Arrived in Memphis on Saturday for the 41st Annual International Conference of the Community Development Society (see previous post for more details). Saturday was the tourist day and have found Memphis to be much more than I expected. The people are friendly, the town has a lot of history and the food is excellent. Beale Street is something that has to be experienced. I am told that it is akin to Bourbon Street in New Orleans but scaled down quite a bit. There are several bars and shops along the street and live Blues all over.
Saw the FedEx Forum where the Memphis Grizzlies play and Autozone Park where the Memphis Redbirds play baseball. They are the Triple-A farm team for the St. Louis Cardinals. They are back in town this week and hopefully will get to take in a game.
As far as the conference goes, this has been a good one for me. A lot of learning and sharing among friends and colleagues. the presentation that I co-chaired was on Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. and was full of lively discussion. On Monday, I am attending some sessions then off to the Civil Rights Museum for a tour and dinner. Tomorrow is packed with sessions including a 6 hour tour of the Arkansas Delta which is one of the nation's leading logistical centers and producers of steel among others things. Can't wait for this experience!
The Gibson factory was still open but tours had stopped for the day. There are three factories in the United States and each one makes a specific style of guitar. The one here in Memphis makes the semi-acoustic and produces about 40 handmade guitars a day. The Nashville factory produces the electric guitars and the Bozeman, Montana factory makes the acoustic ones. May not get this tour in but will have to come back. Makes me want to get my guitar out of the closet and get to pickin. Finally, I am going to try to get down to the Southern Folklore Center.
0 comments:
Post a Comment