might expect to see the ducks emerge slowly, marching majestically through crowds of admiring spectators to the tune of "King Cotton March" and flash photography. In reality, the ducks are so used to being harassed by onlookers that they race out of the elevator and dart towards the fountain. The fanfare is repeated at 5PM when the ducks retire to their rooftop palace.

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