Side Dish - Sun Studio & Jim Neely's BBQ, Memphis, TN 5/12/08

Memphis is a hell of a town......I am not sure we have had an experience in a city that we have ever enjoyed more. Don't let the nay-sayers sway you from visiting. Graceland, the main attraction, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors per year, is the Crown Jewel of Memphis attractions, but there are three more that one simply must NEVER miss....1) Lorraine Motel and the Civil Rights Museum (coming in a different side dish) 2) Sun Studios and 3) Jim Neely's Barbeque. All are burned in our memories forever.......

First stop of the day was Sun Studio - the birthplace of Rock and Roll and the site that launched the career of not only Elvis Presley, but other artists such as Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and others. Located in a tough to spot corner of Union Ave just outside of downtown, the small building shows none of the outwards signs of being a mecca.

But as with other "shrines", the faithful flock here as if being called to re-discover their past and touch memories beginning to fade. Step inside and one is instantly transported to a time before I-Pods, Napster, CD's, cassettes and hell, even 8 tracks. This is vinyl, baby....where it's always at in Sun Studio.

Back in January 1950, legendary music pioneer Sam Phillips opened this location looking to draw on new talent and take music in a different direction. At first, the studio was frequented by artists such as B.B. King, Ike Turner, Junior Parker, and Little Milton recording Rhythm & Blues tunes, doing well on their own, but no doubt due to racial reasons and the sad inability for mainstream America to accept these artists in their own right, kept the studio on the fringe.

Then, in 1954, a young man by the name of Elvis Presley sauntered in asking the secretary if he could cut a record for his mother's birthday present (which we found out was a outright lie...Gladys did not have a birthday that day, and Elvis was just another struggling artist looking for his big break). Singing a garbled and scratchy "My Happiness", the tune was etched into vinyl and Rock and Roll history was then born. Before the studio outgrew its space in 1959, much due to Elvis' success, this small site produced some of the most memorable 1950's tunes around.

The 90-minute tour is undoubtedly worth every penny paid. Matt wholeheartedly agreed when he set his eyes on his Tattooed Tour Goddess, Jean, who would be in his sights for the next glorious hour and a half. Jean was a blonde, tattooed to high heaven ("HONKYTONK" written across her chest was the most prominent), sassy little spitfire of a girl.......and a damn good tour guide as well. The tour starts in a memoraibilia room where the visitors see the original "My Happiness" record, along with the jacket Elvis wore when he made a splash on the Ed Sullivan Show. As Jean spoke, and I stepped away from Matt's drool, she played clips and music from all artists that performed at the Studio in its heyday. This focus allowed Sun Studio to come to life, as we stepped into the Holy Grail....the recording studio.

On the shabby floor is a black "X" to signify the spot where Elvis stood and music subsequently changed forever. It is to the studios advantage that it has not remodeled, but has left it as it was in the 1950's. The acoustics are shoddy compared to modern day studios, but no one cares. Jean demonstrated how Johnny Cash got the clicking sound of the guitar on the classic "Walk The Line" by sticking a dollar bill between the strings and the frets silencing the tunes. Stories of the Million Dollar Quartet and their endless impromptu jam session were tempered with music throughout making the studio come alive...Oh Yeah...and Jean shimmied down with the gee-tar, much to Matt's delight.

Matt decided to stand on THE "X" hoping to attract Jean's attention, but alas, she was shimmying for tips at this point, to which I did generously; the Cales have a rep to protect.



Sun Studio is an absolute delight. History can sometimes feel out-of-reach in many locations, but here, it is in the palm of your hand from the moment you step into the small lobby. We personally feel that although the site is a National Historic Landmark, it really should be a National Historic Site. Jazz is represented in New Orleans, why not Rock-n-Roll? It helped to define and shape this country as much as any other medium of the 20th century. It is definitely time for its just rewards.

But......time to eat (as it so often is on Cale vacations) and Holy Mamacita....did we EAT.

May I introduce you to Jim Neely's Restaurant. Within the walls of this small, 1970's decor building, there is housed some of the best barbeque you will ever have the pleasure of dining upon. We had seen the restaurant on the Food Channel, singing the praises of the food, and made it the Number One priority after leaving Sun Studio to chow down.

Two words....Potato Salad. Quite simply the very best either of us had ever had in our fat lives. We both had barbeque pulled pork and ceased with any conversation that might have been going on between us, as we could not have shoved the food in our mouths any faster. This was BBQ heaven.

We had started the day at the Civil Rights Museum, then to Sun Studio, lunch at Jim Neely's, a tour through Graceland, and finished our absolutely perfect day in Memphis doing the touristy thing of walking along Beale Street watching live blues. We retreated to our perfectly luxurious hotel on Beale, which had the greatest shower we have ever had the pleasure of experiencing on the road. We highly recommend the Beale Street Westin for anyone traveling to this town. Across the street from the Gibson Guitar Museum and the Fed Ex Arena, this place was nothing short of fantastic. We fell asleep, still able to hear the guitars and the people walking below us on Beale, laughing and singing. Life on days like this......is perfection.