Memphis in the Meantime, Baby

Somehow I was able to snag some pre-sale Jack White tickets for his show in Memphis. I can't tell you how crazy excited I was; and holding on to them for over a month just about drove me crazy! He's out on his own now--no Meg, no Dead Weather, no Raconteurs--just Jack and his new back up bands. He has two. An all-female one and an-all male one. He's been mixing it up between shows. Gotta love his spontaneity and pure love for music. You never know what's going to happen at his shows which makes them even more exciting. At first, there were only five shows--a private show in Nashville at Third Man, and then he was on to Chattanooga, Birmingham, Memphis and Austin. Wish I were in Texas right about now. He seems to keep adding more shows to SXSW.

Memphis is a three-hour drive from Nashville, not too bad at all. As excited as I was, the drive was nothing. As soon as I arrived, I checked into the hotel the hub had arranged for me and then I was off exploring. The first thing I wanted to do was find the venue since I was going it solo for the evening. Wanted to be able to map my way back after the show! Meanwhile, it was right around the corner! Yay. No worries, then. Above must be the "old" Daisy. Isn't she beautiful? Wow. But we were across the street at the "New" Daisy. Ha. That's where they put us heathens! 

Will-call didn't open until 7 p.m. so I killed some time and walked around Beale Street and listened to some live music for a while, enjoyed people watching and clicked some photos before I headed off to dinner.

I thought twice about going to BB King's for some que but thought, well, we have one of those in Nashville. And, so, off to the Rendezvous it was--famous in its own right. Had to check it off the list, ya know.

Finding the place was no easy task. It's literally located in an alley and this is the little sign above the door. Okey dokey.

What a kooky place! Paper plates and plastic silverware but white cloth napkins! Go figure.

Not being a rib person, I ordered the beef brisket. Not Texas style, mind you, but still good. It had a nice crunchy crust on it.

They serve up a lot of food and FAST! It was on my table likety split. And yummy, it was.

Of course, I had to take a stroll through the gorgeous Peabody Hotel, yet another infamous Memphis landmark. We had stayed there years ago when the kid was still quite young; and he loved the ducks, of course.

And looky at what time it was!! The ducks had already marched out from the elevator (they live in their own "penthouse" on the roof) so I was in for another treat. Schweeeet! That would never happen again in another million years! There was some good mojo flowing in Memphis on the 13th, let me tell you!

After heading back to the hotel and changing; I could hardly contain my giddiness. I waited until about 7:30 to let the rush get through. I wasn't about to get into the CF with all of those youngins'. I had an extra ticket that I was going to just hand to someone who was looking to get in; but then I found out the Daisy just "crossed" your name off the list as you went in. Ugh. I had to literally "walk" in with a person. A Stranger. Lawds. So I had to walk into the street and yell, "Anyone need a ticket?" Ha! Now y'all know how shy I am!! But I wasn't about to let a JW ticket go to waste. Lord forbid. Next thing I knew, this kid walks up to me and says his dad was looking for a ticket. Brawhahahahaha!!! (All I could think of was the kid doing the same for me--"My mom would SO MUCH LOVE TO GO SEE JACK WHITE but couldn't get a ticket.") Bless his heart.

Long story short, we waited for his dad to drop off his little sister at a sitter's and then wait for him to find a parking spot! (giggle) Poor guy came running up like a bat out of hell. When he asked how  much, I just said "pay-it-forward." (Remember when I got the RAK in the mailbox? Yeah baby. Boom, I'm good!) And damned if he didn't get it! Loved that! And, we all had the best time. Of course, all three of us were were up at the stage by encore! (Almost got kicked out tho in doing so--ooooopsy. Nasty, big bouncers at The Daisy!) But never you mind about that! 

There were no cameras allowed so I left mine at the hotel. These are all from Jack's site. And let me tell you sir, they were not fooling around. People were being escorted out left and right! Oooofy. I didn't even make my normal "concert" calls on my cell!

Alright, let me just say . . . Oh MY GOSH! This was the best show EVER. Honestly. I have to put it right up there with Bob Marley and the Wailers back in the day which I've always said was a phenomenal, once-in-a-life-time experience.  Now I have two of those. Pinch me.

He was KRAZY good. It truly makes a difference when you love what you do and do what you love. He was enjoying himself as much as we were, I think.  I'm still buzzing with excitement when I look at those pictures. 

Jack is absolutely brilliant.

Sigh.

Labels: Memphis, Music, Tennessee